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Jerusalem posted:Season 3, Episode 6 - University This is another tough one to watch, for a lot of reasons. Everyone comes off poorly in this one, and it really focuses in on the dark side of these guys and their violent tendencies. The way they turn people into commodities is stomach-turning, and the actress who plays Tracee does a great job making her a 3-dimensional character in her few scenes. So her death is ROUGH. I do wonder, though, if it all feels a bit too much like audience manipulation. Putting Ralphie into this position where we can never forgive him, so Tony is less of a monster by comparison. He becomes a forever-antagonist with no chance at redemption, and gives Tony a foil. The thing that balances it out, I think, is how awful they ALL look in this one, and how we get a glimpse at the real evil under the fun gambling/stealing/vigilante justice cover they use.
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Jun 5, 2019 18:00
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The cute 20 year old barebacking and begging ralphie to marry her and being naive and happy when he fake says yes did not seem believable. She's too good looking to come off like someone people instinctively treat like trash so the scene just feels gratuitous and implausible. Maybe if they made her more gross it could have worked.
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Jun 5, 2019 18:12
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No Wave posted:The cute 20 year old barebacking and begging ralphie to marry her and being naive and happy when he fake says yes did not seem believable. She's too good looking to come off like someone people instinctively treat like trash so the scene just feels gratuitous and implausible. Maybe if they made her more gross it could have worked. What? She's poor white trash. It doesn't matter if she's a little pretty. Lots of rich or powerful people are ugly as hell. Being pretty may have random people treating you slightly nicer, but if you're poor and have no prospects in life you're still pretty desperate. Also the idea that if you're an attractive enough woman nobody will treat you like trash is just, what in the gently caress are you on about ? No. Stop. Wrong. NOT TO MENTION that even people who are attractive can have issues where they do not believe they are, such as Tracee making a really big deal about her teeth that nobody else really cares about. She's clearly internalized some abuse, and mentions in the episode she burned her child because she herself was abused---gently caress dude what the hell. I'm sorry but this is an absurdly ignorant post. That's not how human beings or human society work. This world is absolutely full of cute 20-somethings who have been abused by older men. Christ. No Wave this is like some seriously weird MRA redpiller incel stuff.
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Jun 5, 2019 19:21
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No Wave posted:The cute 20 year old barebacking and begging ralphie to marry her and being naive and happy when he fake says yes did not seem believable. She's too good looking to come off like someone people instinctively treat like trash so the scene just feels gratuitous and implausible. Maybe if they made her more gross it could have worked. I disagree. I can tell you from personal experience that chronic low self-esteem makes you see yourself completely differently and blinds you to anything good about yourself and you can end up being drawn in by predatory people who want you to remain that way. Also the character is barely older than meadow and completely vulnerable.
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Jun 5, 2019 19:27
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She would be fielding marriage proposals by half her customers at the bing. Also lol: quote:When James Gandolfini read the part with me, he put in a request to change the ending of the episode. Instead of responding to Tracee’s death by being angry about the destroyed carpet, he changed it to say, remorsefully, “20 years old, this girl”. I thought it was kind of lame for him to change it, but probably professionally a smart move. He had an instinct about audiences turning against him and wanted to prevent that. No Wave fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Jun 5, 2019 |
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Jun 5, 2019 19:28
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What the gently caress is wrong with you? Are you an incel? Please stop.
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Jun 5, 2019 19:38
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No Wave posted:Maybe if they made her more gross it could have worked. Yikes.
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Jun 5, 2019 19:49
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No Wave posted:She would be fielding marriage proposals by half her customers at the bing. There is no end to young attractive girls who get abused and exploited by similar age or older men. Appearance means nothing, human beings still fall prey to the manipulations of others and end up in abusive and dangerous situations regardless of age, ethnicity, background, gender, etc you name ot. Is marrying/dating a guy who falls in love with a stripper somehow suppose to be better then a lovely mob psycho? You are acting like a physical appearence is some societal benchmark for a certain quality of life.
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Jun 5, 2019 21:46
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I'm saying I don't buy her and Ralphie. He's not appealing enough, even understanding its a bad/abusive relationship. It doesnt feel plausible like all of the others in the show.
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Jun 5, 2019 21:52
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She's 20 with a kid, he's a high-earning Mafioso with access to drugs.
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Jun 5, 2019 21:57
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No Wave posted:I'm saying I don't buy her and Ralphie. He's not appealing enough, even understanding its a bad/abusive relationship. It doesnt feel plausible like all of the others in the show. I mean, you can say the same thing about Christopher and Adriana. She's like a 30 and even without his violent outbursts and addiction to narcotics, Chris' unibrow puts him at like a 3, but he's a made guy, who's mob royalty, much like Ralphie. Hell, how the gently caress did Artie's goony bald rear end hold onto Charmaine, or Pussy with Angie? Even when Vito was thinner, he still looked like a chubby little stump of a man, but his wife's a knockout. It's a little weird that out of all the lopsided, power dominated relationships in this show, this is the one that stuck out to you.
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Jun 5, 2019 22:23
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Tracee seemed like the same type of girl that Sharon Stone played in Casino, except without the realization of the kind of power she held over certain men. Her relationship with Ralphie holds a lot of parallels with how Sharon Stone's character was used and manipulated by James Woods' character.
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Jun 5, 2019 22:26
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ruddiger posted:I mean, you can say the same thing about Christopher and Adriana. She's like a 30 and even without his violent outbursts and addiction to narcotics, Chris' unibrow puts him at like a 3, but he's a made guy, who's mob royalty, much like Ralphie. Hell, how the gently caress did Artie's goony bald rear end hold onto Charmaine, or Pussy with Angie? Even when Vito was thinner, he still looked like a chubby little stump of a man, but his wife's a knockout. It's a little weird that out of all the lopsided, power dominated relationships in this show, this is the one that stuck out to you. ruddiger posted:Tracee seemed like the same type of girl that Sharon Stone played in Casino, except without the realization of the kind of power she held over certain men. Her relationship with Ralphie holds a lot of parallels with how Sharon Stone's character was used and manipulated by James Woods' character. No Wave fucked around with this message at 22:36 on Jun 5, 2019 |
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Jun 5, 2019 22:27
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I know Adriana's mom was Ritchie & Jackie's sister, but was her dad mobbed up too? I don't think its ever mentioned. Artie and Charmaine I think stayed together partially for kids, but I always figured Artie was better until the last few years where he hit a mid-life crisis and comparing his life to his best friend Tony's and developing an inferiority complex that just blossomed when his dads restaurant blew up and he had a chance at a fresh start(ish) and just ended up back in the same grind. Also wtf No Wave? Jack2142 fucked around with this message at 06:52 on Jun 6, 2019 |
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Jun 5, 2019 22:53
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Jack2142 posted:I know Adriana's mom was the Ritchie & Jackie's sister I never really thought about that. Isn’t Ade’s mom always giving her poo poo about getting involved with a criminal, saying the engagement ring was probably stolen out of the store window? Weird since she comes from a mob family too.
