Janice Soprano
Encyclopedia
Janice Soprano Baccalieri, played by Aida Turturro
, is a fictional character
on the HBO TV
series The Sopranos
. She is Tony Soprano
's elder sister. A young Janice has appeared in flashbacks, played by Madeline Blue and Juliet Fox.
in Los Angeles
, changing her name to "Parvati
Wasatch
" in 1978. "Parvati" also travelled across Europe
and Sri Lanka
, married a Québécois
, bore him a son Harpo ("Hal", later revealed to be living on the streets), worked as a furniture mover, and worked at an espresso
bar in Seattle
(where operating the steamed milk machine supposedly caused her to develop carpal tunnel syndrome
, for which she claimed disability benefits) before finally moving back to New Jersey
. Her relationship with Tony is often strained, as he still holds her responsible for abandoning the family and leaving him to deal with their abusive
mother, Livia
, alone.
While in New Jersey
, she gets engaged to her high school boyfriend, Richie Aprile
, then recently released from prison. She then drastically refashions her appearance from that of an aging hippie
to that of an upscale, materialistic, northern New Jersey
Italian
housewife.
When Tony and Richie begin feuding, Janice exacerbates the situation by telling Richie that he is being unfairly treated — soon after, Richie and Tony's relationship deteriorates drastically. Tony orders Silvio Dante
to have Richie killed after Uncle Junior had informed him of Richie's plan to "move against him". However, after an incident of domestic violence
in which Richie punches her in the face for defending his son's potential homosexuality
, Janice shoots and kills Richie and calls on her brother to dispose of the body. Tony has Christopher Moltisanti
and Furio Giunta
dismember Richie's body in a meat grinder at Satriale's Pork Store
. After a time back in Seattle, Janice again returns to New Jersey following the death of her mother.
After Livia's death, Janice becomes obsessed with acquiring her mother's valuable record collection, which Livia gave to her nurse, Svetlana, shortly before her death. Janice, feeling that she should rightfully have the records, absconds with Svetlana's prosthetic leg. She tells Svetlana that the leg would not be returned until she received the records. Svetlana, however, has friends connected with the Russian Mafia
physically assault Janice until she reveals the location of the leg. When Tony arrives at the hospital, he is visibly upset with his sister; he angrily tells her that since she had been assaulted, he is now faced with the choice of retaliating, thereby risking a mob war with the Russians, or not retaliating, and losing respect. Bewildered by the sudden turn in her fortunes, she briefly becomes a born-again Christian. Janice's next phase is marked by a brief interest in a Christian music career, as well as an equally brief live-in relationship with narcoleptic
boyfriend, Aaron Arkaway.
After the death of Jackie Aprile, Jr.
, Janice embarks on a clandestine relationship with Ralph Cifaretto, who is engaged to Jackie Jr.'s mother, Rosalie Aprile. With the help of her feminist therapist, Janice soon reaches the conclusion that her affair with Ralph is a mistake, and after Ralph happily tells her that he is no longer seeing Rosalie Aprile and plans to move in with her, Janice responds by flying into a rage, pushing him down a flight of stairs and screaming at him to leave.
Sometime later, Tony asks Janice about Ralph's bizarre sexual fetishes
, of which he had recently become aware. She refuses to tell him anything at first, ostensibly to protect Ralph's privacy. When Tony offers her money, however, she immediately tells him everything he wants to know.
Following Ralph's disappearance, Janice sets her sights on the newly widowed Bobby Baccalieri
, another of Tony's caporegime
s, whose fidelity to his wife while she was alive, and obvious adoration of her after her death, makes him especially appealing. Initially, Janice cooks Bobby's dinners (often claiming other women's plates as her own) and informally dates him. Frustrated with Bobby's refusal to commit, she sends Bobby's children instant messages via her Mac
, choosing a user name that appeared satanic
, and indicating that she was watching them by referring to objects in their living room (which she could see from her window). This ploy scares them badly, in response to which she subsequently rushed over to help comfort them and curry favor with their bewildered father. She and Bobby eventually marry and have a daughter together, Domenica.
