During the six-season run of The Sopranos, chief protagonist Tony Soprano entered a series of affairs. This was despite the mob boss sharing a generally happy marriage with Carmela, played by the quintessential Edie Falco.
And while the series broke down a number of conventions, showrunner David Chase never allowed Carmela to actually have an affair. One notable instance in Season 1’s College teased the possibility of an affair, but Chase made sure it never materialized—intentionally proving a point about her character.
David Chase never wanted Carmela Soprano to sleep with Father Phil
College proved to be an iconic episode for multiple reasons. Tony would kill a mob informant in cold blood after taking his daughter Meadow on a college trip. However, back at home, another compelling subplot unfolded. Carmela, suffering from the flu and left alone, receives a visit from Father Phil Intintola (Paul Schulze). Their interactions, filled with wine and deep conversation, reach an intimate moment where they nearly kiss.
Yet, just before anything happens, Father Phil rushes to the bathroom to vomit after consuming too much alcohol. The moment is lost, and the boundaries between them remain intact.
David Chase had already decided that Carmela would not have an affair, crafting Father Phil’s character specifically to ensure that. In an interview with director Peter Bogdanovich around 2000, Chase stated, (via Cheat Sheet)
We said, ‘Let’s invent a priest so [Carmela] can not go to bed with him.’
The idea was simple. While Tony Soprano, the mob boss, would commit infidelity multiple times through the show, Carmela would never go down the same path. While Tony’s moral framework was sketchy at best, Carmela, at her worst, could only temporarily waver towards an affair.
College stands out for The Sopranos fans for multiple reasons
The episode College is a landmark moment in The Sopranos, primarily because it solidified the show’s groundbreaking nature. Tony, accompanied by his daughter Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), embarks on a college tour, only to encounter a former mob informant. The episode shocked audiences when Tony murdered the snitch in cold blood—an act HBO executives initially opposed but ultimately allowed.
The reluctance was down to the fact that executives thought the murder was simply too intense to be included in the series. However, once again, Chase had his own vision, and simply could not imagine a situation where Tony did not kill an informant, when he ran into him.
This leads to James Gandolfini’s character killing Febby Petrulio, played by Tony Ray Rossi, by strangling him in cold blood. The scene is still remembered as the one which effectively set Tony’s identity in stone: a mob boss, willing to go to any lengths, sometimes simply to make a point.
The Sopranos is available to stream on Max and Hulu.
This post belongs to FandomWire and first appeared on FandomWire
