For a season finale of The Sopranos, this episode was very different then what we might have been expecting. While Pussy’s downfall might have been predicted, the way it all went down was somewhat shaky. The emphasis in this episode was less around what actually happened, but it seemed like the writers wanted us to know more about Tony and by the end of this episode, we might not understand Tony exactly, but he’s definitely an interesting character.

The first half of this episode was weird with Tony getting food poisoning from either the indian food or the Artie Bucco’s restaurant, even though Artie claims it wasn’t from him. The dreams Tony kept having were just as weird. One of things that was kind of relevant was the focus that Tony kept on Pussy the whole episode. Either Tony was focused on Pussy or asking where he was. The most odd dream was when he dreams of fishes and one is Pussy telling him that he’s working with the F.B.I. It seemed too odd that Tony would catch on to Pussy through a dream and that would be what tips him off. The minute Tony finds Pussy’s wire we kind of all knew that it was over for him, even though it looked like it might be possible that they’d find an alternative punishment for him. There was nothing but pure sadness in the air, even Silvio had to go outside for some air, before the deed was done. Pussy get whacked and it’s over. Pussy will be missed, he was a good character on the show and always the charismatic one. Next season it should be interesting to see how Tony explains to Pussy’s widow just what happened to Pussy.

What just as interesting was the way Tony acted after the fact. Dr. Melfi could sense that he was sad about something, but Tony decides to masks this all with a sense of humor and just acting like himself. Isn’t this a sign of sociopath? Tony has always been complicated, but this episode just makes you think that Tony isn’t well. Anger makes him do the most irrational things, like giving his mother stolen airplane tickets, even though he knew they were stolen. This causes the F.B.I. to arrest him, embarrassing Meadow the day before her graduation.

This episode sheds light on Tony, a light that shows just how unlikeable and how demented Tony can be. De. Melfi’s getting more intense with their sessions, bringing up things Tony that Tony didn’t want to talk about last season which should make for some interesting conversation next season.

This season finale definitely wasn’t as good as least season’s from what I remembered. It was different, in a good way, but maybe a bit anti-climatic. This episode is very much like this season overall, a bit disappointing. It might be that we got spoiled first season, still The Sopranos even disappointing is still a good show and better then some of the other television shows that are forced down our throats.

Rating: 8.5

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.

Rating: 7.9

I was hoping something big was going to happen on this episode, but nothing did. Whatever the big thing is coming, I’m going to assume it’ll happen on the season finale. Big things aside, this episode was a good one and it kept with the building that this season has been doing.

What was most surprising about this episode was possibly the amount of focus we got on Dr. Melfi. Treating Tony is affecting her very badly causing her to drink in between sessions when she’s treating Tony. Her drinking is affecting her personality and other facets of her life outside of treating Tony. She describes treating Tony as a trainwreck, but she has to look. Her obsession with Tony is rather interesting and Tony has no idea of the effect he has on her. We don’t usually get to see this side of Dr. Melfi, this vulnerable and highly flawed side of her. Lorraine Bracco does a splendid job playing the flawed Melfi, and then able to make herself into the calm collected version that Tony knows.

Tony on the other hand is trying to step away from the business by letting his soldier do a lot of the work. It’ll keep him out of trouble with the F.B.I, but might give him more time to spend doing other things. Unfortunately the stress actually seems to get worse with him away from the business as he has to deal with Richie and Junior’s new drug trade. When Tony has to tells Richie in a not so nice way not to deal drugs through the organization’s people, the look on richie’s face says it all. You can tell he’s totally fed up with the way things are and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him make another move. We even see his defiance as Tony is told that Richie is still dealing, even though Tony told him not too. It seems hard for Tony to slow things down and Dr. Melfi even diagnoses Tony with having an obsession with always having to do things. It’s also been a couple of episodes since Tony suffered a panic attack, but it seems to find him this episode. Every time it seemed to be whenever he was around Richie. In the end Tony can’t stay away too long and it seems like he’s back to doing things the way he’s always done them.

