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Mob wives and "Sweethearts"

Adriana La Cerva

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/4c5d0ac0fc8bfb4a56a4511109dfba8eb.jpg

Played by: Drea de Matteo

Christopher Moltisanti's girlfriend, and later fiancee.

Ascended Extra: Quite literally, in the very first episode she appears for a few seconds as a hostess at a restaurant before getting a name in episode 2 and finally getting storylines in the seasons after that.
Babies Make Everything Better: She's a firm believer in this, convinced that if she could have children, her and Chris's relationship would clear up. The fact that she can't have them makes it all the more tragic.
Break the Cutie: While some of this may cross over with Too Dumb to Live, she undergoes this once she becomes an informant for the FBI. Adriana is just a dim, sweet girl who wants to have children with Christopher. Chris spirals further into drug addiction, it's revealed that she's infertile, Chris becomes increasingly physically violent towards her, the FBI becomes more aggressive towards her pressuring her into giving more and more information, and once she confides in Chris and tries to convince him to run away with her, he chooses the family over her and has her killed.
Butt-Monkey: She goes through so much drama and trauma because of her toxic relationship with Chris.
Canine Companion: Has one in her dog Cosette who she adores.
Distracted by the Luxury: A defining characteristic of her up until she becomes an FBI informant.
Domestic Abuse: She's been on the receiving end of it from Chris a lot of the time, with him hitting and choking her.
Dude Magnet: Due to her extremely good looks and somewhat kind personality, she draws a ton of male attention. Besides Christopher who genuinely loves her despite his abusive behavior, Artie is attracted to her as well. She gets her share of sexual tension with Tony as well in later seasons and the FBI agents spying on her describe her as the most wonderful being in existence.
Dumb Blonde: At times very naïve and superficial. It's exaggerated when she's forced to cooperate with the FBI and makes just about every wrong decision possible, eventually leading to her death.
Et Tu, Brute?: Towards "Danielle" after learning she's an FBI agent.
Even the Girls Want Her: The female tennis pro she and Carmela go to certainly seems keen to get close to her.
Fatal Flaw: Her love for Christopher. Despite his horrible and oftentimes abusive treatment of her, Adriana's love for him remains unwavering and she's convinced that their relationship can survive anything. Sadly, it turns out that, if given a choice between her or the family, Christopher will choose the latter.
Foil: To Carmela Soprano. Both are romantically involved with mobsters in the inner circle of the Soprano Family (Christopher Moltisanti and Tony Soprano) and struggle to reconcile the temptations offered by their lifestyles with their own moral integrity. Ultimately, Adriana is totally compromised by her involvement with Christopher, leading to her own demise, whereas Carmela manages to achieve a more moderated complicity although a certain interpretation of the series finale leaves her with a harsher end. They also elucidate the differences between Christopher and Tony as romantic partners.
- While both mob wives are continuously tempted by the wealth and possessions afforded to them by their romantic involvement with mobsters, only Carmela Soprano is shown to struggle meaningfully with the moral implications of her materialism. Adriana, on the other hand, is never shown to struggle morally with or deny herself the various contraband and clandestine opportunities Christopher provides to her.
- While Carmela is relatively fortunate to be married to Tony, who takes an active interest in ensuring that Carmela remains somewhat legally safe from his activities, Christopher Moltisanti takes no real steps to separate Adriana from his illicit activities, giving her a stake in the Crazy Horse (a product of illegal gambling and extortion still acting as a site of mob activity), enabling her drug habits, and himself inflicting violence upon her.
- Carmela never becomes personally involved in the criminal lifestyle which supports her lifestyle, whereas Adriana eventually becomes a party to a criminal conspiracy in the Crazy Horse because of the lack of separation between Christopher's criminal lifestyle and her own.
- Whereas motherhood is a source of Pet the Dog and personal redemption for Carmela Soprano, an incident in Adriana's past means that she is very unlikely to be able to bear a child. Also noteworthy is that Tony Soprano's children are a source of Pet the Dog for him as well, whereas Christopher has no such familial obligations to Adriana, and thus has nothing restraining him from indulging his substance abuse and abusing her (implying that Tony might not be all that different if not for the fact that he has children with Carmela).
- Adriana holds the other mob wives in contempt, seeing them as lacking willpower and being totally dependent on their husbands. She is proud of having grown up within the Jersey family, her mother being the sister of Jackie and Richie Aprile; the other mob wives had much more tenuous connections to the Mafia growing up. She is unable to form meaningful bonds with any of them and lacks a support system outside of Christopher, made even worse thanks to being forced to work with the FBI. By contrast, Carmela Soprano and the other mob wives have their own community, supporting each other and remaining in contact even when they are no longer partnered with their mobster husbands (e.g. Rosalie Aprile through bereavement, Angie Bompensiero after Big Pussy "goes into Witness Protection", and Carmela herself during her separation from Tony).
- And while Carmela never really considers or tries leaving Tony, despite her moral issues and the increasing danger of his lifestyle, Ade really tries to leave with Chris and ends up being killed for it.