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Jun 5, 2019 23:11
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Lol at the idea that a powerful and violent man couldn't establish an abusive relationship with a stripper that was struggling to pay her bills for dental care and child support. It doesn't seem unusual or hard to believe in the least. The attractiveness has no bearing on the believability of that particular relationship. There are much less powerful/wealthy/good looking pimps out there with good looking women that they have beaten down into abusive relationships with them. Tony's a fat gently caress and had a poo poo load of beautiful goomahs that he generally treated poorly. The episode even clearly shows that she was desperately looking for a way out of her situation, with her hitting on Tony and possibly one other character (I forgot). denzelcurrypower fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Jun 5, 2019 |
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Jun 5, 2019 23:16
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he must just not know enough irl couples to understand that "believability" has no bearing on which people end up in a relationship together the other stuff, idk  Fake edit: great writeup as always- another excellent episode with some hard to watch moments
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Jun 5, 2019 23:49
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Yeah, Ralphie's charming in his way and he's got cash. It's perfectly believable, especially to somebody with low self-esteem who's likely grown up around the Mob and thinking they're your ticket. Everybody knows that story about the dancer who became a made guy's cumare and she never had to worry again!
Dawgstar fucked around with this message at 01:35 on Jun 6, 2019 |
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Jun 6, 2019 00:42
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Man some of y’all never went to school with girls named Neveah or Mercedes who dated senior football players in 8th grade and it really shows.
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Jun 6, 2019 01:21
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This was the first episode of the show i ever saw so it really stuck with me. I'm not positive but i think it's the first time we ever see Sil actually be bad/mean? Also it's so weird but whenever i see this one now i think about how hard it must be for Georgie to keep track of all those owed blowjobs 
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Jun 6, 2019 04:07
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Ishamael posted:The thing that balances it out, I think, is how awful they ALL look in this one, and how we get a glimpse at the real evil under the fun gambling/stealing/vigilante justice cover they use. Yeah, I get that Ralphie murdering her clearly sets him up as the antagonist (I'm of mixed feelings about how that is resolved in this season) but I'm really glad they didn't shy away from showing just how vicious, exploitative and uncaring everybody else is all the way down to Georgie the goofy bartender. It is a credit to the show's writing that it could acknowledge and accept that the characters were pieces of poo poo while also still making them relatable/entertaining and in many cases even beloved. Borrowed Ladder posted:I think it's the first time we ever see Sil actually be bad/mean? He's had a few moments of being sinister/menacing but yeah largely he's a slightly comic figure who seems to be a less sophisticated Tom Hagen, and here we see him laid bare in all his ugliness as a human being. No Wave posted:That's reasonable, i dont think i ever saw it but I should. You should absolutely watch Casino, it's a fantastic film... big shock eh? A Martin Scorcese directed film starring Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci is good! 
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Jun 6, 2019 05:06
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Casino is a good movie and I really enjoy watching it and rewatched it just awhile back, but it and most gangster movies since just kinda copies Goodfellas and goes through the motions, complete with the voiceover protagonist. The ending is especially great though.
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Jun 6, 2019 06:40
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Zaphod42 posted:Casino is a good movie and I really enjoy watching it and rewatched it just awhile back, but it and most gangster movies since just kinda copies Goodfellas and goes through the motions, complete with the voiceover protagonist. I'm not sure what you're looking for with two movies by the same writer and director made a few years apart.
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Jun 6, 2019 07:08
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Goodfellas featured a ton of Sopranos actors, but Steve Schirripa was one of the few who got started through Casino. His first ever role is in the scene where Nicky stabs a guy with a pen. For some reason Scorsese cast a bunch of comedians, such as Don Rickles, Kevin Pollack and Dick Smothers. Schirripa was connected to that world through being the entertainment director of a Las Vegas casino. Afterwards he decided to pursue acting, eventually getting cast as Bobby Bacala. According to Vincent Pastore, he figured Big Pussy was going to be written out after Bobby got more screen time. Because otherwise "there'd be too many fat fucks" in the main cast.
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Jun 6, 2019 07:16
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Bip Roberts posted:I'm not sure what you're looking for with two movies by the same writer and director made a few years apart. Man I didn't qualify that enough for you? I went way out of my way to say its a good movie, relax. I'm not looking for anything.
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Jun 6, 2019 07:52
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sil being the 'nice' one makes the times he freaks out all the better. when the new york guy comes to satriales after the vito stuff and starts talking poo poo and sil smashes the hand vacuum over his head and then stabs the gently caress out of him repeatedly with a butcher's knife after initially laughing it off for a while is one of the most hilariously shocking moments. edit: just rewatched its not sil that does the stabbing but still Eau de MacGowan fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Jun 6, 2019 |
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Jun 6, 2019 09:47
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We really do get a good feel for why Sil is consiglieri. He's generally the most level-headed of the bunch. Chris is too ready to pretend it's a mob movie and Paulie's just not that bright outside his specific skillset.
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Jun 6, 2019 11:54
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I love Silvio's reaction to Tony telling him that Richie was planning a move and that now Tony feels he has to kill him. "......I genuinely don't think.... there's anything to gain by keeping him around."
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Jun 6, 2019 12:36
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Jerusalem posted:Yeah, I get that Ralphie murdering her clearly sets him up as the antagonist (I'm of mixed feelings about how that is resolved in this season) but I'm really glad they didn't shy away from showing just how vicious, exploitative and uncaring everybody else is all the way down to Georgie the goofy bartender. It is a credit to the show's writing that it could acknowledge and accept that the characters were pieces of poo poo while also still making them relatable/entertaining and in many cases even beloved. The show does a really good job of showing how everyone involved with the life gets tainted by it. It's not even just the mobsters. Look at how Carmela overlooks Tony's crimes and infidelities all because she appreciates the lavish lifestyle he provides for her and their kids. Or Meadow who has a problem with Tony's racism but who is all too happy to take his money to buy herself what she wants. Or even the FBI agents who have no qualms about putting Pussy and their informants into dangerous situations if it gets them a chance to take down Tony. And look how close Agent Harris gets to Tony over the course of the series, going from an antagonist to by the end an ally for Tony. It's like the Wire in that the institutions corrupt everyone in them
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Jun 6, 2019 20:14
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For some reason episodes 7 & 8 were switched around or at least produced in a different order than they aired. In Second Opinion, Junior asks if Tony has come to ask for advice re: Ralph. I would think this was because of the original order they were produced, that episode serves as a buffer before "He Is Risen". It may have had something to do with airing them around the time of actual holidays depicted in the show? 
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Jun 8, 2019 02:08
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I'm watching The Wire for the 1st time. After years of putting it off Though thanks to loving Amazon's stupid played it started with episode 13 and I didn't realize it until 25 minutes into the episode.
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Jun 8, 2019 02:09
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Digital Jedi posted:I'm watching The Wire for the 1st time. After years of putting it off Oh my God, you must have been completely lost. I can't even imagine how confusing that would have been.
