The Sopranos: What Was Junior’s Problem?

Of all the main cast characters that were with us through the show's 6 seasons, Junior Soprano is probably my favorite. The curmudgeonly uncle of Tony Soprano, he has some of the best lines in the series.

“You hear about the Chinese Godfather? He made them an offer they couldn’t understand.”

-Junior

Junior is the boss in name of the family while Tony really runs things on the street. Though relatives, their relationship is incredibly rocky. At times Junior serves as a mentor to Tony, offering him advice when he can’t turn to anyone else. At other times though, Junior is extremely antagonistic to Tony, scheming multiple times in the series to have him killed.

Overall, Junior is one of the most contradictory characters in the series. He is clearly an intelligent and cunning mobster, understanding how to strategize for his own benefit. On the other hand though, he’s often ridiculed by others and not respected as a leader in his own right.

So the question is, what was Junior’s problem? Why could he never take control of the family like he wanted to? And why was his relationship with Tony so strained? Well in this video let’s take a look at his character and find out.

Corrado Soprano, known as Junior by his friends and relatives, is the oldest living member of the Soprano family. He had two younger brothers, a mentally disabled brother named Ercole, and his youngest brother Johnny Boy Soprano. Johnny would go on to marry a girl named Livia and had three children, Janice, Tony, and Barbara.

Unlike his younger brother, Junior never had a family. He did have multiple relationships over his life, but none of them worked out long term. Now he says that this is because he never wanted to bring a woman into his life as a mafioso, but we get hints that this might not have been true, and that it might have been due to other reasons.

Junior eventually became a made man and a capo in the DiMeo crime family. Interestingly Johnny was made before him, despite the fact that he was his younger brother. This would be a trend throughout his life.

Despite being a long serving mafioso in the family, Junior was not the most respected of figures. Part of this is because he was seen as old fashioned and not particularly innovative when it came to crime. This resulted in him being passed over for leadership of the family in favor of Jackie Aprile, another younger man.

Eventually Jackie passes away from cancer, and again the title of boss is up for grabs. Both he and his nephew Tony desire the position, and Junior is willing to fight it this time around. Tony decides to allow Junior to be the boss in name, however he secretly runs things with the backing of the other captains.

Eventually Livia reveals to Junior that situation with the capos, and he decides to whack Tony to take control of the family. However he doesn't realize that Livia is manipulating him as well for his own reasons.

The hit on Tony fails, and the FBI reveals his involvement. Tony decides to take Junior and his supporters out, but before he can get to him Junior is indicted and sent to jail to await trial. The FBI offers him a deal to say that Tony was the real boss of the family, but Junior's pride won't let him admit that he was played as a fool.

With most of his key supporters gone, Junior is placed under house arrest while he awaits his trial. He's in a much weaker position, and though Tony allows him to keep the title of boss, he runs things absolutely on the street. Junior has no choice but to accept this arrangement and the little money that is left to him.

Junior spends the next year under house arrest while his trial progresses. He tries many things to get out of it, including faking dementia which doesn’t work. However eventually they are able to intimidate a juror, and a mistrial is declared.

Though Junior is temporarily free, he is still an isolated man. Furthermore his fake dementia turns out to be legitimate, and he starts forgetting things. There are many reasons for how this could have developed, including suffering from a fall down the court house stairs. However it’s implied that the isolation he’s been suffering for the past few years may have also contributed.

Junior’s dementia eventually leads him to shoot Tony by accident, thinking he’s his old rival Pussy Malanga. Not only is Junior arrested for this, Tony ends up cutting him out of his life completely. Junior spends the rest of his life in mental institutions, gradually forgetting more and more of his life.

In his final scene, Tony finally visits Junior, who can barely recognize him and remembers nothing of his life as a mobster. Though Tony had hated Junior for shooting him, we see him shed a tear that a man he once loved is now completely gone.

