I just imagine Tony Soprano watching this on his laptop, doing his heavy breathing thing as the video goes on. Until finally he just picks it up and throws it across the room
we are all good and bad persons. we are all good and bad. One time i told a fellow i wasn't going to give him the car till the check became cash. He replied "but you know where i live , i have a sucessfull business, and i'm a Good Christian." To which i replied. "Mickey, mickey, mickey, that's what They all say. I never met a bad christian yet."
As much as a genius dr Melfi was it's kinda puzzling for me that throughout 7 years of therapy and even after her colleagues begun throwing her direct hints she still didn't figure out that Tony, in fact, never had the makings of a varsity athlete...
So I've watched the entire series of The Sopranos, and I've watched this analysis of Tony Soprano, along with several other videos on Tony Soprano and his character. After considering all that I have seen, and all of the information I've gathered, I have come to the conclusion that Tony Soprano, most likely, never had the making of a varsity athlete... EDIT: WOW! Thanks for all the likes and comments! I originally thought that my comment was kinda corny and silly, and never would have thought so many people liked it. Thanks guys 😊
@@briangriffin8106 -- Most people in a position of power are usually JERKS -- I think they think so highly of themselves and think so low about anyone who is beneath them
Also, the way Tony would watch television or movies was particularly fascinating, he romanticized noble moral acts like when he was watching the war documentary. He appeared extremely emotional at the thought of a soldier sacrificing his life for his fellow comrade.
That’s why he’s such a great character..so much depth and complexity when it came to who he was as a person. The whole dialogue of him and melfi about him and his crew of “soldiers” explains it all. As long as what he does(good or bad) is within the frame work of the mob he really had no guilt about it. It’s almost like he has 2 totally separate lives with a completely different personality to match each one of those lives.
The difference between Breaking Bad and The Sopranos is that the Breaking Bad writers clearly made a point of getting you to make excuses for Walt's horrible actions in your head, and had you empathising with him until the very end. The Sopranos, on the other hand, simply presents Tony's evil doing as it appears, without sugarcoating anything, and leaves it up to the viewer to decide just how evil he is, depending on where your own moral compass is pointed.
That's what makes the shows so compelling and why they still hold up today! It makes you question your morals and how you were raised. It's hard not to look at them as icons which is fucked up
Because I feel like the point of sopranos as much as everyone disagrees is Tony was not at heart an evil man he was stuck wearing mask he could never take off even if he did terrible terrible things he didn’t want to be that person was a big cause Of his depression depression is being tired of urself the person you’ve portrayed however Tony could never truly come to this conclusion bc he has to be the strong silent type
@@saintsaint3948 A huge difference between the two shows is that Tony was born into this life and he knew little else, while Walt made a conscious decision to enter it.
Yeah, that's not really true. Walt may be sympathetic from the start, but you're not meant to be rooting for him till the end, or at least not justifying his actions. I mean the show makes a point of showing his rich friends offering to basically solve his problems no strings attached, and he chooses to cut ties with them, insulting them in the process. That's not a show "getting you to make excuses" and they did that in season 1. And what about Sopranos? Most viewers seem to say about Tony that "the charm wore off" or "the show slowly tears back the façade". The whole first season his traumatic childhood and abusive mother are focused on, and he's the victim of an attempted hit by his own uncle that he then retaliates against. The first season does about as much work making him sympathetic as Breaking Bad did for Walt.
One of my favorite details in The Sopranos is Tony’s eating habits. In the beginning of the show, he will have Carmela heat up normal portions of leftovers or will have normal snacks when around the house. Towards the end he will take an entire tray of leftover pasta, sit down in his bathrobe, and eat the entire tray in one sitting. Whenever he goes to another person’s house in the later seasons, he rummages through people’s fridges and helps himself to any cold cuts or meat they have in the fridge.
I see this as a Dante Allegieri reference. In The Inferno, Dante is stopped from going to heaven by a hungry wolf. "Feeding makes her hungrier... she mates with many beasts". This wolf symbolized the diabolical effects of avarice and greed. Just so, we watch Tony's metaphysical and insatiable "hunger" for everything denied to him grafually manifest on film as his growing voracious appetite.
@@cherecrow2333 It's weird, when I'm depressed I eat a lot more, but when I'm extremely depressed I lose my appetite and barely eat. Then again when at the latter I only go out of bed to take a leak then go back to sleep.
The thing about Tony Soprano is that, so long as he doesn't have a problem with you, he's almost decent and you could be forgiven for actually liking him ... but as soon as there's a problem, he's cunning and brutal.
We call this 'a man' It's normal to like Tony, that's the point of the show lmao all heros are flawed, humanity is flawed, judges reveal themselves by judging Tony He's chaotic GOOD.
@@looweegee252 chaotic good or chaotic neutral. He's hardly an evil person due to his love for animals. The evil things he does most people would do the same shit if they were in his shoes.
@@looweegee252 Yea but if you piss the average guy off, he doesn't try to strangle you and say he's going to chop your balls off. They usually just distance themselves from you.
You know how much gabagool I had to eat to get through this? It took me twenty years to make this video and by the time I was done my estimation of Tony Soprano as a man just plummeted.
17:11 It should also be mentioned that Lydia effectively puts out a hit on Tony, her only son, by manipulating Junior after finding out Tony was seeing a psychiatrist. She was so disgusted by the idea that simply disowning her adult son wasn’t enough; she wanted him dead so he would never embarrass her again. While her own obsessively narcissistic ego played a major part in this, with her instantly imagining Tony telling a stranger about what a terrible mother she was while she wasn’t present to defend herself, another aspect of it was that she saw Tony seeing a therapist as an unforgivable show of weakness. In the absence of her abusive late husband, she took up the torch of enforcing the “old ways”, effectively becoming the shadow boss of the family. Even Junior and Tony recognize this; realizing at multiple points that Lydia is manipulating them, and by doing so she is running things without actually being officially involved, and from an untouchable position of safety and fealty; an elderly mother, grandmother, and widow. The law would never touch her. Rival families would never touch her. She was bulletproof, in a world where everyone else was a sworn soldier. She initially wanted Tony to succeed Junior as the head of the family, but found Tony’s admission of seeing a psychiatrist as so irredeemably pathetic that she lost all faith in him, and immediately began plotting to take him out. In her eyes, he had shown himself to not be leadership material, and would only ever be an embarrassing liability-a threat to _her_ legacy.
Nancy Marchand should have gotten ALLLL the awards for playing Livvia Soprano. Holy moly did she NAIL that role so utterly. That farewell episode where they so vividly show the effects of smoking is seared on my retinas. 🤣💔
Barbara really does represent the most healthy way of dealing with toxic family members. Janice and Tony represent the two extremes. Janice got as far away as she could, as fast as she could. Tony stayed and became just like his father, while being the most affected by the neuroses of his mother. He took the brunt of the psychological damage caused by that upbringing. People criticize Barbara's character because not much is done with her in the series. We only see her at important family events. But I think that's intentional. She did get away, but she's close enough to still be part of the family, and she's there when she's needed, but she's far enough away to not be damaged by all the BS that her family is involved in. She's "in the family, but not of the family", so to speak. Consequently, she is the least psychologically damaged of the siblings.
@@DonRoyalX No, that doesn’t make sense. She’s “in the family”, as in she’s related by blood, but she’s not “of the family”, meaning she is different than them because she distanced herself. I didn’t make this up, which is why it’s in quotations. That’s literally what it means.
"Tony was worried his nephew's drug abuse would impact his newborn daughter" I don't think that Tony gave a shit about Christopher's daughter. In my opinion, when Tony noticed the car seat, he subconsciously chose Christopher's daughter as the internal rationale that he would use to justify the murder to himself. He had been waiting for the opportunity to get rid of Christopher without the burden of guilt, and the branch through the car seat presented that opportunity. If Tony had been able to look back on the accident years later, it's likely that he would have convinced himself that saving Christopher's daughter was the reason he did it, and the incident had nothing to do with the real reason, which was that he was protecting himself from the dangerous liability that Christopher had become.
On the other hand, could one argue that the mere fact that he needed to seek a moral justification for his self-serving behavior showed some psychological ambivalence and ethical conscience?
I don't think he cared about what others believed. He had his own personal code. When confronted with social norms, he dismissed them as any other point of view he didn't personally subscribe to. Pretty common for criminals to have their own code, and it's usually based on what actions bring success within their environment.
i think what really always struck me about tony soprano is how much you see that he does actually care about doing the right thing, but how often he clearly lets himself off the hook. it almost feels like a greek tragedy in a way
Trying to cure oneself while you're responsible for murder, theft and suffering and pain of thousands of people, is probably the hardest conflict a man can have. That's why he has such a struggle with his morality. It's truly hard, but not impossible.
That's true but he only partially lets himself off the hook, in that he doesn't force himself to recompense or course correct in any way, however he still absorbs the guilt internally which manifests as slowly growing self-loathing.
@@ashtonpain6867 Genie in Aladdin, obviously! Joking, Im curious as to what role he played where he was evil beyond maybe the hunter in Jumanji but is that really evil? lol
@@mattjindrak there couldn't be a more detailed explanation of who he is, Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad... a little known show about a gifted science teacher who gets terminal cancer and decides to produce crystal meth as a means to pay for his treatment and support his family after his demise with hilarious consequences... I can understand your confusion, hardly anyone watched it or have mentioned it online.
My favorite scene about Tony's nature is a scene where he talks to Melfi about Vito being gay. He immediately tells her that he finds it disgusting, but after a fairly short discussion, he admits that he actually doesn't care if someone is gay. Because of his upbringing and the people he surrounds himself with, he instinctively acts hatefully, but once he's in the safety of Melfi's office and is free to explore his actual thoughts, he finds that he doesn't hate gay people or even Vito. It's a window into the reality that Tony isn't a meat headed bigot like most of his crew, and probably would be a more understanding or even kinder person if his circumstance allowed it. It also makes his eventual decision to have Vito killed all the more cold and callous.
Vito was killed because of the collective influence of the Mafia and their so called obsession with respect. As if anybody cared or their Crew wouldn’t get any respect already for just having a gay member with all the killings they’ve donde before killing Vito, it’s hypocritical. They are all mostly sexually delicate or insecure, Even Tony mentioned he did enjoy femalel on female sexuality but when it comes to men he is “disgusted”, it’s al hypocrisy produced by his crew and the need for constant approval and the need for constant respect as a Boss in the crew
When the school therapist told Livia about the best moment of Tony's life was Livia reading a story to him really speaks on how much he wanted her to love him. Tony wanted that reciprocal love and really tried to give it back later in life only to have her so cold to him and everyone around her. Really stuck with me, that scene.
It's strange because Livia also got emotional over that. It seems like after Tony suggested she get pills, she genuinely begin to believe her son was plotting against her.
@@Helmuesi911 I think it was good. If it was longer and they didn't pretend Tony was the main character in the trailers and other marketing, it would have been way better.
I think James would. However, I think if he was still alive, I could see him reviewing this as Tony in a video and losing his mind. Which I would love to see.
im watching this show for the first time and when I saw that scene I had to assume that there was tons of research done on therapy by the script writers
My favorite scene of the show. That was basically a wake up call for the audience. If you were a legitimately good person, you were in the show for the blink of an eye because you wanted nothing to do with these people.
@@futbolusa100%, and it's kinda crazy how many people miss the point while watching this show, idolizing tony or at least downplaying the abhorrent actions of the various characters. it's actually kind of a great barometer for personal morals. if someone finds themselves agreeing with most of tony's behavior or rather justifying it, you can get a rough idea of who they are as a person. i'm not saying you can completely sum up a person based on their opinions of a fictional story, just that you can get a general idea of the things they find acceptable or unacceptable on a moral scale.
I am a surgeon, and I was amazed that finally someone in a TV series gets shot in the abdomen and is treated as it should be. Mid line supra and para umbilical laparotomy, orotracheal airwave, open abdomen, Jackson Pratt drains... As accurate as it could be. So well written.
@Inland Empire Absolutely right. No matter how many times I see it, that phrase _"Who am I?!? Where am I goin'?!?"_ sends chills all over, especially when he wakes up from the coma. That phrase is the heart of the show's existential exploration... I just happened to be rewatching the series, including that episode, the day we all learned of Gandolfini's passing... so surreal.
Tony Soprano is hands down the greatest TV character of all time. I love that his character progression throughout the series go from seemingly normal guy who happens to be a gangster to a completely irredeemable monster. The progression of his sociopathy is also interesting to watch, as we, the audience, see him as someone who is genuinely seeking help for his mental illness only to see that it helps him to justify his actions more so, than to actually work on them.
As a kid my father, who was Bi Polar, would get inches from my face when angered like Tony. It was definitely intimidating at the time as I was obviously too small to do anything about it. When someone just invades your personal space like that it can definitely throw you off. Thankfully, I grew up and that kind of thing doesn't happen anymore. Loved the Sopranos and watched religiously but my dad had some of those same issues like Tony (quick to anger, prone to dark moods etc) so watching Tony sometimes takes me back to those places in my childhood where I was powerless to stand up to my father.
I get that from the scenes of Tony with his mom. My dad was no Tony, for sure, but he was totally dominated by and terrified of my grandmother. My parents divorce stemmed a lot from issues he has that came from her and how she brought him up.
I just binged the sopranos a few months ago and I always really liked seeing the genuine parts of Tony. When AJ tries to kill himself and at first Tony is furious but then he seriously understands what AJ was going through and they both start crying, that shit really got me
@Bhlack_Bishop I feel like that attitude is going the opposite extreme: Tony clearly feigns empathy and emotions throughout the show, most notably when he pretends to empathize with a friend who is suffering gambling debts when he really wants to own his shop. You can't blame people for generalizing him for no empathy when there's so many examples of him lacking it.
Tony Soprano is IMO the greatest fictional character ever created, much of that is credit to David Chase but NO one could have pulled off playing such a complex & well remembered character as James Gandolfini did. Amazing show I watched originally when on HBO and at least 4/5 other times since now. Every rewatch you can find new or nuanced layered thyings you may have not seen upon first viewing.
@@Delightfully_Witchy You mean the friend he tried to protect by warning him 4 times not to get involved with his type of business, but he didn't listen and went ahead with it anyway. ua-cam.com/video/ziswmg9rt0U/v-deo.html "You can't blame people for generalizing.." I do actually because they let their emotions and subjective bias cloud their judgement.
Still hard to believe we lost James Gandolphini so young, RIP. Nobody else could've nailed that role and he had a long career in front of him had he not passed.
