I love the irony here. Little Carmine came off as one of if not the biggest idiot on the show yet in the end he made the smartest decision out of all of them which was to get the bloody hell out of the game.

The one time little Carmine stops trying to sound intelligent he’s actually brilliant. Something very zen about that.

This is a really key scene. Little Carmine did what almost no characters on this show ever did: He made a decision to change. And in the end, he was the smartest character on the whole show. Great acting by Tony and Carmine here.

It's good how Tony starts out humouring him and ends up listening sincerely as it resonates with him.

Such great symbolism in this scene. Tony's ordering of a Philly Cheesesteak shows his desire to eat and not be hungry. Also, his ordering of a drink is great foreshadowing since he will soon become unthirsty after having a sip. And finally, Carmine breathing oxygen lets the audience know that it's vital to sustaining life as a human being. Incredible writing

Love this scene. It's when I realized Carmine was smarter than the rest. He just didn't have a way with words.

“I’m not ashamed to say she made me cry.” Phil:

Gandolfini’s acting here is on another level. Just watch his eyes while carmine talks...you can see him go from being annoyed, then confused, then it turns into curiosity, and ultimately understanding carmine’s long winded story. Just brilliant!

Little Carmine started off as a joke of a character. Derided for his stupidity and weakness. He ended up as the smartest and happiest character in the series.

All jokes aside, this is one of the most important scenes in the series. Tony knew Carmine was right. He should've listened.

Love how Carmine uses the wrong words so confidently they mellifluously become the right words.

You can really see the different lives these two mobster heirs chose here. Carmine orders a healthy meal and remembers to order his favourite drink while Tony has an unhealthy cheeseburger. Carmine takes the time to understand his dreams and process his emotions, while Tony resigns himself to anger and panic attacks by trying not to dig deeper into dreams or emotions. Carmine has a loving wife who, because he has made an effort to respect and communicate with her (talking every night and taking her advice), cares for his wellbeing above money, while Tony has Carmela. Carmine spends his time and wealth playing golf with friends and enjoying himself while keeping active, but Tony feels the need to gamble all his money in order to enjoy the money he makes as an unhappy mobster. I love how Chase always makes it clear that Tony is to blame for his miserable existence because he can and could always have tried to change for the better but simply chose not to.

What saved little Carmine was not his intelligence, it was that unlike others he was not greedy and power hungry.

Hands down, THE best Little Carmine line ever: "Your brother Billy, whatever happened there..."

I can see the look of jealousy and disgust on tony's face as he wishes he could have the peace and contentment that carmine has , while also seeing wanting those things for himself as a form of weakness which disgusts him and feeds into his self loathing. Gandolfini was masterclass

Little Carmine 'forrest gumped' his way through the entire thing while the rest of them wiped each other out. Well played LC

Very very underrated scene. Describes what Tony is too afraid to admit to himself. His whole life, chasing something that makes others happy, and he thought what would make him happy. He knows he got it all wrong. The paper crown definitely represents being the king of something that isn’t meaningful. Genius.

“That dream with my father, the empty box, it wasn’t about being boss... it was about being happy.” damn what a dream Tony could only wish of achieving

Their food orders really shows where each character is mentally. Carmine is eating clean, looking to the future. Tony just wants comfort food no matter how unhealthy.

Ray Abruzzo is brilliant in this scene, and in this role generally. His realisation of Little Carmine was pitch perfect - one of this show's genuine gems.

Carmine wearing a paper crown in the dream... the symbolism on this show made it so amazing. He's got a crown so he's a "king" but it's a paper crown so he's not king of something "real" like an empire or a country... Then being boss is compared to a "mellifluous box" which looks beautiful and everybody wants to have but there's nothing inside. Such a good show.

Tony clearly envying Carmine for having a wife who actually wants him to live.

Carmine ordering a healthy lunch while Tony orders a philly steak and cheese sub. Just shows you who's taking care of themselves and who isn't...

4:27 "I don't wanna be the wealthiest widow on Long Island" Tony's face as he realizes Carmela would never say that to him.

I love how he just ignores and seemingly sniffs out Tony’s manipulation tactics

Lil Carmine shows here he wasn't so dumb after all.

Profound scene, and L.C. being probably the most sincere and earnest, no misspoken words or phrases. It's also funny his overtly hinting that he's very well aware of his reputation and that Tony thanks that he is Fredo.

