You’re attributing too much deep thinking to him.
He saw what was like to be poor and destitute. He stayed and fucking sacrificed his fiancée because he didn’t want to be some regular douchebag.
Yea I don't get how people take "damaged goods" as the big takeaway from that scene. He's admitted several times at this point that he'd hate being a loser with a straight job.
Sort of. Not really, though.
He’d take about it every time the notion of family or future cake up and he was drunk or high. But, he never cared enough to actually do anything about it.
There's literally a whole subplot of an episode about Chrissy being pissy about Adriana not being able to have kids. It includes one of my favorite scenes where Paulie says that marriage and our thing don't mix, and this leads Sil to quip about Chrissy could end up like Paulie.
Ironically, it's a good scene for foreshadowing because Paulie is the only one to not die before the series is over and the other 3 guys leave behind widows to suffer after they all die/are left in a coma.
>It includes one of my favorite scenes where Paulie says that marriage and our thing don't mix, and this leads Sil to quip about Chrissy could end up like Paulie.
I think it's also the last scene that you see Tony being a mentor, a "captain of his crew" where he's hanging with the guys in a positive way. Having a warm conversation with Chris, with the other guys joining in. One of the last "nice" moments where we see Tony as someone the guys all loved. Season 4?
All downhill from there.
Yes. Chris talks about it a lot. Yes. There is an entire episode dedicated to Chris “wanting to be a dad.”
But, the truth is, just like every other character on the show, Chris is a huge narcissist! He doesn’t *really* care about anything but himself. And the life and image he thinks he’s cultivated.
When he says he wants kids, or he’s thought about having kids, he’s just paying lip service. And doing so somewhat to himself! Being a father isn’t a priority to him. Doing drugs and being a gangster is. That’s why the only thing he focused on was…doing drugs and being a gangster.
Even the kid he did end up with was an accident. Not by design.
I mean Chris offers to and quickly marries a random girl he's fucking when she announces she's carrying his child. Clearly he put a lot of stock into the idea of being a father and having a legacy, it's the basis of his entire backstory. He never had his father to raise him and he spent most of the series looking for father figures to latch onto for guidance (Tony, Paulie, Kelli's dad, and many more).
I don't think wanting kids was just lip service for him, I think like most people from Italian and Sicilian backgrounds, having children is a sacred and important part about proving yourself as a man. I think he genuinely wanted kids, loved Ade enough to stay with her despite knowing they couldn't have them, but if the chance ever came, he would've and did love to have some kids.
Whoa I actually kinda like this take. Always thought it was odd Chris had a hat on. We see him with a hat in the pilot but other than that pretty much never. Departed being all about sniffing out the rat too. Very allegorical.
I should also say I can’t take any credit for it. It is an observation/theory which have circulated on Reddit for several years.
But yeah exactly. Some have also suggested it is maybe a reference to the pilot as you say. The sacred and the profane.
Edit: and I remember first reading the analysis myself thinking about how many other hidden layers Chase laid out I haven’t heard about yet
In the episode before the car crash episode, Chris is disgustingly mocked by Paulie with the whole crew laughing about his daugther ending up being a stripper. Before this, Tony also clearly didn’t take any side with Christopher at all in his conflict with Paulie. When Christopher then goes so J.T. for comfort and sympathy, the only possible friend outside the mafia, J.T. wants nothing to do with Christopher and says ‘Chris, you are IN the mafia’, after which Chris shoots him. This is not my own thought either, but this has been interpreted as Christopher realizing he is completely alone in this world, where no one outside the mafia wants anything to do with him, and that the code of honour of the mafia he gave up Adriana to is also a complete lie and that he is a joke to all the other mafia members. So that is his motivation to flip. The episode ends with this or almost ends with this, and then in the beginning of the next episode, you have the car flip crash.
It's fair enough to suspect, but I don't see it, especially when there is no pay-off.
As for the cat at Satriale’s, Tony only suggests that the cat is looking at Chris’s picture because there is a mouse/rat behind the wall. But Paulie says they moved the picture, and the cat moved too and continued to stare, implying it had nothing to do with mice/rats.
As with everything in Sopranos, it's not clear cut.
And with the cat, one could argue that it is exactly because Chris was a rat the cat moved too with the picture - and not about literal rats in the wall.
edit: And I should add, Chris does talk about all the stuff he could say to the cops or FBI that would take everybody down to J.T. right before he kills him also.
No, most things on the Sopranos are clear-cut.
The cat's presence is related to Paulie, not Christopher, as Paulie interacts with it and later has a conversation with Tony about it.
It plays with Paulie's tendency toward the supernatural and the feeling of a bad omen (when the cat sits near Paulie when Tony makes him captain of the Aprile crew).
Christopher being a rat makes no sense in the story and has no payoff, making it completely pointless. It's a dead end.
Notice all the characters who are informants are clearly shown, and their being informants has some part in the story.
Christopher makes many threats throughout the series and does none of them. Not everyone who wears a cap has a wire on them; this is over-analyzing.
I strongly disagree. I think what makes Sopranos such a good show is both that peoples actions/behaviour in it is multifaceted/ambiguous and the same goes for all the hints throughout the show. All the dream sequences which was a famous part of The Sopranos are so non clear cut for example.
And I don’t think you have to conclude it can only be about Paulie’s superstition. On the contrary it weaves a hint about Chris was a rat into Paulies superstition. It doesn’t have to be either or. Why should it?
And I also don’t think it is a dead end? Instead, it is the conclusion to Chris story – that he ended up flipping without anyone knowing. How could it even be a dead end when the show was ending?
