Editor’s Note: This review was written during the season’s initial run. Keep this in mind when reading the following review.
Well finally we get what we’ve been waiting for from The Sopranos with this second to last episode of the season. There was a good amount of progression and the exit of a character that almost none of us liked from the series.
We start the episode with Tony having to give Richie another talk, because even after Tony told him not too, Richie is still selling coke through the same routes. This has been building all season between the two. The tip of the iceberg ends up being when Janice tells Richie that Tony wouldn’t let AJ go with Richie, because he didn’t trust him around his kids (can you blame him?). Richie decides to make a move on Tony, only he needs some other people to go along with him. He already has the support of Junior, but after hearing that Richie couldn’t get anyone to help him out and realizing that Richie wasn’t very well respected, he decides that he’s better off with Tony. In a surprising turn of events Junior turns him in to Tony. Tony now has to decide what to do about Richie. The fact that he’s marrying his sister soon probably makes things worse.
Irina, Tony’s on-the-side girlfriend comes back to the show. She’s been off the show a lot this season and when we finally do see her again, it’s because Tony wants to break up with her. Unexpectedly hearing this put Irina in a suicidal state. She becomes pretty irrational and makes it seem like she can’t live without Tony. It was rather interesting to recommend a psychiatrist for her, which goes to show you that Tony must think it works. Dr. Melfi’s questioning about why Tony wants to help her didn’t make much sense and it seemed to be more for herself then to help out Tony.
Unfortunately for Richie, he gets taken out, but not by Tony. Janice ends up being the one to do the job after Richie punches her. Richie has been pretty unlikeable since he’s been on the show, so there were no tears shed to see him go. Jackie Jr, Jackie Aprile’s son seems like he’s every bit as annoying as Richie and if Tony has to deal with him well the whole Aprile male line could be taken out quite soon. Tony and Janice’s relationship is almost never stable, but it was nice to see Tony help her cover up the mess, and Janice be grateful for it.
While it seem to be downplayed, this is actually the first episode that Tony had a conversation with his mother this season. It was a pretty interesting moment. Tony’s mom might possibly be the only person who scares Tony and watching him run out the house dropping his gun was funny.
Last, but not least is the likeable Pussy. Pussy seems to have totally given into wearing a wire and trying to get evidence on Tony. It almost seems psychotic how fast he’s turned. He’s almost too into it, even going as far as to follow Christopher while they go jack a truck, and then crashing his car. Pussy is falling fast and it’s only a matter of time til he’s found. Pussy wants to have a life outside of the mob, it’s a bit unclear why the sudden change in wanting to bring Tony down from last episode to this episode.
With the last episode coming up, Pussy is probably the only threat left that Tony will have to deal with. Only he doesn’t know it yet. This was a good episode which at least finished off the Richie storyline. Carmella getting a backbone and actually mocking Irina in saying she would turn suicidal was pretty cool also. Carmella seems to be stepping out side of her house wife status and actually wants to see her options. Pretty interesting stuff.
What’s to come in the season finale is of course unknown, but it should be rather interesting to see what happens. This was a good episode, but in a way it almost felt a little bit anti-climatic with Janice killing Richie instead of Tony.
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