She attacks a player's mother at Sophia's Peewee soccer match and injures her badly enough to require hospitalization, garnering her an assault
charge and, to Tony's displeasure, unwanted TV news coverage mentioning his name and line of work. Bobby also insists that she attend anger management
counseling, although it is unclear whether or not it has the desired effect.
In the episode "Moe n' Joe", Janice confronts Tony about his treatment of Bobby, and Tony refuses to say what the siblings both knew: Tony blames Bobby (and Janice, to some extent) for his near-fatal shooting by Uncle Junior, because Bobby should have been watching Junior but Janice made him pass the task on to Tony. He angrily confides to Dr. Melfi
that Janice "gets nothing" because she didn't have the scars he did from growing up full time in the same house as Livia. Later in the episode, Tony compensates Janice and Bobby by convincing an imprisoned John Sacrimoni
to sell them his home at half price.
Janice and Bobby inherits the late Bobby, Sr.'s cottage in northern New York state, to which they invite Tony and Carmela for Tony's 47th birthday. At the party, Janice gives Tony a gift of Soprano family home videos and tells Carmela an anecdote that embarrasses Tony when it is raised again during a heated, drunken game of Monopoly
; Janice and Tony's father once angrily shot a bullet through Livia's beehive hairdo. Bobby later loses his temper and punches Tony in the face after Tony makes an offensive remark about Janice, leading to a fight which Bobby wins (much to Tony's chagrin). Tony then orders Bobby, who admits to Tony that he has never killed a man, to go to Canada
and carry out a contract killing. Ironically, defending Janice increases Tony's regard for Bobby, as he is soon elevated into Tony's inner circle (largely displacing Christopher Moltisanti
).
Janice suggests to Tony that he help pay to keep Uncle Junior — whose money has run out — in a private care facility, but is rebuffed by Tony, who makes it clear Junior is dead to him. Angered by Janice and Bobby's perceived disloyalty, Tony tells her that he is also going to exile Bobby from his life, although it is likely he is not fully serious.
Soon after that conversation, Janice becomes a widow; Bobby is murdered by two of Phil Leotardo's hit men while buying a model train in a hobby store. Although she claims that her stepchildren have bonded with her and she wants to continue raising them (a dubious claim considering the contempt and disgust Bobby, III and Sofia have shown for her), Janice's primary focus seems to be on whatever assets she might receive such as those from Uncle Junior, prompting Tony to make a deal with "Uncle Pat" ensuring Junior's estate will go into a trust that will benefit Bobby's children and not Janice. Tony also extracts a promise from Phil Leotardo's men to pay a settlement to Janice, after Phil's vendetta against Tony led to Bobby's murder.
tattoo
on her breast and her placement on an Unwanted Persons list by Canada, which she was permanently banned from entering.
Janice is also a chronic
malingerer
. She conveniently claimed she had the Epstein-Barr virus
to justify sleeping, as an escape from performing her duties as Bobby Baccala, Jr.'s wife and his children's stepmother. Janice also claimed she developed carpal tunnel syndrome
while operating the steamed milk machine at a Seattle espresso bar, in order to claim disability benefits. Later, Janice relied upon the latter excuse to avoid cooking Sunday dinner from scratch
(when Tony and Carmela were separated). Her complaint to Tony that the physical attack by the Russians, who had intimidated her into returning Svetlana's prosthetic leg, had exacerbated the pains in her arm gave Tony sufficient ammunition to obtain Slava's blessing to retaliate against Janice's attackers.
Although she would never admit it, Janice's personality is very much like her mother's; they are both manipulative
, violently tempestuous, and suffer from Narcissistic personality disorder
. Janice was manipulative towards Richie Aprile, telling him he deserved more than he received from Tony. During sexual encounters, she made suggestions that Richie take over as boss, and she goaded him into the power play he attempted against Tony. She also manipulated Bobby Baccalieri, after his wife's death, by pretending she had cooked meals other women had sent him and by scaring his children. She knew Baccala would call after being unable to cope with their fear and confusion.