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Jun 8, 2019 04:21
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ruddiger posted:I mean, you can say the same thing about Christopher and Adriana. She's like a 30 and even without his violent outbursts and addiction to narcotics, Chris' unibrow puts him at like a 3, but he's a made guy, who's mob royalty, much like Ralphie. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTs6IkE25Ds&t=213s 3:33.
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Jun 8, 2019 09:57
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Hahaha the last post reminded me how hypocritical it was when Christopher mocks Phil Leotardo, saying "those eyebrows?!". Look who's talking buddy! I just started season 6 on my third or fourth rewatch. Got through the first three episodes and it definitely seems like a weird tonal shift. Its suddenly it's gotten so depressing. I think the dream sequences / hospital visits are well done but maybe take up too much screen time for me to enjoy as much as the earlier seasons which were faster paced. Not a big fan of the Cleaver plot line either, although it makes sense for Christopher's character arc it feels a bit... corny? I can't remember if the dream stuff goes the whole season or if it picks up it's pace later on. However there have been some great scenes like when Paulie and Vito kept their cut of a score they were supposed to give to Carmella until Tony opens his eyes and they both conveniently make the huge payment to Carm right after. Not the most Machiavellian scheme as you can tell from her facial expression that she knew something was off about the way they only paid up at that moment. I do like that the Kevin Finnerty dream requires some interpretation instead of being so overly exository like when Tony's subconscious realizes Pussy is a rat. There's another part I think in S5 when he has a dream about his cousin Tony B where he essentially dreams what actually happened in real life with Phil's brother's murder. Those parts didn't feel that earned to me, they seemed like a contrived way of having Tony make very important realizations. Somehow in this rewatch I completely forgot it was Uncle Jr that shot Tony so it came as a surprise like a first viewing. Crazy that after being involved in the mob for his whole life his closest point to death is due to a family member's dementia. Now that is some good, unexpected writing. Uncle Jr has gotta be in the top 3 best characters in the show, IMO. He has great dialogue and believable but plot moving actions throughout the entire series. Amazing comedic relief but also provides good advice to Tony while still lucid. Such a complex and well written character! denzelcurrypower fucked around with this message at 15:55 on Jun 8, 2019 |
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Jun 8, 2019 15:49
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Season 3, Episode 7 - Second OpinionFurio Giunta posted:There are worse things that can happen to a person than cancer. Junior is administered anesthesia ahead of his surgery for cancer, and hallucinates being offered a cure by the FBI in return for testifying against Tony. He imagines being free, healthy and married to Angie Dickinson. It's funny, a bizarre little aside for this show: this isn't a dream, it's a fantasy sequence out of a sitcom. In the real world, he's operated on by Doctor John Kennedy, the Head of the Oncology Department at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Kennedy is talented and respected, but he's also an impatient rear end in a top hat who rushes his team through the conclusion of the surgery now that his part is done and he's in no mood to stand around waiting for the report on if they successfully removed all the tumor cells, or even for the other doctor to take his time stitching Junior up, shoving him aside to finish the job himself. Kennedy heads out to the waiting room to meet Tony, Bobby and three elderly members of Junior's old crew where he gives them the good news: Junior did well, the news is good, the cancer all seems to be gone. They're all thrilled of course, Tony especially who follows Kennedy as he is leaving to thank him again as well as make it clear that he owes him a favor and Kennedy should feel free to call that in at any time. If Kennedy knows who Tony is outside of Junior's nephew, he doesn't care, treating Tony's heartfelt offer with bemused, polite indifference and walking away. Tony is mildly offended, but shakes it off, it's a time for celebration and it's not like he is gonna see this doctor ever again.   At the Bada Bing, Christopher is thrilled to beat Paulie in a game of pool... until Paulie refuses to pay up the $60 on the line. Christopher has good reason to be offended, if the shoe was on the other foot Paulie would expect immediate payment, plus it's not like Christopher is some punk kid anymore, they're both Made guys. Unfortunately for Christopher's point, he makes the mistake of also complaining about Paulie recently making him pay out the rear end for many of their social events, like Dom Perignon at Madison Square Garden. Now Paulie has the "high ground", Silvio and Patsy will back him that the "low man at the table" always pays for everybody else. He takes great delight in suddenly becoming suspicious that Christopher is wearing a wire and demanding he strip. If he remembers the association with Pussy he gives no sign, insisting Patsy pat Christopher down and saying the only way to avoid THAT humiliation is to strip himself. Silvio, knowing Paulie is being an rear end in a top hat, can't help Christopher, reminding him that New York agreeing to reopen the books for new Made guys came with a condition: there's a probationary period, and frequent checks for wiretaps. Patsy agrees it wouldn't have happened in his day, and gets offended when Christopher complains back that maybe it is Patsy wearing the wire, and now ALL of them are determined that he take his clothes off. Infuriated but knowing he has no choice, Christopher strips down to his boxers (revealing the surgical scar from where he was shot in the Gismonte/Bevilaqua ambush) but refuses to take those off, knowing this is all for show/to put him in his place. Paulie admits he was just breaking balls, but now that Christopher is refusing to take his boxers off he's starting to think maybe there's something to it. Humiliated, angry, feeling like anything but a Made guy, Christopher takes his underwear off and has to suffer the indignity of Paulie making fun of his dick... all for the crime of Christopher wanting him to pay up the $60 that Paulie happily bet on a game in the first place. Paulie and Patsy laugh, Silvio shakes his head and Christopher fumes... nobody seems to question whether poo poo like this might not be helping in that whole "eager to give evidence" problem they're having. At Sunday dinner, it's a subdued affair with the only guests being Hugh and Mary and the subject of discussion AJ's reluctance to go on a school trip to Washington DC. Tony is distracted and has to be prompted to agree with Carmela that AJ must go, only really waking up when AJ makes an aside about having to visit the FBI building, angrily demanding to know what that has to do with the conversation at hand. His beeper calls him away from the table, and Mary tries to lighten the mood by complimenting Carmela's scarole. Carmela says she added balsamic vinegar, causing Hugh to chuckle about how balsamic can be found everywhere nowadays, HIS mother never even heard of it. Tony pops back in, quasi-apologizing that he has to go for something work related, saying goodbye to Hugh which in itself kinda feels like its own apology: he must know how desperate Hugh is for another male to talk to at these events, rather than forever being picked at by Mary. AJ asks to be excused too and Mary tells him he can't, causing Carmela to override her more to remind everybody this is her house and not Mary's. The Sunday Dinners that had become a port in a storm and a sign of life in the now too big house are already beginning to grate: Tony isn't sticking around, others aren't able to make it and as much as she loves her parents and is glad they're a more common sight nowadays it comes with its own baggage. With Tony and AJ gone, Mary takes the chance to complain about Tony's attitude, dismissing Hugh's excuse that he's probably just worried about Junior by reminding him that Tony and Junior went a year without speaking. Carmela, not all that enthusiastically, has to support