Good Girls Avoid Abortion: In her past Adriana got pregnant by someone she described as an asshole and got an abortion, but the procedure left her barren or at least very unlikely to carry another pregnancy to term. She hid this from Christopher until her guilt made her confess, and Christopher did not take the news well (at first), which might look like a form of Karma Houdini Warranty for getting the abortion in the first place.
Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: To the FBI, although she has no desire to help them past a certain point.
Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life:
- Being involved a cocaine ring isn't quite "jaywalking", but it's definitely more mild than the torture and multiple murders seen on the show. Nevertheless, it's what gets her recruited by the FBI as an informant, forced into informing on everybody in her life, leading her to an emotional and physical breakdown, and her death.
- Also, a version with getting an abortion. She explains that she was an abusive relationship, which led her to getting an abortion that went wrong and left her unable to conceive. While it's unlikely that it would've worked out the way she wanted, Adriana remains convinced that having Chris's child would have solidified their relationship and fixed all their issues.
Living Emotional Crutch: Christopher can be abusive to her while also using her to support him.
Love Martyr: Ultimately dies out of her love for Chris. Her love for him was so unwavering that it never really occurred to her that if asked to choose between her or the family, Chris would choose the latter.
Mafia Princess: She's this and to a much greater extent than Carmela since she grew up in a family that was well ingrained with the DiMeo crime family while Carmela came from a civilian background.
Male Gaze: The camera often lingers on her fantastic physique. In one episode, an FBI agent ogles her and her tennis coach, who both wear tight, skimpy outfits and happen to bend over at the same time.
Meaningful Name: La Cerva means "the deer" in Italian. In her final scene, she gets shot in the woods while crawling on all fours.
Mistaken for Cheating: Thanks to Tony's reputation for philandering and a myriad of rumors sprinkled in, everyone (including the feds) believes that the car accident happened because Adriana was blowing Tony at the time. Christopher responds by beating the shit out of Ade (while she's already banged up from the accident, no less!) and throwing her out of their home, and he only calms down after Tony nearly kills him over the misunderstanding and gets the doctor to verify that her injuries don't correspond to the accusations.
- Even worse is that after her death Christopher still believes in some degree that Tony and Adriana had an affair, considering in his Power Fantasy movie he wrote the characters corresponding to them hooking up.
The Mole: After unwittingly befriending an undercover FBI agent named Deborah Ciccerone, she is coerced into becoming an informant. It eventually ends badly, with Tony ordering Silvio to whack Adriana.
Morton's Fork: She is hit with a particularly hard one once the feds catch up to her. She can face up to 25 years in prison for her part in an illegal cocaine ring, or become an informant in an FBI operation to take down Tony. She unsuccessfully and tragically tries to Take a Third Option by attempting to get Christopher to flip on Tony and go into witness protection, which inevitably ends with her being killed.
Ms. Fanservice: Nary a scene at her place goes by without her being down to her underwear. She even becomes this in-universe to the FBI stooges tasked with surveilling her.
Never a Self-Made Woman: Partially defied, she refuses to be the typical Mafia housewife and sets up and manages "The Crazy Horse" club. Bankrolled by the Mafia, the mobsters gradually turn it into a criminal front.
Nice Girl: For a mob wife, Ade is a fairly friendly, good-natured person. This works against her when the FBI use it to get an agent inside by striking up a friendship.
Pet the Dog: A literal example. She adores her dog Cosette and is absolutely devastated when Chris kills her by sitting on her while high.
Stress Vomit: During her first meeting with the FBI, she violently throws up all over the table when the agents start pressuring her to cooperate with them under threat of prison time and/or having to tell Tony that she brought an FBI agent into his home.
Too Dumb to Live: After convincing herself that Christopher would choose her over the family and go into witness protection she falls for an obvious trap set by Tony that leads to her being executed by Silvio.
Tragic Dream: That she and Christopher will get married and live happily ever after. Her belief in it is so strong and doomed that it leads to her death and she still doesn't waver from it.
Trauma Conga Line: Dead dog, junkie/abusive boyfriend, serious intestinal and health problems, and criminal charges around the corner. Poor Ade never catches a break.
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: She would normally be way out of Christopher's league were he not a mobster. It's acknowledged in dialogue and a big source of his jealousy and insecurity that drives his abusive behavior.
What Does She See in Him?: Twice discussed by FBI agents. First case is her relationship with Chris, which they deride since he's a violent sociopath, abuser, and drug addict. Even Tony tells Chris directly that Adriana is way out of his league, and he's incredibly lucky to have snagged her. Secondly, when she expresses attraction towards Tony, they are incredulous over a woman as beautiful as her lusting after someone that looks like "Barney Rubble".
Robyn: (mockingly) Well, we really don't know him. He listens.
Yandere: Borderline. She's very possessive over Christopher and defends the beating she receives at his hands with the notion that she'd have killed him had their roles been reversed and he'd been driving to go get high with another woman. That said, her sexual tension with Tony was an ongoing thing and did not begin with this incident.

