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Dawgstar posted:They make the comment at one point (when Janice is trying to sell Junior on something about Bobby) that Bobby used to be a head waiter. I wonder what pushed him out of the straight job. I legit have no memory of that, that really does throw things into a weird context, I just always assumed Bobby went directly into the life once he finished school.
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Jun 3, 2019 23:30
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Jerusalem posted:I legit have no memory of that, that really does throw things into a weird context, I just always assumed Bobby went directly into the life once he finished school. I cannot find the episode to save my life, but Janice is telling Junior that Johnny always said Bobby would be his linchpin one day and Junior gets a really puzzled look on his face and says something like "Bobby was still a head waiter when Johnny died."
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Jun 4, 2019 00:38
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It might have been an AJ situation where Bobby Sr knew he couldn’t make it as a wise guy, hence why he started as juniors driver and was moved up more out of necessity (for junior), marriage (Janice, the boss’ sister) and spite (for tony himself)
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Jun 4, 2019 15:20
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No Wave posted:Jackie Jr just had no idea how things actually worked. His dad was away so he didnt actually live around the mob and he's suddenly trying to make moves in a world that he has no understanding of at all. He tries to imitate Tony's card game thing with no understanding of how times were different and no experience doing anything rough so ofc things go horribly wrong. I always wondered if Ralphie intentionally planted that seed knowing that Jackie Jr would inevitably gently caress it up and get killed. Or maybe Ralph just did it hoping to see Tony get humiliated that one of his card games got robbed.
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Jun 4, 2019 17:25
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Ralphie was supposed to be a part of the original card game robbery and lamented missing out on his chance at glory. I always felt like he was trying to recapture a little bit of that by mentoring Jackie Jr. He definitely put the seed there on purpose, but in Ralphie's own hosed up frame of thought, he probably thought he was giving Jackie a shot at something he missed out on.
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Jun 4, 2019 17:30
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ruddiger posted:Ralphie was supposed to be a part of the original card game robbery and lamented missing out on his chance at glory. I always felt like he was trying to recapture a little bit of that by mentoring Jackie Jr. He definitely put the seed there on purpose, but in Ralphie's own hosed up frame of thought, he probably thought he was giving Jackie a shot at something he missed out on. Yeah that seems most likely. But Ralph isn't stupid either. He'd have to know Jackie would gently caress it up, right?
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Jun 4, 2019 17:36
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It's hard to tell how much Ralphie cared about Jackie, although that said I don't have a problem with the idea he just thoughtlessly shared what he thought was a 'war story' without realizing the person he was telling it to was dumb enough to try it.
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Jun 4, 2019 17:40
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I think my least favorite parts of Sopranos are Richie Aprile and Ralph Cifaretto, they're just such unredeemable douchebags. They're good characters for what they are, and being rear end in a top hat gangsters but on Tony's side puts him in a tough position, although also allows us to easily say "well, he's not bad like them, he's a good guy" which seems a little cheap. They're like cartoonishly evil, not that real people don't do things like that. But just every scene with them I'm wincing. Ralph is probably worse because Joe Pantoliano is such a recognizable actor. Its so painfully obvious that his character didn't actually exist until the season he's in because they hadn't cast him yet, and they do a decent job trying to intro these characters like they've been out for awhile and Tony has a past with them, but with Joe Pantoliano he just shows up one episode and its like he walked on set for a cameo or something. The scene with the hooker is pretty painful to watch. Jerusalem posted:Out of therapy, Tony gets out his frustration by zooming down the road, weaving in and out of traffic while Carmela quietly weeps, despondent that after 19 years of marriage they have to pay somebody to help them communicate. She complains that she was made to feel like the new kid at school, with Melfi taking Tony's side at every turn. Tony thinks she is being ridiculous, but they have bigger issues on their mind when a police siren sounds behind them and they have to pull over to the side of the road. Tony, of course, bitches that this is a speed trap, completely ignoring the fact you can't get caught in a speed trap if you... uhh... don't speed. This is one of my favorite scenes, especially the way Carmela is so furious with Tony and upset, and then instantly flips around to "how dare he treat US that way" and now they're an "us" again is really interesting and well acted. And as you highlighted, Tony is completely loving unreasonable. Jerusalem posted:Jackie Aprile Jr and AJ are pretty good examples of how easily the sons of "tough guys" or respected leaders can turn out pretty far from their fathers. Jackie Jr had some potential as a low level guy probably but he was completely lacking in whatever smarts or strategic mindset that worked so well for his dad. AJ was just like his dad but was brought up in luxury and was soft, he didn't have the experiences (and, to be fair, the size) that Tony had to toughen him up. Bobby Jr is a great character. Like you said, usually played for laughs, but he can have so much heart in the few scenes he gets the time to shine.
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Jun 4, 2019 17:46
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Ginette Reno posted:Yeah that seems most likely. But Ralph isn't stupid either. He'd have to know Jackie would gently caress it up, right? Dawgstar posted:It's hard to tell how much Ralphie cared about Jackie, although that said I don't have a problem with the idea he just thoughtlessly shared what he thought was a 'war story' without realizing the person he was telling it to was dumb enough to try it. It is tough to read, I see him as basically being very un-caring towards Jackie but also hopeful? Like hey kid, try this. It'll be worth a laugh if you gently caress it up and it'll get back at Tony, but also if you succeed then hey good for you. Like a bit of a xanatos gambit but not that smart, more just "gently caress it who cares" sowing chaos because Ralph doesn't give a gently caress. I feel like Ralph was kinda loving with Jackie and so didn't expect it to work, but he also didn't expect things to go so poorly and was very happy to throw the kid under the bus.
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Jun 4, 2019 17:48
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Zaphod42 posted:I think my least favorite parts of Sopranos are Richie Aprile and Ralph Cifaretto, they're just such unredeemable douchebags. They're good characters for what they are, and being rear end in a top hat gangsters but on Tony's side puts him in a tough position, although also allows us to easily say "well, he's not bad like them, he's a good guy" which seems a little cheap. They're like cartoonishly evil, not that real people don't do things like that. They were both good antagonists, but I see your point. On the other hand, they did serve to help set up the weird in-between space that Tony occupied. I've always thought of Tony as a mobster with half a conscience. Some part of his brain is railing against the awful poo poo he does (hence the panic attacks), while the other part of him is a stone-cold gangster. By showing us Richie and Ralph, we see a version of this character with no moral compass at all, which helps us to see the unique duality of Tony (and what makes him so interesting).
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Jun 4, 2019 18:33
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Ralph is like my guilty pleasure of the sopranos. Completely silly character who wpuld just do all sorts of crazy poo poo to make a plot happen from week to week but I still found him hilarious.