He should have taken better care of himself, he had a coke problem when he was younger and an alcohol problem and was known for having a eating problem even on set, had a thing for fried food especially.
@@SagaciousNihilist I never could understand why someone who has everything would work so hard at destroying themselves. Gandolfini was super rich. He could have had the best medical care. A personal trainer, nutritionist, etc. Weight watchers would probably have paid him millions to be their spokesman and lose 50-60 pounds. Smh.
@@Mostopinionatedmanofalltime You should get down on your knees and thank God that you don’t understand addiction. Addicts lead horrible lives, and it doesn't matter how much fame, money, and prestige they have.
16:46 my favourite Livia scene is when Tony gets her the macaroons and her eyes light up momentarily, before she adopts her trademark sneer of displeasure and claims “they’re too sweet”. That scene just says so much about adapting to roles which are antithetical to our nature, which is what dooms Tony
The saddest part of this is how everyone champions Tony on to make changes, but he just never really does. He doesn’t like his life on some level, but revels in it at the same time. Such an awesome show.
Chris’ issues most likely came from not wanting to actually be in the mafia. It was all he wanted but after he became a made man his substance abuse issues got much worse. He quit everything for a period of time and “made” a movie and he was ridiculed for not drinking which ultimately lead him to abuse substance again “That’s the man I’m going to hell for. My uncle Tony”
Yeah Tony, is definitely just a carbon copy of his father at least when he grew up, but he doesn’t want to admit it, and which is the reason he tries to get help by going to a psychiatric, but the way he flips out at Doctor Melfey, when she says something he doesn’t want to hear, or agree with, just literally shows he is very much like his father, and even has his fathers temper, and is just treating her like Johnny Boy, treated his mother.
@@joshshrum2764 Well said, those moments when Tony lashes out at Melfi just shows he refuses to change, which eventually lead to his death as that cut to black may had implied.
@@rdobson5413 I’m glad to hear you like my thoughts on the fact of the matter, but yeah it just shows he doesn’t wanna change, which is why the song King Nothing, playing in a episode is so fitting because Tony, is king nothing he wants to change everything, but is still stuck in his same old ways because he refuses to change he tries, and probably wants to deep down somewhere in him, but he freaks out instead of hearing her out because if he did he could actually change you feel he had character development, but it was never enough, and even though I haven’t finished the entire series i can tell that, plus and it’s why Melfi, just can’t stand him because he’s probably the hardest case she has ever had like dealing with a Italian mob boss isn’t easy for anyone especially a psychiatric, like he’s so bad she needs a psychiatric herself which is tragically funny, but i understand since Tony, scarred her because he was to much of handful. Yeah he just got to big in the mafia, and finally got popped, that’s just the way of the mafia world especially if you refuse to change, though i don’t believe in Tony’s, belief that once you die that’s it it just fades to black, i believe more in what Christopher, saw, and what Paulie, personally believes, but i guess for the context of the series his opinion was the real one which explains why death is so cruel, and sadding more reason being a ruthless mob boss makes you a big target because people really don’t like what your doing.
@@rdobson5413 While it is understandable why he is the way he is, the only way tony could have helped himself is admitting that he's actually not a victim and he's responsible for his every action, but he was constantly locked in his own past.
@@joshshrum2764 I'm gonna put my comments a ways down since I don't want to ruin anything for you at end. But I just wanted to add something that I thought was interesting reading these comments. Thar be spoilers ahead. At the end, when the camera pans out of the front of the deli, the only person you see for the family who really has any type of significance to the family is Paulie. Everyone else is either in jail, dead, or mentally gone. Yet there goes Paulie, doing what he's always done since the beginning of the show. Trying to get a tan and "basking in the glow." Earlier in the series he makes a statement saying "I survived the 70s by the skin of my balls!". Implying literally he's only surviving in this life, not living it. This is shown in many ways. He lives alone, lives for the family and has no other relationships outside of it. (he literally had a painting redone of Tony and has it in his apartment) and has shown many many times he will go to great lengths to carry out Tony's orders and not disappoint him. He also has many times where "religious" scenarios can come in for him showing, which I perceived as, his guilt and fear of the unknown. He sees The Virgin Mary in the Bada Bing, he See's a psychic who can apparently see the ghosts of the people he's killed, (very funny scene). He doesn't want to take the contractors job cause it's "cursed" and refers to the cat as evil. Mentioning the cat was staring at Chris' painting and they'll "suck the soul" out of you. He's an absolute creature of habit who will not change anything because he's survived so long doing it his way. Not changing anything. He'll explode in anger one minute, but he can be the funniest character in the entire show. A complete duality. He can get his job done, but on his terms and will only show his funny side to his peers or the ones he fears. As the camera pans out you can see the cat walking towards him with his eyes closed as usual. Which for me I took as one of two ways. "if I don't look, it won't hurt me" not wanting to break his habit and push his luck with his old wives tale about how cats are evil. Or how the cat is coming to finally take his soul as well, metaphorically. It's all cyclical for everyone in the end. No matter what you do or how you try to escape. Everyone has to pay their dues. Long post but Paulie to me, besides Tony, was one of the most interesting characters to analyze because there is so much to unravel behind his tough demeanor. On a completely different side note. I live in one of the major areas they would film. Never really got to talk to anyone but my parents met and spoke on many occasions with Vincent Curatola (Johnny Sack). Great stand up guy who loves the history of NYC and NJ. He was a pleasure to speak with. Everyone else I spoke with said the cast and crew were decent folks as well. But would cause one hell of a traffic jam when they would film outside of Satin Dolls lol. (The Bada Bing)
I finally got around to watching this wonderful show. After thoroughly watching the series, The Many Saints of Newark, and this video along with others, I have determined that Phil did 20 years in the can.
I agree on most of this but how do you not mention meadow? I’ve watched the series many times and I really felt that tony loved no one except her. Sure she was a brat sometimes but out of all the women in his life, she was the one that called him out every time. He hated when she wouldn’t talk to him. I think she is his most important relationship.
Yes, thank you! I was surprised he didn't mention his daughter. For me it was obvious that he loved her the most. She was probably the only person in the world that could disrespect him and get away with it. There was a scene in the kitchen, I remember, between them that it was emotional since Tony is being honest with her and summarizes their relationship.
Tony definitely saw Meadow as the last pure female left in his life at that point cause she wasn't born into the mob life. Plus she speaks to his empathetic, sweet side he never gets chance to show
@@dtraversodt Very true, a woman that he would never want to sleep with for obvious reasons and one that he admires and nurtures (albeit in his own ways)
Considering how meadow is probably the reason Tony was killed at the end, her not being next to him, therefore blocking the killer's shot. Those two have the closest relationship in the family
Junior did love Tony.. in his last scene, he is in a care home totally demented. He can't remember anything about the Mafia or much else about his life that you would think would be important to him, but he remembers playing catch with Tony
@@elgato5631 what kinda stupid question is that? He ordered the deaths of multiple people as soon as he's the official boss. Adrianna The two black guys Christopher hired Philly Rusty Milio (a favor asked by John) That Puerto Rican dude The first Vito
I feel like Tony's real motivation for killing Ralph were the fact that Ralph accurately pointed out the fact that Tony is a hypocrite and Tony couldn't stand the fact that Ralph was showing the smallest inkling of bettering himself as a person
Like most socio and psycho paths though Tony cared deeply about certain animals. And after the pie oh my incident that's when Ralph was doomed. Maybe I can't remember properly but for some reason I don't think that Ralphs opinion of him bothered him that deeply.
@@laurafreedlund2899 one of his kids got lawn darted remember? And Ralph became more introspective of himself. But not enough to stop being scum entirely.
Ralph murdered a horse for the insurance money since his kid was in the hospital. I would Hardly call that bettering himself. He did it out of guilt because had he been watching his son in the first place instead of taking a bath in the middle of the day it wouldn’t have happened.
Finally... someone who actually refers to Tony as what he was. A villain. A bad guy. He was not a good man. But he was for sure fun to watch. Biggest hypocrite in TV history.
Yeah he’s a bad guy despite all that there is one thing I’ll give him..he was a man of principle sometimes the things he did were actually justified even if it wasn’t morally justified in society’s eyes
Excellent video. You should do a deep dive on Valeri. The dichotomy of him killing 16 Czechoslovakians singlehandedly while pursuing his true calling of interior decoration is worth an hour long video.
The Soprano's did so well with making you relate and empathize with these pure sociopaths. Then every now and then, you were reminded that yeah, these guys were completely reprehensible.
People hate Adrianna? That's news to me. When it comes to female characters getting hate, it's usually Janice and Carmella (In that order) but I got the impression that Adrianna was a favorite.
His behavior absolutely changes throughout the show. He becomes even more greedy and spiteful as it goes on. In the first couple seasons, he shows genuine care for Puss and even Chrissy. Its as the show goes on that he becomes even more desensitized and unhinged
@@Delightfully_Witchy You're the one controlling your life and you will not change unless you make the change yourself. If you burn all your bridges where you are now, unless you recognize and fix yourself wherever you go you'll do the same thing. It can be applied to people with drinking, drug or gambling problems, but it also works for someone with anger issues.
Breaking Bad: How quickly and easily a man can fall into evil. The Sopranos: How slow and difficult the journey of rising above evil can be. Edit: Please don't misunderstand; Tony most definitively did NOT improve or change throughout the series. He was still a vile, disgusting, evil human being at the very end of the show. He merely attempted to better himself and found that it was far too difficult.
@@stairwaytoheaven8 in what way was he trying to be a good person? not trying to insult your opinion, i just wish you’d give a few examples. I personally think that tony soprano is such an insanely well written character because no matter how terrible of a person he is and all the chaos he causes, you cannot help but root for him.
I agree with you except I would probably describe it as Breaking Bad as a 90 mile an hour drive to hell where as the Sopranos is more like a slow soul sucking spiritual descent into hell.
One night in the midst of rewatching the sopranos, i had a dream that i was working for tony. No other dream i've ever had made me feel as chilled to the bone as when he was staring at me. We weren't even alone or having a conversation. He was staring from far away, asking me questions with his eyes and reading my body language. It was like being watched by a wolf or grizzly bear.
No shit. I'm always having dreams about working for Tony. He usually arranges for my wacking at the end of the dream..lol. No joke. And in the dream I feel dominated and intimidated by his presence..lol
I stopped watching TV for a while, a guy at work sold complete series DVDs of sopranos which I bought to gift to a relative. I too caught myself thinking agressive thoughts because of these mob series.
Tony tells Johnny Sac his IQ is 136. Genius is accepted at 140. He tells Johnny this after he kils Tony B, who Tony S knew had an IQ in the 150s. It all goes into how Tony S, and to a much lesser extent because he was only in one season Tony B, were able to "shine people on." They were extremely intelligent, highly manipulative sociopaths.
Was Tony B a sociopath too you? Something was clearly off about him, but he struck me more as "brain damaged" than "sociopathic". For someone who was considered such a smart guy, he made decisions too short sighted for even sociopathy to explain! WHO TRIES TO ASSASSINATE A MOB BOSS, COMPLETELY INDEPENDENTLY, WITH NO OKAY FROM ANYONE, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, MASKLESS, IN FRONT OF A HUGE ASS CROWD OF PEOPLE, AND NOT ONLY NOT MAKE SURE SAID MOB BOSS WAS DEAD, STAYS AROUND TO MOCK SAID MOB BOSS TO HIS FACE. I'm no expert, but that doesn't sound like "158 IQ" behavior to me, and Tony B made decisions like that all the time!
@@Delightfully_Witchy i feel like intelligence doesn't always mean wisdom. Tony B was too impulsive despite being able to outsmart most characters that went up against him. Tony S specifically acknowledged Tony B as, paraphrasing, someone who if he could just listen and keep it together, could really be used by Tony in the business. To answer your question, Tony B is a sociopath because he actively chose to resort to crime in order to resolve issues. Same as Tony S and all the fellows, all of them meeting an end because of the conscious decision to engage in crime
Even though Tony is a monster, his sense of humor made me laugh so hard that I was out of breath at least once. When he said that Phill Leotardo looks like the Shah of Iran) cmon, dude spent 20 years in the can
I always loved the scene. Tony runs out of the house like he's being chased by a movie slasher and it's just a little old lady. Then that laugh? Livia was pure evil.
Don't forget that Tony ordered Bobby to kill that guy over a custody battle simply because Bobby had never killed before, referring to it as "popping his cherry", which is screwed up in its own right. You can see how it messes with Bobby's mind before and after, he didn't really want to do that. He was just in such a bad position with Tony after their fight and how he beat Tony, that he knew he had to do whatever it took to get back in good standing with Tony or it meant death for him.
Messes with Bobby’s mind lol, wtf do these mobsters think the social club is? Sit around and play cards? It wasn’t evil that Tony sent Bobby to kill the fool, he was the boss and Bobby worked for him end of story…Bobby was in the wrong life if he felt squeamish about whacking folks
Suggestion for ya: Clay from Sons of Anarchy. His character had one hell of an arc over the course of the show, and I think he'd be an interesting study.
One of the absolute greatest cinematic performances we are ever likely to be able to witness. The Sopranos was arguably the first truly prolific television dramas and at least on many levels still actively able to be considered the finest to this day. It's timelessness proves just how insanely ahead of the curve and brilliant it was.
It’s not enough to prevent him from being classified as evil, but on some level I think Tony does have a conscience, at least more than some of the other guys, which is part of what makes him a complex character. For example I think he felt guilty about Vito’s death and used “he was my best earner” simply as an excuse to the other guys as to why he didn’t think his death was justified. At the end of the day Tony didn’t really care about Vito being gay, unlike Phil who was the truly evil character of the series.
In Tony's mind, the Vito thing was about money mostly and then with Phil's repeated demands about doing something about it he was also protecting his position/rep.
@@bobbywoods684 nah, you're not wrong with those 2 aspects but Tony was definitely also wrestling with his opinion of Vito's sexuality as well, and in the end it seems that he ultimately is at least somewhat open to the idea of accepting it.
