Sopranos Rabbit Hole: My AJ Soprano Theory
The Sopranos is among the greatest pieces of entertainment ever made. I was on YouTube recently and I went down a rabbit hole of the show. It got me back to a long standing theory I have had on a certain character who many fans would say was among their most hated characters in the show.
The truth of the matter was, AJ Soprano was a character people despised. He was a dick. He was lazy and lackadaisical. He was arrogant and rude to his family. But he was every other typical teenager in America. I mean think about it, for most of the series in fact all the series, he was a kid, teenager and college student age. I personally didn't mind him as a character as I realized the goal of his character.
Today, I'm bringing you a theory I have about Tony's only male heir. I have a theory that… AJ becomes a high ranking mafia member. Don't bash me yet, hear me out…
Many of the fans of the show believe that in the final scene, Tony is killed by a gunmen who likely was wearing a Member's Only Jacket. That would be discussed by the creator of the show David Chase
Remember what that would mean. Tony is sitting at a table alongside his family including his son and wife. Now the mob history guy in me knows that generally that's very rarely how the Mafia would off you. However it would completely harden AJ. AJ, whether we agree with him or not, has already seen a lot as a kid. Since he was young, he had been introduced to murderers, racketeers and saw the strain it took on his mother and virtually everyone he knew. He also had to deal with members of his family and friends of his family killed, his great uncle shooting his father.
Now seeing his father killed in front of him, in the fragile state he was in would completely move past desensitizing him to becoming hard as opposed to sad and whiny. He was also told he "had to be the man of the house", this would quickly make him into exactly that. He would also grow up and move past his young 20 something stage. His mother would, in her own grief and now new undertaking of providing a life for herself, would be unable to control him and he would drift away to the other only family he know. They'd be waiting with open arms and he becomes a hardened man with no prospects in life with retribution on his mind.
The ONLY prospect AJ has is carrying on the mantle of his family name. He already been easily manipulated by others anyway into the things he did. He also knew from being a young child what being in a powerful family meant (Jeremy Peocosta not fighting him because of his dad being a gangster) He was afforded things because his last name was Soprano. As a young man whose father is now gone, there's no other way for AJ. He becomes the "animal" his mother referred to him as in the 8th grade. He's the same victim though that his father was, and they both become one and the same.
AJ is also young throughout the show only peaking in the last season in his 20's and still becoming a man. He also has panic attacks and certain "rotten genes" his father had. He and Tony are very similar people. They are negative, narcissistic and avoid any hard work. ALL traits that most mobsters have. They both avoid doing any real work, are sociopaths and have fragile mother issues. At one point, Tony refers to his feeling of "having the world by the balls but still feeling like a loser" which he also references to AJ as being the same way and going into "hysterics." AJ was constantly belittled by his dad and that made him into the same type of man he ultimately became. AJ would make a perfect gangster and that's not to say the Mob in the 2010's and 2020's is hard anyway. There's this growing thought you have to be a tough killer who doesn't lose a fight to be a mobster. No, you have to listen, do what you're told and kick up an envelope. There are a bunch of real life cases of sons following their father into the life and not cutting it i.e John Gotti Jr.
Many will point to the fact that AJ "wouldn't be able to hack it in the Mafia". Throughout the show, it was made clear he had no problem breaking the law on multiple occasions. Whether it was stealing (test answers as a kid), defacing property (the pool at Verbim Day), assault (taking part in burning a debtors toes off that owed his bookie friends money and beating up a bicyclist) as well as attempted murder when he attempted to kill Corrado in the looney bin.
He also had shown many times that he had a mind for business, i.e throwing a party for profit, selling goods his father gave him etc. He is more of a criminal than we remember and that was all by basically his 21st birthday. He also showed something in that conversation with Tony outside the police station after getting off easy, which is something a person in the mob with connections would do/ He, like his father, never really faces any consequences for his actions. He remains stoic to his dad and continues to mention, "you're just gonna fuckin let him get away with it?" At that moment I thought to myself, AJ has some grapes on him and is well aware of who his dad is, what he is and what he will eventually be. People will point to the dumb things AJ did or the depressed pussy at times he was, that's all true. But Christopher did many dumb things and was a hardened drug addict. That didn't preclude him from anything. Also remember AJ has a lot of the same traits his father had before he became a boss. Tony as a kid had the same father AJ did.
By the end of the show we also remember where and who he was. He had little career prospects and even at one point considered going into the military. He finally gets a taste of a job, one he can make money doing and get some prestige from. Something he hadn't had working at Beansie's pizza parlor or Blockbuster. He was working as an assistant to a woman called "Inga" who worked for a production company that Lil Carmine owned. Remember Lil Carmine is a porn king and was also a high ranking member in the Lupertazzi Crime Family. AJ years later would be directly connected to Carmine and not only have a similar background being the son of mob royalty but have a similar relationship to Lil Carmine as Tony had with Carmine Sr. AJ was having success, he was a burgeoning production assistant who was likely around Lil Carmine quickly. It's not farfetched at all that he begins branching out as an earner for the family, something important in the Mafia and with no other career prospects he's the exact type of mobster the mob wants. Someone with no other option and bloodlines as referenced above.
We also look at the power structure in the Soprano Crime Family. Whose left? Paulie and Patsy… that's about it. We can contend that Silvio likely dies or never returns to the position he once had. Plus, as Phil's guy Butchie mentions, "we get rid of the brass and do business with whosever left". As the years go by, Paulie and Patsy take the family into the 2010's. People like Benny, Walden and new associate and earner AJ bring up the rear. With AJ's blood connections and ultimate show of respect to his dead father, he becomes a made member of the family by 2015.
By present day, Paulie is likely retired or has passed away, Patsy was no spring chicken either. In fact, AJ may make a move on Patsy with Paulies blessing because he eventually realizes Patsy was the one who had his father killed. This theory is not out of the question. AJ is now in his 30's and is a capable earner, now running his own film company, involved in porn, likely street level drug pushing, bookmaking, loansharking and more. He is worthy of leading his own crew and maybe even made a push higher as the new boss of the family. He was a lot more like his father then we know.
AJ was really the same person and one that really on the surface had no real chance. His mother tried but she ultimately never actually did anything because she needed Tony to support her lifestyle. In the end, Tony tried too but he was all about himself, whether it was the side pieces, his work or his overall disdain for anyone that wasn't him. Notice in the show, his family never really brought him much joy. He constantly belittled them and the only affection he generally had was with his daughter who in her own right likely becomes a lawyer representing people like her father and brother. Tony loved animals, women that weren't his wife, lunch meat, and the life.
His son picks up right where he left off. AJ goes from being a whiny kid with depression issues to a more mature, hardened criminal that was very similar to everything his dad was, a gangster. After seeing his father murdered in front of him, this theory is very plausible. In the end, it really doesn't matter it's just a different way of looking at it. What do you think?
There's one thing we can all agree on, it's one of the greatest pieces of American culture ever made.