Uncle Juniors Mental Decay - Soprano Theories

when the narration of tony soprano in the infamous pilot episode introduces us to his uncle junior he says uncle junior's my father's brother that's the one good guy just getting old and that's exactly what soprano fans were treated to throughout the entirety of these sopranos is six seasons as the series progressed we watched uncle junior grow into an elderly adult and the same can be said with the younger characters such as aj meadow and christopher as their characters also matured into adults well most of them with uncle junior we saw him tag along on hits and play golf in season 1 to flexing in his kitchen sink in season 2 to even lounging around in his home in season 4. but as the series progressed and so did the life of uncle junior as it became clear that uncle junior had developed a form of dementia and in this video i will analyze uncle junior's mental decay by highlighting the cause of uncle junior's dementia and the early warning signs that his caregivers like tony janus and bobby may have missed before we get started be sure to click subscribe and click the bell to get notifications on all upcoming sopranos content and be sure to follow me on twitter instagram and patreon links will be in the description below to begin there are four main diseases that cause dementia the most common form and certainly the disease that uncle junior developed is alzheimer's disease while there are other forms of dementia such as lewy body dementia and vascular dementia alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia as it targets the hippocampus region of the brain the hippocampus region of the brain focuses on the human body's ability to navigate and also an individual's memory with alzheimer's forgetfulness and getting lost are early signs of the disease in an individual other symptoms include confusion personality changes difficulty in communicating and reasoning problems when pinpointing the exact moment in episode when uncle junior could have possibly contracted this awful disease two episodes stand out among the rest the first being season 4 is episode 9 whoever did this serving as the starting point for uncle junior's dementia after being arrested for racketeering towards the end of season 1 uncle junior would eventually be released from jail and was later placed under house arrest as a result uncle junior awaited trial once his trial began while exiting the courtroom junior was struck in the head with a boom mic resulting in junior falling down a flight of stairs and suffering a hit to the head and most likely a concussion after a trip to the hospital and after multiple tests the fall down these stairs and they blow to the head was likely the cause behind junior's head trauma and while at the hospital we later learned along with tony that uncle junior was disoriented when he came in and displayed signs of a concussion this blow to the head could have easily been the tipping point to release the alzheimer's in junior's brain but as we know from earlier on in the series dementia could very well run in the soprano family season one treated us to plenty of warning signs of dementia being present in the soprano family we see this first in the pilot episode when tony arrives at his mother's house to bring livia a new cd player livia doesn't recognize her own son's voice who's there it's me ma who are you i'll open the door anthony olivia's confused behavior continues as she states that someone called here last night but doesn't remember who it was you know somebody called you last night after jack while tony comments on her bizarre behavior he doesn't recognize the early warning signs of dementia livia's disheveled appearance wearing a bathrobe in the middle of the day forgetting that tony had already ate lunch and not knowing who the cd player is for all hinted to the early stages of alzheimer's disease what's that cd player for ho for me i don't want it but it's not just this first encounter that hints at dementia being a part of the soprano family tree as episode 2 of season 1 46 long displays livia's forgetfulness on full display as she starts a house fire in her kitchen and she even drives into her best friend in both cases livia seems to be confused distracted and not knowing what's going on around her later on in season 1 we see that livia's dementia has seriously gotten worse as she arrives at the soprano household late one night looking for sativa who appears to be dead for some time now and of course in the season's finale where she suddenly doesn't recognize her granddaughter meadow after tony's assassination attempt of course as some fans and characters believe this was all an act to distract the notion of livia attempting to kill her own son actor no act the signs were clearly there but it's not just livia who displays signs of dementia in season six we also saw the possibility of tony or kevin ferdi developing dementia as in tony's coma dream when he fell down a flight of stairs the doctor told him that he had early stages of dementia but also when tony wakes up from his coma dream and wonders if he's dead as the following questions of where am i going and who am i all gravitated towards tony being in a disoriented manner i'm 46 years old i mean who am i where am i going i'm dead right with the episode of whoever did this clearly displaying the beginnings of junior's alzheimer's disease the third episode of season five whereas johnny clearly showcased that uncle junior had developed alzheimer's disease and that the disease has gotten worse since junior's fall in season 4. throughout the episode of where's johnny we see many early warning signs of junior's dementia the first sign we see in the episode is confusion when junior is sitting on his couch while also wearing a bathrobe he watches curb your enthusiasm starring larry david and jeff garland as junior's confusion sets in he believes that larry david is himself and garland is bobby as the episode continues we see more warning signs of junior's dementia getting worse we see this during his sit-down that features tony lorraine and angelo as his disoriented and off-track personality shines during this