US Transmission Date: 18 March 2001
Writers: Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess • Director: John Patterson
Cast: Richard Romanus (Richard La Penna), Shaun Toub (Arouk Abboubi), Will McCormack (Jason La Penna), Traci Godfrey (Edwina Fowley), Zabryna Guevara (Clerk), Stephen Kunken (ER Doctor), Jill Marie Lawrence (Detective Piersol), Mario Polit (Jesus Rossi), Bobby Rivers (News Reporter).
Storyline: Irina calls Tony at home. She wants to see him again and uses Svetlana’s missing leg as an excuse for phoning. He tells her never to call him at home again. Dr Melfi has taken her estranged husband Richard back into her life. At home they argue about Melfi having a mobster as a patient. She says Tony made a real breakthrough recently. Richard works for the National Italian American Foundation, fighting against negative depictions of Italian Americans in the media. His latest campaign is against a TV film called Gangster. Richard urges Melfi to drop Tony as a patient.
At her next session with Tony Melfi is disappointed to discover he has not been thinking about the recent breakthrough at all. The therapist suggests involving Carmela in their sessions but Tony doesn’t like the idea. Melfi accuses him of not trying but Tony changes the subject. Melfi tells her own therapist, Dr Kupferberg, that Richard was right – she has been charmed by a sociopath. She agonises about her relationship with Richard and accidentally discloses Tony’s name to her therapist. Dr Kupferberg suggests it’s time to hand Tony over to a behavioural therapist.
Janice is searching the basement of Livia’s house with a metal detector, looking for loot. Tony arrives and tells his sister to give Svetlana’s leg back, instead of holding it for ransom against Livia’s record collection. He warns her not to fuck with the Russians. Ralphie and Jackie Jr have dinner at Vesuvio. Rosalie is seeing Ralphie and wants him and Jackie to get along. Ralphie notes Jackie’s interest in Meadow Soprano and tries to build a bond with the surly 23-year-old. After dinner Ralphie takes Jackie when he goes to confront a late paying garbage collector, Arouk Abboubi. Jackie gives Arouk a beating at Ralphie’s behest. Ralphie gives Jackie a cut of the proceeds.
Tony visits Johnny Sack, who has bought a palatial house in New Jersey. Tony is upset that the New York Family man has moved into Soprano Family territory, but Johnny insists there is no hidden agenda. Tony meets with Ralphie and says he is installing Gigi Cestone as captain of the Aprile crew. This is partly as punishment for involving Jackie Jr in the beating of Arouk. Tony admits Gigi is there to spy on the Aprile crew, but says that shouldn’t be necessary – Ralphie makes it necessary. Ralphie protests that he is busting his ass for Tony, but to no avail.
Dr Melfi tells Tony he’s ready to move on to behavioural therapy with another psychiatrist. Tony apologises for his attitude at the last session and accuses her of giving up on him. Afterwards Dr Melfi walks down a stairwell to her car in the building’s basement, talking to Richard on her cellphone. A man in a red cap passes her going up the stairs. Melfi rings off as she enters the basement and goes to her car. The man in the red cap grabs her from behind and threatens to stab her. Melfi tries to escape but her assailant is too fast and too strong. He drags the therapist into the stairwell and rapes her.
Melfi is being treated at hospital when Richard arrives. Melfi’s face is bruised and her left leg is badly sprained. A man matching her attacker has been caught with Melfi’s palm pilot in his possession. He denies the rape and says he found the palm pilot on the street. The man in custody is Jesus Rossi, a 28-year-old with no previous convictions. Richard is startled to hear Rossi has an Italian name, he had been told the attacker was Puerto Rican. He wrings his hands in anguish. Their son Jason arrives. He is furious that his mother was attacked and vows to kill the rapist.
Melfi phones the Soprano household to cancel Tony’s next appointment. The therapist tells Carmela she hurt her leg in a car accident. When Carmela tells Tony, he worries that Melfi will have a scar on her leg. Carmela seems unimpressed by his concern. Tony quickly changes the subject by asking if Carmela would get involved in his therapy sessions. She agrees.
Melfi is waiting at home for the police to call so she can pick her assailant from an identity parade. Richard arrives home and phones the police. The detective on the case has been transferred to another department and Jesus Rossi has been released. The police had to let him go on a technicality after mishandling the chain of custody and misplacing Melfi’s rape kit for a while. Richard threatens to sue the police. Melfi and Richard argue about who is to blame and accuse each other of being culpable. Melfi is especially upset about Richard’s reaction to Rossi having an Italian surname, as if any misdeed by an Italian damages his self esteem.
Tony and his crew are hanging out at the Bada Bing’s back office. They are swapping jokes about how fat Johnny Sack’s wife Ginny is when Johnny Sack walks in. He tells them to watch the news for once. On TV State Assemblyman Ronald Zellman announces that the first $25 million of state and federal matching funds have been approved for the New Jersey project. The Museum of Science and Trucking alone will cost $100 million. The mobsters all raise a toast – they stand to make a fortune, as Zellman is in Tony’s pocket.
Melfi and Richard apologise to each other – they realise their argument was born of frustration. Richard says he could kill Rossi with his own hands, but then he’d end up in jail. Christopher visits Tony at home and they talk business in the basement. Christopher apologises for involving Jackie in the box office heist. Tony repeats that he doesn’t want Jackie involved in the mob.
Melfi goes back to work with the aid of a cane. She has to use the stairwell and go past the spot where she was raped. Tony is shocked when he sees her appearance at their session. She lies about how she got her injuries. Melfi gives him some notes of behavioural therapy to read. Her cane falls over and she almost jumps out of her chair, clearly terrified. Tony is worried and asks her if everything is all right. She appreciates his concern. Jackie is at the Soprano house borrowing a samovar for his mother when Tony comes home. Meadow arrives and asks Tony for money. She and Jackie flirt in front of Tony.
Melfi is buying her lunch from a sandwich bar when she sees the face of the rapist on the wall, enshrined as employee of the month. The therapist drops her drink on the floor and walks out. Two burly Russian man break into Livia’s house and start beating Janice. She takes them to a bowling alley where she has Svetlana’s leg hidden a locker. Janice surrenders the leg meekly. Melfi dreams about a Rottweiler dog attacks her rapist, Jesus Rossi.
Melfi discusses the dream with her therapist. Melfi realises the dog represents Tony, a violent creature whom she could unleash on Rossi. By comparison, Richard is employing a $300 an hour attorney to seek some legal recourse. Melfi reassures her therapist that she will not break the social compact by using Tony as a weapon of vengeance. But she says the idea of doing so gives her a certain satisfaction. Tony goes to see Janice, who is being treated at an emergency room in hospital. She has three broken ribs. Janice says she has hit bottom and now feels born again in the Lord. ‘I give myself up totally to God.’ Tony says Janice has done this before with a variety of Gods and it only spells trouble.
Johnny and Ginny Sack have a house-warming party. Tony’s crew wonder how much the huge house cost. Gigi ponders the level of property taxes and says you actually have to pay them. Tony notices Ralphie deep in conversation with Johnny Sack. Tony tells Dr Melfi he is ready to move on to behavioural therapy with another doctor. She is shocked and begins sobbing. Tony hugs and comforts her. He asks if there is something she wants to say to him. Dr Melfi says no.
Deep and Meaningful: The crucial moment in this episode is not the rape, but stems from its aftermath. Dr Melfi knows she can tell Tony what really happened to her and he would deliver a swift and terrible vengeance upon Jesus Rossi. As the episode is ending, he gives her a chance to do just that. There is a long, long pause as the therapist decides whether to tell Tony. The silence lasts for nine seconds, but it feels like forever. Finally, she rejects the chance to get revenge by using one of her patients. Melfi stays true to herself and her beliefs.
Mobspeak: Richard call the TV film Gangster a stereotypical goombah (a guy who hangs around and does things for you, like Bacala does for Junior) fest. Dr Kupferberg talks about button men (made men, lower members of the Mafia). Silvio says Tony cut off Ralphie’s gotsies (short for stugots, the testicles).
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: Richard and Dr Melfi prepare dinner together. Richard chops herbs and prepares chicken for cooking, while Melfi crushes garlic and sets the table. Ralphie and Jackie Jr are seen just as they finish dinner at Vesuvio. Tony is looking for food in the fridge when Carmela takes the phone call from Dr Melfi. He wants to know who ate the last piece of cake. Tony munches on a stick of celery instead, a healthier alternative. When Tony’s crew are cracking jokes about Ginny Sack, Silvio offers this gem: ‘She’s so fat, her blood type is ragu.’ Meadow invites Jackie Jr to visit her in New York so they can have sushi. Dr Melfi orders a chicken avocado wrap at Wrap Nation sandwich bar. She is shocked when she sees her rapist’s photo on the wall as employee of the month and walks out, leaving her lunch behind.
Mobbed Up: Richard whines about US television network ABC producing the film Gangster. He says it is full of stereotypes and it tries to give Mafia sociopaths the tragic grandeur of Al Pacino. Ralphie quotes dialogue from the film Gladiator: ‘What we do in life echoes in eternity.’ Silvio says Ralphie is fucking obsessed with the movie.
How Do You Feel?: Tony is unable to answer when Dr Melfi asks if he is happy. She accuses him of not trying in therapy but he changes the subject. Without a hint of irony, he says AJ shies away from anything that requires real effort. Tony believes his son picks that up from him. Tony is genuinely concerned for Melfi when he sees her after the rape, even though he doesn’t know what has really happened. The therapist is touched by this.
How Do You Feel, Doctor?: Dr Melfi is frustrated by Tony’s lack of commitment to therapy. She feels she has been charmed by a sociopath. After her dream, Melfi tells Dr Kupferberg that she felt a sense of relief. She felt safe for the first time since being raped. She realises the Rottweiler dog represents Tony. Like him it has a big head and massive shoulders. Rottweilers were used by Roman armies to guard their camps. Melfi says no feeling has ever been so sweet as to see her rapist beg, plead and scream for his life. She admits to feeling a certain satisfaction in knowing she cold have Rossi squashed like a bug if she wanted.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Dr Melfi dreams she is working in her office late at night. She hears footsteps outside her door and the sound of a car being unlocked by remote. The back of her office door has a sign which says: DANGER! HIGH VOLTAGE! NJG&E (New Jersey Gas and Electric). Melfi opens the doors to her office. Next she is standing by an Acme Cola vending machine in her office. She puts two pieces of dried pasta into the coin slot but no can of drink is dispensed. Melfi crouches down and puts her arm deep into the machine but can’t get her drink. A single piece of pasta appears in the coin return slot. Melfi is now stretched out on the floor, her arm completely caught inside the vending machine. A black Rottweiler dog appears and barks at her menacingly. Jesus Rossi appears in the doorway. He stands over Melfi and then takes hold of her legs. The dog attacks Rossi, who screams in pain and anguish. Melfi wakes up with a start.
Quote/Unquote: Janice sums up Irina, Tony’s ex-mistress: ‘Miss Petrograd Carburettor Works from 1987?’ Johnny Sack welcomes Tony to his new home: ‘Look who’s here – the guinea welcome wagon!’ Tony delivers the best of the jokes about the obese Ginny Sack: ‘When Ginny hauls ass, she has to make two trips.’ Christopher busts Tony’s balls about trying to keep Jackie away from the Family: ‘The life’s good enough for me but not for Little Lord Fuckpants?’ After her beating Janice has an epiphany: ‘I think there’s only one trajectory for me – God.’ Tony is less than convinced by her revelation: ‘All this soul-searching, Janice, it’s always on my fucking dime.’
Soundtrack: ‘Speedo’ by The Cadillacs. ‘Americano’ by the Brian Setzer Orchestra. ‘Oops, I Did It Again’ by Britney Spears. Janice tries to play the Rolling Stones’ ‘Satisfaction’ on electric guitar. ‘Love Rollercoaster’ by the Ohio Players. ‘I Don’t Make Promises (I Can Break)’ by Shannon Curfman. ‘Fisherman’s Daughter’ by Daniel Lanois. ‘Chanchullo’ by Ruben Gonzalez.
Surveillance Report: Film director Peter Bogdanovich returns as Dr Melfi’s therapist, Dr Elliot Kupferberg. Also reprising their respective roles are Richard Romanus and Will McCormack as Dr Melfi’s husband Richard and son Jason. The rape of Dr Melfi was kept a complete surprise until this episode was first broadcast in America. Trailers for the episode hinted that something shocking and dramatic would happen but gave no other clue. Few other TV series would have been able to keep the storyline under wraps and some might even have been tempted to use it as a way of gaining publicity and higher ratings. The Sopranos cast and crew pride themselves on maintaining a code of silence about future plot developments and it paid off in this episode. The episode sets up a comparison between the law-abiding liberal Richard and the brute strength of the lawless Tony. There’s a scene of Richard talking about how he could kill the rapist with his own hands but can’t because he would be sent to jail. The action cuts to Tony towering over the camera, hefting an axe and cutting wood with practised ease. This just reinforces the impression of Richard as a weak, hand-wringing liberal.
The Verdict: ‘Who could I sick on that son of a bitch to tear him to shreds?’ Dr Melfi is raped but her assailant gets off after the police bungle procedures. Despite this, the therapist resists the urge to have Tony intervene for her Watching this episode is like being suddenly punched in the stomach – unexpected, shocking and painful. The rape scene is unflinching without being gratuitous, while the aftermath is adroitly handled. When Melfi is denied justice, viewers watching the final scene are likely to find themselves shouting at her to involve Tony. Instead she stays true to herself and her ideals. The rape and its fallout dominate this episode but several significant developments take place. Ralphie is fast emerging as a dangerous individual, while Jackie Jr twice shows interest in Meadow Soprano. Watch this space…
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Sopranos episode guide #29: Fortunate Son
US Transmission Date: 11 March 2001
Writer: Todd A. Kessler • Director: Henry J. Bronchtein
Cast: Joseph Siravo (Johnny Boy Soprano), Rocco Sisto (Young Junior Soprano), Tony Lip (Carmine Lupertazzi), Laila Robins (Young Livia), Peter Byrne (Security Guard), Megan Curry (Punked Out Co-ed), Steven Grillo (Pizza Customer), Kevin Janicelli (Joey Del Guercio), Mario Lavanderia (Male Student), Steve Mellow (Bill Owens), Peter Napoliello (Football Dad), Sal Petraccione (George Piocosta), Frank Savino (Operator #1), Paul Reggio (Operator #2), Jessica Ripton (Pizza Customer #2), Johnny Spanish (Junkie), Brian Anthony Wilson (Warren Dupree), Lou Bonacki (Francis Satriale), Mark Damiano II (Young Tony Soprano), Juliet Fox (Young Janice), Elxis McLaren (Young Barbara).