her husband and brings up that she and him actually attended his therapy sessions together. On that front at least Mary and Hugh are in agreement, sharing a look: therapy? They're clearly not fans. Mary, unable to help herself, brings up Angelo Stamfa, somebody that Carmela dated back in High School and who clearly wanted to marry her... and now he runs a chain of drugstores! Carmela can't believe it, they're dredging up poo poo about her high school boyfriends now? She's been dealing with Meadow's bouts of regression recently but now she finds herself in a similar boat, as alone at the table with her parents she finds herself in the uncomfortable and unwelcome position of being the "kid" and not willing to put up with it. She collects Tony and AJ's plates and storms out to clean up. Mary knows that she's screwed up, but she can't bring herself to apologize, instead bringing her own plate into the kitchen while insisting that Carmela is blowing it all out of proportion. Carmela won't let her get away with that though, and she can't stand that they're (well, Mary) is talking poo poo about Tony/looking down on him when they've taken advantage of his status as well. She reminds them that big contracting jobs Hugh has enjoyed in the past came via Tony's influence, something he denies because he was apparently unaware, Carmela sarcastically asking if he really thought the other contractors just forgot to put bids in? Hugh walks out in a huff, while Mary reminds Carmela that "the waters part for you wherever you go". That just furthers Carmela's point, as she notes with great offense that she EARNS it, while they get a free pass simply by being her parents. There is a lot going on with Carmela, as we'll see throughout the episode, but in this scene we can pretty clearly see the conflicting desires in her head. She enjoys the prestige and luxury that comes with being Tony's wife, but she hates how secondary she feels to his "work". She likes to feel superior to others, but hates how reliant she is on Tony for everything. She needs to bring others down for daring to express thoughts she might secretly agree with, but has to put herself up above them at the same time. In other words, she's miserable, she knows something isn't right, and she doesn't want to face up to it when she can find another target for her negative emotions.   Furio and Silvio are counting money when Tony arrives, calm and in no hurry despite the "trouble", did he just want out of dinner? Walking to his desk, he's startled by sudden music and singing coming from a Big Mouth Billy Bass. At first he thinks it is cute, enjoying the kitsch value . But when it turns to look directly at him, singing,"Take me to the water!", he flashes back to his fever dream realization of Pussy being a rat. Upset, he asks where it came from, apparently Georgie brought it in. Picking it up, he walks out to the bar and begins ranting at a confused Georgie that this is a place of business, then proceeds to prove what a professional environment this is by bashing Georgie - still wearing an eyepatch from Ralphie's "accident" - over the head. This time the strippers don't freeze up in shock, just kind of swaying away on the stage, apparently used to this type of thing now. A middle-aged woman sits in a waiting room, framed between the legs of a nude statue she can't help staring at. Echoing the first scene of the first episode of the first season, now it is Carmela sitting awkwardly in Melfi's waiting room. The weekend is over, but Tony's mood clearly hasn't improved since bashing Georgie and he has refused to come to therapy today, leaving Carmela in the unhappy position of coming along alone anyway rather than let the session go to waste. It's odd that Melfi agreed to this, after all she can't really make judgements on Tony's treatment based on secondhand reports from a clearly biased source, and Carmela really shouldn't be able to make use of this for her own therapy. So instead they sit in her office, Carmela making forced small-talk - she loves the paintings that Tony was convinced were special psychological tricks - that becomes more and more passive aggressive about Melfi's "failure" to fix Tony. She had hoped that with Livia's death, Tony's mood swings might improve, but nothing has changed and while she might be "only" the patient's wife she would like to see Melfi live with that. The implication being, of course, that Carmela isn't to blame for not being a "good" wife, something she clearly feels conflicted about, simultaneously blaming herself, blaming Tony, even blaming Melfi. Finally she just comes right out and admits that Tony's "excuse" is bullshit, that he just refused to come today by grunting,"gently caress that poo poo" when Carmela brought it up. Melfi acknowledges he can get like this when they hit areas that make him confront difficult issues, and brings up how broken up he was by the recent death of a young employee in a garbage compactor. Carmela seems to take a kind of savage glee in rubbing Melfi's face in the fact that she's fooling herself if she believes that story, reminding her that Tony never said anything about a compactor and pointing out that Tony's office is generally a strip club rather than a sanitation company. But in doing so, she's again confronted with the reality of her own complicity in Tony's life and it all becomes a bit much, and she breaks down in tears. Melfi offers her a tissue, then something more helpful: the phone number of another psychiatrist (a former teacher of Melfi's) that Carmela can go and see for herself, since Melfi wouldn't be able to treat her. Carmela, regaining a measure of control, insists that she just needed to vent a little but is fine... but she takes the number with her. Junior and Bobby visit with Dr. Kennedy, admiring the photos on the wall of children in a small Samoan village he spent a month in: exactly the kind of demonstrative, self-aggrandizing display of "humility" you'd expect from his type. They're here for the follow-up to Junior's surgery, now that the pull pathology and OP reports are in, and Kennedy quickly rushes through admitting that it's possible "we" didn't get all the malignant cells. Junior is upset but Kennedy keeps pushing on, during a rough diagram he barely shows to Junior, more interested in offering his solution of more surgery rather than admit that he was too conservative in how much he cut out of Junior in the first place. Arguably this was to reduce the level of stress on Junior's body, but I'd argue it was more to show off just how skilled he was. Junior feels sick, he thought this was behind him, that the wonder doctor had saved him from his cancer. He tells Kennedy not to blame himself, but is obviously distressed as having to undergo another procedure. Kennedy is already moving on though, missing the sarcasm in Junior's voice when he tells him not to let him keep him. He scheduled him to come in Monday for a Tuesday morning surgery, with Bobby's only question to ask when Junior can go back to a regular diet. Junior is all charm with Kennedy, saying he doesn't have any concerns with following Kennedy's instructions (he'd poo poo on the deck of the Queen Mary if Kennedy asked!), but once in the car he's furious... with Bobby. He brought him along to ask questions he might not have thought about, but he just stood dumb and the only thing he asked about was Junior's diet?   