Why was Adriana killed off in The Sopranos? Explained

One of the most heartbreaking deaths on The Sopranos concerns Adriana La Cerva. Adriana was Christopher's (Michael Imperioli) girlfriend-turned-fiancée. She understood enough about the inner workings of the mob to be utilized as an FBI informant. Adriana was killed by Silvo upon being discovered to be an FBI informant.

Adriana, portrayed by Drea de Matteo, was one of the most influential characters throughout the entire run of The Sopranos, and her storyline is possibly the darkest that the HBO Max classic has ever written. Adriana was a real outsider, and her death in the episode "Long Term Parking" brought home the horror.

Adriana was portrayed in the show as an innocent character who was filled with love. Adriana was the character that was able to find good in everyone else, even though she wasn't perfect. Among the characters, she was one of the few who was never really cruel.

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The Sopranos: Adriana's hope to escape the mob ends

Adriana, Christopher's fiancée in The Sopranos, knew enough about the mob's inner workings, which made her the perfect informant for the FBI. Adriana's acquaintance with Danielle (Lola Glaudini), who was revealed to be Special Agent Deborah Ciccerone going undercover, cemented her fate as an FBI informant.

After Deborah came clean, the FBI seduced Adriana into becoming an informant to spare her from going to jail for distributing drugs at her club, Crazy Horse. Adriana suffered greatly from the burden of being an FBI informant, but she never gave up faith that the agency would be able to deliver her and Christopher from the Mafia lifestyle.

Adriana was still hoping to please everyone by withholding information that she didn't think was important to avoid the fate meted out to other spies, such as Jimmy Altieri of The Sopranos. Sadly, Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) finally found out and arranged a hit on her, so her efforts went in vain.

In Adriana's death storyline, they used a narrative deception for dramatic effect. Creator of The Sopranos series David Chase, instead of revealing Christopher's treachery, cut to Tony and Adriana's phone call, during which the mob leader suggested that Christopher attempted suicide.

He assured her that Silvio would get her and drive her to the medical facility. Of course, this was all a lie. Silvio then took her to a remote area in the woods, where he shot her while she begged for her life.

Adriana’s death scene was eerie and primordial. As Silvio pulled her screaming out of the car, she clutched the steering wheel and tried in vain to crawl into the woods. Till the very end, Adriana made efforts to save her life, but nothing worked in her favor. Notably, though, the program chose not to depict her actual passing in the series.

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The crucial point made by Adriana's death in The Sopranos is that, even though she was taken care of by Tony and Christopher, Adriana was still susceptible to the harmful and corrupting influences of the mob. The series pointed out that killing Adriana by the Mafia code demonstrated how corrupt and unalterable the code was, even when it had more negative effects than positive ones.