Storyline: It’s football season, the busiest time of year for the Family. Christopher gets a call to prepare for the ceremony where he will become a made man. He tells Adriana this means she will have to quit her job as a hostess at Vesuvio restaurant. Paulie and Silvio collect the very nervous Christopher and take him to the ceremony. Tony performs the ceremony on Christopher and another prospective Mafia member, Eugene Pontecoruo. During the ritual Christopher is perturbed by a black bird which appears at a window.
When the ceremony is completed the Family holds a celebration meal. Paulie gives Christopher his sports betting business. All Christopher has to do is give Paulie one tenth of his take every week, with a minimum payment of six thousand dollars. Tony talks with New York Family man Carmine Lupertazzi, who asks about the progress of a riverfront esplanade project planned for Newark, New Jersey. Tony says his man in the State Assembly reports that the matching funds are very close. The development agency has added plans for a City of Newark Museum of Science and Trucking. Johnny Sack is hovering in the background, trying to listen to their conversation. Carmine asks how Tony is doing with his panic attacks and psychotherapy. Tony is unhappy that everyone seems to know about his health problems.
Tony and Janice discuss her 19-year-old fiancée Drew, who is still in California. Janice plans to stay in New Jersey until Livia’s estate is settled. Tony suggests she move back into Livia’s house. He says Svetlana will be moving out soon. Christopher and his associate Benny Fazio go to the Ooh-Fa Pizza Restaurant, where they run into Jackie Aprile Jr and Dino Zerilli. Dino congratulates Christopher on being made, which Jackie reluctantly endorses. He is thinking of dropping out of Rutgers University. Dino says they are thinking of hitting a coffee house on the campus. Jackie gets into a shouting match with a customer who bumps into him.
Tony tells Dr Melfi he wants results from the therapy or it ends. She says the next step is for him to consider cognitive behavioural therapy. They trace his latest anxiety attack to Tony taking some capiccola sausage from the fridge. Christopher takes a heavy loss on the points spread from a football game. The betting parlour manager, Warren Dupree, says Paulie used to load off some of the action to other bookies, to spread the risk. Christopher has a tantrum – he’s going to struggle to pay Paulie the six thousand dollar minimum.
Tony barbeques meat for a big Sunday family dinner. Tony asks Christopher to look out for Jackie. The guests include Carmela’s parents Mary and Hugh, Christopher and Adriana, plus Ralphie Cifaretto and Rosalie Aprile. Ralphie is dating the wife of the late Jackie Aprile Snr. Jackie Jr is also meant to be at lunch but he phones and rudely tells his mother he won’t be coming. Carmela says she’s ask Tony to have a heart-to heart with Jackie Jr. Meadow phones from Columbia but doesn’t want to speak to her father. Christopher gives four thousand dollars to Paulie – only two thirds of what he owes. Paulie taxes him another two thousand dollars, so Christopher has to find another four thousand in the next two days.
Tony has a lunch meeting with Jackie Jr at Vesuvio. He tells the surly Jackie that Richie was rat who has gone into the witness protection programme. Tony says Jackie’s dad never wanted the mob life for his son, and Tony feels the same way about AJ. Tony goes to see AJ play at a school football game. AJ comes on as part of the defensive line in the closing minutes of the final quarter and grabs a crucial turnover by jumping on a fumbled ball. Tony is very proud. Janice shifts into Tony’s old room at Livia’s house because Svetlana is sleeping in Janice’s old room for a few more days. Svetlana still won’t give Livia’s records to Janice, she says possession is nine tenths of the law.
Christopher is stressed out, shouting at Adriana and fretting about how he will pay Paulie. He believes the bird sitting outside on the windowsill at his ceremony was a curse. Adriana says a bird inside the house symbolises death. Svetlana wakes up. Her artificial leg is missing and so is Janice. She calls Tony to come round. When he arrives his old mistress, Svetlana’s cousin Irina, is at Livia’s house. Tony doesn’t want to talk to Irina but agrees to contact Janice about the missing leg. He gets some capiccola from the fridge and it triggers a memory from his childhood.
He recalls seeing his father and Uncle Junior demand payment from Francis Satriale, the original owner of Satriale’s Pork Store. Johnny Boy Soprano chopped off one of the butcher’s fingers with a meat cleaver. That night Tony’s father says what he saw was a lesson – a man honours his debts. Johnny and Livia have an amorous moment when she gets the roast meat out of the oven. When the meat is being carved, young Tony faints in the kitchen – his first anxiety attack.
Tony tells Dr Melfi what he has remembered. She recalls the attack which led to Tony beginning therapy, happened when he was cooking meat. She says his very first attack happened when he short circuited after witnessing his parents’ sexuality, the violence and blood associated with the food he was about to eat, and the thought that some day he would have to bring home the bacon like his father. Melfi relates this to an experience of writer Marcel Proust, which inspired a seven-volume classic. She says understanding root causes will make Tony less vulnerable to future attacks. The therapist asks Tony to keep a log of any further thoughts he has about all this.
AJ and Tony are watching football at home while Carmela prepares a care package to take to Meadow. AJ goes with her but Tony stays at home on Carmela’s advice so he doesn’t further alienate Meadow. At Columbia Meadow and Noah are waiting for Carmela and Tony to arrive. Meadow knows what her father said to Noah and wanted to confront him about it in front of Noah. Carmela tries to placate Meadow. Svetlana’s boyfriend Bill Owens helps her move out of Livia’s house as Janice is moving in. Janice claims to know nothing about the disappearance of Svetlana’s leg. The Russian woman swears vengeance on Janice.
Christopher and Benny visit Jackie Jr at the pizza restaurant. Dino has been arrested for possession. Jackie says they were going to rob a benefit concert for Amnesty International at Rutgers University. Christopher and Benny adopt the plan with Jackie as getaway driver. At dinner AJ says he doesn’t want to go to college. He was perturbed by his visit to the Columbia campus and doesn’t think he’s smart enough to attend. Christopher and Benny rob the concert box office, while Jackie stays in the car. He pisses his pants because he dares not leave the car to urinate.
Next day Christopher gives Paulie the four thousand dollars. He talks about Jackie helping him. Christopher is finding being a made man a lot tougher than he expected. Paulie gives Tony his weekly cut and reports about Jackie helping Christopher at the Rutgers robbery. Tony says newly made guys are subject to strip searches for surveillance wires. At football practise the coach makes AJ defensive captain of the team. The teenager passes out, just like Tony does…
Deep and Meaningful: There are two very insightful moments in this episode. Dr Melfi and Tony make a breakthrough in tracing his panic attacks back to an incident from his childhood. In Season Two Tony learned discovered that his father had also suffering from the same problem. As the episode ends, AJ is unexpectedly given a position of responsibility and leadership. In reacts in the traditional Soprano male fashion – he passes out…
Mobspeak: Tony wants to know why Jackie Jr is doing hanging out with a mortadella (loser) like Dino Zerilli.
Mamma Mia: Tony says the only time you could count on his mother being in a good mood was when the weekly meat delivery from Satriale’s showed up, or sometimes when fresh vegetable came from Fusco’s. He says it was probably the only time his father got laid.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: Adriana is making cheese dogs when Christopher gets to call about his ceremony. After he has been made, there’s a vast buffet laid on for all the mobsters. Tony and Carmine help themselves to the food. Janice is eating crisps and drinking a beer when she and Tony talk. The manager of the Ooh-Fa Pizza Restaurant orders a free large O.F. pizza and soft drink of choice for Christopher to celebrate his being made. Tony barbeques various meats for the Sunday family dinner. Carmela serves roast pumpkin and string beans with parmesan cheese. Tony and Furio has lunch at Vesuvio. Tony tells Artie that Meadow is always coming home from Columbia to haul food away. After the football Tony takes AJ to have some hotdogs. That night Tony, Carmela and AJ eat a roast dinner at home together. Tony asks Svetlana is Janice has put any food in Livia’s fridge yet. Svetlana says Livia’s weekly meat delivery is still coming. Tony eats some capiccola sausage from the fridge, triggering his flashbacks. Dr Melfi says Marcel Proust’s inspirational flashbacks were triggered by eating a Madeleine, a kind of tea cookie. AJ and Tony eat crisps while they watch football on TV. Carmela is taking Meadow some of her homemade brasciole. Tony, Carmela and AJ have a meal including pasta, salad and bread. Tony is having steak for lunch at Vesuvio when Paulie arrives.
Mobbed Up: Adriana is worried that Christopher will be whacked instead of being made, as happened to Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfellas. Christopher says she’s seen too many movies. When Christopher arrives at the ceremony unscathed, Silvio accuses him on one ass cheek for the whole journey. Tony uses the same line on Christopher that he used on Adriana. Janice watches a TV show which mentions how Jayne Maynesfield broke into Hollywood with a single phone call. Christopher and Benny wear masks from the film Scream as disguises when they rob the benefit concert’s box office.
How Do You Feel?: Tony says it wasn’t traumatic seeing his father cut off Satriale’s finger – it was a rush for him to witness the violence. When Dr Melfi makes the connection between meat, violence and his parents, Tony says he doesn’t want to think about any of this. He protests that his head is spinning when the therapist starts talking about Marcel Proust.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Tony has two consecutive flashbacks to the late 1960s which show his first anxiety attack and how it relates to meat.
Quote/Unquote: New York mobster Carmine Lupertazzi confuses religion with shame when discussing psychiatry with Tony: ‘There’s no stigmata these days.’ Janice extols the virtues of her young fiancée Drew: ‘He’s 19, actually, and he can go all night.’ Carmela tells her daughter that Tony is outside. ‘Burning a cross?’ Meadows replies. Dr Melfi explains how Marcel Proust was inspired to write a seven-volume classic by biting a tea cookie, which unleashed a tidal waves of memories, but Tony is not impressed. ‘This sounds very gay.’
Soundtrack: ‘I See You Baby (Full Frontal Version)’ by Groove Armada. ‘All Good’ by De La Soul. ‘Rock and Roll’ by Led Zeppelin. ‘The Happy Organ’ by Dave “Baby” Cortez. ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ by Hugo Montenegro. Johnny Boy Soprano sings ‘All Of Me’ to Livia in flashback. ‘Sally Go Round The Roses’ by Jaynettes. ‘Since I Met You Baby’ by Ivory Joe Hunter. ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ by Van Halen. ‘Where’s The Money’ by Dan Hicks. ‘A Little Peculiar’ by Heather Sullivan. ‘Never Change Baby’ by Greg Ginn.
Surveillance Report: Joseph Siravo (Johnny Boy), Laila robins (Livia) and Rocco Sisto (Young Junior) all reprise the roles they first played in the first season episode ‘Down Neck’. But the young Tony and Janice are played by different child actors in this episode. Also returning are Sal Petraccione as George Piocosta (last seen in the first season episode ‘Meadowlands’ and Tony’s former mistress, Irina, played by Oksana Babiy.
The Verdict: ‘Take away Tony Soprano, he’s a zero with shoes.’ Christopher finally gets his wish and becomes a made man, but soon finds it brings much greater stress and responsibility. As he gets on the wrong side of Paulie, Janice riles Svetlana and Tony alienates Meadow with his racism. Several significant stories begin or develop here which will resonate through the rest of the season, such as Jackie Jr’s attraction to the mob life and AJ struggling with adolescence. This episode shows many of the show’s younger character having problems coping with the onset of adult responsibility. Season Two episodes suffered from the sidelining of Livia and Tony’s sessions with Dr Melfi. Livia’s death could have made matters worse but it has actually freed the show from its past and enabled the creative team to move forwards into fresh territory…
Writer: Todd A. Kessler • Director: Henry J. Bronchtein
Cast: Joseph Siravo (Johnny Boy Soprano), Rocco Sisto (Young Junior Soprano), Tony Lip (Carmine Lupertazzi), Laila Robins (Young Livia), Peter Byrne (Security Guard), Megan Curry (Punked Out Co-ed), Steven Grillo (Pizza Customer), Kevin Janicelli (Joey Del Guercio), Mario Lavanderia (Male Student), Steve Mellow (Bill Owens), Peter Napoliello (Football Dad), Sal Petraccione (George Piocosta), Frank Savino (Operator #1), Paul Reggio (Operator #2), Jessica Ripton (Pizza Customer #2), Johnny Spanish (Junkie), Brian Anthony Wilson (Warren Dupree), Lou Bonacki (Francis Satriale), Mark Damiano II (Young Tony Soprano), Juliet Fox (Young Janice), Elxis McLaren (Young Barbara).
Storyline: It’s football season, the busiest time of year for the Family. Christopher gets a call to prepare for the ceremony where he will become a made man. He tells Adriana this means she will have to quit her job as a hostess at Vesuvio restaurant. Paulie and Silvio collect the very nervous Christopher and take him to the ceremony. Tony performs the ceremony on Christopher and another prospective Mafia member, Eugene Pontecoruo. During the ritual Christopher is perturbed by a black bird which appears at a window.