Don't get me wrong, Walter White is undeniably one of fiction's great anti-heroes/villains whose saga of rapid moral decay will still have praise showered on it a century from now, but Tony Soprano blows the roof off as far as realistically putting to screen the classic anti-hero archetype is concerned. Manipulative, deceptive, cruel, callous, narcissistic, egomaniacal, hedonistic, and murderous, among his other "qualities," Tony embodies most of the traits one associates with loathsome characters commonly portrayed as being evil in history and in drama. In works of lesser depth and inspiration, a character of this sort would either be portrayed as a forgettable stock villain or as an intolerably repulsive monster incarnate. And yet, through the star-perfect alignment of intelligent screenwriting with James Gandolfini's indelible acting talent, we were graced with a nuanced character who fully embodied all these classic sociopathic traits but who also had endearing human qualities and vulnerabilities that somewhat softened his rough-edged mobster side. Unlike most of his criminal associates, Tony could be charming, intelligent, sly, cunning, charismatic, pathetic, and yes, on occasion even likable and wholly sympathetic! Before The Sopranos, these traits were found together on television only in the character of a bona fide hero or an imperfect but morally decent protagonist and were never shown as being possessed in full by career criminals and murderers. For me, the realistic nuance, complexity, and depth of character alone make Tony the most incredible, all-fictional persona ever created outside of literature.
This was an excellent dissertation of a “smooth criminal”… as a teenager watching this show, Tony’s charisma totally eclipsed the sociopath that seeps out now as I have rewatched this series as an adult. Top notch acting from all the cast members, no other series can match this type of character building.
@@Delightfully_Witchy if that was towards me, it's not like I'm full blown sociopath, I just have tendencies (it's clear to people who interact with me I don't care what they think about me, I have a tendency to ignore people with clearly lower i.q.s opinions on things, I can get a pretty hot head. I get enjoyment out of toying with people's emotions) But I also know this about myself so I make clear steps to not allowing myself to go to far. I don't lie when asked questions, my moral code doesn't allow me to cheat in relationships because of seen what it can do to someone. I don't steal either.
Tony had amazing superficial charm. Towards the end of the show when it’s all coming un done and the charm wears off you see the mask completely off and witness who tony soprano truly always was underneath. Tony is like a Frankenstein. An invention/product of his environment. Brought into this life by cunning charming manipulative sociopathic narcissistic gangsters. Raised by them. Mentored. Led. Conned himself by the surrogate fathers or his life. Misery prison and death.
Love the analysis of Tony's father. One nugget from The Sopranos that I think is telling (which I'll paraphrase) is in season 6, talking to Paulie, Tony asks Paulie if his dad was proud of him and added "I never really knew where I stood with him." My take is that while we know Livia was actively undermining, his father wasn't exactly building Tony's self-esteem up either and it was a distant relationship. He clings to the idea of his father as a "standup guy," yet it really is just an idea.
How about Paulie's response, which I always loved... _"He thought enough of ya to give ya the Willie Overall thing, didn't he?!?"_ Ergo, he loved you so much, Ton', he gave you a hit to do! 😆
The business partner’s sister murder, I thought was especially evil due to Tony giving the job to Bobby. It being shortly after their conversation about Bobby never having killed anyone; how he says it’s not what his father wanted for him or not his thing, something along those lines. You can tell Bobby, despite his occupation has serious moral reservations about murdering someone, and is grateful for the fact he has never done it. Looking at How disgruntled Bobby was prior to leaving for the job, Bobby’s face the whole time, and his mental absence afterwards, just adds a whole nother layer of evil to that murder. And the reasoning behind why Tony decided it was Bobby that had to be the one, is basically because hes insecure about Bobby beating him up.
Bobby swore and oath. The oath states you kill for the family. You would kill your own brother when ordering. Bobby had an easy life. He got paid good money to do nothing. And he paid for it being shot up.
I think the greatest indication of Tony as a person is his interaction with Davey Scatino in the tent. He basically tells him he let him in the poker game because he knew he could eventually bust him out and take his business. Then when davey starts crying he goes “what?! If you had won I’d be the one crying the blues” not taking into account that 45k is bird feeder money for him.
I agree, i’ve seen a lot of other people rationalize it as Davey asked for it because he kept insisting on being in the game but what Davey asked for doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day he was a small fish compared to Tony. Tony had a choice to make in that situation: not get involved in his family friend’s gambling problem or take advantage of him for his own gain. So easy for him to take the first option and write Davey off but his greedy, unempathetic and opportunitistic behavior drove him to the 2nd one.
Just because Tony said that doesn't mean he predicted that happening he's not the halfback of Notre Dame. Look who he's talking to it's degenerate gambler Davey who owes him lots of ziti. He can't sympathize with him he needs to be feared he needs his money. It was business at that point.
@@Tiorg-g1u I think it's deeper than that, I think Tony did it to hurt him because Dave was using him to get what he wanted like Tony does to others, for a guy who uses others all the time he really doesn't like being used himself.
mrmojok The hell he didn’t. That was the dumbest thing that junior ever said. He had the savvy to control Junior and Junior was too stupid to recognize it. He got ruled by everyone, Livia included. He said that because he knew Tony was like Johnny and it showed his own inadequacies.Very thin skinned.No varsity team that’s why he tried to project on Tony.
@@mathewmcdonald3657 junior was actually very wise according to David Chase. He also stated that he’s his favorite character I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective
The Sopranos always had the best and most realistic dream sequences in any movie/ tv I seen. They captured the randomness and feel of them perfectly. This was just great man, thank you👍
Yeah, the dream sequences are amazing. In most shows and movies they either try too hard to make it weird or they are much too obvious with the symbolism. Our subconscious is way more subtle than that. In the Sopranos, the dreams have this odd unsettling feeling that some nightmares have, where you can't even explain why you're scared. It feels like real life but everything is just a little bit off. David Lynch also knows how to do dream sequences. Of course sometimes his whole work feels like a weird dream.
Check out Twin Peaks, which predates The Sopranos. David Lynch is the true master of dream sequences, and much of his work focuses on it. I think The Sopranos does it brilliantly too, though.
This video made me realized something. His most likely death at the end of the series was really the only good resolve for him. If he kept on living, he would've only kept hurting others and himself. Since he wouldn't allow himself to improve, he would've died not long after anyways
@Raylan Givens “…provided they have the right motivation.” Thing is, after killing Christopher in “Kennedy and Heidi”, Tony basically gives up on any potential that he may become a good person, especially since his death was massively outweighed by the monetary gain he acquired later in the episode.
I agree on all counts. Men like Tony don't have happy endings, and the unhappiest of all is if he'd lived a full life. The only real tragedy is that his innocent family had to suffer one final trauma by having to witness his death.
The Personality and Psychology section of this video reminds me of my dad when I was younger. He's a lot better now, but my god watching someone's eyes twitch In rage four inches away is a terrifying and heart wrenching sight to behold
@The Ace of Spades Well tbf i have seen people who have anger issues Note: I'm not saying i have it but have seen people who have anger issues that high
It really is. My dad would hold me up by the shoulders and his eyes would bug out in rage. I can't take it, man...I just can't. I still shy away from anyone who stares at me in anger or even mild annoyance.
I notice that Meadow,Tony and Johnny Boy are alike in ways(opportunistic,quick to throw tantrums/anger, outgoing, always looking outward) vs how AJ,Livia,Junior and Carmella are ( whiny, borderline personalities, highly sensitive, sarcastic and draining attitudes) .While Tony picked up on Johnny's habits and Livia's psychological conditions, Janice however has both her father AND mother's personality making her unbearable which trickled in ways down to Tony
Not only do we get insight into Tony's inner thought process by way of Melfi's therapy sessions, but also by way of his dream sequences -- I would argue the latter being the more illuminating of the two. Between Gandolfini's fearless performance & David Chase's commitment to embracing the darkness of the character (despite fan backlash about him being too "unlikable"), we get the most realistic depiction of a sociopath in a television series.
@@libertylivesin1776 I mean, I don't like him. He's a terrible person. lol But the complaints weren't as simple as "I think Tony's an unlikable character." The complaints were "Tony is too unlikable and it's ruining the show." The former is a pretty normal response. The latter is a suggestion that a protagonist needs to be "likable" in order to be well written.
@@jakecorenthose2901 I doubt it had to do with being too unlikeable, it more had to do with a minor sense of comic nature to his actions in the last couple of seasons. It seems to be somewhat bordering on ridiculous, but I agree, if Chase didn't fully embrace most of the darker traits, we wouldn't have had such a riveting series. At least on my second viewing it made me appreciate Phil Leotardo and Johnny Sack more
@@HydeFK I always sympathized with Johnny. Phil? Nah. For as much as Phil expresses disgust with people like Tony for not upholding the traditional values of the mob, Phil does plenty of that himself. He's just as much of a hypocrite in many ways. Also, he tried to have a woman gang raped. Indefensible.
One thing I'd like to point out is, since A. J. is diagnosed with ADHD, it is very likely Tony has it too. High inteligence yet bad grades at school, impulsive, reckless, immature, always "on the go" yet acomplishing very little... Basically textbook ADHD. I'm kinda annoyed this was never brought up in therapy
I think Tony somewhat acknowledges this in the episode as a possibility, it's subtle but I think that's why he gets so angry because he sees ADHD as a negative (which it isn't) and also sees the traits they are listing as being similar to some of his own traits. Still it's a shame it never came up again.
I don't know why people think Tony's IQ wouldn't be in the mid 130s. He displays real intelligence when managing his relationships and circumstances to the point where you can't imagine a less intelligent member like Chris or Paulie doing it. He make careful judgements about when to use force and when not to which are mostly correct. Sylvio is the only one (and he has a breakdown in no time because he cannot find a way to manage the stress).
He tells Johnny Sac he tested for an IQ of 136. Though it should be noted (my memory is a bit spotty but I'm pretty sure this is right) in Many Saints of Newark we see Livia talking to the principal and she mentions he tested for 136 and this is when he was a teenager so by the time of the Sopranos it's likely much higher.
Tony's relationship with Artie serves as normalcy that contrasts the relationship he has with those involved in the 'life'. I missed that insight. Really profound. Thanks for posting and thanks for putting the work in to read between the lines. I appreciate learning from you
Tony died in the restaurant but the primary plot of the show was his journey to self-improvement and discovery. That death occurred the minute Melfi kicked him out of the office with the final time. And it was never going to end any other way.
@@quagmoe7879 Yeah only in the sense that David Chase hasn't given a definitive answer. But the many clues and examples of foreshadowing all indicate that Tony meets his end in that diner.
@@kaminsod4077 It could also be argued Tony didn’t die. I typically think he did, but I also think it’s equally possible he didn’t die that night, and it was the story itself that died. I don’t think it matters much either way.
It’s not a stereotype and it’s completely true. I met theCEO Waste Management , they have contracts with every major area in Florida.Not sure about the rest of the country but this guy is Tony Soprano. I waited on his table when they signed a multi billion dollar contract with the city of Jacksonville. There were lower bidders but he knew the crooked politicians couldn’t say no to him. Now I have no first hand knowledge of a bribe but I know his lawyer up here who you have to deal with if you want anything significant done here. Both men are gentleman but serious guys and the lawyer has given me great concert tickets in his private box over the years. They were drinking exceptional wines and after dinner he orders the table a round of the cheapest Anisette we had. I clarified the order and he told me Anisette is the drink of the assassins. The FBI let him listen to wiretaps and is a known fact in the mob. I clarified that I was not questioning his choices just wanted him to be informed of the cheap shit we had. This was many years ago but I was always super impressed with the guy. No pretension just had it and knew it. Not arrogantly but extremely confident. I recognize and appreciate when people have game. This guy oozed it.
This was not long after the guy who started Miami subs was murdered.Apparently he was in debt to them and had the ability to bring everything down and I guess they pegged him as someone who could not stand up. Plus the Jai Lai business in Florida was bleeding money and I guess he outlived his usefulness.
I think the perfect scene that highlights Tony's attempts at rationalizing his own deplorable behavior occurs in the episode in which the African American cop, Leon, writes Tony a ticket for speeding. Tony causes him to lose his job merely out of spite, then sees the cop working at a hardware store. After Tony realizes the cop would have done nothing differently, Tony denies his involvement and then afterwards attempts to shift blame away from himself on to the assemblymen who did Tony's bidding in the first place. Tony eventually returns to the store with an attempt to bribe the former cop for no other purpose than drag him down to his despicable level of corruption so that he might feel better about himself, knowing he caused an honest man to lose his career. Tony is entirely transactional, so he offers the former cop money. When the cop declines, you can see the seething pained look on Tony's face, realizing the cop is genuinely true to his principles and isn't so easily corruptible. Tony is forced to accept the cop is more morally principled than he is, despite the desperate attempts to feel better about his own depravity. The last shot before the credits reveals Tony walking away in his misery, alone.
He actually is transferred to a shitty division and is denied overtime, so that’s why he’s working at a hardware store part time, to make up for his overtime.
Perfect showing that while Tony technically won that altercation he ended up coming out looking like the lesser man. That's a burn that's gonna nag at him deep down all the way to the grave.
Since Martin Scorscese's 2006 Oscar-winning movie: The Departed became 15 years old a few weeks or days ago. A video about either Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) or Collin Sullivan (Matt Damon) would be interesting. And if we're at Frank Costello, a video about his real-life counterpart, Whitey Bulger (who was played by Johnny Depp in the 2015 Movie Black Mass) would be cool too
I still believe that there is no 1 right answer to the ending, thats what makes it so brilliant! People don't like the unknown & not getting closure, it stirs up mixed, unpleasant emotions in us so we create our own theories instead of accepting that we may NEVER know & maybe thats the way its supposed to be
One of the early striking moments is when he knowing allowed his neighbor's gambling to get out of control just so he could drain him of all his money and ruin him, then tell him more or less "lol sorry" after losing everything.
@@jonesdan85 that warning was a small piece of Tony trying to be as good a person as he could. He does this a few times through the series, like when he tried to really help Artie with his investment. But Artie misread his intentions as the worst, and that made Tony revert.
im actually a first year student of psychology and one of the instructors actually pointed at this show multiple times when giving examples of psychological treatment
@Johnny Caruthers no its not its just symbolism. Theres a lot of it in the series. The episode where he confronts his old coach is filled with it. The coma episode too.
One of the things I hate about UA-cam is the autocorrect on something that was right(it was meant to be good or bad). But for some FUCKING REASON!!!! It autocorrects it!
I loved the breakdown here. One of the things I would have liked to see was how Tony took control of the business of his friend who was a gambling addict. How he ran it into the ground and wrecked that guys marriage and life, yet at one point, when he was alone with his friend, he was kind and sympathetic almost. It was a crazy dichotomy but was extremely well written and showed how evil Tony was in certain situations. How he could give one of his victims a pat on the head and comfort them, even while he was the one ruining their life.
Let's remember that friend also took advantage of Tony, first to get into the game (while having no money), 2nd by telling Chris that Tony had oked him getting a much larger sum of money.