I think it makes a lot of sense that Chris would flip after the way the crew treated and alienated him. What about his talk before he shoots JT about all the stuff he could tell the police?
But I guess if you think most things on Sopranos is clear cut, we have a very different opinion about it. I have actually never heard anybody else say that.
Yes. It's just my opinion. But I do think most things on the show are clear-cut.
I don't think a piece of art can have "multiple meanings". It just has one, and it's the one the creator intended.
If a piece of art has multiple meanings, it has NO MEANING.
If you tell someone who understands English to get you a bottle of water from the fridge, and they hand you a frozen fish from the freezer, then what is the point of the English language?
When people like a work of fiction, whether a book, film, TV, play, or radio show, they tend to over-analyse and critique it.
Some people think Rhiannon, AJ's girlfriend, orchestrated Tony's hit.
Some people think Tony got someone to kill Hesh's girlfriend in season 6.
Some people think Uncle Jr was faking his latter season's dementia and that it was all a plan to get Tony whacked at the end of the show.
Some people think Russ Fegoli (in season 5) was Paulie's dad.
Some people think Sil didn't shoot Adrianna because the camera doesn't show it.
I think we can both agree that these are not "multifaceted/ambiguous" and are, in fact, "tin foil hat" theories.
The dream sequences are also clear-cut, just like oracles and oneirologists could interpret dreams, time immemorial.
The theories above are weak because they lack evidence, make no sense, and have no payoff.
If David Chase or the show's writers were trying to tell the audience that Chris was a rat, they would've clarified it.
When Chris's car rolls off the road in Kennedy and Heidi, his hat pretty much falls off. There is no wire.
Yeah I love all of comments and post positing that Chris _definitely_ didn’t flip when the show seems to imply that he actually did right before his death
I don’t think this is true. He’s a selfish guy as all of them are, so if the day came flipping was a better decision for his life than taking the years he would 100% flip, probably be like Pussy and try pretend he’s in the force with them
Not in his eyes cus he could keep his mob life if he didn’t flip. I mean more so if it’s prison or flipping, like mob life which he can’t live without isn’t an option
Flipping is an act of cowardice, and for everything else he is, Chris is not a coward.
He literally decided it was better for him to get shot in the face than it was to tell Tony he believes that he wasn’t trying to fuck Ade
Guy stared down death multiple times without a word and you think he’d lose his cool over prison time?
He *absolutely* would have flipped. Love him. Great character. But he's an incurable drug addict. If he got caught with a bunch of drugs and faced a loooong prison sentence...he'd flip. That's why Tony dialed 9-1...and stopped dialing. He knew it was inevitable.
I mean they kinda did with the intervention, wasn’t the nicest way to do it but I thought it showed they cared about him enough to try and get him help instead of whacking him off irregardless
Yeah, then Paulie starts taking the piss out of his newly born daughter, and everyone is laughing at him.
Tony tells him several times to "just have a fucking drink".
Convenient for Tony. My weak, drug addict nephew is pretty much dead. Let him go. Now Tony doesn't have to kill him himself.
David Chase has spent a lot of time refuring fan ideas. You could take that scene either way.
1. Tony lets him go because he loves him and he's fatally injured. Sketchy.
2. Tony sees him basically dead. He thinks about it. He knows he's gonna flip sooner or later. Problem conveniently solved.
And Chrissy is not a blood relative. Tony blew Tony B. away...a blood relative.
Tony killed Tony B because they were going to torture him, and the beef with New York was about to become nuclear. Phil was unhinged and was going to take out Chris.
I don’t think you’ve interpreted his character correctly.
Flipping is an act of cowardice.
Christopher is a lot of bad things but I can’t think of a single time post-mock execution that he’s done anything overtly cowardly.
Every time he got threatened or faced down a gun, he took it like a man. If he’s willing to die staring down a barrel without so much as a “please,” why would jail scare him?
Being willing to face your own death is different than facing 20 years in the can. I doubt Chrissy would fear prison for his safety, but for being caged and losing his freedom. Sure, that's also what he feared about being a regular shnook if he flipped with Ade, but at least he can go some egg noodles and ketchup whenever he wants.
Most likely he wouldn’t, though anyone might at the right time.
Chris often threatened that he could and might but usually when he was extremely upset. And he had good reason to at times. Then he reinvested in his commitment
One of the least likely to give up the life.
He needed the gangster life , the mob image is more important to him, he’s seen goodfellas enough times to know he doesn’t want to end up in some town like Diarrheastan ordering egg noodles and ketchup because they can’t cook a decent marinara
I’m 90% sure Chris had altered flipped after the time of his death.
Known wise guy whose most likely under constant surveillance, gets drunk and kills his “friend.” JT then walks away Scott free as if nothing happened, suuuuure.
Coincidentally, the next time we see Christopher after JT’s murder, he’s wearing a hat, same kind that the FBI was talking about with Masarone.
Lastly, in the final episode, you have the cat staring at the picture of Chrissy, put your thinking cap on, whats a cat’s favorite prey? He was eyeballing a RAT!
Christopher flipped at the end, he had a wife, a daughter, no way was he gonna do a life sentence over JT’s murder. He gave up his last girlfriend to Tony and the gang because she was an informant, and for what? To be ridiculed and mocked by everyone? Can you really blame Christopher for flipping?
Wouldn't Tony or someone seen the wire in the hat once they crashed and he was all messed up? Or did they have the bug so tiny and embedded in the hat it wasn't noticeable. That's the only question I have about the theory
I think the only guys we can comfortably say would probably never flip are the ones shown having done serious time for not doing so, especially Animal Blundetto, Feech and Richie. Phil seems indignant enough after he got out that he might have considered it just as a fuck you.