Kelli Lombardo/Moltisanti

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Played by: Cara Buono

Chris' girlfriend and eventual wife in Season 6.

Foil: To Adriana. Ade was outspoken, aggressive, independent, and willing to stand up to Christopher; Kelli is more reserved, less confident, and displays no ambition beyond supporting Chris as his stay-at-home wife. Ade was barren, but loved by Chris in the midst of a destructive relationship that broke him and doomed her; Kelli gives Chris a family, but they were wed more due to caprice and obligation on his part than love, and whatever they share doesn't sufficiently motivate Christopher to stop indulging his eventually fatal drug habit. Narratively, Ade was at the heart of a significant storyline and had some agency beyond "Christopher's girlfriend", while Kelli never grows beyond a Satellite Character.
Happily Married: Only on Kelli's side as she seems quite content in her marriage to Christopher and, outside of his cheating, doesn't suffer from the Domestic Abuse that he put Adriana through. Christopher, however, sees this as an Awful Wedded Life as he can't find it in him to feel real love for Kelli and only married her because he got her pregnant.
Law of Inverse Fertility: Chris feels no genuine love for Kelli. In her first scene, she declares that she's pregnant and he marries her on a whim. This is in sharp contrast to Adriana, who was barren and loved by Chris.
- Bonus points in that Kelli herself wasn't happy with finding out she got pregnant and was going to call the abortion clinic before Chris proposed to her.
Mafia Princess: Downplayed, at least compared to Ade. She benefits from Christopher's criminal activities, but Chris tells his mistress that Kelli doesn't know who he really is — implicitly, what he really does.
Nice Girl: She's accommodating, non-confrontational, quite shy around the Sopranos, and completely deferential to Chris.
Remember the New Guy?: The very first scene and episode she appears in, she's already pregnant with Chris' child and they get married. When they met and how long they've been dating is not mentioned, but everyone treats her as a familiar character.
Replacement Flat Character: For Adriana, though they never meet in person. Kelli is portrayed as a flat, fairly dull character and Chris doesn't love her. Adriana is a far more complex character, but was unable to have children.
Satellite Love Interest: Never really evolves beyond just being Christopher's girlfriend and wife, and, as opposed to Adriana, has no focus given to her.
Shrinking Violet: She comes across as this in her few appearances, especially when dealing with the family she married into.
Shotgun Wedding: They get married right after she tells Christopher that she's pregnant. Chris later regrets the impulsive decision because he finds he doesn't really love Kelli at all (notably, it was Chris' entire decision, as Kelli was willing to go to an abortion clinic before Chris stated he wanted to keep the baby).
Unequal Pairing: Christopher feels no real love for her and marries her chiefly because he feels a man should have a family. As time goes on, he reflects that even this can't inspire any love for Kelli within him. Her implied ignorance of what he does for a living also reinforces the apathy he has for the relationship. For all that, Kelli displays no autonomy outside of their relationship and depends on him to support her.

Tracee

Played by: Ariel Kiley

A stripper at the Bada Bing, and girlfriend to Ralph.

