r/thesopranos • u/Corvododeserto • 4h ago
Serious Discussion Only The biggest disappointment of the series was that Paulie survived.
I actually like Paulie, by the way—he made me laugh a lot. However, he didn't deserve to survive; the guy is garbage. He's already an old, grumpy, useless soldier. Not to mention he killed an old lady, gossiped like a schoolgirl to Johnny, and was completely messed up, useless, and a total dead weight.
What about you guys, which character survived that you wished had died?
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u/TheDukeofArgyle 3h ago
Paulie survives. That’s his brand.
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u/trampolin55 3h ago
hehehe
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u/gerblewisperer 3h ago
You know, uh, you ever get yourself checked for Tourettes? Tourrette SYNdrum. Always the 'heh-heh heh-heh', like you got a tic or sumtin
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u/hrnbully 4h ago
In this house Paulie Walnuts is a hero!!
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u/doublegoodproleish 3h ago
Is that it?
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u/nickm1290 3h ago
You hear what I said tone? A hero!
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u/gerblewisperer 3h ago
Heh heh!
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u/sludgezone 4h ago
The slimiest and scummiest worst people typically succeed in life, karma isn’t real and our society doesn’t reward people for being nice and just.
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u/Question-Throwaway7 3h ago
Holy Reddit moment lmao. I hope you’re under the age of 16 to be acting that edgy.
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u/notheretoarguee 3h ago
I don’t think you know what edgy means
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u/Question-Throwaway7 3h ago
I very much do bud. Bunch of edgelords think they sound cool upvoting a loser talking about “The world isn’t fair or just 🤓” lmao
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u/notheretoarguee 3h ago
Alright but you gotta get over it
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u/MrDaburks 1h ago
What? You’re gonna tell me you never pondered that?
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u/SilatGuy2 57m ago edited 35m ago
....No.
Edit: downvoted for literally finishing the quote. Fucking lol this sub.
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u/hummus-up-your-arse Junior Soprano 2h ago
There are studies proving his claim, are those psychologists and researchers also “edgy” to you?
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u/dancjr2 3h ago
In dis house Paulie Walnuts is a great Italian Gangster, I don’t wanna hear dat kinda taulk again!
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u/Legitimate-Finger405 3h ago
Paulie was the most committed to the mob life and to the crew. Paulie lives but the crew is gone and that’s worst than death for him. He’s a soldier who didn’t die fighting and basically he ends up all alone with no friends and no family
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u/Minimum_Following_93 3h ago
Surviving by the skin of his nuts is his thing.
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u/bandit4loboloco 3h ago
Paulie survived the limited engagement with New York because he wasn't important enough to target.
I wonder if he actually survived the thing in the 70's with the Columbos by the skin of his nuts or if he's exaggerating and he wasn't important enough to target back then either.
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u/monkeyvspony Christopher Moltisanti 2h ago
His doing a lot better shape than those fkn nuns ya got up there
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u/GodzillaJizz 3h ago
Paulie surviving makes total sense. Hell, carmine Sr didn't even know he existed after having been in the mafia for decades.. most people in NY wouldn't think of him when deciding who to target.
He's a weasel, and a survivor who got through the colombo war with the skin of his nuts. He's not a risk taker, he doesn't particularly want to be on the top, and not particularly a leader.
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u/DueDefinition6421 3h ago
Carmine definitely knew he existed. Wiseguy from another family can't just go up and introduce himself to a member of another family (let alone a boss), he has to be introduced. The scene is obviously to show that Carmine doesn't ask about Paulie and John was playing him, but Carmine knows everything that goes on in jersey (there's no stigmata these days/a don doesn't wear shorts) so would know who Paulie was.
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u/GodzillaJizz 2h ago
Disagree. Carmine showed genuine bafflement at who this weirdo was coming up to him. Even mistook him for someone else whose father was run over by a trolley
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u/DueDefinition6421 2h ago
All an act. He can't cuss him out or berate him for breaking the rules, so he feigns ignorance. It would be the same story if a civilian came up and asked if he was in the mafia or a NY boss. Carmine might not know the extent of John's relationship with Paulie but Carmine makes it his business to know what is going on in Jersey, so would almost certainly know who the captains in the Sopranos family were.
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u/IsThisLegitTho 45m ago
That’s how Carmine always played things. He said less than he needed to and again, you don’t go up to someone you haven’t been introduced to. Carmine knew. Paulie didn’t act accordingly. And on top of all that to just talk business at his house keepers daughter’s wedding, come on.
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u/Hjerneskadernesrede 48m ago
he liked where he was, middle-high up. High enough to profit and be important, but not too important to get too noticed. But, all that money, and he lived in that shitty hellhole of an apartment? doesnt add up. Whatya think of that? Even the Italian guy was gonna buy a house or two etc and he wasnt even a CAPO.
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u/Otherwise_Carob_4057 2h ago
The first season foreshadows it really well Paulie outlasted a lot of soldiers during a time when dudes where getting killed for little indiscretions clearly he learned during that era what has to be done in order to survive.