meeting what makes this scene interesting is unbeknownst to tony and everyone else partaking in the meeting they think that this behavior coming from junior is normal and then he's just breaking tony's balls but rather junior is displaying clear signs of alzheimer's and this is especially true when he talks about how he has cable television and pokes fun at tony's incapability of being a varsity athlete i have cable what are you asking him for he never even had the makings of a varsity athlete another symptom of dementia is forgetfulness and as the episode heads into sunday dinner we see that uncle junior has already forgotten when janus told him the expected arrival of barbara and tom as janus apparently told uncle junior five minutes prior when were they supposed to come two o'clock i told you five minutes ago here why don't we start on the macaroni everybody come on even though we don't see janice tell uncle junior when barbara and tom are supposed to arrive for the first time with uncle junior nagging janus over and over again it provides us with clear warning signs of dementia being present and this is something that tony janus and bobby have clearly missed while at the dinner table we see the running gag of the varsity athlete remark keeps getting brought up to tony what may look like a joke to tony and everyone else at the table is actually the confusion of uncle junior later on in the episode we see junior wandering around and thinking that a church is still the old social club of johnny boy soprano junior's disheveled appearance his cross-eyed facial expression his questionable decision to wear a bathrobe in the middle of the day and his search for his long dead brother all display alzheimer's being present in junior's brain also junior's look eerily parallels livia's look in the pilot episode later in the episode we see that tony discovers the reasoning for uncle junior's strange behavior as uncle junior has been suffering many strokes resulting in junior asking the same question over and over again and displaying clear signs of confusion it's here at this moment where tony comes to the realization that the varsity athlete remark isn't junior poking fun or undermining him but rather it's just a part of his dementia from his encounter with the homeless lady we see him reminiscing on his past by bringing up the jupiter club and johnny boyce soprano and throughout the episode and the series we see junior's memory come back briefly this is especially true when junior returns home after being arrested the first episode of season six members only continue to display junior's mental decay and showcased that the alzheimer's in junior's brain had worsened as throughout the episode junior was paranoid of his lifelong enemy and [ __ ] malanga was after him and towards the end of the episode we see junior's dementia kick in when he doesn't recognize tony's voice while he's downstairs making him dinner 10 minutes uncle joe who's down here artie shaw the confusion results in junior mistaking tony from malanga and junior shooting him this scene is so sad because it showcases the alzheimer's within junior's brain at its peak as he truly believes that [ __ ] malenga is still alive and is downstairs in his house making him dinner instead of tony it's heartbreaking to watch as junior probably doesn't mean to shoot tony and when he scurries up the stairs and hides in his closet we see the look of confusion and distraught visible on his face after this junior was placed in a mental institution after he was unfit to stand trial junior was later moved to a state facility after janice and bobby couldn't afford to make the payments at the mental institution to which tony refused to pay for in these series finale made in america this is the final time where we see uncle junior and this is also the first time tony has visited his uncle since the attempt on his life we see the facility that junior is in mirrors his current state in life it's dirty dark cold and empty much like junior's brain as he doesn't remember anything we see that junior is sick feeble confused and has lost his teeth what's sad is that uncle junior doesn't recognize tony to being the mafioso that he knew him out to be for most of his life but rather junior recognizes him as his nephew and someone that he used to play catch with a line that was said in the first episode of the series we used to play catch the [ __ ] hours that i spent playing catch with you part of what makes this scene in these sopranos so memorable is its attention to detail as way back in season 1 tony makes a toast to his family to remember the little moments in life that were good as we watched the final episode of these sopranos junior doesn't remember that he shot tony or his brother running north jersey or the fact that he was in the mafia but rather he remembers playing catch with tony dominic kianeze's brilliant portrayal of an individual with alzheimer's showcased the horrific sad and even the comedic moments that occurred during the progression of alzheimer's and in real life chianeze's mother passed away at age 93 after two long years of battling alzheimer's herself i wanted to make this video to increase the awareness of alzheimer's disease and dementia as the disease is incredibly frightening and can be recognized early with the warning signs also having a nono who passed away from the disease this video hit home for me if you enjoyed this video be sure to subscribe and give this video a like as always for more sopranos themed content keep it locked here right here on this channel

Channel: Soprano Theories

Views: 155,985

Keywords: The Sopranos, Sopranos, Pure Kino, Pure Kino Sopranos, Sopranos Borko, Talking Sopranos, Uncle Junior, Uncle Junior Sopranos, Uncle Junior Dementia, The Sopranos Dementia, Livia Soprano, Livia Soprano Dementia, Sopranos Ending, Junior Shoots Tony, Tony Soprano, Soprano Theories, Soprano Essays, Sopranos Analysis, Sopranos Junior, Junior Death Sopranos, Junior Soprano Dementia, Junior Soprano Mental, Sopranos Prequel, Many Saints of Newark, Sopranos Movie

Id: f2EdS7Z9WXI

Length: 11min 52sec (712 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 17 2021