Tony's enraged when he finds out Christopher accidentally smothered Adriana's (Drea de Matteo) dog to death, then disgusted by the revelation that Christopher was high during his mother's funeral. Tony was even reluctant to promote him to Capo. This is a man who Tony was hoping to groom into becoming the next leader of the family. He knew that Christopher and Richie didn't get along. A few seconds later Tony is badly banged up, but in nowhere near as dire condition as Christopher. Tony saw how Adrianna turned FBI informant and probably figured that an angry and heroin-addicted Christopher would quickly flip if the FBI were to get any leverage on him whatsoever. While Chris is traveling to North Carolina to pick up cigarettes, Tony and Adriana are involved in a car accident. For Tony, this episode marked the tail end of the conclusion of his own psychological dilemma. (2000), Tracee: Ralph Cifaretto beat the stripper to death; Silvio told Christopher to "get a sheet" from inside the strip club to cover up her corpse. He later ends up at his "friend" J.T. Christopher was getting distracted and far less reliable, leading to a rift in the group and with Tony. (5 Reasons Why), Why Do People Hate Jordan Peterson? While Tony was looking for colleges with his daughter Meadow, he spotted Petrulio at a gas station and began pursuing him. Because of his gambling problem, Vin is in Tony's pocket and Tony lets him slide on some debts in exchange for the cop passing him insider info and sometimes running errands. However, the background of Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti's relationship is revealed in The Many Saints of Newark, HBO's Sopranos prequel movie. The FBI was responsible for one of the biggest surprises in the history of "The Sopranos" when they suddenly launched an early-morning raid on Johnny's New Jersey house while Tony and Johnny. "The Sopranos" star also reflected on being cast on the show when she was "busted, broke." Falco was working on another HBO series, "Oz," at the time, and auditioned for "Sopranos" without knowing much about it. The rest joined in too. Valuing loyalty over love, Christopher reports Adriana's actions to Tony, who has Silvio Dante kill her. A few episodes later, The Sopranos ends with a cryptic cut to black. All of the details on one of the most infamous scenes in television history. Christopher was never reliable except for one trait he was explosive. Chris is offered multiple chances to leave the mob and become a better person, and he turns each of them down. Chris relapses into heroin use and weeps to Tony out of grief for Adriana. Tony, whose beloved racehorse was killed in a fire set by Ralph, becomes very angry. In one of The Sopranos' final episodes, "Walk Like a Man," the long-time friends joke around with each other and appear to be on good terms, despite some conflict to resolve with Paulie. indicating that he was likely responsible. That's ultimately why, in my opinion, Tony killed Christopher. Tony and Silvio thus paid Chucky a visit as he was preparing to sail off on his boat. After the opening sequence, every scene Christopher narrates in the Sopranos prequel involves a key point in young Tony Soprano's life. Although it was widely speculated that Christopher might not survive the final season, fans weren't expecting his death to be so anticlimactic. Tony affectionately refers to Christoper as his nephew, but he is actually first cousin once removed to Carmela Soprano and a second cousin to Meadow Soprano and Anthony Soprano Jr. Tony Soprano has looked out for Chris over the years, as his father, Dickie, was killed when Christopher was very young. After a dream in which Big Pussy hinted he was an informant, Tony searched his house and found wires. He and Silvio then used chains and cement blocks to dump Chucky's body into the sea. (11 Reasons Why), Why Does Batman Not Kill? However, Tony Soprano wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty and often took matters into his own hands. Despite a number of attempts at getting clean, it always ended with him relapsing. 'Sopranos' prequel death explained: Moltisanti mystery solved? - Los RELATED:The Sopranos: 10 Best Cars On The Show, Ranked By How Much They Cost. He initially plans to place the body in a Kolar Bros. dumpster to send a warning, but Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero convinces him to put it elsewhere as it would bring less heat to the crew. What's worse is despite the massive sacrifice he made on behalf of the crew, he doesn't get any real credit for it. Moreover, seeing that he could not successfully get Christopher out of the car without further injuring him, he decided to asphyxiate Christopher in the drivers seat through holding his nose shut. