_____

My fantasy at the time was that Sirico would transfer over to the then-running OZ for a few episodes. But there was no way that would have happened back then. 

A fun episode which concerns the snowballing consequences of Paulie’s little nugget of info regarding Ralphie’s joke at the expense of Johnny Sack’s wife. Lots of fun moments, and the story manages to balance horror and humor quite deftly. Horror, in that Johnny nearly beats a member of Ralphie’s crew to death to defend his wife’s honor, and dark humor, because both Johnny and Ralphie are both nearly killed because of one stupid fat joke.

That whole sequence is quite good, too. Johnny avoids being killed because he forgot a sweater, and Ralphie comes literally within feet of his would-be-killer mere seconds after the hit is called off. The sequence where Junior arbitrates the dispute is a lot of fun, as is the meeting between Chris, Silvio, and the elderly hit crew.

Seeing the softer side of Furio was quite a surprise, as is his growing flirtation with Carmella, and Dr. Peter Bogdanovich’s unknowing run-in with Tony. Speaking of the latter, Dr. Melfi and the therapy sessions have been very much in the background for awhile, and so it’s nice to see more of her, lately. 

A fun episode which finally brings Adriana—and her growing paranoia over being pressed into service as an informant—to the foreground. It’s an interesting character beat in that her forced observation of Christopher and the others’ criminal activities is actually causing her to really see and think about who and what she’s involved with, perhaps for the first time. 

Seeing Tony become a Horse Whisperer is quite a fun little subplot, as is his stubborn desire to avoid signing off on Carmella’s proposed irrevocable trust. I find myself wondering how this will all play out, since the Sopranos’ marriage has been pretty darn unstable for quite some time, now.

Meanwhile, Janice—ever the professional parasite—continues to be my “love to hate” character on this show. She’s the worst, yet is somehow still very entertaining to watch. Unsurprisingly, she’s now sinking her hooks into the recently-widowed Bobby, which is low even for her.

The biggest laughs in this one all come from Uncle Junior. First, he does his Mr. Rogers impression. Then, he’s extremely unhappy with how his likeness has been depicted by the courtroom sketch on news. The best and biggest laugh, though is that slow zoom-in shot of Junior glaring at the artist in the courtroom the next day. The camera move and Junior’s expression give the moment as much weight as a majorly dramatic event on this show would normally be given, and it’s absolutely hilarious.

A really good and moody episode (ably written by Michael Imperioli and directed by Steve Buscemi) which subtly focuses on the suffering, guilt, and inadequacies of numerous characters.

First and foremost, we have Carmella unknowingly dropping the huge bomb of Gloria’s suicide on Tony, and the bulk of the episode concerns Tony trying to A) purge himself of his guilt; B) convince himself that he’s not a “toxic person”. Lots of great, subtle moments from Gandoflini, here, as Tony struggles with his guilt and horror. There’s also a nice poignancy in AJ’s friends asking why his family isn’t uber-rich (as AJ’s girlfriend is revealed to be), since we see that Tony is will to take financial hits for the sole purpose of unburdening himself of his guilt...and to prove that he’s not “toxic”. 

Of course, Artie’s financial sense is, as usual, even worse than Tony’s, and his attempt at acting like a gangster is appropriately pathetic...and hilarious. The perfect button to the subplot is that silent shot of Furio subsequently being sent to retrieve the money.

I was a bit concerned that the episode was going to dispense with Gloria completely offscreen so the showrunners could avoid having to pay Annabella Sciorra. But, no, to their credit, they worked her into Tony’s properly bizarre nightmare.

Meanwhile, Carmella is trying to purge herself of her own guilt over her attraction to Furio by setting him up on a blind date...and then she feels jealous over it. AJ finally gets some time to shine, too, although he’s made to look stupid, as he often is. The bulk of the main cast doesn’t get a lot to do in this episode, but they do have some nice little moments. Christopher’s slow descent into all-out drug addiction is slowly moving to the forefront of the story. And Janice literally sucking the marrow out of bones seems particularly appropriate for her character.

This episode kicks off with the triumphant return of Paulie...and highlights his growing dissatisfaction with his recent treatment by Tony. Glad to see Paulie again becoming an active player, since he’s one of my favorite characters.

More pressingly, Adriana continues to look for an escape from being an informant. Her being inspired by MURDER ONE (There’s a blast from the past!) to expedite her marriage to Chris manages to be both humorous and pathetic. And Chris continues to slide deeper into drug addiction and fits of rage. Interesting to note just how important it is to him that his family name be carried on by a son, too.

Nice to see Vondie Curtis-Hall guest-starring. The whole housing scheme plotline is very amusing, and the rousting of the crackhouse—the centerpiece of the episode—is very darkly funny. The best joke in the episode is probably AJ’s joyful exclamation, “So that’s a crack whore!” during Tony’s attempt to instill some motivation and pride in his idiot slacker son.

Meanwhile, the flirtation between Carmella and Furio continues to be strangely sweet, in its own way. Furio is a violent thug, of course, but seeing his shy and tender side is rather charming.

The end of this episode may seem to come out of left field, but it’s very much within Tony’s emotional playbook, and is hinted at throughout the episode. He affirms to Dr. Melfi that he’s been controlling his anger. He expresses a care-free attitude about Assemblyman Zellman seeing Irina. But we know better. Tony’s already been deeply stressed about Gloria’s suicide, and Irnia has caused him plenty of headaches in the past. He has a habit of sublimating his rage until it explodes, and so Zellman randomly becomes Tony’s whipping boy/pressure valve. Yikes.

A very fun episode which focuses on the ramifications of Tony’s recent successes and failures in both business and pleasure. Flush with the money afforded him by Pie-O-My, he ends up involved with Ralphie’s latest girlfriend. It’s quite humorous to see Tony trying to justify the affair while also becoming fixated on the notion of...er...going where Ralphie has gone before. To the point of bribing Janice for information on her own intimate history with Ralphie. Yikes.

Meanwhile, you can see the plot points slowly coalescing and moving toward the season finale. Furio’s feelings for Carmella are growing more intense...and bumping Tony off would certainly clear the way for a romance with Carmella. And, as Carmella struggles with her own feelings for Furio, of course she finds Valentina’s broken nail in Tony’s clothes, and proceeds to loot his money stash as revenge. Nice touch by having Father Phil cameo in this episode, since he represents Carmella’s first brush with potential infidelity.

The subplot with Paulie mediating the relationship between his mother and her friends in the nursing home is fluff, but great fluff. The funniest moment in the episode has to be that shot of Paulie’s thugs chasing Cookie’s son through the school after he fails to get Cookie to lighten up on Paulie’s mom. And then there’s that follow-up scene, with the kids trying to threaten Cookie into backing down by hinting that they’ll ship her off to a Salvation Army facility.