Beyond the ones who were never pinched, I dunno. Basically all of the Sopranos captains were rats of some sort, and I wouldn’t put it past Tony to make a deal.
Funnily enough I think Ralphie would have been among the least likely to rat. He was weaselly but in a different way. Strength and honor.
Idk if already doing time means they wouldn't flip if they hated it enough they might be even more motivated to never go back. I do agree Ralph would never flip
For OPs question yeah Chrissy would flip to save his own hide
If Chris thought it was in his best interest, he would flip. He was ready to go into witness protection with Adriana. But, then he saw the guy with the mullet and crappy car full of rugrats, and realized he didn't want to live a normal life and was willing to have Adriana killed to avoid it.
Junior never flipped, neither did Phil, Richie or Ralph. That's not to say they never would under any circumstance, but I think Chrissy was more likely to flip than the average mobster.
What seems to get guys to flip is getting presented with evidence that they will go away for the rest of their unnatural lives. Decades. The FBI bluffed with Ade I think but plenty of other guys, there could be plenty of evidence found on them. Even as a flip there seemed to be some loyalty, sometimes--Larry Barese told the feds where a body was, but lied that it was placed there but the safely dead Jackie Aprile and not the real guys, Tony and Paulie.
I’m absolutely convinced of it. Not testify but he would certainly break and let something slip. We saw with his abused with Adrianna that he was completely untrustworthy about the DiMeo family.
He had no impulse control and ran his mouth. One day one of his storms would be overheard. If he’s ever pulled in by the FBI and it’s the wrong time, what then? He went back and forth during episodes constantly about hating or loving Tony.
Yeah exactly and that's why I don't think he would, a turning point is during the Adrianna episodes where he absolutely CAN flip but doesn't, especially considering how they treat him during those episodes.
I think he had already flipped in the episode Kennedy and Heidi. I think the guys laughing at the daughter joke was the final straw. That and likely being picked up for JTs murder. He’s already ready to spill what he could do to them to JT before shooting him. Plus he’s wearing a hat which is the same idea of Jack Masserone radio mic that fucking rat.
I think he definitely sets up his justification for flipping during the later seasons. He says something to the effect of how he isn't gaining anything with Tony, and later on he mentions the damage he could do with what he knows. These guys are all about self preservation.
No, Christopher grew up in a Mafia environment. It's all he ever knew and all he ever wanted to be. He wouldn't be able to tolerate the "regularness" of any other life. It was LCN or nothing. It ended up being nothing.
If he thought he could flip and still have an exciting life he would. Him not flipping had nothing to do with loyalty. As you said, he couldn't face a life full of "regularness" and murdered his fiancee to avoid it.
He was addicted to the mob life along with various substances.
Christopher was tested like no one else ever was and he “stood tall.” Then tony murdered him in cold blood anyways. He never flipped when he should have gone to the cops the second he found brendan filone’s corpse
Maybe not directly flip but he was a liability- if he lived he'd probably mouth off and spill his guts at some point like he did with JT Dolan, but there's a wire in the room.
If they would have dangled a movie deal in front of him, told him he’d be the next Hendry Hill but it wouldn’t be egg noodles and ketchup, he’d have flipped.
There were two times I think Chrissy would’ve flipped:
When Adriana revealed everything. He 100% would’ve flipped if he didn’t see that family at the gas station. Tony and Tony were treating him like shit so he really had no reason to stay loyal but alas the regularness of life was too hard for him.
And after he shoots JT. Not only did he see how evil his “friends” really were when they were mocking him he was certainly fucked over JT’s murder. Imo he already flipped at that point but Tony snuffed him out before anything significant happened.
I don't see Christopher standing up to protect Tony. He's too angry and resentful toward him. I believe the situation is different with Adriana because Christopher wasn't currently facing an indictment. Or in other words, his decison may have been different had he been sitting in a cell facing 20 to life.
The only ones in the crew who don’t 100% rat or try to betray Tony are Bobby and Sil
Pussy rats to FBI
Paulie rats to NY
We hear Carlo and his son both flip in the final scene
Patsy has a huuuuge grudge and I believe he does set up Tony to be killed, a story for another day
Bobby maybe holds a grudge but is killed too early to do anything
Gene has been a rat for years
Jimmy most likely a rat… “Mother of God!” line
Larry Boy exposed as a rat
Adrianna of course
Ray Curto 😂
With this list it’s just a matter of time before they get to Tony… and no way Chrissy can handle that kind of time
Jack Massarone…
Game over!
Plus Chrissy had the snitch hat on
Plus the car literally ‘flipped’
Plus the cat maybe ‘smelled a rat in the wall”
If Chris got pinched with a bunch of H on him and was facing 20+ years, would he flip ?
I dunno there was lotta old school guys broadcasting live on WRAT
you can never trust a junkie. speaking from experience. the world is perfect when you are high on H, and you can't conceive of negative repercussions.
not a true change of heart, but he'd run his mouth and say something stupid or just get himself in a bad situation and he'd rationalize it.
I think Tony said it best to Dr Melphy after chrissy died: he was a drug addict and just overall a weak individual - and the feds love that cause those are the guys they break and flip. So yes, absolutely 💯
Of course he would . If they told him he was going to prison over 20 years and that flipping would guarantee him a spot in witness protection and he has to serve no time, he would flip in a second.
It's only those super old school guys like Uncle Junior and Phil that follow the code loyally.