Abusive Parents: She burned her young son with cigarettes and the kid was taken by social services. She implies this was due to her being on the unkind end of this trope, too.
Bullying a Dragon: She sees fit to insult and smack Ralph, a dangerous gangster. It doesn't end well.
Buxom Beauty Standard: Tony notes that, unlike most strippers at the Bing, she has no need for breast implants.
Cruel and Unusual Death: Ralph beats her to death in the parking lot of the Bing, while she's pregnant with Ralph's child, no less, who would contest that point later.
Disposable Sex Worker: The mobsters' apathetic reaction to her death, with Ralph suffering no immediate consequences, emphasizes that they see all the girls working the Bing as such.
Disposable Woman: Her only role in the story is to create a rift between Tony and Ralph over her death. It also serves to remind the audience that these mobsters they are rooting for are sociopathic thugs.
Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Zigzagged. Tony sees her as an innocent, and she reminds him of Meadow. However, she's also a prostitute, a neglectful mother who leaves her child with her mother to hang out with her mobster boyfriend for days at a time, and a deadbeat who claims to be sick while not even calling into work for several days. It's ultimately left ambiguous as to whether her clumsy interactions with Tony were naive attempts to be friendly or if she's deliberately trying to climb the goomah ladder.
Humiliation Conga: Most of her time onscreen. Trauma Conga Line also applies.
Kill the Cutie: Unfortunately, at the hands of Ralph.
The Mistress: Ralph's. Technically she is just a sweetheart as Silvio points out since Ralph is divorced.
No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Her demise.
One-Shot Character: Gets a one-episode A Death in the Limelight.
Pubescent Braces: Although she's 20, her braces make her seem even more young and innocent to Tony.
Remember the New Guy?: In her only episode, she's established to already be Ralph's girlfriend and to have had an interaction with Tony.
Sleeping with the Boss: It's implied that she's trying to segue into this with Tony, who is uninterested in, ah, "being friends" with a woman who's been with Ralph.
Small Role, Big Impact: Played with. Ralph and others consider her a Disposable Sex Worker, but Tony is shaken by her murder and comes to despise Ralph for it, creating a lasting enmity whose consequences will affect the entire crime family. When Tony snaps and murders Ralph after the Pie-O-My incident, the emotional outburst he delivers mid-fight could just as easily be applied to Tracee's death at Ralph's hands. Perhaps to drive the point home, Tony sees her picture at the Bing at the end of that episode.
Through His Stomach: She bakes some bread for Tony as thanks for a favor, but seems to want to use it to ingratiate herself to him.

Rosalie Aprile

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Played by: Sharon Angela

Wife of the late Jackie Aprile Sr. A good friend of Carmela's; they seem to have a standing lunch date at Vesuvio, and she shows up whenever Carmela or her family is in trouble. Carm often turns to her for advice.

Affably Evil: The immorality of marrying a mob boss aside, Rosalie is usually quite pleasant and a very good friend to Carmela.
Brutal Honesty: Doesn't mince words when doling out needed advice to Carmela about sensitive matters, like troubles with Tony and AJ, not to mention Carm's extramarital romantic entanglements.
Butt-Monkey: Loses her husband, then her brother-in-law, then her son, then Ralph, who leaves her for Janice — although by all accounts, losing Ralph wasn't much of a loss.
Cassandra Truth: Warns Carmela, who takes pause, but ultimately does not meaningfully internalize Rosalie's warning, that her protective but permissive parenting style towards Anthony Jr. put him at risk of facing the same fate as Jackie Jr. It almost does, twice. Carmela turns out to be entirely blind to AJ's plan to attempt to kill Junior, and also is completely unaware of Anthony Jr.'s suicide attempt. In both cases, it is only Tony's intervention that keeps AJ from winding up in federal prison or dead.
Determinator: One of the most strong-willed characters, despite everything she goes through she ends up standing tall in the end.
The Reliable One: Towards the end of the series Carmela panics and almost can't handle Tony telling her that she has to go into hiding because there's a target on his back, Rosalie is there and steps up with a brave face asking Tony if there's anything she can do to help him out.
The Rival: Rosalie unknowingly fell into this role when Carmela and she were both "wooing" Father Intintola with food.

Ginny Sacrimoni

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Played by: Denise Borino

Wife of Johnny Sack.