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Jun 4, 2019 18:36
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Zaphod42 posted:I think my least favorite parts of Sopranos are Richie Aprile and Ralph Cifaretto, they're just such unredeemable douchebags. They're good characters for what they are, and being rear end in a top hat gangsters but on Tony's side puts him in a tough position, although also allows us to easily say "well, he's not bad like them, he's a good guy" which seems a little cheap. They're like cartoonishly evil, not that real people don't do things like that. I like them as characters. Both actors kill it. But more than that, Tony's reaction to how those characters behave illustrates he really isn't much better. Ralph kills Tracee and is Tony upset about it? Maybe a little, but he's more upset that Ralph disrespected him by doing it near the Bing. When Richie runs over Beansie and cripples him for life, Tony tries to make up for it by giving Beansie some cash, but otherwise apart from a harsh word or two to Richie he overlooks it. And when Richie is intimidating Davey Scatino and exploiting him for cash, Tony initially defends Davey but then turns around and preys on Davey even harder than Richie did. Tony is just as immoral as Richie and Ralph are, he's just better at putting a positive spin on his own brutal tendencies. I also don't know that Richie and Ralph are totally irredeemable. They're both really bad people, and Ralph in particular kills his own loving kid and girlfriend which is just horrific. But on the other hand, Richie seems to genuinely care about Janice and as far as I know doesn't cheat on her with a goomare. Ralph also does his best to earn money to help pay for his kid who is in the hospital, and possibly even engineers Pie-o-My's death in order to use that insurance money to help pay for his kid's treatments. So he is apparently not 100% a one-note selfish prick.
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Jun 4, 2019 18:44
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Ginette Reno posted:I always wondered if Ralphie intentionally planted that seed knowing that Jackie Jr would inevitably gently caress it up and get killed. He did it to endear himself to Jackie in the easiest possible stepfather way by feeding him poo poo he knew he would eat up. He wants to look cool and buy the respect of a pissy spoiled brat that insults him in front of his boss at every opportunity. I dont think he anticipates him pulling the heist though. He cares about Jackie the same way Tony does, which is only through some other connection (Jack Sr and Rosalie).
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Jun 4, 2019 19:38
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I think Tony really was upset by Ralph killing Tracee, and "disrespecting the bing" was his weak cover story for why he hit ralphie. Tony's never really internalized mafia code the way some of the others have and not hitting a made man just isnt something he cares much about (he knows better than to say that out loud). He didnt care about Vito either but he wasnt going to go against it.
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Jun 4, 2019 19:57
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Tony cared more about the horse than the stripper.
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Jun 4, 2019 20:00
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MrBling posted:Tony cared more about the horse than the stripper. Imagine if it was a duck.
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Jun 4, 2019 20:03
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Vito’s brother getting his dome caved in by the golf club is one of the most unsettling scenes i think i’ve seen. Also artie my man, youre going out for hamburger when you’ve got filet mignon at home.
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Jun 4, 2019 20:44
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Eau de MacGowan posted:Also artie my man, youre going out for hamburger when you’ve got filet mignon at home. “I could bury my cock in those loving titties” 
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Jun 4, 2019 21:18
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MrBling posted:Tony cared more about the horse than the stripper. “She was a beautiful innocent creature, what did she ever do to you” It’s supposed to be played like he’s talking about either Tracee or Pie O My- I never got that impression. To me it was always about the horse. Tony doesn’t have that kind of empathy for people- just babies and animals.
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Jun 4, 2019 21:19
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Eau de MacGowan posted:Vito’s brother getting his dome caved in by the golf club is one of the most unsettling scenes i think i’ve seen. "He's gonna be a vegetable, Ton'. A fuckin' retard!" "Look on the bright side, he wasn't as smart to begin with!"
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Jun 4, 2019 21:22
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Ginette Reno posted:When Richie runs over Beansie and cripples him for life, Tony tries to make up for it by giving Beansie some cash, but otherwise apart from a harsh word or two to Richie he overlooks it. Tony literally forces the cash on Beansie to make himself feel better. "You gotta take the money," plus the final shot of him walking away with the poo poo eating grin on his face after he intimidates him into accepting the envelope... it's really an encapsulation of a major theme of the show, which is that people in the mob don't have any respect for other people or human life in general. Other individuals are evaluated positively or negatively in terms of how they affect them personally, there is zero genuine empathy and everyone's a sociopath on some level.
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Jun 4, 2019 21:52
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Bip Roberts posted:Imagine if it was a duck. Or Cossette, Adriana's dog. Tony's soft spot for animals is pretty consistent. And I thought the Ralphie/Jackie Jr. was just Ralph talking poo poo about his glory days and the good old days. I don't think he was prodding Jackie Jr. to do much of anything and was basically just bragging.
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Jun 4, 2019 23:47
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BiggerBoat posted:Or Cossette, Adriana's dog. Tony's soft spot for animals is pretty consistent. Awh no. I'd forgotten about that  I have forgotten so much stuff. I am determinedly keeping pace with Jerusalem and watching each episode as they post about it. Because I love to read to see what I missed. I miss stuff because I am dumb.
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Jun 5, 2019 00:02
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crispix posted:Awh no. I'd forgotten about that I've watched it straight through twice and watched a ton of reruns and I still forget poo poo. Some of the Youtube episode recaps are cool to go through.
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Jun 5, 2019 00:07
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I'm really interested in how this current rewatch is gonna make me end up feeling about Ralphie. Sometimes I think he's just a coked up idiot which is why he does the stupid things he does, other times I think he's just an idiot shielded by the enormous amount of cash he is bringing in, but more often than not I feel like his every action is designed around trying to finagle his way up into the upper ranks (and sulking when he faces a setback). His story about missing out on Feech's card game could easily be read as bigging himself up and overstating his significance in the Tony/Jackie crew of the time, but I also think there is a strong element of him always regretting not being part of it and worrying that he somehow missed his shot, and ever since he's been trying to figure out a way to catch up. Was he truly into Janice or did he just see her as a bigger prize/stepping stone towards the top over dating the former "first lady" in Rosalie? Was it a mixture of both? We never really get any definitive answers, and Ralphie IS a coked up fuckhead so who knows if he is even conscious on a lot of the poo poo he is doing... what I always think about though is the one time he shut his loving mouth and did as he was told, and it was when Silvio shows up to his house and hauls Tracee out of there, and Ralphie instantly capitulates when Silvio says it's a matter of money. Maybe he was being sincere when he told Tony during that meeting where he's passed over for Gigi that the bottom line should be all that counts? Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Jun 5, 2019 |
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Jun 5, 2019 02:10
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One thing out of a million that makes the Sopranos so great is the little moments that inform you so much about the characters. When I think of Ralph, one of his best scenes is when he's clipping his toenails in front of Janice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeQyRqDDZRE His reaction, the sick pleasure, the hideous grin. The full-of-poo poo and ever-conniving Janice, here with a book, looks dignified next to Ralph. He is just a sadistic and disgusting monster.
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Jun 5, 2019 03:13
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I love Ralphie as a character because he reminds me a lot of a guy I knew in high school that was very outgoing and was a lot of fun to be around, but was also a pathological liar and had no concept of modulating his voice volume or topic of conversation depending on the social setting. The kind of guy you have to ask to quiet down every couple of minutes. Ten years later I ran into him again and he's now a coked up Trump supporter, so more or less Ralphie if he never had an in with the Mob.