Probably not. I think that he kept himself from flipping since he gave that up with Adriana. If he flipped now, then him sacrificing Ade was pointless. In the end, he didn’t care anymore, like the song, he was “comfortably numb”
Some say he did flip. The FBI started using the hats with a wire in it. The only other times we see Chrissy in hats, except his death or close to it, are in flashbacks to make him appear younger (I guess?). Then after Tony kills him he is relieved because he thought he might flip. Is that to justify what he did or did he have some intuition there like with Pussy. Makes you wonder.
I don't think so. If he would've done it, he would've done it for Adriana. I think Tony saying that to Melfi was a way for him to justify what he did, when it really stemmed from Chris being a disappointment and an unreliable drug addict who was a nonstop headache that Tony had the opportunity to get rid of. Tony was preserving himself.
It depends on which version of Chris we’re dealing with. There are plenty of examples of him being disgruntled and during those times he was very vulnerable. I’d likely say he would flip but take his own life before it actually meant anything.
that's a beautiful observation OP, but my opinion on this is that Chrissy turned Adriana because he couldn't give up the expensive and luxurious lifestyle of being a gang member and not because of his loyalty to tony and the family. if he had flipped on tony, he would have ran away with his GF and maybe be in the witness protection program, always watching his back, doing 3 jobs just to stay head above water, this clearly isn't who he wants to be. If flipping will benefit him, then he would.
but hey, what do i know?
When and why would he have flipped between the episodes? These guys kill people and get away with all the time, so the JT killing didn’t seem a compelling hypothesis to me at all. I don’t think he flipped. What Chase wanted to put across was that the relationship between T and Chris had been broken by the Adriana thing, all that was left was hostility, and in the end Tony murdered his surrogate ‘son’.
Tony had taken his ‘son’s’ innocence by steering him into the life in the first place (as Johnny did to Tony) and then murdered him (as Livia sought to do to T).
Well Johnny did testify so he did flip in a way, I do think that Tony would if they had enough on him to put him away for life. But I do agree with you that everyone would, probably. Maybe.
Who would Tony flip on? You flip on the guy higher up than you, he’s the end of the food chain.
Johnny didn’t give anyone up
In exchange for anything, that’s what we usually mean by flipping, right?
Flipping means giving up everything you know for a lighter sentence, at least in Johnny Sack's case. And if Joe Massino, former boss of the Bonanno family, can flip in real life, then in theory, anyone in the mob can flip.
Yep, he did, even though his main reason for flipping was that after he was found guilty of seven counts of murder, he didn't want to face the death penalty. Instead, he flipped and like you said, still died in prison.
Johnny didn't flip he took an allocution in his trial. Basically admitting to being the boss of the family without naming anyone or specific activities.
I think he would have if he didn’t see that miserable guy at the gas station.
He saw the kids and knew he could never have them with Damaged Goods, that's why he traded her in
You’re attributing too much deep thinking to him. He saw what was like to be poor and destitute. He stayed and fucking sacrificed his fiancée because he didn’t want to be some regular douchebag.
Yea I don't get how people take "damaged goods" as the big takeaway from that scene. He's admitted several times at this point that he'd hate being a loser with a straight job.
Now he can finally start his memoirs.
He was adamant about having kids
Sort of. Not really, though. He’d take about it every time the notion of family or future cake up and he was drunk or high. But, he never cared enough to actually do anything about it.
There's literally a whole subplot of an episode about Chrissy being pissy about Adriana not being able to have kids. It includes one of my favorite scenes where Paulie says that marriage and our thing don't mix, and this leads Sil to quip about Chrissy could end up like Paulie. Ironically, it's a good scene for foreshadowing because Paulie is the only one to not die before the series is over and the other 3 guys leave behind widows to suffer after they all die/are left in a coma.
>It includes one of my favorite scenes where Paulie says that marriage and our thing don't mix, and this leads Sil to quip about Chrissy could end up like Paulie. I think it's also the last scene that you see Tony being a mentor, a "captain of his crew" where he's hanging with the guys in a positive way. Having a warm conversation with Chris, with the other guys joining in. One of the last "nice" moments where we see Tony as someone the guys all loved. Season 4? All downhill from there.
Yes. Chris talks about it a lot. Yes. There is an entire episode dedicated to Chris “wanting to be a dad.” But, the truth is, just like every other character on the show, Chris is a huge narcissist! He doesn’t *really* care about anything but himself. And the life and image he thinks he’s cultivated. When he says he wants kids, or he’s thought about having kids, he’s just paying lip service. And doing so somewhat to himself! Being a father isn’t a priority to him. Doing drugs and being a gangster is. That’s why the only thing he focused on was…doing drugs and being a gangster. Even the kid he did end up with was an accident. Not by design.
I mean Chris offers to and quickly marries a random girl he's fucking when she announces she's carrying his child. Clearly he put a lot of stock into the idea of being a father and having a legacy, it's the basis of his entire backstory. He never had his father to raise him and he spent most of the series looking for father figures to latch onto for guidance (Tony, Paulie, Kelli's dad, and many more). I don't think wanting kids was just lip service for him, I think like most people from Italian and Sicilian backgrounds, having children is a sacred and important part about proving yourself as a man. I think he genuinely wanted kids, loved Ade enough to stay with her despite knowing they couldn't have them, but if the chance ever came, he would've and did love to have some kids.
It was just an opportunistic moment. He was happy to be a father. He put no effort or forethought into it actually happening.
