Oh he was definitely playing it sometimes too... like in court with that smug smile. And one of the dimensions of his character was the uncertainty of when it's real and when it's put on
Wow you missed that completely and so did the other 300 people who liked your comment. Livia was actually losing her mind. And Junior didn't realize it when projecting her vague rabble into a reason to make a hit on Tony. He realized this later when Livia had no idea who Meadow was. Livia has always been upfront in her love-hate with Johnny and Tony - being hateful to their face, but remarking kindly on them to others - this is a major depressive symptom that Tony inherited and it made him an effective leader. Junior having senility is not-necessarily themed in a way that conveys poetic justice, but it does play into the theme that age makes victims of us all. Johnny Sack also faced a similar arc, remarking on his becoming cigarette free once in prison, only to come down with an incredibly aggressive form of lung cancer. As far as Junior's mental decline is concerned, it's used mostly later on as a blow to Tony's inability to free himself from his depression. In the last episode, he was shown to have gotten essentially no where in ailing his depressive and agonizingly fundamental outlook on life; he sees a world crumbling in around him to the very end. Being with his family was the only thing that made him happy and that's how the show ended. Whether he realized that or not before being clipped, we will never know. But that's the poetic bow on the series finale. Only a fool would interpret Livia or Junior's senility as a con on those around them. It was cleverly shot to reflect the false egos and ideologies of the characters who engaged with them. For instance, Tony hating his mother allowed him to believe the rumor that his mother wanted him dead. And the rumor itself was created by Junior, whose own interpersonal hatred for Tony allowed him to believe that's what she wanted. What's more? Everyone assumed Junior's shooting of Tony was no different than as if he tried to whack him. And Tony did little to stop this, even when his own son tried to avenge him. It's a fantastic way to show how people misinterpret one another. David Chase does that a lot with this show, often having characters repeat what they heard from another character only a scene later. People are unoriginal and project in conversation, often saying awkward things and missing the point entirely. It's one of the only shows that displays this clearly for the audience, and it serves as a lesson to those who take everything they hear for granted.
I love how the writers very subtly illustrated how Junior's mind was turning to mush.. Asks Bobby to make him an egg twice, forgets Tony didn't want one and mistakenly calls Tony B, Tony "Egg"... genius haha
I DON'T see a better way to illustrate his condition .I'm not a paperback writer for an Audio and VISUAL media though. I dont want to be a paperback writer. A paperback writer. Good luck with that Paul, ya weirdo.
maybe the fact that NOBODY GIVES A SHIT ABOUT YOU OR YOUR "FAVORITE ACTORS"! everybody knows they've passed so shut the fuck up about it okay?..ya fuckin Dunce!
The fact that Bobby is so transparently genuine with his view on Carmine being a great man for inventing point-shaving is what makes it so funny. The show has always made a conscious effort to show how delusional so many of these characters are within their counter-culture world.
@@AE-bm4no Sorry, but you have completely misunderstood my point. Whether the factoid about Carmine is true or not is utterly irrelevant. I was discussing the comical nature (outside the logic of the Italian Mafia) of what makes someone a great man.
Tony, Bobby, and Feech laughing at Junior at that Dandelion joke was such a rare wholesome ballbreaking moment. Seeing bobby laughing his ass off in the background gets me everytime.
The suttle tension exhibited by feech toward Tony is genius writing. 'Ah the Boyking' 'There he is John Barrymore' - The way Tony picks up on it also and throws it back at him.. amazing acting
Yes! Well said. It was evident elsewhere too pretty much in all the scenes with them. Feech - Let me kiss the ring Tony - How about the one in the center of my ass
@Evyatar Hadar And that's another thing. I don't wanna hear about how it was during your day. You can keep your stories to local anecdotes like Dynaflow or the McGuire sisters. Otherwise SHUT THE FUCK UP!
Feech was meant to be an actual Italian mafioso. Made on the other side. Ralphie mentioned it when telling the card game story a little while before Feech turned up in the main story. But I think his character was modified to fit the crew better after he was cast. Real scicilan gangsters of the old school were a very different stripe to the Italian-Americans. They werent flamboyant or in your face with their actions or demeanor. There's a great passage in a book on the sicilan mafia I read that described a bunch of sicilians that were pretty much horrified by the way their American cousins carried on. Loudly discussing business in a diner with girlfriends at their sides. The old guys were way more careful, and would never talk shop even around trusted women or wives (let alone casual girlfriends).
@@cornusia yes, you're quite right. Tony and the guys were tighter lipped than those actual historical gangsters referenced in that book. Even Christopher gave up relatively little to Adriana - considering he was a junkie mess for much of the series. It was a weird cultural thing that the old school Sicilians practiced (Mario Puzo outlined it really well in the book The Godfather. Business was for men. Women were to be compartmentalised completely; spending too much time or energy on them was a sign of weakness.)
@@kingofthehamsters Feech wasn't made in Sicily, his Family has roots in Naples. Still old school mafia but not as traditional as Sicilians, which is why the Camorra acts like a typical gang instead of the organization of the Cosa Nostra.
StooGP Except it wasn’t even good between them in this clip. Feech was being passive aggressive towards Tony by calling him “the boy king“ undermining him I’m treating him like a child. He just can’t except that Tony was a kid when he went away and that’s now he is the boss of the New Jersey family.