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Adriana's offer comes at a pretty opportune time for him as he's become increasingly dissatisfied with his life, particularly in the way he's been treated by the rest of the crew. That's part of what makes Tony's smothering of him so especially cruel: Christopher threw away his chance of happiness for the guy who'd end up killing him. In the season four episode "For All Debts Public and Private," Tony tells Christopher that Dickie was shot in cold blood outside his home in the 1970s as a result of a feud with a criminal. Before his final confrontation with Tony, Ralphie has murdered one of the strippers at the Bada Bing, and disrespected both the wife of Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) and the mother of Paulie. We know, from The Sopranos, that Tony believes the murderer to be Detective Lt. Barry Haydu - who Dickie's son, Christopher, ends up killing. Why The Sopranos Biggest Success Cant Be Repeated. While chatting with Chucky about a large fish he had caught, Tony suddenly pulled a pistol out of the fish's mouth and shot Chucky. Christopher took advantage of his standing and poorly represented his family in doing so. (2000), Valery: Possibly alive, he was shot in the head by Paulie in the woods when Chris and Paulie were chasing him. He was tired of being a low-level mobster so he tried to come up with a way to make a name for himself. After a relapsed Chris crashes the car and nearly gets himself and Tony killed, Tony makes the cold, calculated decision to suffocate him to death and tell everyone he died purely from the. Just think about the episode where Adriana is reportedly shot because of him. Chris is promoted to capo, in keeping with Tony's long-term plan to raise his nephew through the ranks until he eventually is appointed boss. Tony Killing Christopher was Wrong : r/thesopranos - Reddit Chris is present when Jackie Aprile, Jr. and his friends try to rob a card game run by Eugene Pontecorvo. The guy I went to hell for," before the end credits roll. Delving further into this scene, it is apparent that this pivotal Christopher Sopranos moment stems from many additional factors. On rewatch, one of the most heartwarming aspects of the early seasons is the relationship between Christopher and Tony. In the episode "Cold Cuts" it is revealed that Chris grew up in the Rochelle Park, New Jersey section of Paramus, New Jersey next to the Westfield Garden State Plaza. He was aware that his nephew was a ticking time bomb whose drug addiction would inevitably cause him to flip or do something stupid. Ralph was definitely the craziest mobster to appear on the show. As a mob boss, Tony had to get his hands dirty sometimes. Chris is reprimanded by Tony for not using his leadership to stop Brendan. Brendan and two others go through with the heist, which ends in the accidental death of the driver. He spends the night at the Feast of St. Elzear festival with a stray dog. Chris and acting capo Albert Barese kill Aprile's friend Dino Zerilli as he tries to escape. And this brought on yet another fresh wave of disappointment. The Many Saints of Newark Ending Explained: An Answer to a - IGN Blundetto went into hiding but Tony knew it was only a matter of time before he was found. He was a liability to his business and potentially to his freedom due to his drug use, but in that moment I believe it was the branch. When Tony calls upon him to dispose of Ralph Cifaretto's body, he realizes that Chris is high on heroin. The episode after Christopher's death really zeroes in on how bad Tony's gotten, as he can no longer bring himself to even pretend to mourn the death of the person he once cared so much about. Tony sees a tree branch impaling a car seat where Christopher's daughter could have been sitting. In the series' final episodes, Chris' picture is hung in the pork store in his honor; Paulie is disturbed that the resident cat spends its days staring at the picture. In the third season, Chris finally becomes a made man. "There was a scene shot for that episode where Christopher is hysterically crying and tells Tony everything and Tony says, 'I'll handle it,'" de Matteo said. Perhaps it came to the point that Tony simply didnt know any other way to help him. By this point, the family was at risk and it could no longer be tolerated. Tony sees he could not put an end to Christopher's (Michael Imperioli) rampant drug use in "Kennedy and Heidi," just before killing his cousin, whose former fiancee became an FBI informant.. The Sopranos didn't also explain Tony's reason for killing Chris through the plot elsewhere, but also through the soundtrack. They help Pat move bodies hidden on the farm as Pat is planning to move away. The climax of The Sopranos season 1 revolves around the failed hit orchestrated by Tony's Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese) against his nephew. But as much as Tony claims he wanted him to get better, nothing annoys Tony more than the sight of someone becoming a better person. Willie Overall was the first person that Tony killed, when he was a young man coming up in the DiMeo family. The Sopranos anniversary: TV's most heartbreaking death explained Chris couldn't handle the realities of being a gangster and retreated into drugs to cope. Ever since the show premiered in 1999, Christopher's character was unapologetically rash, bold, erratic, and fueled by drugs and alcohol. He then bonds his nephew to him by having him murder the recently retired Lieutenant Detective Barry Haydu, after telling Chris that Haydu had murdered his father. The mafia has little patience for problems, particularly if the problem puts the family at risk. Tony realized that Pussy was an FBI informant in a vivid dream involving talking fish while struggling with food poisoning. The