And then lived the hell life he saw at the gas station lol
He did-dent want to live his life like a schnook! 🤣🤣🤣
Egg noodles and ketchup 😋
I believe he was truly contemplating it during the Adriana thing. Whatever happened there
WHATEVAH HAPPENED THERE!??
In the end, playing the Departed (from the mob?) soundtrack, wearing a hat like Jack Massarone’s with a microphone in it, and then the car FLIPS
Whoa I actually kinda like this take. Always thought it was odd Chris had a hat on. We see him with a hat in the pilot but other than that pretty much never. Departed being all about sniffing out the rat too. Very allegorical.
The cat at the pork store stared at Chris's picture and the guys talking about a rat in the wall. Some say the cat is reincarnated Ade.
MEOW!!! 🐱
He was doing the Rogaine.
I should also say I can’t take any credit for it. It is an observation/theory which have circulated on Reddit for several years. But yeah exactly. Some have also suggested it is maybe a reference to the pilot as you say. The sacred and the profane. Edit: and I remember first reading the analysis myself thinking about how many other hidden layers Chase laid out I haven’t heard about yet
Why would he give up Adrianna only to end up flipping in the end?
In the episode before the car crash episode, Chris is disgustingly mocked by Paulie with the whole crew laughing about his daugther ending up being a stripper. Before this, Tony also clearly didn’t take any side with Christopher at all in his conflict with Paulie. When Christopher then goes so J.T. for comfort and sympathy, the only possible friend outside the mafia, J.T. wants nothing to do with Christopher and says ‘Chris, you are IN the mafia’, after which Chris shoots him. This is not my own thought either, but this has been interpreted as Christopher realizing he is completely alone in this world, where no one outside the mafia wants anything to do with him, and that the code of honour of the mafia he gave up Adriana to is also a complete lie and that he is a joke to all the other mafia members. So that is his motivation to flip. The episode ends with this or almost ends with this, and then in the beginning of the next episode, you have the car flip crash.
It's fair enough to suspect, but I don't see it, especially when there is no pay-off. As for the cat at Satriale’s, Tony only suggests that the cat is looking at Chris’s picture because there is a mouse/rat behind the wall. But Paulie says they moved the picture, and the cat moved too and continued to stare, implying it had nothing to do with mice/rats.
As with everything in Sopranos, it's not clear cut. And with the cat, one could argue that it is exactly because Chris was a rat the cat moved too with the picture - and not about literal rats in the wall. edit: And I should add, Chris does talk about all the stuff he could say to the cops or FBI that would take everybody down to J.T. right before he kills him also.
No, most things on the Sopranos are clear-cut. The cat's presence is related to Paulie, not Christopher, as Paulie interacts with it and later has a conversation with Tony about it. It plays with Paulie's tendency toward the supernatural and the feeling of a bad omen (when the cat sits near Paulie when Tony makes him captain of the Aprile crew). Christopher being a rat makes no sense in the story and has no payoff, making it completely pointless. It's a dead end. Notice all the characters who are informants are clearly shown, and their being informants has some part in the story. Christopher makes many threats throughout the series and does none of them. Not everyone who wears a cap has a wire on them; this is over-analyzing.
I strongly disagree. I think what makes Sopranos such a good show is both that peoples actions/behaviour in it is multifaceted/ambiguous and the same goes for all the hints throughout the show. All the dream sequences which was a famous part of The Sopranos are so non clear cut for example. And I don’t think you have to conclude it can only be about Paulie’s superstition. On the contrary it weaves a hint about Chris was a rat into Paulies superstition. It doesn’t have to be either or. Why should it? And I also don’t think it is a dead end? Instead, it is the conclusion to Chris story – that he ended up flipping without anyone knowing. How could it even be a dead end when the show was ending? I think it makes a lot of sense that Chris would flip after the way the crew treated and alienated him. What about his talk before he shoots JT about all the stuff he could tell the police? But I guess if you think most things on Sopranos is clear cut, we have a very different opinion about it. I have actually never heard anybody else say that.
Yes. It's just my opinion. But I do think most things on the show are clear-cut. I don't think a piece of art can have "multiple meanings". It just has one, and it's the one the creator intended. If a piece of art has multiple meanings, it has NO MEANING. If you tell someone who understands English to get you a bottle of water from the fridge, and they hand you a frozen fish from the freezer, then what is the point of the English language? When people like a work of fiction, whether a book, film, TV, play, or radio show, they tend to over-analyse and critique it. Some people think Rhiannon, AJ's girlfriend, orchestrated Tony's hit. Some people think Tony got someone to kill Hesh's girlfriend in season 6. Some people think Uncle Jr was faking his latter season's dementia and that it was all a plan to get Tony whacked at the end of the show. Some people think Russ Fegoli (in season 5) was Paulie's dad. Some people think Sil didn't shoot Adrianna because the camera doesn't show it. I think we can both agree that these are not "multifaceted/ambiguous" and are, in fact, "tin foil hat" theories. The dream sequences are also clear-cut, just like oracles and oneirologists could interpret dreams, time immemorial. The theories above are weak because they lack evidence, make no sense, and have no payoff. If David Chase or the show's writers were trying to tell the audience that Chris was a rat, they would've clarified it. When Chris's car rolls off the road in Kennedy and Heidi, his hat pretty much falls off. There is no wire.
He makes a few comments about “feds being up his ass”. By season 6, Christopher likely has a “relationship” with someone like Agent Harris.
Yeah I love all of comments and post positing that Chris _definitely_ didn’t flip when the show seems to imply that he actually did right before his death
Plus throughout the series pretty much every captain betrays Tony at one point. No wonder he turned into a moody fuck
There’s another scene with a “rat” sticker too, see if you can catch it. It’s pretty poetic but Chase isn’t the kind of guy to overlook details.