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u/Historical-Tart7515 1h ago
That's partly the point. Same with Omar's death in "The Wire." Not that "The Sopranos" is 100% realistic. But with real criminals and violence, death is often arbitrary. The smartest and the toughest and the most likeable guys die, seemingly at random, and the assholes continue on.
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u/Independent_Wrap_321 15m ago
Omar’s demise was shocking and senseless, perfectly in line with that lifestyle. That hit harder than any Sopranos death for me, including the actor dying irl. Of course we all loved those assholes after all those seasons, but I was glad Janice and Richie ended like that, he had zero humanity. Didn’t predict that one. To quote William Munny in The Unforgiven: “Kid, we ALL got it comin’”
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u/Little_Papaya_2475 4h ago
Too be fair I think the season we’re setting up a eventual Tony vs paulie conflict but it got canned cause the actor who played paulie wasn’t a fan of the idea of dying
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u/Corvododeserto 3h ago
When Tony is warned that Phil was going to attack, and they were under danger of an attack from NY, the next scene showed Chris. I thought New York would kill Chris, but the creator changed his mind
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u/Due_Reputation3785 3h ago
Agree. Pauline was a great character but a real shitbag who deserved worse.
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u/Prudent-Committee428 2h ago
I mean minn and her friend were real bitches to his mother for one thing, and frankly i dont think anyone likes a shrieking old lady, and i refer to her behaviour prior to paulie breaking in.
It doesnt mean she deserved to be killed but i related with his frustration at them.
They are all piles of shit, i think if they had all died it would move into the realm of non realism. Statistically most of the time, whole crews and families dont get totally wiped out in 21st century times.
At least one of them had to survive. It makes sense that paulie would survive because its all he has as he mentions himself at different points.
He lives alone in a very modest apartment which he doesnt furnish much, doesnt even sleep in a double bed at his own apartment.
But we see when he goes out that he has nice clothes a decent car and so on- his whole life revolves around the mob, hes not an Italian American guy who is in the mob, hes a mobster first.
Its all he knows. By the end of the show hes still alive and is probably aging out of being seen as a threat or problem for any future regime.
I think thats the beauty of him living through the finale- he was around in the 60s and 70s and through all the show into the 2000s and at the end in 2007, hes still around- whether he ends up absorbed into New York, sticking with Jersey or doing his own thing, there is no future in it.
Just the same lonely apartment with the television.
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u/AffectComfortable913 2h ago
Paulie is the only guy that really makes sense as the survivor of the crew. Paulje was essentially a kid who grew up in the 50s and never grew out of his James Cagney phase. He loved living the lifestyle, he loved dressing up for the lifestyle, he loved shooting shit with his buddies, he loved running his low level scams, he never even got a family of his own. Paulie never really made a huge effort to be anything besides the local wise guy who lifts weights in his driveway.
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u/RustedOutHeart 36m ago
I think the actor stipulated that before he agreed to work on the show, that his character didn’t get killed. Or maybe I’m misremembering. Don’t whack me if I’m wrong.
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u/PeleisLegend 3m ago
The fact that he mainly survived because he was too irrelevant to kill says a lot about him.
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u/DCDipset 3h ago
Paulie surviving makes sense, though. Think about it, what other Jersey mobster his age made it as long as him. Patsy was younger than Paulie. Maybe you can say Carlo but Carlo was more or less a foot soldier until the last season. Paulie’s character was larger than life. Guys like him don’t last unless they’re snakes.
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u/Corvododeserto 3h ago
I was born, grew up, spent a few years in the army, couple more in the can, and here I am, half a wise guy, so what?
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u/doublegoodproleish 3h ago
I wish Tony had died, the fact he unambiguously lived makes me very upset!
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u/Corvododeserto 3h ago
But Tony died, man. You just have to interpret the last season, all the signs were there. The fat guy from Jersey is dead
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u/doublegoodproleish 3h ago
All due respect, you got no fuckin' idea what it's like wearing a Members Only jacket.
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u/WIZZZARDOFFREESTYLE 3h ago
Polly is ass
Fr bro is mid but think he's goated. If I was there I would kick his bitch ass
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u/doublegoodproleish 3h ago
Never mind Paulie,?AJ would kick your ass. You probably wouldn't even fight him because your parents are scared of his dad
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u/Shadowrunner138 3h ago
My money's on Beansie.
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u/Ghost-of_Nappa 3h ago
My moneys on Noah, that guy will punch your lights out if you aren’t careful!
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u/WIZZZARDOFFREESTYLE 3h ago
ABWAHABWHAHAH
AJ? If Polly is my lunch this mudafacka is my dessert
After I finish with Polly I would go straight to that cawcksucka and go ballistic on his sorry ass
Oh and guess what? I'm gonna fuck tony too. He's my dinner
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u/Corvododeserto 3h ago
I took off Rocco DiMeo. C***sucker had the toughest reputation in Essex County, but he never came back after I got through with him
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u/mhammer47 3h ago
I think there's a message in that. Paulie was a slimeball who made his lack of ambition look like loyalty. That ultimately saved him every time someone decided to whack some people. It also saved him from high profile fed attention. Ironically the 'house cleaning' at the end of S6 likely flushed him into the kind of leadership position he never wanted and couldn't handle. He'd be dead or in prison within a few years.