Was Johnny Sack Really Going To Whack Tony? | The Sopranos Explained

how people in The Sopranos we follow the trials and tribulations of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano starring the likes of James Gandolfini Muhammad Raza pavlavi and Vincent karatola The Sopranos does not just limit Tony's issues to his mob underlings but also to his home life family life and existential issues Tony faces usually confronted in his therapy sessions with Dr milfy Tony may be a boss of a family but that family is more of a glorified crew and there are stronger more powerful families operating such as the New York lubritazzi family run by Johnny sack in season 5 after the death of Carmine senior Tony and Johnny are close they have been for years even helping each other out in business meetings between the two families when Johnny was on the boss there is a genuine long-term friendship there a level-headed pragmatism and mutual understanding they deal with each other they fight they argue but they often end their conflicts with some hugs pats on the backs and some heavy breathing their relationship is perhaps never better exemplified than when Tony receives news that Johnny has died in season six and Tony shows genuine sadness at a season where we can all pretty much agree that Tony was at his worst and most selfish anyway the relationship between Tony and Johnny sack is most strained during season five during and after the period where Johnny is trying to solidify his title as boss and made an internal family war with Carmine Jr already the duo are not so hot together as in the previous season Tony backed out of whacking Carmine senior which infuriated Johnny but here things are on another level as Johnny is convinced correctly that Tony's cousin that animal blondetto murdered one of Johnny's favorite underlings Joey Peeps Tony B was hired to do the deed by Carmine Junior loyalists so he really has nothing to do with his conflict aside from cashing in a check for being the triggerman it's a situation that creates a lot of awkwardness as Tony did not want in family involved in luportazi Affairs during the war and now he has to pretend his cousin has nothing to do with the peeps hit otherwise Johnny will think he is involved and to send the conflict into the stratosphere after his old prison Buddy Angelo garappe is killed Tony B goes off the rails and shoots Phil leotardo and kills his 47 year old kid brother Billy Phil is furious and demands Revenge even going into Jersey Gangland causing Havoc Johnny is equally Furious but Tony claims he does not know where his cousin is and that he acted alone refusing to give his cousin up for torture at the hands of the Shah of Iran's secret police eventually though due to the dysentery in The Sopranos ranks Tony B's actions are causing Tony Uncle Johnny kills Tony Uncle Al but this does nothing to stop Phil's wine fueled emotions this brings us to a curious scene where Johnny phones Tony and says nothing has been resolved the two go back and forward Johnny starts angry but calms down when he sees he could make some decent cash out of this situation but he then tells Tony to come into the city to talk and Tony replies no offense John but I got an IQ of 136 it's been tested John is silent Tony Waits and then Johnny says all right tomorrow morning then at my house 6 30 but when Tony is hesitant he says you think I'm going to give you our mats with Ginny upstairs and then reiterates that Tony should come alone and he will be too and Johnny makes good on his promise he is alone he and Tony sought out their differences and everything would be nice and dandy had the feds not showed up and arrested sack unless of course sack had one or two goons stashed away to whack Tony if the meeting went sour but there's nothing to suggest this but I was curious about that little segment where Tony mentions his IQ and sax talks about armat it's quite a startling exchange and I'm surprised it isn't talked about moo Tony is essentially saying he doesn't trust Johnny that he knows he's going to be killed if he turns up to the meeting and it's not as if Johnny denies it he just pauses and then changes the venue so what gives was Johnny really going to have Tony killed this seems quite bizarre that they would be talking like this after everything they've been through and the kind of relationship they have but with the way Johnny reacted it's almost like he got founded out by Tony and his genius IQ and now he drops his plan now that Tony's were to the wise and instead OBS to talk to him and sort things out of course things were bad for all Jon knows Tony could have known about the peeps hit approved it even and then allowed Tony B to kill Billy and attempt to kill Phil leotardo and if that is the case in order to cool Phil he could easily okay Tony's murder in spite of him being a boss heck he okayed the murder of his own boss he's had a woman killed but if he put his emotions to a side he would know that a man like Tony would have never sanctioned blandetto's Behavior but even putting that to her side would Johnny really have Tony murdered I don't know I just don't see it he would lose an ally a man he can relatively trust and Tony would be replaced with someone Johnny