When the ceremony is completed the Family holds a celebration meal. Paulie gives Christopher his sports betting business. All Christopher has to do is give Paulie one tenth of his take every week, with a minimum payment of six thousand dollars. Tony talks with New York Family man Carmine Lupertazzi, who asks about the progress of a riverfront esplanade project planned for Newark, New Jersey. Tony says his man in the State Assembly reports that the matching funds are very close. The development agency has added plans for a City of Newark Museum of Science and Trucking. Johnny Sack is hovering in the background, trying to listen to their conversation. Carmine asks how Tony is doing with his panic attacks and psychotherapy. Tony is unhappy that everyone seems to know about his health problems.
Tony and Janice discuss her 19-year-old fiancée Drew, who is still in California. Janice plans to stay in New Jersey until Livia’s estate is settled. Tony suggests she move back into Livia’s house. He says Svetlana will be moving out soon. Christopher and his associate Benny Fazio go to the Ooh-Fa Pizza Restaurant, where they run into Jackie Aprile Jr and Dino Zerilli. Dino congratulates Christopher on being made, which Jackie reluctantly endorses. He is thinking of dropping out of Rutgers University. Dino says they are thinking of hitting a coffee house on the campus. Jackie gets into a shouting match with a customer who bumps into him.
Tony tells Dr Melfi he wants results from the therapy or it ends. She says the next step is for him to consider cognitive behavioural therapy. They trace his latest anxiety attack to Tony taking some capiccola sausage from the fridge. Christopher takes a heavy loss on the points spread from a football game. The betting parlour manager, Warren Dupree, says Paulie used to load off some of the action to other bookies, to spread the risk. Christopher has a tantrum – he’s going to struggle to pay Paulie the six thousand dollar minimum.
Tony barbeques meat for a big Sunday family dinner. Tony asks Christopher to look out for Jackie. The guests include Carmela’s parents Mary and Hugh, Christopher and Adriana, plus Ralphie Cifaretto and Rosalie Aprile. Ralphie is dating the wife of the late Jackie Aprile Snr. Jackie Jr is also meant to be at lunch but he phones and rudely tells his mother he won’t be coming. Carmela says she’s ask Tony to have a heart-to heart with Jackie Jr. Meadow phones from Columbia but doesn’t want to speak to her father. Christopher gives four thousand dollars to Paulie – only two thirds of what he owes. Paulie taxes him another two thousand dollars, so Christopher has to find another four thousand in the next two days.
Tony has a lunch meeting with Jackie Jr at Vesuvio. He tells the surly Jackie that Richie was rat who has gone into the witness protection programme. Tony says Jackie’s dad never wanted the mob life for his son, and Tony feels the same way about AJ. Tony goes to see AJ play at a school football game. AJ comes on as part of the defensive line in the closing minutes of the final quarter and grabs a crucial turnover by jumping on a fumbled ball. Tony is very proud. Janice shifts into Tony’s old room at Livia’s house because Svetlana is sleeping in Janice’s old room for a few more days. Svetlana still won’t give Livia’s records to Janice, she says possession is nine tenths of the law.
Christopher is stressed out, shouting at Adriana and fretting about how he will pay Paulie. He believes the bird sitting outside on the windowsill at his ceremony was a curse. Adriana says a bird inside the house symbolises death. Svetlana wakes up. Her artificial leg is missing and so is Janice. She calls Tony to come round. When he arrives his old mistress, Svetlana’s cousin Irina, is at Livia’s house. Tony doesn’t want to talk to Irina but agrees to contact Janice about the missing leg. He gets some capiccola from the fridge and it triggers a memory from his childhood.
He recalls seeing his father and Uncle Junior demand payment from Francis Satriale, the original owner of Satriale’s Pork Store. Johnny Boy Soprano chopped off one of the butcher’s fingers with a meat cleaver. That night Tony’s father says what he saw was a lesson – a man honours his debts. Johnny and Livia have an amorous moment when she gets the roast meat out of the oven. When the meat is being carved, young Tony faints in the kitchen – his first anxiety attack.
Tony tells Dr Melfi what he has remembered. She recalls the attack which led to Tony beginning therapy, happened when he was cooking meat. She says his very first attack happened when he short circuited after witnessing his parents’ sexuality, the violence and blood associated with the food he was about to eat, and the thought that some day he would have to bring home the bacon like his father. Melfi relates this to an experience of writer Marcel Proust, which inspired a seven-volume classic. She says understanding root causes will make Tony less vulnerable to future attacks. The therapist asks Tony to keep a log of any further thoughts he has about all this.
AJ and Tony are watching football at home while Carmela prepares a care package to take to Meadow. AJ goes with her but Tony stays at home on Carmela’s advice so he doesn’t further alienate Meadow. At Columbia Meadow and Noah are waiting for Carmela and Tony to arrive. Meadow knows what her father said to Noah and wanted to confront him about it in front of Noah. Carmela tries to placate Meadow. Svetlana’s boyfriend Bill Owens helps her move out of Livia’s house as Janice is moving in. Janice claims to know nothing about the disappearance of Svetlana’s leg. The Russian woman swears vengeance on Janice.
Christopher and Benny visit Jackie Jr at the pizza restaurant. Dino has been arrested for possession. Jackie says they were going to rob a benefit concert for Amnesty International at Rutgers University. Christopher and Benny adopt the plan with Jackie as getaway driver. At dinner AJ says he doesn’t want to go to college. He was perturbed by his visit to the Columbia campus and doesn’t think he’s smart enough to attend. Christopher and Benny rob the concert box office, while Jackie stays in the car. He pisses his pants because he dares not leave the car to urinate.
Next day Christopher gives Paulie the four thousand dollars. He talks about Jackie helping him. Christopher is finding being a made man a lot tougher than he expected. Paulie gives Tony his weekly cut and reports about Jackie helping Christopher at the Rutgers robbery. Tony says newly made guys are subject to strip searches for surveillance wires. At football practise the coach makes AJ defensive captain of the team. The teenager passes out, just like Tony does…
Deep and Meaningful: There are two very insightful moments in this episode. Dr Melfi and Tony make a breakthrough in tracing his panic attacks back to an incident from his childhood. In Season Two Tony learned discovered that his father had also suffering from the same problem. As the episode ends, AJ is unexpectedly given a position of responsibility and leadership. In reacts in the traditional Soprano male fashion – he passes out…
Mobspeak: Tony wants to know why Jackie Jr is doing hanging out with a mortadella (loser) like Dino Zerilli.
Mamma Mia: Tony says the only time you could count on his mother being in a good mood was when the weekly meat delivery from Satriale’s showed up, or sometimes when fresh vegetable came from Fusco’s. He says it was probably the only time his father got laid.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: Adriana is making cheese dogs when Christopher gets to call about his ceremony. After he has been made, there’s a vast buffet laid on for all the mobsters. Tony and Carmine help themselves to the food. Janice is eating crisps and drinking a beer when she and Tony talk. The manager of the Ooh-Fa Pizza Restaurant orders a free large O.F. pizza and soft drink of choice for Christopher to celebrate his being made. Tony barbeques various meats for the Sunday family dinner. Carmela serves roast pumpkin and string beans with parmesan cheese. Tony and Furio has lunch at Vesuvio. Tony tells Artie that Meadow is always coming home from Columbia to haul food away. After the football Tony takes AJ to have some hotdogs. That night Tony, Carmela and AJ eat a roast dinner at home together. Tony asks Svetlana is Janice has put any food in Livia’s fridge yet. Svetlana says Livia’s weekly meat delivery is still coming. Tony eats some capiccola sausage from the fridge, triggering his flashbacks. Dr Melfi says Marcel Proust’s inspirational flashbacks were triggered by eating a Madeleine, a kind of tea cookie. AJ and Tony eat crisps while they watch football on TV. Carmela is taking Meadow some of her homemade brasciole. Tony, Carmela and AJ have a meal including pasta, salad and bread. Tony is having steak for lunch at Vesuvio when Paulie arrives.
Mobbed Up: Adriana is worried that Christopher will be whacked instead of being made, as happened to Joe Pesci’s character in Goodfellas. Christopher says she’s seen too many movies. When Christopher arrives at the ceremony unscathed, Silvio accuses him on one ass cheek for the whole journey. Tony uses the same line on Christopher that he used on Adriana. Janice watches a TV show which mentions how Jayne Maynesfield broke into Hollywood with a single phone call. Christopher and Benny wear masks from the film Scream as disguises when they rob the benefit concert’s box office.
How Do You Feel?: Tony says it wasn’t traumatic seeing his father cut off Satriale’s finger – it was a rush for him to witness the violence. When Dr Melfi makes the connection between meat, violence and his parents, Tony says he doesn’t want to think about any of this. He protests that his head is spinning when the therapist starts talking about Marcel Proust.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Tony has two consecutive flashbacks to the late 1960s which show his first anxiety attack and how it relates to meat.
Quote/Unquote: New York mobster Carmine Lupertazzi confuses religion with shame when discussing psychiatry with Tony: ‘There’s no stigmata these days.’ Janice extols the virtues of her young fiancée Drew: ‘He’s 19, actually, and he can go all night.’ Carmela tells her daughter that Tony is outside. ‘Burning a cross?’ Meadows replies. Dr Melfi explains how Marcel Proust was inspired to write a seven-volume classic by biting a tea cookie, which unleashed a tidal waves of memories, but Tony is not impressed. ‘This sounds very gay.’
Soundtrack: ‘I See You Baby (Full Frontal Version)’ by Groove Armada. ‘All Good’ by De La Soul. ‘Rock and Roll’ by Led Zeppelin. ‘The Happy Organ’ by Dave “Baby” Cortez. ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’ by Hugo Montenegro. Johnny Boy Soprano sings ‘All Of Me’ to Livia in flashback. ‘Sally Go Round The Roses’ by Jaynettes. ‘Since I Met You Baby’ by Ivory Joe Hunter. ‘Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love’ by Van Halen. ‘Where’s The Money’ by Dan Hicks. ‘A Little Peculiar’ by Heather Sullivan. ‘Never Change Baby’ by Greg Ginn.
Surveillance Report: Joseph Siravo (Johnny Boy), Laila robins (Livia) and Rocco Sisto (Young Junior) all reprise the roles they first played in the first season episode ‘Down Neck’. But the young Tony and Janice are played by different child actors in this episode. Also returning are Sal Petraccione as George Piocosta (last seen in the first season episode ‘Meadowlands’ and Tony’s former mistress, Irina, played by Oksana Babiy.
The Verdict: ‘Take away Tony Soprano, he’s a zero with shoes.’ Christopher finally gets his wish and becomes a made man, but soon finds it brings much greater stress and responsibility. As he gets on the wrong side of Paulie, Janice riles Svetlana and Tony alienates Meadow with his racism. Several significant stories begin or develop here which will resonate through the rest of the season, such as Jackie Jr’s attraction to the mob life and AJ struggling with adolescence. This episode shows many of the show’s younger character having problems coping with the onset of adult responsibility. Season Two episodes suffered from the sidelining of Livia and Tony’s sessions with Dr Melfi. Livia’s death could have made matters worse but it has actually freed the show from its past and enabled the creative team to move forwards into fresh territory…
Friday, May 04, 2007
TV Forum notes: an audience with Kudos
Yesterday I posted my notes from Day 1 of the Script Factory’s TV Forum in London last week. In a move that should surprise nobody, today I bring you my notes from Day 2. The morning featured more from speaker Rob Ritchie, looking at Story of the Week dramas and the evolution in narrative comedy on TV. In the afternoon first speaker was Andy Harries, the outgoing controller of drama and comedy for Granada. He’s produced everything from Cold Feet to The Queen, covering both TV and film. Harries was very entertaining, but I found little about which to take notes.
Perhaps the biggest draw of the two days was the final session, an audience with three people from Kudos: joint MD Jane Featherstone [JF], executive producer Claire Parker [CP] and director of drama Simon Crawford Collins [SCC]. Kudos is best known for making such drama series as Spooks [renamed MI5 in America], Hustle and Life on Mars. The company’s recently been purchased for an eight-figure sum, but retained its creative autonomy as part of the deal. Here’s what the people from Kudos had to say…
JF: Joined Kudos in 2000 when there were two people in its drama department, including her. The company now has 37 fulltime staff in its drama department, while the factual section on which it was foundered has faded in importance.
SCC: A new TV series can happen very quickly, but it can take a long time too. The first episode of Spooks went through 35 drafts, the first Life on Mars had 37 drafts. Most Kudos scripts undergo extensive development work.
On series 6 of Spooks, none of the writers have any TV experience except Spooks. Before that they were novelists, wrote screenplays for films or were playwrights. They all come through their agents. Spec scripts come via agents, or sometimes from broadcasters – Sally Wainwright’s The Amazing Mrs Pritchard came via the BBC.
JF: We want writers to own their scripts. But they have to be very collaborative. There’ll be constant changes, but being open to that provides a wonderful energy.
SCC: We try to have a joint meeting with writers, the producer and EP, as a way of avoiding multiple notes on the same draft given at different times by different people. WE look for a strong premise. We want writers with a sense of visual style and pace. Bold writing, brilliant writing attracts great talent in front and behind the camera.
JF: We want over-ambitious people. We want to find a better way to do things through character, story and writing. Our TV is cinema-influenced. Hustle stemmed from Ocean’s 11, could we find a British take on the heist and caper genre.
CP: Life on Mars was always finite. It could never have been more than three series. The commissioning of Ashes To Ashes meant we could continue with some of the characters and concepts, but Sam’s journey is over.
Kudos is working on the double commission of a soap opera for ITV2 called Echo Beach [named after the Martha and the Muffins song], and Moving Wallpaper for ITV1. The latter is a comedy set behind the scenes at a soap called Echo Beach. Writers are working on one or the other. Those twinned projects need four producers in all.
JF: Kudos wants unique ideas, new ways of looking at the world.
SCC: Cast turnover helps keep Spooks fresh. On a series our directors will shoot two episodes each. They join a show four weeks before their episode starts shooting. Lead director on the first episode of a series will start 8-10 weeks out.
CP: I ask myself why does this show have to be made? Why should I want to fight for it? Why will an audience want to watch it? Most of our series have a single SE. We try to find people who are passionate about a series.