Carmine was by far the smartest in this show , got all the benefits from being in organised crime without suffering any of the fatal disadvantages , so allegorical .

Carmine's wife doesn't want to be the wealthiest widow on Long Island. Tony's wife can't wait to be the wealthiest widow in New Jersey. Carmine sacrificed being boss for the sake of happiness. Tony sacrificed happiness for the sake of being boss. Love the contrast.

Carmine Jr. was the Claudius of the Sopranos Universe. He couldn’t communicate worth a lick, but he knew how to avoid drama and seek his own happiness.

I would love to hear David Chase talk about the inspiration behind Carmine Jr, such an intriguing character, he appeared dim witted, but was spirituality intelligent.

Love how nuanced of an actor Gandolfini was. Being able to display the emotions of I'm not in the mood for story time, hurry up & get to the point and at the same time still intently listening. The guy was really a gem.

carmine junior was no boss of a crime family..but he did have the makings of a varsity athlete.

CHARACTER SUMMARY: "Seared ahi mixed greens and an ice tea please." " ...........philly cheese steak."

Love how Tony is taken aback by the idea of a light dinner.

"It wasn't about being boss. It was about being happy." literally every conflict in Tony's story ends with this lesson. *Yet he never learns it. Again and again, season after season, it gets made very clear to Tony that he'll never be happy as a mob-boss-and probably not in the mob-life in general.* Now a character is literally telling this to his face. Still he doesn't learn. Carmine Jr was a bumbling character, but he could at least learn: from his mistakes and from other people. And that's why he made it to the end. Tony on the other hand was such a mess he could never really learn from anything. Maybe he was such a mess he didn't want to learn at all; maybe learning something new (to him) was like conceding that he didn't know the new thing before, like conceding that he was dumb and made a mistake. His sensitive ego might not have allowed him to concede something like that. Maybe don't need to be born smart in life. Maybe you just need to be humble enough to acknowledge and learn from your mistakes.

"I always enjoy those but it never occurs to me to order one" - this is exactly how I feel about Arnold Palmers.

Little carmine: the guy that tony never saw coming.

Little Carmine was the only mobster whose wife cared more for him than the money and status he could provide. You can't buy that kind of loyalty. Dude was an absolute chad.

Carmine: "I'm not ashamed to say she made me cry, that wonderful loving woman." Tony: "I'm not ashamed to say my estimation of you as a man just fucking plummeted. To cry like a woman? It's a fucking disgrace!"

Little Carmine is becoming the Happy Wanderer. Tony is envious.

It´s not about being Boss, It´s about being happy

4:33 It wasn't until that *exact* moment that I realized that Lil Carmine is a GENIUS He got everything he wanted out of the game including wealth and now decides to retire like a boss

The way you see Tony looking at him like he's an idiot to Tony actually listening to his story . Amazing acting and amazing writing

Why so many of you thought Carmine was an idiot? He always played it safe, no gossip, and made the smartest decisions until the end. He was a true winner in my book

The way I see it Little Carmine's story in many ways parallels that of Michael Corleone only in reverse. Both were the sons of powerful New York mob bosses and had the opportunity to take over their father's position. While Michael initially wanted no part in his family's business and was content to live more mundane yet peaceful life, unforeseen circumstances pushed him to take over the Corleone family and made him into a cold and calculating mob boss who's greed and paranoia eventually costs him his happiness. Little Carmine on the other hand did aspire to be like his father and one day become boss himself. But unlike Michael, his experiences made him realize the dangers of such a life and chooses instead to opt out while he still had the chance and instead live a more peaceful existence.

Carmine junior, little carmine, achieved true happiness in this show. He was one of the only ones to get out and be happy and love his family. He is easily the most genuine caring loving person in this show.

This is my favorite scene in the show. Carmine's a joke almost the entire show and in the end he's the only one with real insight into the life and who really understands what he should want. It's also interesting how Carmine is actually kind of eloquent when he uses words he actually understands rather than putting on airs. Carmine's ignorant and uses too many words without understanding their meanings but I don't actually think he's that stupid. He's certainly sharper than Paulie and Chris

Carmine was married to the smartest woman in the entire series!

Bullshit... Carmine didn't want to become the boss, because then he wouldn't be able to wear shorts.......

Silvio had so many great lines but the “Walt Whitman ovah heah” may be his very best.

Little Carmine's story is a perfect example of why you keep the treasures of this life close to your heart. Love and memories are worth more than anything you can touch.