Now Junior’s life is obviously tragic. He spends the majority of it alone, without a family of his own. He never gets the power or respect he feels he deserves, and in the end will probably die alone in a miserable looking place.

But it didn’t have to be this way. Junior was obviously an intelligent guy. He knew how to strategize, often offering advice to Tony on this front. When Richie gets out of prison, he approaches Junior with an alliance to undermine Tony and take him out. Though Junior goes along with this, when he realizes that Richie doesn’t stand a chance against Tony, he wisely betrays him in order to score what point he can with Tony.

So given how shrewd Junior was, why was he never able to achieve his dream and become the real boss of the family? Well one of the reasons is because of his leadership style. Junior is seen to be living in the past, not pushing the family forward into new creative money making schemes like Tony. Another is his greed. He demands a lot from those under him, and doesn’t share the spoils like other more generous bosses would.

However the biggest reason of course is his deep seated insecurity. One of his defining traits is his constant feeling of inferiority, and the destructive way he reacts to that feeling. Other characters note this about Junior as well.

One example of this is the fact that his younger brother Johnny was made before he was. Despite being the elder, Junior played a supporting role to his younger brother. It’s not clear if this is the reason why Junior was insecure, or if his insecurity caused him to be passed over, but either way it would be a defining trait throughout his life.

Even in the early days of the mob when he was running North Jersey alongside his brother, Junior did not seem to be respected by his peers. He’s made fun of by the other mobsters, including being laughed at when he falls down the stairs. In fact Junior is so insecure about the disrespect he feels in comparison to guys like Dickie Moltisanti, that he ends up having Dickie wacked just to make himself feel better.

This insecurity may have also been why he never found a wife or had children. We see that he did have a successful long term relationship with Bobbi Sanfillipo. However when she accidentally lets it slip that Junior performs oral sex on her, something that is seen as shameful in the mob, Junior breaks up with her out of pride, despite the fact that she genuinely loved him. He later seems to regret this, as he tries calling her to get back together, but she wants nothing to do with him by that point.

Now a man’s reputation is obviously important in the mafia, as people can be killed over things like that. But it’s clear that Junior pride and ego lead him to make decisions that he later regrets. After all it’s this very need to be respected that allows Tony to manipulate him with the title of boss. Junior wants it so badly that he doesn’t even realize that Tony is the one in charge, and even pays Tony for the privilege.

But his relationship with Tony is more complicated than just their struggles to be boss. Despite the fact that he tried multiple times to have Tony killed, Junior obviously cares about Tony. Not only does he provide advice for Tony when he can’t go to anyone else, he is also something of a father figure to him. He spent more time playing catch with him than his actual father in fact.

In fact when Junior is at the mental hospital, the only thing he can remember is playing ball with Tony. There is actually something interesting about this. At the end of the first season, Tony said that if you’re lucky, you’ll remember the good times at the end. And at the end of his life, Junior can’t remember any of the bad things he did in his life, only that he used to play ball with Tony. It’s a powerful statement about their relationship, and what was important to Junior in his life.

However as much as Junior obviously loved Tony, he was never able to admit it. Part of this was again due to insecurity over the fact that Tony commanded more respect from the rest of the family than he did. It’s why he took every opportunity to put Tony down for his athletic performance. It was a way of feeling superior to him.

However part of it was their lifestyle, and the inability to share genuine feelings as a mobster. People perceive emotions as weakness, and that can often lead to people taking advantage of you. This is symbolized when Tony confronts Junior about his mean comments. He’s watching a documentary about prairie dogs hiding from coyotes, a symbol of how careful they need to be to avoid being someone else’s prey.

All in all Junior was doomed to end up in a bad position. He was part of an organization that preys on weakness, and he had several personality issues that meant that he would never truly command respect the way that others did. But for all the pain he went through over the course of the show, there is one thing that’s positive about his ending. He’s one of the few characters that got to leave the life in his own way, free from the burdens of his past. And that at least is something we can all hope for.