Wanna watch a much newer, much better Sopranos video I've made: (Generational Conflict in the Sopranos) kzfaq.info/get/bejne/bsp-gpSVrbaaaZ8.html

If you look to Ralph as a stepfather figure, your life is already in ruins.

If you let Vito sneak up on you, perhaps you are just not cut out for the mafia, or this world in general.

Hypocrisy was the number one cause of death in the Sopranos. That, and too much gabagool.

Imagine if uncle Philly were there and watch all this Goombas crying

If Junior's singing can make them cry, what else can he make them do?

I like how every season pretty much ends with Tony trying to spend time with his family, like he's just leaving his mob life behind and living a regular happy life. But in the last episode, his mob life intrudes on his family life, finally catching up to him.

“Sometimes, we’re all hypocrites” - Meadow Soprano

What drove the point home for me was when Adrianna asked Gabriella “what does that mean, Core ngrato?”. You then remember the people present, who are being emotionally moved by this song, don’t really know any Italian barring a few words and phrases. Another example of hypocrisy, everyone in that room heavily associates with being an Italian but it’s all superficial.

Tony’s hypocrisy about having to pay back his debt to Hesh after slapping around Scatino for late payments. Priceless.

What annoyed me was how disconnected the song was from Jackie. We get to know Jackie quite a bit, and one thing we can be sure of is that he would not have enjoyed listening to Junior singing an old Italian song. Funerals really bring out people's egos, they make it all about themselves and the dead person gets forgotten. Sopranos shows this a lot- Janice attention seeking at Livia's wake, At Eugene's they're all talking business and you forget they're even at a funeral, until Chris insults him for commiting suicide.

You are missing one big point. If you are going to deterministically explain that kid's death as an inevitable consequence of the environment, don't forget that everyone in that room also were born into that environment, so in some level they are victims too. That's the beauty of Sopranos, everyone is gray not just plain black.

i thought this was for sure Uncle Jun’s most balls out introspective song

I think Meadow already knew it deep inside that her father was directly or indirectly responsible for Jackie's death. She tells this to Carmela, and Carmela immediately becomes defensive about it. Meadow tells Jackie's sister that her father was not responsible for Jackie's death because the truth was too uncomfortable and painful for her to spill out.

Holy crap. Can you make more of these? I'm sure it took a lot of work but I love the sopranos and feel like an analysis of the show is severely lacking here on YT

Jackie killed himself when he decided to rob the card game.

4:13 Vito was also Jackie Jr.'s cousin! Everyone involved in his death had close relations to him! Crazy...

Tony didn't kill Jackie Jr. Jackie Jr. killed Jackie Jr. He was too lazy to study "nucleotides" at Rutgers and chose Ralphie as a role model instead . They met the same predictable end.

Protagonist does not mean he is seen as the "good guy". It simply means he is the character of main interest and the one whose story is being told. That is what I was taught the term meant in junior high school and that's the meaning that it has always had for me.

Its all justified due to the poverty of the mezzo-giorno

""Mommy, help!" - AJ Soprano, Season 5

Meadow runs away from her family here. Then in the last episode she runs into the diner.

In addition to Meadow Walter White Jr. gets a lot of contempt for rejecting his father. People fail to understand that Walter White is a crystal meth drug lord because they're too wrapped up in rooting for the protagonist.

Love how even this comment section is filled with borko level comments

Small correction, it wasn’t Pat Parisi who was getting into mob related trouble that was his brother Jason in the last episode (a catalyst for Patsy calling the hit on Tony imo).

Toney’s interaction with Meadow is amazing. For all his terrible faults he loved his daughter and you could see the hurt in his eyes.

Very nice analysis but i think the son of patsy she was dating was a legit lawyer and his younger brother was the one in trouble

>FBI >morally virtuous Thanks, have had a good laugh in awhile.

I know you said Tony wasn't there for Jackie but he actually tried to protect him and literally smack some sense into him. Jackie was a complete idiot and dug his own grave. Also, at least for me Meadow annoyed me simply because it was a good song and I wanted to hear it through without distractions

The Family didn't kill Jackie. Jackie killed himself. One can only throw someone so many lifelines before you say, "Fuck it. You're on your own."

