# Sopranos, if you knew them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 7, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563 "2011-04-07T18:56:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/21 "2011-04-08T17:47:04Z")
> [@Silent\_Kal](#): > > One interesting facet of Tony’s character I don’t see much discussion about is his genuine love of animals. You see it in the very first episode (the ducks) and the very last (the cat), and several times in between (Pie-Oh-My). During Christopher’s intervention, Tony doesn’t seem too involved, but becomes enraged when he learns that Christopher accidentally killed Adiranna’s dog while high. That compassion isn’t a trait you’d associate with a character like Tony. Right, but didn’t they make a big deal in one of the episodes about how compassion for animals combined with a lack of empathy for humans was a sign of a psychopath? Or maybe I read it somewhere talking about the show. But I think it was something that Dr. Melfi mentioned to either Tony or her therapist. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/22 "2011-04-08T17:48:26Z")
You know who really loved animals? Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/23 "2011-04-08T19:01:15Z")
I grew up in a working class, mainly Italian, neighborhood. It was pretty well known which families were connected. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/24 "2011-04-08T20:23:23Z")
I think that they have two minds. In a normal situation they’re just like us, sociable ,polite and reasonable . But they’re sociopaths. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/25 "2011-04-09T02:21:48Z")
I agree that Bobby was the only “bad” character with redeeming qualities. But even then, he killed that guy and didn’t even flinch. And Adrianna wasn’t SO bad. She was just caught in the game and in way over her head. Silvio was the only bad guy that I really liked. Maybe it was because he was so over the top, with the cigar and the posturing, but he had some style about him. Paulie was a straight up trip. He makes you laugh, but you laugh at him rather than with him. I couldn’t stand Christopher. He had such a sense of entitlement. But there was that one scene where he cried after Tony and his cousin Tony (Steve Buscemi) kept picking on him. That seemed “real” to me. Carmela, second to Tony, was the most morally uneven. Sometimes she could be righteous, but then you’d see her nasty underbelly. I do know that the way she dressed was 100% accurate of a certain segment of northern NJ. Those silky blouses she’d wear…ugh! ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/26 "2011-04-09T02:49:50Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Carmela, second to Tony, was the most morally uneven. Sometimes she could be righteous, but then you’d see her nasty underbelly. I do know that the way she dressed was 100% accurate of a certain segment of northern NJ. Those silky blouses she’d wear…ugh! Carmella just enjoyed being rich. She didn’t give two shits about were the money came from as long as it paid the bills and she could spend it…but there was one caveat, she didn’t want to know how he got it. I mean, she had an interest in the business, she knew what was going on, she talked to Tony about his day to day dealings, but that was only because that’s were the money came from. If some big music exec swept her off her feet back when she was still dating, she would have gone off with them and Tony would have been a law breaking piece of shit that she’d want nothing to do with. She mentioned this early on in the series to the Priest…I can’t think of his name, the guy she’s sleeping with in Nurse Jackie. She mentioned that when they started dating, Tony gave her dad a set of power tools and while she thought it was a great gesture, she knew deep down, that someone somewhere had a set of broken knees, but she just ignored it. As long as were here, my favorite Carmela scene is when she hears a noise outside, pops open a false panel, grabs a shotgun and catches Meadow scaling the side of the house trying to sneak back in. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/27 "2011-04-09T03:09:17Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I agree that Bobby was the only “bad” character with redeeming qualities. But even then, he killed that guy and didn’t even flinch. Poor Bobby. He’s the tragic figure of the show for me. He has to be a nurse to a monster (Junior) for years, he gets constant shit about how fat he is, no respect, and then he marries possibly the scariest person on the show, Janice. I mean she killed Richie Aprile. And slept with Ralph. Bobby and his kids would have been better off if he had married a rattlesnake. ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/28 "2011-04-09T04:45:55Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Most of the characters could be endearing or funny, but if you met anyone from Tony’s crew in real life in anything but a superficial social context, it means they’re probably trying to shake you down or intimidate you or rob you. Think of what happened to characters who got involved with them like Davey Scatino or Jason Barone, or even a close friend like Artie Bucco. They all got hurt or screwed, and other people got killed by them at random. You wouldn’t have been happy to see them if they were there on business. Even on a personal level most of them were assholes on a regular basis to anybody who wasn’t in the crew. I think it was season 2 or 3 that ended with the Soprano family & their buddies celebrating something together, laughing and drinking and having a good time - but with inserts of the fate of the outsiders that they’d dealt with during the season. A Jewish motel owner they forced to turn his business into a whorehouse. A gambler they’d ruined and who had been abandoned by his family and was dejectedly leaving town. To me, that juxtaposition was everything the Sopranos were about. “Fuck you, got mine” to the Nth degree. [QUOTE=Silent Kal] One interesting facet of Tony’s character I don’t see much discussion about is his genuine love of animals. You see it in the very first episode (the ducks) and the very last (the cat), and several times in between (Pie-Oh-My). During Christopher’s intervention, Tony doesn’t seem too involved, but becomes enraged when he learns that Christopher accidentally killed Adiranna’s dog while high. That compassion isn’t a trait you’d associate with a character like Tony. [/QUOTE] I read somewhere (I forget where) that this is actually a common trait among sociopaths. They lack any sort of empathy for other humans, and instead direct it towards animals. Some even use that very justification for themselves, “I’m no monster since I like animals”. In that sense Tony’s love of animals, the fact that he’s instinctively willing to be cruel to humans because _they_’ve been cruel to an animal, far from being a redeeming quality is just one more way he’s fucked in the head. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2011, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/29 "2011-04-09T11:41:25Z")
The priest that flirted with Carmela was Phil Intintola ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/30 "2011-04-10T23:56:38Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Poor Bobby. He’s the tragic figure of the show for me. He has to be a nurse to a monster (Junior) for years, he gets constant shit about how fat he is, no respect, and then he marries possibly the scariest person on the show, Janice. I mean she killed Richie Aprile. And slept with Ralph. Bobby and his kids would have been better off if he had married a rattlesnake. Pavarti, you mean. Or maybe it was Havarti. I don’t know how Barbara made it through having Janice and Tony as siblings. I would have killed myself years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/31 "2011-04-11T01:07:54Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Poor Bobby. He’s the tragic figure of the show for me. He has to be a nurse to a monster (Junior) for years, he gets constant shit about how fat he is, no respect, and then he marries possibly the scariest person on the show, Janice. I mean she killed Richie Aprile. And slept with Ralph. Bobby and his kids would have been better off if he had married a rattlesnake. Yeah he got treated like shit. One of the best Bobby episodes was when they were at a cottage and he beats the crap out of Tony. I busted a gut lauging when the Monopoly Hotel pieced got imbeded in his face and Carmella flicks it off. Off topic, my sisters friend met James Gandolfini in Miami apparently a really nice guy. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/32 "2011-04-11T01:43:42Z")
> [@Ibanez](#): > > Yeah he got treated like shit. One of the best Bobby episodes was when they were at a cottage and he beats the crap out of Tony. I busted a gut lauging when the Monopoly Hotel pieced got imbeded in his face and Carmella flicks it off. Bobby signed his own death warrant then and there. Tony just didn’t get around to Bobby before Phil Leotardo’s people did. ---
**Author:** ![Ibanez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a4c791/32.png) [@Ibanez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibanez)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/33 "2011-04-11T02:06:00Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > Bobby signed his own death warrant then and there. Tony just didn’t get around to Bobby before Phil Leotardo’s people did. You think ? I didn’t see any indication at any point during the following episodes that Bobby’s days were numbered because of that. Unless I missed something. ---
**Author:** ![Prox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/da6949/32.png) [@Prox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prox)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/34 "2011-04-11T02:17:49Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Pavarti, you mean. Or maybe it was Havarti. > > I don’t know how Barbara made it through having Janice and Tony as siblings. I would have killed myself years ago. And with Livia as a mother. It always was so weird to see Barbara show up. I always wondered how she didn’t fall into the family business. ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/35 "2011-04-11T11:25:41Z")
Scary enough on TV, scarier in IRL. I would keep my distance, maybe move outta the neighborhood. Can you imagine the repercussions from some misplaced baseball or a fender bender in the street? God forbid you injure one of their kids by accident… Janice was my favorite, she held nothing back, told the brutal truth yet knew when to keep her mouth shut (most of the time). The Soprano house always seemed so cold and sterile, even when Carmela was wrapped in a quilt sitting in the parlor next to the beautiflly decorated christmas tree, it was all devoid of warmth, a sad sad household… ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/36 "2011-04-11T12:26:00Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > Pavarti, you mean. Or maybe it was Havarti. Parvati. Janice’s mix of flakey spiritual fads and full-tilt mob wifery was always entertaining. It made you want to strangle her most of the time, but it was interesting and I thought it was believable. > [@ExTank](#): > > Bobby signed his own death warrant then and there. Tony just didn’t get around to Bobby before Phil Leotardo’s people did. I think it was after that fight that Bobby became the family underboss. Tony’s revenge for the fight was having Bobby do a hit for those French Canadians. He knew what that was going to do to Bobby. Bobby was nice and you saw enough of his soft side when he was taking care of Junior and grieving for his wife that you could believe he was a decent person. But he was still a mobster and when he had to kill someone he didn’t do anything other than feel bad about it. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/37 "2011-04-11T13:29:19Z")
> [@chela](#): > > Scary enough on TV, scarier in IRL. I would keep my distance, maybe move outta the neighborhood. Can you imagine the repercussions from some misplaced baseball or a fender bender in the street? God forbid you injure one of their kids by accident… The funny thing is, you may very well have known some IRL without realizing it. They don’t all live in mansions, drive Escalades, wear pinkie rings and beat the piss out of everyone who looks at them funny. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/38 "2011-04-11T14:15:02Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Davey’s the exact character I came in here to mention. > > Davey: “You told me not to get in the game. Why’d you let me do it?” > Tony: “Well, I knew you had this business here, Davey. It’s my nature. The frog and the scorpion, you know? Besides, if you would’ve won I’d be the one crying the blues, right?” > Davey: “What’s the end?” > Tony: “The end… It’s planned bankruptcy.” > Davey starts crying. > Tony: “Hey, you’re not the first guy to get busted out. This is how a guy like me makes his living. This is my bread and butter.” > > While I found Tony and the rest of the crew endearing in the show, they’re predators. If I noticed them in real life I’d keep my head down and pray they hadn’t noticed me. Exactly. They’re predators. They may talk about having a code but they’ll abandon it whenever it suits them. Tony could say he would have been crying the blues if Davey had won. But the reality is that if Davey had won and Tony owed him money, Tony wouldn’t have paid. The only code a mobster really lives by is “Does he have something I want and am I strong enough to take it from him?” ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/39 "2011-04-11T14:45:44Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Davey’s the exact character I came in here to mention. > > Davey: “You told me not to get in the game. Why’d you let me do it?” > Tony: “Well, I knew you had this business here, Davey. It’s my nature. The frog and the scorpion, you know? Besides, if you would’ve won I’d be the one crying the blues, right?” > Davey: “What’s the end?” > Tony: “The end… It’s planned bankruptcy.” > Davey starts crying. > Tony: “Hey, you’re not the first guy to get busted out. This is how a guy like me makes his living. This is my bread and butter.” > > While I found Tony and the rest of the crew endearing in the show, they’re predators. If I noticed them in real life I’d keep my head down and pray they hadn’t noticed me. That’s probably one of my favorite episodes, because it shows Tony for the cold bastard that he really is. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563/40 "2011-04-11T14:53:16Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Tony could say he would have been crying the blues if Davey had won. But the reality is that if Davey had won and Tony owed him money, Tony wouldn’t have paid. Yup. His attitude would have been “You want me to pay up? Make me.” That’s pretty much what happened in the last season when Tony owed money to Hesh. He borrowed from Hesh, then dragged his feet, tried to manipulate Hesh into letting it slide by making fun of him for being cheap, and generally did everything he could to avoid paying up or get Hesh to forget about it all because he just didn’t want to pay. After a while Hesh said to his son “you know, he might have me killed instead of paying,” and that was someone who’d been a friend to Tony and Tony’s father forever. Tony paid up after Hesh’s girlfriend died but he was still a jerk about it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-if-you-knew-them/577563.md?page=3)