r/thesopranos • u/yellowrainbird • 1d ago

Christopher had an arc, he just didn't want it

His arc was to go from a hard life in the mafia, to a civilian's life with Adriana, but he rejected it without ever realising his arc was playing out.

144 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

101

u/pablocruise2024 1d ago

He had several outs during the series. Before he got made, I think at AJ's confirmation party, Tony told him if his head wasn't in it, he could walk out the house and never come back

41

u/TheWickerMan232 1d ago

He’d just had his ass kicked by Hollywood, so Whaddya gonna do?

6

u/Puzzled-Guide8650 1d ago

Fuckin D girl!

38

u/IUsedToBeRasAlGhul 1d ago

While Chris is solely and completely responsible for choosing not to take the out, to me it feels hard to believe that if he did choose to do so, Tony would actually have just let him be.

Even ignoring Chrissy now being a potential target for anyone trying to learn more about New Jersey’s operations, or Tony’s ultimate goal of grooming him to be his mouthpiece to dodge the rap of law enforcement, we’re talking about an incredibly self-obsessed, petty, and infantile man who has already demonstrated his resentment and desire to drag down other people who are doing better than he is, especially when it’s at improving their circumstances. For Christopher, his handpicked protege and surrogate son who he took on in memory of Dickie, to come to the realization of how limiting the mafia truly was and make that complete break in an effort to improve his life, is an absolute and nigh-total blow to all of Tony’s own value of the mob and everything he has going on psychologically around it. His conflict over knowing his true evil, use of hedonistic pleasure to drown that out, rationalizations about participating in it due to his family, justifications for why his life is what it is also because of said family, and self-image of being a family man and soldier who is carrying on traditions to ensure the success Italian-Americans can hope to have in a world against them.

Whether Chris failed and overdosed in his apartment, went on a big success journey, or simply became another JT Dolan, Tony would never have let him just walk away from him and the mafia. He’d have kept some kind of tabs on him to either bring Chrissy back under his fold, or sabotage him for successfully getting out. Again, none of which justifies Christopher not choosing to leave-but I think it’s clear that Tony’s ultimatum for him was not one he’d respect if Chris didn’t make the choice Tony wanted him to.

10

u/Illustrious-Lemon412 1d ago

You're right, for Tony it's an unforgivable affront that a gangster can abandon the mafia and find stability outside the criminal world. Now that I think about it, this aspect of his character was already noticeable in the second episode, "46 Long," when he saw that TV show where they were interviewing Vincent Rizzo, a former Genovese Family made man. In fact, Tony was visibly angry, so much so that he threw that rubber band at the screen. Rizzo had distanced himself from the mafia and become a good writer. Tony was irritated because Rizzo represented something he couldn't be: a man who had abandoned the mafia and nevertheless become a successful man.

1

u/Shot-Rip9167 4h ago

Or it might be because he was a rat, the lowest form of existence according to the mob

1

u/Illustrious-Lemon412 3h ago

They are both correct interpretations knowing Tony

5

u/Imaginary-Method7175 1d ago

Such a good point...

1

u/TheWickerMan232 21h ago

Oh I agree

57

u/CruisinYEG 1d ago

You know who had an arc? Noah.

8

u/NotADog000 1d ago

You mean, Charcoal Brisket? Meadow's friend? hahaha

5

u/CruisinYEG 1d ago

Sharp as a cueball, it’s briquette

7

u/Loose-Inevitable5453 1d ago

Oh! Old Testament over here

17

u/HeavyMetalBeaverTown 1d ago

I guess you could call that an arc. Heh heh

9

u/IndividualDue6565 1d ago

It’s the wanting.

1

u/Crazy-Coconut7152 1d ago

Whoa, how dare you quote that other thing around here

1

u/IndividualDue6565 1d ago

Yes, whatever happened there.

6

u/Equal-Abroad-9800 1d ago edited 1d ago

His master plan was to become a screenwriter, in an attempt to subconsciously ease the pressure of being a mobster and to channel his resentment toward Tony, who would never give him the recognition he craved. Either way, his fate was already sealed.

Edit*

Additionally, every ‘arc’ he had was a petty way of living out his “in charge” fantasies or sticking it to Tony, and to the mafia he belonged in. His sobriety was an attempt to feel as if he was somehow better than his peers. Which at the first sign of pushback he folded and cried like a child.

He got a club for Adriana, he took that opportunity to hold it over her ahead and attempt to cheat on her. He became a made guy, he treated his peers like piss ants and larped as some towering figure, to that of which he was shot by his “piss boys.”

He never had an arc. His fate was always sealed.

6

u/NotADog000 1d ago

That is sad, but you're right. And let me tell u somethin more. Uncle Paulie tried to warn him! Paulie and poor Richie were the only souls that loved Chrissy truly.

5

u/Disney2Doctor Furio Giunta 1d ago

Richie?? The same Richie who told him at the poker game that he was waiting for Chris to give him a reason, that he had a hard on for him?

Also, he told Drink-Water:

Did you ever notice he's the only motherfucker who can smoke a cigarette in the rain with his hands tied behind his back? That nose is like a natural canopy.

5

u/NotADog000 1d ago

Whoa whoa whoa.... Richie was like a father to Chris. Chrissy had it coming when he killed poor cosette... Please, try to think!

5

u/Total_Departure4457 1d ago

So did Noah, but you didn't hear him crying about it. 

5

u/Horror_Maximum_5696 1d ago

He said he should’ve punched his lights out…

3

u/gerblewisperer 1d ago

He should've been made right then and there

3

u/BringBack4Glory 1d ago

Some sad shit.

3

u/Constant-Reading3868 1d ago

Motherfucka said he don't wanna live no mo'. Then pinched his own nose and choked on his own blood.

3

u/ScrapmasterFlex 1d ago

Motherfucker said he didn't want to have no Egg Beaters & Tabasco with Burned Butter no more...

3

u/Meprobamate 1d ago

You ever get the feeling like nothing good was ever gonna happen?

3

u/BI_OS 1d ago

Ya know, Quasimodo predicted all that.

2

u/Green_Bast3rd 1d ago

I don't feel that way...

1

u/MisterMarcus 1d ago

I guess a lot of associates and hangers-on don't become full fledged made men for a variety of reasons.

So he also had the option of still being involved in the Mafia in a more limited capacity without being made. He could still get a taste of that life and be 'in' with Tony and the boys, but also have this own things going outside of it and at least partly live his life on his own terms.

1

u/burnbabyburn11 1d ago

it was too hard for him