I don’t think someone who describes the FBI as “morally virtuous” is in a position intellectually to dissect the morality or lack thereof portrayed in the show.

Did you hear the one about the Chinese Godfather?

David Chase wants you to sing along and sympathize with these hypocrites. I can appreciate the effort he put in to do so

I found the hypocrisy in this on a more meta-level. Sure Meadow is the only one that cared about Jackie Jr, and thus many in that room were directly responsible for JJ's death, but what Meadow fails to do is recognize her own hypocrisy. JJ's own sister told her that JJ was killed by the mob and Meadow, who knows better, plays the ignorance-card and defends them. She then later is angered by everyone listening Core 'ngrato because yeah they were responsible for JJ's death, but she fails to acknowledge that JJ was responsible for his own death. With Carmella being so hypocritically religious, she surely knew the verses "live by the sword, die by the sword." JJ wanted to be a made-man so bad (like his fawtha) he engaged in a life of crime, despite having his way carved for him to pursue a successful life in Rutgers. While it's not shown, it is directly implied that Jackie Sr did a lot to steer JJ away from the life, in the same way Tony steered Meadow. Tony worked to try and keep JJ away from his life, but JJ represents America's youth who is obsessed with the criminal underworld of power, greed, and lust. In the end JJ killed himself by breaking the rules of "the code" of La Cosa Nostra by robbing a card game and shooting a made-guy and killing an associate, in the end he paid the price. "Live by the Code, Die by the Code." Except throughout this series we see an even more beautiful level of hypocrisy because LCN Code that JJ was forced to die under, was trampled to death by so many who are the "protectors" of it. Tony hitting Ralphie (a made guy), Johnny Sac sticking his nose into the Soprano crew, Tony being acting boss when Junior is really the boss, hell Tony's seeing a shrink is a total Omerta-breaker.

Yea the Government isn’t hypocritical at all!!!

I can't hold it against Tony. Jackie Jr was an idiot who wasn't going to make it in the mob without his father protecting him. If it wasn't the botched card game, it would've been something else.

I didn't buy the fact that Vito could have hidden good enough for Jackie Junior to have missed him.

Slight point. Ralph was technically not Jackie Jr.'s step father.

I've recently watched all of The Sopranos. Even though Meadow was one of my favourite characters throughout the whole run, I do remember being annoyed at her during this scene as well. Now after this video, I feel like such an enabler. This show has so many layers and I LOVE IT!

Now THIS is a Sopranos vid. What a spectacular rundown. Well done. 👏

1. not everyone in the room was directly responsible to the Jackie Junior's murder, a good portion probably don't even know how he died or that it was even murder. 2. Jack Junior dug his own grave (to be clear that doesn't justify murdering him, nothing justifies murder) 3. It was beautiful rendition of the song.

Brilliant. Its amazing how many people never catch on to main idea of the show that the viewer is watching things through the villain's eyes.

Technically only Ralph ordered Jackie killed, you are overlooking the fact that Tony did everything he could to stop Jackie from ruining his life, so when Jackie fucks up he is done with him and doesn't want to get involved at all.

Dude, this is awesome, you explained to me what I felt about this scene, make some more of Sopranos please, your favorite topics

I think David Chase did a great job of also showing how immoral and self-justified the FBI are in being dirty and unethical towards the mafiosos.

I agree in principle, but the fact that Jackie died purely by his own choices plays a big factor. You can't exactly feel sorry for him nor blame the mobsters for not caring about him, at least not the ones that brought him to this lifestyle. Plus Meadow defends the family just a scene earlier.

Another interesting part about this scene is how at the end the song is translated into different languages, which I feel was done by chase to make us feel detached from the moment all the characters are feeling.

By series end Meadow is engaged to Pat's "good" son, not the one who is getting in legal trouble. Tony did try to save Jackie Jr. and Meadow is more like her father in many respects in that she is self-aware enough to recognize much of the hypocrisy. Nice analysis.

holy shit... i feel so guilty and am so glad you called me out. Love this show

Crazy how you completely dismiss Jackies culpability in his own life. He made a choice to rob a mafia card game, that boy was dumb as dirt and if his own people didn't whack him, someone else would because he was just that stupid.

That was a magnificent breakdown. Well done. Enjoyed that a lot

does anybody know what make and model of pistol Vito uses @ 4:12 ?

