YMMV / The Sopranos S 3 E 8 He Is Risen

• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Gigi's Undignified Death becomes eerily similar to how James Gandolfini actually passed away in real life.
  • Gigi's death was initially laughably awkward, a stone cold killer randomly dying of a heart attack on the toilet surrounded by porno mags leaving all of his friends stuck doing their best to preserve his dignity after the fact. It became a lot less funny when James Gandolfini died in the exact same manner. Tony's line comparing him to Elvis Presley is especially heart wrenching, as Gandolfini is discussing on his own fate and making a comparison that was widely made upon his death.
• Jerkass Woobie: Poor Gigi, an icy and aloof mafioso succumbing to a constipation-induced heart attack, of all things.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Many fans feel Gigi should have stuck around longer. Even his actor, John Fiore, was allegedly furious at David Chase for killing him off, especially in such an undignified manner.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: It would have been interesting to see the Aprile crew situation come to a head, with Ralph and the others ceasing to take orders from Gigi and consequently causing who knows what sort of problems for the Jersey family and Tony. Alternately, it would have been fun to see Tony demote Gigi in order to make Ralph captain. How Gigi would have handled taking orders from Ralph, and how Tony's status as boss would have been impacted by the decision to strip Gigi of his captaincy could have provided a whole season full of great storylines.

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