Uncle Junior also managed to get a lot of time this episode, something that he hasn’t gotten most of this season. He’s feeling the loneliness of house arrest. You’d think that he’d be able to handle something as simple as house arrest, but that just goes to show you that loneliness can affect everyone. Junior finds company in Katherine Romano, a neighbor he knew along time ago. Katherine seems nice and doesn’t care that he’s on house arrest even though Junior made a big deal about it. This is one of the cuter relationships to see on The Sopranos. Maybe it’s because they’re two old people just looking for company. There was an interesting scene with Livia calling Uncle Junior. Livia almost seems jealous to find about Katherine and tries to talk bad about her (how’d she find out anyway). Livia is always great in the time she gets, it can be easy to mistake her old and forgetful nature with her being manipulative which is what it seemed like she was trying to do with Junior. Junior apparently can’t stand her almost as much as Tony and realizes that Livia tricked him into trying to take out Tony. At least he didn’t listen to her.

There was a lot to like with this episode. It seemed to focus more on the characters then anything happening around them. Sometimes it seems that’s what’s been happening the entire season. It’s weird to be not too excited about the next episode with only two episodes left in the season. Last season you were always awaiting the next episode and this season the episodes aren’t getting you super hyped for the next one. Aside from it all, this was still a good episode.

Rating: 7.7

“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

First off props to the Otis Redding song that played through out this episode. It really helped bring some added emotion to the scenes. After the ending to last episode, we all though that the next episode would have to be pretty interesting. We were right, this episode was interesting, but probably wasn’t totally what we expected.

Christopher is touch and go, and his heart actually stopped for a minute, meaning he was dead for a minute. Christopher wakes up wanting to see Paulie and Tony, telling them both that he was in hell and he saw his father, Mikey from last season and other guys that they’ve bumped off or that have died. Tony chalks this up to the morphine drip and doesn’t pay any mind to it. Paulie on the other hand starts to believe it all and due to Mikey telling Christopher 3:00, Paulie can’t get any sleep.

Watching Paulie stress out about this was pretty hilarious, because he starts to think that maybe he’s going to be going to hell. The scenes where he goes to see a psychic were pretty funny as the psychic actually was accurate with names and everything. Paulie chalks it up as the psychic talking to people, but deep down he knows or believes that it was all real. Tony makes sense though in trying to tell Paulie that it means nothing, because it really doesn’t make sense why everyone would be falling Mikey’s lead. Paulie thinking that his donations to the church were supposed to protect from the fiery pits seems to think that he’s headed for hell no matter what and doesn’t see the point in donating to the church anymore. It was nice to see a young Judy Reyes (scrubs) and she’s actually one of the prettier girlfriends on the side compared to some of the other bosses.

Tony’s emotions were out of control this episode (like they’re ever in control). Tony simply doesn’t deal with traumatic events in a healthy manner. He takes his anger out on AJ, really insulting him and making him feel like crap. Along with this Carmella asks him to get a vasectomy, something that no man is going to want to do right out of the box.

Carmella and Tony’s relationship is sometimes hard to figure out, because you always wonder how Carmella can stay with someone like Tony and if she truly loves him sometimes. This episode basically confirms that Carmella just wants Tony. While their relationship isn’t always understood, it definitely works for the show. Tony’s session with Dr. Melfi resulted in another meltdown from Melfi. Dr. Melfi actually takes a stand and questions Tony business, not really questions it, but sort of tells him that she thinks it’s wrong. It’s something that she’s never done, she usually tries not to show any emotion about it. After the session Melfi feels really bad and starts to question why she would say this to Tony now with his nephew fighting for his life. Dr. Melfi has really been questioning herself this season with Tony. He brings something out of her, what is it that triggers this, we can’t be sure. They might possibly have the best chemistry on the show, because Melfi is the only person that Tony can fully tell the truth too without feeling too judged.