@@GabrielNicho that's true! Tony did try to steer him away from the game as well, because he knew what was going to happen once the friend got in too deep. It does speak to Tony's sociopathy though, as he did know what he was going to do to this guys business, and should have insisted. But, the friend WAS a piece of shit too, so it's a toss up in my mind who was worse. :)
In the end it was just business for Tony. But he tried to stop his friend and warned him to stay away after that it speaks volumes that Tony could feel sympathy for his friend
@@vintagejoehill Well, my point is that Tony didn't know that his friend was already in debt, so he probably figured he would lend him a smaller amount of money (that Tony thought he could pay back), and then his friend lied and got an even larger sum of money (another 15 000 dollars if I remember right), which he then lost. We don't know if the business could have been saved had it just been a smaller sum. That friend (Davy Scatino) kind of got himself in the deep there. My sisters boyfriend got a friend just like Scatino, he is always borrowing or trying to borrow money from people so he can play it away on online poker.
What a wonderfully in-depth analysis. I just watched Sopranos for the first time earlier this year and was absolutely floored with the performances and writing. I’ve been wanting to rewatch it and watched this video in preparation. Bravo. Such an expert understanding on what makes Tony tick and one of the most intriguing characters ever put on screen
Tony Soprano: A bad man who wants to be good, but can't be. Walter White: A good man who wants to be bad, and can't get enough of it. At the end of the day, both characters fall victim to their insecurities.
I always felt Tony was better than Walt simply because he felt some empathy for his actions, Walter was just narcissistic and straight evil. Had no empathy for his actions and was turned on by his own power
@@stairwaytoheaven8 I agree, season 6 Tony was a monster compared to Tony in season 1. However I feel like Tony at some point did have good in him and good morals. Walt in the other hand always was evil just didn’t know how to show it or let it out. Until his cancer diagnosis. It’s interesting and sad seeing Tony’s downfall into darkness
Gandolfini was one of the greatest actors ever, simply for his ability to be 100% convincing and believable in a scene without even saying a word!! He moved me simply with his facial expressions and movements. Calling someone the GOAT of acting is so subjective, and 100% opinion and taste. But I can’t think of many actors who were able to make me feel something so strongly, and be so convincing that he’s a real person, as well as Gandolfini, without even saying a word. Just incredible.
I’m surprised you didn’t mention his coma… I found it fascinating how in his deepest subconscious mind he knew that his life could have been completely different if he’d have never been involved in crime. And how ironic it was that even so during that dream like he was accused of fraud by violent monks 😂 this show has so many layers.
It breaks my heart that James Gandolfini is no longer with us. However, it makes my heart happy to see his son on the screen. Legend continues, Legend never dies.
I think there's a bit more to the Gloria thing. I think there's some empathy there. He understands those depression and suicidal feelings. That seems to be the only way he connects with other human beings. He tried to connect to Christopher this way in the car and Chris shut it down, which honestly, may be where a lot of the resentment comes from, even if its never brought up again.
This is the greatest episode you've done yet, and I was already in love with your channel for analyzing Michael Corleone, if I may suggest you should go for the characters played by Bobby DeNiro and Joe Pesci in most of Scorsese films, I would love to see your take with the most complex of them all: Sam "Ace" Rothstein
One minor detail you missed. Ralph wasn't killed out of revenge for the horse or the girl. thats just the lie Tony used to justify it. Tony really killed Ralph because he called him a hypocrite. Through out the entire series Tony freaks out whenever he is called out on his bs by his Dr his family, and friends. Edit. The answer is similar to your analysis of why Walt killed Mike in BB
Yea the same goes for Chris's murder. The car seat/Tony's "concern" for Chris's daughter were just an excuse he used to justify why he killed Chris, but in reality he killed him because he didn't trust him anymore and Chris was a liability to the family/Tony (plus by this point Tony pretty much hated Chris for his addiction and for ruining his plan to use Chris as his proxy to protect himself from the FBI). That's why Tony brings up the car seat to people at Chris's funeral, because he gets mad that people are showing sympathy for Chris. Also Tony has a dream where he tells Melfi his actual feelings and admits that he's glad Chris is dead. The strongest evidence that the car seat was just an excuse is that Tony completely forgets about Chris' wife and daughter immediately afterwards, he doesn't even talk to them at the funeral and they are never shown or mentioned again for the rest of the final season.
Great point. That's a trait consistent with a certain type of sociopath: when someone points out the illegitimacy of the image he has cultivated as a public persona, he becomes violently angry, and seeks to forcibly silence the "source" of his insecurities with violence. It's a psychopathic form of projection, underpinned by egotistical mechanisms of defense.
There are many layers to why he killed Ralph, like the fact that he already deeply hated him, and how the bringing up of how Tony’s consumption of meat was what Ralph chose to call him out on was most likely a factor, since we know meat is a known trigger for Tony.
The most beautiful part of Goated HBO shows like the Sopranos and the Wire is that although objectively they're "Evil", when we see things through their perspective and understand why they commit certain actions, we can sympathize and even feel bad for them sometimes. There's no direct influence from the show on who you should like and support, they simply lay out what happens and let you decide for yourself. People aren't all good and bad in real life, and these shows reflect that perfectly.
tony soprano is my favorite fictional character of all time. he is the most well written, likeable, unlikeable, good-man-villain character ever. i'm very protective and sensitive about his character (i know hes a bad dude, but there is so much more to him than just being bad) so i am really excited to see your take on him! james gandolfini did such an amazing job and i miss im every day. sometimes my husband does a (pretty bad) tony soprano impression for me when im having a bad day!
I somehow glossed over Tony actually scoring high on his IQ tests in Many Saints, so apologies for stating otherwise!
Please do Fletcher from Whiplash!!!
@@calebkeith2630 I need to watch that movie all the way through one day.
@@pezzz182 please do! the ending is astonishing
no offencsh John but I gotta IQ of 136, itsh been teshted
@@calebkeith2630 I'll have to check that movie out, thanks!
I just imagine Tony Soprano watching this on his laptop, doing his heavy breathing thing as the video goes on. Until finally he just picks it up and throws it across the room
The breathing, dude. His loud ass breathing had the most lines of dialogue in the entire show.
I can picture him yelling "Muthafucka!" as he throws it.
@@Vintage-28 haha
😂😂🤣
You know he doesn't trust that cookie shit...
“Ralph isn’t a great guy at all”
That’s probably the nicest possible way to describe Ralph lmao
A. She was hoowah
B. SHINEBOX
@@jazzs7480 And C…that wasn’t his kid she was carrying. (It absolutely was)
@@Acheron93 that was no kid, that was a grilled cheese in your belly. Made m Chef Leotard-OH
@@jazzs7480 Before…and *WAY* before! You hear that Tone?
@@Acheron93 some people are you there stuffing themselves lol
“Being likeable doesn’t make you a good person” well put.
True
we are all good and bad persons. we are all good and bad. One time i told a fellow i wasn't going to give him the car till the check became cash. He replied "but you know where i live , i have a sucessfull business, and i'm a Good Christian." To which i replied. "Mickey, mickey, mickey, that's what They all say. I never met a bad christian yet."
very interesting observation
@No Name you just spouted nonsense
Lots of criminals are funny and likeable, for some it’s a necessary part of the job
As much as a genius dr Melfi was it's kinda puzzling for me that throughout 7 years of therapy and even after her colleagues begun throwing her direct hints she still didn't figure out that Tony, in fact, never had the makings of a varsity athlete...
This deserves more likes lmao
OHHHH!
😂
Oh she knew. That’s why she rejected Tony’s advances
Small hands that was his problem.
So I've watched the entire series of The Sopranos, and I've watched this analysis of Tony Soprano, along with several other videos on Tony Soprano and his character. After considering all that I have seen, and all of the information I've gathered, I have come to the conclusion that Tony Soprano, most likely, never had the making of a varsity athlete...
EDIT: WOW! Thanks for all the likes and comments! I originally thought that my comment was kinda corny and silly, and never would have thought so many people liked it. Thanks guys 😊
😂😂😂😂
He was a bit of a jerk, too.
@@briangriffin8106 -- Most people in a position of power are usually JERKS -- I think they think so highly of themselves and think so low about anyone who is beneath them
That really hurt my feelings!
HE WAS A HOOWAH!!
Also, the way Tony would watch television or movies was particularly fascinating, he romanticized noble moral acts like when he was watching the war documentary. He appeared extremely emotional at the thought of a soldier sacrificing his life for his fellow comrade.
That’s why he’s such a great character..so much depth and complexity when it came to who he was as a person. The whole dialogue of him and melfi about him and his crew of “soldiers” explains it all. As long as what he does(good or bad) is within the frame work of the mob he really had no guilt about it. It’s almost like he has 2 totally separate lives with a completely different personality to match each one of those lives.
@@rippindrummer666 good analysis
Whatever happened to Gary Cooper...
@@tapoemt3995 The strong silent type
@@rippindrummer666 is just
Okay
The difference between Breaking Bad and The Sopranos is that the Breaking Bad writers clearly made a point of getting you to make excuses for Walt's horrible actions in your head, and had you empathising with him until the very end. The Sopranos, on the other hand, simply presents Tony's evil doing as it appears, without sugarcoating anything, and leaves it up to the viewer to decide just how evil he is, depending on where your own moral compass is pointed.
That's what makes the shows so compelling and why they still hold up today! It makes you question your morals and how you were raised. It's hard not to look at them as icons which is fucked up
Because I feel like the point of sopranos as much as everyone disagrees is Tony was not at heart an evil man he was stuck wearing mask he could never take off even if he did terrible terrible things he didn’t want to be that person was a big cause Of his depression depression is being tired of urself the person you’ve portrayed however Tony could never truly come to this conclusion bc he has to be the strong silent type
@@saintsaint3948 A huge difference between the two shows is that Tony was born into this life and he knew little else, while Walt made a conscious decision to enter it.
Or you could just watch 2 horrible characters slowly self destruct. Never thought they're good guys. The writing on both shows were genius.
Yeah, that's not really true. Walt may be sympathetic from the start, but you're not meant to be rooting for him till the end, or at least not justifying his actions. I mean the show makes a point of showing his rich friends offering to basically solve his problems no strings attached, and he chooses to cut ties with them, insulting them in the process. That's not a show "getting you to make excuses" and they did that in season 1.
And what about Sopranos? Most viewers seem to say about Tony that "the charm wore off" or "the show slowly tears back the façade". The whole first season his traumatic childhood and abusive mother are focused on, and he's the victim of an attempted hit by his own uncle that he then retaliates against. The first season does about as much work making him sympathetic as Breaking Bad did for Walt.
i know you don’t really do supporting characters but i really think Christopher Moltisanti deserves a analyzing evil
and Phil since he did 20 years and not a peep.
@@TehUltimateSnakei jacked off in a tissue I compromised
@@TehUltimateSnakehe compromised.
My favorite character
Man I have been asking him to do one for literally months on Christopher!!! I really hope he does
One of my favorite details in The Sopranos is Tony’s eating habits. In the beginning of the show, he will have Carmela heat up normal portions of leftovers or will have normal snacks when around the house. Towards the end he will take an entire tray of leftover pasta, sit down in his bathrobe, and eat the entire tray in one sitting. Whenever he goes to another person’s house in the later seasons, he rummages through people’s fridges and helps himself to any cold cuts or meat they have in the fridge.
I see this as a Dante Allegieri reference. In The Inferno, Dante is stopped from going to heaven by a hungry wolf. "Feeding makes her hungrier... she mates with many beasts". This wolf symbolized the diabolical effects of avarice and greed.
Just so, we watch Tony's metaphysical and insatiable "hunger" for everything denied to him grafually manifest on film as his growing voracious appetite.
Depression can do crazy things you your body. Food soothes alot of pain. But all the meals looked great. Myself i could eat
@@mjohnson5030 wow. yeah, you nailed it!
“You eat meat by the fuckin’ carload”
@@cherecrow2333 It's weird, when I'm depressed I eat a lot more, but when I'm extremely depressed I lose my appetite and barely eat. Then again when at the latter I only go out of bed to take a leak then go back to sleep.
The thing about Tony Soprano is that, so long as he doesn't have a problem with you, he's almost decent and you could be forgiven for actually liking him ... but as soon as there's a problem, he's cunning and brutal.
you can even say if he's a great guy to hang out with if your in his good graces
@@andromeda7588 That's kinda how all humans work
We call this 'a man'
It's normal to like Tony, that's the point of the show lmao all heros are flawed, humanity is flawed, judges reveal themselves by judging Tony
He's chaotic GOOD.
@@looweegee252 chaotic good or chaotic neutral. He's hardly an evil person due to his love for animals. The evil things he does most people would do the same shit if they were in his shoes.
@@looweegee252 Yea but if you piss the average guy off, he doesn't try to strangle you and say he's going to chop your balls off. They usually just distance themselves from you.
You know how much gabagool I had to eat to get through this? It took me twenty years to make this video and by the time I was done my estimation of Tony Soprano as a man just plummeted.
Your not that guy
Woke up this mornin...
Got some gabagool
Hey! Youre talking to the boss here!
The toxins.
You look like Stevie wonder with your eyes rolling like that
17:11 It should also be mentioned that Lydia effectively puts out a hit on Tony, her only son, by manipulating Junior after finding out Tony was seeing a psychiatrist. She was so disgusted by the idea that simply disowning her adult son wasn’t enough; she wanted him dead so he would never embarrass her again.
While her own obsessively narcissistic ego played a major part in this, with her instantly imagining Tony telling a stranger about what a terrible mother she was while she wasn’t present to defend herself, another aspect of it was that she saw Tony seeing a therapist as an unforgivable show of weakness.
In the absence of her abusive late husband, she took up the torch of enforcing the “old ways”, effectively becoming the shadow boss of the family. Even Junior and Tony recognize this; realizing at multiple points that Lydia is manipulating them, and by doing so she is running things without actually being officially involved, and from an untouchable position of safety and fealty; an elderly mother, grandmother, and widow. The law would never touch her. Rival families would never touch her. She was bulletproof, in a world where everyone else was a sworn soldier.
She initially wanted Tony to succeed Junior as the head of the family, but found Tony’s admission of seeing a psychiatrist as so irredeemably pathetic that she lost all faith in him, and immediately began plotting to take him out. In her eyes, he had shown himself to not be leadership material, and would only ever be an embarrassing liability-a threat to _her_ legacy.
Livia.
@@skatefan9495 ...