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Jun 5, 2019 03:58
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talktapes posted:Tony literally forces the cash on Beansie to make himself feel better. "You gotta take the money," plus the final shot of him walking away with the poo poo eating grin on his face after he intimidates him into accepting the envelope... it's really an encapsulation of a major theme of the show, which is that people in the mob don't have any respect for other people or human life in general. Other individuals are evaluated positively or negatively in terms of how they affect them personally, there is zero genuine empathy and everyone's a sociopath on some level. Yeah that's the thing. Tony is as bad as any of them. I don't think we're ever meant to think that he's all that much better than his colleagues. He might not do something as heinous as killing Tracee, but he has a long and terrible list of crimes and meanness himself. Jerusalem posted:I'm really interested in how this current rewatch is gonna make me end up feeling about Ralphie. Sometimes I think he's just a coked up idiot which is why he does the stupid things he does, other times I think he's just an idiot shielded by the enormous amount of cash he is bringing in, but more often than not I feel like his every action is designed around trying to finagle his way up into the upper ranks (and sulking when he faces a setback). His story about missing out on Feech's card game could easily be read as bigging himself up and overstating his significance in the Tony/Jackie crew of the time, but I also think there is a strong element of him always regretting not being part of it and worrying that he somehow missed his shot, and ever since he's been trying to figure out a way to catch up. Ralphie is smart or at least clever. It's no accident that he's one of the biggest earners. And his constant undermining of Gigi is not just sour grapes. I think it's designed to put pressure on Tony to reconsider his decision and to make Gigi look incompetent. My read on Ralph is he's not a long term Machiavellian planner but he does think quickly on his feet and (when his coke binges aren't getting in the way) he's capable of turning situations to his advantage. Look at how he screws Paulie out of the take by intentionally leaving Little Paulie out in the cold and then arguing to Tony that all Paulie did was give him a security code.
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Jun 5, 2019 04:55
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Ginette Reno posted:Look at how he screws Paulie out of the take by intentionally leaving Little Paulie out in the cold and then arguing to Tony that all Paulie did was give him a security code. I never got this or later in the series where Vito gives Paulie some tip off about the Colombians he robs. If you have a alarm code or info about some sweet score or whatever why give it to someone in another crew and go through the hassle of getting your share instead of just doing the poo poo yourself with your own crew? Is it just about turf?
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Jun 5, 2019 05:25
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I figure it's about doing a "favor" for somebody, sure you're getting a cut but the other part is that now the other guy thinks of you as a buddy who is looking out for them and they'll be more inclined to think highly of you which could come in useful down the track. Mutual self-interest should be an effective motivator, except of course they're all sharks who'll quickly tear you apart if they feel it is safe to do and there is no advantage to NOT doing it.
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Jun 5, 2019 07:26
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Maybe. It just seemed like the resulting arguments over the split seemed to undo any goodwill the tip may have gotten you in the first place. And Paulie doing anything for Ralph seems kinda out of character.
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Jun 5, 2019 07:59
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I think that may have been part of the issue with why Paulie was so upset. He did this as a "favor" to Ralphie, but it's also a way to get in good with the guy who is currently the top earner in the family and make sure he's not in danger of being left out in the dark... then Ralphie fucks him over and offers him an insulting cut, and when Paulie appeals to his old friend Tony he quickly realizes that Ralphie's earning is trumping that friendship pretty handily and he may already be too late to make sure he's not being left in the dust. Johnny Sack gets the short end too, when he demands vengeance for Ralphie's comments re: Ginny (which he found out from Paulie, of course), Carmine says no because Ralphie is bringing them in so much money. Johnny is disgusted, is it REALLY all about money he asks, as if that isn't what it has ALWAYS been about and like he didn't know that himself.
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Jun 5, 2019 08:12
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What about like insurance or shifting risk? You get someone else to do it, no chance you can get hurt or go to jail or whatever. In return you don't get as much. I can't remember how risky that job was though.
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Jun 5, 2019 08:25
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I’m a few episodes ahead of the rewatch and just got to the Thanksgiving episode where Gigi died and it always bothered me how he went out. It seems like the writers were uncharacteristically lazy by just having him die on the toilet. They needed a way for Gigi to go out and for Ralphie to move up but without causing any drama like whacking him so a seemingly healthy man in his late 40’s just dies taking a dump?
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Jun 5, 2019 08:31
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Gilbert Gottfried has interviewed a few people from the Sopranos. Joe Pantoliano was a great interview. He goes into detail about how his own hosed up childhood and family life informed the Ralphie character. He also interviewed Dominic Chianese. A really good story teller and he does offer up some anecdotes about Gandolfini and others.
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Jun 5, 2019 08:31
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Chianese still having his mental faculties at such an advanced age is nice to see. Tony Sirico, on the other hand... 
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Jun 5, 2019 09:28
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Its mentioned at some point that Ralph originally wanted to be an architect, but had to drop out of high school to support his siblings after their father died. It could be a lie or an exaggeration, but it adds to Ralph's complex about not receiving the status he thinks he's entitled to. He could have been a big shot if not for his dad, or the card game, or the cocaine, or Tony's undermining. The fact that everyone hates him due to his complete lack of remorse and impulse control never comes up. While he might be brighter than the average Soprano crew member, he seems to be the "gifted kid" cliche of someone who doesn't realise that charisma and commitment are just as crucial to success. Had he been born later he would of been on Reddit or Something Awful arguing about historical inaccuracies in movies.
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Jun 5, 2019 09:42
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Jose Oquendo posted:Joe Pantoliano was a great interview. He goes into detail about how his own hosed up childhood and family life informed the Ralphie character. Yeah, I remember Joey Pants saying that as a kid he looked up to mobsters because - and this was not uncommon - they were the only ones with nice stuff that nobody ever hassled. It's like the opening bit in Goodfellas but there was a lot of truth to it.