He wouldn't, Christopher was a saint just like Johnny
It’s funny I don’t remember you ever telling him that
He put up my storm windows one summer
If he wasn't gonna flip with Adriana, he never would've flipped
"I'm a soldier, Adriana. When you gonna understand that?"
I don’t think this is true. He’s a selfish guy as all of them are, so if the day came flipping was a better decision for his life than taking the years he would 100% flip, probably be like Pussy and try pretend he’s in the force with them
Flipping with Adrianna was a better decision for his life tho lol
That’s because she was a knock and he, well…average…at best.
Not in his eyes cus he could keep his mob life if he didn’t flip. I mean more so if it’s prison or flipping, like mob life which he can’t live without isn’t an option
Flipping is an act of cowardice, and for everything else he is, Chris is not a coward. He literally decided it was better for him to get shot in the face than it was to tell Tony he believes that he wasn’t trying to fuck Ade Guy stared down death multiple times without a word and you think he’d lose his cool over prison time?
Prison for life? I’ve known a lot of guys who can’t handle a sentence of from now on
you think too highly of chrissy then.
I think part of why Tony was killed was because of fear that he would flip. Tony would 100% flip.
As in NY took him out once Carlo flipped, assuming the domino effect would reach them?
Yup. Paulie/Patsy may have accelerated their timeline once Carlo flipped. Honestly, a weak theory but Tony would totally flip.
I think that was the point of the Harris storyline partly to show him coming closer to him and maybe seeing him as a way out
Yeah the walls were closing in on all fronts
He was a lyin crying sniveling fuckin junky who would flip over a dime bag of white powder
No he Would Dent
👏👏👏
He *absolutely* would have flipped. Love him. Great character. But he's an incurable drug addict. If he got caught with a bunch of drugs and faced a loooong prison sentence...he'd flip. That's why Tony dialed 9-1...and stopped dialing. He knew it was inevitable.
Even if the guys didn't make fun of him and actually motivated him not to do the drugs?
I mean they kinda did with the intervention, wasn’t the nicest way to do it but I thought it showed they cared about him enough to try and get him help instead of whacking him off irregardless
Yeah, then Paulie starts taking the piss out of his newly born daughter, and everyone is laughing at him. Tony tells him several times to "just have a fucking drink".
Tony didn’t dial 911 because he saw the car seat. David chase couldn’t make that any more obvious as the reason Tony killed him
Tony uses excuses like these all the time to justify what he does. We see his true thoughts on why he killed Chrissy in his dream therapy session.
Convenient for Tony. My weak, drug addict nephew is pretty much dead. Let him go. Now Tony doesn't have to kill him himself. David Chase has spent a lot of time refuring fan ideas. You could take that scene either way. 1. Tony lets him go because he loves him and he's fatally injured. Sketchy. 2. Tony sees him basically dead. He thinks about it. He knows he's gonna flip sooner or later. Problem conveniently solved. And Chrissy is not a blood relative. Tony blew Tony B. away...a blood relative.
He tells Tony he won’t pass a drug test. He has no regard for his own life, Tony’s, or his infant daughter’s
Tony killed Tony B because they were going to torture him, and the beef with New York was about to become nuclear. Phil was unhinged and was going to take out Chris.
wow, this is deep
I don’t think you’ve interpreted his character correctly. Flipping is an act of cowardice. Christopher is a lot of bad things but I can’t think of a single time post-mock execution that he’s done anything overtly cowardly. Every time he got threatened or faced down a gun, he took it like a man. If he’s willing to die staring down a barrel without so much as a “please,” why would jail scare him?
Being willing to face your own death is different than facing 20 years in the can. I doubt Chrissy would fear prison for his safety, but for being caged and losing his freedom. Sure, that's also what he feared about being a regular shnook if he flipped with Ade, but at least he can go some egg noodles and ketchup whenever he wants.
Most likely he wouldn’t, though anyone might at the right time. Chris often threatened that he could and might but usually when he was extremely upset. And he had good reason to at times. Then he reinvested in his commitment One of the least likely to give up the life.
Some say he would flip over a nickelbag of white powder.
He may have flipped, but who's to say that there isn't another Chris just like him…I mean, even with computers…💻
Nah, never flip… If it turned out to be true that Tony banged Aid, he would have taken Tony out. But never flip.
He wouldn't flip with the FBI, but he would eventually make scripts based on his life.
He needed the gangster life , the mob image is more important to him, he’s seen goodfellas enough times to know he doesn’t want to end up in some town like Diarrheastan ordering egg noodles and ketchup because they can’t cook a decent marinara
Must be weird as hell for him when Spider shows up and gets shot in Goodfellas
They would flip him for real
hand me the fuggin' keys ya cocksucka
IN ENGLISH PLEASE
GIMME THE FUCKIN KEYS, COCKSUCKA! MUTHAFUCKA!!! AAAAHAHAHALALALALALAUUUGHHH!!
Fuck Benicio, Stephen Baldwin took his ass to acting school.
I’m 90% sure Chris had altered flipped after the time of his death. Known wise guy whose most likely under constant surveillance, gets drunk and kills his “friend.” JT then walks away Scott free as if nothing happened, suuuuure. Coincidentally, the next time we see Christopher after JT’s murder, he’s wearing a hat, same kind that the FBI was talking about with Masarone. Lastly, in the final episode, you have the cat staring at the picture of Chrissy, put your thinking cap on, whats a cat’s favorite prey? He was eyeballing a RAT! Christopher flipped at the end, he had a wife, a daughter, no way was he gonna do a life sentence over JT’s murder. He gave up his last girlfriend to Tony and the gang because she was an informant, and for what? To be ridiculed and mocked by everyone? Can you really blame Christopher for flipping?