Well things didn’t turn out well for Monte (sorry I thought it was Matt), the crew eventually found him, like they always do and killed him.It was a gut-wreching execution as Monte’s last words before he died was ”mama”. It just kind of put into perspective that this was just a kid. He had the chance to tell the truth, but who actually knows whether Tony would have let him live or not. All I have to say is that no matter how many times we see an execution like that, the tension is always high and scary at the same time. It just shows that despite the somewhat human characters we get usually, that these guys can be murderers.

Pussy’s F.B.I. angle is coming along very slowly. His new plan is just to butter up Tony now, there are times when he seems obvious and you’re always thinking if Tony knows yet. Pussy’s on paranoia is screwing him up anyway. He’s overanalyzing everything that Tony is doing.

This was another good episode. It really delved into the faith of some of the people in the organization. It was also cool to see their views on whether or not that they thought they were going to hell and stuff like that. Faith seems to be a big part of all the organization members, and at least to Tony he doesn’t see anything too wrong with his business and considers it like war. Next episode is up in the air, but we can only assume that we’ll probably get back to the overarching storylines of the season and hopefully something gets going with it. The acting, the music, and the episode was just entertaining and good. It’s good to see The Sopranos start to make some good episodes.

Rating: 8.6

This episode continued the trend that’s been through out this whole season and it was more to build up to whatever is going to happen by this season’s end. Episodes earlier in the season weren’t so obvious, because nothing much honestly seemed to be happening. With this episode, big things happen and it’s just a matter of time… before the shit hit’s the fan.

This episode all around was pretty good and almost every storyline came off pretty well. The most interesting one involved Carmella, who hasn’t been given much to do this season. With Meadow applying for college, Carmella finds out that one of them is Berkley. Meadow’s other college is Georgetown, but you have to have more then good grades to get into that school. Carmella decides to ask Jeannie Cusumano from next door if her sister would write a letter of recommendation for Meadow. Jeannie is apparently a huge pushover and after finding out that Tony is a gangster from last season, she’s practically scared to say no to anything the family asks of her. When she goes to ask her sister though, the sister refuses. This is when things start getting interesting, because Carmella goes almost as far as threatening her sister to write Meadow a recommendation form

It was interesting to see Carmella use some intimidation tactics which is something we’ve almost never seen. Apparently Tony has rubbed off on her, only her intimidation tactics are a bit more friendly. Carmella’s need to keep Meadow close to her is also interesting as we see her attempt to throw away Meadow’s letter from Berkeley only to give it back to her. In the end when Jeannie gives Carmella the news that her sister did end up writing the letter, it looked like she was lying or making things up, but that wasn’t said. So we’ll assume that the letter was written. Edie Falco really does a great job in this episode with the intimidating people, but being nice about it. While we haven’t seen Carmella in any storylines this season, this was a nice story to give her.

Richie Aprile and Tony’s relationship has been on the rocks since Richie came back into town. Every time these two are in a scene together you can just feel the tension coming from the scene. You’re just waiting for one to shoot the other. Richie gets pretty pissed when he’s told to build a ramp for the guy he paralyzed some episodes ago. Richie of course doesn’t like taking orders, especially with Tony who’s younger then him. He seems to be suffering from Uncle Junior syndrome, only we felt a little for Uncle Junior due to how long he’s been working. In an ass-kissing move Richie gives Tony a jacket which he got off a tough mob guy. This jacket seems to be the thing to really set him off as Tony pretends like he loves the jacket, only for Richie to see the maid’s husband wearing it. A pissed of Richie doesn’t sound very good and we’re just waiting to see what he’s going to do next exactly.