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Jun 5, 2019 13:39
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Season 3, Episode 6 - UniversityNoah Tannenbaum posted:I'm not most guys. Season 3 of the Sopranos is arguably one of the weaker overall seasons, in my opinion. It doesn't really have a cohesive throughline, possibly as a result of the rewrites required in the wake of Nancy Marchand's death and the enormous impact that had on the show in real life and in-universe for the characters, particularly Tony. The thing is though, the "worst" season of a show like Sopranos is still excellent (see The Wire's season 5) and while all together the season largely feels like set-up for things to happen in season 4, it does include excellent episode after excellent episode after excellent episode. Case in point, this episode: 5 writers are credited for the story/teleplay including series creator David Chase but it doesn't feel like a mishmash, it feels like they needed all hands on deck for what is a truly memorable (and disturbing) episode that reminds us once again that we are not watching the lives of good people, these are NOT role models. At the Bada Bing, strippers dance topless for a crowded house to the music of The Kinks. The lights give everything a grungy feel that matches the location, nestled on the side of a State Highway in a dingy part of New Jersey. The strippers look worn down, like they're going through the motions, there is little enthusiasm to be found. Fake breasts abound, and the patrons' attention is divided between them and the sports on the television. Tony and Silvio are at the bar rather than in the back room, but their eyes aren't on the strippers either, they're discussing business, including something going on with Beansie (paraplegic victim of Richie Aprile last season). Georgie Santorelli, the hapless barman who infuriated Tony in season one, pours Tony a coffee and jokes about how many nicknames Italians use, kicking off an odd conversation about the Chinese until Georgie - who couldn't operate a phone - surprises with his correct usage of the term "sobriquet". It's a different side of Georgie we haven't seen... we'll soon see another which isn't nearly as endearing. A young woman approaches Tony nervous at the bar, young and fresh and pretty enough that even fully clothed she immediately draws the attention of another patron in spite of the nude woman dancing about on the stage in front of him. Her name is Tracee, a 20-year-old stripper at the Bing who has brought Tony a plate of home-made bread as a thank you for some good advice he gave her. Tony is confused (and Silvio irritated), having to be reminded that it was to do with her son, and then he remembers, though he still needs prodding for details: her son Danny had a chest cold which she thought might be pneumonia, and he gave her the straightforward advice of taking him to see a doctor. As she talks, her hand constantly shifts to her mouth to cover it up, she is extremely sensitive about her teeth which prevents her from smiling in spite of her clear gratitude and friendliness. The trouble being... this isn't an appropriate time or place to be doing this. Silvio agrees, this is no good, and when she explains almost desperately that she wanted to say thanks, he acknowledges that but says he already has a family to give him gifts, and theirs is an employer/employee relationship (he co-owns the Bing, if I haven't mentioned that specifically before). They can't be friends, and he reminds her that she's got a thing going with Ralphie so it would be inappropriate for them even if she didn't work for him. Silvio sends her on, reminding her she's on the clock, and as she goes he and Tony stare appreciatively (or like predators, perhaps) at her rear end before shaking their head at her bringing him bread. She's an employee, but she's also effectively not much more than meat to them, and that'll only get worse as the episode goes on.   Carmela has another of her Sunday dinners, and this one is going pretty well as part of her desire for a full house/happy family. Even AJ's in a good mood, because he and Ralphie are enthusiastically discussing the movie Gladiator, which the latter has become obsessed with. The discussion is a little bloodthirsty for the table, which includes Carmela's parents, and Tony tells them that's enough, which Carmela is grateful for. Ralphie complains that they're just making conversation but is quick to back down when Tony admonishes him, which itself is a rare thing and a sign of just how well this dinner is going. It's a typical family dinner, with the same minor arguments and amusing interplay you might find at a million different typical family dinners: I'm particularly a fan of Mary telling Hugh that he's wrong when he says he didn't care for Erin Brockovich! Jackie Jr shows up, not for a meal but just to pick up Rosalie's keys since he locked his own in the house. Ralphie is grumpy that Jackie has no accountability, and he comes in all smiles and greetings but begs off Carmela fixing him a plate. When he mentions that Dino Zirelli is waiting in the car (his recent arrest didn't stick, I guess), Tony isn't pleased to hear he's hanging out with him but more worried about keeping Dino OUT of the house so he backs Jackie as not being able to stick around. Jackie's still a little stand-offish with Ralphie but eventually throws him a greeting before asking AJ where Meadow is, and asks Carmela to tell her he said hello after she explains she stayed at University to study today. He leaves and everybody talks up how handsome he is and what a good kid he was, but Ralphie complains he's a little spoiled by his sheltered upbringing and again brings up his own rough childhood. When Rosalie brought it up last time it seemed natural, here it feels like Ralphie is pushing for sympathy or talking himself up artificially. At Columbia University, Meadow's "study" is actually her and Noah in the lovey-dovey stage of an early relationship, as the two have finally started actually dating instead of just hanging out together. They giggle over each other's first impressions of the other and start making out on her bed... which is when Caitlin arrives and sits awkwardly on her bed across from them asking if they're just "hanging out". Irritated at their make-out session being cut off, they sit up and listen as Caitlin stresses out over the horribleness of the world after having watched a free screening of Freaks. Not just Meadow but Noah himself are sadly all too familiar with Caitlin's issues, she is essentially a raw wound, knocked for a loop by everything, completely unable to cope with the sensory overload of New York and the expansion of her horizons offered by Columbia. A small-town Oklahoma girl, she initially reveled in the freedom of College but quickly fell apart, and now she literally rips out a small chunk of hair by the roots as she obsesses over the world's cruelty. Noah kisses Meadow goodnight, excusing himself by saying he has a Political Science paper to work on. That leaves Meadow and Caitlin alone together, the latter even more miserable now thinking that Meadow hates her. Meadow wants her to actually go and talk to somebody rather than just taking medication, and then excuses herself to go to "library", taking a blanket with her (and quietly removing an art scalpel from her desk in case she self-harms)... and goes straight up to Noah's room. There they initially discuss Caitlin and how they might help her, but they quickly forget that and go back to making out... and things soon progress further. When Meadow asks if he has a condom, he grabs one that he has obviously been hoping to use, and they have sex: Meadow's first time, and very much in line with her fantasy of not only adulthood, but of freedom from her parents and their suffocating hypocrisy and standards. Here is a handsome, intelligent, sophisticated and caring young man completely different from the type she has been surrounded with her whole life. On a production side of things, I like how the dorm rooms betrays the personalities/habits of their occupants. Caitlin, desperately seeking freedom and a cosmopolitan experience, covered her walls in liquor adverts from magazines before falling apart and giving up drinking. Meadow's walls are covered in her favorite bands, her desk packed with art supplies. But look at Noah's room. The walls are bare, the only poster is Einstein sticking his tongue out, an utterly generic piece of "expression" on Noah's behalf that feels like it is straight out of the prop department. His desk is very carefully "cluttered" but everything is deliberately in place. His corkboard has his class schedules printed and pinned up. It's easy to overlook and just as easy to dismiss as simply being the room of a very controlled, meticulous person. By the end of the episode, I think it'll tell us something entirely different about him. The next Friday, Meadow pops home and surprises Carmela who thought she had class. Only in the morning, so Meadow came by with her laundry. She's in a cheerful mood, happily bringing up an upcoming film adaptation of Eloise and waxing nostalgic about their lunch-dates there (which she turned her nose up back in The Pilot), insisting