Please post all grades, reviews, and general or abbreviated comments about the episode in this thread. Use individual threads for longer or more substantive thoughts/discussion points.

8 - People seem to think this episode is the best ever. And while it IS a great, episode, it is missing some things for me. We don't get to see Tony interact with many supporting cast members. No Melfi, no Paulie, no Silvio. I do love the episode and it is a great example of what the show can accomplish with stand-alone episodes. But it is not the pinnacle of the show, by any means.

This episode was very messed up in my mind. I didnt appreciate carmellas closeness with the father in the first place. i felt it extramly wrong to cheat on her husband....especially with a priest.

Lady Soprano <3 wrote:This episode was very messed up in my mind. I didnt appreciate carmellas closeness with the father in the first place. i felt it extramly wrong to cheat on her husband....especially with a priest.

But they didn't do anything wrong! At least not in Carm's mind (with the help of the great psychological tool called "denial"). I guess I didn't see anything "messed up" about it. At the end of the day they are all just human beings. But it certainly is not the best Sopranos episode ever to me (despite what others try to tell me). It does have its shining moments, but I just don't buy Carm moving that fast with the Father Phil. If we remember in season five how long she contemplates moving on with Mr. Wegler, and how scared she is of Tony's reaction. She was certainly pretty quick to move in on Phil (and she wasn't even seperated at that point in time!

You know, it is interesting - with all the talk generally being about how this episode is a great stand alone episode and perhaps even a great specific episode to best represent The Sopranos to the uninitiated, after rewatching it again last night, I actually find quite a lot of themes that are either first established here, or at least furthered along by this very strong episode.

It's true, College works as a stand alone, but it really helps to flesh out some of the other issues that have remained part of the show for a while. It's when we first begin to see Meadow both question her father's work, while also defending it in her mind perhaps (as she will do publically later.) It is certainly the first time we ever see Tony actually kill someone himself, and it is important to realize how early this was in the TV viewership. That we/they remained with him after such a brutal display suggests much about Chase's ability and Gandolfini's acting. It is also the first time we see Carmella going after another man (and sows the seeds for her later "smack-down" of Father Phil.)

Further, there are some really beautiful shots in this episode, one I was particularly appreciative of - when Father Phil first shows up on that rainy night and Carm finally opens the door for him - we have this great sweeping pan around the two of them as she takes his wet jacket off. It's almost as if she is enveloping him, greeting him at the door as "the loving wife" or some such. It's clear she would like to perhaps take this relationship further.

And it is interesting that here, in the fifth episode, she states exactly much of the same worries she has mentioned many times over is subsequent episodes - her husband makes his living in evil ways, she is frightened for her children - are they perhaps complicit...she keeps struggling with this, but always comes back to the same thing - she doesn't want out. I don't think it makes Carmela a bad woman, but I do think she continues to lie to herself and that lie will do her no good.

And I thought Jamie Lynn Sigler was especially strong in this episode. I know many people get tired of her whiny brat type, especially as she grows up (ironic, that) but is was touching to see her and Tony so close (even when he was lying to her) and she held her own with him in these scenes.

It was truly a much stronger episode than I remember it and all things considered, I give it a 9.

Howyoudoin'. I'm new to The Lounge. Sorry I'm late. The highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.

I give College a 9 on the Hawthorne quote alone. It's a window into Chase's larger theme of identity, a little Rosetta Stone.

Good call on the circling camera shot, Detective. I was knocked out by that Kubrick-esque move when I rewatched it a month or two ago.

I also noticed that Meadow established an affinity for tequila in this ep. Two seasons later she passed out from "too much tequila" before Jackie, Jr. could make his move. As Tony called her, "Miss Cuervo Anejo."

Who do I gotta whack ta move up in this Family? I'm ready ta prove I ain't no civilian.

LMAO, supervince, welcome to the forum. What a great first post.

You move up automatically by simply posting. I forget the post quotas for the different levels, but you'll get an automatic bump when you reach them.

supervince wrote:Who do I gotta whack ta move up in this Family? I'm ready ta prove I ain't no civilian.

You shoot me in a dream, you better wake up and apologize! Ok, so it's not a sopranos quote but it's true. haha.


I've always enjoyed the blocking in the Carm and Father Phil scenes. Rewatching it now. I'm reminded of all the Abelard and Eloise in Season 5 and 6a.

I give this episode a 9. The great thing about the Sopranos and the fans of the show is that there are so many aspects of the show for somebody to get into: you have the fans who are fascinated with the inner workings of the mafia, you have fans who really get into one or both of Tony's "nuclear units", or perhaps his intense sessions with Melfi. Some watch the show to see who's gonna get whacked next and others watch to see if the chacters can find the will to change. As somebody who has really got into the aspect of the show concerning Tony and his life with Carm and his kids, this was an episode I really loved. It's one of the first episode where the complexity of Carm's character comes out: we see her struggling over where she really stands on the issue of what her husband does for a living- Father Intontola thinks she is mainly talking about adultery when she tells of how her husband has comitted "horrible acts" that she has been complicit towards. It seems to me that her struggle to decide whether she loves Tony "in spite of it (him being a mob boss) or because of it" ultimately comes in play because while it comes with murder and adultery it also comes with an intoxicating power of being known as "the boss' wife" that she needs in order to be able to be the manipulative person she tends to be throughout the series. In this episode, we can also see how Tony being a mob boss has affected his relationship with his daughter- he cannot be open and honest with her and instead of spending time with her leading to a shared experience of discovering what kind of place she wants to spend her future at, he's off to whack Fabian. Still, he does spend time with Meadow and sees himself as a caring father coming with Meadow to plan her future in these moments. Yet even here in Maine his mob life and identity come into play, therefore the quote from Colby "No man... can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which one may be true." is very relevant to that moment.

Overall, I think it's one of the best first few episodes and really does a lot to set up the complexity of the characters of both Tony and Carm and Meadow to an extent. I'm personally okay with the fact that these were the only recurring characters in this episode.

I'm making my way through the series yet again and rewatched this episode last night. I must say it's just as good as I remember it. This was the episode that really hooked me when I first watched the show. The first four episodes were good, but this is the episode that locked me in. I love that it's a great standalone episode yet fits in with the rest of the series so nicely. This is probably my favorite episode of season one. I give it a 9 overall.