Big Beautiful Woman: She's the butt of jokes for most of the mob guys, but John describes her as "Rubenesque" and she is naturally attractive.
Big Girl: This puts her at the center of many jokes.
Break the Cutie: It's hard not to feel sorry for Ginny Sack by the end of the series.
Generation Xerox: Her daughter Allegra has a similar figure. Averted with Catherine who is very thin.
Happily Married: She enjoys a good marriage with Johnny, who stays faithful to his wife, unlike all the other mobsters (except Bobby Baccala).
Humiliation Conga: Shared with her husband.
Morality Chain: Ginny is even the impetus that makes Johnny call off the hit on Ralph.
Morality Pet: Johnny's refusal to cheat on her and genuine love for her serves to show his much softer side.

Patty Leotardo

Played by: Geraldine LiBrandi

Phil Leotardo's harridan of a wife.

Happily Married: Perhaps her only redeeming quality as a human being is her genuine love for her family. She truly does love Phil and is horrified when he is shot in front of her, before her chief concern is for her infant grandchildren.
Heteronormative Crusader:
- When Vito is outed as gay, Patty declares him immoral on religious grounds and calls his homosexuality an unforgivable sin. In comparison, Phil's anger against Vito seems more based on how he is his cousin-in-law and being worried about how having a "fanook" in the family is going to reflect on him.
- The crowning example is perhaps when Patty invites a right-wing Protestant reverend who claims to be an expert in "curing" homosexuality to do a talk at her church group, despite considering herself a proper Catholic.
Holier Than Thou: Patty is extremely self-righteous and often makes a big show of her devotion to Catholicism. If she can find some way to put a religious spin on her complaints, she will.
Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: Pretty much everything Patty does is either bossing other people around or complaining at length about often extremely petty things.

Karen Baccalieri

Played by: Christine Pedi

Bobby Baccalieri's wife.

A Death in the Limelight/Satellite Character: Her character is introduced only to be killed a few episodes later.
Happily Married: Implied, despite her little screen time showing mild discussions with Bobby.

Gabriella Dante

Played by: Maureen Van Zandt

Silvio's wife.

Happily Married: She and Silvio have a good relationship, despite his infidelity.
I Was Quite a Looker: According to Tony.
Lady Macbeth: A very mild form. When Tony is in the hospital after being shot by Junior, she encourages Sil to consider taking over after Tony is gone. That said, she never advises him to hurry the process along—merely to throw his hat into the ring when the Succession Crisis hits.

Angie Bonpensiero

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Played by: Toni Kalem

Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero's wife.

Domestic Abuse: Her marriage is not a happy one.
Fallen-on-Hard-Times Job: Works in a supermarket to make ends meet after Pussy gets retired. This reinforces Carmela's anxiety about what would happen to her with Tony gone. Tony later takes pity on her and gives her a job at her husband's car shop, where she becomes quite a successful manager.
Foil: To the other mob wives, particularly Carmela. While the rest of the group relies entirely on their husbands and associates to provide for them, Angie manages to support herself with the car shop and turn it into a successful business. Best shown when Carmela shows off her new Porsche Tony bought her, only to be stunned when she sees Angie driving a new Corvette she bought with the money she earned herself.
Housewife: Initially, she later works at her husband's car repair shop.
Loan Shark: She stays economically afloat with the car shop and becomes a silent partner to other loan sharks of the family.
Manipulative Bastard: Downplayed example: She was able to manipulate Tony into giving her the car shop and let her keep it by playing on his guilt for killing Sal.
One of the Guys: Her portrayal in the later parts of the series as she becomes more closely associated with the mobsters than any of the other wives. She even shares their taste for black leather jackets.
Took a Level in Badass: From a distressed, neurotic, abused mess to a mob associate more in her element with Tony's goons than the other mob wives.
Workaholic: Becomes one after taking over the car shop, to the point she only stays at the mob wife lunches for brief periods so she can get back to work.
Wrench Wench: The later seasons see her take over Pussy's car shop to support herself and her sons. Much to everyone's surprise, she excels at the job and it's implied it's even more profitable under her than it ever was under her husband.

Marie Spatafore

Played by: Elizabeth Bracco

Vito's wife and cousin of Phil Leotardo.

Friendly Enemy: Indirectly, as she doesn't know that Phil is an enemy. She's a friend of Phil's wife (and a relative of Phil himself) and is on very good terms with the Leotardos, but to Phil this is irrelevant.
Real-Life Relative: Played by Elizabeth Bracco, real-life sister of Lorraine Bracco (Dr. Melfi).

