TV-Reviewed

Editor’s Note: This review was written during the season’s initial run. Keep this in mind when reading the following review.

“Bust out” seems to fit this episode purposely. Many of the characters seemed to be in tight situations trying to get out of them. We got a good story out of this episode; there were many fresh moments from characters that we have never seen.

Last episode Tony took out Matthew Bevilaqua after Matt tried to take out Christopher. Unfortunately, for Tony, there was a witness to the murder and he’s able to identify Tony. This is one where Tony might not be able to make it out of and he could be facing a long time in jail for it. For the first time in the series, Tony shows an emotion that we haven’t seen, Fear. Tony is scared for his life, what’s most interesting is that he’s not worried about himself, but for his kids. Tony’s devotion to his family is questioned sometimes with the decisions that he makes, but this episode we can really see that it’s the most important thing to him. Facing prison, Tony does everything to make sure that his family is taken care of before he leaves by giving money to his lawyer to distribute to Carmella when she needs it. It somehow comes off admirable that Tony cares so much.

Tony and Dr. Melfi’s scenes this episode, were great. It’s interesting to see Dr. Melfi now speaking up or being somewhat of a smart ass with Tony when he says something. She’s starting to make her stance on Tony’s life more obvious little by little to Tony. This might just show that Dr. Melfi has got maybe a bit too comfortable around Tony to know that he wouldn’t really hurt her. It would have been interesting to get some Dr. Melfi talking with her psychiatrist scenes to see what she thought of Tony possibly going to prison. We don’t get to go inside of Dr. Melfi’s mind or feelings a lot, it just would have given us a little more insight into exactly what her feelings are for Tony.

With the pressure of prison facing Tony, things are going bad for him on the home front. Things probably could have been solved if he would have just told Carmella about his ordeal, but he didn’t. He’s missing time with A.J. and Carmella might just be tired of him. Last season Carmella’s relationship with the pastor almost could have gone down the wrong road and this time Carmella meets Vic, who is the brother of Davey Scantino’s wife. Carmella feels a strong attraction to him from the minute she meets him. Carmella even gets him alone for a make out session. It’s cool to see that Carmella isn’t perfect. Tony has cheated on Carmella plenty of times, so what Carmella did really wasn’t anything. The only thought that went on in my mind was what if Tony caught her. We all know that Tony would have had a fit.

Then we have poor Davey Scatino, who is near suicidal now that Tony and the crew are using his operation for a money fraud. There’s a great scene in which Davey asks Tony why he let him participate in the poker game. In which Tony replies that he knew about Davey’s business and realized that he could use it. It just goes to show you how ruthless Tony can be. YYou really feel sorry for Davey who is played by Robert Patrick (T-1000 himself). You feel so bad for this man, watching everything fall around him. By the episode’s end, Davey is forced to file for bankruptcy. At least he’s in the clear with Tony now, but other aspects of his life are in shambles.

There was another great moment where Tony is drunk at the kitchen table and he’s conversing with Meadow. He asks Meadow if she knows how much he loves her. She says yeah she knows. It was a great scene that needs to be seen, but James Gandolfini is just so great in it. Meadow also realizes that everyone is a hypocrite sometimes meaning that while she may not like her fathers business that she’s learned to accept it and accept her father for it.

Along with Pussy, Richie also seems to be after Tony. Thanks to the manipulation by Janice in another great scene. Richie goes to Uncle Junior in an effort to get some support to take out Tony. Uncle Junior’s reply is a bit odd, because he actually seems to be against it. The way he said it made it seem like maybe he didn’t want to talk about it there, but either way Uncle Junior’s stance on it is still somewhat unclear. Janice doesn’t get a lot of time in this episode, but the one scene she does is a great one. Janice shows signs of being just like her mother, able to manipulate men very easily.

After the season finishes, we might have a better look at just what got accomplished this season. It seems like we’ve had nothing, but little bits and pieces of building up to the season finale. With Pussy and Richie both after him, the next couple of episodes are very important to moving these plots along. There were some great scenes coupled with great acting. This episode is one of the better episodes of the season also. It’s nice to see the episodes picking up in quality and actually keeping us interesting. With only three episodes left this season, we should expect big things to happen and The Sopranos is one of the few shows where when big things happen you want to be watching.

Rating:8.5