At end of this scene....Not only does Tony know Little Carmine is right, but he is envious of his freedom. What made Gandolfini's work in the Sopranos extraordinary is how he can convey so many different levels of emotion with facial expression alone. Yes, Gandolfini's takes the brilliantly written dialogue by Chase to the next level. But its those eyes and what they tell us that made his work so compelling and special. Some naysayers get turned off by the "Mob theme' but they should know that his acting in this series is one for the ages. Immense skill. He was born to play this character.

wow I've never seen Tony look so envious

Theres debate around whether Carmine is secretly a genius or actually really stupid. The truth is he has uneven abilities, he fails to inspire confidence, come across well and hes awful with words despite not realising it, but he is attuned to peoples emotions, knows when to quit, knew to stay at a distance from the mafia for his own safety. That makes him such a good character because that's what real people are like.

Carmine’s story makes me so happy. Just about the only character you can feel happy for at the end of the series

Carmine has had an epiphany. Whenever you experience one you must always listen to what it's trying to tell you. Sometimes it takes years or even a lifetime of intraspection but if it helps you have a better life it's always worth pursuing.

That hit, with the dialogue fading to silence mid sentence and the slow motion blood splattering Sil, then the sound and full speed action suddenly crashing in again, is one of the coolest in the series. It really conveys the immediate confusion followed rapidly by massive panic. Plus it just looks fucking awesome.

He may be referred to as “brainless the second”, but little carmine was able to at least see far enough ahead that this lifestyle rarely lasts long term..

I was born in syria, and living through an actual brutal war… I can say that the representation of someone getting shot in a situation like that is absolutely perfect! The ear ringing, the way you start seeing everything slow motion for a few seconds.. that’s why sopranos is such a perfect show in all aspects!

Carmine Jr....... The smartest man in the entire show. He had everyone fooled with the inept vocabulary. Just watch the scene where he's meeting with Tony and Phil- "Whatever happened to your brother," and with his father on the golf course, where he makes an extra comment to piss his pops off and Johnny Sack stares at him. The last man standing. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Great scene shows Carmine was smarter then we thought

The paper crown 👑- like a stun gun to Tony’s system. From that point on, he no longer was the advice giver, but listened intently

it's incredible watching tony's expression soften through their conversation. he goes from humoring carmine to realizing how emotionally empty his life is comparatively, realizing that he doesn't even know what the first step to getting something like what carmine describes would even be. there's almost grief in tony's eyes.

The fundamental question is... will I be as effective as a boss like my father was? And I will be, even more so, but until I am it's going to be hard to verify that I think i'll be more effective.

In this scene, I think Tony realizes his whole life has been a mistake. And of course he ends up getting whacked like carmine's wife talked about

This scene is amazing, Godfather levels of poignancy.

This scene with Sil and the scene with Bobby talking about how "they probably never hear it coming" (when talking about the deer) are two of the biggest reasons I believe Tony gets killed in the end. I don't see why they would go through all the effort of adding those scenes, if that's not what they were hinting at.

HAHA! Look at that extremely subtle sigh of "uh not again but I got to play nice" from Tony when Carmine brings on another of his metaphore stories at 3:02

Carmine was playing everyone

I know this probably wasn't intentional, but I love how this conversation about happiness starts with Little Carmine telling Tony "you're not happy." It's as if Carmine, the happy one of the two, is drawing a clear line between himself and Tony, who chose to stay in the miserable business he's in.

Carmine: "Seared Ahi and Mixed Greens" Tony: "Philly Cheesesteak" I think James Gandolfini had the same diet as Tony. RIP.

When you think about it, Little Carmine wasn't quite as stupid as he looked. His dream and his wife's words made him realize that he wasn't made to be a Boss. Look at the real word mob bosses, how many were able to retire peacefully with their money and not end up dead or in jail?

Carmine Jr. at his most eloquent

Severely underrated scene, a Carmine Jr. was always written off by everyone as an idiot but he makes one of the smartest decisions anyone in the series ever made, he gives up the greed and chooses happiness.

"Walt Whitman over here" *Hank Schrader has entered the chat*

Tony might have found Little Carmine to be a pompous idiot at first, but his character grew to be a wise one and a partner for Tony who, while might not have been great in the trenches, had the big-picture judgement and connections to be valuable. He wasn't smart, but he was wise by the end and knew how to play his cards for the greater good. One of my favorite, subtle parts of the show was his development.