they go see the film together when it comes out. Carmela is surprised but pleased by Meadow's good mood, with no idea that Meadow is walking on sunshine through a mixture of her new relationship with Noah, of losing her virginity and becoming a "real" woman, and probably equal parts pleasure at knowing something Carmela doesn't but also a twinge of guilt about no longer being the little girl her mother treasured (Carmela still has to remind her to make a dentist appointment, however). Even Tony's arrival doesn't dent her positivity, as she compliments Carmela's cooking and her new shoes. They discuss Caitlin's issues and Meadow, completely innocently, mentions that Noah is a real help at calming Caitlin down before moving instantly off of him back to the crux of the matter. But that was enough for Tony, who fumes and sulks in the background and cracks jokes about Caitlin needing a straitjacket. Meadow mocks him but not angrily, more in resignation, and after she leaves Tony bitterly complains to Carmela who isn't particularly interested. Tony, who of course the world revolves around, insists that she was trying to bait him but he didn't rise to it, but has ended up pissed off anyway. The implication being, of course, that why should he restrain himself if he's just going to end up mad anyway. He rants at Carmela who just ignores him, cleaning her dishes as he's left feeling like an idiot for making a mountain out of a molehill. At the Bada Bing, the VIP rooms are full of various mobsters smoking cigars and being doted on by strippers. A stripper comes off the stage and straight to the door, where Georgie reminds her she's scheduled to be working the poles tonight, not in the VIP Room. She points out that another stripper, Mandee, isn't supposed to be in there but isn't, and here's where we get a look at that other side of Georgie: if you want to do VIP work, you have to pay VIP prices, so she can fork over $50 to him personally and give him a blowjob later and he'll let her in. This isn't said lecherously, it isn't threatened, Georgie is just casually laying out the "rules" like this is all perfectly normal, after all she's likely to make at least $500 if she gets inside. She forks over cash from what she's earned dancing already and he lets her in.   Inside, Paulie jokes with Christopher about the size of Vito and Bobby's guts as they stand chatting (it's a surprise to see Bobby there, to be honest) and then makes a point of turning and repeating the joke to Tony as he takes a stripper into a back room to bang her. Tracee, wearing a garish red dress, tries to say hello to Tony but he's more interested in sex and largely ignores her as he leaves the room. Instead, she turns and with a tight smile to hide her teeth accepts compliments from Patsy Parisi who is lounging at the bar with Furio, Paulie and Gigi. Meanwhile, Georgie opens the door again to find Ralphie, who is high on something (probably cocaine) and bellowing out quotes from Gladiator. Georgie is baffled, irritating Ralphie who wanted him to play along, and he admits he hasn't seen the film. Ralphie lurches through the room, blasting at full volume, completely unaware that not only does nobody find him funny but most of them find him incredibly aggravating. He greets Christopher (with the stripper who paid off Georgie on his lap) and Silvio, asking if this is a handsome contest, and not taking Silvio's firm instruction to behave seriously. He turns to the bar where Tracee, the only person amused by his jokes, approaches him with love in her eyes and tries to kiss him, and he recoils and asks with a cruel smile to consider how many cocks she's sucked tonight before kissing him. It's devastating for her, and she quietly goes to get him his drink as he slaps her on the rear end and plants a kiss on Gigi, asking where Tony is. When he learns Tony is in the back getting a blowjob he cracks a joke about Gigi's kid brother, irritating Paulie now who is no stranger to breaking balls but at least doesn't go this far. Ralphie, either too coked up or too completely assured of his own untouchability, ignores the warning by dismissing it as just fooling around, grabs a snack and then bellows across the room to Georgie insisting he watch Gladiator this weekend. He jams the snack into Georgie's chest, a complete piece of poo poo who is only amusing himself, and Gigi quietly mutters to the others that they're going to find this piece of poo poo in a trunk one day. Ralphie isn't done entertaining himself though, as he begins bellowing quotes from Gladiator again, chasing Georgie with a broom and jabbing at him before he finds a padlock on a chain and begins excitedly swinging it about in emulation of the scene he and AJ were talking about at dinner. Everybody was irritated by Ralphie before but now they're all openly alarmed, Silvio telling him to stop as he rushes at Georgie with the chain swinging. In the backroom, Tony can't even enjoy the blowjob from his employee in peace as he hears a cry of pain, and storms out pulling his pants up to find Georgie on the floor clutching at a bloody eye and Ralphie pantomiming remorse but openly laughing into his cupped hands.  Tony checks on Georgie's eye, not believing Ralphie's smiling,"It was an accident!" or claims that "we" were the ones loving around rather than him. But Ralphie still isn't taking it seriously, and the only time his smile drops is when Tony demands that he be the one to take Georgie to the Emergency Room. Suddenly HE is the one being put out and he's immediately sulking, telling Georgie to "c'mon, pussy boy" as he leads him out of the room. As everybody tries to go back to their harmless earlier exploitation of the strippers in the room, Tracee approaches Tony again as he grabs a bite to eat, asking if he liked the bread. He has no idea what she means and when he remembers, he cuts her off in the middle of telling him about her recipes to tell her now isn't the time. Disappointed, she walks out of the room. Tracee moving through one door transitions (a little clunkily) to another young woman walking through a door: Meadow Soprano. The editing of the episode will go to great lengths to contrast and compare the two, both roughly the same age, both linked to Tony Soprano, but both with very different lives. Inside her dorm room, a worried Caitlin demands to know where she has been, why she didn't call, saying she was worried sick and imagining Meadow dead in a ditch. Meadow at first is appreciative and cheerfully sarcastic, did she really need to get permission to go to her own house? But when Caitlin starts freaking out about a tv special she saw on the Lindbergh baby, she cracks and grabs her blanket and storms out to see Noah, leaving a miserable Caitlin crying alone in the room. In Noah's room, Meadow vents about Caitlin which Noah finds amusing and rather cute, laughing off Meadow suggesting they hook Caitlin up with one of his friends, he wouldn't subject anybody to that. He suggests they take her out for her birthday to cheer her up, and then quickly turns the conversation to a suggestion about sex, which she eagerly takes him up on. As Meadow is lifting her top, the camera cuts to Tracee emerging topless to the main floor of the Bada Bing, getting ready to go up on stage to dance. Tony is arguing on the phone with Janice, who is complaining about the gas meter while he reminds her that she was the one who wanted to live in Livia's old house. Tracee waits with a beaming smile next to Tony, tits out but the only thing on her mind her brand new braces. He of course has no idea what she wants, she's so used to her nudity that it doesn't occur to her that the last thing anybody is going to notice is her teeth. Silvio shows up and snaps at her to get on the stage, saying he didn't pay out 3k so she could model them for Tony. She looks to Tony for some kind of support, getting nothing from him as he carelessly motions her to get dancing. She heads up to the stage, and now of course they pay attention, eying her up and discussing her like an animal. Literally, Tony refers to her as a "thoroughbred" due to her body/natural breasts/good looks/youth. More disturbing is Silvio's blase admission that he paid for her teeth in order to "juice" her, something he usually does with the other strippers by paying for their (bad) fake breasts. Tracee didn't need those, but she had bad teeth so Silvio used that in order to essentially own her, she'll forever be paying back the money/interest she owes him and he'll use her till she's used up. Davey Scatino had a sporting good store, Tracee has her body. It's the completely business-like way Tony and Silvio discuss that which I find the most disturbing, this is just standard for them, it's not something they even think about.   