Yes! So well said, she was also furious that Tony put her in the nursing home aka retirement community and wanted revenge
Nancy Marchand should have gotten ALLLL the awards for playing Livvia Soprano. Holy moly did she NAIL that role so utterly. That farewell episode where they so vividly show the effects of smoking is seared on my retinas. 🤣💔
Second paragraph really nailed it. Well observed. I've noticed this more & more the more I watch it.
Barbara really does represent the most healthy way of dealing with toxic family members. Janice and Tony represent the two extremes. Janice got as far away as she could, as fast as she could. Tony stayed and became just like his father, while being the most affected by the neuroses of his mother. He took the brunt of the psychological damage caused by that upbringing. People criticize Barbara's character because not much is done with her in the series. We only see her at important family events. But I think that's intentional. She did get away, but she's close enough to still be part of the family, and she's there when she's needed, but she's far enough away to not be damaged by all the BS that her family is involved in. She's "in the family, but not of the family", so to speak. Consequently, she is the least psychologically damaged of the siblings.
Well said
@@oliviav.3565 thank you ♥️
Yah makes sense actually well put.
Great points
But I think it would be better put, “she’s of the family, but she isn’t in the family.”
Just my literature-obsessed 2cents lol
@@DonRoyalX No, that doesn’t make sense. She’s “in the family”, as in she’s related by blood, but she’s not “of the family”, meaning she is different than them because she distanced herself. I didn’t make this up, which is why it’s in quotations. That’s literally what it means.
"Tony was worried his nephew's drug abuse would impact his newborn daughter"
I don't think that Tony gave a shit about Christopher's daughter. In my opinion, when Tony noticed the car seat, he subconsciously chose Christopher's daughter as the internal rationale that he would use to justify the murder to himself. He had been waiting for the opportunity to get rid of Christopher without the burden of guilt, and the branch through the car seat presented that opportunity. If Tony had been able to look back on the accident years later, it's likely that he would have convinced himself that saving Christopher's daughter was the reason he did it, and the incident had nothing to do with the real reason, which was that he was protecting himself from the dangerous liability that Christopher had become.
On the other hand, could one argue that the mere fact that he needed to seek a moral justification for his self-serving behavior showed some psychological ambivalence and ethical conscience?
That second writing is just the first sentence with extra steps.
@@Rrr_558 Your reading comprehension needs improvement
You are correct
My interpretation as well. He kept saying it to people as though he was trying to convince himself...
Tony never wanted to change, he wanted to world to change to fit his beliefs.
that's why he never made it as a varsity athlete
Correct.
I don't think he cared about what others believed. He had his own personal code. When confronted with social norms, he dismissed them as any other point of view he didn't personally subscribe to. Pretty common for criminals to have their own code, and it's usually based on what actions bring success within their environment.
See every other human being ever for examples
He actually did try to change a few times but he never followed through with either of them
i think what really always struck me about tony soprano is how much you see that he does actually care about doing the right thing, but how often he clearly lets himself off the hook. it almost feels like a greek tragedy in a way
Trying to cure oneself while you're responsible for murder, theft and suffering and pain of thousands of people, is probably the hardest conflict a man can have. That's why he has such a struggle with his morality. It's truly hard, but not impossible.
That's true but he only partially lets himself off the hook, in that he doesn't force himself to recompense or course correct in any way, however he still absorbs the guilt internally which manifests as slowly growing self-loathing.
It's crazy how a kind and sweet man like James Gandolfini can play an evil person so flawlessly along with Bryan Cranston and Robin Williams
Can you educate me on who robin williams played as a evil person? I can’t think of the role
@@ashtonpain6867 Genie in Aladdin, obviously! Joking, Im curious as to what role he played where he was evil beyond maybe the hunter in Jumanji but is that really evil? lol
@@louis4529 man I ain’t get the joke now I feel like an ass my bad bro lol
@@louis4529 he played a villain called Sy Parish in one hour photo
@@ashtonpain6867 Don't know if OP was referencing it but Insomnia with Al Pacino. Underrated movie.
“Without Tony Soprano, there would be no Walter White.”
-Vince Gilligan, creator of _Breaking Bad._
Who?
wow... deep
@@user-wo5tc9ux7u Bravo Vince
Didnt Bryan Cranston say that?
@@mattjindrak there couldn't be a more detailed explanation of who he is, Vince Gilligan, the creator of Breaking Bad... a little known show about a gifted science teacher who gets terminal cancer and decides to produce crystal meth as a means to pay for his treatment and support his family after his demise with hilarious consequences... I can understand your confusion, hardly anyone watched it or have mentioned it online.
My favorite scene about Tony's nature is a scene where he talks to Melfi about Vito being gay. He immediately tells her that he finds it disgusting, but after a fairly short discussion, he admits that he actually doesn't care if someone is gay. Because of his upbringing and the people he surrounds himself with, he instinctively acts hatefully, but once he's in the safety of Melfi's office and is free to explore his actual thoughts, he finds that he doesn't hate gay people or even Vito. It's a window into the reality that Tony isn't a meat headed bigot like most of his crew, and probably would be a more understanding or even kinder person if his circumstance allowed it. It also makes his eventual decision to have Vito killed all the more cold and callous.
Vito was killed because of the collective influence of the Mafia and their so called obsession with respect. As if anybody cared or their Crew wouldn’t get any respect already for just having a gay member with all the killings they’ve donde before killing Vito, it’s hypocritical. They are all mostly sexually delicate or insecure, Even Tony mentioned he did enjoy femalel on female sexuality but when it comes to men he is “disgusted”, it’s al hypocrisy produced by his crew and the need for constant approval and the need for constant respect as a Boss in the crew
Gay people suck boooo
Ya he likes wild animals, pets, small children, young women, old people occasionally get a break, tomato's & gays. The average human is on their own.
@@slavesdetach ? St8 yapper
You can’t blame someone over humanity’s mob mentality. If you show weakness you’ll be next.
The late James Gandolfini made Tony Soprano a unique caracter.
He did indeed. R.I.P., James.
Unique is putting it lightly, more like LEGENDARY
Facts, the only way someone else can take on that character is to go the way they did: by having his son take on the mantle
And the sky is blue.
You must’ve been at the top of your fuckin class
When the school therapist told Livia about the best moment of Tony's life was Livia reading a story to him really speaks on how much he wanted her to love him. Tony wanted that reciprocal love and really tried to give it back later in life only to have her so cold to him and everyone around her. Really stuck with me, that scene.
Yeah but the movie really sucked.
You’re talking through your hat
It's strange because Livia also got emotional over that. It seems like after Tony suggested she get pills, she genuinely begin to believe her son was plotting against her.
@@Helmuesi911 I think it was good. If it was longer and they didn't pretend Tony was the main character in the trailers and other marketing, it would have been way better.
@@stanleysmooth lol 😆 that movie was so ridiculously terrible. Wow.
I think Gandolfini would've approve of this analysis man. Seriously well done
I think James would. However, I think if he was still alive, I could see him reviewing this as Tony in a video and losing his mind. Which I would love to see.
Yesssss
Taken too soon
@@leannerose6181 like heath ledger... his death made him an immortal legend
Like a lot of actors who have played iconic villains, he was reputed to be a wonderful person in real life.
The scene where Carmella sees the aged therapist considering divorce is one of the best, most morally honest scenes in the history of television.
Carmela whit one l
Loved how dude said he wasn’t charging her for the session because he doesn’t accept blood money.
im watching this show for the first time and when I saw that scene I had to assume that there was tons of research done on therapy by the script writers
My favorite scene of the show. That was basically a wake up call for the audience. If you were a legitimately good person, you were in the show for the blink of an eye because you wanted nothing to do with these people.
@@futbolusa100%, and it's kinda crazy how many people miss the point while watching this show, idolizing tony or at least downplaying the abhorrent actions of the various characters. it's actually kind of a great barometer for personal morals. if someone finds themselves agreeing with most of tony's behavior or rather justifying it, you can get a rough idea of who they are as a person.
i'm not saying you can completely sum up a person based on their opinions of a fictional story, just that you can get a general idea of the things they find acceptable or unacceptable on a moral scale.
Tony isn’t an antihero, he’s a villain protagonist.
*THANK YOU.* It's a common mistake.
He might count as an anti-villian, but I'd argue not even that.
@@Delightfully_Witchy what is an anti-villain
I like this description seems to fit perfectly.
@@Delightfully_Witchy What's the difference?
No he’s an antihero
I am a surgeon, and I was amazed that finally someone in a TV series gets shot in the abdomen and is treated as it should be. Mid line supra and para umbilical laparotomy, orotracheal airwave, open abdomen, Jackson Pratt drains... As accurate as it could be. So well written.
He was the first guy to have the vac, open incision, less pulling on the outer dermis layer
Thank you for saving lives but 🤢🤮😂
😯😯😯What type of surgeon are you?
@@kristagrym Surgeon General and Laparoscopy.
You’re a surgeon? Yay, awesome!!
Tony's panic attacks come from his revulsion at not being able to control people and events around him.
exactly my thought, I commented on it on one of Sopranos clips.
Nope. The gabagool was tainted and poisoned his mind much like ergot poisoning.
@Inland Empire Absolutely right. No matter how many times I see it, that phrase _"Who am I?!? Where am I goin'?!?"_ sends chills all over, especially when he wakes up from the coma. That phrase is the heart of the show's existential exploration...
I just happened to be rewatching the series, including that episode, the day we all learned of Gandolfini's passing... so surreal.
That is something him and his mother have in common
"Gabagool? Over here."- Silvio Dante
Tony Soprano is hands down the greatest TV character of all time. I love that his character progression throughout the series go from seemingly normal guy who happens to be a gangster to a completely irredeemable monster. The progression of his sociopathy is also interesting to watch, as we, the audience, see him as someone who is genuinely seeking help for his mental illness only to see that it helps him to justify his actions more so, than to actually work on them.
As a kid my father, who was Bi Polar, would get inches from my face when angered like Tony. It was definitely intimidating at the time as I was obviously too small to do anything about it. When someone just invades your personal space like that it can definitely throw you off. Thankfully, I grew up and that kind of thing doesn't happen anymore. Loved the Sopranos and watched religiously but my dad had some of those same issues like Tony (quick to anger, prone to dark moods etc) so watching Tony sometimes takes me back to those places in my childhood where I was powerless to stand up to my father.
@Ut1F70F Sin ok mr badass you got anything else you want to let us know before you disappear after you just wrote Jackie Chans prologue
your father never had the makings of a varsity athlete.
Yeah, my dad did the same.
I get that from the scenes of Tony with his mom. My dad was no Tony, for sure, but he was totally dominated by and terrified of my grandmother. My parents divorce stemmed a lot from issues he has that came from her and how she brought him up.
My dad was the same way
I just binged the sopranos a few months ago and I always really liked seeing the genuine parts of Tony. When AJ tries to kill himself and at first Tony is furious but then he seriously understands what AJ was going through and they both start crying, that shit really got me
yeah very emotional scene. and yet they say he's incapable empathy and fakes emotions. dumb
@Bhlack_Bishop I feel like that attitude is going the opposite extreme: Tony clearly feigns empathy and emotions throughout the show, most notably when he pretends to empathize with a friend who is suffering gambling debts when he really wants to own his shop.
You can't blame people for generalizing him for no empathy when there's so many examples of him lacking it.
Tony Soprano is IMO the greatest fictional character ever created, much of that is credit to David Chase but NO one could have pulled off playing such a complex & well remembered character as James Gandolfini did. Amazing show I watched originally when on HBO and at least 4/5 other times since now. Every rewatch you can find new or nuanced layered thyings you may have not seen upon first viewing.
@@Delightfully_Witchy You mean the friend he tried to protect by warning him 4 times not to get involved with his type of business, but he didn't listen and went ahead with it anyway. ua-cam.com/video/ziswmg9rt0U/v-deo.html
"You can't blame people for generalizing.."
I do actually because they let their emotions and subjective bias cloud their judgement.
@crassgop Think you replied to the wrong comment mate. I never called him a sociopath
Still hard to believe we lost James Gandolphini so young, RIP. Nobody else could've nailed that role and he had a long career in front of him had he not passed.
He should have taken better care of himself, he had a coke problem when he was younger and an alcohol problem and was known for having a eating problem even on set, had a thing for fried food especially.
@@SagaciousNihilist I never could understand why someone who has everything would work so hard at destroying themselves. Gandolfini was super rich. He could have had the best medical care. A personal trainer, nutritionist, etc. Weight watchers would probably have paid him millions to be their spokesman and lose 50-60 pounds. Smh.
@@Mostopinionatedmanofalltime Maybe deep down he didn’t care what happened to him. Wouldn’t be surprising.
how do you know no one else could have nailed that role?
@@Mostopinionatedmanofalltime You should get down on your knees and thank God that you don’t understand addiction. Addicts lead horrible lives, and it doesn't matter how much fame, money, and prestige they have.
16:46 my favourite Livia scene is when Tony gets her the macaroons and her eyes light up momentarily, before she adopts her trademark sneer of displeasure and claims “they’re too sweet”. That scene just says so much about adapting to roles which are antithetical to our nature, which is what dooms Tony
I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY THAT NOTICED THANK YOU‼️‼️‼️
@@Lysergic_acid_diethylamide1943 Discontinue the lithium.
Subconsciously hating the role of the housewife laid upon her
The saddest part of this is how everyone champions Tony on to make changes, but he just never really does. He doesn’t like his life on some level, but revels in it at the same time. Such an awesome show.
You should do one on Christopher that could definitely be intresting.
Cristofah
Chris’ issues most likely came from not wanting to actually be in the mafia. It was all he wanted but after he became a made man his substance abuse issues got much worse. He quit everything for a period of time and “made” a movie and he was ridiculed for not drinking which ultimately lead him to abuse substance again
“That’s the man I’m going to hell for. My uncle Tony”
Yes! Agreed.
We might finally find out what his arc was 😂
A wild pepe
Tony is most certainly the embodiment of how such a horrid upbringing can truly shape someone for the worse.
Yeah Tony, is definitely just a carbon copy of his father at least when he grew up, but he doesn’t want to admit it, and which is the reason he tries to get help by going to a psychiatric, but the way he flips out at Doctor Melfey, when she says something he doesn’t want to hear, or agree with, just literally shows he is very much like his father, and even has his fathers temper, and is just treating her like Johnny Boy, treated his mother.
@@joshshrum2764 Well said, those moments when Tony lashes out at Melfi just shows he refuses to change, which eventually lead to his death as that cut to black may had implied.