Kudos doesn’t look at unsolicited material. If you have an agent, get them to submit your best sample script to demonstrate the quality of your writing. Ideally submit two sample scripts, showing the range of your work. Kudos does make single dramas, but they tend to be very issue-based [e.g. Mark of Cain] or biopics.
Perhaps the biggest draw of the two days was the final session, an audience with three people from Kudos: joint MD Jane Featherstone [JF], executive producer Claire Parker [CP] and director of drama Simon Crawford Collins [SCC]. Kudos is best known for making such drama series as Spooks [renamed MI5 in America], Hustle and Life on Mars. The company’s recently been purchased for an eight-figure sum, but retained its creative autonomy as part of the deal. Here’s what the people from Kudos had to say…
JF: Joined Kudos in 2000 when there were two people in its drama department, including her. The company now has 37 fulltime staff in its drama department, while the factual section on which it was foundered has faded in importance.
SCC: A new TV series can happen very quickly, but it can take a long time too. The first episode of Spooks went through 35 drafts, the first Life on Mars had 37 drafts. Most Kudos scripts undergo extensive development work.
On series 6 of Spooks, none of the writers have any TV experience except Spooks. Before that they were novelists, wrote screenplays for films or were playwrights. They all come through their agents. Spec scripts come via agents, or sometimes from broadcasters – Sally Wainwright’s The Amazing Mrs Pritchard came via the BBC.
JF: We want writers to own their scripts. But they have to be very collaborative. There’ll be constant changes, but being open to that provides a wonderful energy.
SCC: We try to have a joint meeting with writers, the producer and EP, as a way of avoiding multiple notes on the same draft given at different times by different people. WE look for a strong premise. We want writers with a sense of visual style and pace. Bold writing, brilliant writing attracts great talent in front and behind the camera.
JF: We want over-ambitious people. We want to find a better way to do things through character, story and writing. Our TV is cinema-influenced. Hustle stemmed from Ocean’s 11, could we find a British take on the heist and caper genre.
CP: Life on Mars was always finite. It could never have been more than three series. The commissioning of Ashes To Ashes meant we could continue with some of the characters and concepts, but Sam’s journey is over.
Kudos is working on the double commission of a soap opera for ITV2 called Echo Beach [named after the Martha and the Muffins song], and Moving Wallpaper for ITV1. The latter is a comedy set behind the scenes at a soap called Echo Beach. Writers are working on one or the other. Those twinned projects need four producers in all.
JF: Kudos wants unique ideas, new ways of looking at the world.
SCC: Cast turnover helps keep Spooks fresh. On a series our directors will shoot two episodes each. They join a show four weeks before their episode starts shooting. Lead director on the first episode of a series will start 8-10 weeks out.
CP: I ask myself why does this show have to be made? Why should I want to fight for it? Why will an audience want to watch it? Most of our series have a single SE. We try to find people who are passionate about a series.
Kudos doesn’t look at unsolicited material. If you have an agent, get them to submit your best sample script to demonstrate the quality of your writing. Ideally submit two sample scripts, showing the range of your work. Kudos does make single dramas, but they tend to be very issue-based [e.g. Mark of Cain] or biopics.
Sopranos episode guide #28: Proshai, Livushka
US Transmission Date: 4 March 2001
Writer: David Chase • Director: Tim Van Patten
Cast: Nancy Marchand (Livia Soprano), Vincent Pastore (Pussy Bonpensiero), Nicole Burdette (Barbara Giglione), Ralph Lucarelli (Cozzerelli), Peter McRobbie (Father Felix), Tim Gallen (Mr Zachary), Marcia Haufrecht (Fanny), Vito Antuofurmo Sr (Bobby Zanone), Dimitri De Fresco (Young Man), Ed Vassallo (Tom Giglione), Carlos Lopez (FBI Tech #1), Michael Strano (FBI Agent).
Storyline: Late at night a garbage truck is blown up. Next day the Star-Ledger reports this is the second explosion in a sanitation war, with further retaliation expected. A copy of the paper lays on the breakfast bar in the Soprano’s kitchen. Lying on the floor is Tony Soprano, who has collapsed. Carmela comes home with groceries and discovers him on the floor and asks what happened.
Everything does a fast rewind back to Tony coming downstairs. He finds Meadow rewinding a videotape of the 1931 gangster film The Public Enemy. She brought a classmate home to watch it because someone stole the VCR at Columbia. Her black classmate emerges from bathroom and introduces himself to Tony as Noah Tannenbaum. While Meadow goes upstairs to get a CD, Tony asks about Noah’s background. Noah is half Jewish, half African-American. His father is an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles. Tony warns Noah to stay away from Meadow in future. Noah and Meadow go back to Columbia. Tony gets food out of the fridge, opens a kitchen cupboard and then collapses.
Back to real time and Carmela warns Tony not to play the race card against Noah, it will only backfire on him. She will talk to Meadow about Noah. Tony visits her mother at her home. Svetlana has shifted in to be Livia’s carer. Tony asks his mother not to testify against him about the illegal airline tickets, but Livia doesn’t respond. Tony walks out, frustrated and angry.
That night Tony is watching The Public Enemy on video. Meadow comes home and demands to know what her father said to Noah. Carmela calls her upstairs. Tony goes outside to smoke a cigar. When he comes back in, Carmela, Meadow and AJ are all waiting for him in the dining room. Svetlana called - Livia has died in her sleep. Tony and Carmela go to Livia’s house. Svetlana says Livia died of a massive stroke. She did not suffer.
At the Soprano’s home, AJ is struggling to understand a poem by Robert Frost. Meadow explains that snow symbolises death. When she leaves, AJ hears noises in the house. He calls out to see if it is Livia, but nobody replies. Tony calls his sister Barbara with news of their mother’s death. She volunteers to call Janice in California. Tony suggests they meet at Cozzerelli’s Funeral Home the next day but Barbara says Livia did not want a service. Tony says they’ll pick an urn instead. Tony, Carmela and Svetlana toast Livia.
When Tony and Carmela get home Tony’s crew are waiting for him. Everyone says they’re sorry and Tony notes that his mother didn’t suffer. Carmela’s parent arrive as Tony gets a call from Barbara that Janice is refusing to come home. Tony phones Janice and demands she return to New Jersey. He offers to pay her airfare. He tells her that everyone believes her dead fiancée, Richie Aprile, has disappeared into the FBI’s witness protection programme. That night Tony can’t sleep. He gets up and watch more of the old film, which shows a gangster’s happy relationship with his living mother.
Next day more of the Family come to pay their condolences. Tony takes Ralphie Cifaretto, Albert Barese and Gigi outside. He demands to know who gave the order to torch one of Albert’s garbage trucks. Ralphie says it was retaliation for Albert lighting up two of his dumpsters. Ralphie talks about his crew, but Tony points out that Ralphie hasn’t been made captain of Richie Aprile’s old crew yet. The dispute is over who will get an upcoming garbage contract for Reardon township. Ralphie says the Reardon recycling manager, Mr Zachary, is threatening to bust them all with the Environmental Protection Agency and Albert backs this up. Tony tells Ralphie to fix Zachery but forbids anyone from starting any more fires.
Tony, Barbara and Janice gather at Cozzerelli’s. Tony says Livia didn’t want a service, Barbara wants a priest to be there and a tearful Janice worries about how it will look if they don’t have a service. Tony eventually agrees to having the works and pay for it himself, just to shut everyone up. Janice wants a time for people to share remembrances at Livia’s wake but Tony rejects the idea as California bullshit.
At Livia’s house Janice is tapping the walls looking for loot in the basement when Tony arrives. Janice has been going through their old possessions. Livia kept all of Tony’s stuff, a baby shoe and communion certificate of Barbara’s, but nothing from Janice’s childhood.
Everyone prepares for the funeral in different ways. Silvio has a temper tantrum because he will have to miss the Jets’ first home game to attend. Furio, Christopher and Adriana smoke and snort various drugs. Captain Raymond Curto meets with his FBI handler. He offers to wear a wire to Livia’s funeral.
The funeral home does a brisk trade in people coming to pay their respects to Livia and her family. The FBI’s Newark office has sent a sympathy wreath. Junior arrives, all out of sorts. He is accompanied by Bacala, who says his own father is very ill too. State Assemblyman Zellman makes an appearance, as does Reverend James Jr. Junior tells Tony that Ralphie wants a bump up to Captain. Junior says Ralphie has been a top earner since taking over Richie’s crew, pulling it into shape. Ralphie watches as his men beat Mr Zachary.
After Livia is buried, Janice tells Svetlana to vacate Livia’s house by the weekend. The Russian woman says Tony told her she could stay longer. Janice demands the return of Livia’s record collection, which Svetlana claims was given to her as a present. Janice says the records are worth a fortune to the right collector. At Livia’s wake Carmela is hitting the booze heavily. When Tony opens a mirrored cupboard in a hallway, Pussy Bonpensiero is reflected in the mirror for a moment.
Tony stops and looks around, as if he caught the ghostly apparition out the corner of his eye. Paulie and Furio are standing near Tony at the time, but they do not notice.
Janice gathers everyone to share remembrances and feelings about Livia. They all stand or sit, silent and awkward. Hesh says the dead woman didn’t mince words. Livia’s best friend, Fanny, says she would always call with news if someone they knew had died or gone into hospital. Tony walks out in disgust when a guest says that at least Livia didn’t suffer.
Outside Tony talks with his old friend Artie Bucco, who is catering the wake. Artie has been remembering Livia telling him that it was Tony who had the original Vesuvio restaurant burnt down. Artie threatens to share this secret with the gathering. Tony follows him inside but before Artie can say anything Carmela speaks her mind. She says the wake is a crock of shit and describes Livia as terribly dysfunctional.
Carmela’s mother tries to hush her but Carmela’s father Hugh demands to his turn. He says they suffered for years under the yoke of Livia, who spoiled numerous family events and holiday gatherings. Barbara’s husband endorses this view. After a painful silence, Artie invites everyone to tries some of the desserts. When everyone has left or gone to bed, Tony watch the end of The Public Enemy. He cries as the film finishes – but for whom is he crying?
Deep and Meaningful: The whole remembrance scene is excruciatingly awkward and cringe-making in its accuracy. Almost nobody has a good thing to say about Livia but some manage to concoct a few platitudes. Janice uses the occasion to be the centre of attention and act the role of grieving daughter. It takes a half-cut Carmela to unleash a little truth. Pray your wake isn’t like this!
Mobspeak: Tony has a clutch of slang expressions to describe black people including ditsoon, charcoal briquette, mulignan and butterhead. Junior talks about Richie going into the program (Witness Protection Programme).
Mamma Mia: Livia makes her final appearance as a CGI apparition, with her head cut from previous episodes and grafted on to the body of a double. Her dialogue in the short scene with Tony is also culled from the archives and sounds like a selection of Livia’s greatest moans. She wishes the Lord would take her now. She supposes she should have kept her mouth shut, like a mute. She doesn’t like swearing, it upsets her. Livia also manages to roll her eyes or her head half a dozen times, gets in three dismissive hand gestures and a couple of hankie waves.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: When Tony regains consciousness after collapsing, his first words are ‘Uncle Ben’, referring to a brand of rice the Sopranos have in their kitchen cupboard. It was the last thing he saw before passing out. Just before that, he got a packet of capiccola sausage slices out of the fridge to eat. Carmela’s father Hugh brings a box of pastries when he and his wife come round to offer their sympathies for Livia’s death. Tony watches the famous scene in The Public Enemy where James Cagney pushes a grapefruit into his girlfriend’s face. Next morning Tony is eating cereal straight from the box when members of the Family arrive to sympathise. Tony tells Vito Spatafore to eat a Shfiadell pastry while the others go outside to talk business. Outside the funeral home Tony says people can drink, eat some gorgonzola cheese and yak about Livia at the wake. At the wake Artie remembers taking Livia food in hospital. Artie caters the food at the wake, which includes a finger food buffet and desserts by Vesuvio’s new pastry chef. Janice says everyone could take a break from eating for five minutes. Carmela berates her own hypocrisy at ‘evading, smiling and passing out Cheese Puffs’ at the wake.
Mobbed Up: Nearly half a dozen scenes from The Public Enemy are shown during this episode. Tony says it’s a great movie. Noah credits director William Wellman with inventing the gangster film genre, rather than Howard Hawks whose film Scarface was released a year later. Noah says Cagney was barbarity in The Public Enemy. Noah and Meadow are studying the film as part of a course entitled Images of Hyper-Capitalist Advancement in the Era of the Studio System. At the wake Furio talks with Paulie about the TV reality game show Survivor, which was a big hit on US television in 2000.
How Do You Feel?: Tony complains that Dr Melfi offers no condolences for the death of his mother, but then says it is a relief she hasn’t – everyone else is all bullshit about it. Tony says he is glad Livia died. In fact, he wished she’d die. He says relief flooded into his veins when he heard the news, because she could have testified against him in court. Now he feels guilty, because no good son should wish his mother dead. He calls his mother a fucking demented old bat and a selfish, miserable old cunt who ruined his father’s life. Dr Melfi says Tony is still letting his mother off. Tony is hopeful that the death of his mother means his therapy is done, but Dr Melfi doesn’t agree.
Sleeping With The Fishes: Livia Soprano, killed by a massive stroke in her sleep. Dead at last, but definitely not forgotten…
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Artie Bucco has a flashback to the day he visited Livia at the Green Grove nursing unit (#13, ‘I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano’), when she told him Tony had Vesuvio torched. The ghostly appearance of Pussy reflected in a mirror happens so quickly most viewers in America only caught it on repeated viewings of this episode. Does Tony notice? He pauses for a moment after it happens, as if unnerved by what he saw in the mirror…
Quote/Unquote: Carmela warns her husband against playing the race card, as it will only drive Meadow into Noah’s arms. ‘Not if I cut off those fucking arms,’ Tony says. AJ is befuddled by Robert Frost’s use of snow as a metaphor for death: ‘I thought black was death.’ Tony dismisses Janice’s fears about being implicated in the disappearance of Richie Aprile: ‘Jesus, that case is colder than your tits.’ Carmela’s father, Hugh DeAngelis, demands his wife Mary give him a chance to speak his mind at Livia’s wake: ‘Goddammit, who are you – the Minister of Propaganda?’