Caitlin's birthday comes and Noah and Meadow follow through on their plan, taking her out on the town for an underwhelming time that leaves them all unsatisfied. Caitlin blames it on a guy called Jeff who was staring at her, unsettling her, but Noah thinks they can salvage the evening by going elsewhere. Meadow says it is getting late and he reluctantly agrees (remember that), but then both get sidetracked when Caitlin spots a large homeless woman with obvious mental issues pushing a shopping cart and loses her poo poo once more at the unfairness of the world. Chasing after the woman, eager to give her some money and not just be one of those who ignores them, but as she draws close, the homeless woman bends over and her "skirt" falls away, revealing she has newspaper jammed between her asscheeks as a rough underwear/sanitation device. Caitlin is revolted and anguished and she cannot comprehend what she is seeing, it's short-circuiting her already fraught emotional state. At another VIP session, Christopher hands over a wad of bills to an impressed Paulie, complaining he's working 18 hour days and he could have just worked a real job if things were going to be like this. Silvio laughs at the notion that anybody would want him, while Tony nuzzles at a giggling stripper by the bar. Meanwhile in the backroom, Ralphie is loving a sobbing Tracee from behind. Why is she crying? Because it's not just her and her boyfriend back here, she's been made to blow a cop invited to the VIP session at the same time. Ralphie doesn't care that she's crying, if anything he seems to be getting a thrill from her humiliation. From Tracee's head down over a cop's crotch, there is another transition as a weeping Caitlin lifts her head up in her dorm room as she wails over the horror of the homeless woman's plight. Meadow does her best to calm Caitlin down, Noah sitting next to her and looking utterly done with the whole thing. Grumpily he downplays her claim it was the most horrific thing ever seen, it was just a newspaper woman with a newspaper up her butt! Meadow suggests they take her over the health center so somebody can help her, and Caitlin insists no more drugs while pouring herself a drink of vodka. Meadow and Noah exchange exasperated looks, but Meadow is surprised when Noah suddenly gets up and walks to the door. She follows him over, and he smiles and explains he has to get up early tomorrow: he's meeting his friend Josh from LA at the airport and they're going to drive up to Hampshire to see his brother. He is sure he told her, in spite of the fact that when they were out earlier he was the one who wanted to go to another place and it was Meadow who noted it was getting late. He gives her a kiss and leaves, and Meadow turns back to her burdensome dorm-mate who is now intensely worrying about where the homeless woman sleeps at night.   Apparently Meadow asked the same question about herself, as she leaves the dorm and heads over to New Jersey and the family home, knocking on the door and slipping into the bed with Carmela to embrace her mother. It's a child's fleeing to comfort, symptomatic of Meadow's quantum state between adulthood and immaturity since deciding to go to Columbia and not making the clean break from her childhood life she initially wanted for her college experience. She didn't choose Berkeley, she chose the college only a short drive from home. She does her laundry there, she spends nights there when she can, she is constantly in contact and physical proximity with her parents and brother in a way that Caitlin can't, having come all the way from Oklahoma. She apologizes for waking Carmelea (it's 2 in the morning!) and apparently isn't surprised at all that Tony isn't there. They lie in bed together, Meadow venting a little of her own frustration with Caitlin and some of her confusion about Noah to an extremely tired Carmela. She notes that he can at times be affectionate but then act like a completely different person, utterly unaware of the fact she's basically just described Tony Soprano. But Carmela's a mother, so she does her best to lend a supportive ear, not taking the opportunity to talk poo poo about Noah but simply point out she doesn't know him well enough to know if him heading up to Hampshire on short notice is out of character or not. She reminds Meadow that she still hasn't made her dental appointment, one of the first things young adults have to start doing for themselves after a lifetime of their parents doing it for them, another sign that she isn't quite an adult yet. Perhaps that unspoken chiding gets to Meadow a little though, because there can be no doubt she deliberately implies that she is having sex with Noah when Carmela asks if she is in love with him, then takes some pleasure in smugly telling her this wasn't a conversation they are going to have. The next morning, Tony staggers out of the Bada Bing counting what cash he has left on hand after spending up large on strippers all night. As he reaches his car, Tracee comes out and approaches him, acknowledging he said they couldn't be friends but needing to ask his advice on something. Tired, his balls empty and his belly full, he just quietly waits for her to say her piece, too exhausted to bother admonishing her again. She explains that there is an issue with Ralphie, or rather with her: she's pregnant. Like Meadow with Carmela, she asks Tony to help her understand her boyfriend, Ralphie acts like he doesn't give a poo poo about her or the baby. He offers back that maybe Ralphie isn't acting and tries again to break off the conversation, which is even more appropriate than the bread thank you. But she wants to know, will Ralphie support her if she has the baby? He cracks a joke about that but then has a moment of clarity about how lovely he is being so does his best to offer what he thinks. She already has one child and struggles with him, having told Tony before that burned him with cigarettes. She's quick to try to explain the childhood reasons/parental abuse that caused her to do that but he's not interested in parent issues that aren't his own, cutting past that to point out that at her age and in her situation she really doesn't need ANOTHER kid. He leaves her with a rather disquieting "joke" suggestion: with Ralphie as a father, she'd be doing the world and the next three generations a favor by getting an abortion. That is probably a step too far for him to going, considering - as he himself said - they are an employer/employee. Even if it wasn't, those words will come back to haunt him.   At home, Meadow enjoys breakfast and discusses going shopping with Carmela, which is code for,"I want you to buy me things." Carmela brings AJ breakfast and a fresh bottle of syrup. Meadow is irritated that she'll have to wait for the laundry to be done before they can go, complaining Lilliana should do it (she's not in today) and sighing that there'll be a lot of people around when they go later. She raises her glass and shakes it expectantly for more apple juice, annoyed when Carmela gives her a,"Really?" look and making a performance of having to go to the fridge herself. Meadow enjoys a weekend at home, while back at Columbia Noah is working on a paper when a chipper Caitlin knocks on the door looking for Meadow. Noah explains she's at her parents, and reluctantly lets Caitlin join him in his room so she can study, since she doesn't like being alone. She promises him she'll keep quiet, and there is an odd fade to black that comes back to the strippers at the Bada Bing dancing. The first time I watched the episode, I assumed they were going for the old trope of Noah sleeping with Caitlin which was why it cut to nudity. I'm very happy to be wrong, they did something far more interesting. It's a few days later and Georgie, with an eyepatch, is tending bar when Silvio comes by and tries to figure out why they are short a stripper on the stage. Georgie reminds him Tracee is sick, but Silvio thinks it is unlikely she's been sick for three whole days and stomps off to investigate. Caitlin returns to the dorm to find Meadow there. She's in a good mood, telling Meadow that she's going to Vermont for the weekend to stay at the home of some friends of her dad's, academics who own a lovely house with a horse farm, and she'll be able to ride and talk. Though she doesn't say it herself and may even be unaware of it, the fact that one of these friends is a Professor of Psychiatry at Dartmouth indicates to me that her parents are aware of the issues she is having and have quietly organized her to get some non-confrontational therapy. Meadow, at first irritated at Caitlin's neediness, is now pleased, thinking it'll be good for her and at least give Meadow herself some quiet time. But when Caitlin starts talking about how she hopes she doesn't get too freaked out by the sound of the pine trees at night, Meadow just can't deal with it anymore and quickly excuses herself to go to Noah's. Tracee has looked for comfort with her boyfriend too. She's staying at Ralphie's, watching gladiator movies with him (he's furious at Christopher for recommending Spartacus), and by the way she rubs her nose it looks like she's joined him in his favorite hobby of snorting coke in spite of her pregnancy. She gets up to grab him a drink from the fridge, enjoying him slapping her on the rear end to get her out of the way of the movie (that he hates) because to her it's affection and the sign of actual potential in their relationship. Meadow isn't so full of love, in Noah's room he's pacing and complaining about the fact he got a C- on his most recent paper, blaming Caitlin who apparently stuck around for six hours in his room and wouldn't stop talking or taking his hints to let him work. Meadow can understand