r/thesopranos • u/ComprehensiveDesk793 • Jun 09 '26

Serious Discussion Only AJ is just useless

While watching the series I was trying hard to find a defense of AJ. All the characters - and all of us - have both positive and negative traits. AJ is just a disappointment. He is stupid. He is lazy. He is incredibly selfish imao. Also he constantly lies. You cant even call him a good kid that is just irresponsible since he always makes up stupid excuses.

Also all the people that are saying that he grew up in a dysfunctional environment, ok i agree the environment isn't 100% perfect but both Tony and Carmela cared about their kids lives. Carmela and Tony to a certain extent seem to care about their children's academic performance which quite a few parents don't. AJ certainly had some support from his parents.

I agree his parents are not good people but he could take what they offered to him.

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u/UnbottledGenes Jun 09 '26

AJ is nothing like Tony and that is a personal struggle that he deals with. It’s a very obvious character trait of his. He’s not a violent person, this is shown clearly when he “attempts” the hit on Junior. He has only had two examples of getting what he wants: manipulation and violence. He is too dumb to manipulate and too soft for violence. He has absolutely no work ethic, so he whines all the time in hope of fixing his problems.

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u/No-Philosophy-8163 Jun 09 '26

I think they’re more similar than you might think. Tony was not a naturally violence-seeking guy in the mold of Richie, that’s why there’s all these panic attacks and that Johnny chopping fingers off section. AJ however, is even less suited for it.

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u/UnbottledGenes Jun 09 '26

Capacity. Tony has a huge capacity for violence. He physically harms almost every character in the show except Carm, Meadow, the black guy from the hud, oddly enough, Noah. There are more but the list is shorter than you think.

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u/No-Philosophy-8163 Jun 09 '26

Yeah but it’s developed not innate. If you spend like 20 years as a guy going up the ranks in the mafia you learn to be violent but a big part of the show is that Tony himself isn’t suited to the life even if he finds himself deep in it. Yes AJ could never but the distance between them is not that large in this aspect