@@rdobson5413 I’m glad to hear you like my thoughts on the fact of the matter, but yeah it just shows he doesn’t wanna change, which is why the song King Nothing, playing in a episode is so fitting because Tony, is king nothing he wants to change everything, but is still stuck in his same old ways because he refuses to change he tries, and probably wants to deep down somewhere in him, but he freaks out instead of hearing her out because if he did he could actually change you feel he had character development, but it was never enough, and even though I haven’t finished the entire series i can tell that, plus and it’s why Melfi, just can’t stand him because he’s probably the hardest case she has ever had like dealing with a Italian mob boss isn’t easy for anyone especially a psychiatric, like he’s so bad she needs a psychiatric herself which is tragically funny, but i understand since Tony, scarred her because he was to much of handful. Yeah he just got to big in the mafia, and finally got popped, that’s just the way of the mafia world especially if you refuse to change, though i don’t believe in Tony’s, belief that once you die that’s it it just fades to black, i believe more in what Christopher, saw, and what Paulie, personally believes, but i guess for the context of the series his opinion was the real one which explains why death is so cruel, and sadding more reason being a ruthless mob boss makes you a big target because people really don’t like what your doing.
@@rdobson5413 While it is understandable why he is the way he is, the only way tony could have helped himself is admitting that he's actually not a victim and he's responsible for his every action, but he was constantly locked in his own past.
@@joshshrum2764 I'm gonna put my comments a ways down since I don't want to ruin anything for you at end. But I just wanted to add something that I thought was interesting reading these comments. Thar be spoilers ahead.
At the end, when the camera pans out of the front of the deli, the only person you see for the family who really has any type of significance to the family is Paulie. Everyone else is either in jail, dead, or mentally gone. Yet there goes Paulie, doing what he's always done since the beginning of the show. Trying to get a tan and "basking in the glow." Earlier in the series he makes a statement saying "I survived the 70s by the skin of my balls!". Implying literally he's only surviving in this life, not living it.
This is shown in many ways. He lives alone, lives for the family and has no other relationships outside of it. (he literally had a painting redone of Tony and has it in his apartment) and has shown many many times he will go to great lengths to carry out Tony's orders and not disappoint him. He also has many times where "religious" scenarios can come in for him showing, which I perceived as, his guilt and fear of the unknown. He sees The Virgin Mary in the Bada Bing, he See's a psychic who can apparently see the ghosts of the people he's killed, (very funny scene). He doesn't want to take the contractors job cause it's "cursed" and refers to the cat as evil. Mentioning the cat was staring at Chris' painting and they'll "suck the soul" out of you. He's an absolute creature of habit who will not change anything because he's survived so long doing it his way. Not changing anything. He'll explode in anger one minute, but he can be the funniest character in the entire show. A complete duality. He can get his job done, but on his terms and will only show his funny side to his peers or the ones he fears. As the camera pans out you can see the cat walking towards him with his eyes closed as usual. Which for me I took as one of two ways. "if I don't look, it won't hurt me" not wanting to break his habit and push his luck with his old wives tale about how cats are evil. Or how the cat is coming to finally take his soul as well, metaphorically.
It's all cyclical for everyone in the end. No matter what you do or how you try to escape. Everyone has to pay their dues.
Long post but Paulie to me, besides Tony, was one of the most interesting characters to analyze because there is so much to unravel behind his tough demeanor.
On a completely different side note. I live in one of the major areas they would film. Never really got to talk to anyone but my parents met and spoke on many occasions with Vincent Curatola (Johnny Sack). Great stand up guy who loves the history of NYC and NJ. He was a pleasure to speak with. Everyone else I spoke with said the cast and crew were decent folks as well. But would cause one hell of a traffic jam when they would film outside of Satin Dolls lol. (The Bada Bing)
I finally got around to watching this wonderful show. After thoroughly watching the series, The Many Saints of Newark, and this video along with others, I have determined that Phil did 20 years in the can.
He compromised. He wanted manicotti, but he ate grilled cheese off the radiator.
@@JordBrown91 that muhafuckin animal blundetto….
How'd you come to that conclusion? I don't think it was mentioned in the show?
Rad-iator.
Twenty f&@king
I agree on most of this but how do you not mention meadow? I’ve watched the series many times and I really felt that tony loved no one except her. Sure she was a brat sometimes but out of all the women in his life, she was the one that called him out every time. He hated when she wouldn’t talk to him. I think she is his most important relationship.
Yes, thank you! I was surprised he didn't mention his daughter. For me it was obvious that he loved her the most. She was probably the only person in the world that could disrespect him and get away with it. There was a scene in the kitchen, I remember, between them that it was emotional since Tony is being honest with her and summarizes their relationship.
Tony definitely saw Meadow as the last pure female left in his life at that point cause she wasn't born into the mob life. Plus she speaks to his empathetic, sweet side he never gets chance to show
@@dtraversodt Very true, a woman that he would never want to sleep with for obvious reasons and one that he admires and nurtures (albeit in his own ways)
She woulda had the stones to be in the life. He loved that about her
Considering how meadow is probably the reason Tony was killed at the end, her not being next to him, therefore blocking the killer's shot. Those two have the closest relationship in the family
Junior did love Tony.. in his last scene, he is in a care home totally demented. He can't remember anything about the Mafia or much else about his life that you would think would be important to him, but he remembers playing catch with Tony
How many people did Tony kill
@@elgato5631 Directly or indirectly?
@@lunatuna9313 indirectly
@@elgato5631 at least 2
@@elgato5631 what kinda stupid question is that? He ordered the deaths of multiple people as soon as he's the official boss.
Adrianna
The two black guys Christopher hired
Philly
Rusty Milio (a favor asked by John)
That Puerto Rican dude
The first Vito
I knew Tony was a very hateful man but Gandolfini was a very likeable guy in reality. We love this great but complicated series.
The best actors are always the ones who like to play against type.
You just dislike him because he's racist
The Vile Eye never had the makings of a varsity athlete...I'll see myself out
Small hands that's his problem
Oooohhh! You're talking to the boss here! 🤘🤘
i dont like that kind of talk now stop it upsets me 😫
Thanks Uncle June.
WHY YOU GOTTA ALWAYS BRING THAT UP
I feel like Tony's real motivation for killing Ralph were the fact that Ralph accurately pointed out the fact that Tony is a hypocrite and Tony couldn't stand the fact that Ralph was showing the smallest inkling of bettering himself as a person
Remember how he attacked Janice and undermined her to her new step children.
How was Ralph bettering himself?
Like most socio and psycho paths though Tony cared deeply about certain animals. And after the pie oh my incident that's when Ralph was doomed. Maybe I can't remember properly but for some reason I don't think that Ralphs opinion of him bothered him that deeply.
@@laurafreedlund2899 one of his kids got lawn darted remember? And Ralph became more introspective of himself. But not enough to stop being scum entirely.
Ralph murdered a horse for the insurance money since his kid was in the hospital. I would
Hardly call that bettering himself. He did it out of guilt because had he been watching his son in the first place instead of taking a bath in the middle of the day it wouldn’t have happened.
Finally... someone who actually refers to Tony as what he was. A villain. A bad guy. He was not a good man. But he was for sure fun to watch. Biggest hypocrite in TV history.
Sort of started out as an anti-hero but turned into a full on villain later on.
@@LumpyAdams How was he an anti-hero?
@@adgone01 He said "sort of" which i agree. That thing with the teacher's car and the coach
Yeah he’s a bad guy despite all that there is one thing I’ll give him..he was a man of principle sometimes the things he did were actually justified even if it wasn’t morally justified in society’s eyes
finally? there are hundreds of videoessays on how tony is a despicable character
Excellent video. You should do a deep dive on Valeri. The dichotomy of him killing 16 Czechoslovakians singlehandedly while pursuing his true calling of interior decoration is worth an hour long video.
The fact that his house looked like shit should be especially analyzed. What could that mean on a psychoanalytical level? A conflict within the self?
@@KevinFinkbeiner I'm glad you caught that Kevin. Very observant. The sacred AND the propane
His house looked like shit.
The Soprano's did so well with making you relate and empathize with these pure sociopaths. Then every now and then, you were reminded that yeah, these guys were completely reprehensible.
Bobby was the only one I really felt bad for
@Maniac 5000 doesn’t mean you can’t have empathy for Adrianna still. Why do so many hate her so much I’ll never understand
People hate Adrianna? That's news to me. When it comes to female characters getting hate, it's usually Janice and Carmella (In that order) but I got the impression that Adrianna was a favorite.
@@Delightfully_Witchy yeah she gets a lot. Go to her death video or any prominent scene she’s in and lurk the comments. People are nutty lol
junior soprano is more of a sociopath then tony
His behavior absolutely changes throughout the show. He becomes even more greedy and spiteful as it goes on. In the first couple seasons, he shows genuine care for Puss and even Chrissy. Its as the show goes on that he becomes even more desensitized and unhinged
Yeah being in the mafia will do that to you. It’s an evil lifestyle that slowly erodes your soul.
I really thought he would spiral more. I thought maybe he might change more after being shot, but as the sayin goes "where ever I go there I am."
Could you explain that saying?
@@Delightfully_Witchy You're the one controlling your life and you will not change unless you make the change yourself. If you burn all your bridges where you are now, unless you recognize and fix yourself wherever you go you'll do the same thing. It can be applied to people with drinking, drug or gambling problems, but it also works for someone with anger issues.
Killing Chris rammed the point home.
Breaking Bad: How quickly and easily a man can fall into evil.
The Sopranos: How slow and difficult the journey of rising above evil can be.
Edit: Please don't misunderstand; Tony most definitively did NOT improve or change throughout the series. He was still a vile, disgusting, evil human being at the very end of the show. He merely attempted to better himself and found that it was far too difficult.
bb: slowly dying of cancer
sopranos: slowly losing ur mind
Tony never even attempted to rise above evil
@@reneiscool22 he literally got worse and worse, by season 6 he is a pathetic, spiteful, spiritually bankrupt man
@@stairwaytoheaven8 in what way was he trying to be a good person? not trying to insult your opinion, i just wish you’d give a few examples. I personally think that tony soprano is such an insanely well written character because no matter how terrible of a person he is and all the chaos he causes, you cannot help but root for him.
I agree with you except I would probably describe it as Breaking Bad as a 90 mile an hour drive to hell where as the Sopranos is more like a slow soul sucking spiritual descent into hell.
One night in the midst of rewatching the sopranos, i had a dream that i was working for tony. No other dream i've ever had made me feel as chilled to the bone as when he was staring at me. We weren't even alone or having a conversation. He was staring from far away, asking me questions with his eyes and reading my body language. It was like being watched by a wolf or grizzly bear.
No shit. I'm always having dreams about working for Tony. He usually arranges for my wacking at the end of the dream..lol. No joke. And in the dream I feel dominated and intimidated by his presence..lol
@@ldshasnobrain kinky
@@ldshasnobrain what the fuck 😂😂
Lmao
I stopped watching TV for a while, a guy at work sold complete series DVDs of sopranos which I bought to gift to a relative. I too caught myself thinking agressive thoughts because of these mob series.
Tony tells Johnny Sac his IQ is 136. Genius is accepted at 140.
He tells Johnny this after he kils Tony B, who Tony S knew had an IQ in the 150s.
It all goes into how Tony S, and to a much lesser extent because he was only in one season Tony B, were able to "shine people on."
They were extremely intelligent, highly manipulative sociopaths.
Was Tony B a sociopath too you? Something was clearly off about him, but he struck me more as "brain damaged" than "sociopathic". For someone who was considered such a smart guy, he made decisions too short sighted for even sociopathy to explain! WHO TRIES TO ASSASSINATE A MOB BOSS, COMPLETELY INDEPENDENTLY, WITH NO OKAY FROM ANYONE, IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, MASKLESS, IN FRONT OF A HUGE ASS CROWD OF PEOPLE, AND NOT ONLY NOT MAKE SURE SAID MOB BOSS WAS DEAD, STAYS AROUND TO MOCK SAID MOB BOSS TO HIS FACE.
I'm no expert, but that doesn't sound like "158 IQ" behavior to me, and Tony B made decisions like that all the time!
What are you gonna do?
@@joannerowe7084 whuddya gonna do? Ya know?
@@joannerowe7084 I'm gonna do the best I can.
@@Delightfully_Witchy i feel like intelligence doesn't always mean wisdom. Tony B was too impulsive despite being able to outsmart most characters that went up against him. Tony S specifically acknowledged Tony B as, paraphrasing, someone who if he could just listen and keep it together, could really be used by Tony in the business.
To answer your question, Tony B is a sociopath because he actively chose to resort to crime in order to resolve issues. Same as Tony S and all the fellows, all of them meeting an end because of the conscious decision to engage in crime
Even though Tony is a monster, his sense of humor made me laugh so hard that I was out of breath at least once. When he said that Phill Leotardo looks like the Shah of Iran) cmon, dude spent 20 years in the can
He really looks like the shah...and he called Johnny sack count chocula
@@tapset 😆😆😆 i don’t remember that!
Thanks for reminding me that Phil spent 20 years in the can. I had completely forgotten.
That monster was our boy during the pie oh my incident and confrontation with Ralph cifaretto though
@@JozefLucifugeKorzeniowski I was on ralphs side. "What are you a vegetarian now? You eat beef and sausage by the fuckin car load!"
Remember when Livia laughed in a sadistic way when Tony fell down the steps. So much for her loving caring motherly psyche.
They laughed at Johnny Boy when he fell down the steps when Tony was a kid. Livia was evil
I always loved the scene. Tony runs out of the house like he's being chased by a movie slasher and it's just a little old lady. Then that laugh? Livia was pure evil.
@Rich Smith or when tony caused the cheese incident
Don't forget that Tony ordered Bobby to kill that guy over a custody battle simply because Bobby had never killed before, referring to it as "popping his cherry", which is screwed up in its own right. You can see how it messes with Bobby's mind before and after, he didn't really want to do that. He was just in such a bad position with Tony after their fight and how he beat Tony, that he knew he had to do whatever it took to get back in good standing with Tony or it meant death for him.
Messes with Bobby’s mind lol, wtf do these mobsters think the social club is? Sit around and play cards? It wasn’t evil that Tony sent Bobby to kill the fool, he was the boss and Bobby worked for him end of story…Bobby was in the wrong life if he felt squeamish about whacking folks
@@Aven-Sharma1991 it certainly was evil. just because it's expected of them doesn't mean it's a normal or excusable thing to do.
@@starchpileAgreed
Bobby is evil in his right too. Not to mention given his rank in the mafia, he would’ve had to kill somebody eventually anyway.
@@Aven-Sharma1991 found the fake gangster
Suggestion for ya: Clay from Sons of Anarchy. His character had one hell of an arc over the course of the show, and I think he'd be an interesting study.