Carmela is daydreaming at the supermarket, still despondent as she looks blankly at the meat section. Angie Bonpensiero walks by, noticing Carmela but explicitly not approaching her, just making sure she's in a position where SHE will be seen. When Carmela finally moves on, she notices Angie and approaches, all smiles and hugs between the two of them though Angie is quick to "naturally" note that she has to save every penny nowadays. Carmela invites her to come to dinner since it's just her and Tony in the house at the moment, and jokes that if they're lucky Tony won't show up. She immediately realizes how crass a statement that is given Angie's situation and apologizes. Angie begs off, she needs to be home for her dog, which is the only thing she has left to remember Pussy by, oh and by the way the dog also happens to need an operation which costs $1200 and where is she gonna get that? She casually drops in that Tony helps her out with cash for which she is grateful, a fact that is clearly news to Carmela, who simply offers her sympathies. But she probably can't help but think about how Melfi deluded herself about the "young man" who recently died, is Carmela doing the same believing Tony's story about Pussy being in Witness Protection? Adriana, retired now, sits at home watching tv when a well-dressed Christopher arrives with two garbage bags full of Jimmy Choo shoes, freebies he grabbed from a recent heist by the Berezovsky Brothers of a shipment from Milan down at the piers. She is over the moon as he presents box after box to her then tumbles more out on the floor as she bounces about excitedly on the couch. She gushes over them... until she realizes he got her the wrong size, size 10s instead of her 8 1/2s. He ponders why he thought 10 (she'd like to know too!) but promises her he'll replace them tomorrow with the correct size. Slightly put out by the mistake but still thrilled by the gift, she approaches him buzzing about all the free stuff they get now that he is "in". He agrees he's onto a good thing, the only downside being Paulie, though he freely admits to Adriana that he IS holding back a full share from Paulie whose major complaint is that Christopher is... holding back a full share! They begin making out as she climbs onto his lap, repeating their now standard exchange of,"I love you, baby," and "You better." The passion clearly isn't present in Tony and Carmela's life, she sits brooding at the table as Tony arrives home late and she complains that he didn't call and now his dinner is cold. Like Mary, he doesn't apologize, though he does admit to being inconsiderate but tries to turn it into a joke. He compliments her on the meal, saying it is delicious even cold, but she takes no joy from the compliment, just "asking" if she can safely assume he won't be joining her tomorrow to have lunch with Meadow's Dean at Columbia. He agrees he won't be there, certain that all he wants is donations on top of the 40k a year they're already paying for her education. Carmela is irritated, more so when he jokes that he DOESN'T want their kids to surpass them (though he admits Meadow already did by the time she was 14) but doesn't push him further. Instead she changes the subject to Angie, which immediately puts Tony's guard up. His unease turns to humor when she mentions Angie's dog is sick, he always thought it was kind of ridiculous, but he gets hostile when Carmela mentions her needing money for an operation. Lashing out, he says she could take it up with Pussy if he was still around, who selfishly left her holding the bag, aided by FBI "family value loving" cocksuckers who didn't have any problem leaving her behind when they took him into Witness Protection. His rage is too clearly covering up something else, Carmela no longer believes Pussy is in the program (if she ever did in the first place), Angie's comment about Tony giving her money killed that. Tony insists this is the case though, growling he doesn't want to hear anything about Pussy or "his ungrateful oval office wife" ever again. Quietly, Carmela asks him to repeat what he just called Angie and, realizing he's gone too far, Tony just goes back to scoffing down his cold meal and keeping his mouth shut.   In post-coital bliss, Christopher and Adriana chat happily about their sex lives prior to their relationship, making a bit of a game of it. Christopher's oldest was the mother of Chuckie Periccio, who he banged frequently over the course of a summer. She giggles at the thought, and now it is her turn: who was the most famous person she ever had sex with? Giggling, she tells about the time she went to see Penn and Teller in Atlantic City, and blew Penn (the big one) in the toilet when he followed her in. Suddenly Christopher is disgusted, knocking her off the bed and yelling at her. It's a typical double-standard, Christopher was actually amused by the thought she might have had sex with both, but the fact she blew one in a bathroom suddenly re-contextualizes her from healthy young woman to "lowlife oval office whore" in his mind. Their potential argument is derailed though by a sudden knocking at the door, Paulie and Patsy have shown up. They're here to check the apartment to make sure Christopher doesn't have sound recording equipment ala Pussy, supposedly part of the new rules. Any trepidation Patsy might have felt is gone after Christopher's smartass comment at the Bing, and he happily packs up boxes of the shoes when Paulie decides to take his "taste" from Christopher for this heist directly, since his own girlfriend is a size 10. Adriana is pissed, she's still gonna get her 8 1/2s right? Christopher isn't sure, now he'll have to pay for them out of pocket, and he complains to her that this is the kind of poo poo he has to go through now since being Made. They sit on the couch, their argument forgotten, and a disgusted Christopher spots Paulie rifling through the underwear drawer and sniffing a pair of Adriana's panties. Carmela comes to Columbia for her lunch with the Dean, stopping by first at Meadow's dorm. She knocks at the door but there is no answer, so she makes her way wearily down to the corridor and settles in a chair to wait along with landry and some ziti. Alone with her thoughts, she looks miserable, watching several male visitors pop into one of Meadow's neighboring dorm-rooms and probably thinking about whether Meadow has similar visits. Meadow's door opens and she steps out in a daze in her gown, she heard the knocking but thought it was another neighbor, Vanessa. Carmela is surprised (and not pleased) that Meadow was asleep so deep into the day, but she doesn't have a class until 2pm. She perks up to hear there is ziti, and claims the stink of cigarettes comes from Caitlin who isn't there to defend herself. Carmela, eager as always to dive shallowly into a range of subjects so she'll have something to discuss over dinner, shows Meadow a flier she was handed on the CIA and the cultural cold war and picks up one of Meadow's textbooks: The Theory of the Leisure Class, commenting that it looks interesting. Meadow mutters that they've moved past that, though she at least doesn't raise that the book's critiques of conspicuous consumption/leisure apply pretty strongly to Carmela and Tony. She asks about Caitlin but Meadow grunts that she doesn't want to talk about this now, a line that Carmela takes some pleasure in mirroring back at her when she reveals that she's meeting with the Dean for lunch. She admits that he probably just wants to talk about a donation, causing Meadow to grunt that it's corrupt. Carmela asks her how she's doing after her breakup with Noah, and doesn't accept Meadow's bullshit that it was all Tony's fault that they couldn't stay together. She points out that Meadow kept seeing him long after Noah met Tony, and delivers an incredible burn when Meadow tries to dazzle her with her own inch-deep psychological profiling, asking if she's just parroting whatever last night's reading assignment was. Carmela is in a BAAAAAAD mood and her family isn't helping, and it's nice that she gets to actually score a shot of her own in. She even gives Meadow a shot to get her own back, telling her to dish out her theory about her parents' relationship, but Meadow sullenly goes back to eating the ziti her mother brought her (along with her laundry), still caught in the awkward between phase of being an adult who feels like a kid around their mother.   