In the end, we’re all Kevin Finnerty

Well, I’ve just finished the 86 episodes of the HBO crime drama series “The Sopranos” the last week. It was an awesome show with great writing, memorable characters and a groundbreaking style that left his mark forever on television history. But, there was one thing that left me thinking because it didn’t came clear to me. And no, I’m not talking about the ending. I’m referring to the meaning of Kevin Finnerty in the dream of Tony Soprano.

Tony sitting in the bed of the hotel wondering what would Gary Cooper do...

First, a little bit of context. In the season 6 premiere called “Members Only”, Uncle Junior shoots Tony due his deteriorated mental state. Apparently, he confused his nephew with his old enemy Genaro “Little Pussy” Malanga who was killed in the pilot episode. Tony, who got shot in the stomach made a call to 911 before get unconscious.

In the next Episode, Join the Club, Tony is in a comatose state and has a dream-like experience in which he is a business-man not related to the mafia while in the real world is visited by his family and friends. In the dream, He awake in a hotel room with the wallet and briefcase of a man called Kevin Finnerty, who is physically similar to him.

Through the entire dream, Tony tries to locate this man without any success. He talks with every person in the place; has a business problem with two Buddhist monks who claim that he accost them with a deficient heating system and falls from the stairs and is diagnosed with Alzheimer during his operation.

In the end of the dream, he finds out a flier for the Finnerty family reunion with the address. He goes to the place and is greeted outside the house by a man who physically resembles his dead cousin Tony Blundetto who was murdered by him in the last season.

The more I think about it, I conclude that Kevin doesn’t really exist within the dream. It’s a new identity that Tony invented to escape from his mobster life. I mean, he has struggled all those years against his panic attacks due the pressure of this work as a mobster. All the people that he has executed all the traumas with his mother, all the issues with his wife and kids made him create a differ persona that manifested as a missing identity.

The way he tries to find out where’s Kevin is a journey of self-discovery.  The Buddhist monks represent the problems from the past who still haunting them. They try to locate Kevin because Tony knows that those issues from the past are going to be there as a reminder of his previous mistakes. The facts that are Buddhist monks it’s just an irony.

The Alzheimer it’s another obstacle in his journey. Apart from represent his fears of inheriting the problems of his family (in this case the Alzheimer from his uncle), it’s the curse that keeps him as the old Tony. The one who just want to forget instead of accept himself and move on.

Finally, the house sequence represents the final step into his transformation to Kevin Finnerty. The party it’s the new chance of leaving his old self and complete this cycle. The man who greets him is represented as his cousin because he was someone very close to him, a person who can be trusted and can be forgive. The only thing he needed to do was leave the briefcase and wallet of Kevin (his fake identity) and join to the party as himself.

And that it’s my interpretation. I hope you had enjoyed and I see you soon with another post about what I think it’s interesting to talk about. See ya.

Post Dedicated to James Gandolfini (1961 - 2013)