I don't think it's as cut and dry as this, Jackie Jr was a murderer and Tony tried to help him, also many people there also weren't related at all to the Jackie killing. Meadow is still an immature brat who hasnt learned how to properly express herself. However that said, Junior's display is still bullshit and apparently David Chase mixed a bunch of hacky cultural songs to make a point about popular music being used for sentimentality. I disagree with your generalized assertion that the whole thing was a farce and Meadow was morally superior to everyone.

Even with scenes like this where Meadow shows the hypocrisy of the whole family she ends up being one of the biggest hypocrites of the entire show because she wants to gets a job in law. She would essentially be trying to stop crime while being purposely ignorant to all the crime going on within her family. She rejects all the values that the people in her family hold but defends them every chance she has. I think she honestly may even realize this because when deciding what she wants to do in life she leaves the option for medical school open, possibly because she knows how her family's reputation may effect her credibility or professionalism. I may be grasping at straws or leaving some things out because I'm still watching season 6 but I just think there's so much to analyze within this show.

Thanks man, you really got a point. In the video comments that you had put there i tried to explain that, but it was difficulte to make me understand. This video is perfect, very good job!

I wouldn't call the fbi that moral in this show...

I've seen the show 8 times now and I'm still amazed at how smart the writing is and how so many subtle things tie together. Phenomenal show, thanks for this analysis I love your channel

I always took Meadow’s side. I thought that this scene was a brilliant obscenity. They’re singing a love song at the reception for a funeral as if it’s someone’s birthday party. That none of them there could see how grotesque and insensitive their conduct was was truly brilliant. Anyone who sided against Meadow and couldn’t see what heartless display this was, missed the point entirely.

Great video, my good man! Kind of a rarity on here, everything seems to revolve around the final scene - make more of these!

extremely well put. New subscriber & fan of ur work!👌

Great analysis! I loved The Sopranos and throughout the series there was this low level hum of hypocrisy which sometimes exploded like in this episode. These are very insular people who have very little contact with people who are outside of their tribe so they get little outside influences. You have wonder about these characters are they aware of the hypocrisy of their lives or are they so deep down that rabbit hole of money, sex, violence and crime that its just so normalized and they are unaware of it.

What our lovely content creator missed from this show unfortunately is that each of us, watching The Sopranos, makes us all Made, Captains of our own crews. I for one will not stand by and let Meadow shit on all of us. Time to get the zipps from Italy. She's gotta go.

Meadow is not the only one grieving, you forgot Rosalie

Meadow was high too... "Illegal drugs in the home" great vid 👍🏼

I fight my own hipocrasy every day

Jr had it coming he killed Sunshine and he wasn't brought up that way. He was supposed to be a Doctor and Tony repeatedly told him that. When a killer is killed by a killer fuck em....

What about the weird three song overlap thing? Can you talk about that?

Really good analysis Kyle, The Sopranos is such a fascinating and well-written show.

Really glad you made this video because it touches on two key points of audience perception: we do not empathize with Meadow and we are thoroughly seduced by the presentation of the Mafia. On the first point, even when we support Meadow, we don't think about why she behaves as she does, including her later hypocrisy. Initially, her shift to defending the life shocked me but it makes sense too. Meadow's development into a person, that she would like, is derailed by her parents, and A J. suffers even more from this. From that starting point, every attempt to define herself via romantic relationships and exposure to the wider world is sabotaged by the life. Losing Jackie Jr. was traumatizing on multiple levels, especially his erasure in this scene. If we say Meadow acts in an unpredictable manner, which is often interpreted as "spoiled," we might understand that traumatized people are often unpredictable because so is their status quo. Compare her with Connie from The Godfather. On the second point, the writing and direction in this show is masterful to the point that much of the audience still remains seduced by the DiMeos' self image. This scene is perfectly composed to make us forget that the murderers are holding the funeral and that Meadow is right, and in pain. It's a fitting metaphor for the whole show. The knife is hidden as much from the people who are served the lamb as it is from the lamb.

Holy crap, I thought I was just watching a mob show.

What mob trouble was patsy’s son getting into in the final season?

Great video man 👍 Your analysis is really interesting.