Janice, like Livia (and Meadow), also tends to want what she cannot have. She wanted a bigger house than Tony and Carmela's, with a pool, an expensive wedding, and an affluent lifestyle, even though Richie struggled to afford such luxuries and his attempts to make the necessary income caused conflicts with Tony. She lost interest in Ralph Ciferetto after he dumped Rosalie Aprile for her, although to get what she wanted she indulged both men's sexual fetishes. Later, although Janice went to quite extraordinary lengths to woo
Bobby Baccala, she appeared to lose interest in him, too, after they married.
Janice is like Tony as well, in that she is competitive and motivated by the chase. Even before resorting to underhanded tactics when competing with other women for Bobby Baccala's affections, trying to extort Livia's vintage record collection from Svetlana (by stealing Svetlana's prosthetic leg), and desiring a bigger house than Tony's, Janice demonstrated her competitive nature, as a child, in Tony's memory flashbacks and in the family home movies she gave Tony for his 47th birthday.
Janice's personality was likely shaped by both nature and nurture. In addition to sharing the above-described traits with her relatives, Janice was brutally berated by Livia over the years; Tony alluded to this when the morning after Richie was killed, telling his mother: "Janice never had a chance." Additionally, as the oldest child in a household financed by crime, Janice was not only aware of her parents' activities (as Meadow was aware of Tony's), she was complicit in them. For example, "Johnny Boy" recruited Janice to participate with him and other mobsters in using their daughters as "fronts" to justify the men's presence at an amusement park, where the men conducted criminal activities.
Janice's close male relatives all suffered dire fates, as well. The fate of her son's father is unknown, but Janice's son Harpo ("Hal") was said to be living on the streets, her father "Johnny Boy" died of cancer, her Uncle Junior suffered from Alzheimer's disease
after being committed to life imprisonment in a mental institution, her cousin Tony Blundetto
was murdered by her brother Tony S., and even her distant cousin, Christopher Moltisanti
, was murdered by Tony S. after being seriously injured in a car accident. Tony Soprano's ultimate fate, in the series finale, is never made explicit, but he is seriously injured when Uncle Junior shoots him, in season six.
: Gunshot to the chest and then in the head after punching Janice after an explosive quarrel in which Janice defended Richie's son's possible homosexuality.
Aida Turturro
Aida Turturro is an American actress probably best known for playing Janice Soprano, sister of New Jersey mob boss Tony Soprano, on the HBO TV series The Sopranos .-Personal life:...
, is a fictional character
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
on the HBO TV
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
series The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
. She is Tony Soprano
Tony Soprano
Anthony John "Tony" Soprano, Sr. is an Italian-American fictional character and the protagonist on the HBO television drama series The Sopranos, on which he is portrayed by James Gandolfini. The character was conceived by The Sopranos creator and show runner David Chase, who was also largely...
's elder sister. A young Janice has appeared in flashbacks, played by Madeline Blue and Juliet Fox.
Biography
After graduating high school, Janice joined an ashramAshram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
in Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, changing her name to "Parvati
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
Wasatch
Wasatch Range
The Wasatch Range is a mountain range that stretches approximately from the Utah-Idaho border, south through central Utah in the western United States. It is generally considered the western edge of the greater Rocky Mountains, and the eastern edge of the Great Basin region...
" in 1978. "Parvati" also travelled across Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
, married a Québécois
French-speaking Quebecer
French-speaking Quebecers are francophone residents of the Canadian province of Quebec....
, bore him a son Harpo ("Hal", later revealed to be living on the streets), worked as a furniture mover, and worked at an espresso
Espresso
Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee. Espresso is widely known throughout the world....
bar in Seattle
Seattle, Washington
Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
(where operating the steamed milk machine supposedly caused her to develop carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is an entrapment idiopathic median neuropathy, causing paresthesia, pain, and other symptoms in the distribution of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel. The pathophysiology is not completely understood but can be considered compression...
