The Sopranos: A different type of mobster family

In the second season of The Sopranos, Tony, the mafia head of the Soprano family, has decided that he must kill his life-long friend Big Pussy who has been working for the FBI. In most gangster films, the doomed person is killed with little remorse or second-guessing and life goes on as usual. In two previous gangster films, The Godfather and Goodfellas, we see the mobsters carry out the murder of friends and family with dispassion. The viewer never gets a picture to how the gangsters cope with their heinous deeds. For example, Michael Corleone, the head gangster in the Godfather, stands passively behind a picture window displaying little emotion as he orders the murder of his own brother.
In the HBO television series, The Sopranos, the mobsters are portrayed in a different fashion. They show conflict and feelings. We see their struggles. After the murder, we learn how Tony deals with Pussy’s death. To our amazement, Tony goes to his therapist where he expresses how stresse...