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3 - This episode is really not one of my favorites. I have never liked Chris's movie subplot, as many of you know. And this episode, while the writing is strong seems to be simply filler. What could have been a GREAT send-off to Chris's writing career at the end of "Big Girls Don't Cry". Instead we have a lame plot device of Adrianna saving Chris's work and suddenly Chris is thrust back into writing and producing mode. This isn't to say the episode doesn't have its moments. The interaction with the gun between John Favreau and Chris is great as well as the story in the pizza shop. However we are still stopped by the fact that Chris is involved in a movie...Why do we care? While we might care about Tony and the other characters. There is simply no reason to care if this movie gets made or not. And this is still a reoccuring problem today in the series.

The strongest point of this episode are the last 10 minutes. It is interesting to me that such a mediocre episode could have such an amazing finish. The sweeping camera as Chris sits on the step considering his future, is amazing and incredibly strong as he decides to walk back inside. Also the dinner with Chris, Ade, Tony, and Carm strikes me as realistic, due to the stress and guilt Chris is feeling over cheating on Ade. Really the strongest points of this episode are the scenes which show how each character's behavior effects them in the long run. So I have to ask myself, are the other scenes which are so poor (i.e. the guest spots by Garafolo, etc.) required in order to get this pay-off. I doubt it, the rest of the episode is simply poorly done and seems to simply be an excuse to include guest stars (which I have never appreciated in my Sopranos episodes). Regardless, I know this is some fans' favorite episode. Not mine, it is WAY low on the list, actually.

My main reason for blame is, once again, how little all the stories and plots affect Tony. It really just goes to show how Tony is the sun for the Sopranos universe. And when things are void of him, there is just little to care about.

A "9" for me. Great Sopranos episodes have this propulsive energy--it's one great scene after another, and this one burns through a ton: Chris and Favreau with the gun, Chris's story about the mobster and the acid, the whole confirmation plot ("Can't you be a good Catholic for 15 fuckin' minutes?") Pussy's wire scenes, etc, etc.)

A lot of people hate it when a story strays too far Tony, but the series as a whole is much richer for these side jaunts into the other characters. Plus, I just think it's a very entertaining story, and is one of the funniest episodes in Soprano's history--him calling for Janeane Garafalo "hey pucciach'!'" is up there for me, and there is something so unbelievably perfect about Chris carrying his script around in a Dunkin' Donuts bag. I swear that must be an Italian thing, because that is something I could have seen my father doing. Stupid details like this are thing only The Sopranos can nail.

I think the Christopher movie jaunts work on so many levels. For one they show the audience that wiseguys, especially the newer generation, are almost more enamored with movies about the life than the life itself. This is because they are an idealized, sensational take on a lifestyle that is now nowhere near as glamorous as it once was (if it ever was glamorous to begin with). These movies are a tribute to what Christopher thought his life would become when he joined up with Tony Soprano, but sadly is not.

They also show that with distractions like this, Christopher can never be a successor to Tony. And in last season, I believe that Christopher re-entered the movie business to spite Tony for sleeping with Adrianna (and having her killed). I also think that his re-entering the industry (especially with "Cleaver") is sort of a tribute to Adrianna, because of how supportive she was when he considered it.

Anyways, the last 10 minutes are very touching, and the point when I really think the second season truly began to gain some momentum. Great, great ending.

But, Tony didn't sleep with Adrianna. Or did I misunderstand your point. I mean he always suspected she was performing oral sex on him, but even that was proven wrong by the end of "Irregular Around the Margins". They did share a kiss, if I remember correctly. Unless I just completely missed a huge point of the series, Tony never slept with Ade.

garthman00 wrote:But, Tony didn't sleep with Adrianna. Or did I misunderstand your point. I mean he always suspected she was performing oral sex on him, but even that was proven wrong by the end of "Irregular Around the Margins". They did share a kiss, if I remember correctly. Unless I just completely missed a huge point of the series, Tony never slept with Ade.

No, I could have done a better job of explaining that point. I wrote that part from Chris's point of view. In his mind, there is no question Tony slept with Ade. And if I was Chris, I would assume that they slept together as well.

In my opinion, Chris believing that Tony slept with Ade, and Tony having her killed off are what drove him back to the movie business. He feels no loyalty to him anymore, so what better way to spite him than to return to the very thing Tony wants him to stay away from (along with drugs).

Originally I never really liked this episode for the same reasons Garth talked about. But the more I saw it the more I liked it, the scene with pussy crying in the bathroom is very touching. I also really liked AJ's story, with his new found believe that God is dead and thus existence is pointless. Sort of an insight into AJ's feelings in the last series. The scenes between Chris and John Favreau are also brilliant.

The whole scene when Chris is messing with the gun is extremely awkward, its shows how out of touch Chris really is with the world. I know some people don't like the Chris movie storyline, but I think it holds a lot of insight into what David Chase thinks about the majority of movie viewers. Only interested in blood, guts, action, and celebrities. John Favreau for example tries to give Chris some meaningful advice on the characters of the movie and the story, but Chris just blows it off in favor of some meaningless shit (something about tar on shoes?). It reminded me about some friends of mine who have also watched the sopranos. All they are interested in are the blood and occasional sex, I guess thats fine to some extend. But do people not want to ya know, use their heads now and again? Ah well.

I give the episode an 8.

Obviously the first thing that strikes me is the ending, with Emma Shapplin singing "Vedi, Maria", by far one of the best endings ever in my opinion. As far as the storyline of Christopher and the movie I see where Garth is coming from (that we didnt really care about it) but I still thought it was well done and I thought it was needed to magnify Chris's desicion to walk back into the house at the end of the episode and choose Tony. Up until that point he had been scolded by Tony about making a movie and going into other things but he never really had to make desicion and that's what Tony made him do. Just a great job of the entire episode leading up to those last ten minutes, loved it. A little bias because of such a great ending but I would still for sure give the episode a 9.

Livia the nihilist, and AJ the existentialist.

That, plus a really hot Alicia Witt... is enough to make me stop watching half way to post that I like this episode a lot.

Sopranos functions as a criticism of decadent consumer culture. Nietzsche foretold the undermining of traditional values after the death of God. Without absolutes -- without a God to justify traditional morality -- a society starts to eat itself, it deifies other things, like the self, and money.

A decaying "normal" culture even affects mob culture -- where in the last episode we hear someone comment that all the up and coming mob guys are either drug addicts or psychos, and in another episode we have Tony looking to the old country for reliable help.

The old country as counterpoint to modern America: in the old country the fruit tastes better because it doesn't have "all those steroids and shit" (Paulie).

Really a solid overall episode - AJ's encounter with Livia and ensuing existential crisis is a classic moment. Pussy's story arc is also excellent - we see him at his most loathsome, assaulting his wife out of paranoia, then we see his nurturing, human side with AJ and the story about his sister. Vincent Pastore's acting was terrific. This was the episode that really made me care about Pussy, and invest in his character. Also really enjoyed Allen Coulter's direction of the episode. The ending was beautiful, I loved that music and the way it cut between these three central characters all in different parts of the Soprano home - Chris on the doorstep, the Sopranos getting ready for their family photo, Tony shouting "Where's the godfather?", then Pussy crying alone in the dark bathroom.

A couple of the Hollywood scenes were kind of awkward, particularly the ones between Chris and Amy. But the scene where he gets coked up and bullies Jon Favreau was great.

I think this episode is pretty decent, a 3 is WAY too low IMO. I found all the stuff with Chris quite interesting, especially his interactions with Amy and Jon, and that scene with Pussy crying in the bathroom after realizing that he made a mistake of becoming a rat? Really heavy stuff.