The Motives of Uncle Junior and Patsy Parisi from the Sopranos

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With Sopranos, every episode stands on its own.

I started a ‘reverse watch’ of the Sopranos leading up to the prequel movie, ‘The Many Saints of Newark’ that comes out in September.

Watching in reverse starting from the series finale ‘Made in America’ and working backwards in time forces a different perspective on the structure of the show. So far, I've watched the entire final season (season 6B) from finish to start.

*Sopranos Spoilers Below*

A side note: the way I stumbled upon this ‘reverse watch’ idea was going back to rewatch the series finale. I heard a theory on Youtube that it was Patsy Parisi who put the final hit on Tony Soprano, so I wanted to watch for details in support of that, and then I just kept backtracking through episodes.

I am of the interpretation that Tony was indeed shot and killed in the final moment of the show, and it represents what his death would be like from his perspective. A quick cut to black that he never heard coming. A genius work of writing by David Chase, the creator of Sopranos.

Did Patsy Parisi put the final hit on Tony Soprano?

I couldn’t draw any definitive conclusions to answer that question in my 6B reverse watch, but it seems like David Chase was leaving a breadcrumb trail for viewers to follow in that direction. Watching Parisi in 6B mainly reinforces Patsy’s rise in the rankings, with minimal screen time but a great presence when he’s there.

He becomes one of Tony’s best soldiers. Tony almost gives him ownership of a key money-making responsibility that is vacant, but ultimately gives it to his first choice, Paulie.

We don’t get to see Parisi’s perspective of this or any insight into if he is interested in the job, mad because he didn't receive it, or if he even cares at all. For the sake of this theory one can speculate that his anger for being overlooked could be a minor factor, or last straw for Parisi in regards to Tony.

He has made huge sacrifices, been a loyal and effective soldier, and on top of that is literally joining Tony’s family. Tony’s daughter Meadow is engaged to his son at the ending point of the show, so it’s reasonable for him to think that he is someone Tony would support the same way he did Bobby Bacala when he married Janice.

Parisi’s Grief in Tony’s Backyard

In season 3, there is a scene when Parisi pees in Tony’s pool and looks as though he’s about to murder Tony.

He literally pulls a gun out, points it at Tony from afar through the window, unbeknownst to Tony, starts to cry, reconsiders, and then pees in Tony’s pool before leaving without being seen by anyone but the hidden FBI agents disguised as landscapers watching with binoculars.

This anger could have built and wilted into the plotting of Tony’s death over the course of the next three seasons, to a point where he finally finds the perfect opportunity to follow through with it.

The Dialogue Parisi Delivers to Gloria

Another moment in season 3, there is a line that Parisi says to Gloria (Tony’s ‘goomah’/mistress) when he is sent by Tony to tell her, in so many words, that he’ll kill her if she tries to contact Tony’s family.

The line Parisi delivers is important foreshadowing because Gloria is suicidal and self destructive, seemingly wanting to elicit a response from Tony for some kind of emotional catharsis. She acts in self-destructive ways in attempts to demand Tony’s attention and respect.

Parisi’s threat to Gloria: “It won’t be cinematic”

He’s saying, if she calls Tony’s wife again, it will be Parisi showing up and killing her with a coldblooded shot to the head that she probably won’t even hear. She will not even elicit a reaction from Tony. It will just be Parisi.

It will most likely happen similarly to how Tony’s demise happens in the final scene of the show. A quick cut to black for Gloria.

The scene builds tension with specifics like Tony ordering onion rings for the table, the man in the members only jacket glancing over at the Soprano family before walking past them to the bathroom, Meadow struggling to parallel park the car outside, the music getting louder - it's all leading somewhere and then suddenly - everything cuts to black - and the tension is never satisfied.

We wanted a catharsis in that moment, but death, at least in my interpretation of what the Sopranos is presenting, is not cinematic when it happens like this.