Of all the moments in The Sopranos … This scene with Tony and Little Carmine, might be _the single_ greatest, most powerful, most Beautiful moment - in the entire series.

It's pretty funny how Tony spent so much time talking to (or at) dr. Melfi and never really got anything substantial out of their numerous exchanges, and then Tony finally realizes what's wrong when he's quietly listening to someone who is thought to be a complete buffoon.

I love how Silvo just sat there while gunshots were flying.

Camine Jr. wasn't really stupid. He was just a failed sesquipedalian. Or as he would say, some kind of squid alien.

I like how Tony’s face is partially like “get to the fucken point”

"Fucking Walt Whitman over here" Hell of a reference

the wisest guy: Carmine Lupertazzi Junior

tony looks like he's about to cry

Little did we realize LC becomes the boss after Phil dies and Tony is killed in the diner

Little Carmine was actually the smartest one for getting out

Little Carmine IS without a doubt, the smartest of ALL the bosses. As soon as the killing started and he stopped lusting after power. Both sides picked up on that and turned on each other. Meanwhile, LC acted as a "broker" between both sides. He "helped" or "parlayed" between them to end the war. But yet it didn't end and he was safe. Thus, both sides didn't look at him as an enemy but a friend/ally or neutral. By the end, ALL his competition was dead: Sack, Phil, Doc... piles of underbossess and key players too like Sil, Fat Dom, Rusty, Coco.... the ONLY ones left, at the VERY end are Tony (who viewed him as an ally and never wanted war, just money) and people who were followers and not potential leaders: Butchie and Paulie. If you flip through the LC clips, you'll see that in this case he's VERY articulate and clear thinking, yet he says things at the wrong times in front of Phil or his Dad, to make them mad and get the result that he wants. I don't think that he was evil enough to take out Tony. That wasn't his nature. But he wasn't above standing back and letting things happen. After Tony's death, LC certainly became the head of ALL the families.

Little carmine outsmarted everybody in the end.

Amazing scene. The first few episodes of season one, when Tony was still a Capo and before the internal war started between him and Junior, Tony was seemingly happy. Then he becomes street/official Boss and the stress outweighs the money and respect that comes with it. Even Johnny Sack said the Boss is a thankless job. Although Carmine usually makes no sense, here he makes Tony understand something he never acknowledged.

Forget all the comments about how smart Little Carmine was. Consider the post-production work on this clip. 00:52 shows some unparalleled slo-mo action. The sound added in was really complimentary to the scene as well.

Tony pushing for Little Carmine to be boss for his own benefit.

"An Arnold Palmer beverage is made with two summer drink classics: a combination iced tea and lemonade. It's a slightly sweet lemony tea blend that has a refreshing taste."

Really one of the best overlooked scenes in the history of this series. Metaphors all over the place, some obvious, others more cryptic. When Carmine relates the story about the relationship he has with his wife, Tony has no concept because his situation with Carmela is such a mess. It really shows the tragedy that is the Sopranos.

it took every ounce of tony's patience to let carmine finish his stories.

For a guy who spilled more Norm Crosby-isms than anybody on the Sopranos (funny butchered words that sound like but aren't the words he means to say), this dufus of sorts, with his seemingly crafted, pretended at intellect is the SMARTEST guy on the whole show. He enjoys his lucky life, the high life. The golf, the restaurants, the painting on his wall that gives the illusion of being a window that he shows off, and makes a point of explaining the name of and meaning of in another scene...his boat, etc. Its like when you see a movie about big drug dealers...Depp with hundreds of millions in the walls, Tony Montana, whomever...you just want to go, 'If it were me, I'd be gone like a cool breeze'. Like Armande Assante said in The Q & A, "Me, I'm gonna disappear...I don't ask for separation pay...I believe you know my word is guuud".

The way this scene was filmed and edited, is great filmmaking at its best. The way this killing goes from a slow spatter of blood, and ringing in the ears, to a complete and total bloodbath, is just phenomenal! And later, the way this scene concludes, with Carmine Jr dropping some serious wisdom, is just fantastic! Man, I am looking forward to some similarly great scenes in "The Many Saints".

“Never thought you’d mutter those words” Lil Carmine is the greatest

I always liked little Carmine’s acting. It has lot of empathy. Tony b might have been a genius, but talked like a robot

Tony: stressed gambling eating unhealthy out of shape. Carmine: calm cooled relaxed healthy clear head. Great scene 👏