I’m on my first watch through. Just finished S3 E6.
The one where Ralphie kills Tracee, who was pregnant with his child. He says he wants to care for her and their child, then he beats her to death less than a minute later. This episode was also not long after Melfi’s rape. I’m not gonna lie, I really don’t feel like continuing after this. I’ve been trying to see each character as flawed but nuanced, but it really doesn’t feel that nuanced anymore. Most of the characters feel like absolute pieces of shit. Tony, the main protagonist, is a racist, misogynistic, multi murderer. He’s driven a guy to suicide. He preyed on a gambling addict. He constantly cheats on his wife even after he told her he would stop. He does all of this while pretending to be a devout catholic. How am I really supposed to see him as any sort of sympathetic character? Chris is an incompetent whiny bitch most of the time, especially around his girlfriend/fiancee. Carmella is almost totally apathetic at this point, and I don’t blame her, I don’t get why she hasn’t left other than AJ. I guess Paulie is fine, but I don’t like Sal much at all. Ralphie is one of the characters I have hated most on any show I’ve seen. I don’t get why he hasn’t been dead for a while, he’s done so much detrimental shit already. Junior is in prison and Lydia is dead, so there go two of my favorite performances on the show. Every female character except Meadow and Melfi seems to be a dumbass. My favorite parts of the show are the therapy appointments, but those have only gotten more and more same-y. Introducing Carmella into therapy sessions has only made Tony more awkward and closed off. Am I missing something? Does it get better? Is there ever gonna be a redemption or a positive character arc for anybody? Am I looking at this wrong, is this one of those shows where things just get worse and worse for every character until it ends?