I wouldnt say the fbi are morally virtuous

Meadow was the greatest hypocrite on the show. Preaching social equality while being comfortable with living a extremely luxury life thanks to her father. She even ended up defending the mob while arguing with Finn, when he pointed out how brutal people surrounding her father are. I remember when Carmella visited her in the dorm, Meadow complained about how corrupted some officials are, while being in the university thanks to blood money and corruption. Overall is easy to disagree with you analysis on many levels

Why the hell did the song change at the end though? Felt weird

Ralph wasn’t JJ’s step father. Ro and him weren’t married.

This scene was great no matter what

"Core 'ngrato" is actually a Neapolitan song.

Great analysis! Thanks!

Love this essay! Thank you. Subscribing.

Another example of Meadow failing to have the personal strength of her convictions as Melfi had, is when she told Tony what Coco had said and done at her date. She knew full well what was going to result and she got a certain level of satisfaction. Melfi resisted that temptation when she could have told Tony about her being raped and knowing who and where the rapist was. Meadow is a lot like Michael Corleone, while seemingly desiring a better moral code than her family, they both could be just as ruthless as their fathers. Michael was demonstrably more ruthless than his father, and I think if put to the test, Meadow would be very ruthless as a Mafia boss as well. Great video. That scene was brilliant, I remember talking about this very point with my friend when it first aired.

I stopped rooting for Tony after the bust out. I carried on watching for the entertainment. My hero was Artie. A skilled hard worker. Also, Jackie made his own choices. Tony tried to keep him out. Not killing him after Jackie killed a made guy would have been another form of hypocrisy. As Chrissie confronted Tony.

Great video Brought up some things I hadn't even thought of

Absolutely phenomenal analysis of that scene… 100% on point so much depth in this show I don’t think there’s been a show like it since!

He killed himself robbing chrissys card game

That's what i felt when Meadow said that. They were hypocrites. Makes me think of the Italy episode and how they were a huge contrast from the real Italians.

this scenes also amazing because its a parallel to the part at the end where meadow runs across the street before tony "blacks out"

Who else came here cause there was no ‘Talking Sopranos’ episode? I knew that there was something I was missing from this scene and was excited to hear Michael and Steve’s take on it - but you did a really good job here explaining exactly what I was missing. Did you do any research into why the episode ended with those 3 different songs (or iteration of the same song) while the film was of Junior singing?

Dude pat parisi wasn’t the one getting in trouble it was patsy’s youngest son Jason

In reality this is the human race. It's all my tribe versus your tribe. We like to talk like we've got all these great moral values but for the most part we leave "values" behind on the church doorstep on Sunday morning. Greed and selfishness guide most of our lives. What's funny is that a bunch of people who grew up in New York and New Jersey think they're Italian. Italian-American, sure. But that's not the same thing.

Awesome analysis!

Reminds me of the comments section, missing the point that the black guys the mob blamed for jackies death were actually providing him shelter and teaching him how to play chess

I find it interesting that she runs across the street away from her family, and in the final scene, she does the exact opposite. She runs across the street towards them.

Meadow had every right to be mad, Rosalie's tears were the only other genuine ones.

Meadow was in denial and hypocritical when she was defending her mob family in the kitchen with Jackies sister. Thats when i hated her even more.

That is a fantastic point on the Jackie Jr situation. The mobsters were essentially patting themselves on the back for who they are

I doubt those people missed the point. You can understand the blatantly obvious point and still be annoyed by this drunken girl throwing bread at an old man. Also, varsity athlete.

I can't really say I ever rooted for Tony; it was just interesting to watch him and the other characters writhe in their own aforementioned hypocrisy. The best part of the show is getting you to try and understand the bad guy, and what goes on in the head of these overly-macho sociopaths; sometimes you think he might be on the way to being a better person, but he just can't help being a piece of shit. Though, it does manage get you to empathize with him in many moments. He's the protagonist, sure, but he's one that's rarely portrayed in fiction. Some say he's an antihero, but I believe an antihero is a hero in spite of themselves. I'd say this is a rare instance where the main character is just a villain/anti-villain. Some use "hero" and "protagonist" as synonyms in fiction, but I hold them separate for instances like this.

Historically, Carmine always said Australia is nothing more than a glorified colony.

This is a great analysis. Very nice job.