The Sopranos follows New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, husband and father of 3. Over the course
of the show’s 6 seasons, Tony must juggle his responsibilities as head of his family and head of
the family. His therapy sessions with Dr Melfi add insight into his psyche, character and intentions,
as we learn more and more, what he is about, what he thinks, how he really reacts to the
situations and people around him. Though he does have his moments,
and does make attempts to better himself and gain a level of reflection and introspection,
Tony ultimately is not a nice guy. In fact, he subtlety gets worse over the course of the show,
until season 6 wear he seemingly is content with being a toxic person, diving deep into vices,
breaking bonds, committing taboos, and fully enjoying himself while he does it.
Tony is ultimately a self-absorbed narcissist whose actions are fuelled
by self-interest. He revels in having his fill, and the next persons too,
destroying others as he does himself. He starts to see others not as people, but as tools, and values
them based on how much use they are to him. Sometimes his behaviour is driven by pure
selfishness and a complete lack of empathy, such as when he gambles away money he was originally
going to give to Vito Jr’s mother. Other times it is pure cruelty intended to cause pain,
like many of the things he says to Carmella when they split up. And if it isn’t bad enough
that he his behaviour and empathy nosedives throughout the show, he drags others with him,
such as making Bobby Baccala, who has never killed anyone, carry out a hit and in the process lose
his soul, a series of events which were no doubt influenced by Bobby beating Tony in the fight and
the latter feeling insecure about it. He preys on those weaker than him,
like ruining Davey Scatiano’s life or constantly beating Georgie up.
Today I wanted to take a look at some of the most evil and cruellest things Tony
Soprano has ever said. I want to separate the things he says from the things he does,
as the latter is something we can take a look at in another video. Obviously
separating Tony’s words and actions is not easy, as talking is still doing something,
but I’m going to try my best to stick to the things Tony says that are cruel exclusively,
and leave out his evil actions, such as killing Christopher. It’s not easy, and with
a few of these I’m probably breaking the rule. So anyway lets take a look, and be sure to let
me know in the comments below what lines you think are some of Tony’s worst, and while you’re at it
subscribe to the channel and hit the notification bell to stay up to date with future videos.
The first line I want to nominate, and this is in no particular order, is when AJ spills
food on the floor and Tony starts berating him. AJ is stiff and looks uncomfortable,
unlike in later seasons where he constantly brushes off criticism from his parents and is
absolutely insufferable, so it might be best for Tony to have a few words and move on. But he then
looks at Carmella and say” I’m supposed to get a vasectomy when this is my male heir? Look at him.”
I mean this one needs no explanation, surely? It is one of the cruellest things uttered in the
entire show. There is probably no greater example in The Sopranos of a way to put down a character,
to demoralise him, to strip him of both his manhood and his status as the only
son. How is that supposed to make you feel if you’re AJ? That you’re not good enough? That
you’re so weak and such a disappointment that your father is holding out on hope that he’ll
have another son who is better than you? And sure AJ can be a fool, but at this point
he’s around 15 and has a sociopathic father – many of AJ’s failings are actually Tony’s. As
I argued in another video, with parents like AJ’s, what chance did the boy actually have?
And the lack of reaction from AJ, in spite of his mother’s insistence that Tony apologies,
is telling. Sure, maybe he doesn’t know what a vasectomy is, but if he does, his non-reaction
implies Tony’s insult is pretty much what he’s been led to believe his entire life,
that he’s utterly useless and without value. It’s so mean spirited and merciless to say something
like that to your son – I mean, even if it was true, somethings are just best left unsaid.
Onto my next pick, and it’s when Tony is having dinner with Janice, Bobby and their family.
Throughout this episode, Tony can see that Janine, who is one of the most toxic people in the show,
is doing therapy and its clearly having an effect. She’s calmer, she’s happier, she’s doing well with
her new family. Both Tony and Janice have issues, especially since they had Livia for a mother,
but here Janice is actually trying to change, and she’s having success? And Tony’s reaction? Well,
he just can’t take it. Can’t take it that Janice is happy and he tries to
bring her back down to his level by bringing up her estranged son, saying “I wonder where Harpo
is eating his Sunday dinner”, and when Janice is able, albeit struggling, to keep her cool,
he digs his heels in further, saying “I wonder what’s French-Canadian for ‘I grew up without
a mother’” and “Sacre bleu where is me mama”, citing him being the boy’s uncle as his reason
for doing so. But his ****-eating grin as he walks out of the home says everything.