mob boss' nephew is spitting up blood and gasping for air, clearly struggling with internal injuries. (2007), Richie Aprile: Bagged up, carried off, and cut up in the basement of Satriale's as requested by Tony after he was shot by Janice Soprano for hitting her. Stubborn dude! As a mob boss, Tony had to get his hands dirty sometimes. These murders were carried out by loyal lieutenants like Paulie "Walnuts" Gaultieri (Tony Sirico) and Silvio Dante (Steven Van Zandt). Tony is prepared to kill Chris, but their cousin Tony Blundetto steps in and saves his life. Haydu's last words before he is killed by Christopher are "I'm sorry!" In The Sopranos season 4, episode 1, "For All Debts Public And Private," Tony told Christopher that his father Dickie was killed by Barry Haydu, a New Jersey detective. In "The Strong, Silent Type", when Tony discovers during the intervention that Christopher accidentally sat on and suffocated Adriana's dog Cosette, he remarks that he "ought to suffocate" Christopher. Tony blames Chris' trip to Los Angeles for the dispute not being settled quickly. It also shows that he resents Tony for her death. "I went to the writers and said. For years, Chrissy had a drug habit that he was unable to shake. To teach him a lesson, Junior orders his mock execution. This was made most clear the season 5 episode "Cold Cuts," where Janice starts working on her anger problems, and Tony stomps all over it to make himself feel better. In a season 3 review for the show,TV critic Emily St. James described the central theme of the show as "people can change, but most are unwilling." People changing themselves for the better just reminds Tony of how he's only changed for the worse over the years, and it brings out the most spiteful side of him. This leads to a firefight in which Chris shoots one of the bikers as Tony drives away. Pets babies. He nearly decides to whack Paulie (Tony Sirico), his gambling addiction spirals out of control, and he gets in one of his most brutal fights with his wife since "Whitecaps." He uses Chris to organize a sensitive hit on Rusty Millio. Christopher has a tumultuous and abusive relationship with his long-term girlfriend Adriana. This is a man who Tony was hoping to groom into becoming the next leader of the family. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. During the TV series episode 'For All Debts Public and Private', Tony tells Christopher that the retired police investigator Barry Haydu killed Dickie. The hit show officially premiered with the first season in 1999. Hence, his death saw the two dilemmas converge into a version of a happy ending for Christopher. Sopranos-era Christopher also narrates the movie's time jump from the '60s to the '70s, the scene where Tony moves to the suburbs, and, most notably, Dickie's funeral. He pleads for Tony's help, mumbling that he wouldn't pass a drug test and could lose his license. Christopher Moltisanti | The Sopranos Wiki | Fandom RELATED: Does Tony Soprano Know Junior Killed Dickie Moltisanti? The use of numbers from Nuovo Vesuvio[I] leads to a violent dispute between Benny and Tony's friend Artie Bucco. Towards the end of the show, he starts to come off the rails. The relationship between Tony and Chris is one of The Sopranos' most compelling arcs, as both men grow further and further apart as the show continues. The rest of the crew seems sad to hear the news, but they get over it quickly. Why The Sopranos Had To Kill Christopher In Season 6. His promotion irks Patsy, who has seniority. Christopher's narration begins during the opening sequence showing his tombstone, during which he provides context for the movie's title by explaining that Moltisanti is a religious name that literally means "many saints." Ralph then killed his girlfriend Tracee outside the Bada Bing. In the sequence leading up to Christophers death, Tony was being driven by Christopher. Shredding the rulebook, The Sopranos set new standards for serious purveyors of television. His idealism, especially in this scene, was his initial belief that he would make it out of the car. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Following the car accident, Tony decided that his nephew was a lost cause. But it's with season 6's "Kennedy and Heidi" that the show does something truly unprecedented. Moreover, initially, the two seemed to have moved on from the animosity over the conflict created by fellow mob associate, Paulie Gualtieri. The decision Christopher's faced with in "Long Term Parking" had much higher stakes, but Christopher responded in the same basic way. Richie refused to protect Matt because he knew DiMeo street boss Tony Soprano would kill anyone involved in the attack. He uses his Italian-speaking associate Corky Caporale to communicate with hitmen and provide them with weapons and instructions while paying him off with heroin. Bevilaqua is eventually tracked down and shot to death by Tony and Big Pussy. (11 Reasons Why). It's meant to be a justification for killing Chris arguing that Chris had gotten so irresponsible he could've easily gotten his infant daughter killed if the circumstances were different but the more Tony brings it up, the more it feels like a hollow excuse. As Jackie's death from cancer begins The Sopranos, no charges could be