, for which she claimed disability benefits) before finally moving back to New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. Her relationship with Tony is often strained, as he still holds her responsible for abandoning the family and leaving him to deal with their abusive
Child abuse
Child abuse is the physical, sexual, emotional mistreatment, or neglect of a child. In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Children And Families define child maltreatment as any act or series of acts of commission or omission by a parent or...
mother, Livia
Livia Soprano
Livia Soprano , played by Nancy Marchand, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the mother of Tony Soprano. A young Livia, played by Laila Robins and later by Laurie J. Williams is sometimes seen in flashbacks...
, alone.
While in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
, she gets engaged to her high school boyfriend, Richie Aprile
Richie Aprile
Richard 'Richie' Aprile, Sr., played by David Proval, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. Richie was a capo and the older brother of former DiMeo crime family acting boss Jackie Aprile, Sr...
, then recently released from prison. She then drastically refashions her appearance from that of an aging hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
to that of an upscale, materialistic, northern New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
housewife.
When Tony and Richie begin feuding, Janice exacerbates the situation by telling Richie that he is being unfairly treated — soon after, Richie and Tony's relationship deteriorates drastically. Tony orders Silvio Dante
Silvio Dante
Silvio Manfred Dante, often referred to as "Sil", played by Steven Van Zandt, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He is the consigliere to Tony Soprano in the Soprano crime family. Silvio has one of the lowest profiles on the show. He is usually a behind the scenes figure...
to have Richie killed after Uncle Junior had informed him of Richie's plan to "move against him". However, after an incident of domestic violence
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
in which Richie punches her in the face for defending his son's potential homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, Janice shoots and kills Richie and calls on her brother to dispose of the body. Tony has Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was Tony Soprano's protégé and a Capo in the Soprano crime family.-Biography:...
and Furio Giunta
Furio Giunta
Furio Giunta, played by Federico Castelluccio, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was an Italian mobster working for Tony Soprano.-Biography:...
dismember Richie's body in a meat grinder at Satriale's Pork Store
Satriale's Pork Store
Satriale's Pork Store is a fictional establishment on the HBO series The Sopranos. As told in the television show, during the 1970s, the pork store was taken over by Johnny Boy Soprano, a member of The DiMeo Crime Family, when Francis Satriale failed to make payments on a gambling debt and later...
. After a time back in Seattle, Janice again returns to New Jersey following the death of her mother.
After Livia's death, Janice becomes obsessed with acquiring her mother's valuable record collection, which Livia gave to her nurse, Svetlana, shortly before her death. Janice, feeling that she should rightfully have the records, absconds with Svetlana's prosthetic leg. She tells Svetlana that the leg would not be returned until she received the records. Svetlana, however, has friends connected with the Russian Mafia
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
physically assault Janice until she reveals the location of the leg. When Tony arrives at the hospital, he is visibly upset with his sister; he angrily tells her that since she had been assaulted, he is now faced with the choice of retaliating, thereby risking a mob war with the Russians, or not retaliating, and losing respect. Bewildered by the sudden turn in her fortunes, she briefly becomes a born-again Christian. Janice's next phase is marked by a brief interest in a Christian music career, as well as an equally brief live-in relationship with narcoleptic
Narcolepsy
Narcolepsy is a chronic sleep disorder, or dyssomnia, characterized by excessive sleepiness and sleep attacks at inappropriate times, such as while at work. People with narcolepsy often experience disturbed nocturnal sleep and an abnormal daytime sleep pattern, which often is confused with insomnia...
boyfriend, Aaron Arkaway.
After the death of Jackie Aprile, Jr.
Jackie Aprile, Jr.
Giacomo Michael Aprile, Jr. , played by Jason Cerbone, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. In the episode "...To Save Us All From Satan's Power", Cerbone's younger brother Matt played a younger Jackie Jr. in a flashback sequence.-Plot details:Jackie Aprile, Jr. was born into...