The last and most important storyline by the episodes end involved Christopher’s soldier’s, Sean and Matt. Both of these guys are a lot like Christopher was last season with being over ambitious and not really thinking. Actually they’re a lot like Christopher’s soldiers from last season. Christopher just has bad draw with these guys. Anything they can do to try to get ahead the two will do it. Realizing that they haven’t moved up in the organization, they take it upon themselves to make a move by attacking Christopher out of nowhere. It came as a total surprise, because usually Christopher’s soldiers are never that smart or stupid (depending on the way you look at it) to do anything this crazy. Christopher put up a hell of a fight, actually killing Sean in the process and at least he’s a good shot. The shit has just hit the fan and we can bet that Tony won’t let this go and is going to hunt Matt down. Richie might have to take Matt down himself though, because according to Matt they tried to kill Christopher for him.

One thing that was left out this episode was Pussy, but we still have plenty of episodes for him. It was nice to see more action and more intrigue from The Sopranos. This episode kind of embodies what season 1 was about. There was great buildup and something big happened at the end. This is probably the best episode so far in the season.

Rating: 8.0

How interesting that one of the better episodes this season had nothing much to do with what we’ve been watching this season. A game of poker always makes for some pretty entertaining TV. This episode was no different, after watching this episode, it might make you think twice before you gamble.

The episode started us off with a new character, Davey, who ends up owing Richie Aprile money for a poker game. When Richie comes to collect it become apparent that Davey just really doesn’t have the money. Richie actually shows a nice moment by telling Davey not to come to anymore games. Sure enough Davey manages to use his childhood connection with Tony to enter the executive poker game, a poker game that Tony is hosting this year with Uncle Junior being on house arrest, that takes place over the weekend with certain people. Davey ends up not doing too well this game either and now ends up owing money to both Richie and Tony. Once Tony finds out about the debt that Davey is in, due to Richie interrupting the poker game and ruining it, Tony cuts Davey off and gives him a limited time to pay him back.

Davey unfortunately makes the mistake of not paying Tony either. The confrontation between Tony and Davey towards the end of the episode, was a cringing moment. Maybe Tony was mad that he got duped into giving Davey money, or the fact that Davey took every chance to mention that his son went to school with Meadow as a way to get himself out of trouble, either way Tony somewhat lays into him.

This was seemingly one of the most justified assaults on the show. It was obvious that Davey had quite a gambling problem. Him coming up with different way not to pay was quite frustrating. It was also sad to see him try to go to Artie, who is probably the nicest person on the show and Artie having to tell him no himself.

This episode was actually full of cringe worthy moments. Most notable were the scenes where Tony was forced to be in the same room as his mother. Tony really couldn’t stand being in the same room as his mother. We kept thinking that something would happen, but nothing did. Which is probably the best way to play it.

Silvio was quite funny playing poker. He was a totally changed person insulting anyone near him. It was quite funny. As always the poker game was quite entertaining. Meadow was forced to bear the consequences of Tony’s business when Davey’s son leaves her standing at their play. Tony and Dr. Melfi scenes were great by themselves and it’s so much fun having both of them together again.

Even though this episode took a step back from the overall plots this season. It was still a great episode to watch and sadly is one of the better episodes of the season. The rest of the season could take some notes from this episode. We need more cringe-inducing scenes this season, a reason to maybe be a bit scared. This season had more of them then the whole season combined. Hopefully this episode is just the first of many this season to entertain.

Rating: 7.7

This season of The Sopranos has felt scattered with no particular main storyline catching interest. The world of The Sopranos just keeps on moving as if it exists in reality with nothing seemingly going on. This episode headed in the right direction with putting out some interesting storylines that we could see evolving as the season goes on. While there was things not to like about this episode, there was still a lot to like about it.