Junior prepares a meal at home, a far cry from the grilled cheese he got to have a couple episodes back. It's tuna, avocado and milk turned into a drink in a blender, his stomach can't handle any solids for at least a couple of weeks. Taking the lid off to add some more milk, he forgets to put it back on and so when he turns the blender on it blasts meaty milk over the counter and onto himself. He sobs in misery at his situation, just as Tony arrives via the basement, alarmed to see this mess. Junior complains he doesn't need to end up in a jailhouse hospital so Tony better have not let any US Marshals see him coming in. Tony assures him there is nobody watching the house and he came through the usual way, but where is Bobby? Junior sent him to get more pepto for his stomach, and in his current state he doesn't appreciate Tony telling him he looks healthier, complaining that if he's gonna lie tell him there's a broad in the car waiting to lick his balls. "You want that, it's a phone call away!" Tony assures him, bringing him a glass of the disgusting looking concoction. Junior asks him about the recent troubles he's had with Ralphie Cifaretto, but Tony says Junior has enough on his mind without worrying about that. He asks how long till Junior can eat real food again, and finds out for the first time that Tony is actually set to go back in for amended surgery. This confuses him, Kennedy told him everything was fine, and he suggests that Junior seek a second opinion. Not keen to go under the knife again, Junior is even less keen to take chemo, but when Tony gently cajoles him to at least let him set up a meeting with somebody via Dr. Cusamano, he agrees... on the proviso that Tony comes with him to ask questions. He throws a significant look Bobby's way after saying this, Bobby having returned and making a minimal effort to clean up the milk on the counter. Tony gives Junior an affectionate kiss on the head as he leaves, amused that Junior's appreciation of Dr. Kennedy is largely based on the fact he's named after JFK. Once he's gone, Junior considers Tony's suggestion, and Bobby agrees a second opinion can't hurt. But Junior thinks there might be an ulterior motive, and offers his paranoid thinking to Bobby,"Anthony is a oval office-hair away from owning all of Northern Jersey.... and I am that oval office-hair!" Carmela meets with Dean Ross, who is charming and sophisticated, impressing her by ordering their wine in Italian and sharing his family history/drawing a connection between them by revealing he is also Italian: his family name was Rosetti but 1000 years of a proud name was undone at Ellis Island when his grandparents arrived in America. He grew up in New Brunswick, not far from her, and they share their respective college educations: his at Rutgers, hers at Montclair State where she majored in Business Administration (though apparently, like Tony, she dropped out). Ross toasts to Meadow, saying she is a valuable addition to Columbia, which of course causes Carmela to light up for the first time all episode (even her smile/joke with Angie was forced). He acknowledges that he himself has never met Meadow, but he's spoken with her Professors who all believe she is insightful, hardworking, contributes to class discussions and pays attention. Carmela is relieved, she had good reason to think Meadow was struggling to adjust given her frequent return trips home, and she partially admits these fears to Ross who doesn't find it surprising: he'll have dealt with a lot of worried parents in his time. One thing he can reassure her on though is her fear about how much sleeping Meadow is doing, saying this is something ALL the new students end up doing. While Carmela is having this pleasant, civilized lunch at Columbia, Tony is smashing up the windows and lights on a car owned by the widow of the best friend he murdered! Having come around to see Angie determined to have a very polite but pointed conversation treating her with kid gloves, he spotted her Cadillac and now his calmness is masking utter rage. She rushes outside holding onto her dog, and quietly he explains that he was going to tell her that if she ever had a problem or needed money she could come to him, but she must leave Carmela out of it. But now? She's driving a Cadillac and is putting her hand out for MORE money? She can come to him in the future if she needs more money, but she better have a drat good reason, and he warns her that if she wants to blame anybody she can blame her fat gently caress husband for being the one who put her into this situation. Whether Angie knows Pussy is dead or believes the Witness Protection story is irrelevant, he's made his point. He pats her dog as she watches nervously, all genuine smiles for the dog before turning a darker look on Angie and noting the dog doesn't look at all sick to him. He walks away, and poor Angie who came so close to divorcing Pussy and getting out only for Carmela to guilt her into staying is left trembling in fear on her lawn, menaced by the man she must at least suspect killed her husband. She'll need to get that car fixed too, by the way. Maybe she could head down to her deceased husband's body shop.... Carmela and Ross discuss his children over lunch, and there is something so sad about the look on her face and the yearning in her voice when she discovers that he, his wife and their children all regularly go out kayaking together on the Hudson River: the close family unit she wants so much. With the pleasantries out of the way he shifts to the real reason he asked her to come out: as she and Tony suspected, he wants them to donate money. He shows a picture of the new student center the university is building, and a black wall reserved for those who donate $50,000 or more. He and the "Giving Committee" worked out that the Sopranos could probably donate this amount, based on their prior donations to Verbum Dei. He admits that it is his job to know this kind of information, and hands her an info pack that contains the tax benefits of donations. She says she'll have to discuss this with Tony, of course, something he fully accepts, but it is also clear to her that he expects this donation from them, and of course being Carmela she will immediately be thinking that it might positively affect Meadow's grades/prospects if they do... and that it might negatively affect them if they don't. It wouldn't, of course, but just like when she forced herself on Jeannie's sister for an ultimately useless letter of recommendation, Carmela NEEDS to feel like she still has some level of importance/control over her daughter's future. Plus, of course, she feels like this is the way the world works, because it is the way HER world works. You pay money, you get the things you want, and everybody always has their hands out wanting more.   At home that evening in bed, Tony is in disbelief at the balls of asking for 50k as a "donation", claiming that the "Jew Pricks" are holding Meadow hostage for the money. When Carmela points out Ross is Italian, Tony simply shrugs that the Italians (himself included) are simply Jews with better food. Carmela knows that histrionics won't do any good and does her best to remain calm and detached, countering Tony's arguments that they gave 5k a year at Verbum Dei and that should be plenty by noting this is college and that would be a slap in the face. Tony goes into his pockets and pulls out a big roll of bills, counting out $5000 without putting a significant dent in the roll, then tossing it onto Carmela's side of the bed and telling her to filter that through her household account and pay the University, but that's it, not a penny more. Carmela doesn't argue with him as he leaves the room, but this battle is far from over, she's determined to get the cash she is convinced will allow HER to "save" her highly praised daughter's college education. The next day, Tony heads into New York with Junior to get his second opinion, this time from Dr Mehta at Sloan Kettering. The doctor recommends chemotherapy, which of course was the last thing Junior wanted. The chemotherapy would be intended to prevent a second surgery, but it can't guarantee it, which aggravates Junior more: he'd have to go through the hell of chemo and STILL get cut open anyway? The doctor admits that Dr. Kennedy is an excellent surgeon and this is a viable option for treatment, but does offer another solution to get everybody on the same page: a tumor board. That's a special meeting of the Chief of Oncology, Pathologists and Specialists who will review the case independent of Junior then present a recommendation to him... but he will still be the one who gets to choose exactly which way he wants to go. Tony likes that idea, it will allow the doctors to squabble among themselves but let Junior still have a say in his destiny. They leave the meeting and Tony is annoyed that Junior is still putting so much stock in what Kennedy has to say, just because of his name. He points out the bad relationship between Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa and the Teamsters, but Junior corrects him: that was Robert Kennedy, not JFK! The next day, Carmela stands outside smoking, not something she usually does, but she's stressed out and tense and making a tough decision. She's been in deep funk and struggling her way through with little support from her family - particularly Tony - and the 5k counter to the 50k she was sure they needed pushed her over the edge. So she called the number that Melfi gave her, Dr. Krakower, and now takes his return call and makes an appointment to see him. She hangs up as Tony comes walking outside in his bathrobe, initially playfully needling her about her smoking before he reveals what he came out for. She bought juice with too much pulp! Sure he