Oooooooooh! That would be a good one!
Yes please. Clay's a good one.
"I nose the truth."
Absolutely
Yeah but is it bc u prefer SOA (bc they look or live near you idk) over the Sopranos ?
Just curious
One of the absolute greatest cinematic performances we are ever likely to be able to witness. The Sopranos was arguably the first truly prolific television dramas and at least on many levels still actively able to be considered the finest to this day. It's timelessness proves just how insanely ahead of the curve and brilliant it was.
It’s not enough to prevent him from being classified as evil, but on some level I think Tony does have a conscience, at least more than some of the other guys, which is part of what makes him a complex character. For example I think he felt guilty about Vito’s death and used “he was my best earner” simply as an excuse to the other guys as to why he didn’t think his death was justified. At the end of the day Tony didn’t really care about Vito being gay, unlike Phil who was the truly evil character of the series.
Edit: “it’s not who you are, it’s what you do” explains why this detail isn’t particularly relevant to the topic of him being evil.
In Tony's mind, the Vito thing was about money mostly and then with Phil's repeated demands about doing something about it he was also protecting his position/rep.
Tony knew that it was Vito's blood pressure medication 💊
@@Mostopinionatedmanofalltime At least.
@@bobbywoods684 nah, you're not wrong with those 2 aspects but Tony was definitely also wrestling with his opinion of Vito's sexuality as well, and in the end it seems that he ultimately is at least somewhat open to the idea of accepting it.
Don't get me wrong, Walter White is undeniably one of fiction's great anti-heroes/villains whose saga of rapid moral decay will still have praise showered on it a century from now, but Tony Soprano blows the roof off as far as realistically putting to screen the classic anti-hero archetype is concerned. Manipulative, deceptive, cruel, callous, narcissistic, egomaniacal, hedonistic, and murderous, among his other "qualities," Tony embodies most of the traits one associates with loathsome characters commonly portrayed as being evil in history and in drama. In works of lesser depth and inspiration, a character of this sort would either be portrayed as a forgettable stock villain or as an intolerably repulsive monster incarnate.
And yet, through the star-perfect alignment of intelligent screenwriting with James Gandolfini's indelible acting talent, we were graced with a nuanced character who fully embodied all these classic sociopathic traits but who also had endearing human qualities and vulnerabilities that somewhat softened his rough-edged mobster side. Unlike most of his criminal associates, Tony could be charming, intelligent, sly, cunning, charismatic, pathetic, and yes, on occasion even likable and wholly sympathetic! Before The Sopranos, these traits were found together on television only in the character of a bona fide hero or an imperfect but morally decent protagonist and were never shown as being possessed in full by career criminals and murderers. For me, the realistic nuance, complexity, and depth of character alone make Tony the most incredible, all-fictional persona ever created outside of literature.
Nah
This was an excellent dissertation of a “smooth criminal”… as a teenager watching this show, Tony’s charisma totally eclipsed the sociopath that seeps out now as I have rewatched this series as an adult. Top notch acting from all the cast members, no other series can match this type of character building.
As someone who has always had slight sociopathic tendencies, I always saw Tony as the worst and best of humanity.
😬
@@Delightfully_Witchy if that was towards me, it's not like I'm full blown sociopath, I just have tendencies (it's clear to people who interact with me I don't care what they think about me, I have a tendency to ignore people with clearly lower i.q.s opinions on things, I can get a pretty hot head. I get enjoyment out of toying with people's emotions) But I also know this about myself so I make clear steps to not allowing myself to go to far. I don't lie when asked questions, my moral code doesn't allow me to cheat in relationships because of seen what it can do to someone. I don't steal either.
@@Irishhound edge
Tony had amazing superficial charm. Towards the end of the show when it’s all coming un done and the charm wears off you see the mask completely off and witness who tony soprano truly always was underneath. Tony is like a Frankenstein.
An invention/product of his environment. Brought into this life by cunning charming manipulative sociopathic narcissistic gangsters. Raised by them. Mentored. Led. Conned himself by the surrogate fathers or his life. Misery prison and death.
Love the analysis of Tony's father. One nugget from The Sopranos that I think is telling (which I'll paraphrase) is in season 6, talking to Paulie, Tony asks Paulie if his dad was proud of him and added "I never really knew where I stood with him." My take is that while we know Livia was actively undermining, his father wasn't exactly building Tony's self-esteem up either and it was a distant relationship. He clings to the idea of his father as a "standup guy," yet it really is just an idea.
Johnny Boy used to threaten young Tony that if he misbehaved, Uncle Paulie would come get him (the ultimate boogey man).
How about Paulie's response, which I always loved... _"He thought enough of ya to give ya the Willie Overall thing, didn't he?!?"_
Ergo, he loved you so much, Ton', he gave you a hit to do! 😆
It's almost like he's desperately trying to convince himself of his father's good nature, more than anyone else.
@@Jimmy1982Playlists that’s love if I’ve ever heard of it! (Of course for them, that’s actually true…)
Johnny Boy was a far worse parent than Livia
The business partner’s sister murder, I thought was especially evil due to Tony giving the job to Bobby. It being shortly after their conversation about Bobby never having killed anyone; how he says it’s not what his father wanted for him or not his thing, something along those lines. You can tell Bobby, despite his occupation has serious moral reservations about murdering someone, and is grateful for the fact he has never done it. Looking at How disgruntled Bobby was prior to leaving for the job, Bobby’s face the whole time, and his mental absence afterwards, just adds a whole nother layer of evil to that murder. And the reasoning behind why Tony decided it was Bobby that had to be the one, is basically because hes insecure about Bobby beating him up.
Bobby swore and oath. The oath states you kill for the family. You would kill your own brother when ordering.
Bobby had an easy life. He got paid good money to do nothing. And he paid for it being shot up.
Sharp as a fuckin' cue ball, this guy.
I think the greatest indication of Tony as a person is his interaction with Davey Scatino in the tent. He basically tells him he let him in the poker game because he knew he could eventually bust him out and take his business. Then when davey starts crying he goes “what?! If you had won I’d be the one crying the blues” not taking into account that 45k is bird feeder money for him.
I agree, i’ve seen a lot of other people rationalize it as Davey asked for it because he kept insisting on being in the game but what Davey asked for doesn’t really matter because at the end of the day he was a small fish compared to Tony. Tony had a choice to make in that situation: not get involved in his family friend’s gambling problem or take advantage of him for his own gain. So easy for him to take the first option and write Davey off but his greedy, unempathetic and opportunitistic behavior drove him to the 2nd one.
Just because Tony said that doesn't mean he predicted that happening he's not the halfback of Notre Dame. Look who he's talking to it's degenerate gambler Davey who owes him lots of ziti. He can't sympathize with him he needs to be feared he needs his money. It was business at that point.
@@Tiorg-g1u I think it's deeper than that, I think Tony did it to hurt him because Dave was using him to get what he wanted like Tony does to others, for a guy who uses others all the time he really doesn't like being used himself.
@@Tiorg-g1uTony did try to stop him from getting in, Davey manipulated his way into the game
@@anon2427 how did he manipulate Tony? At the end of the day, if Tony didn’t want him there, he wouldn’t have been there
“Tony was a massive man. 6’1, large hands..” Small hands, that was his problem.
He never had the makings of a varsity athlete.
mrmojok The hell he didn’t. That was the dumbest thing that junior ever said. He had the savvy to control Junior and Junior was too stupid to recognize it. He got ruled by everyone, Livia included. He said that because he knew Tony was like Johnny and it showed his own inadequacies.Very thin skinned.No varsity team that’s why he tried to project on Tony.
😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
@@mathewmcdonald3657 junior was actually very wise according to David Chase. He also stated that he’s his favorite character
I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective
Oh yeah! Daddy used to say that
The Sopranos always had the best and most realistic dream sequences in any movie/ tv I seen. They captured the randomness and feel of them perfectly. This was just great man, thank you👍
Yeah, the dream sequences are amazing. In most shows and movies they either try too hard to make it weird or they are much too obvious with the symbolism. Our subconscious is way more subtle than that. In the Sopranos, the dreams have this odd unsettling feeling that some nightmares have, where you can't even explain why you're scared. It feels like real life but everything is just a little bit off. David Lynch also knows how to do dream sequences. Of course sometimes his whole work feels like a weird dream.
Check out Twin Peaks, which predates The Sopranos. David Lynch is the true master of dream sequences, and much of his work focuses on it. I think The Sopranos does it brilliantly too, though.
Honestly the dream sequences were some of my favorite parts they were just so well done
“He discovered America is what he did. He was a brave Italian explorer. And in this house, Christopher Columbus is a hero. End of story.”
One of the best episodes for pointing out the hypocrisy of Tony's crew
@Char Aznable based indeed.
@Char Aznable Far from it. Your teacher lied to you.
To alot of guts
@Char Aznable based? based on what?
Having a mother that's similar to Livia made me empathetic toward Tony. They really are a black hole devoid of joy.
Your mom wasn’t that bad.. she made me a pecan fritter last time I visited her. You just aren’t grateful. Marone..
Sorry to hear that, hope you're doing well
My grandmother god bless her soul, when watching the show we all look at each other cuz Livia quoted her alot
My mother is the same in a way. She's not devoid of joy, but if she's unhappy, everyone has to be.
This video made me realized something. His most likely death at the end of the series was really the only good resolve for him. If he kept on living, he would've only kept hurting others and himself. Since he wouldn't allow himself to improve, he would've died not long after anyways
Oh he totally bought it at the end.
@Raylan Givens anyone has the potential to improve but if they don't act on it some persons passive belief means nothing
@Raylan Givens yes, anyone can change, but tony actively stopped himself from becoming a better person throughout the series
@Raylan Givens “…provided they have the right motivation.” Thing is, after killing Christopher in “Kennedy and Heidi”, Tony basically gives up on any potential that he may become a good person, especially since his death was massively outweighed by the monetary gain he acquired later in the episode.
I agree on all counts. Men like Tony don't have happy endings, and the unhappiest of all is if he'd lived a full life. The only real tragedy is that his innocent family had to suffer one final trauma by having to witness his death.
An hour and 15 minutes?! That’s got a be a new record!
It's the longest under this sub-species, very allegorical.
Longer than the many of shineboxes now forgotten.
@@johndcoffee632 the sacred and the propane
@@johndcoffee632 it doesn't however explain the alteration between Dickie and Uncle Jun, and the impact on their respective bottom lines...
i’d love a redone version of anton chigurh. there’s definitely more to cover there than 8 minutes with that freak.
The Personality and Psychology section of this video reminds me of my dad when I was younger. He's a lot better now, but my god watching someone's eyes twitch In rage four inches away is a terrifying and heart wrenching sight to behold
Been there too my man. And yes, having someone just invades your personal space and get right up in your face definitely throws one off.
Tbh i honestly thought that Tony's level of anger was relatively normal to me as in It's not uncommon to see that in people
@The Ace of Spades Well tbf i have seen people who have anger issues
Note: I'm not saying i have it but have seen people who have anger issues that high
@@simonpetrikov3992 You re right it isn't that uncommon, even in women.
It really is. My dad would hold me up by the shoulders and his eyes would bug out in rage. I can't take it, man...I just can't. I still shy away from anyone who stares at me in anger or even mild annoyance.
I notice that Meadow,Tony and Johnny Boy are alike in ways(opportunistic,quick to throw tantrums/anger, outgoing, always looking outward) vs how AJ,Livia,Junior and Carmella are ( whiny, borderline personalities, highly sensitive, sarcastic and draining attitudes) .While Tony picked up on Johnny's habits and Livia's psychological conditions, Janice however has both her father AND mother's personality making her unbearable which trickled in ways down to Tony
Wow, children picking up their parents traits? You’re so smart….nobody could’ve ever guessed that children inherited elements of their folks
Not only do we get insight into Tony's inner thought process by way of Melfi's therapy sessions, but also by way of his dream sequences -- I would argue the latter being the more illuminating of the two.
Between Gandolfini's fearless performance & David Chase's commitment to embracing the darkness of the character (despite fan backlash about him being too "unlikable"), we get the most realistic depiction of a sociopath in a television series.
Well said.
People didn't like T? Huh.
@@libertylivesin1776 I mean, I don't like him. He's a terrible person. lol
But the complaints weren't as simple as "I think Tony's an unlikable character." The complaints were "Tony is too unlikable and it's ruining the show." The former is a pretty normal response. The latter is a suggestion that a protagonist needs to be "likable" in order to be well written.
@@jakecorenthose2901 I doubt it had to do with being too unlikeable, it more had to do with a minor sense of comic nature to his actions in the last couple of seasons. It seems to be somewhat bordering on ridiculous, but I agree, if Chase didn't fully embrace most of the darker traits, we wouldn't have had such a riveting series. At least on my second viewing it made me appreciate Phil Leotardo and Johnny Sack more
@@HydeFK I always sympathized with Johnny.
Phil? Nah. For as much as Phil expresses disgust with people like Tony for not upholding the traditional values of the mob, Phil does plenty of that himself. He's just as much of a hypocrite in many ways.
Also, he tried to have a woman gang raped. Indefensible.
One thing I'd like to point out is, since A. J. is diagnosed with ADHD, it is very likely Tony has it too. High inteligence yet bad grades at school, impulsive, reckless, immature, always "on the go" yet acomplishing very little... Basically textbook ADHD. I'm kinda annoyed this was never brought up in therapy
I think Tony somewhat acknowledges this in the episode as a possibility, it's subtle but I think that's why he gets so angry because he sees ADHD as a negative (which it isn't) and also sees the traits they are listing as being similar to some of his own traits.
Still it's a shame it never came up again.
ADHD typically can develop into ASPD
@@Shark_King325 Indirectly, yeah. ADHD can lead to societal isolation and stuff, which can lead to conduct disorder which can lead to ASPD
@@judeconnor-macintyre9874it is because people that have it never stop talking about it which is annoying as hell
@@jonmann4980what an idiotic thing to say
I don't know why people think Tony's IQ wouldn't be in the mid 130s. He displays real intelligence when managing his relationships and circumstances to the point where you can't imagine a less intelligent member like Chris or Paulie doing it. He make careful judgements about when to use force and when not to which are mostly correct. Sylvio is the only one (and he has a breakdown in no time because he cannot find a way to manage the stress).
He tells Johnny Sac he tested for an IQ of 136.
Though it should be noted (my memory is a bit spotty but I'm pretty sure this is right) in Many Saints of Newark we see Livia talking to the principal and she mentions he tested for 136 and this is when he was a teenager so by the time of the Sopranos it's likely much higher.
yeah you don't get as high up as Tony being stupid.