Soundtrack: ‘Closer to Home (I’m Your Captain)’ by Grand Funk Railroad. ‘If I Loved You’ from the musical Carousel. ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ by Les Paul. ‘Eyeless’ by Slipknot. ‘Shake It (Like You Just Made Bail)’ by Shawn Smith.
Surveillance Report: ‘Proshai, Livushka’ is Russian for ‘Goodbye, Little Livia’, according to Svetlana. She uses the phrase to toast Livia’s memory. Marcia Haufrecht returns as Fanny, the friend Livia run over way back in #02, ’46 Long’. Fanny had her hip broken in the auto accident – now she attends Livia’s wake in a wheelchair. Also returning in this episode is Father Felix (played by Peter McRobbie), the priest Paulie berated for failing to secure him divine immunity in #22, ‘From Where To Eternity’. The Public Enemy uses the song ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ as its theme tune. The song was subsequently adopted by fans of London’s West Ham United football club. Watch out for the mystery man who appears on the stairs behind Tony during the remembrance sequence, then disappears back upstairs again. This detail caused endless speculation on the internet as hardcore fans tried to discern the identity of this individual, who looks a little like Uncle Junior. Eventually someone from the show’s production team said the mystery man was merely an extra who wandered into shot, decided to avoid the sharing of remembrances and retreated back upstairs again. Ralphie Cifaretto is played by Joe Pantoliano, who has starred in hit films The Matrix, The Fugitive and Bound. He was Guido the Killer Pimp in 1983 film Risky Business with Tom Cruise. State Assemblyman Ronald Zellman is played by Peter Riegert, who starred in Local Hero and The Mask.
The Verdict: ‘I wish the Lord would take me now.’ Livia finally gets her wish and everybody else has to deal with the fallout. Meanwhile Tony’s racist attitude and comments alienate his daughter, driving her away from the family. This episode was necessitated by the death of actress Nancy Marchand, who played Livia Soprano in Seasons One and Two. Alas, the CGI sequence just doesn’t work. The special effects company which did the work said it cost a six figure sum – David Chase should ask for his money back. It is easy to say in retrospect, but the show would have been better served by Tony having the same conversation with Livia over the telephone. Despite this glitch, the episode is an inspired effort as Tony wrestles with his feelings for his dead mother. Several significant characters get their introduction and crucial plot lines for the rest of the season are begun.
Writer: David Chase • Director: Tim Van Patten
Cast: Nancy Marchand (Livia Soprano), Vincent Pastore (Pussy Bonpensiero), Nicole Burdette (Barbara Giglione), Ralph Lucarelli (Cozzerelli), Peter McRobbie (Father Felix), Tim Gallen (Mr Zachary), Marcia Haufrecht (Fanny), Vito Antuofurmo Sr (Bobby Zanone), Dimitri De Fresco (Young Man), Ed Vassallo (Tom Giglione), Carlos Lopez (FBI Tech #1), Michael Strano (FBI Agent).
Storyline: Late at night a garbage truck is blown up. Next day the Star-Ledger reports this is the second explosion in a sanitation war, with further retaliation expected. A copy of the paper lays on the breakfast bar in the Soprano’s kitchen. Lying on the floor is Tony Soprano, who has collapsed. Carmela comes home with groceries and discovers him on the floor and asks what happened.
Everything does a fast rewind back to Tony coming downstairs. He finds Meadow rewinding a videotape of the 1931 gangster film The Public Enemy. She brought a classmate home to watch it because someone stole the VCR at Columbia. Her black classmate emerges from bathroom and introduces himself to Tony as Noah Tannenbaum. While Meadow goes upstairs to get a CD, Tony asks about Noah’s background. Noah is half Jewish, half African-American. His father is an entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles. Tony warns Noah to stay away from Meadow in future. Noah and Meadow go back to Columbia. Tony gets food out of the fridge, opens a kitchen cupboard and then collapses.
Back to real time and Carmela warns Tony not to play the race card against Noah, it will only backfire on him. She will talk to Meadow about Noah. Tony visits her mother at her home. Svetlana has shifted in to be Livia’s carer. Tony asks his mother not to testify against him about the illegal airline tickets, but Livia doesn’t respond. Tony walks out, frustrated and angry.
That night Tony is watching The Public Enemy on video. Meadow comes home and demands to know what her father said to Noah. Carmela calls her upstairs. Tony goes outside to smoke a cigar. When he comes back in, Carmela, Meadow and AJ are all waiting for him in the dining room. Svetlana called - Livia has died in her sleep. Tony and Carmela go to Livia’s house. Svetlana says Livia died of a massive stroke. She did not suffer.
At the Soprano’s home, AJ is struggling to understand a poem by Robert Frost. Meadow explains that snow symbolises death. When she leaves, AJ hears noises in the house. He calls out to see if it is Livia, but nobody replies. Tony calls his sister Barbara with news of their mother’s death. She volunteers to call Janice in California. Tony suggests they meet at Cozzerelli’s Funeral Home the next day but Barbara says Livia did not want a service. Tony says they’ll pick an urn instead. Tony, Carmela and Svetlana toast Livia.
When Tony and Carmela get home Tony’s crew are waiting for him. Everyone says they’re sorry and Tony notes that his mother didn’t suffer. Carmela’s parent arrive as Tony gets a call from Barbara that Janice is refusing to come home. Tony phones Janice and demands she return to New Jersey. He offers to pay her airfare. He tells her that everyone believes her dead fiancée, Richie Aprile, has disappeared into the FBI’s witness protection programme. That night Tony can’t sleep. He gets up and watch more of the old film, which shows a gangster’s happy relationship with his living mother.
Next day more of the Family come to pay their condolences. Tony takes Ralphie Cifaretto, Albert Barese and Gigi outside. He demands to know who gave the order to torch one of Albert’s garbage trucks. Ralphie says it was retaliation for Albert lighting up two of his dumpsters. Ralphie talks about his crew, but Tony points out that Ralphie hasn’t been made captain of Richie Aprile’s old crew yet. The dispute is over who will get an upcoming garbage contract for Reardon township. Ralphie says the Reardon recycling manager, Mr Zachary, is threatening to bust them all with the Environmental Protection Agency and Albert backs this up. Tony tells Ralphie to fix Zachery but forbids anyone from starting any more fires.
Tony, Barbara and Janice gather at Cozzerelli’s. Tony says Livia didn’t want a service, Barbara wants a priest to be there and a tearful Janice worries about how it will look if they don’t have a service. Tony eventually agrees to having the works and pay for it himself, just to shut everyone up. Janice wants a time for people to share remembrances at Livia’s wake but Tony rejects the idea as California bullshit.
At Livia’s house Janice is tapping the walls looking for loot in the basement when Tony arrives. Janice has been going through their old possessions. Livia kept all of Tony’s stuff, a baby shoe and communion certificate of Barbara’s, but nothing from Janice’s childhood.
Everyone prepares for the funeral in different ways. Silvio has a temper tantrum because he will have to miss the Jets’ first home game to attend. Furio, Christopher and Adriana smoke and snort various drugs. Captain Raymond Curto meets with his FBI handler. He offers to wear a wire to Livia’s funeral.
The funeral home does a brisk trade in people coming to pay their respects to Livia and her family. The FBI’s Newark office has sent a sympathy wreath. Junior arrives, all out of sorts. He is accompanied by Bacala, who says his own father is very ill too. State Assemblyman Zellman makes an appearance, as does Reverend James Jr. Junior tells Tony that Ralphie wants a bump up to Captain. Junior says Ralphie has been a top earner since taking over Richie’s crew, pulling it into shape. Ralphie watches as his men beat Mr Zachary.
After Livia is buried, Janice tells Svetlana to vacate Livia’s house by the weekend. The Russian woman says Tony told her she could stay longer. Janice demands the return of Livia’s record collection, which Svetlana claims was given to her as a present. Janice says the records are worth a fortune to the right collector. At Livia’s wake Carmela is hitting the booze heavily. When Tony opens a mirrored cupboard in a hallway, Pussy Bonpensiero is reflected in the mirror for a moment.
Tony stops and looks around, as if he caught the ghostly apparition out the corner of his eye. Paulie and Furio are standing near Tony at the time, but they do not notice.
Janice gathers everyone to share remembrances and feelings about Livia. They all stand or sit, silent and awkward. Hesh says the dead woman didn’t mince words. Livia’s best friend, Fanny, says she would always call with news if someone they knew had died or gone into hospital. Tony walks out in disgust when a guest says that at least Livia didn’t suffer.
Outside Tony talks with his old friend Artie Bucco, who is catering the wake. Artie has been remembering Livia telling him that it was Tony who had the original Vesuvio restaurant burnt down. Artie threatens to share this secret with the gathering. Tony follows him inside but before Artie can say anything Carmela speaks her mind. She says the wake is a crock of shit and describes Livia as terribly dysfunctional.
Carmela’s mother tries to hush her but Carmela’s father Hugh demands to his turn. He says they suffered for years under the yoke of Livia, who spoiled numerous family events and holiday gatherings. Barbara’s husband endorses this view. After a painful silence, Artie invites everyone to tries some of the desserts. When everyone has left or gone to bed, Tony watch the end of The Public Enemy. He cries as the film finishes – but for whom is he crying?
Deep and Meaningful: The whole remembrance scene is excruciatingly awkward and cringe-making in its accuracy. Almost nobody has a good thing to say about Livia but some manage to concoct a few platitudes. Janice uses the occasion to be the centre of attention and act the role of grieving daughter. It takes a half-cut Carmela to unleash a little truth. Pray your wake isn’t like this!
Mobspeak: Tony has a clutch of slang expressions to describe black people including ditsoon, charcoal briquette, mulignan and butterhead. Junior talks about Richie going into the program (Witness Protection Programme).
Mamma Mia: Livia makes her final appearance as a CGI apparition, with her head cut from previous episodes and grafted on to the body of a double. Her dialogue in the short scene with Tony is also culled from the archives and sounds like a selection of Livia’s greatest moans. She wishes the Lord would take her now. She supposes she should have kept her mouth shut, like a mute. She doesn’t like swearing, it upsets her. Livia also manages to roll her eyes or her head half a dozen times, gets in three dismissive hand gestures and a couple of hankie waves.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: When Tony regains consciousness after collapsing, his first words are ‘Uncle Ben’, referring to a brand of rice the Sopranos have in their kitchen cupboard. It was the last thing he saw before passing out. Just before that, he got a packet of capiccola sausage slices out of the fridge to eat. Carmela’s father Hugh brings a box of pastries when he and his wife come round to offer their sympathies for Livia’s death. Tony watches the famous scene in The Public Enemy where James Cagney pushes a grapefruit into his girlfriend’s face. Next morning Tony is eating cereal straight from the box when members of the Family arrive to sympathise. Tony tells Vito Spatafore to eat a Shfiadell pastry while the others go outside to talk business. Outside the funeral home Tony says people can drink, eat some gorgonzola cheese and yak about Livia at the wake. At the wake Artie remembers taking Livia food in hospital. Artie caters the food at the wake, which includes a finger food buffet and desserts by Vesuvio’s new pastry chef. Janice says everyone could take a break from eating for five minutes. Carmela berates her own hypocrisy at ‘evading, smiling and passing out Cheese Puffs’ at the wake.
Mobbed Up: Nearly half a dozen scenes from The Public Enemy are shown during this episode. Tony says it’s a great movie. Noah credits director William Wellman with inventing the gangster film genre, rather than Howard Hawks whose film Scarface was released a year later. Noah says Cagney was barbarity in The Public Enemy. Noah and Meadow are studying the film as part of a course entitled Images of Hyper-Capitalist Advancement in the Era of the Studio System. At the wake Furio talks with Paulie about the TV reality game show Survivor, which was a big hit on US television in 2000.
How Do You Feel?: Tony complains that Dr Melfi offers no condolences for the death of his mother, but then says it is a relief she hasn’t – everyone else is all bullshit about it. Tony says he is glad Livia died. In fact, he wished she’d die. He says relief flooded into his veins when he heard the news, because she could have testified against him in court. Now he feels guilty, because no good son should wish his mother dead. He calls his mother a fucking demented old bat and a selfish, miserable old cunt who ruined his father’s life. Dr Melfi says Tony is still letting his mother off. Tony is hopeful that the death of his mother means his therapy is done, but Dr Melfi doesn’t agree.
Sleeping With The Fishes: Livia Soprano, killed by a massive stroke in her sleep. Dead at last, but definitely not forgotten…
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Artie Bucco has a flashback to the day he visited Livia at the Green Grove nursing unit (#13, ‘I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano’), when she told him Tony had Vesuvio torched. The ghostly appearance of Pussy reflected in a mirror happens so quickly most viewers in America only caught it on repeated viewings of this episode. Does Tony notice? He pauses for a moment after it happens, as if unnerved by what he saw in the mirror…
Quote/Unquote: Carmela warns her husband against playing the race card, as it will only drive Meadow into Noah’s arms. ‘Not if I cut off those fucking arms,’ Tony says. AJ is befuddled by Robert Frost’s use of snow as a metaphor for death: ‘I thought black was death.’ Tony dismisses Janice’s fears about being implicated in the disappearance of Richie Aprile: ‘Jesus, that case is colder than your tits.’ Carmela’s father, Hugh DeAngelis, demands his wife Mary give him a chance to speak his mind at Livia’s wake: ‘Goddammit, who are you – the Minister of Propaganda?’
Soundtrack: ‘Closer to Home (I’m Your Captain)’ by Grand Funk Railroad. ‘If I Loved You’ from the musical Carousel. ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ by Les Paul. ‘Eyeless’ by Slipknot. ‘Shake It (Like You Just Made Bail)’ by Shawn Smith.