Tina Francesco

Played by: Vanessa Ferlito

A former stripper at Bada Bing! and later sweetheart to "Little" Paulie Gualtieri.

Has a Type/All Girls Want Bad Boys: She dates "Mustang" Sally Intile, later "Little Paulie" Gualtieri, and shamelessly flirts with Chris, all men with ties to the Mafia.

Goomahs

Irina Peltsin

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Played by: Oksana Lada

Tony's Russian goomah.

Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: After Tony leaves her she becomes a catastrophic drunk dialler.
Brainless Beauty: Tony finds her too childlike and simple.
Bungled Suicide: A mix of pills and vodka, after Tony ends the relationship.
Daddy Issues: As a result of her alcoholic father, who died at 55.
Dark and Troubled Past: Her exact history is never made completely clear, but it's known that, as stated above, she had an alcoholic father who died early, and before she left for America she was living in poverty in Kazakhstan.
Obnoxious Russian Boat Captain (in Russian): Date an American, that's what you get. I should introduce you to my brother.
Irina (also in Russian): If I wanted a factory worker, I would have stayed in Kazakhstan!
Demoted to Extra: After Tony dumps her.
Distracted by the Luxury: During the breakup, she is given a generous severance pay that successfully appeases her for a while.
Foil: To her level-headed cousin Svetlana. Svetlana is down one leg but is vastly more able than Irina (and as a result ultimately more attractive to Tony).
The Mistress: Irina is Tony's girl for most of Seasons 1 and 2.
Ms. Fanservice: She's almost always skimpily dressed whenever she's on-screen during the first few seasons.
The Other Darrin: Played by a blonde actress in the pilot.
Sensual Slavs: Russian and a very notable Ms. Fanservice.
Statuesque Stunner: Irina is noticeably tall and skinny.
Wham Line: "I used to fuck your husband" and the reveal about Tony's affair with her cousin nearly sink Tony's marital life.
What Happened to the Mouse?: After telling Carmela about Tony and Svetlana, she disappears from the narrative and Tony uncharacteristically never attempts any retribution.
Womanchild: She's childish and immature, and is pretty helpless once Tony dumps her.
Woman Scorned:
- She slashed Tony's tires one time out of jealousy.
- Snaps and retaliates after Tony humiliates and beats her new boyfriend (an associate of Tony's) for dating her.
You No Take Candle: Including the occasional malapropisms.

Gloria Trillo

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Played by: Annabella Sciorra

A patient of Dr. Melfi who starts a turbulent affair with Tony.

