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THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT
The Comfort in “Reruns”
“The Sopranos” and “Mad Men” as masterful as ever
Author’s Note: The following story recently appeared in my Substack, Sherry Raw.
My husband and I are currently rewatching two of the best television series ever produced, Mad Men and The Sopranos. And it’s fair to say that I’m in love with both Tony Soprano and Don Draper. Two men that, on the surface, are as different as night and day, but share so many similarities.
James Gandolfini’s portrayal of Tony Soprano, a mob boss who suffers from anxiety-induced panic attacks so severe that he passes out, is a mass of contradictions. He knows he’s not a good guy, but wants to be. He can beat a nemesis to death with hands the size of a catcher’s mitt, yet feeds ducks in his backyard and has a soft spot for all animals. The violence is plentiful, but there is one scene that stands out for me. An “eye for an eye” doling out that takes the viewer’s breath away. That is when Tony beats to death a deplorable Joe Pantolione for setting fire to a horse racing stable, killing Tony’s favorite horse, “Pie-O-My” which is also the name of the episode.
Tony’s pain in the horse’s suffering when he learns that the poor animal didn’t die outright but had to be put down, was visceral. When Pantolione’s…