Furio finally flies in from Italy to work under Tony. Tony didn’t tell any of the guys that he was bringing someone in, but nonetheless everybody seems to be fine with it, considering that Silvio and Paulie will be getting bumped up. The one person who isn’t very happy about this is Pussy, who will now be answering to Paulie and Silvio now. He figures that he’s been working under Tony long enough and feels like he’s being left out of everything. Of course Tony has every right not to trust him as it’s practically confirmed that Pussy is working for the F.B.I. How it happened isn’t exactly clear, but we can assume that might be the reason why he was missing for so long. Like all rats on The Sopranos you know they eventually get caught and Pussy might not be an exception. What will Tony do when or if he finds out that one his most trusted employees is a rat? Well we can only guess it won’t turn out well.

Another recurring element that popped up this episode was Tony’s blackouts and his loss of temper. The first time it’s triggered this episode is when he finds out that Janice has taken a loan out on their mom’s house, damaging the phone and coming close to hitting AJ. It becomes a bit obvious that Tony is missing not having a therapist to talk too as he finds someone else to confide too about his episodes, in doing so, Tony learns that his father had the same condition only it couldn’t be diagnosed back then. This at least gives Tony a little bit of insight into where he gets it from.

Dr. Melfi also makes her much needed return. Having thoughts about Tony and feeling guilty for abandoning him, she goes to see her own psychiatrist. Some of the best scenes in the episode involved Melfi’s sessions. It’s quite funny to Melfi attend her own sessions, because she’s almost able to identify her own faults by herself and questions her psychiatrist more then Tony, only just in a nicer way. There was an great moment where Melfi’s psychiatrist made it seem like she might possibly get a thrill or possibly is attracted to him, which really set her off, acting like Tony and storming out. In the end she decides to take back Tony as her patient. It’s great to have this relationship back, because it’s the only relationship that Tony has with anyone where he can be one hundred percent honest. The scene towards the end makes up appreciate these two as it seemed like they had so much shooting with each other. Tony trying to pretend like he’s gotten busy and that he didn’t want to see Melfi just shows you how childish Tony get around her. It was pretty funny.

Furio for the most part comes off as a super nice guy, but by the end of the episode we see just how brutal he can be. It was honestly one of the most brutal scenes we’ve seen on The Sopranos so far. Furio is no pushover.

Christopher’s pursuing acting was somewhat of a useless storyline and honestly wasn’t that intriguing. We could have done with less Christopher and more of something else. It was great to see Artie return who no matter what always brings a smile to your face as he seems to be the only pure one on the show.

It’s nice to see The Sopranos somewhat get back on track. This wasn’t the best episode of the season, but the season looks to have gotten its legs back to start heading toward some good episodes.

Rating: 7.0

I have to say season two of The Sopranos has really been disappointing so far. It’s missing the violence and the inner-working’s of the business that made last season so interesting. This episode was a bit awkward, because it almost did nothing to advance the story further and nothing too important really seemed to happen, but it was still a pretty interesting episode overall.

This episode saw Tony, Paulie, and Christopher go to Italy to meet another family to discuss business concerning importing of cars. The language barrier between Tony’s crew and the crew based out of Italy was pretty interesting, because Tony’s crew speaks broken Italian, but very little. The Italian crew seemed pretty rude.

It was interesting seeing how the Italian mob works. Watching how mean the Italian crew is, it really makes Tony’s crew seem like angels. The way they treat this boy who was playing with firecrackers and his mother was unbelievable and really brutal. Another difference between the two mobs and one that Tony had a problem with the most was the fact that the crew was run by a woman. AnnaLisa basically runs the crew with her father mentally ill and her husband in jail for life. Tony is immediately attracted to her, but in the end, he actually manages to stop himself from sleeping with her which is pretty unusual for Tony.

Paulie’s lines are always great, because for the most part he’s the comedian of the crew. He was so happy being in Italy and acted like a little kid in a candy store. It was one of the first times that you see Tony get annoyed with his second in command.

Christopher, unfortunately, did nothing in Italy, but do drugs even though he seemed set on seeing a volcano. Christopher continues to be a disappointment and still has a long time before he’ll ever get made.