isn't as familiar with the two families make each other money and crucially killing Tony wouldn't necessarily put Phil at ease before John asked Tony to meet him he talks about all his medical issues and stuff he clearly wants to justify setting up a meeting to preemptively anticipate Tony's trepidition about going to New York but that doesn't really help us in working out if he was actually trying to Whack Him Johnny doesn't get defensive when Tony makes the IQ remark he doesn't say why would I whack you Tony or anything like that which may be an indicator that he did have something planned up his sleeve he only gets defensive after he tells Tony to meet at his house and Tony is still unsure he also says it out loud which would have reassured Tony because if nothing else now that Jon has mentioned giving Tony our match over the phone if he did Kill Tony at his house the feds could easily pin it on him if they had tapped the phone conversation and both Tony and Johnny must surely know this which is perhaps why Johnny mentioned it in the first place just to put Tony at ease sure it's not inconceivable that if certain situations arose Johnny wouldn't hesitate to take Tony out like let's say he cracked a joke about Ginny's fat ass or offered her a million dollars to [ __ ] her in fact an ending to the show conceived by David Chase actually had Tony taken out by New York the details are a bit fuzzy because it seems Chase changes things when he recounts the story perhaps he doesn't remember the full details but from what I gather Tony would drive through the tunnel to New York to meet Johnny sack in a kind of reverse situation of The Soprano's intro and then we cut to Black the implication being that Tony doesn't return from the meeting I believe this was supposed to happen at the end of season 5 when the show was not due to run for his sixth season but there's also talk that The Sopranos were supposed to end after four seasons and Tony would have been killed after the Carmine senior hit goes through as Johnny sack betrays Tony and blames the hit fully on him and the five New York families come after The Sopranos whatever the original plan really was the point is that clearly it was within the remit of the writers to be able to have Tony killed at the hands of Johnny sack but in this particular scene with the two on the phone though it's possible for sure I don't see Johnny sack killing Tony had Tony turned up to the original meeting I think Tony was being understandably paranoid and John saw things from his perspective and tried to assure him it was a simple meeting I mean after all all they did was change the time and venue it's not like Johnny sack couldn't have still killed Tony by having filled their title come out from behind a radiator or hiding in the closet John's house was in Jersey Tony's territory he was trying to make him feel safe I think really the pause that Johnny sack makes after Tony makes his IQ comment and his follow-up comment is a realization for himself awake cool that tells him how low his and Tony's relationship is how far things have gone that Tony would come out and imply Johnny wants to kill him he's thinking to himself that things are really that bad that Tony doesn't trust me enough to meet hence why he invites him to his home where his wife sleeps will his children come and play as a sign of trust upon rewatch I think Johnny went through his own words again in his head realized what it sounded like that it sounded like setting up a hit without actually meaning to so he tries to reassure Tony I don't think things had gotten that far yet with a different set of bosses maybe but not with Tony and Johnny's relationship Johnny still considers him a dear dear friend and I actually think Tony knew this knew that he was safe John is known as a manipulator but Tony too is a master manipulator Johnny holds the advantage in this conversation refusing to back down from the Tony B situation Tony calms him by offering Phil a piece of what Tony B was in and then with the i IQ comment he flips things around and makes it like now Jon has to prove himself to Tony prove that he won't Whack Him Tony now holds the advantage in the conversation but then again maybe Tony didn't feel safe after all when he meets with Johnny he never seems to take his hand out of the pocket that his gun is in but this might be standard operating procedure when you're the boss of a family Tony's IQ line might not even be a message to John directly it could be him saying he isn't stupid enough to walk into New York territory where an unhinged Phil is lurking around and could take him out it's too dangerous Jon should have recognized that which is maybe what Tonya was getting at in any case The Exchange is vague enough and Vincent kuratola plays the scene in such a way that it's open to interpretation what do you think do you think Johnny sack planned to kill Tony Soprano and was going to have him taken out when the two would meet until Tony had him change the venue let me know in the comments below subscribe subscribe to the channel and thanks for watching

Channel: CineRanter

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Id: YRiUCQWGStw

Length: 10min 11sec (611 seconds)

Published: Fri Jul 14 2023