Very good piece.

I've coincidentally been thinking about whether the Sopranos and similar shows actually go against the Hayes code. Tony technically comes out on top (maybe) but it very clearly shows the costs of his actions.

The one that most clearly does break the code is The Wire, interestingly
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Which I think actually goes along with your point that people don't want the code itself, they just want to see evil powerful people face consequences.

All those shows are still grimly pessimistic about amoral, powerful people actually being defeated.
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