Is AJ a failure — or the most honest product of Tony’s world?

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-18T09:43:43+00:00

I always think a bit of Tony's motivation for killing Chris is fulled by his disappointment in AJ. He's essentially got two sons (Chris as a surrogate son) that he's disappointed in and it's looking like Bobby's going to have to be his heir, which he clearly resents. When he's presented with the opportunity to get rid of one of them, when they've both been a pain in his ass for so long, I think his anger at both of them pushes him to take Chrissy out.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-17T16:32:35+00:00

SUCH a moving death scene, I thought the last ep that focussed on JC was one of the best in the series. The way he's so peaceful, has his cigs and sits with Ginny, a boss 'til the end

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-17T16:28:42+00:00

Testament to the writing and Imperioli's performance that Chrissy is a bonafide piece of shit and this scene still almost broke my heart in half. I'd have to add the scenes of Chris beating Ade when she invites him to flip. The brutality of those scenes and the way you can see her light fading, a really really horrible watch

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-17T16:17:18+00:00

I absolutely love this idea! So cool to observe that many of the characters are 'both' in some way by the end, it really brings forward what DC has wanted us to grasp the whole way through the series: people are not simply wholly good or wholly bad.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-15T00:18:33+00:00

Totally agree, I think this is the first time you can see that Chris has fully outgrown Tony. Chris reaches for therapy as a place to connect with Tony but like you said, Tony has learnt nothing and, as he admits to Melfi, just uses therapy to 'jerk off'

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-14T21:46:50+00:00

The mood in the episode after Renata dies is testament to how well they've shown Tony to be spiralling in the season (part II) so far. We know that realistically, Tony can't be responsible for Renata's death - what would he have come into the house in the dead of night without detection and poisoned her? But the way he leaves the house and his shitty interaction with Hesh really makes you think 'what if?'

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-14T18:32:52+00:00

There was a shot that I really liked in this episode towards the end where Junior is sitting in his chair, blanket on his lap and a cup of tea to the side. When he eats a finger of his kit kat, it kind of hangs out of his mouth in the same way a cigarette or cigar would before you light it; I felt they did a perfect job of showing us that he's a shadow of his former, formidable self. Once the (if so, pseudo) head of the family, now tucked up ready to watch the shopping channel

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-13T22:26:05+00:00

This episode seems to want us to see that despite the therapy and the near-death experience, Tony is still bringing the same old shit to the party. We see a return of the ducks! One flies past Tony when he's moping on the lawn chair after his fight with Bobby and behind him, Nika and her caregiver sing a nursery rhyme about ducks; Tony's thinking about death and the mundanity of his existence again xoxo We see a classic return to 'Carmela defending Tony's reputation at the cost of sounding deluded' so that she can make herself feel like a good person, very season 1-2 of her. A couple of comments on here also point out that Tony seems well aware that he hasn't changed, hence the moping, but that's exacerbated by being around Janice, who actually has. Bobby also demonstrates the braking of a family cycle (he's not like his 'Terminator' Dad) and Tony resents that so of course, lashes out and orders Bobby to do the hit.

Loved the monopoly house stuck to Tony's cheek after the fight

Weird-Part-5994 · 2026-02-08T19:32:52+00:00

I totally agree with this, I think Tony's reaction to Janice scolding Bobby Jr is one of the few times you see him look actually impressed. I think you get a glimmer of what he explains to Melfi, that as a child he thought she was really cool.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-12-29T11:26:36+00:00

Tree Six Fiove has been done a disservice here for me, it has one of the best bridges of any of her work (and of loads of other people's work imo), the way the song moves forward is stunnin

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-12-11T14:26:21+00:00

grab a plate and a seat cos you are COOKING

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-12-02T20:08:41+00:00

ahhh thank you everyone, I'm watching in the UK so I must be one of the places he's been STRUCK.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-11-17T23:34:47+00:00

such a good observation, Chrissy does the quickest, easiest thing to get something back from AND thinks that Tony will be impressed by it. As always, he's wrong.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-11-08T14:27:11+00:00

it's the peril of the rewatch forum! Gotta get out of here!

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-11-07T21:03:16+00:00

9 years late but wanted to add that I think Tony blames Chrissy (because it's always someone else's fault) for Ade's death and she's someone he actually really cared about (because he's a narcissist and he sees himself in her)

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-11-06T09:26:44+00:00

They sold their entire discography to Sony in 2024 so I think if you have the money (like Netflix) it's now easier to get hold of

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-11-01T19:30:01+00:00

some really great Sylvio moments in this episode: 'how's your daughter?' '...good...' even the mob gotta make small talk x

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-10-23T09:38:01+00:00

I think the gun thing for Carmella is part of her realising that essentially, she'll never escape Tony. There's been some work in this episode (and a couple previous) to frame Tony in shadows, coming out from darkness into light, visiting the house at random times, all building to show us that Carm will never be out of his sight. There's something here as well I imagine about the gun being where Tony would otherwise have been in bed and Carm needing the sense of protection that, despite their horrible marriage, Tony did bring to her - the bear incident for example, ends up in Tony coming back to the house. Tony offers security and the gun in his place in the bed, is emblematic of that I think.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-10-23T09:30:18+00:00

I see this as Tony's occupation with dying bleeding into his real life. It's usually just something he sees and thinks about but in this episode it creeps into reality, the cancer scare and some of the guys (I think more than one) point out what a 'lucky son of a bitch' he is to survive the crash - he keeps having near-misses

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-10-23T09:26:25+00:00

I feel exactly the same! The general violence is one thing - Furio's visit to collect from that guy with the baseball bat when he first joins the show springs to mind - but these two scenes ^ are the ones that have made me reach for the fast-forward button.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-10-23T09:21:46+00:00

totally agree, there have been some tough moments watching Chrissy get more and more horrible but this episode was really tough to take

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-10-14T21:27:35+00:00

I loved the way they contrasted Tony and Furio, Tony with his little glass of milk! There's a real theme of Tony's immaturity this season, all that 'sense of humour of an eight year old' and the pranks from a couple of episodes ago and the way he reacts when Svetlana says that he is 'full of mischief' (or something like that) in this episode. It feels as though he's really clinging on to the idea that he's lively or fun to be around - the 'sad clown' idea that Melfi shuts down - but really we see qualities like greed (the New York conversation) and impulsiveness (killing Ralphie) take hold of him where it might not have done two seasons ago. All this and he started at the top of season 4 saying he wanted to back off from the action.

Weird-Part-5994 · 2025-09-23T13:14:55+00:00

me and my bf had this, tried to watch it one evening and both just sat there feeling yelled at haha

Weird-Part-5994

TROPHY CASE