He can’t stand to see Janice happy and in control of herself. It’s one of Tony’s most petty moments,
one where its most obvious where he is just a miserable person who spreads his
misery and just can’t let anyone be happy, much like his mother. Janice had even apologised to
Tony earlier for her behaviour, talked up how her therapy helped her become happy,
and instead of being happy for her sister he rips away all the progress she’s made. He’s
only happy when he finally makes her unhappy. I will say one thing though in Tony’s favour
here. In a way, Tony is calling Janice out on her phoniness and bull**** that she is cured
and a changed person, showing how easy it is for her to slip into her old ways with just
a few words. And its still narcissistic and selfish for Janice to only consider
herself and be happy that her happiness is improving, when she’s left an avalanche of
destruction in her journey. As Tony points out, she may be happy and jolly with her new family,
but there is still a son out there who Janice abandoned, and she hasn’t righted that wrong,
instead doing the easy thing and ignoring it. But in any case, Tony’s comments aren’t coming from a
place of sincerity and caring for his uncle, regardless if the point he made was valid. It
was cruel, unnecessary and completely calculated. Janice should have bought up his small hands he
would have gone crying all the way back to Melfi. For my next pick, I’m going for Tony’s line to
Melfi when he says “We're soldiers. Soldiers don't go to Hell.” So what’s so evil about that? Well,
it’s the fact that he justifies his behaviour and everything he and the mob do with this line,
the fact that its dripping with narcissism and shows he does not take any accountability. And
he follows it up by berating Melfi for taking a stand and says she told him all this time she’s
been saying nothing is his fault because of poor parenting, and now he’s angry,
insecure and lashing out because she calls him out, saying what does poor Italian immigrants have
to do with him? He can’t take it, and would rather live in this bubble where what he is
doing is for the betterment of his people. He goes on about codes and orders, talking
about preserving things that mean something to the Italians. He uses words like honour,
loyalty and family. And its sickening. Its scary, that someone can delude themselves
into thinking this. Someone should make a supercut of Tony saying “we’re soldiers”
and follow it up with Paulie killing an old lady, Tony killing his nephew, the bust out with Davey,
getting the cop demoted, crying about a horse, hijacking trucks carrying TVs, and all of the
other Soprano shenanigans. But there are people like this, people who commit heinous actions
and feel fully justified, and it is pure evil. So for my next pick I’m going for a line said in
a fight between Tony and Carmella. It’s really more the overall mood and attitude of Tony but
its best summarised when he screams at Carm: Fact is you’re a sh***y businesswoman who built a piece
of s**t house that's gonna cave in and kill that unborn baby ANY DAY! And now you can’t sleep.
He then follows this up with – baring in mind Carmella has been forward thinking
and wanting to plan in case Tony is arrested or killed – he says:
When I’m gone you can live in a ****** dumpster for all I care
And you have to bear in mind one of the reasons why he’s so p***ed is just because he couldn’t
bet more heavily on a football game he won, and is just lashing out, being cruel for the sake of
it. And his demeanour isn’t really scary like it has been in previous shouting matches, its
intimidating sure, but it comes off as deranged, desperate, and a far cry from how in control
a lot of Tony Soprano verbal beatdowns are. And the line about living in a dumpster. Damn.
The whole point of making money as head of the household is to take care of your wife and kids,
and here Tony is just openly saying he does not care what happens to Carmella
after he’s gone. That’s…deplorable. For my next pick, I’m sure a lot of people
will think this isn’t particularly cruel or evil, and maybe in the grand scheme of things it isn’t,
because its somewhat justified. But when Tony and ***** kill the Bevilacqua kid, who shot Chris and
put him in hospital, they have a few words with him before they take him out. The guy’s
been beaten up, he’s scared out of his wits. He’s given a diet coke. Tony asks him if he liked it,
whether he would rather have something with sugar in it. There is a pause. And then Tony says:
Cause that sugarless motherf**ker, is the last f**king drink you're ever gonna have.
And then he gets up and shoots Matt, all while his victim cries in despair.
I mean, Matt practically tried to murder someone who was as close to Tony as a son, so Tony’s anger
is completely justified. But Tony is absolutely revelling in this situation – he knows from the
off he’s gonna kill the kid, but he savours it. He gives him this false hope. He intentionally acts
kind to Matt so that the payoff of dropping the sugarless ************ line is all the
more sweeter to satisfy his vengeful cruelty. *** could have popped him in the back of the head when
he went to get the drink, but Tony would rather bask in the kid’s terror to appease his sadism.
For my next choice, I’m going with something that’s ostensibly not too bad,
and it probably highlights Tony’s ignorance and lack of thinking more his cruelty.
But when he visits Janice’s place, and finds Ritchie Aprile instead, Tony goes on about
why Ritchie would want Janice. For someone as hot-tempered as Ritchie, he keeps his cool with
Tony’s remarks and handles things well all things considered, I mean after all Tony is berating his
girlfriend here. The line I’ve gone for is: There are men in the can better looking than my sister.
So yeah, it’s a zinger. But think of the implications. Ritchie has gone away for a
long time, he’s been in the can 10 years not a peep, and things happen in jail. S****** black
magic. Sick shit. But you get a pass for that. But it’s strongly implied Ritchie indulged in
such activities, like when he wants the lights off when he’s visited by the girls after getting
out. So putting all this into context, its pretty insulting of Tony to come out with something like
this – he’s basically verbally acknowledging the secret things some men do who have long sentences,
he’s saying Ritchie did it, and he is essentially saying he’s better off doing
that than dating his sister. He could have just said “there are men better looking
than my sister” but he specifically mentions prison, whether it was intentional or not, and
that has heavy implications. And with Ritchie’s demeanour change, it seems he picked up on it.
So let’s do one more, as this videos getting quite long. When Adrianna spills the beans to Chris
about the feds, as we know, he leaves and she gets a call from Tony saying Chris had a heart attack
and she’ll be picked up to go to the hospital. Obviously she’s being set up here and the entire
phone conversation is a cruel act. But Tony goes even further than necessary, by saying “Did
Chrissy tell you something? Anything?” knowing that Adrianna told Chris about the FBI. I mean,
its bad enough that she’s going to be murdered, it’s bad enough that she thinks her boyfriend is
in hospital, but Tony slyly makes her think it was her fault that Chris had an attack,
piling even more anxiety and guilt on her. Plus it’s a shockingly adept display of a cunning lie
in which he mitigates this emotionally charged series of events to feign ignorance and just
sell the lie that much more. He’s known this girl for years, and just like that
he effortlessly sets her up for murder. So what do you think are Tony’s most evil
and cruel lines? What do you think of my choices? Do you think there’s
any ones I’ve missed? Let me know in the comments below, and thanks for watching.