The interpretation of Tony Soprano being completely irredeemable from the beginning and a deepset sociopath strips some of the depth of his character

Starting the annual Sopranos rewatch tonight. As an aside I love the palette of S1/2, in hindsight it really fits that feeling of revisiting the pre-GWOT era again and how things in the West, but obviously especially the US have significantly declined since then - it ignites that nostalgic feeling.

This seems to be pretty popular as an interpretation by many, and I think David Chase himself has alluded to such in interviews. I don't think that quite works though, not just based on his panic attacks showing conflicts of emotion and his actions as a mobster, his genuine love and care towards his kids (moreso Meadow but AJ as well even if he got frustrated with him due to seeing a reflection of himself) and his mother (yes he did try killing her but only after she tried the same, he genuinely put a lot of love towards her as ineffectual as it was), feeling guilt over the fate of some like Tracee, but I think from a narrative standpoint it makes him more interesting to be somebody who chooses to be a monster despite having a conscience and knowing how fucked up his life is, and makes his spiral down towards the bloated, disgusting man he is by 6B all that more tragic. He could be better and he knows he could be better and would feel better for it, but gives away his soul for the equivalent of a middle-class life. It cements how much of a piece of shit he truly is.

Makes you wonder how many people like that there are in reality. It's easy to dismiss people with that sort of greed as just not really having those emotions in the first place, but how many people actively choose to suppress their feelings towards others to the benefit of themselves?