being pissed, but she's taken aback by just how pissed he is, rejecting her reminder that it is early in the semester and he can still make up the grade. He rants, he did everything to help her including giving her his notes on Economics from a previous year but she still wouldn't quit whining. Meadow, not really enjoying the whining coming from him, is blown away by his claim that the C- will gently caress him in two years when he goes to law school. For the first time she is seeing him without romantic blinkers. Silvio arrives at Ralphie's, hammering on the door and demanding to know where Tracee is. When he spots Tracee on the couch he demands she puts her shoes on, and that gets Ralphie's dander up as he warns Silvio, not so much for the way he is talking to her but for the fact he's talking past Ralphie about something Ralphie "owns". He walks in without an invitation, making GBS threads over her excuse that she was sick, revealing he called her house and learned from her mother she hasn't been home for two days, even to see her kid. Ralph, not used to being ignored, back's Tracee's excuse, shouting that her mother is watching the kid so what is the big deal. Silvio finally acknowledges him, not looking, just shouting back at him to mind his loving business. That really pisses Ralph off, for once he's the one being ignored, talked over or dismissed and suddenly it isn't as funny as all the times HE does it. He demands to know where Silvio gets the balls, and now Silvio does look at him, getting right in his face and declaring that this "oval office" is 3k in debt and Ralphie is asking where HE gets his balls? Implying that Ralphie is preventing Silvio from getting his money, a bottom line factor that Ralphie understands and one of the few things he won't gently caress with. So, saving face as best as he can, Ralphie forgets his anger and just mutters at Tracee to go, failing completely to protect or look after her like she wishes in her deepest fantasies.   Heartbroken, she allows herself to be hauled out of the house by Silvio. But him complaining that she should be grateful for the opportunities he gives her proves the final straw. Finding some backbone, she tells him - probably quite accurately - that she could easily get a job in any other stripclub she walked into. In response, funny Silvio, Silvio who imitates Al Pacino in the Godfather, slightly ridiculous and comic Silvio.... backhands her across the face and sends her crashing into the hood of the car. Ralphie watches from the window, laughing his rear end off, thinking the whole thing is hilarious as Silvio assaults Ralphie's pregnant girlfriend and informs her that until she pays what she owes, "that shaved twat belongs to me". Ralphie's laughter transitions into Ralphie laughing at dinner at Rosalie's, where they're joined by Tony and Carmela but also Silvio and Gabrielle. They're having a great time, husbands and wives, boyfriend and (serious) girlfriend, cracking jokes about the typical foibles of marriage. Wacky Silvio the opportunistic predator who punches strippers and tells them he owns them is difficult to get to pay attention when he's watching football! Tony who murdered one of his closest friends sometimes puts an empty carton of milk back in the fridge! Ralphie and Silvio are the best of buddies, and everybody thanks Rosalie warmly for the lovely meal, which she is quick to remind them is reciprocation for the lovely dinner at the Soprano house recently. Jackie Jr walks in, greeting everybody happily, no longer the sullen rear end in a top hat who was trying to insert himself into his dad's old crew and thought Tony killed his Uncle Richie. He even takes Ralphie's (not unkind) comments in good stride, borrowing the car and telling Rosalie that he'll be spending the night at Bobby's. Tony, happy to hear he is back in college and "almost" made the Dean's List, is more than happy to encourage him to "enjoy his youth" since that doesn't involve being involved in the mob. Meadow is having dinner too, at a lovely restaurant with Noah and his father. She's mortified that Noah didn't warn her it was not a place for casual dress, she would have put on something nicer if she'd known. Noah, so uptight about his C-, is relaxed and happy now on familiar ground. His father, an entertainment lawyer, is the same: relaxed and laidback, not treating them like kids, asking if they'd like wine with their meal, happily sharing stories about a long flight between LA and New York made longer by sitting next to Tim Daly (who ironically will later have a recurring role on the show, though not as himself). Just the barest hint of everything being okay is enough for her to dismiss her other genuine concerns. The only downside is when she has to awkwardly parrot the family line when answering the question of what her father does for a living. Tracee dances topless at the Bada Bing, clearly miserable though it's unlikely any of the patrons would notice. Noah and Meadow finish up their evening with a screening of Dementia 13, which I can almost guarantee Noah chose. Meadow feels bad that they're going without Caitlin, she had promised to tell her the next time she went to a movie. Noah doesn't feel bad though, admitting that any sympathy he felt disappeared the moment he saw that C-. As if it was the most natural thing in the world, he informs her that his father has filed a restraining order against Caitlin to keep her away from Noah. Meadow thinks he is joking but quickly realizes he isn't, and when she offers that maybe he could have actually spoken to her as a first step rather than go nuclear, he says it's too late for that and claims his father went ballistic when he heard about the dreaded C- too. He insists that Caitlin was ruining their lives (but really the C-) and they couldn't do anything (and he got a C-) and it was important they set this boundary (as an excuse for the C-). They go in and sit down to watch what can best be described as a rather disastrously assembled film, though Caitlin and more specifically Noah's warped values are probably more on Meadow's mind.   At yet another session in the VIP room of the Bada Bing, Ralphie is actually somewhat in control as he sits at a booth telling a joke to an appreciative Christopher, Bobby and Gigi. Yes even Gigi laughs at the joke, when Ralphie isn't coked up or trying his best to undermine his "Captain", he's actually a perfectly fine guy to have around. I think it's important to note Ralphie's better than usual temperament at this time. Tracee walks by dressed normally, in contrast to the other strippers who are all over the other VIP guests. Ralphie notices her and comments that she hasn't said hello, and she calls him an rear end in a top hat and tells him to go gently caress himself, much to the delight of Christopher, Bobby and Gigi. Ralphie isn't happy, but he's still in control, smiling and asking if this is how she talks to a man in front of his friends? "What man?" she laughs, and the guys are even more thrilled though the stripper on Christopher's lap has a distinct,"Oh shiiiit" look before quickly slapping on a smile. She grasps better than Tracee the implications of what she has just said. Gigi cheers Tracee on, enjoying Ralphie getting humiliated, but now Ralphie is looking irritated. Shaking his head and still apparently in complete control, he gets up and leaves the room, heading out back of the Bing where (pregnant) Tracee is smoking a cigarette. She's angry at him, not just for not sticking up for her with Silvio, but because it's been three days and he hasn't contacted her or reached out in any way. Ralphie, still smarting from the earlier (minor) humiliation, is all smiles and patriarchal love as he explains he's been out earning, earning to make the money to look after HER when she's 9 months pregnant. Like Meadow at dinner with Noah's father, just that one sweet glimmer of hope is enough for Tracee to abandon her concerns and clutch on to the fantasy. Is he serious? Of course he assures her, watching the hope grow in her eyes as he sells her on the little house they'll buy via a mortgage broker friend of his. Stars in her eyes, Tracee tells him she loves him and Ralphie looks directly into hers and with utter sincerity tells her he loves her too. Beaming, he tells her that if they have a boy they'll name him after Ralphie, but if they have a girl they'll name her after Tracee..... that way she can be a cocksucking slob just like her mother!  