, Janice embarks on a clandestine relationship with Ralph Cifaretto, who is engaged to Jackie Jr.'s mother, Rosalie Aprile. With the help of her feminist therapist, Janice soon reaches the conclusion that her affair with Ralph is a mistake, and after Ralph happily tells her that he is no longer seeing Rosalie Aprile and plans to move in with her, Janice responds by flying into a rage, pushing him down a flight of stairs and screaming at him to leave.
Sometime later, Tony asks Janice about Ralph's bizarre sexual fetishes
Sexual fetishism
Sexual fetishism, or erotic fetishism, is the sexual arousal a person receives from a physical object, or from a specific situation. The object or situation of interest is called the fetish, the person a fetishist who has a fetish for that object/situation. Sexual fetishism may be regarded, e.g...
, of which he had recently become aware. She refuses to tell him anything at first, ostensibly to protect Ralph's privacy. When Tony offers her money, however, she immediately tells him everything he wants to know.
Following Ralph's disappearance, Janice sets her sights on the newly widowed Bobby Baccalieri
Bobby Baccalieri
Robert "Bobby Bacala" Baccalieri, Jr., played by Steve R. Schirripa, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was a Capo and later the acting underboss of the DiMeo Crime Family, as well as Tony Soprano's brother-in-law...
, another of Tony's caporegime
Caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...
s, whose fidelity to his wife while she was alive, and obvious adoration of her after her death, makes him especially appealing. Initially, Janice cooks Bobby's dinners (often claiming other women's plates as her own) and informally dates him. Frustrated with Bobby's refusal to commit, she sends Bobby's children instant messages via her Mac
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
, choosing a user name that appeared satanic
Satanism
Satanism is a group of religions that is composed of a diverse number of ideological and philosophical beliefs and social phenomena. Their shared feature include symbolic association with, admiration for the character of, and even veneration of Satan or similar rebellious, promethean, and...
, and indicating that she was watching them by referring to objects in their living room (which she could see from her window). This ploy scares them badly, in response to which she subsequently rushed over to help comfort them and curry favor with their bewildered father. She and Bobby eventually marry and have a daughter together, Domenica.
She attacks a player's mother at Sophia's Peewee soccer match and injures her badly enough to require hospitalization, garnering her an assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
charge and, to Tony's displeasure, unwanted TV news coverage mentioning his name and line of work. Bobby also insists that she attend anger management
Anger management
The term anger management commonly refers to a system of psychological therapeutic techniques and exercises by which someone with excessive or uncontrollable anger & aggression can control or reduce the triggers, degrees, and effects of an angered emotional state...
counseling, although it is unclear whether or not it has the desired effect.
In the episode "Moe n' Joe", Janice confronts Tony about his treatment of Bobby, and Tony refuses to say what the siblings both knew: Tony blames Bobby (and Janice, to some extent) for his near-fatal shooting by Uncle Junior, because Bobby should have been watching Junior but Janice made him pass the task on to Tony. He angrily confides to Dr. Melfi
Jennifer Melfi
Jennifer Melfi, M.D., is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. She is the psychiatrist of Mafia boss Tony Soprano. She is portrayed by Lorraine Bracco.-Character description:...
that Janice "gets nothing" because she didn't have the scars he did from growing up full time in the same house as Livia. Later in the episode, Tony compensates Janice and Bobby by convincing an imprisoned John Sacrimoni
Johnny Sack
John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni, played by Vince Curatola, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was the longtime underboss and later the boss of the powerful Brooklyn-based New York City Lupertazzi crime family...
to sell them his home at half price.
Janice and Bobby inherits the late Bobby, Sr.'s cottage in northern New York state, to which they invite Tony and Carmela for Tony's 47th birthday. At the party, Janice gives Tony a gift of Soprano family home videos and tells Carmela an anecdote that embarrasses Tony when it is raised again during a heated, drunken game of Monopoly
Monopoly (game)
Marvin Gardens, the leading yellow property on the board shown, is actually a misspelling of the original location name, Marven Gardens. The misspelling was said to be introduced by Charles Todd and passed on when his home-made Monopoly board was copied by Charles Darrow and thence to Parker...