It might not be 136, but he definitely has above average intelligence. You can’t be an effective mob boss for several years as an idiot.
People are prejudiced, and don't understand the complexities of the world. They don't get relatively simple concepts like intelligence either.
He was smart and emotionally acquainted.
Tony's relationship with Artie serves as normalcy that contrasts the relationship he has with those involved in the 'life'. I missed that insight. Really profound. Thanks for posting and thanks for putting the work in to read between the lines. I appreciate learning from you
Tony died in the restaurant but the primary plot of the show was his journey to self-improvement and discovery. That death occurred the minute Melfi kicked him out of the office with the final time. And it was never going to end any other way.
@Jonathan Birch that's cute
He didn't . David Chase said:"Tony SHOULD get it in a place like that". He didn't say Tony WOULD.
The ending is intentionally ambiguous.
@@quagmoe7879 Yeah only in the sense that David Chase hasn't given a definitive answer. But the many clues and examples of foreshadowing all indicate that Tony meets his end in that diner.
@@kaminsod4077 It could also be argued Tony didn’t die. I typically think he did, but I also think it’s equally possible he didn’t die that night, and it was the story itself that died. I don’t think it matters much either way.
Hey! He’s in waste management! Everybody always assumed you’re mobbed up! It’s a stereotype and it’s offensive!
Hah I love when Tony goes all PC.
It’s not a stereotype and it’s completely true. I met theCEO Waste Management , they have contracts with every major area in Florida.Not sure about the rest of the country but this guy is Tony Soprano. I waited on his table when they signed a multi billion dollar contract with the city of Jacksonville. There were lower bidders but he knew the crooked politicians couldn’t say no to him. Now I have no first hand knowledge of a bribe but I know his lawyer up here who you have to deal with if you want anything significant done here. Both men are gentleman but serious guys and the lawyer has given me great concert tickets in his private box over the years. They were drinking exceptional wines and after dinner he orders the table a round of the cheapest Anisette we had. I clarified the order and he told me Anisette is the drink of the assassins. The FBI let him listen to wiretaps and is a known fact in the mob. I clarified that I was not questioning his choices just wanted him to be informed of the cheap shit we had. This was many years ago but I was always super impressed with the guy. No pretension just had it and knew it. Not arrogantly but extremely confident. I recognize and appreciate when people have game. This guy oozed it.
This was not long after the guy who started Miami subs was murdered.Apparently he was in debt to them and had the ability to bring everything down and I guess they pegged him as someone who could not stand up. Plus the Jai Lai business in Florida was bleeding money and I guess he outlived his usefulness.
I think the perfect scene that highlights Tony's attempts at rationalizing his own deplorable behavior occurs in the episode in which the African American cop, Leon, writes Tony a ticket for speeding.
Tony causes him to lose his job merely out of spite, then sees the cop working at a hardware store. After Tony realizes the cop would have done nothing differently, Tony denies his involvement and then afterwards attempts to shift blame away from himself on to the assemblymen who did Tony's bidding in the first place. Tony eventually returns to the store with an attempt to bribe the former cop for no other purpose than drag him down to his despicable level of corruption so that he might feel better about himself, knowing he caused an honest man to lose his career.
Tony is entirely transactional, so he offers the former cop money. When the cop declines, you can see the seething pained look on Tony's face, realizing the cop is genuinely true to his principles and isn't so easily corruptible. Tony is forced to accept the cop is more morally principled than he is, despite the desperate attempts to feel better about his own depravity. The last shot before the credits reveals Tony walking away in his misery, alone.
He actually is transferred to a shitty division and is denied overtime, so that’s why he’s working at a hardware store part time, to make up for his overtime.
Perfect showing that while Tony technically won that altercation he ended up coming out looking like the lesser man. That's a burn that's gonna nag at him deep down all the way to the grave.
you can say black, you know
@@gnomeimporta6912 Or not mention that part. Did any other cop give Tony a speeding ticket in the series?
@@SoberbioNumeroUno But Tony is presented as racist, and his racism likely played a part in his spite toward the policeman. So it is relevant.
"The last few (panic attacks) occur when he's remembering pu$$y around Christmastime."
We've all been there.
Since Martin Scorscese's 2006 Oscar-winning movie: The Departed became 15 years old a few weeks or days ago. A video about either Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson) or Collin Sullivan (Matt Damon) would be interesting.
And if we're at Frank Costello, a video about his real-life counterpart, Whitey Bulger (who was played by Johnny Depp in the 2015 Movie Black Mass) would be cool too
I second this
Analyze Internal Affairs instead...
The Departed is the poor version of Infernal Affairs
That movie wasn't that good frfr
@@geraintthatcher3076
Wrong
I love how Junior gets dressed up for a sit-down via burner phone.
I still believe that there is no 1 right answer to the ending, thats what makes it so brilliant! People don't like the unknown & not getting closure, it stirs up mixed, unpleasant emotions in us so we create our own theories instead of accepting that we may NEVER know & maybe thats the way its supposed to be
Mikey Palmices gf: "the last thing he said to me was how much he loved me."
Actual last words: "why don't u go take a Midol.
Lol his wife Jojo. She tried to move in on Bobby when his wife Karen died and Janice took advantage of him instead.
One of the early striking moments is when he knowing allowed his neighbor's gambling to get out of control just so he could drain him of all his money and ruin him, then tell him more or less "lol sorry" after losing everything.
He doesn’t even say sorry lol
@@yesindeed5608 he very much just shrugged and said get fucked
He did warn him many times in advance though. He made his choices and knew what he was getting into. A man must live with his choices.
@@jonesdan85 You're not wrong.
@@jonesdan85 that warning was a small piece of Tony trying to be as good a person as he could. He does this a few times through the series, like when he tried to really help Artie with his investment. But Artie misread his intentions as the worst, and that made Tony revert.
finally, the BEST villain in literally anything ever
Agreed
You could honestly make the arguement Tony is the greatest character ever put on the big screen
@@gavatundejr4986 I agree. Tony Soprano is probably the best character ever put on screen.
Ehhh
@Maester Gryphon Nah he’s the best
im actually a first year student of psychology and one of the instructors actually pointed at this show multiple times when giving examples of psychological treatment
After Tony moves out of the house, a bear starts showing up, terrifying the family. Tony is the bear.
Wow....pretty interesting take. I never thought of that but it does make sense!
When Ginny Sacks goes camping the bears hide their food
@@the_ghost_of_teddy_perkins I really wish I came up with that one but I have to credit the wife for it. We had a nice discussion over that
Tony couldn't run downhill.
@Johnny Caruthers no its not its just symbolism. Theres a lot of it in the series. The episode where he confronts his old coach is filled with it. The coma episode too.
Tony Soprano is the perfect example of how environment, lifestyle and role models can shape a person into be it food or bad.
Anyone can become food if they hang around with too many cannibals.
“Food or bad”? 😂🤣
(I know it was a typo, still funny though lol)
One of the things I hate about UA-cam is the autocorrect on something that was right(it was meant to be good or bad). But for some FUCKING REASON!!!! It autocorrects it!
Yep and the funny part about it is that it can be "good" or bad.
In the end he was the gabagool all along
I loved the breakdown here. One of the things I would have liked to see was how Tony took control of the business of his friend who was a gambling addict. How he ran it into the ground and wrecked that guys marriage and life, yet at one point, when he was alone with his friend, he was kind and sympathetic almost. It was a crazy dichotomy but was extremely well written and showed how evil Tony was in certain situations. How he could give one of his victims a pat on the head and comfort them, even while he was the one ruining their life.
Let's remember that friend also took advantage of Tony, first to get into the game (while having no money), 2nd by telling Chris that Tony had oked him getting a much larger sum of money.
@@GabrielNicho that's true! Tony did try to steer him away from the game as well, because he knew what was going to happen once the friend got in too deep.
It does speak to Tony's sociopathy though, as he did know what he was going to do to this guys business, and should have insisted. But, the friend WAS a piece of shit too, so it's a toss up in my mind who was worse. :)
In the end it was just business for Tony. But he tried to stop his friend and warned him to stay away after that it speaks volumes that Tony could feel sympathy for his friend
@@vintagejoehill Well, my point is that Tony didn't know that his friend was already in debt, so he probably figured he would lend him a smaller amount of money (that Tony thought he could pay back), and then his friend lied and got an even larger sum of money (another 15 000 dollars if I remember right), which he then lost. We don't know if the business could have been saved had it just been a smaller sum. That friend (Davy Scatino) kind of got himself in the deep there. My sisters boyfriend got a friend just like Scatino, he is always borrowing or trying to borrow money from people so he can play it away on online poker.
Chris did a similar thing with J.T Dolan, the writer. He felt as if he could be his friend despite repeatedly beating him due to J.T’s debt.
What a wonderfully in-depth analysis. I just watched Sopranos for the first time earlier this year and was absolutely floored with the performances and writing. I’ve been wanting to rewatch it and watched this video in preparation. Bravo. Such an expert understanding on what makes Tony tick and one of the most intriguing characters ever put on screen
4:55 that scene is priceless, johnny boy telling Livia she's talks too much "don't you ever get tired of yourself?!!"
i didnt expect that to be something thats even touched upon yet alone given a scene too
Tony Soprano: A bad man who wants to be good, but can't be.
Walter White: A good man who wants to be bad, and can't get enough of it.
At the end of the day, both characters fall victim to their insecurities.
walter is a bad person i'd say
Walter was never a good man. He was always an egotistical monster, he just didn't have an outlet for it.
No good man would make the decisions walter white did
I always felt Tony was better than Walt simply because he felt some empathy for his actions, Walter was just narcissistic and straight evil. Had no empathy for his actions and was turned on by his own power
@@stairwaytoheaven8 I agree, season 6 Tony was a monster compared to Tony in season 1. However I feel like Tony at some point did have good in him and good morals. Walt in the other hand always was evil just didn’t know how to show it or let it out. Until his cancer diagnosis. It’s interesting and sad seeing Tony’s downfall into darkness
Gandolfini was one of the greatest actors ever, simply for his ability to be 100% convincing and believable in a scene without even saying a word!! He moved me simply with his facial expressions and movements. Calling someone the GOAT of acting is so subjective, and 100% opinion and taste. But I can’t think of many actors who were able to make me feel something so strongly, and be so convincing that he’s a real person, as well as Gandolfini, without even saying a word. Just incredible.
This , I've never felt so sucked in by an actor . I feel like I've been living with Tony soprano after watching the show
I’m surprised you didn’t mention his coma… I found it fascinating how in his deepest subconscious mind he knew that his life could have been completely different if he’d have never been involved in crime. And how ironic it was that even so during that dream like he was accused of fraud by violent monks 😂 this show has so many layers.
"Pointing out the flaws in another man's reflection doesn't make yours shine any brighter."
It breaks my heart that James Gandolfini is no longer with us. However, it makes my heart happy to see his son on the screen. Legend continues, Legend never dies.
Tony Soprano had a makings of a good villian, but he never had the makings of a varsity athlete.
Now go home and get your varsity shine box.
@@JayCity10 😂
I think there's a bit more to the Gloria thing. I think there's some empathy there. He understands those depression and suicidal feelings. That seems to be the only way he connects with other human beings. He tried to connect to Christopher this way in the car and Chris shut it down, which honestly, may be where a lot of the resentment comes from, even if its never brought up again.
After watching this I’ve concluded that tony had never had the making of a varsity athlete
I don't know why but your profile looks cursed to me
@@TheBatbike 😈
How long are we going to keep reusing the same tired and frankly unfunny joke??
@@tyler-bb6el you oughta know sweetie
This is the greatest episode you've done yet, and I was already in love with your channel for analyzing Michael Corleone, if I may suggest you should go for the characters played by Bobby DeNiro and Joe Pesci in most of Scorsese films, I would love to see your take with the most complex of them all: Sam "Ace" Rothstein
One minor detail you missed.
Ralph wasn't killed out of revenge for the horse or the girl. thats just the lie Tony used to justify it. Tony really killed Ralph because he called him a hypocrite. Through out the entire series Tony freaks out whenever he is called out on his bs by his Dr his family, and friends.
Edit. The answer is similar to your analysis of why Walt killed Mike in BB
Yea the same goes for Chris's murder. The car seat/Tony's "concern" for Chris's daughter were just an excuse he used to justify why he killed Chris, but in reality he killed him because he didn't trust him anymore and Chris was a liability to the family/Tony (plus by this point Tony pretty much hated Chris for his addiction and for ruining his plan to use Chris as his proxy to protect himself from the FBI). That's why Tony brings up the car seat to people at Chris's funeral, because he gets mad that people are showing sympathy for Chris. Also Tony has a dream where he tells Melfi his actual feelings and admits that he's glad Chris is dead. The strongest evidence that the car seat was just an excuse is that Tony completely forgets about Chris' wife and daughter immediately afterwards, he doesn't even talk to them at the funeral and they are never shown or mentioned again for the rest of the final season.
@@duckdive9146 yes Christopher’s death was significantly more tragic.
Great point. That's a trait consistent with a certain type of sociopath: when someone points out the illegitimacy of the image he has cultivated as a public persona, he becomes violently angry, and seeks to forcibly silence the "source" of his insecurities with violence. It's a psychopathic form of projection, underpinned by egotistical mechanisms of defense.
@@nathanielwestermann Yup that sums up Tony
There are many layers to why he killed Ralph, like the fact that he already deeply hated him, and how the bringing up of how Tony’s consumption of meat was what Ralph chose to call him out on was most likely a factor, since we know meat is a known trigger for Tony.
Despite being a monster as Tony Soprano, James Gandolfini is a very talented and kind actor. RIP good sir!
The most beautiful part of Goated HBO shows like the Sopranos and the Wire is that although objectively they're "Evil", when we see things through their perspective and understand why they commit certain actions, we can sympathize and even feel bad for them sometimes. There's no direct influence from the show on who you should like and support, they simply lay out what happens and let you decide for yourself. People aren't all good and bad in real life, and these shows reflect that perfectly.
Same with Mad Men. Beautiful case study in hedonism and the desperation of normal people
tony soprano is my favorite fictional character of all time. he is the most well written, likeable, unlikeable, good-man-villain character ever. i'm very protective and sensitive about his character (i know hes a bad dude, but there is so much more to him than just being bad) so i am really excited to see your take on him! james gandolfini did such an amazing job and i miss im every day. sometimes my husband does a (pretty bad) tony soprano impression for me when im having a bad day!