Back in America, the big news was Pussy’s wife wanting a divorce. In reality, divorce is one of those things that is fairly common, but in the mob, it’s a huge thing, because of how the church frowns on divorce. Even though it’s a shame we saw such little of Janice, she actually brought up some great points of interest by wondering why Mob wives put up with all the crap that they have to go through with the affairs and how they expect the wives to be perfect. Basically she talks about how the relationship between the husband and wife when it comes to the mob isn’t balanced.

It’s pretty interesting, because she has a huge point. Pussy’s wife had the right idea seeking a divorce and it was quite disappointing to see Carmela possibly talk Angie out of getting the divorce. Janice’s talk with Carmela apparently got through, because Carmella’s face when Tony walked through the door was somewhat priceless.

The one thing that was interesting, but not given a lot of time was that it looks like Pussy is now an F.B.I. informant. While it wasn’t confirmed the way he acted when he ran into someone he knew was suspicious and practically made him look guilty when he killed the guy he ran into. Even though it didn’t look like the guy was going to out Pussy anyway. Pussy has been different since he got back and it’s going to be rather interesting to see how this plays out and if Tony and the crew will find out.

So in a way this was kind of a useless episode with only minor scenes that possibly impacted future episodes. Aside from that it was still rather interesting. Italy’s scenery looked great. It had well written dialogue and managed to keep my attention for the episode. There’s only so many times though that an episode like this will keep my interest. The Sopranos need to get back on track; it’s a shame when there’s nothing from the previous episode brought up here. We need Dr. Melfi back, we need to focus more on the conflicts. This season has just been too mellow and has really lost the excitement that season 1 has. Hopefully the writers get back on track soon.

Rating: 7.0

Well finally season 2 of The Sopranos feels like it’s going somewhere this season. While nothing major seriously happened here, this episode has introduced a new character who is very likely to cause a major problem within the organization.

Remember Jackie Aprile, the lovable Capo when the show first started? Well introduced in this episode is his brother Richie who’s been locked up in jail for the last 10 years. Right off the bat we can tell Richie isn’t as cool as Jackie Aprile. He definitely has an attitude problem and he’s hot-tempered. Tony is definitely going to continue to have a problem controlling him. There were also signs of Richie and Junior forming some sort of alliance with each other which could mean another attempt on Tony’s life.

This episode focused a lot on Tony and Carmela’s parenting skills. Meadow ends up having a party at Livia’s house that is currently unused and gets drunk and has drugs there. What’s puzzling is that Tony being the boss of a large crime family has no idea how to punish Meadow. Meadow sets her own punishment which doesn’t end up really doing much considering Carmella and Tony give her money still when she needs it.

It’s a bit sad to see that neither one of them can control Meadow, and that even Tony is scared of what social services could do. Janice questions Tony and Carmelas’ parenting when she see’s how bad the house really is. Janice’s attitude change was puzzling, because after seeing the house she becomes pissed, but before hand she was getting on Tony for punishing on Meadow in the first place. Janice is showing that she’s just like her mother in how she can be one person and then change attitudes in another second.

It was great to see Meadow end up having to clean up the house which was the obvious thing to do in the first place. Meadow has become quite the smart ass and watching her manipulate her parents was sad.

Dr. Melfi even graced us with her presence and ends up seeing Tony at a restaurant. She was actually pretty friendly, but after leaving with an embarrassing exit as toodleoo she can’t figure out why she would say that to him. Dr. Melfi is starting to have second thoughts about refusing to treat Tony and is actually having dreams of him dying, because she didn’t give him treatment. Hopefully this leads to her treating Tony again, because her advice and insight is really missing from this show.

So this wasn’t a perfect episode, but it definitely was a good episode to give us some clue into where this season is going. Tony now has a potential enemy which very well might be Richie Aprile. Tony trying to control Richie should be a very interesting thing to see as well as Richie trying to cause trouble. It’s only a matter of time before the shit hits the fan.

Rating: 7.7