likes pulp, but not too much, he only likes SOME pulp. After all the poo poo she's quietly put up with, this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. She tosses the phone at him, causing it to shatter when it hits the driveway. He's completely bewildered, what the gently caress was that for? She sneers at him but then immediately brightens up when she sees a car pulling into the driveway: AJ is home from DC! She rushes over and gives him a big kiss in front of his friends, gleefully asking if he missed her since she figured out it was the longest they have ever been apart from each other. He offers a non-committal sure as his friends drive away, spotting the broken phone on the driveway and asking who dropped it. Tony comes over and asks how his trip went, and AJ offers the highest endorsement possible: they had Playstation 2 in the hotel! Other than that, he seems at a loss to think of anything else worthy to mention. Tony is disappointed, but Carmela continues to beam after her baby boy as he heads inside... and then it's just her and Tony again and her face falls flat. He wants to know what the problem is, so she lets him know: He gives all that money to Angie and the "other widows" he has on his payroll, but he won't give 50k to Meadow's college to make sure she is "protected"? Note the use of the word "widows" - she doesn't buy into that Witness Protection story at all and he doesn't pretend otherwise with her, simply saying that this is a business expense. But he still refuses to pay the 50k, saying he knows too much about extortion to see this as anything else. He gets no relief at work though, where a furious Christopher complains about Paulie taking things too far. The patdowns are bad but he can deal with those, but coming to his apartment? Embarrassing him in front of Adriana? Tony thinks that's all pretty funny, but the laughter stops when he hears about Paulie sniffing her panties. Taken aback, he takes his time before agreeing that Paulie can be quirky, but Christopher needs to acknowledge that he's moving up fast due to being Tony's nephew and that is going to cause tension with the others. He needs to be a big boy and suck it up.   At the tumor board, they discuss Junior's case, with Kennedy keen to put blame elsewhere, and grimacing at not being able to just shut any dissenting opinion down. There are concerns about Junior's blood pressure, which fell dangerously low during the initial surgery, but Kennedy notes the incision is still fresh which will cut down on the amount of time needed for the surgery. To his credit, arrogant douchebag he might be, but he points out that the chemo doesn't have a great record with this specific type of cancer. But when he learns Dr Mehta is involved after Junior got a second opinion, he loses all interest in performing the surgery again. As far as he is concerned, that is that, his dealings with Junior Soprano are finished. So it is that Junior finds himself being strapped up to a chemo machine by the nurse, Collins (Tony Hale!), miserable and wanting Dr. Kennedy, left alone for twenty minutes as the drugs work their way into his system to hopefully kill off the last of the malignant cells. Tony meets with Paulie outside the Bada Bing to discuss his gleeful enforcement of the new "rules" for newly Made guys (is Eugene getting this level of poo poo? Probably not). Tony agrees with Paulie that maybe he goes too easy on Christopher, and Paulie can't deny that if his own nephew wasn't dead he'd probably have a soft spot for him too. But the friendliness disappears as Tony, one hand clutching Paulie's shoulder just a little too tight, asks if he sniffed Adriana's panties. Paulie is outraged, not that he got caught, but that Christopher is such a baby that he would complain about it! He refuses to apologize, even when Tony points out that Adriana isn't "just" some girl but Christopher's fiance. In typical Paulie logic, he gives his own twisted concept of what is appropriate:  Junior's treatment continues, as do the side effects. Bobby supports him as he vomits out the contents of his stomach into the toilet, then helps him back into the living room where Tony is waiting. He'd brought a milkshake for Junior to enjoy as a treat, and has been sitting uneasily listening to his Uncle puking this whole time. Settling down on the couch, he says its all Tony's fault for pushing him towards the chemo instead of another surgery, he's been throwing up every single day since he started. He should have listened to Kennedy, who hasn't been in touch with him since he started the treatment. He calls, he sends gifts, he even sent Bobby to see him but he couldn't even get past reception. Tony is suspicious, no contact at all? He tries the number himself as Junior sighs over having to do this for three more weeks, leaving his own very polite message asking Kennedy to call him anytime, day or night. As he hangs up, Bobby helps Junior rush back to the toilet, ready to throw up again. Paulie deals with the Christopher situation in his own unique way, tailing him one day to a motel where Christopher has just banged what looks very much like a hooker. Paulie pulls up behind his car, blocking him in, and demands he get into the car with him. Christopher insists this was no hooker, or rather that he didn't pay for the sex, and Paulie warns him that if he could follow Christopher, then Adriana could too. Christopher is pissed, is there some "rule" about who he fucks too? He asks if he's come for more shoes or something and Paulie admits that he hosed up there, it turns out his girlfriend wasn't a size 10 after all. They both muse for a moment, trying to figure out how they got their girlfriends' sizes wrong, before Paulie warns him they'll have a problem if Christopher ever goes whining to Tony again. With that out of the way, he reaches into the backseat and Christopher reaches for his ankle holster, prepared for the worst. But this is Paulie, weird Paulie, who is capable of laying out threats to your life one second and then thinking you can go back to being best friends the next. What he pulls out of the backseat is another Big Mouth Billy Bass, suggesting they set it up in the backroom of the Bing, as apparently neither of them heard what happened to Georgie. The fish sings YMCA, and the two Made Men who have major personal problems with each other sit there giggling like idiots in the parking lot of a cheap motel, watching a plastic fish sing on a plaque, all their problems momentarily forgotten. If Christopher had any sense of self-awareness, he'd look at Paulie sitting across from him and see his own inevitable future. Dr. Kennedy enjoys a relaxing day on the golf course suddenly spoiled as Tony and Furio come zooming in on a golf cart and almost run him over as they swing to a stop in front of him. Tony is big smiles and a giftwrapped titanium club, ignoring Kennedy's protests that he has to make an appointment and see him in his office, talking past him about how much Junior respects him because of his name, and how he's started to believe he is being punished for going against him. The entire time, Furio is just there, glowering, making no pretense as to his hostility and complete contempt for Kennedy. Tony pushes the titanium club on him, he's already got one and "Mr. Williams" (Furio) doesn't play. "Stupid-ah loving game" agrees Furio, still staring a hole through Kennedy. Kennedy, backed up against the water trap, waves off the rest of his group as they approach warily, trying his best to keep his composure as he slips one foot into the water as he stumbles back from the very approaching, extremely intimidating Tony and Furio, the latter of whom informs him that there are worse things that can happen to a person than cancer. Kennedy, all arrogance stripped from him, meekly gets out that he's just Junior's surgeon, that's all. Tony gives "Mr Williams" a look, who informs Kennedy he has a bee on his hat and helpfully gets it off... by smacking Kennedy on the side of the head and knocking his cap into the water. Tony isn't smiling now as he tells Kennedy to pay Junior the respect he deserves and return his calls. Kennedy acquiesces, pulling out his Dictaphone to leave a memo for his Secretary to schedule Junior in for an appointment, but Tony knocks that out of his hand too, telling HIM to just remember it.   