Bullying a Dragon: Trying to force Tony Soprano's hand by being a Psycho Ex-Girlfriend? Bad idea, Gloria. He can easily outgun you in the unsavory department. She invokes it more deliberately once she realizes Tony doesn't want her back, trying to provoke Tony into killing her.
Bus Crash: She's Driven to Suicide at some point offscreen. Mentioned in passing.
Cute and Psycho: Tries to a pull a Fatal Attraction move on Tony, but Patsy Parisi discourages her.
Death Is Dramatic: She wants it to be. Gloria seduces and then angers Tony in the hopes that he will fulfill this wish. Tony throws cold water on this by having Patsy Parisi intimidate her, and give a very blunt description of how Tony will just have her unceremoniously murdered if she continues down this path. She later hangs herself from a chandelier, though the show itself manages to avert this trope in that instance as well, by keeping it off-screen.
Death Seeker: One of her more hidden characteristics.
Destructive Romance: Her relationship with Tony is clinically diagnosed as such by Melfi: "Amour Fou" (Crazy Love).
Drama Queen: Has a penchant for melodramatic knee-jerk reactions.
Foreshadowing: Patsy threatens her at Tony's behest and says that her death "won't be cinematic". She later kills herself offscreen.
Friendless Background: She lacks friends, apparently. When Tony dumps her, she goes to him crying for attention and proclaming he is the only person she can talk to.
I See Dead People: She haunts Tony's dreams for years after her death.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A deconstruction or a global subversion. She's actually a very clingy and unstable individual and ends up being a new source of problems. Tony lampshades this trope when he describes her as "too good to be true", one episode before her flaws start to show.
Meet Cute: Meets Tony while waiting outside Dr. Melfi's office due to a schedule confusion. It's subtly hinted that Gloria might have deliberately showed up at the wrong time to initiate a meet-cute with another of Melfi's patients.
The Mistress: For Tony in Season 3. He's the one who seeks it, going to her car dealership after their flirtatious encounter at Melfi's office.
The Missus and the Ex:
- Meets Carmela at the car dealership by chance and gives her an absurdly fast ride home after overhearing she is "Mrs. Soprano". Murder the Hypotenuse and Taking You with Me certainly went through Gloria's head.
- She goes ballistic over the mere mention of Irina, Tony's previous goomah. Gloria throws a present overboard after Irina calls Tony to his yacht and he pretends she was just a teacher.
Mood-Swinger: Prone to sudden bursts of anger followed by sheepish requests of forgiveness.
My Biological Clock Is Ticking: This turns out to be a part of Gloria's issues, when she tells Tony about having a great relationship with her nephew and niece, only to now be cut off from any access to them. She never really explains why she was cut off though, giving it shades of Never My Fault. Further confirmed when Carmela talking about her children awakens the Green-Eyed Monster in Gloria and sends her into Drives Like Crazy mode.
Mysterious Woman: Tony repeatedly tries to probe Melfi for information about Gloria, while the good doctor tries to remain professional and withhold details, even if her body language gives away some hidden hints. It becomes evident that Tony prefers the mysterious side and is bored by the mundane one. When Gloria starts to talk about her relationship with her estranged sister, Tony is clearly uninterested with dealing with yet another load of family issues.
The One That Got Away: Despite their short fling, she is the most influential of Tony's mistresses; she appears to him in dreams even many years after her death, and she's the one that leads to the realization that he's trying to replicate his broken relationship with Livia.
Psycho Ex-Girlfriend: Things get nasty once Tony decides he has had enough of her.
Self-Made Woman: A successful car seller and a very independent-spirited woman, very appealing traits for Tony. When Tony relates this to Dr. Melfi, some of her reactions seem to indicate that Gloria may not be as independent as she seems.
Suicide by Cop: Antagonizes and provokes Tony into killing her, but he restrains himself. Dr. Melfi drops the name of the trope during therapy. Tony eventually has Patsy threatening her into backing off, by assuring her that he won't personally kill her — he will simply send someone else to do it and it "won't be cinematic" when it happens.
Tsundere: Sweet and spiteful. The latter behavior gradually becomes the dominant one.
Woman Scorned: Her most defining trait. She chucks a steak at Tony, throws an expensive gift of his into the ocean, and even drives Carmela home as a consequence of his transgressions.
Yandere: Gloria is the most unstable and violent mistress Tony has on the show.
You Remind Me of X:
- Upon seeing her Buddhist pendant, Tony makes the connection with another Buddhist ... his sister Janice, "a whack-job"
- She is acknowledged as a Livia stand-in. Tony realizes and says it out loud after hearing the familiar jab "Oh, poor you!"

Valentina La Paz

Played by: Leslie Bega

Ralph's, and later Tony's goomah.

Facial Horror: She's badly burned in a domestic accident. Tony was already planning on leaving her and is quite frustrated that it's now impossible not to look like he's dumping her over her looks.
Femme Fatalons: Has absurdly long and ornate nails. Carmela discovering one pushes her to play a rather more serious prank of her own on Tony.
Foe Cooties: Tony has his qualms at first since she's Ralph's comare. Loses them when he discovers she and Ralphie don't really have sex, as such.
The Mistress: Ralph's and then Tony's.
Ms. Fanservice: The character arc with the highest ratio of nude scenes.
The Prankster: Enjoys playing practical jokes on her lovers. In Tony's case, she gives him the Unscrewed Salt Shaker treatment. It's implied that her penchant for this sort of childishness is one of the reasons he quickly gets fed up with her.
Satellite Love Interest: A satellite character like the other mistresses, but more so as Tony grows bored of her once the initial flame extinguishes, and is looking for a clean exit when she has her accident.
Spicy Latina: A beautiful half-Cuban seductress with a quick temper.

Fran Felstein

Played by: Polly Bergen

Johnny Boy Soprano's old goomah, who befriends Tony.

