The Sopranos (TV Series)

Pilot (1999)

Lorraine Bracco: Dr. Jennifer Melfi

Photos 

Quotes 

• Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Do you have any qualms about how you actually make a living?

  Tony Soprano : Yeah. I find I have to be the sad clown: laughing on the outside, crying on the inside.

• Tony Soprano : I gotta be honest with you. I'm not getting any satisfaction from my work either.

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Why?

  Tony Soprano : Well, because of RICO.

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Is he your brother?

  Tony Soprano : No. The RICO statutes?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Oh.

  [chuckles] 

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Of course, right.

• Tony Soprano : [Seeing Dr. Melfi's diploma]  Melfi. What part of the boot you from, hon?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [objecting to how he addressed her]  Dr. Melfi.

  [pause] 

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : My father's people were from Caserta.

  Tony Soprano : [referring to himself]  Avellino. My mother would have loved it if you and I got together.

• Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [during their first therapy session before recalling the events and people in his life that led to his medical condition]  my understanding from Dr. Cusamano, your family physician is that collapsed, possibly a panic attack? You were unable to breathe?

  Tony Soprano : [correcting her]  "they" said it was a panic attack because all of the blood work and all the neurological work came back negative. "They" sent me here

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : you don't agree that you had a panic attack?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [after he exhales]  how are you feeling now?

  Tony Soprano : good, fine, back at work

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : what line of work are you in?

  Tony Soprano : [nods]  waste management consultant

  Tony Soprano : [when she doesn't respond]  look, it's impossible for me to talk to a psychiatrist

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : any thoughts at all on why you "blacked out"?

  Tony Soprano : I don't know, stress, maybe?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : about what?

  Tony Soprano : I don't know, the morning of the day I got sick, I've been thinking it's good getting to be in something from the "ground floor" I came too late for that, I know but lately, I'm getting the feeling that I came in at the end: the best is over

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : many Americans I think feel that way

  Tony Soprano : I think about my father, he never reached the heights like me but in a lot of ways, he had it better. He had his "people" they had their "standards", they had pride. Today, what'd do we got?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : did you have these feelings of loss more acutely in the hours before you collapsed?

  Tony Soprano : I don't know, couple months before all this, I see these two wild ducks land on my pool: it was amazing, they're from Canada or some place, maybe it's matting season? They had some ducklings. My daughter's friend was there to drive my daughter Meadow to school. Now, my wife feels this friend is a bad influence. This isn't going to work, I can't talk about my personal life

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : finish telling me about the day you collapsed

  Tony Soprano : I drove to work with my nephew Christopher, his learning the business: he's an example of what I was talking about before. Bear in mind, this is kid who just himself a sixty-thousand-dollar Lexus. We saw this guy, and there was this issue of an outstanding loan

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : can I stop you for a second? I don't know where this story is going but there are a few ethical ground rules we should quickly get out of the way

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [after he nods]  what you tell me here falls under "doctor-patient confidentiality", except I was to hear let's say a murder was to take place, not that I'm saying it would but "if." If the patient comes to me and tells me a story where someone is going to get hurt, I'm supposed to go to the authorities... technically

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [when he doesn't respond]  you said you were in "Waste Management"

  Tony Soprano : [nods]  the environment

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Dr. Cusamano, besides being your family physician, is also your next-door neighbor, see what I'm saying? I don't know what happened with this fella... I'm just saying

  Tony Soprano : [shakes his head]  nothing we had coffee

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [amused]  so, you had coffee, go on

  Tony Soprano : next day, at a breakfast meeting, I was called in by a garbage hauling company I represent, this situation came up that involves my uncle, I can't go into details on this one

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : that's fine

  Tony Soprano : but I will say this: my uncles to my general stress level. Uncle Junior's my father's brother, good guy, just... getting old, cranky, he used to take me to Yankee games when I was a kid, I love my uncle. At the same time, when I was young, he told my girl cousins I would never be a varsity athlete and frankly, that was a tremendous blow to my self-esteem. And that night was my son's birthday party, my wife invites the priest: his always at the house

  Tony Soprano : [referring to when he collapsed and lost consciousness]  at first, it felt like Ginger Ale on my skull, Dr. Cusamano put me in the hospital: gave me every kind of test

  Tony Soprano : my nephew was handling the garbage contract problem, but on this I will also not go into detail. Doctors kept "hanging" me about the tests, as doctors will do, so my uncle and I played a round of golf and had lunch

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : you keep mentioning your uncle, what seems to be the problem? Can we focus more on your immediate family?

  Tony Soprano : my wife and my daughter were not getting along but this shit I'm telling you, it'll all "blow over"

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : didn't you admit to Dr. Cusamano that you were feeling depressed?

  Tony Soprano : [after noticing diploma on the wall, changing the subject]  "Melfi", what part of the boot you from, hon?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [referring to how she prefers to be addressed]  "Dr." Melfi, my father's people were from Caserta

  Tony Soprano : [referring to where his relatives are from]  Avellino. My mother would have loved it if you and I got together

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [returning to the subject]  anxiety attacks are legitimate psychiatric emergencies, suppose you were driving and you passed out...

  Tony Soprano : [irritated, interrupts her]  let me tell ya something. Nowadays, everybody's gotta go to shrinks, and counselors, and go on "Sally Jessy Raphael" and talk about their problems. What ever happened to Gary Cooper? The strong, silent type. That was an American. He wasn't in touch with his feelings. He just did what he had to do. See, what they didn't know was once they got Gary Cooper in touch with his feelings that they wouldn't be able to shut him up! And then it's dysfunction this, and dysfunction that, and dysfunction vaffancul!

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [becoming nervous]  you have strong feelings about this

  Tony Soprano : let me tell ya something, I have a semester and a half of college so I understand Freud, I understand "therapy" as a "concept" but in my world, it does not go down, could I be happier? Yeah, who couldn't?

• Dr. Jennifer Melfi : do you feel depressed?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [when he doesn't respond]  do you feel depressed?

  Tony Soprano : since the ducks left, I guess?

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [before abruptly leaves]  the ducks that preceded you losing consciousness: let's talk about them

• Dr. Jennifer Melfi : So, you've come back for help: don't look at that as a defeat

  Tony Soprano : [referring to his mother]  She's part of that generation that grew up during the Depression but depression to her was a trip to Six Flags

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : There's that D word again

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : [after he leans back and rubs his head]  stay with your mother

  Tony Soprano : Now that my father's dead, he's a saint

  Tony Soprano : [before flicking his chin]  When he was alive, nothin. My dad was tough: he ran his own crew, a guy like that and my mother wore him down to a little nub, he was a squeaking little gerbil when he died

  Dr. Jennifer Melfi : Quite a formable presence