0:27 Check out Tony's reaction to Feech leaning into him, he didn't like it one bit. Tony really wanted to drop that line from Goodfellas on him there: "What the fuck are you doing?!you're hanging around my fucking neck like a vulture, like impending death!"
It's exceptionally painful to go through the clips with Junior, to see the dozens and dozens of signs that his mind was slipping, and how no one had the capability nor desire to see these signs and assist him due to the culture and codes of the time.
Shamino Warhen I always wonder if he’d have gone that way if he didn’t cut things off with his gumar after being ridiculed for going down on her. It all went downhill for him after that.
You don't see it until after the fact when a loved one is going through it. You keep pushing it down the road and going. Okay one more time. And then finally one day you go. Okay, we're done. And it takes years. Been there done that.
In sports, they set (usually in Las Vegas) a number of points that a better team is supposed win by called the "point spread" or just "spread". In gambling using point spreads, if a team wins, but doesn't win by as much as the point spread, the people who bet on that team don't win. Point shaving is fixing a game so a team doesn't beat the point spread. It started in basketball I believe (paying players to slow down the scoring if they were beating the spread). The thing that characterizes point shaving is that a player can fix the game so they don't beat the spread, but not cause their team to lose the game. I had the type of father who placed bets with a bookie and worked for a construction company with mobbed up owners, so I learned this stuff young. But I'd be willing to bet you can find this by typing "point shaving" into Google.
@John Lorton Yes that and even more basically just giving more opportunities to bet on more games. If the Patriots were playing the Bengals this year and there wasn't any kind of spread, there would be no reason to take bets or place bets on that game except people who wanted to bet on an extremely unlikely upset, which almost no one would do.
love the energy in this scene, the tone is so pleasant. there’s no tension at all, and everyones in a good mood. i love the final part between junior & tony. seeing tony just remember exactly where junior wanted to be put at, makes you realize the amount of care and love tony had for his uncle.
Gambling is a key moneymaker in the Mafia. Inventing point shaving would be of significance to these guys. Junior bought a Cadillac with the money he won. haha
Its not a dichotomy, sports and their outcomes are objectivley pointless, carmine invented a clever way to make money which is a good thing, not for the sport itself but who cares really?
"You run around like an idiot holding hands as tight as you can, and then the line snaps. Somebody lets go. And you're next." Out of all Uncle Jun quotes, this is one of my favorites. The delivery is chilling.
Just a random scene but so much going on that is both poignant to the show and life in general. The rare playful moments between Tony, his beloved uncle and friends. (rare because it' isn't mean spirited) the looming reality of Junior's worsening illness. Junior discussing mortality, coming to face his own mortality and opining "who now damnit!?" that he's crossed a treshold where life stopped giving him things, and is now taking them away. It's warm, fun, and sad all at once. In a world: brilliant!
Something subtle I just picked up on: Tony's afraid of Feech, to a degree. At 0:29-0:30, when Feech hovers over Tony as he says "He's a good kid, your cousin, smart" notice how Tony almost flinches when Feech gets in his space. I don't we ever saw that with any other character, not even Richie Aprile. When Feech was released, the news report said Feech was "greatly feared and respected in the '70s" and Tony says "Amen to that." This would've been a guy who was a heavy hitter when Tony was a nobody punk hijacking trucks. Everything about that, and about Feech, seems to make Tony uncomfortable.
Yeah that last part gets me, its like that game we used to play as kids, crack the whip, you run around like a bunch of idiots holding hands and than the line snaps and somebody lets go,than you realize you're next. thats some deep shit.
Junior, I believe, was not as " clueless" as he appeared on the surface. That was a very insightful. Perhaps Junior was meant to be a "parody" of Gigante who wondered around in his pajamas...
+Larry D I believe you're right on. I remember him disappearing down memory lane in his Lincoln once when Janice was supposed to be minding him, and that's the first thing I thought of.
Uncle Junior was one of my favorites! I love the character. Chase has him as mostly a good ol' guy from the old school and he's just being honest. He ate the dandelions just to be polite, and Tony B is a fucking weirdo! The old house just fits the character.
Man this is such a good scene, they really show how dementia is complicated, Junior can't remember 10 seconds ago but he remembers the exact night point shaving was invented and he made a whole lot of money. He bought a Fleetwood.
"You want an egg? Make my nephew an egg" "I don't want an egg" "Make my nephew an egg" "I don't want one" "He said he doesn't want an egg" "You want an egg? Make my nephew an egg"
Junior was a great character and you always knew there was going to be a great laugh with great one liners,, it was really a pity they took him out when they did he was missed,,
I'm not sure why, but "He was a great man; my cousin told me it was Carmine who invented point shaving" makes me laugh more consistently than just about any other line from the show. At this point I start laughing after "He was a gre--"
One of the (many) things they do really well in this show is showing Junior's decline. It's very subtle, he's sharp as a tack in the beginning, but by the end he's completely lost his mind.
That scene where Tony kicks Bobby softly on his ass, and everyone laughs always warms my heart. How happy they all looked. Back when everything was fine
Definitely feeling some dialogue was cut from the scene. 0:32, all of a sudden Junior is eating salad and his line is stiff. Probably cut for time/pacing. It's a long scene that's all exposition, theme and emotional beats. On rewatch, those beats end up being my favorite parts.
"the class of 2004 old rats on a new ship" "CCNY vs Kentucky 1951" "life is like the game crack the whip" is there any quote Jr says thats not rich in history?
