Just to clarify something, AJ got the Shelby HP numbers wrong and the cars have NOT been built yet, therefore it's impossible that his "friend at campus" owns one. The new 2007 Shelby GT 500 has 475+ HP and 0 have been built to date. Job One (the date when Ford starts building these magnificent machines) is in early June. Nobody owns these cars yet. Either AJ saw a 2005-06 Mustang GT and mistook it for a Shelby or it's a factual error on the part of the writers (most likely). AJ did get one thing right, though - the new Shelby IS cheaper (and faster) than a BMW M3.

How do I know this? I'm a big Ford fan and I own an '05 Mustang GT (Black), a '67 Shelby GT 500 (passed down from my father, lime gold, 427 Tunnelport High-Rise motor), and I have an '07 Shelby on order. <img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/glasses.gif ALT="8)">

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interesting... i wonder if it was a mistake... must have been.

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Ah but unlike your dad, AJ's dad is a mafia boss, so maybe could get him one. Make someone an offer.(etc...)

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wasn't sure where to post this ... on a third rewatch I feel compelled to mention 2 lines that for some reason annoy me in this episode

1) the alternate universe soprano kids on the voice mail message in the beginning when Tony/Kevin calls home: the 'stop picking your nose' line. I don't think there is any hidden meaning here (but who knows!) but it stands out because i seriously wince everytime I hear it. i guess alternate universe Tony has extremely dorky kids?

2) on a more serious note, the bellhop at the hotel after the monk slaps tony says 'i was trying to block your fall' (after they both fall over the luggage cart) doesn't that imply that he anticipated Tony would fall? how could he know that? i don't get it. it's a small moment and i have no clue if really meant to mean anything. it's just kind of a head scratcher to me.
maybe just meant to show how Tony has friends/loved ones who 'have his back' right now ? then of course later he falls and there's noone there to 'break the fall' ? i don't know.

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My impression at the time was that AJ, feeling a guilty conscience at his inability to step up with his family in a time of crisis, was grasping for an excuse to go in and talk to Meadow. Maybe he thought that feigning interest in hybrid cars might win him some kind of sympathy from his supposedly more refined older sister.

IMO, there's no way AJ is truly interested in driving a hybrid car.

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i was considering the hybrid as a metaphor for a witness programm and a new, cleaner life coming with it.or maybe even life without the father, or he is just trying to bring in new helpful ideas.

</p>Edited by: <A HREF=http://p098.ezboard.com/bthechaselounge ... rurusch</A> at: 3/24/06 3:28 pm

EdaMaria, totally with yoiu on the "picking your nose" thing. I think the intent was to "normalize" these kids (whatever that means) by showing that their idea of smarting off didn't involve lacerating jabs about their dad being a mob boss but something much more silly and "innocent".

The Omni bellhop, the Omni clerk, and the in-coma doctor all stood out to me because they were genuinely helpful and compassionate towards Tony when others around him weren't. The clerk at the Omni gives him a room after the Radisson clerk turned him down and wouldn't even consider extending his previous bill to include another night's stay. The bellhop breaks his fall after a monk slaps him. The ER doctor is kind, compassionate, and dedicated, in stark contrast to the doctors in the real hospital (one of whom never even shows up).

This is a good place to interject that I got a feeling the Omni clerk KNEW about his fraud -- that he wasn't really Finnerty. Tony was nervously fidgeting, his discomfort almost telegraphing the fraud. And the clerk stared intensely at him with a slight smile at the end.

This would certainly tie in with the "Omni" idea that, as I've argued elsewhere, suggests God: omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. And it also explains why Carmela thought he could explain away the fraud. Finnerty (Jesus) supplied him with a "visa" for this safe halfway house, and if he would only report the monks' assault to the police (explain to God his feelings of alienation at organized religion, difficulty cultivating faith?), they (God) would understand and help rectify the offense (alienation, lack of faith).

As for the fall down the Omni staircase, I think the significance is that it really caused no serious injury yet is ultimately what brought him to the kind ER doctor that diagnosed his "Alzheimer's" (his psychological and moral pathologies). The fall, along with the switched briefcase and the stay at the Omni, combined to create a divine intervention whereby Tony finally has to confront his identity crisis, his real desires and feelings, and the imperative that he reform his life. Either that or he can proceed to hell without passing go.

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Hello am new
Just wanted to say hell.
CANADA loves Sopranos
Laura

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Welcome Laura.....let your love flow!

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You think the error about the Shelby could mean the episode is in the future????

I'm still stuck on why Tony didn't go pick up the newspaper at the start of the season.

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