brought against him. His girlfriend constantly has to pull him from the front of the TV, but he just keeps returning. Tony was grooming Christopher to become the leader. This plays into Tony's reasons for killing Chris in the episode "Kennedy and Heidi" because he realizes his cousin is a liability that could jeopardize Tony's criminal operations. The ambiguity here is also clear to Chris. The pair ambush Chris outside a diner and badly wound him, but he manages to kill Gismonte as Bevilaqua flees the scene. As the family's newest member, he inherits a betting shop from his capo, Paulie Gualtieri and is charged with paying minimum weekly dues to him. Throughout season 5, Tony's constantly going back and forth between shaming Christopher for his addiction and then shaming him for his sobriety. I have always felt the fact that Tony saw the tree branch that had struck the child seat, then immediately turned around and decided to suffocate Christopher, made it obvious that Tony felt he was in some way protecting Christopher's daughter from his reckless behavior, but amazingly I've been told a lot of people disagree with this premise. I try to analyze and explai. This causes Chris to question Tony's leadership, calling him a hypocrite for not enforcing established rules of the mob protecting made men, which enrages Tony. Scene from:Season 6 Episode 18 "Kennedy and Heidi" While the seasons ahead of the series finale had focused on embellishing the world of the story, writings on the sixth season indicated that the series finale season was aimed at finally exploring the psyche of its beloved characters. Q.V. For a moment we wonder what Adriana is going to do. On their way home, they spot some bikers robbing a strip mall and take part of the haul for themselves. Tony has Adriana La Cerva murdered for being an FBI informant, but Carmela, not knowing the truth, spends the first half of Season 6 enraptured by the thought of her potential disappearance. Glenn dying in The Walking Dead and the lasting implications thereof. For years, Chrissy had a drug habit that he was unable to shake. Chris aids Brendan in hijacking Comely trucks, which are under Junior Soprano's protection. An angry Richie chased Matt away as he was aware Tony would whack anyone revealed to be involved in the attack. HTTPS is invalid and might prevent it from being indexed. However, Larry refused to implicate Tony, instead lying that former DiMeo Crime Family boss Jackie Aprile Sr. was responsible for the murder. With that being said, why is it that Tony killed Christopher on The Sopranos? Christopher's efforts to stay clean of drugs and alcohol cause him to spend less time at their regular haunts, further arousing Tony's suspicions. Chris being Tony's nephew in a complex roundabout way, Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti's relationship. In a moment that will mirror one of Tony's later kills, he surprises Chucky by arriving at the Jersey City marina with a pistol hidden inside a fish. However, when he later delivers Corky's final payment, including more heroin, he cannot resist when he watches his friend inject the drug. Tony and Paulie killed Willie on Labor Day, 1982 and buried him in the basement of a house. Unfortunately for Christopher, though, he's simply gone too far this time by driving under the influence with Tony in the passenger seat. Does Tony Soprano Know Junior Killed Dickie Moltisanti? - Screen Rant This drug habit led to many issues between him and Tony throughout the show. Ambushing his cousin as he was opening the door, Tony got him with a single shot to the head using a12-gauge shotgun. Tony and Christopher knew each other before Tony met Carmela because their fathers were both involved in the Mafia and because they are both cousins, through unrelated sides, to Tony Blundetto; Christopher's girlfriend Adriana La Cerva also believes that Tony and Christopher are distantly related through Christopher's mother. Meanwhile, Tony anticipates yet another Christopher meltdown after he throws Paulie's nephew through a window. He was later expelled from the program for continuing to engage in criminal activities such as selling drugs. Christopher wasnt just putting himself at risk and hadnt been for some time. However, before anything could happen, the screen faded to black and the. Asked by: Chase Hauck. (2006), In Season 1 Moltisanti shoots a bakery clerk in the foot in retaliation for a perceived lack of respect and service a nod to Imperioli's, This page was last edited on 19 April 2023, at 12:32. He still made plans to continue grooming Christopher and was even under the impression that he was clean. (Robert Iler) and Dr. Melfi. The Sopranos' backstory is revealed in the prequel movie The Many Saints of Newark, and Christopher narrates Many Saints of Newark to further establish the impact of not just Christopher's death, but also Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti's relationship on the DiMeo crime family. The details line up against Christopher until we see the crescendo and Tonys decision to kill him before he could cause any further issues. As a child, he preferred watching movies like Goodfellas and North By Northwest instead of Home Alone. He is spared only after Tony Blundetto intercedes for him. After the