; Janice and Tony's father once angrily shot a bullet through Livia's beehive hairdo. Bobby later loses his temper and punches Tony in the face after Tony makes an offensive remark about Janice, leading to a fight which Bobby wins (much to Tony's chagrin). Tony then orders Bobby, who admits to Tony that he has never killed a man, to go to Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and carry out a contract killing. Ironically, defending Janice increases Tony's regard for Bobby, as he is soon elevated into Tony's inner circle (largely displacing Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was Tony Soprano's protégé and a Capo in the Soprano crime family.-Biography:...
).
Janice suggests to Tony that he help pay to keep Uncle Junior — whose money has run out — in a private care facility, but is rebuffed by Tony, who makes it clear Junior is dead to him. Angered by Janice and Bobby's perceived disloyalty, Tony tells her that he is also going to exile Bobby from his life, although it is likely he is not fully serious.
Soon after that conversation, Janice becomes a widow; Bobby is murdered by two of Phil Leotardo's hit men while buying a model train in a hobby store. Although she claims that her stepchildren have bonded with her and she wants to continue raising them (a dubious claim considering the contempt and disgust Bobby, III and Sofia have shown for her), Janice's primary focus seems to be on whatever assets she might receive such as those from Uncle Junior, prompting Tony to make a deal with "Uncle Pat" ensuring Junior's estate will go into a trust that will benefit Bobby's children and not Janice. Tony also extracts a promise from Phil Leotardo's men to pay a settlement to Janice, after Phil's vendetta against Tony led to Bobby's murder.
Personality
Janice is rebellious. This is evidenced, in part, by the Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
tattoo
Tattoo
A tattoo is made by inserting indelible ink into the dermis layer of the skin to change the pigment. Tattoos on humans are a type of body modification, and tattoos on other animals are most commonly used for identification purposes...
on her breast and her placement on an Unwanted Persons list by Canada, which she was permanently banned from entering.
Janice is also a chronic
Habit (psychology)
Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks...
malingerer
Malingering
Malingering is a medical term that refers to fabricating or exaggerating the symptoms of mental or physical disorders for a variety of "secondary gain" motives, which may include financial compensation ; avoiding school, work or military service; obtaining drugs; getting lighter criminal sentences;...
. She conveniently claimed she had the Epstein-Barr virus
Epstein-Barr virus
The Epstein–Barr virus , also called human herpesvirus 4 , is a virus of the herpes family and is one of the most common viruses in humans. It is best known as the cause of infectious mononucleosis...
to justify sleeping, as an escape from performing her duties as Bobby Baccala, Jr.'s wife and his children's stepmother. Janice also claimed she developed carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Carpal Tunnel Syndrome is an entrapment idiopathic median neuropathy, causing paresthesia, pain, and other symptoms in the distribution of the median nerve due to its compression at the wrist in the carpal tunnel. The pathophysiology is not completely understood but can be considered compression...
while operating the steamed milk machine at a Seattle espresso bar, in order to claim disability benefits. Later, Janice relied upon the latter excuse to avoid cooking Sunday dinner from scratch
From scratch
From scratch may refer to:* "from basic components", as in a cake made from scratch, not from a commercial pre-mix, showing the skill or knowledge of the cookFrom Scratch may refer to:* From Scratch * From Scratch...
(when Tony and Carmela were separated). Her complaint to Tony that the physical attack by the Russians, who had intimidated her into returning Svetlana's prosthetic leg, had exacerbated the pains in her arm gave Tony sufficient ammunition to obtain Slava's blessing to retaliate against Janice's attackers.
Although she would never admit it, Janice's personality is very much like her mother's; they are both manipulative
Psychological manipulation
Psychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
, violently tempestuous, and suffer from Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder
Narcissistic personality disorder is a personality disorder in which the individual is described as being excessively preoccupied with issues of personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity...
