If I'm not mistaken, this was the first time they showed Paulie w/ the other wiseguys, after the revelations about his mom. I don't think it was any coincidence that he seemed flustered and not acting like himself. Chris got in his head during the poker hand and then won the pot from Paulie. Then- the look that Chris gave him spoke volumes. It was the same look that Chris gave Eugene, after Eugene questioned his authority regarding the hit on Teddy. Almost like- you are lower me and you know it.

Chris then stated that he had one the last several games. This didn't stick out to me, but Tony specifically looked up at him with a proud look on his face.

I haven't seen Chris appear this powerful in front of the older members of the family. I think symbolically, Chris jumped over Paulie in the pecking order right here. His star continues to rise, not only w/ Tony but with everyone else as well and the card game came to indicate this. Any thoughts one way or another???

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While cordial/friendly, Chris and paulie have always had animosity. Chris towards Paulie because he gets treated like a kid. Paulie towards Chris because he thinks he gets special treatment. Its just this same playful/brewing animosity we've seen for several seasons.
As far as T's smirk it just looked like he was enjoying Chris busting Paulies balls as much as he would have enjoyed it the other way around. He's been cooped up in that house with Carm for a month as just happy to be with the boys for a minute.

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yepp, chris has always been with tony for family.cant really remember the card scene but i take it he just treats him as he should have treated AJ, like his son or something like that.

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I fully agree with Hagens Bing.

Chris has never been this powerful and they showed that by pointing out the changed relation between Paulie and him.

Also in the church scene when they talk about Johnny Sacks doughters name Chris is shown as the superior in their relationship, the one who makes the jokes, when before this had mostly been Paulie.

Silvios position is somewhat weakened too after his asthma thing and you can see how subservient he is to Tony now after his short unfortunate fling with the boss's seat.



The only one who seems stronger than ever is Christopher. His whole attitude and demeanour has changed, he is more assertive and self-confident but just as cocky as before.

Tony has noticed this developement and he is proud of Chris as we could see by that look he gave him at the card game.


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That's interesting VincentVegaLondon. My interpretation of Tony's expression at the card game was that he was happy to be back with the guys.

Jtod

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I think the look from Tony was his enjoyment about being around the guys, I think Chris beating Paulie in the card game kind of shows him becoming more powerful, but I think it has a lot more to do with Chris THINKING he's more powerful. I think this week is setting Chrissy up for a hard fall at the hands of Tony or some other entitiy. He keeps expressing his opinions to Tony about every little thing "I think it's a pussy ass move," (The hit on Rusty) "I'm going to have to agree with Phil on this one," (Johnny being weak, and a threat to turn). Each time Tony showed his dislike for this behavior, and I think this has a lot to do with why Tony did what he did to the body guard. I think Chrissy is clearly more powerful than before (He's a caporegime now), but I think this is all going to be a downfall for Chrissy, and not anything positive about him taking the reigns when it comes time.

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I noticed that look also.....

Paulie got a lot going on inside his mind right now....he is a hothead plus he is not thinking reasonably. Chris and Paulie have history throughout the series of moments where they both have conflicts with each other.....they probably will again.....

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Chris is a captain now. When he was simply a soldier in Paulie's crew, Paulie lorded it over him. Sniffing Ade's panties, etc. But Paulie was always jealous of the family ties between Chris and Tony. It was inevitable Chris would rise above him.

<span style="font-size:xx-small;">"But you know, I'm gaining weight the right way. I'm drinking beer".</span>
<span style="font-size:xx-small;">Johnny Damon</span>
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Chris is more powerful...there's no more erratic behavior regarding drugs, booze, etc. However, he still makes rash comments like agreeing with Phil at the wedding. But that may not be as rash as it seems...agreeing with Phil while Johnny Sac is out of commission for the forseeable future may be a smart move. Perhaps he's positioning himself for a regime change in the future. I have always believed that Chris will be the one to take Tony out in the end. He's rising fast and despite the family connection, has a lot of problems with Tony. The car accident with Adriana, the "go have a drink already" comment, etc.

The question is, is he smart enough? He's shown brains before, but his discipline is questionable. I hope that all of what was mentioned in the above posts is a sign that he's going to buckle down and make some moves this season. Because even though he said it in a stupid way, he was right about the hit on Rusty being a bad idea.

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Meh... some good points about Chris.

Here's the thing though - Chris' character has actually been a very dissapointing one for me for soooo long now. Why? b/c the writers are so inconsistent with him... One episode Chris is very mature, smart, calculating, decisive, authorotative, and so on. And yet the next episode, they bring him right back down to being stupid, immature, off-the-handle, etc.

They've done thiis so many times for so long now. He's generally immature, so lemme think of the times I can remember (off the top of my head, mind you) where he seems to have changed: His behaviour when Jackie Jr. was robbing the card game, how he dealt with the almost-hit on J Sak, his behaviour in general around the Adriana-Tony fling thing, his maturity in dealing with JT (before this season), the list goes on and on...

Part of this may be passed off on his immaturity, or the fact that he's indulged, but the fact remains (besides, isn't Chris in his early-to-mid 30's by now)... I think whatever we say about Chris from this episode can very easily be turned around at the time of the next episode.

As specifically for the look... I think if anything, it just shows Chris' perceived superiority over Paulie - not the actual thing. Paulie and Chris are very similar, but Chris has a stupid, base fearless-ness that Paulie doesn't have (I don't think we've seen anything to suggest so anyway) - and on top of that, I'm positive Chris isn't as selfish as Paulie (as selfish as he is), both are +'s for Paulie here.

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