accident, Tony sees a crushed baby seat and seemingly thinks about his own children, forcing Tony to take control, because he can, and essentially choose one family over another by killing Christopher (who, tellingly, isn't his direct blood relative). TONY KILLS TONY - FIFTH SEASON ENDS WITH A BANG - New York Post The story depicts Christopher, also referred to as Chrissy, as being unreliable and even harming others with these actions. Chris Moltisanti wasn't killed by Tony as part of a mob hit, but because of what Christopher represented in regard to Tony's son, A.J, and where Tony was on his journey as a parent. Matthew Bevilaqua | The Sopranos Wiki | Fandom Following Aprile's death, Tony calls Chris and Furio Giunta to dispose of his body. How Should 'The Sopranos' Have Ended? There is friction when Chris has difficulty making payments to Paulie, who subsequently humiliates him. Tony affectionately refers to Christopher as his "nephew," but he is actually a cousin once removed of Tony's wife Carmela (Carmela's father Hugh and Chris's grandmother Lena were brother and sister). When Tony Soprano's cousin Tony Blundetto (Steve Buscemi) was released from prison, he was courted by his cousin and Little Carmine's crews. Tony didn't have time to rationalize all that stuff a few moments after a major car wreck. But we only see Chrissys behavior increase as the crescendo comes in season 6. Dickie is killed when Chris is very young. As Tony and Chris drive back from a meeting with Phil Leotardo and the New York crew, Chris clearly impaired by drugs and alcohol crashes his Cadillac Escalade. Over 86 hours, the series dared us to loveor, rather, arranged it so we couldn't help lovingthe. Eventually, Vito Spatafore carries out a contract killing on Jackie in the Boonton Projects, shooting Aprile in the back of the head, on the orders of Ralph Cifaretto and Tony Soprano. The car accident was the breaking point after so many other things had happened from Christophers addiction through the years. Tony Soprano was certainly not known for being tolerant throughout the entirety of The Sopranos. However, he inadvertently admitted knowing Dickie Moltisanti by stating "Look, whoever told you I had anything to do with his death is lying! He's somebody with creative ambitions, but he can't pursue them because to do so would be to abandon the mafia world he's always known. However, after he learns that Adriana has reluctantly provided information to the FBI, he turns to Tony rather than accept her plea to join her in witness protection. Why Exactly Did Tony Kill Christopher in 'The Sopranos'? - Distractify On the one hand was his love for his materialism, and as such, his addiction to alcohol was the physical signifier of this. TV Guide rated him #13 on their list of "TV's Top 100 Characters"[when?]. The TV series only ever revealed a handful of details about Tony's life in the '80s and early '90s, such as the time Paulie Gualtieri helped Tony make his first sanctioned kill and become a made . RELATED:The Sopranos Characters, Ranked Least To Most Likely To Win The Hunger Games. Frustrated at his low status in Tony's crew, Blundetto accepted a contract from his prison buddy Angelo to kill Johnny Sack's aide Joey Peeps. But he's still miserable because the cost of all this was way too high. Throughout the episode's remainder, Tony displays the proper decorum for the family in mourning yet can barely restrain his relief that he is finally free of the burden Chris has placed upon him for so long his insubordination, his substance abuse, his reckless behavior, and his complaints. The hit show officially premiered with the first season in 1999. The aim was to have a fully realised moment for all its leading characters, whether the result was death or life at the end, like the surprising killing of Christopher Moltisanti by Tony. The final straw is when Ralphie orchestrates the death of his and Tony's horse, Pie-Oh-My for the insurance money. Its no different with The Sopranos when you think about it. Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Christopher_Moltisanti&oldid=1150666650, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction from April 2020, All articles that need to differentiate between fact and fiction, All articles with vague or ambiguous time, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Emil Kolar: Shot in the head by Chris due to a dispute between Barone Sanitation (Tony's company) and Kolar Bros. He indulged her aspirations for a career in music by allowing her to produce a demo and later giving her a club to run. Distractify is a registered trademark. Tony was also close to Tracee. Everyone was aware of Christophers drinking and drug problem. Junior and Tony were at war at the start of the series. Any gangster-infested area is guaranteed to have plenty of murders and such was the case in New Jersey and New York in The Sopranos. He received several accolades, including a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2004. Tony sends Silvio Dante to meet with Adriana, purportedly to drive to the hospital to visit Chris, but in reality, he executes her in the woods. Hough is a senior writer at Screen Rant. Tony Soprano has been a father figure to Christopher since the death of his father, Dickie Moltisanti.