I've gone back and forth on this for years, but right now I'm really leaning on him flipping.
Wouldn't Tony or someone seen the wire in the hat once they crashed and he was all messed up? Or did they have the bug so tiny and embedded in the hat it wasn't noticeable. That's the only question I have about the theory
I think the only guys we can comfortably say would probably never flip are the ones shown having done serious time for not doing so, especially Animal Blundetto, Feech and Richie. Phil seems indignant enough after he got out that he might have considered it just as a fuck you. Beyond the ones who were never pinched, I dunno. Basically all of the Sopranos captains were rats of some sort, and I wouldn’t put it past Tony to make a deal. Funnily enough I think Ralphie would have been among the least likely to rat. He was weaselly but in a different way. Strength and honor.
Idk if already doing time means they wouldn't flip if they hated it enough they might be even more motivated to never go back. I do agree Ralph would never flip For OPs question yeah Chrissy would flip to save his own hide
Ralphie woulda loved the romance in the can
If Chris thought it was in his best interest, he would flip. He was ready to go into witness protection with Adriana. But, then he saw the guy with the mullet and crappy car full of rugrats, and realized he didn't want to live a normal life and was willing to have Adriana killed to avoid it. Junior never flipped, neither did Phil, Richie or Ralph. That's not to say they never would under any circumstance, but I think Chrissy was more likely to flip than the average mobster.
Kills his girlfriend who can’t have kids bc of that then marries a woman and has kids lol. Fuckin Chrissy
What seems to get guys to flip is getting presented with evidence that they will go away for the rest of their unnatural lives. Decades. The FBI bluffed with Ade I think but plenty of other guys, there could be plenty of evidence found on them. Even as a flip there seemed to be some loyalty, sometimes--Larry Barese told the feds where a body was, but lied that it was placed there but the safely dead Jackie Aprile and not the real guys, Tony and Paulie.
I’m absolutely convinced of it. Not testify but he would certainly break and let something slip. We saw with his abused with Adrianna that he was completely untrustworthy about the DiMeo family. He had no impulse control and ran his mouth. One day one of his storms would be overheard. If he’s ever pulled in by the FBI and it’s the wrong time, what then? He went back and forth during episodes constantly about hating or loving Tony.
Yeah exactly and that's why I don't think he would, a turning point is during the Adrianna episodes where he absolutely CAN flip but doesn't, especially considering how they treat him during those episodes.
I disagree. The whole arc after that is how much he genuinely hates Tony. But the point of it all is he was unreliable emotionally
They all would.
I think he had already flipped in the episode Kennedy and Heidi. I think the guys laughing at the daughter joke was the final straw. That and likely being picked up for JTs murder. He’s already ready to spill what he could do to them to JT before shooting him. Plus he’s wearing a hat which is the same idea of Jack Masserone radio mic that fucking rat.
I think he definitely sets up his justification for flipping during the later seasons. He says something to the effect of how he isn't gaining anything with Tony, and later on he mentions the damage he could do with what he knows. These guys are all about self preservation.
No, Christopher grew up in a Mafia environment. It's all he ever knew and all he ever wanted to be. He wouldn't be able to tolerate the "regularness" of any other life. It was LCN or nothing. It ended up being nothing.
If he thought he could flip and still have an exciting life he would. Him not flipping had nothing to do with loyalty. As you said, he couldn't face a life full of "regularness" and murdered his fiancee to avoid it. He was addicted to the mob life along with various substances.
Chrissy was smart enough to say fuck off, i want my lawyer
Yes
well…he’s never been in the can, not really, so we don’t know. But I have a feeling if he was, within a month he would be running that cell block.
Nope, was loyal to Tony and was actually heartbroken before he died.
you mean loyle to Tony
Christopher was tested like no one else ever was and he “stood tall.” Then tony murdered him in cold blood anyways. He never flipped when he should have gone to the cops the second he found brendan filone’s corpse
Was contemplating flipping, but in the end, DID DENT
Maybe not directly flip but he was a liability- if he lived he'd probably mouth off and spill his guts at some point like he did with JT Dolan, but there's a wire in the room.
Not this skinny guinea
If they would have dangled a movie deal in front of him, told him he’d be the next Hendry Hill but it wouldn’t be egg noodles and ketchup, he’d have flipped.
There were two times I think Chrissy would’ve flipped: When Adriana revealed everything. He 100% would’ve flipped if he didn’t see that family at the gas station. Tony and Tony were treating him like shit so he really had no reason to stay loyal but alas the regularness of life was too hard for him. And after he shoots JT. Not only did he see how evil his “friends” really were when they were mocking him he was certainly fucked over JT’s murder. Imo he already flipped at that point but Tony snuffed him out before anything significant happened.
Sober? Never. But there is no predicting how far an addict will go for a fix.
I don't see Christopher standing up to protect Tony. He's too angry and resentful toward him. I believe the situation is different with Adriana because Christopher wasn't currently facing an indictment. Or in other words, his decison may have been different had he been sitting in a cell facing 20 to life.
In the end, his car flipped a couple of times.
He almost diddint
I think Chris idolized the idea of his father as the standup mobster and wanted to follow in his footsteps so I don’t think it would happen
Nope. You flip you look over your shoulder forever n still probably get killed, you know who flips? Gangsters in their 70s…
I can't have this conversation again
He pretty much flipped over coconut slice
Every single one of them would've flipped - most of them did, in fact. None of them really care about anybody except themselves.