Surveillance Report: ‘Proshai, Livushka’ is Russian for ‘Goodbye, Little Livia’, according to Svetlana. She uses the phrase to toast Livia’s memory. Marcia Haufrecht returns as Fanny, the friend Livia run over way back in #02, ’46 Long’. Fanny had her hip broken in the auto accident – now she attends Livia’s wake in a wheelchair. Also returning in this episode is Father Felix (played by Peter McRobbie), the priest Paulie berated for failing to secure him divine immunity in #22, ‘From Where To Eternity’. The Public Enemy uses the song ‘I’m Forever Blowing Bubbles’ as its theme tune. The song was subsequently adopted by fans of London’s West Ham United football club. Watch out for the mystery man who appears on the stairs behind Tony during the remembrance sequence, then disappears back upstairs again. This detail caused endless speculation on the internet as hardcore fans tried to discern the identity of this individual, who looks a little like Uncle Junior. Eventually someone from the show’s production team said the mystery man was merely an extra who wandered into shot, decided to avoid the sharing of remembrances and retreated back upstairs again. Ralphie Cifaretto is played by Joe Pantoliano, who has starred in hit films The Matrix, The Fugitive and Bound. He was Guido the Killer Pimp in 1983 film Risky Business with Tom Cruise. State Assemblyman Ronald Zellman is played by Peter Riegert, who starred in Local Hero and The Mask.
The Verdict: ‘I wish the Lord would take me now.’ Livia finally gets her wish and everybody else has to deal with the fallout. Meanwhile Tony’s racist attitude and comments alienate his daughter, driving her away from the family. This episode was necessitated by the death of actress Nancy Marchand, who played Livia Soprano in Seasons One and Two. Alas, the CGI sequence just doesn’t work. The special effects company which did the work said it cost a six figure sum – David Chase should ask for his money back. It is easy to say in retrospect, but the show would have been better served by Tony having the same conversation with Livia over the telephone. Despite this glitch, the episode is an inspired effort as Tony wrestles with his feelings for his dead mother. Several significant characters get their introduction and crucial plot lines for the rest of the season are begun.
Thursday, May 03, 2007
TV Forum notes: the BBC, Five and soaps
Last week I went to That Fancy London for the Script Factory's TV forum, a two-day event in deepest, darkest Soho. The morning sessions on both days were led by Rob Ritchie, but I was asked not to blog about the content of these. Instead I'll provide what notes I managed to scrawl down during the afternoon sessions, starting with Thursday's two helpings of wit and wisdom. The first afternoon session on Day 1 was with Kate Rowland [KR], the BBC’s creative director of new writing, and Five’s commissioning editor for drama, Abigail Webber [AW]. [Abigail’s counterpart at Channel 4 Liza Marshall was due to attend, but had to drop out due to events elsewhere, as documented in Broadcast.]
AW: I commission original drama for Five. We’re trying to raise the profile of original drama on Five, people tend to know our purchased drama [CSI, House, etc]. We’re trying to find a Five voice. The channel’s working with independent production companies [indie prodcos], we don’t make anything in-house.
KR: The Writers’ Room acts as a talent agency within the BBC. We run 6-8 professional training schemes a year. Radio’s a great place for new writers to break in. there are 193 Afternoon Playhttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs on Radio 4 each year, many by new writers.
AW: Five is small by comparison to the BBC. We’re moving into long-form series. AW is her whole department. She relies on agents and indie prodcos for intel.
KR: The BBC Writers’ Academy is now open for applications. You have to want to write for EastEnders, Holby City, Casualty and Doctors. BBC1 wants mainstream drama that’s entertaining, but it can be intricate e.g. Five Days. Not so much drama on BBC2, but the channel does broadcast event pieces like Shoot the Messenger and Soundproof. BBC3 hasn’t been about drama up to now, but new controller may change that. BBC4 tends toward the innovative, often biographical e,g, Fear of Fanny. Online drama is a growing area for the BBC. Creative future strategy is looking for comedy dramas, series aimed at the 18-30 audience, 1-off family dramas of 90 mins, and the new Doctor Who or Buffy.
AW: Five’s target audience is 18-34, not teenagers. We want contemporary series with energy, not period drama. We’re aiming for consistency, shows that are populist, entertaining, young, fresh and contemporary. Five doesn’t have Channel’s remit to be edgy and controversial. We’re less cynical than Cannel 4. Five had 14 hours of original drama in 2006. Planning to develop two series of 6-8 hours each. Five wants long-running drama series.
KR: Children’s drama is very important to the BBC. Our attitude; they’re short adults. There’s only one commissioning round a year for children’s drama.
AW: Five has a healthy children’s drama department, though it’s outside her remit.
KR: EastEnders has a shadow scheme for new writers. You get on that via the Writers’ Room with a great 60-page calling card script. Story is crucial. Characters need to be authentic, even within a heightened reality series. Characters must take a journey. We want imagination, surprise and engaging writing.
The second afternoon session on Day 2 featured soap scribes Tony McHale [TM, now executive producer [EP] on Holby City], Bill Lyons [BL, veteran writer now on Emmerdale] and Rob Gittens [RG, a core writer on EastEnders]. The session was moderated by Yvonne Grace [YG], a former producer on Holby City who’s running the Storylining for Soaps workshop for the Script Factory at the end of May. 3, 07
TM: Working on TV and soaps has been looked on as a second rate job, but it’s given me a fantastic grounding in writing for the big screen. Deadlines force you to deliver. You have to be more creative than others within the parameters given you. The discipline of soaps is beneficial, it forces you to be more creative.
BL: In soaps you follow characters day by day. You can show a gradual progression much better than in other mediums. Soaps do some things worse than other mediums. You need to stick with what you want. There’s 27 people involved in decisions now, it’s a much more collaborative process. If you’re enough of a bull you will get your way.
TM: Soaps give you access to a vast audience.
YG: Storylining is an arduous task. Series that are very writer-led are the stronger for it, such as Coronation Street. You’re up against the audience’s knowledge of the show.
RG: Joined EastEnders in the mid 80s, when stories were crafted on the back of a fag packet. With EastEnders now four times a week, there’s much more pressure. Success in soaps breeds pressure. EastEnders is moving to give its writers more ownership of the stories they tell. The show has 12 core writers, that has helped give power and direction back to the writers.
YG: You want writers to do great work, but they also need to buy into the producers or EP’s vision for the show.
BL: There’s a balance to be had, but also a tendency to homogenise. House style is good, homogenised shows are bad. A happy show is a shit show, you don’t want everybody getting on all the time. You need a diverse writing team. I like a heated debate.
RG: I work to solve story problems imposed on me. You can’t run away from problems in soaps.
BL: Once you get going, there’s more freedom than you imagine. The middle of any episode I write is all mine. The start and finish are the true collaboration.
YG: Good writers will own their episode. Producers and EP are looking at the long view. The script Editor [SE] is so essential, integral t long-running dramas.
TM: The role of the SE has changed massively. Soaps have turned SE into a creative role. The relationship with your SE is paramount to get the best out of you and your script.
BL: You’ll know a bad SE when you see one, they’ll have a clipboard. They use old jargon. Because they’ll be working on a dozen episodes at once, they need a good grasp of the through-line, where it’s going, the thrust of it. It’s not about fixing odd words when you’re editing or writing a script. The SE role needs give and take. A fresh opinion is great, but the SE has to be on top of the script.
YG: the SE is the producer’s mouthpiece. When I was an SE, I hoped to get a writer to agree with four notes out of ten I gave them.
RG: The worst SE want to be writers, and they practise on your script. They want the script to be different, but it won’t make it better.
TM: You get black and white editing: you wrote black, they ask for white.
BL: It’s a field where it’s good to have your opinions and stick by them.
YG: You need to have an opinion and you need to voice it. The more successful soaps become, they eat themselves.
TM: Some of the Writers’ Academy people have worked out well and some haven’t. Holby City’s strangely different; it’s 60 minutes where Casualty is 50. That extra ten minutes is tough. You get to page 50 and suddenly all the characters are going for a drink after work, they’re run out of story.
YG: A lot of these shows are like factories.
TM: The idea of me becoming EP on Holby was to act like a showrunner in the US. I’ve resisted the urge as EP to rewrite scripts.
YG: A lot of soaps are budget-led, not writer-led.
BL: You have to have your characters. A lot of stuff is now is very melodramatic and stormy. I don’t like the trend to make characters either baddies or goodies.
RG: We have story conferences but they should be called character conferences. The characters are paramount. On EastEnders the Slaters were given a year to settle in before the big revelation about Kat and her daughter.
TM: You can tell when a writer doesn’t like the show they’re writing. It took me ten years to leave EastEnders, I loved it so much.
YG: On Holby the writer bring sin the human story and the medical story is wrapped around that. A disease of the week isn’t enough. Soaps eat writers. To write well for them you need someone who can join the factory and not be petrified by the strictures.
TM: It’s not a closed shop. These show eat writers. They’re crying out for people who commit and have talent.
BL: Emmerdale used to be 100 episodes a year, now it’s 312. Shadow anyone on a show and you’ll learn so much. These days writers are very separate from the process of physically making the programme. They don’t know what they’re asking the show’s makers to do.
RG: Fid out who the SE are and send them your scripts. SE want to build a career too, and they do that through the writers they find.
YG: You need tenacity. Watch the show. Send scripts to SE – they do read. Take SE to lunch, they’ll appreciate it. Watch the credits. Love the show you want to write for.
TM: You’ve got to write, every day – writers write.
Still to come: an audience with Kudos.
AW: I commission original drama for Five. We’re trying to raise the profile of original drama on Five, people tend to know our purchased drama [CSI, House, etc]. We’re trying to find a Five voice. The channel’s working with independent production companies [indie prodcos], we don’t make anything in-house.
KR: The Writers’ Room acts as a talent agency within the BBC. We run 6-8 professional training schemes a year. Radio’s a great place for new writers to break in. there are 193 Afternoon Playhttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifs on Radio 4 each year, many by new writers.
AW: Five is small by comparison to the BBC. We’re moving into long-form series. AW is her whole department. She relies on agents and indie prodcos for intel.
KR: The BBC Writers’ Academy is now open for applications. You have to want to write for EastEnders, Holby City, Casualty and Doctors. BBC1 wants mainstream drama that’s entertaining, but it can be intricate e.g. Five Days. Not so much drama on BBC2, but the channel does broadcast event pieces like Shoot the Messenger and Soundproof. BBC3 hasn’t been about drama up to now, but new controller may change that. BBC4 tends toward the innovative, often biographical e,g, Fear of Fanny. Online drama is a growing area for the BBC. Creative future strategy is looking for comedy dramas, series aimed at the 18-30 audience, 1-off family dramas of 90 mins, and the new Doctor Who or Buffy.
AW: Five’s target audience is 18-34, not teenagers. We want contemporary series with energy, not period drama. We’re aiming for consistency, shows that are populist, entertaining, young, fresh and contemporary. Five doesn’t have Channel’s remit to be edgy and controversial. We’re less cynical than Cannel 4. Five had 14 hours of original drama in 2006. Planning to develop two series of 6-8 hours each. Five wants long-running drama series.
KR: Children’s drama is very important to the BBC. Our attitude; they’re short adults. There’s only one commissioning round a year for children’s drama.
AW: Five has a healthy children’s drama department, though it’s outside her remit.
KR: EastEnders has a shadow scheme for new writers. You get on that via the Writers’ Room with a great 60-page calling card script. Story is crucial. Characters need to be authentic, even within a heightened reality series. Characters must take a journey. We want imagination, surprise and engaging writing.
The second afternoon session on Day 2 featured soap scribes Tony McHale [TM, now executive producer [EP] on Holby City], Bill Lyons [BL, veteran writer now on Emmerdale] and Rob Gittens [RG, a core writer on EastEnders]. The session was moderated by Yvonne Grace [YG], a former producer on Holby City who’s running the Storylining for Soaps workshop for the Script Factory at the end of May. 3, 07
TM: Working on TV and soaps has been looked on as a second rate job, but it’s given me a fantastic grounding in writing for the big screen. Deadlines force you to deliver. You have to be more creative than others within the parameters given you. The discipline of soaps is beneficial, it forces you to be more creative.
BL: In soaps you follow characters day by day. You can show a gradual progression much better than in other mediums. Soaps do some things worse than other mediums. You need to stick with what you want. There’s 27 people involved in decisions now, it’s a much more collaborative process. If you’re enough of a bull you will get your way.
TM: Soaps give you access to a vast audience.
YG: Storylining is an arduous task. Series that are very writer-led are the stronger for it, such as Coronation Street. You’re up against the audience’s knowledge of the show.
RG: Joined EastEnders in the mid 80s, when stories were crafted on the back of a fag packet. With EastEnders now four times a week, there’s much more pressure. Success in soaps breeds pressure. EastEnders is moving to give its writers more ownership of the stories they tell. The show has 12 core writers, that has helped give power and direction back to the writers.
YG: You want writers to do great work, but they also need to buy into the producers or EP’s vision for the show.
BL: There’s a balance to be had, but also a tendency to homogenise. House style is good, homogenised shows are bad. A happy show is a shit show, you don’t want everybody getting on all the time. You need a diverse writing team. I like a heated debate.
RG: I work to solve story problems imposed on me. You can’t run away from problems in soaps.
BL: Once you get going, there’s more freedom than you imagine. The middle of any episode I write is all mine. The start and finish are the true collaboration.
YG: Good writers will own their episode. Producers and EP are looking at the long view. The script Editor [SE] is so essential, integral t long-running dramas.
TM: The role of the SE has changed massively. Soaps have turned SE into a creative role. The relationship with your SE is paramount to get the best out of you and your script.
BL: You’ll know a bad SE when you see one, they’ll have a clipboard. They use old jargon. Because they’ll be working on a dozen episodes at once, they need a good grasp of the through-line, where it’s going, the thrust of it. It’s not about fixing odd words when you’re editing or writing a script. The SE role needs give and take. A fresh opinion is great, but the SE has to be on top of the script.
