Tony Soprano - Vile Bastard or Nice Guy?

[Uncle Sam]

I was reading a preview of an episode of The Soprano in a TV guide (they're replaying the final - half - season on Channel 4) and it mentioned how Tony was a vile man, despite his charming characteristics.

I thought this was really odd, as I had always thought of Tony as a force for good despite his nasty characteristics - he was a force for justice and true freedom like no cop character could ever be. He was always the guy you wanted to be and empathised with, the guy that could quite literally get away with murder and bring real justice. So I guess that if Tony is a vile bastard, the viewing public are, or want to be vile bastards. Who's right? The TV Guide or Mr. Sam?

 

[Papa Shango]

Tony Soprano is not a good person. Everything he does is for his own personal gain. Is he trying to be a better person? Sort of. But it doesn't discount the fact that he is murderer and a criminal.
On a sort of sidenote, why was it that when the show was on the air, everyone loved Tony Soprano, but after the show ended, I know most of the people I knew were mad that he didn't get whacked, didn't pay for for his crimes. It was like everyone was mad that thier favorite character wasn't murdered. This makes no sense to me. I personally loved how it ended. Tony is alive, but he isn't free, and he knows that. He knows he will always be looking over his shoulder, always expecting someone to come after him. He knows he will eventually have to pay for his evill deeds.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

He murdered somebody because he was a snitch. A good guy would have let it slide. There's no real debate about it. He's a bastard.

But that's not to say that evil people can't be nice to their family, help out friends and love ducks.

In my opinion there's another season to be had from Carmela opening her eyes to what Tony really does. Pretty much a whole season of her coming to terms with it after seeing him murder somebody.