Abhorrent Admirer: She ultimately becomes one for Tony. She's past her prime, and she had a role in his issues with both Johnny Boy and Livia. The cringeworthy reenactment of "Happy Birthday Mr. President" didn't help either.
Gold Digger: Was this for Johnny Boy, and attempts to latch onto his son for a similar relationship.
History with Celebrity: She had a fling with John F. Kennedy.
I Can't Hear You: She frequently misses what Tony is saying because she's slightly deaf. By her own admission, she's too vain to wear a hearing aid.
I Was Quite a Looker: Tony admits that in her prime, she had been a classic Jewish American Princess.
Kick the Dog:
- Literally, for both Fran, Livia and Johnny. Likely on Livia's behest, Johnny gave away the family dog Tippi - towards whom Tony had a great deal of affection - to Fran. Fran then had the dog put to sleep when her son went to college.
- She and Johnny had another mutual Kick the Dog moment when Livia suffered a miscarriage, and Johnny spent the night with Fran rather than deal with his wife's (in this case, quite justified) grief.
Quick Nip: Offers Tony one (while he's driving) before taking one herself—Remy Martin VSOP cognac. Even Tony finds it strong.
Fran"One for the road, honey! And this looks like road to me!
Stalker with a Crush: She has her mind set on Tony.
Stepford Smiler: Has a warm and friendly demeanor, yet is petty and materialistic on the inside.

Julianna Skiff

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/JulianaSkiff_7788.jpg

Played by: Julianna Margulies

A Jewish real estate saleswoman who has an affair with Christopher and a near-affair with Tony.

The Alcoholic: Drug addiction.
Brainy Brunette: She's rather smart and cultured, especially when compared to the other women in Tony's life.
The Danza: She shares her first name with her actress.
Hello, Attorney!: Real estate broker. Incidentally, Julianna Margulies is the trope image.
Love Triangle: When Tony changes his mind and resumes his interest in her, she's already dating Chris and refuses Tony's advances.
Meet Cute: Meets Christopher during an AA meeting.
The Mistress: For Tony and Chris. A subversion in Tony's case, since after some build-up he unexpectedly refuses to sleep with her.
Replacement Goldfish: It could be argued that her vague resemblance to Adriana (similar clothing and appearance, similar drug habit) is what attracted Chris so intensely.
Too Much Alike: She quickly realizes that Chris's addictive personality is enabling her own, and breaks up with him when he won't go to an AA meeting with her.

Sonya Aragon

Played by: Sarah Shahi

A Las Vegas based student who's paying for her degree with a side career in stripping. Was Chris's squeeze, then has a brief fling with Tony.

Comforting the Widow: Tony's excuse for visiting her.
Erudite Stoner: Mellow and thoughtful, at least by the standards Tony is used to. She helps him process his feelings about Chris's death through a peyote trip.
Functional Addict: Does a lot of drugs, but aside from the stereotypical emotional detachment of a stoner she otherwise seems to have her head screwed on straight.
Has a Type: Aside from being the very last of Tony's affairs with olive-skinned, statuesque, dark-haired women, she herself finds East Coast gangsters irresistible, mostly because they're so different to what's available on campus.

Giuseppina Bruno

Played by: Michela de Rossi

Dickie Moltisanti's goomah. Before then she was Aldo Moltisanti's wife from Italy and Dickie's step-mother.

Affectionate Gesture to the Nose:
- Just before she nervously admits to sleeping with Harold, Dickie tries to calm her down, by kissing her all over the face, the first two on the nose.
- Earlier in the movie, when they are in the house he buys her, and engaging in puppy love normally shown between much younger couples, he taps her on the nose at one point.
Asshole Victim: Awful as her murder is, she doesn't engender a lot of sympathy after having cheated on Dickie with his enemy and wanting Harold to murder him over something as petty and trivial as him being cautious about the particulars of buying her a hair salon, after having already bought her a house and her having been his well taken care of goomah for years by that point. And this after he murdered his own father in part to protect her from him.
Generation Xerox: She was unable to carry a child and ultimately died because of betraying her mobster lover, traits she shares with Adriana.
Gold Digger: First one for Hollywood Dick and later one for his son Dickie.
Lady Macbeth: Implied when she sleeps with Harold (an enemy of Dickie) and tells him that Dickie has a low opinion of black people, which starts their violent feud. She was angry at Dickie for being cautious about buying her a hair salon and clearly wanted him dead over it.
Too Dumb to Live: Cheating on a murderous made man like Dickie Moltisanti with an enemy of his, and then telling him about it.
Ungrateful Bastard: Everything Dickie had already done and bought for her was still not enough for her, throwing it all away over a hair salon.

Characters / The Sopranos: Mob Wives and Goomahs

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