YG: the SE is the producer’s mouthpiece. When I was an SE, I hoped to get a writer to agree with four notes out of ten I gave them.
RG: The worst SE want to be writers, and they practise on your script. They want the script to be different, but it won’t make it better.
TM: You get black and white editing: you wrote black, they ask for white.
BL: It’s a field where it’s good to have your opinions and stick by them.
YG: You need to have an opinion and you need to voice it. The more successful soaps become, they eat themselves.
TM: Some of the Writers’ Academy people have worked out well and some haven’t. Holby City’s strangely different; it’s 60 minutes where Casualty is 50. That extra ten minutes is tough. You get to page 50 and suddenly all the characters are going for a drink after work, they’re run out of story.
YG: A lot of these shows are like factories.
TM: The idea of me becoming EP on Holby was to act like a showrunner in the US. I’ve resisted the urge as EP to rewrite scripts.
YG: A lot of soaps are budget-led, not writer-led.
BL: You have to have your characters. A lot of stuff is now is very melodramatic and stormy. I don’t like the trend to make characters either baddies or goodies.
RG: We have story conferences but they should be called character conferences. The characters are paramount. On EastEnders the Slaters were given a year to settle in before the big revelation about Kat and her daughter.
TM: You can tell when a writer doesn’t like the show they’re writing. It took me ten years to leave EastEnders, I loved it so much.
YG: On Holby the writer bring sin the human story and the medical story is wrapped around that. A disease of the week isn’t enough. Soaps eat writers. To write well for them you need someone who can join the factory and not be petrified by the strictures.
TM: It’s not a closed shop. These show eat writers. They’re crying out for people who commit and have talent.
BL: Emmerdale used to be 100 episodes a year, now it’s 312. Shadow anyone on a show and you’ll learn so much. These days writers are very separate from the process of physically making the programme. They don’t know what they’re asking the show’s makers to do.
RG: Fid out who the SE are and send them your scripts. SE want to build a career too, and they do that through the writers they find.
YG: You need tenacity. Watch the show. Send scripts to SE – they do read. Take SE to lunch, they’ll appreciate it. Watch the credits. Love the show you want to write for.
TM: You’ve got to write, every day – writers write.
Still to come: an audience with Kudos.
Sopranos episode guide #27: Mr Ruggerio's Neighborhood
US Transmission Date: 4 March 2001
Writer: David Chase • Director: Allen Coulter
Cast: Louis Lombardi (Skip Lipari), Saundra Santiago (Jean Cusamano), Michelle De Cesare (Hunter Scangarelo), Erica Leerhsen (Birgit Olafsdottir), Albert Makhtsier (Stasiu Wosilius), Robert Bogue (Ed Restuccia), Anthony Dimaria (Ruggerio’s Son), Jesse Doran (Judge Lapper), Gary Perez (Agent Marquez), Brian Smyj (Agent Smyj), Colleen Werthmann (Agent Malatesta), Jay Christanson (Agent Jongsma), Dennis Gagomiros (Agent Theopilus), Neal Jones (Agent Tancredi), John Deblasio (S.E.T. Lineman), Anthony Indelicato (S.E.T. #1), Murphy Guyer (S.E.T. #2), Frank Deal (R&D #1), Katie C. Sparer (R&D #2), Etan Maiti (Jason).
Storyline: Fade-up on a new day at the Soprano household. Tony collects his morning paper from the end of the driveway. The front page lead is about mob competition for garbage contracts heating up – violence is feared. A team of FBI agents review their ongoing investigation into Tony’s illegal activities. Missing informant Pussy Bonpensiero is written off as dead, which torpedoes efforts to prosecute Tony for stock fraud over the Webistics scam. Agent Cubitoso says the stolen airline tickets could lead to charges, but only if Livia Soprano is willing to testify against her son.
The other agents consider this unlikely. They decide to concentrate on Tony’s garbage business. The FBI believes Richie Aprile was whacked by his fellow mobsters. To get evidence, the feds need to get a bug into Tony’s house. Skip Lipari suggests placing one in the basement, because that’s the only place Tony will talk business. He believes the noisy air conditioning ducts make the room safe from effective bugging. The FBI gets a warrant to enter the Soprano household and place a surveillance device in the basement.
Two agents sit outside Tony’s house in a County of Essex Mosquito Abatement utility vehicle. Tony leaves for work but pauses to tell them where he’s going today, to save them the trouble of tailing him. He is obviously aware of the constant surveillance of his activities. The FBI decides to enter the house on a Tuesday afternoon, when everyone is usually out of the house. Tony is at work, AJ is at school, Carmela is having tennis lessons and their maid Lilliana is having English lessons with her husband. Meadow now lives in a dorm at Columbia University in New York City. Agents will have to follow everyone who has a key to the Soprano house, to make sure nobody catches the federal invaders.
Next Tuesday the FBI prepares to move in. By 12.12pm nearly everyone has left the house. The FBI has given the Soprano family nicknames – Tony is Bada Bing, Carmela is Mrs Bing, AJ is Baby Bing and Meadow is Princess Bing. The house is codenamed the Sausage Factory. Tony arrives at the Bada Bing strip club where all his crew (Paulie, Silvio, Christopher, Hesh, Furio, Gigi and Patsy) are having lunch in the back office. Paulie is washing his hands and gives an extended rant about how urine gets on to your shoelaces in men’s public toilets. He is paranoid about getting a disease from touching his own shoes.
Patsy Parisi has joined Tony’s crew, having been one of Junior’s men. Patsy is unhappy because today is his 51st birthday. It would also have been his twin brother Philly’s birthday, but Philly was whacked a year ago. Patsy misses his brother, who was known as Spoons. Tony tells Patsy to leave the morbid shit back with Junior’s crew. Patsy stares at Gigi, who executed Philly on orders from Tony. The feds carefully enter the Sausage Factory after disabling the phone lines, alarms and picking the locked doors. They switch on the air conditioning and take sound readings in the basement. They also use a video camera to film the interior of the basement.
Carmela is joined at her tennis lesson by Adriana, who has never played before. Carmela’s tennis coach is leaving but introduces his replacement, Birgit. AJ and his friends turn truant, cutting assembly to leave the school grounds. AJ admires a shirt worn by his friend Egon Kosma, who is trying out for the school’s American football team. At the Columbia University dorms, Meadow is woken by the return of her roommate Caitlin. Caitlin has been out all night drinking to celebrate the end of Frosh Week, the US equivalent of Freshers Week at a British university. The wall above Caitlin’s bed is covered with ads for Absolut Vodka.
The Soprano’s maid, Lilliana Wosilius, has a picnic lunch with her husband Stasiu after their language class. He is bitter about driving a cab, having been an engineer with twenty employees and a state grant for autonomous research when they lived in Poland. Lilliana steals cutlery and glasses from the Sopranos. The FBI agents review the videotapes taken in the basement. They note that the Soprano’s 120-galloon water tank is probably going to rupture in the next six months. The FBI decides to put the bug into a battered lamp on a table beneath the air conditioning ducts. At FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, technicians put a listening device into a lamp like that in the Soprano’s basement. The new lamp is distressed to resemble the one it will replace.
Next Tuesday the Sopranos go about their usual routine. At the Bada Bing Gigi tells Tony that Patsy has been drinking heavily and claiming he knows who ordered the hit on his twin brother. Tony brought Patsy over from Junior’s crew to keep an eye on him. He considers having Patsy whacked, but decides to bide his time. Everyone has left the Sausage Factory except Lilliana. The feds move closer to find out why and hear her call out in anguish. Carmela gets a phone call at her tennis lesson and rushes away. Tony leaves the Bada Bing in a hurry and heads for home. The FBI realises something is wrong and hurriedly pulls it team away from the property. The agents debate what could have happened.
In the basement Tony and Carmela are knee-deep in water – the predicted water tank blow-out happened early. The local plumber, Mr Ruggerio, arrives to sort out the mess. Next day the FBI sends agents to stake out the house, hoping to learn what went wrong. They see a drunken Patsy standing in Tony’s backyard, pointing a gun at the house. Patsy can’t bring himself to pull the trigger. Instead he urinates in Tony’s swimming pool and stumbles away. Eventually the FBI learns about the water tank. The insurgent team has to wait a week to try again.
The following Tuesday the FBI tries again and finally succeeds in planting the bugged lamp in the basement. At Columbia Meadow is visited by her old school friend, Hunter Scangarello. Caitlin is acting strangely, seemingly freaked out by life in New York. She’s been prescribed anti-anxiety drugs. Tony talks to Patsy in the office at Satriale’s Pork Store. He makes Patsy attest to having put his grief about Philly behind him. Tony invites Patsy to visit the house and bring his son to hang out with AJ – they could swim in the pool! At school AJ is trying out for the football team.
Next day two FBI technicians sit in a van, listening to transmissions from the Sausage Factory. They get excited when they hear Tony saying he has a job for someone which might get a little messy. It turns out he wants Stasiu to rig a draining system should the water tank ever burst again. It may be some time before the bug in the basement bears fruit for the FBI…
Deep and Meaningful: Before this episode Patsy Parisi had only appeared in a single episode, delivering a sable coat to Tony. Now he gets his own showcase moment as he draws a gun and points it at Tony. FBI agents look on bewildered as the meek made man sobs and shakes with impotent fury. Patsy had to get roaring drunk to summon the courage to come this far, but he cannot pull the trigger. Instead he pisses into Tony’s swimming pool, the greatest act of rebellion he can muster. He stumbles, cursing himself and his boss…
Mobspeak: Judge Lapper describes the FBI application to enter and bug the Soprano household as a ‘sneak and peak warrant’. Tony talks to Patsy about his dead twin brother Philly and says ‘buon’ anima’ (rest his soul). On the FBI pinboard showing the structure of the Soprano Family, Tony is labelled as underboss (second in command to the boss). The FBI technicians talk about minimisation – they are only allowed to listen to conversations for forty seconds. If there is no mention of organised crime, they must switch off. They are allowed to check back in two minutes later.
Mamma Mia: The FBI does not believe Livia would testify against Tony is exchange for immunity over the stolen airline tickets. They obviously weren’t paying attention to the wiretaps which proved she was happy to coerce Junior into ordering a hit on Tony in Season One! Tony tells Carmela that he has got a Russian girl moving in with Livia to look after his mother. He claims to have found the carer through an agency. In fact, the FBI has a recording of Tony telling Pussy that the woman is a cousin of his former mistress, Irina.
Tony Soprano, Paper Boy: The opening episode of each season has included a scene of Tony in his bathrobe walking to the end of his driveway in the morning to collect his morning newspaper, The Star-Ledger. This episode has him slob out to the front gate four times over several weeks to collect the paper.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: The FBI agents pick at their lunches while meeting to discuss how best to get a bug into Tony’s home. The following Tuesday Agent Harris eats a filled roll while he monitors movements at the Soprano household. Tony joins his crew for lunch at the Bada Bing. There is plenty of pasta, salad, bread and wine. Tony tries to persuade Patsy to have some brasciole, but he has no appetite. Paulie says the average woman’s public bathroom is so clean you could eat maple walnut ice cream from the toilets. AJ and his friends how useful skateboards would be in the school cafeteria. One of the truants says the food there ‘tastes like ass’. Lilliana has a picnic lunch to share with her husband. He finds a jar of Italian capers among the food. She says the Soprano children don’t like capers. The Sopranos store preserved and tinned food in their basement. The FBI agents joke that the large quantity of food is just for AJ. Silvio eats nuts while watching golf at the Bada Bing office. Tony eats cereal for breakfast at home. He is visited by Gigi, who has brought some fresh Italian pastries which Tony enjoys. Carmela tells Tony that Lilliana is preparing a leg of lamb for Meadow to take back to Columbia. Tony complains that a new brand of coffee acted like a laxative on him. Carmela says he needs more roughage in his diet.
Mobbed Up: Agent Harris talk about the Soprano’s plumber, saying the area is Mr Ruggerio’s Neighbourhood. This is a reference to an American children’s TV show about kindly Mr Rogers and his neighbourhood.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Gigi has a brief flashback to murdering Philly Parisi in #14 when Patsy is talking about his brother’s execution.
Quote/Unquote: FBI Agent Skip Lipari comes to terms with the disappearance of Pussy: ‘I think at this point it’s time to consider Bonpensiero compost.’ Judge Lapper tells the FBI to limit entrances to only the basement of the Soprano household: ‘It’s not a Better Homes and Gardens tour.’ Tony cracks wise to Patsy after Paulie’s rant about urine and footwear: ‘You want to commit suicide? Tie your shoes and have a bite of brasciole.’ Tony tells Gigi to log off the internet in case the FBI uses the connection for surveillance: ‘That cookie shit makes me nervous.’
Soundtrack: ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife’ by A3. Tony sings along to Steely Dan’s ‘Dirty Work’ in his car. The ‘Peter Gunn Theme’ by Henry Mancini is mixed with ‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police during many of the FBI sequences. Caitlin sings some of ‘New York, New York’. ‘Hotel California’ by the Eagles. ‘High Fidelity’ by Elvis Costello. ‘Scud Missile’ by Fat Jack feat. Ganjah KMC. ‘Van Gogh’ by Ras Kass.
Surveillance Report: In America HBO launched Season Three by screening #27 and #28 back to back. This episode faded out before the closing credits. A caption labelled ‘Episode 2’ appeared before #28 was shown in its entirety. That was followed by another screen caption, introducing the closing credits for #27. The double-header debut also introduced widescreen broadcasts as HBO gave viewers a choice between watching the episodes in conventional ratio on HBO Plus or in widescreen on its main channel. Lilliana’s husband Stasiu is played by Albert Makhtsier. When the character appeared previously in the Season Two episode ‘Full Leather Jacket’, he was played by a different actor, Marek Przystup.
