Why Did Tony Forgive Uncle Junior For Trying To Kill Him? The Sopranos Explained

Why didn’t Tony kill Uncle Junior after Junior tried to have him whacked in season 1? Why did Tony essentially forgive Junior, and repair his relationship with him, when so many others have felt the wrath of Tony Soprano?

Shouldn't Tony have killed Uncle Junior for trying to whack him? The two were trying to become boss and had an uneasy relationship with each other. Check out the video for The Sopranos analysis.

[doublemx]

A couple of three reasons.
1) He still had use for Junior being the lightning rod
2) After listening to the FBI tapes he realized Junior acted due to Livia's deception.
3) Deep down he still loved and respected his uncle.

[bentencho]

Hence why when Tony asked Junior, "Don't you love me?" he was silent.
He loved him personally like any uncle and nephew... but hated Tony professionally as an usurper.

[joeschmoe]

The actor Dominic Chianese is an amazing example of not giving up in life because you never know when opportunity knocks I think he was 70 and renting a small apartment when he got the role and what a great character!

[sordidsentinel]

One key aspect I think you should have included - before Tony decides to meet with Junior and offer him the position as Boss, he has an appointment with Melfi, where he complains about Livia's resistance to going to a nursing home. Melfi tells Tony that sometimes as the people who raised us get older, they can resent being told what's best for them by adults they still see as children - she suggests to Tony that one tactic he should try with his mother is to allow her to think she's in control and making decisions in her own best interest, when Tony's actually setting things up to steer her in that direction and provide her with the "illusion of control."

Of course, Tony fails to practice any of this advice with Livia, but immediately uses it to come up with a plan on how to resolve his dispute with Junior while avoiding a war or losing face.

[aaron]

Tony still goes to see him in the finale after refusing to give Janice money to help him. That scene at Junior's facility was one of the most poignant in the series. Junior's descent into dementia was from a scriptwriter's handbook on what to do with an elderly character, but it was amazingly well-done, mirroring Tony's descent into pettiness/evil/greed. Great point on the FBI possibly saving Junior's life. I still think Tony wouldn't have pulled the trigger on killing him.

[VanirTraditionalist]

Junior was salty, petty, and often came off as an insecure boob. But on multiple occasions he earned the younger generation’s respect by dropping old school gangster wisdom. Even narcissist Tony consulted him when unsure which path to take. Brilliant writing, brilliant acting by Dominic Chianese.

[Buford_T_Justice]

Uncle Junior’s mistake was sending Boyz II Men to whack Tony.

[robk]

Johnny Boy’s distance(emotionally, due to incarceration and early death) to Tony led him to look for father figures. Dicky and Junior served as father figures at different points in his life. Hell, Both took an interest in young Tony’s life more than his own father.

[darth]

Tony seems to have seperated Junior the uncle from Junior the business rival. As part of their "business", he dealt with Junior by making him a figurehead boss and taking away 95% of his earnings. But as part of their private relationship, he still carried his uncle in his arms at the end of the episode (after Junior fell in the shower).

[portugal]

People don’t realize that in reality, Junior was actually the NICE boss compared to a group of physcopaths. Yes, the man was EXTREMELY petty, but the more times you watch the show, you realize he is the one who is more GENUINLY respected rather than Tony who is respected out of “FEAR OF THE BOSS.” Look at Dickie Moltisanti for example, people say he only had him whacked by Paulie because he felt embarrased, but was actually doing it to get Tony to realize that this wasn’t the right life to live. Dickie was a bad role model who did little to nothing for Tony other than inspire him to pursue the life more. Junior was always doing nice things for the community too like helping the less fortunate and being a friend that the weak and victimed who would help them resolve issues in return for simple favors (free dry cleaning, tailor service, fancy dinners, etc.). Did any one you ever wonder why New York’s “old schoolers” was so hostile towards Tony? Phil and Butchie said it perfectly, “How could NJ let that man walk all over his uncle like that? That man is the real boss and brains!” In reality, Tony did strong arm his only real father figure and send him into a depressive state which to his inevitable downfall from dementia. Not a lot of those guys made it to old age, so when you watch the show again, focus on his scenes and you realize he was actually a pretty wisdomous guy, like an Italian mob wizard or something!! All things that definitely contributed greatly to Tony’s successes. Like I said, the more you rewatch, the more you just realize Tony is not a likeable guy at all!! However, like the topic of this video, Tony definitely knew all this which is why he never considered even harming his uncle. As evil as he was, Uncle Junior may have been the only man in the show other than Artie and Sil who Tony genuinly loved in a sincere way as anybody else who even dared do a fraction of the things his uncle did would have been dead on the spot ages ago.

[licmir]

When Junior shot Tony in the season finale, the latter believed until the end of the series that Junior had done it on purpose; that he had betrayed his nephew again. Even when Tony visited Junior and realized that his uncle’s mind had decayed, there’s no indication on whether Tony connected the dots and noticed that Junior may have attacked him under the influence of his dementia.

[ezekielmajor]

I believe Jr still had the ability to generate lots of money for the family, whether it be drugs, extortion, gambling etc. Junior was still a big money maker, and in the end that's what it's all about. Jr. was also respected by NY.

[booboolips]

Johnny Ola actually survived the assassination attempt by Michael Corleone, then returned to his Soprano family to resume his criminal career.

[fs]

If Tony had killed Junior, I think he would have been in trouble with the other mafia families. The other families may have looked at it as a violation being how high ranked he was. Also junior had been in the mafia for most of his life he more than likely had personal relationships with the bosses of the other families

[marquesjohnson]

Tony and junior's relationship was definitely complicated eventhough they both plotted to have the other whacked at one point they did love eachother eventhough junior thought he had to take tony out he wasn't happy about it he didn't even want to hear the details from mikey and as angry as tony was I don't think he really wanted junior dead because he had from the time he got out on house arrest to make a move on him but he didn't I know he put him in position to be the front boss and take the heat but that wasn't the only reason tony didn't take him out

[sukashi_]

Let's not forget that Melfi address this many times, but particularly so just before Tony gets shot by Junior: he's fixated on blaming his mother for all what's wrong in his life, he won't let go of that hatred (we also see this in the 'Camelot' episode), he'd rather think of her mother as this criminal mastermind who totally had Junior for the balls. Accepting Junior's attempted hit on him also means to accept Livia's complexity as a human being, and ultimately, acknowledging that Johnny Boy was a bad father.

Also: huge teller that Carmela never forgave Junior.

[ArAnXx]

that episode "where's Johnny" is a hell of an episode, not a mediocre scene in that whole episode and all kinds of different things happen from different storylines, and genius of it is how Tony is mad at Junior for bringing up the varsity shit and asks Junior to not bring it up again and Junior brings it up again and Tony stops talking to him because of it but then later he realizes that Junior actually forgets about that because of his Alzeimer, so it's not that he meant to bring it up two back to back times to hurt Tony, it's that he's being aggressive because of his mental state and he brings it up two back to back times because he doesn't remember that Tony asked him not to bring up the varsity shit, and that's why Tony forgives him at the end of the episode and realizes Junior doesn't even know what he's doing, it's a little detail that I didn't realize until I watched it for a third time, I used to think Junior was being spiteful on purpose but turns out his memory was gone and he was aggressive because he's sick.

[seramarama]

Junior was more useful alive than dead, but Tony clearly had affection for this uncle. He did fill in as his caretaker when he shot him. Easily could not have and got someone else to do it.

[kestrel]

Deep down there was respect for each other and love. In their business, their family ties were stronger than with other mafia members.

[mr.melancholy]

If he knew Junior had killed Dickie I wonder would he still spare him?