Jennifer Melfi

Jennifer Melfi
First appearance	"Pilot" (episode 1.01)
Last appearance	"The Blue Comet" (episode 6.20)
Created by	David Chase
Portrayed by	Lorraine Bracco
In-universe information
Gender	Female
Title	Doctor
Occupation	Psychiatrist
Family	Aida Melfi (mother) Joseph Melfi (father)
Spouse	Richard LaPenna (ex-husband)
Children	Jason LaPenna (son)

Dr. Jennifer Melfi, M.D., played by Lorraine Bracco, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the psychiatrist of Mafia boss Tony Soprano.

Melfi is herself Italian-American; her family has roots in Caserta. She is a graduate of Tufts University as shown in the first episode. She is probably the person closest to truly understanding Tony Soprano. Over the years, Tony Soprano has been able to confide in Melfi many things that he has told no one else, not even his associates or his wife, Carmela. However, Melfi and Soprano have an unusual, on-again-off-again relationship. He inwardly fears Melfi prying into his life during their sessions, but he also fears the results from not dealing with the problem. As a result, she watches him go through frequent mood swings during their time together, sometimes acting playful, other times violent – sometimes acting responsive, other times being cold and distant.

For her part, Melfi has tried hard to help Soprano as much as possible, half chalking it up to some sort of vicarious thrill of helping a gangster but also trying to resist the idea that she has romantic thoughts about the man — she wants to keep their relationship professional. Melfi, in addition, has an ongoing battle with alcoholism. While she resisted Soprano's constant advances, which have simultaeously attracted and appalled her, Soprano no longer wishes for their relationship to remain strictly professional, as he seems to see her as the one thing that he is unable to truly have and, while continuing to pursue her, also resents her for it.

Melfi's son, Jason LaPenna, has a recurring role in her life as he is her only child. Jason's father is her ex-husband, Richard LaPenna.

On the lam

During the power struggle for boss between Tony and Uncle Junior in Season 1, Junior informs Mikey Palmice that Tony is seeing a shrink. This makes Junior, Mikey, and all other members of Junior's crew who were informed extremely angry and paranoid, for they fear Melfi could be potentially used as witness to testify in court against the activities of the DiMeo Crime Family. In the season 1 penultimate episode Isabella, two hit men are sent by Junior and Mikey Palmice in attempt to assassinate Tony for giving mafia related information to Melfi; unfortunately for Junior and Mikey, the hit fails; One assailant is inadvertently killed by the other while trying to shoot Tony in his driver seat from the passenger side. Tony throws the other hit man off onto the road, not killing, but seriously injuring him. Tony laughs briefly but is knocked unconscious when his out-of-control rolling Chevy Suburban runs into a parked car. Tony informs Melfi that his enemies are aware of their therapy sessions, and she must go into hiding to avoid getting killed until everything blows over. To save his own life and Melfi's, Junior's top trigger men Mikey Palmice and Chucky Signore are subsequently whacked. Junior himself is only saved by being indicted by the F.B.I.. In the season 2 premiere episode Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office..., Melfi is doing business in an out-of-town hotel. After the last member of Junior's crew, Philly Parisi, is whacked, Tony informs Melfi "it's over" and that she can come back home.

Rape incident

In the season 3 episode Employee of the Month, Melfi is walking alone through the parking garage to her car, when she is suddenly attacked by a mugger. He grabs her from behind and, after she attempts escape and cries out for help, proceeds to drag her to the stairway of her building, where he violently rapes her. He leaves her lying helpless in the stairway, crying. At the hospital, her ex-husband Richard arrives, glad that she is okay. Once he discovered the man who raped her also has an Italian surname, he begins to feel embarrassment for himself and the Italian people indicating that rapists like him make Italians look bad. Melfi feels his reaction is ridiculous and irrelevant. Although her rapist was arrested, he was subsequently released because of an improper procedure performed by police. This infuriates Melfi, in shock that he was released. She comments to her psychiatrist and colleague Elliot Kupferberg, "I could have that asshole squashed like a bug," meaning that she could have Tony place a hit on her rapist. More shock comes when Melfi is in the fast food restaurant where the rapist works. She sees his smiling picture on the wall as "Employee of the Month", hence the episode title. She reluctantly suppresses her urge to tell Tony what happened; she instead lies and claims, "I was in a car accident."

Seeking therapy

Melfi also sees a psychiatrist and colleague, Dr. Elliot Kupferberg (played by Peter Bogdanovich), on a regular basis. In "The Second Coming", he tells her that a recent study has shown that talk therapy may only help a sociopath become more sociopathic. Elliot has commented that treating Tony Soprano gives her a "vicarious thrill."

Relationship ends permanently

Despite several failed attempts by both Melfi and Tony to end their therapy sessions, in the second to last episode "The Blue Comet", while at a dinner party with colleagues, Dr. Elliot Kupferberg mentions a study showing that therapy is a failure with sociopathic people, and goes on to reveal to the other guests that Melfi is treating Tony Soprano, which angers Melfi. Following the discussion, Melfi reads the article stating that therapy can sometimes justify the criminal acts of a sociopath or criminal. She begins to realize that perhaps treating Tony has been useless and aided his criminal lifestyle.

At the next therapy session, Dr.Melfi scolds Tony as she saw him ripping out a magazine page. Melfi then proceeds to attack Tony throughout their session, mainly firing sarcastic comments whilst he discusses his recent problems. As the session continues, she offers to refer Tony to another doctor, leaving Tony somewhat confused. Finally, Melfi tells Tony that she cannot help him, telling him due to his current family crisis, she doesn't want to waste his time. Tony gets up and leaves the room as Melfi follows him back to the waiting room. Tony then takes out the folded up steak recipe page out of his pocket, unfolds it, and gently and sarcastically places it back inside the magazine from which it came. Melfi then slams the door shut, seemingly ending her professional relationship with Tony Soprano once and for all.

External links

• HBO Profile: Dr. Jennifer Melfi
• Walrus article Dr. Jennifer Melfi and Psychoanalysis