The fact that it’s Parisi that delivers this line is a big bread crumb when you are watching the show with him singled out as the one who did it.

There’s another unlikely candidate that I started to consider as the one while I was watching in reverse.

Did Uncle Junior Put the Final Hit out on Tony?

Uncle Junior is another major character who has evidence against him as possibly being the one who put the hit out on Tony once and for all. This was the coolest idea that arose in my mind stemming from this rewatch.

Not once have I ever considered Uncle Junior as the one who put the final hit on Tony - but it is very possible.

In season 1, Junior is Tony’s #1 rival and they nearly go to war over who is the rightful boss of the family in the wake of former boss Jackie Aprile’s passing. Tony manipulates Junior into thinking he is the boss, all the while running the family behind the scenes as Junior is propped up as a fake boss.

This must eat away at Junior throughout the entirety of the show and as we know, Junior DOES plot with his sister in law, Tony’s mother, to have Tony killed in season 1 when he finds out about this plan.

Ultimately the plot fails and Junior lives in denial about it, never able to fully face Tony with his true feelings, ultimately succumbing to the role of fake boss and the embarrassment that comes with it.

How real is Uncle Junior’s Dementia?

Eventually, in season 6A’s first episode, he actually shoots Tony but it is almost entirely chalked up to his deteriorating mind.

Junior’s dementia is one of the most fascinating and underrated aspects of a show that dives deep into the science and philosophy of mental health - or as Christopher would put it, “the human condition”.

While Junior is living out his sentence confined to a mental institution for shooting Tony, it seems like he learns to like the life and power he has within this simplified world, and shows signs of being at least somewhat mentally capable.

He even recognizes the more severe unstable state that his fellow patient turned right-hand-man, Carter Chong, displays in the episode ‘Remember When’, episode 3 of season 6B. It’s the memorable ‘fuck you!’ scene where you can see Junior get a little bit spooked by Carter’s actions, showing some mental wherewithal.

Could he have shot Tony on purpose, with the cloak of dementia as his way of avoiding the ownership of actually doing it, in the same way he completely cowards away from ownership of his first assassination attempt on Tony?

Could Uncle Junior have ordered the hit on Tony while confined inside the mental institution?

The scene directly prior to the infamous final scene of the show is Tony visiting Junior in the mental institute where Junior appears in a wheelchair, and the conversation is fascinating.

Tony is there to urge Junior to give the stash of money that Uncle Junior has hidden away to Bobby Bacala's kids.

Nobody knows where the money is and not even Janice can find it. She wants it for herself and Tony knows that she won’t give it to Bacala’s children. Uncle Junior can’t remember where the stash is, but could he be playing coy here?

Not wanting to give up his last remaining money, he could be using other people’s perception of him to maintain possession of it. He may know exactly where the money is but does not want to lose it to his Niece who he also has extreme resentment towards.

And he definitely doesn’t want the FBI to seize it.

He can’t really do anything being confined to the hospital, but withholding the money is a way to seize some power.

If he did know where the money was, it is not crazy to think that he used it to pay for the hit on his nephew Tony given that no one would suspect him because of his mental state and current physical condition.

It makes sense that his incredible bitterness towards Tony, his intense general narcissism and sociopathy, plus his newfound ability to manipulate perception of himself could have provided the opportunity to kill Tony without any suspicion of guilt or judgement.

It’s a dark satisfaction that he can enjoy to himself after all these years of resenting Tony. It’s very parallel to Tony and Christopher’s uncle-nephew relationship. If Junior actually did kill Tony, then it would have been exactly the same way in which Tony killed Christopher - as an opportunistic way to shed themselves of weight they don’t like carrying.

This is just a theory that emerged in my mind after watching season 6B in reverse - but it is one I don’t hear very often. Could Uncle Junior have killed Tony?

Let me know who you think killed Tony, or your interpretation of the ending, any holes in what I wrote, or anything else in the comments!

In the meantime, my reverse watch continues…