The Sopranos Christian Review

All right, I’ll give you this, okay; everybody’s talking about it. It’s like sticking your head right in the dirty laundry of the human spirit, and it’s got mobsters too. Yeah, you heard me: mobsters. Oh, not the romanticizing of crime and mob type thing, though. In fact, it’s so much more than what appears at first.

Tony’s Transformation: From Tycoon to Tramp

And here’s the setup. There’s the Tony Soprano, wise guy of the North Jersey big shot. Guy’s got it all, right? Money, power, respect—all of it. But really, way deep inside that tanned fa*ce and that tough-guy front, he’s wrestling pretty hard with some very serious demons. No, I don’t mean frigates slugging it out with rival gangsters or the feds breathing down his neck. Just that Tony has some heavyweight things taking place in his life; there’s a huge mess within.

So what does he do? In his line of work, he does something that’s actually surprisingly rare. He goes to see a shrink. Yeah, that’s right—Tony Soprano, the big mobster, going up a shrink’s wall and spilling his guts. But here’s the rub: he has to keep it to himself. All the other wiseguys can’t hear about it or he’d be the weak one. Weak is the last thing you need to be in that world.

Still, there were Tony each week, trying to clean up the disarray in his supposedly helter-skelter life. Believe you me, that’s no easy job. The drama in this series goes so far beyond what one human being can create for himself: a rebellious daughter, an aging hard-headed mother, and an aunt who, well, will take Andy despite the list of things wrong with him. More so, the ghosts from his past are haunting him; rather, the shadow of his father’s legacy that is accused of many evils. This much can turn a man’s head.

The Redemption Theme and Sin

And of course, we get to the interesting part: in Christian terms. It is not that “The Sopranos” were a tale of wise guys killing each other and cursing all across the pages, right, left, and center though the thinking man watching an episode or two could very well be in the know. “The Sopranos” were all about the human condition, the struggle between good and evil, sin, and redemption.

But still, take for instance how one like Tony is placed into involvement in activities that are disgustingly abominable. The acts of bribery, betrayal of one’s near and dear ones, and causing hurt to others point to common crimes done by the man. But then from something more, it is a battle going on in his subconscious for something more. In a world gone mad, it is something more his conscience wrestles with him in finding the possibility of something more.

And isn’t that something with which everybody can identify? I mean, okay, most of us are not running illegal rackets, or are not in touch with the mob. But we all do have our demons to wrestle with, our own tussles with sin and temptation. And like Tony, we are all in search of redemption in one form or the other.

The Power of Forgiveness

But here’s the thing: redemption isn’t pretty. It hurts and is mostly messy. One has to look at the wrongs they’ve done and redeem those mistakes. Just ask Tony. He was finally blackmailed into looking at the wrongs he’s done throughout this whole series, standing up to all the hurt he caused, really trying to make amends. And let me assure you, it’s not pretty.

It is all chaos and bad emanation, bloody vomit and guts fell into snow, with a moment of grace shining from out of the snow like a moment of forgiveness. These are moments of undeserving grace, whether it was moments of Tony extending mercy to a rival who betrayed or reached out to a cut-off sister—all built as reminders that forgiveness can break the cycle of violence and hatred, a reminder that one can start again.

Tony’s brutal rendition of the human condition

Highlight with This is no show for the meek of heart. “The Sopranos” reveals life in such a raw and gritty way that it really shows what goes on in life. There is violence and profanity almost unparalleled.

But beneath this decimation lies a pursuit that is truly soulful, one wherein we discover what it really means to be human in a now-tarnished world. And is that not somewhat the point of Christianity? Wrestling with ourselves, our brokenness, our own culpability, and finally finding redemption amidst all that?.

Of course, “The Sopranos” is not for the Sunday school sensibilities. But, then en route to chewing through all the surface exposé and peeking behind the fig-leafed depths of Tony Soprano’s soul, an affair just might take place: some of the eternal truths about our shared humanity, a heartbeat of redemption that resides in us all.

Final Verdict

What does that leave, from a Christian, but faith in one final judgment about “The Sopranos”? What things look like after that is awfully snowy ground indeed. On the one hand, of course, there is that very real human portrayal of life—with all its warts and wrinkles. Surely enough, it is not one inch back from the depth of dark life, but it cannot lose its vision on the possibility of redemption.

This is, of course, not a show for everybody. The free-flowing debate and discussion between fans of the show’s ideas—of what makes a real gangster and items you may have missed—set up an even clearer view of the world within the 1990s and the criminal lifestyle.

Overall, it is a good read, probably 8 out of 10. It isn’t perfect; very little is so. So basically, an intellectually stimulating journey that might be soul-stirring and may, just may, be a tad rough around the edges but most certainly worth its while.