As always, the only person who thinks it is funny is Ralphie, thrilling to his "revenge" as Tracee staggers back in disbelief. He asks if she's out of her loving mind, a huge smile on his face even when she spits on him, mocking her as she swings a first and wildly flails at him in outrage, telling her,"Get it all out, you little whore" (pronounced "hooah"). But when she actually manages to hit him with one swing the fun stops, the smile goes, and he backhands and sends her stumbling back. Unlike Richie Aprile, he doesn't try to pretend everything is fine or to warn her another might be coming, he stands somewhat surprised that he did this... until she looks up at him with utter contempt and asks him if he feels like a man after doing that? So Ralphie Cifaretto - loud, brash, obnoxious but ultimately comical - strides forward and punches his pregnant girlfriend in the face. Then the stomach. Then knocks her to the ground and punches her again. And again. He hauls her prone body up again to punch her more. He slams her head into the barrier designed to prevent falls. Multiple times. When she dies isn't clear, but what is clear is that he keeps punching afterwards. Finally he steps up, adjusting her coat and grunting,"Look at you now" as if he has proved some kind of point. But as horrible as that was, what's next is as bad if not worse. He walks right back into the Bada Bing's VIP room and puts his bloodied hand into a bucket of ice, calmly asking for another drink. When Paulie asks what happened to him, he calmly tells everybody that Tracee slipped. Everybody heads outside and looks at the battered hamburger that was a 20-year-old pregnant woman lying dead on the backlot, the highway only meters away. They're shocked but quick to action, Paulie sending Christopher to get a blanket to cover her. Tony stares at the corpse, revolted, and demands to know where Ralphie is. What does he see when he looks at Tracee's corpse? An investment ruined ahead of time? An employee? A troubled girl he refused to help? Does he think about he said it would be better if the child never lived and how that has come horribly true? Or is he simply angry at Ralphie for putting them at risk for something so stupid? The obvious parallels between Meadow and Tracee are present throughout the entire episode. I personally don't think that Tony thinks of Meadow when he looks at Tracee... at least not yet, not in this episode. Rather, the episode itself has been at pains to make the viewer aware of the contrast between them, to highlight the different lives two women of similar age who probably have overlapping areas of social circles just by dint of being brought up in New Jersey. I also can't help but think about Tony's admonition that Meadow should have stuck "with her own" rather than being with Noah. While he's far from perfect, look how things worked out for Tracee when she found a nice Italian guy to love. Tony sends Paulie in to get Ralphie, who comes out casually sipping a drink and actually gets upset when Tony slaps it out of his hand, like Tony is the one being unreasonable. Tony slams one meaty finger into Ralphie's chest, demanding to know how dare he disrespect the Bada Bing like this, accusing him of never thinking, and then with savage pleasure informing him right to his face that stuff like this is the reason he was passed over in favor of Gigi. Ralphie, who knows he isn't fooling anybody, sticks with his story that she fell, asking if it is his fault she is a klutz? That's Tony's breaking point, unlike Gigi who has suffered his constant needling and "jokes" and disrespect, Tony isn't putting up with Ralphie's utter arrogance in thinking he's somehow immune from repercussion or that he's in some way outsmarting/slipping one by everybody else. So he punches Ralphie right in the face, then lays into him with several more before the others quickly pull Tony off and restrain Ralphie. This a huge no-no under the ill-defined rules they live by, and Ralphie knows it. NOW he is outraged, NOW it isn't a joke or something to be glossed over: Tony can't hit him, he's a Made guy! Paulie reminds Ralphie that Tony is the Boss, but they have bigger concerns as a car pulls up and a voice calls out asking if they're open. Tony can NOT be seen there, he can't be witnessed as having been present in case Tracee's body is found before they can clear it out. Silvio convinces him he has to leave and the others shove Ralphie away and tell him to get out of there too. He spits out blood and then walks off trying to maintain his dignity (he just battered his pregnant girlfriend to death), while Patsy and Georgie rush back inside to get things to help them clean up the body. Tony, Paulie and Silvio stop to look down at Tracee's corpse again, Tony commenting that she was only 20-years-old, and that at least must trigger some thought in his head of his daughter. They leave, Tracee's corpse briefly left alone by the sewer runoff, which is filled with garbage. The unfortunate comparison is clear, that's how they treated her after all: something disposable to be used and thrown away, just not usually so violently.   At Columbia, Meadow and Noah study in the library and she casts a happy, lovey little look his way... and he decides now is the perfect time (in the library, where silence is demanded and outbursts not tolerated) to tell her he thinks they've been seeing too much of each other. She's shocked, but he calmly explains that he really likes her (He loved her when he wanted to gently caress her) but she can't be surprised since she's far too negative and her underlying cynicism is too much for him. She's left bewildered as he smiles and says he doesn't want to get into this... and goes straight back to studying (gotta make up for that C-!). For none of the lovely reasons that Tony hated him, Noah was really a pretty awful person. He seemed nice, bright, understanding etc but he was also obviously a brat (which to be fair, Meadow is kind of one too), completely used to getting his own way or always achieving highly. The moment something gets in the way, that he is forced to face something more than minor, he freaks out and runs to daddy to fix it. His dorm room isn't the efficient space of a highly organized mind, it's the blank walls of somebody who really doesn't have any personality. The films he watches and claims to love are the ones that he is supposed to love or respect, he offers facts as if they have any critical bearing (his reaction to Freaks was to list the director and release year). His interest isn't even academic, it's all part of his design to become a lawyer, and probably an entertainment one like his father. His whole life is mapped out for him, and any deviation from that map must be swiftly dealt with or removed as quickly as possible. Meadow dodged a bullet there, but it won't make her distress any less real, nor her probably regret for losing her virginity to a guy who turned out to be an rear end in a top hat (she isn't the first, she won't be the last). At least it's better than being battered to death by a coked up rear end in a top hat in the parking lot of a scummy strip club. In therapy, Carmela tries her best to work with Dr. Melfi and show her appreciation for her and Tony's recent ease of conversation, which isn't on display today as Tony sits distracted, saying nothing. Melfi prompts him to get him engaged, this time talking up Carmela and her efforts. Finally he admits that he's a little out of sorts because a 20-year-old man who worked for them at Barone Sanitation died recently and it's upset him. Carmela is surprised and asks who, and irritated at having to work up more details for his lie (he won't admit it was one of the strippers at the VIP gently caress-sessions he holds for his mob buddies) he just grunts that she wouldn't know "him". But that death threw him for a loop, he's happy to admit that... it's sad when they go so young.   Meadow finally made her dentist appointment, but doesn't answer Carmela's questions about it as she stomps about the kitchen looking for food, watched by Tony as he eats his cereal. Finally she shouts,"God is there nothing to eat in this house!?!" and charges up the stairs, regressing again to a teenager mindset after her first great college romance fell apart like so many before it. At least it's better than being battered to death by a coked up rear end in a top hat in the parking lot of a scummy strip club. In that scummy strip club, the strippers dance to the same Kinks song as at the start, while others make their way around the floor. A trio chat about Tracee who hasn't been seen, maybe she quit? One mentions she went outside with Ralphie and never came back, and the quiet reply from the third is to do herself a favor and keep what she says to herself. At the bar, eye-patched Georgie casually explains the VIP Section rules to another stripper: $50 to him and a blowjob later if she wants in on the big Friday parties where she can make a lot of money. The sad truth is that there'll always be more women to replace Tracee, to be exploited or "juiced" by Silvio or others, to have to suck the bouncer's dick AND pay him just to get inside for the privilege of banging a bunch of middle-aged fat dudes for cash. Ralphie is a monster, but he's far from the only one. Season 3: Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood | Proshai, Livushka | Fortunate Son | Employee of the Month | Another Toothpick | University | Second Opinion | He Is Risen | The Telltale Moozadell | ...To Save Us All from Satan's Power | Pine Barrens | Amour Fou | Army of One Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4 | Season 5 | Season 6.1 | Season 6.2 Jerusalem fucked around with this message at 13:54 on Apr 23, 2020 |
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Jun 5, 2019 16:29
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Was that the same cop we see doing favors for Tony and Paulie?
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Jun 5, 2019 16:52
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