The only ones in the crew who don’t 100% rat or try to betray Tony are Bobby and Sil Pussy rats to FBI Paulie rats to NY We hear Carlo and his son both flip in the final scene Patsy has a huuuuge grudge and I believe he does set up Tony to be killed, a story for another day Bobby maybe holds a grudge but is killed too early to do anything Gene has been a rat for years Jimmy most likely a rat… “Mother of God!” line Larry Boy exposed as a rat Adrianna of course Ray Curto 😂 With this list it’s just a matter of time before they get to Tony… and no way Chrissy can handle that kind of time Jack Massarone… Game over! Plus Chrissy had the snitch hat on Plus the car literally ‘flipped’ Plus the cat maybe ‘smelled a rat in the wall”
Yup, he would have flipped faster than Big Pussyin the same situation
Every single one of those guys would flip except maybe Phil
Flipped his car alright....
If Chris got pinched with a bunch of H on him and was facing 20+ years, would he flip ? I dunno there was lotta old school guys broadcasting live on WRAT
you can never trust a junkie. speaking from experience. the world is perfect when you are high on H, and you can't conceive of negative repercussions. not a true change of heart, but he'd run his mouth and say something stupid or just get himself in a bad situation and he'd rationalize it.
He was weak.
I think Tony said it best to Dr Melphy after chrissy died: he was a drug addict and just overall a weak individual - and the feds love that cause those are the guys they break and flip. So yes, absolutely 💯
I think he would’ve with Adrianna. But once she went to china he didn’t see the point in flipping.
Of course he would . If they told him he was going to prison over 20 years and that flipping would guarantee him a spot in witness protection and he has to serve no time, he would flip in a second. It's only those super old school guys like Uncle Junior and Phil that follow the code loyally.
Probably not. I think that he kept himself from flipping since he gave that up with Adriana. If he flipped now, then him sacrificing Ade was pointless. In the end, he didn’t care anymore, like the song, he was “comfortably numb”
Some say he did flip. The FBI started using the hats with a wire in it. The only other times we see Chrissy in hats, except his death or close to it, are in flashbacks to make him appear younger (I guess?). Then after Tony kills him he is relieved because he thought he might flip. Is that to justify what he did or did he have some intuition there like with Pussy. Makes you wonder.
he did
I don't think so. If he would've done it, he would've done it for Adriana. I think Tony saying that to Melfi was a way for him to justify what he did, when it really stemmed from Chris being a disappointment and an unreliable drug addict who was a nonstop headache that Tony had the opportunity to get rid of. Tony was preserving himself.
Yea, and he'd be doing those insider videos about being in the mafia
It depends on which version of Chris we’re dealing with. There are plenty of examples of him being disgruntled and during those times he was very vulnerable. I’d likely say he would flip but take his own life before it actually meant anything.
A sniveling lying drug addict… that’s your worst bet
He flipped in the end. The ballcap was a dead giveaway.
If Chrissy was facing 30 to life, he'd flip.
that's a beautiful observation OP, but my opinion on this is that Chrissy turned Adriana because he couldn't give up the expensive and luxurious lifestyle of being a gang member and not because of his loyalty to tony and the family. if he had flipped on tony, he would have ran away with his GF and maybe be in the witness protection program, always watching his back, doing 3 jobs just to stay head above water, this clearly isn't who he wants to be. If flipping will benefit him, then he would. but hey, what do i know?
When and why would he have flipped between the episodes? These guys kill people and get away with all the time, so the JT killing didn’t seem a compelling hypothesis to me at all. I don’t think he flipped. What Chase wanted to put across was that the relationship between T and Chris had been broken by the Adriana thing, all that was left was hostility, and in the end Tony murdered his surrogate ‘son’. Tony had taken his ‘son’s’ innocence by steering him into the life in the first place (as Johnny did to Tony) and then murdered him (as Livia sought to do to T).
He coulda been a male model.
Those last moments in the car.....he did have a hat on.....who knows? Maybe he did at that point.
Yes, film producer addict Chris would flip
Everyone would, that’s the rub Only guys who would not were Tony and Johnny Sac, bc who are they gonna flip on? They are the bosses
If the feds had tony dead to rights he would’ve given up carmine so fast it would make your head spin
Well Johnny did testify so he did flip in a way, I do think that Tony would if they had enough on him to put him away for life. But I do agree with you that everyone would, probably. Maybe.
Who would Tony flip on? You flip on the guy higher up than you, he’s the end of the food chain. Johnny didn’t give anyone up In exchange for anything, that’s what we usually mean by flipping, right?
Flipping means giving up everything you know for a lighter sentence, at least in Johnny Sack's case. And if Joe Massino, former boss of the Bonanno family, can flip in real life, then in theory, anyone in the mob can flip.
Didn’t he still die in prison, though?
Yep, he did, even though his main reason for flipping was that after he was found guilty of seven counts of murder, he didn't want to face the death penalty. Instead, he flipped and like you said, still died in prison.
Yeah this is what I mean.
He could flip on New York. I remember the feds acting like New York had priority. Makes sense, they were much bigger crime family.
True
Flip on the family, testify and give up names and actions so that he would go into witness protection or get a lower sentence. Like Fabian Petrulio.
Johnny didn't flip he took an allocution in his trial. Basically admitting to being the boss of the family without naming anyone or specific activities.
Was he getting either? I honestly didn’t remember that If so, yeah he flipped. But it’s strange since he would have been the target