CRITIQUING CHARACTERS (CLAUDE) FROM: THE YOUNG SOPRANOS

CRITIQUING CHARACTERS

(CLAUDE-AI)

FROM:

THE YOUNG SOPRANOS

J. Beck

2024

cri·tique

/krəˈtēk/

noun

a detailed analysis and assessment of something, especially a literary, philosophical, or political theory.

So I asked

CLAUDE-AI Program:

What do these

Nine Young Characters have in Common?

In Reference to my Young Sopranos Story:

https://youngsopranos.blogspot.com/2024/12/the-young-sopranos-part-1-4.html?m=1

This was

CLAUDE'S Response:

From what you've described your story centers around these nine fatherless children from The Sopranos universe:

**Original five:**

- Ricky Aprile

- Jason Cifaretto

- Jimmy Altieri Jr

- The Blundetto Brothers

(Jason and Justin)

**Additional four:**

- Matty Bonpensiero

- Fabian Peters

- The Palmice Brothers (Mikey Jr & Franky)

RICKY APRILE

What they all have in common is that **they're the next generation - children whose fathers were killed in the violent world of organized crime** depicted in the original series. This creates a fascinating premise exploring how these young people navigate life with that shared trauma and legacy.

I'd be interested to hear about how you're handling their relationships with each other and whether they're trying to escape or embrace their fathers' world.

JASON CIFARETTO

Ah, that's a really smart timeline choice! Setting your story in 2017 - 10 years after Tony's death - gives you the perfect sweet spot for your characters. They would be:

- **Old enough** to have real memories of their fathers and understand what happened to them

- **Young enough** to still be figuring out their identities and futures

- **At that crucial age** where they're deciding whether to follow in their fathers' footsteps or break the cycle.

JIMMY ALTIERI JR

Ten years is also enough time for:

- The immediate chaos after Tony's death to have settled

- New power structures in the Jersey mob to have formed

- These kids to have grown up hearing stories and legends about their fathers

- The question of succession and who controls what territories to still be relevant

It creates natural dramatic tension - do they see their fathers as martyrs, cautionary tales, or something more complex? Are they being recruited by surviving crew members? Are they trying to go legitimate?

MATTY BONPENSIERO

And 2017 gives you that interesting modern setting where they'd be dealing with social media, different technology, but still in a world where the old mob structures and codes might still exist.

What age range are you writing these characters as in 2017? Late teens, early twenties? That would put them right in that volatile period where they're making life-defining choices about their futures.

How are you handling the power vacuum that Tony's death would have created in your story?

FABIAN PETERS

That's a brilliant and compelling central theme! The idea that these young characters are actively trying to **learn from their fathers' fatal mistakes** rather than blindly repeat them adds real depth and sophistication to your story.

It creates fascinating dramatic possibilities:

**Strategic Evolution:**

- They could study what got their fathers killed - Richie's hotheadedness, Ralph's sadism, Big Pussy's informant situation, Mikey's recklessness

- Maybe they're more disciplined, smarter about technology/surveillance, better at avoiding FBI attention

- They might have modern approaches to organized crime that their fathers never considered

MIKEY PALMICE JR

**Internal Conflicts:**

- The tension between honoring their fathers' memory while recognizing their flaws

- Struggling with whether they can really be "better" criminals or if the life itself is the problem

- Dealing with older mobsters who knew their fathers and have expectations

**Moral Complexity:**

- They're still choosing the criminal path, but trying to do it "smarter"

- Questions about whether you can really reform organized crime from within

- The challenge of staying loyal to each other when their fathers often betrayed or killed each other

This theme elevates it beyond just "sons of mobsters" - it's about **generational learning, adaptation, and the question of whether people can truly escape the patterns that destroyed their predecessors**.

Are they forming their own crew together? That alliance between the sons of former enemies would be really powerful dramatically. How do they handle the fact that some of their fathers literally killed each other?

FRANKY PALMICE

Exactly! That's where the real dramatic gold is. You've got this incredible powder keg of inherited vendettas and blood debts that these young men have to navigate.

**The inherited conflicts:**

- Palmice brothers dealing with the fact that Tony killed their father

- Blundetto brothers connected to Tony Blundetto, who caused massive problems

- Bonpensiero's son carrying the shame of his father being a rat

- Aprile's son potentially having issues with the Soprano legacy

- Cifaretto's son dealing with his father's psychotic reputation

**The impossible choices:**

- Do they honor their fathers by seeking revenge?

- Do they betray their fathers' memory by working together?

- Can they separate business from personal vendettas?

- How do they handle the older generation's expectations and loyalties?

JASON & JUSTIN BUNDETTO

It's like a Shakespearean tragedy - these kids are trying to be smarter than their fathers, but they're still trapped by the sins and feuds of the previous generation. They want to break the cycle of failure, but the very conflicts that destroyed their fathers are still pulling them apart.

The dramatic irony is perfect - the audience knows that despite their best intentions and intelligence, they're walking into the same traps that killed their fathers, just from different angles.

Are there moments where their partnership almost falls apart because of these inherited conflicts? That tension between wanting to work together but being unable to fully trust each other because of their fathers' history?