Watch: Uncle Junior: The Boss Who Was Never Really the Boss

Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano finally got the title he spent a lifetime chasing, boss of the family, and it was a cardboard crown Tony handed him as a lightning rod. Watch the video above, then read Junior's tragedy.

Junior's arc is the show's purest story about power and humiliation. Passed over in spirit while given the name, indicted because Tony wanted the feds aimed at someone else, and slowly erased by dementia, Junior ends the series in a state facility, told about a niece he cannot place, insisting to no one that he and his brother ran North Jersey. Dominic Chianese plays him with total dignity, which is what makes the decline hurt: the show never lets Junior become only a joke, even when the world around him does.

Quick answer: Junior was boss in name only. Tony ran the family while Junior absorbed the indictments, and dementia took what was left.

Related: why Junior shot Tony.

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