Interesting points the two of you make. I'm not very familiar with the Sopranos, but I looked up this episode about Dr. Melfi's rape. Despite her anger, hate, and fear about what happen to her and the police messing up she decided that the moral or ethical thing to do is not to tell Tony. Although Tony would give her "justice," she knew that it would cost her everything she had build with Tony and forever lose her influence and sway over him. She could no longer be his therapist because when she tried to advise him or tell him what he should do he could always bring up that time when he gave "justice" to her and therefore he never really have to listen to her again. Their different worlds of the therapist and patient would collided and be destroyed with Tony emerging from collision with all the cards. Of course Tony would cashed in his chips with her immediately after he gave her "justice," however, I don't think he would used it to sleep with her, but he now has the power over her just like he does in his criminal world. Tony would be actions can be compare with a scene from the novel after Sonny get in trouble for robbery when he was a teenager. Don Corleone berated him for doing such a foolish mistake and tell him that in the legitimate world with a briefcase he could steal more money then a thousand men with guns. Sonny replied that he saw the Don killing Fanucci, and the Don knew that he had no longer any influence and sway over him. The Don knew that Sonny could never enter the legitimate world, so he must teach he to survive the criminal one. As for Bonasera, he decide to ask the favor from to the Don regardless of the moral and ethical implications. Lastly, David Chase, the creator of the Sopranos, stated for those expected Tony to seek "justice" for her, "If you're raised on a steady diet of Hollywood movies and network television, you start to think, 'Obviously there's going to be some moral accounting here'. That's not the way the world works. It all comes down to why you're watching. If all you want is to see big Tony Soprano take that guy's head and bang it against the wall like a cantaloupe… The point is—Melfi, despite pain and suffering, made her moral, ethical choice and we should applaud her for it. That's the story." For an audience, they might cheer and even applauded when Don Corleone agreed to give Bonasera's daughter "justice" but that is not the way world works. In the real world, Bonasera and Don Corleone actions should not be praise despite the audience wanting to see "justice" on the screen.