A tearful Carmela meets with Dr. Krakower, in a scene that delivers one of the heaviest gut-punches to a character in a series infamous for them. Krakower, old and fed up with modern psychiatry, listens to Carmela's problems and then unlike Melfi or Elliot or any other therapist we've seen, gives her some cold, hard facts to deal with. No saint himself (his disparaging comments on ethnic pride parades don't endear him), he does have a very fixed moral code that he doesn't shake from. He refuses to let Carmela get away with hypocritical statements or conflicting viewpoints. Instead he tells her that she is an accomplice to Tony Soprano's criminal enterprise, and when she protests his only "softening" is to agree that a better term is an enabler. After an episode full of Carmela ripping into others for having a go at Tony while holding herself above them as having "earned" her luxuries/privileges, she meets this man who makes it as clear as it is possible that she is a bad person. She is a horrible person. She benefits from crime, from robbery, extortion, assault and murder. He dismisses her tearful passing of the buck that Father Intintola told her she had to stay in the marriage to make Tony a better person, asking how that has worked out for her? He dismisses her laughably prejudiced claim that as a Jew he can't understand the sanctity of marriage that Catholics feel. When she tries to turn his savagely honest advice into bullshit about setting boundaries and distancing herself from Tony's criminal activities, he won't let her get away with it. He said no such thing, he told her that the ONLY way to fix her current problems is to divorce Tony, to leave all her material wealth behind, to take nothing but the children (what is left of them) and to make a complete break from him. If she's worried about Tony? Then have him turn himself in and go to prison and read Crime and Punishment everyday and serve his time for the many crimes he has committed. There is no out, no excuse, no setting boundaries or laying ground rules. Just sever. Their marriage is rotten, Tony is rotten, and she is rotten for being a completely conscious part of it all. He doesn't even give her the grace of talking about "the business" or "the life" of "The Family", he just straight up says the Mafia. When he's done breaking her down, of hitting her over and over again with the harsh reality of her own life, he tells her not for the first time that he won't be taking money for this session. Not out of any sense of connection with her, but because he refuses to take blood money, and so should she. She can't take the money to set up an apartment and hire a lawyer etc, she just has to make a clean break. Knowing that she will probably not follow anything he has told her but satisfied (to the point of smugness) to have told her exactly what he thinks, he hits her with the final gut-punch. Dr. Krakower posted:One thing you can never say: That you haven't been told. Junior returns for another session, still miserable as RN Collins hooks him up to the chemo machine. But he instantly brightens when Dr. Kennedy arrives out of nowhere to check up on his patient. Kennedy insists that this is the best option for him, that RN Collins is exactly who he'd want hooking him up if he was in this situation. He hands over a card with his home number, telling Junior he needs to stay strong but if he ever needs anything he can call him at home. Junior is over the moon, a huge smile on his face, he loved JFK and now his namesake has proved to be the hero Junior wanted him to be as well. Tony returns home and is surprised to see Carmela lying on the couch wrapped in a blanket, sleeping in the middle of the day. Is she sick? Is she depressed? Carmela mutters back that she wanted to try sleeping all day like everybody else in the family, and being depressed is Tony's "job", not hers. Clearly understanding something is wrong, Tony sits across from her, scratches his head, and tries to figure out the best way to handle this. Using his own experience as a guide, he asks if she would maybe want to go to her own therapy? Carmela, who has of course just come from her first and last therapy session, dismisses the idea, she simply doesn't have the time... though she'll still go to Tony's with him if he likes (Melfi doesn't hit you with hard truths, Melfi lets you pass the buck). Tony tells her they'll do whatever she thinks is best, which is a good time for her to bring up that the Dean called. Tony has been walking on eggshells but not he's on the defensive again, still determined not to get Columbia get one over on him, he won't pay the 50k. Except, Carmela tells him from her muffled blanket cocoon, she already said they'd pay the 50k. Tony is outraged, he gave her 5, maybe he could go up to 10 or 15k maximum but no way will he do 50. Edie Falco won an Emmy for this episode, a gripping performance that was a little less showy by comparison to Lorraine Bracco's in Employee of the Month. The therapy scene was incredible, and her overall performance through the episode is really good, but it's in the following scene that she truly shines. Carmela, who was told in no uncertain terms that she must never spend another dollar of Tony's blood money, turns for the first time to look directly at him. She's made the decision Krakower probably knew she was always going to make, but to her this "sacrifice" of her integrity must be made to be "worth it". So she looks him dead in the eye and tells him, he's gotta do something nice for her today. This is what she wants, and she won't let him hold firm at 10. They look each other in the eye and Tony blinks first, figuring it is worth it if only to shake her out of this mood and let him go back to his life of doing whatever the gently caress he wants whenever he wants to. So he agrees, then suggests they go out for dinner and give her the night off from cooking. As Nilf Lofgren's Black Books plays, Carmela silently gets up and heads upstairs followed by Tony. She can't claim she was never told, but she's consciously reaffirmed the decision she made a long time ago: she'll enable Tony in all his criminal acts, and in return for this staining of her soul she'll get all the luxuries and benefits that go with it.   After all, she's earned it. 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 07:42 on Dec 12, 2019 |
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Jun 9, 2019 14:55
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This is a really good episode I think and thanks for another great write up. I like it as a build up, related to Carm, to the "you act like butter wouldn't melt in your mouth" speech that comes much later and is one of my favorite scenes Took me forever to figure out that the doctor was Glen from Raising Arizona.
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Jun 9, 2019 18:37
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I'd forgotten Falco won her Emmy for this episode, but it's so well deserved. Stellar write-up. Much less seriously, friends and I joke to this day about how just flat-out delighted everybody seems to find Big Mouth Billy Bass hilarious beyond measure when normal folks had finished being charmed by the end of the first commercial.
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Jun 9, 2019 19:08
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I guess maybe it's different now, or I've never paid close enough attention, but do people win emmys/golden globes for specific episodes? I always just thought they win it for the season. I can't remember hearing episode titles during the award show.
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Jun 10, 2019 03:23
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I may be wrong, but I think the way it works is that submissions of a particular piece of work are sent in by the actor themselves (or maybe their agent or a showrunner etc?) for consideration for nomination. BiggerBoat posted:Took me forever to figure out that the doctor was Glen from Raising Arizona. It must kinda suck but also rule to know that a casting agent is gonna instantly think of you when they want to cast,"Arrogant douchebag."
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Jun 10, 2019 05:54
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| # ? Apr 29, 2024 15:20 |
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Jerusalem posted:It must kinda suck but also rule to know that a casting agent is gonna instantly think of you when they want to cast,"Arrogant douchebag." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJggSqCftgA&t=187s
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Jun 10, 2019 06:14
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