. Janice was manipulative towards Richie Aprile, telling him he deserved more than he received from Tony. During sexual encounters, she made suggestions that Richie take over as boss, and she goaded him into the power play he attempted against Tony. She also manipulated Bobby Baccalieri, after his wife's death, by pretending she had cooked meals other women had sent him and by scaring his children. She knew Baccala would call after being unable to cope with their fear and confusion.
Janice, like Livia (and Meadow), also tends to want what she cannot have. She wanted a bigger house than Tony and Carmela's, with a pool, an expensive wedding, and an affluent lifestyle, even though Richie struggled to afford such luxuries and his attempts to make the necessary income caused conflicts with Tony. She lost interest in Ralph Ciferetto after he dumped Rosalie Aprile for her, although to get what she wanted she indulged both men's sexual fetishes. Later, although Janice went to quite extraordinary lengths to woo
Courtship
Courtship is the period in a couple's relationship which precedes their engagement and marriage, or establishment of an agreed relationship of a more enduring kind. In courtship, a couple get to know each other and decide if there will be an engagement or other such agreement...
Bobby Baccala, she appeared to lose interest in him, too, after they married.
Janice is like Tony as well, in that she is competitive and motivated by the chase. Even before resorting to underhanded tactics when competing with other women for Bobby Baccala's affections, trying to extort Livia's vintage record collection from Svetlana (by stealing Svetlana's prosthetic leg), and desiring a bigger house than Tony's, Janice demonstrated her competitive nature, as a child, in Tony's memory flashbacks and in the family home movies she gave Tony for his 47th birthday.
Janice's personality was likely shaped by both nature and nurture. In addition to sharing the above-described traits with her relatives, Janice was brutally berated by Livia over the years; Tony alluded to this when the morning after Richie was killed, telling his mother: "Janice never had a chance." Additionally, as the oldest child in a household financed by crime, Janice was not only aware of her parents' activities (as Meadow was aware of Tony's), she was complicit in them. For example, "Johnny Boy" recruited Janice to participate with him and other mobsters in using their daughters as "fronts" to justify the men's presence at an amusement park, where the men conducted criminal activities.
Tragedies of men in her life
Similar to the Aprile crew capos, all of whom succumbed to the ostensible "Aprile Curse", all the men who have been romantically involved with Janice on the show (with the possible exception of Aaron Arkaway) have met horrible demises, one of which she was directly responsible for. Janice fatally shot Richie after he punched her. Her brother, Tony, beat Ralphie to death after Ralph and Tony's racehorse died in a suspicious fire. Phil Leotardo's hit men gunned Bobby down during Phil's "decapitation" of Tony's New Jersey mob family.Janice's close male relatives all suffered dire fates, as well. The fate of her son's father is unknown, but Janice's son Harpo ("Hal") was said to be living on the streets, her father "Johnny Boy" died of cancer, her Uncle Junior suffered from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
after being committed to life imprisonment in a mental institution, her cousin Tony Blundetto
Tony Blundetto
Anthony "Tony" Blundetto, played by Steve Buscemi, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He is Tony Soprano's cousin who is released from prison at the beginning of the show's fifth season. Tony Blundetto first appears as a calm, composed, and reformed criminal ready to pursue...
was murdered by her brother Tony S., and even her distant cousin, Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher Moltisanti
Christopher "Chris" Moltisanti, played by Michael Imperioli, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. He was Tony Soprano's protégé and a Capo in the Soprano crime family.-Biography:...
, was murdered by Tony S. after being seriously injured in a car accident. Tony Soprano's ultimate fate, in the series finale, is never made explicit, but he is seriously injured when Uncle Junior shoots him, in season six.
Murders committed by Janice Soprano
Richie AprileRichie Aprile
Richard 'Richie' Aprile, Sr., played by David Proval, is a fictional character on the HBO TV series The Sopranos. Richie was a capo and the older brother of former DiMeo crime family acting boss Jackie Aprile, Sr...
: Gunshot to the chest and then in the head after punching Janice after an explosive quarrel in which Janice defended Richie's son's possible homosexuality.