The Verdict: ‘We’ve had every one of Tony’s phones bugged for four years. But the guy says less than Harpo Marx.’ The FBI goes to great lengths to place a listening device into the Soprano’s basement. Tony is having problems with new crew member Patsy Parisi, unaware of the efforts to ensnare him. Season Three hits the ground running with this opening episode, unless the first instalment of the previous season. ‘Mr Ruggerio’s Neighborhood’ cleverly uses the FBI’s point of view to quickly update viewers on what’s been happening since the end of Season Two. In terms of plot not much actually happens but the viewer hardly notices. This is one of The Sopranos’ funniest ever episodes. It’s packed with wisecracks and visual humour, while the seamless mix of the Peter Gunn theme with the Police’s ode to stalking is a hilarious sound gag. The Sopranos is back and it’s still one of the best things on television…
Writer: David Chase • Director: Allen Coulter
Cast: Louis Lombardi (Skip Lipari), Saundra Santiago (Jean Cusamano), Michelle De Cesare (Hunter Scangarelo), Erica Leerhsen (Birgit Olafsdottir), Albert Makhtsier (Stasiu Wosilius), Robert Bogue (Ed Restuccia), Anthony Dimaria (Ruggerio’s Son), Jesse Doran (Judge Lapper), Gary Perez (Agent Marquez), Brian Smyj (Agent Smyj), Colleen Werthmann (Agent Malatesta), Jay Christanson (Agent Jongsma), Dennis Gagomiros (Agent Theopilus), Neal Jones (Agent Tancredi), John Deblasio (S.E.T. Lineman), Anthony Indelicato (S.E.T. #1), Murphy Guyer (S.E.T. #2), Frank Deal (R&D #1), Katie C. Sparer (R&D #2), Etan Maiti (Jason).
Storyline: Fade-up on a new day at the Soprano household. Tony collects his morning paper from the end of the driveway. The front page lead is about mob competition for garbage contracts heating up – violence is feared. A team of FBI agents review their ongoing investigation into Tony’s illegal activities. Missing informant Pussy Bonpensiero is written off as dead, which torpedoes efforts to prosecute Tony for stock fraud over the Webistics scam. Agent Cubitoso says the stolen airline tickets could lead to charges, but only if Livia Soprano is willing to testify against her son.
The other agents consider this unlikely. They decide to concentrate on Tony’s garbage business. The FBI believes Richie Aprile was whacked by his fellow mobsters. To get evidence, the feds need to get a bug into Tony’s house. Skip Lipari suggests placing one in the basement, because that’s the only place Tony will talk business. He believes the noisy air conditioning ducts make the room safe from effective bugging. The FBI gets a warrant to enter the Soprano household and place a surveillance device in the basement.
Two agents sit outside Tony’s house in a County of Essex Mosquito Abatement utility vehicle. Tony leaves for work but pauses to tell them where he’s going today, to save them the trouble of tailing him. He is obviously aware of the constant surveillance of his activities. The FBI decides to enter the house on a Tuesday afternoon, when everyone is usually out of the house. Tony is at work, AJ is at school, Carmela is having tennis lessons and their maid Lilliana is having English lessons with her husband. Meadow now lives in a dorm at Columbia University in New York City. Agents will have to follow everyone who has a key to the Soprano house, to make sure nobody catches the federal invaders.
Next Tuesday the FBI prepares to move in. By 12.12pm nearly everyone has left the house. The FBI has given the Soprano family nicknames – Tony is Bada Bing, Carmela is Mrs Bing, AJ is Baby Bing and Meadow is Princess Bing. The house is codenamed the Sausage Factory. Tony arrives at the Bada Bing strip club where all his crew (Paulie, Silvio, Christopher, Hesh, Furio, Gigi and Patsy) are having lunch in the back office. Paulie is washing his hands and gives an extended rant about how urine gets on to your shoelaces in men’s public toilets. He is paranoid about getting a disease from touching his own shoes.
Patsy Parisi has joined Tony’s crew, having been one of Junior’s men. Patsy is unhappy because today is his 51st birthday. It would also have been his twin brother Philly’s birthday, but Philly was whacked a year ago. Patsy misses his brother, who was known as Spoons. Tony tells Patsy to leave the morbid shit back with Junior’s crew. Patsy stares at Gigi, who executed Philly on orders from Tony. The feds carefully enter the Sausage Factory after disabling the phone lines, alarms and picking the locked doors. They switch on the air conditioning and take sound readings in the basement. They also use a video camera to film the interior of the basement.
Carmela is joined at her tennis lesson by Adriana, who has never played before. Carmela’s tennis coach is leaving but introduces his replacement, Birgit. AJ and his friends turn truant, cutting assembly to leave the school grounds. AJ admires a shirt worn by his friend Egon Kosma, who is trying out for the school’s American football team. At the Columbia University dorms, Meadow is woken by the return of her roommate Caitlin. Caitlin has been out all night drinking to celebrate the end of Frosh Week, the US equivalent of Freshers Week at a British university. The wall above Caitlin’s bed is covered with ads for Absolut Vodka.
The Soprano’s maid, Lilliana Wosilius, has a picnic lunch with her husband Stasiu after their language class. He is bitter about driving a cab, having been an engineer with twenty employees and a state grant for autonomous research when they lived in Poland. Lilliana steals cutlery and glasses from the Sopranos. The FBI agents review the videotapes taken in the basement. They note that the Soprano’s 120-galloon water tank is probably going to rupture in the next six months. The FBI decides to put the bug into a battered lamp on a table beneath the air conditioning ducts. At FBI headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, technicians put a listening device into a lamp like that in the Soprano’s basement. The new lamp is distressed to resemble the one it will replace.
Next Tuesday the Sopranos go about their usual routine. At the Bada Bing Gigi tells Tony that Patsy has been drinking heavily and claiming he knows who ordered the hit on his twin brother. Tony brought Patsy over from Junior’s crew to keep an eye on him. He considers having Patsy whacked, but decides to bide his time. Everyone has left the Sausage Factory except Lilliana. The feds move closer to find out why and hear her call out in anguish. Carmela gets a phone call at her tennis lesson and rushes away. Tony leaves the Bada Bing in a hurry and heads for home. The FBI realises something is wrong and hurriedly pulls it team away from the property. The agents debate what could have happened.
In the basement Tony and Carmela are knee-deep in water – the predicted water tank blow-out happened early. The local plumber, Mr Ruggerio, arrives to sort out the mess. Next day the FBI sends agents to stake out the house, hoping to learn what went wrong. They see a drunken Patsy standing in Tony’s backyard, pointing a gun at the house. Patsy can’t bring himself to pull the trigger. Instead he urinates in Tony’s swimming pool and stumbles away. Eventually the FBI learns about the water tank. The insurgent team has to wait a week to try again.
The following Tuesday the FBI tries again and finally succeeds in planting the bugged lamp in the basement. At Columbia Meadow is visited by her old school friend, Hunter Scangarello. Caitlin is acting strangely, seemingly freaked out by life in New York. She’s been prescribed anti-anxiety drugs. Tony talks to Patsy in the office at Satriale’s Pork Store. He makes Patsy attest to having put his grief about Philly behind him. Tony invites Patsy to visit the house and bring his son to hang out with AJ – they could swim in the pool! At school AJ is trying out for the football team.
Next day two FBI technicians sit in a van, listening to transmissions from the Sausage Factory. They get excited when they hear Tony saying he has a job for someone which might get a little messy. It turns out he wants Stasiu to rig a draining system should the water tank ever burst again. It may be some time before the bug in the basement bears fruit for the FBI…
Deep and Meaningful: Before this episode Patsy Parisi had only appeared in a single episode, delivering a sable coat to Tony. Now he gets his own showcase moment as he draws a gun and points it at Tony. FBI agents look on bewildered as the meek made man sobs and shakes with impotent fury. Patsy had to get roaring drunk to summon the courage to come this far, but he cannot pull the trigger. Instead he pisses into Tony’s swimming pool, the greatest act of rebellion he can muster. He stumbles, cursing himself and his boss…
Mobspeak: Judge Lapper describes the FBI application to enter and bug the Soprano household as a ‘sneak and peak warrant’. Tony talks to Patsy about his dead twin brother Philly and says ‘buon’ anima’ (rest his soul). On the FBI pinboard showing the structure of the Soprano Family, Tony is labelled as underboss (second in command to the boss). The FBI technicians talk about minimisation – they are only allowed to listen to conversations for forty seconds. If there is no mention of organised crime, they must switch off. They are allowed to check back in two minutes later.
Mamma Mia: The FBI does not believe Livia would testify against Tony is exchange for immunity over the stolen airline tickets. They obviously weren’t paying attention to the wiretaps which proved she was happy to coerce Junior into ordering a hit on Tony in Season One! Tony tells Carmela that he has got a Russian girl moving in with Livia to look after his mother. He claims to have found the carer through an agency. In fact, the FBI has a recording of Tony telling Pussy that the woman is a cousin of his former mistress, Irina.
Tony Soprano, Paper Boy: The opening episode of each season has included a scene of Tony in his bathrobe walking to the end of his driveway in the morning to collect his morning newspaper, The Star-Ledger. This episode has him slob out to the front gate four times over several weeks to collect the paper.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: The FBI agents pick at their lunches while meeting to discuss how best to get a bug into Tony’s home. The following Tuesday Agent Harris eats a filled roll while he monitors movements at the Soprano household. Tony joins his crew for lunch at the Bada Bing. There is plenty of pasta, salad, bread and wine. Tony tries to persuade Patsy to have some brasciole, but he has no appetite. Paulie says the average woman’s public bathroom is so clean you could eat maple walnut ice cream from the toilets. AJ and his friends how useful skateboards would be in the school cafeteria. One of the truants says the food there ‘tastes like ass’. Lilliana has a picnic lunch to share with her husband. He finds a jar of Italian capers among the food. She says the Soprano children don’t like capers. The Sopranos store preserved and tinned food in their basement. The FBI agents joke that the large quantity of food is just for AJ. Silvio eats nuts while watching golf at the Bada Bing office. Tony eats cereal for breakfast at home. He is visited by Gigi, who has brought some fresh Italian pastries which Tony enjoys. Carmela tells Tony that Lilliana is preparing a leg of lamb for Meadow to take back to Columbia. Tony complains that a new brand of coffee acted like a laxative on him. Carmela says he needs more roughage in his diet.
Mobbed Up: Agent Harris talk about the Soprano’s plumber, saying the area is Mr Ruggerio’s Neighbourhood. This is a reference to an American children’s TV show about kindly Mr Rogers and his neighbourhood.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Gigi has a brief flashback to murdering Philly Parisi in #14 when Patsy is talking about his brother’s execution.
Quote/Unquote: FBI Agent Skip Lipari comes to terms with the disappearance of Pussy: ‘I think at this point it’s time to consider Bonpensiero compost.’ Judge Lapper tells the FBI to limit entrances to only the basement of the Soprano household: ‘It’s not a Better Homes and Gardens tour.’ Tony cracks wise to Patsy after Paulie’s rant about urine and footwear: ‘You want to commit suicide? Tie your shoes and have a bite of brasciole.’ Tony tells Gigi to log off the internet in case the FBI uses the connection for surveillance: ‘That cookie shit makes me nervous.’
Soundtrack: ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlife’ by A3. Tony sings along to Steely Dan’s ‘Dirty Work’ in his car. The ‘Peter Gunn Theme’ by Henry Mancini is mixed with ‘Every Breath You Take’ by The Police during many of the FBI sequences. Caitlin sings some of ‘New York, New York’. ‘Hotel California’ by the Eagles. ‘High Fidelity’ by Elvis Costello. ‘Scud Missile’ by Fat Jack feat. Ganjah KMC. ‘Van Gogh’ by Ras Kass.
Surveillance Report: In America HBO launched Season Three by screening #27 and #28 back to back. This episode faded out before the closing credits. A caption labelled ‘Episode 2’ appeared before #28 was shown in its entirety. That was followed by another screen caption, introducing the closing credits for #27. The double-header debut also introduced widescreen broadcasts as HBO gave viewers a choice between watching the episodes in conventional ratio on HBO Plus or in widescreen on its main channel. Lilliana’s husband Stasiu is played by Albert Makhtsier. When the character appeared previously in the Season Two episode ‘Full Leather Jacket’, he was played by a different actor, Marek Przystup.
The Verdict: ‘We’ve had every one of Tony’s phones bugged for four years. But the guy says less than Harpo Marx.’ The FBI goes to great lengths to place a listening device into the Soprano’s basement. Tony is having problems with new crew member Patsy Parisi, unaware of the efforts to ensnare him. Season Three hits the ground running with this opening episode, unless the first instalment of the previous season. ‘Mr Ruggerio’s Neighborhood’ cleverly uses the FBI’s point of view to quickly update viewers on what’s been happening since the end of Season Two. In terms of plot not much actually happens but the viewer hardly notices. This is one of The Sopranos’ funniest ever episodes. It’s packed with wisecracks and visual humour, while the seamless mix of the Peter Gunn theme with the Police’s ode to stalking is a hilarious sound gag. The Sopranos is back and it’s still one of the best things on television…
Wednesday, May 02, 2007
Free at last, free at last
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2001, the incoming editor of the Judge Dredd Megazine asked me if I'd be interested in writing a few articles detailing the history of 2000 AD, the [self-proclaimed] Galaxy's Greatest Comic. 2000 AD was soon to celebrate its silver jubilee and a look back was needed. I'd edited the weekly for four and a half years, knew nearly all the key players in its history and was a trained journalist. How hard could it be, right? A few articles turned into twelve, and eventually sixteen pieces totalling close to 80,000 words. I interviewed dozens of creators and editorial staff, some of them numerous times. The results were called THRILL-POWER OVERLOAD [TPO for short] ran in the Megazine between 2002 and 2003, to some gentle acclaim.
Fast forward to May 2nd, 2007 - five and half years after that initial conversation with Alan Barnes. [He's just written an animated Doctor Who adventure for the BBC, featuring the voices of David Tennant and co, while I'm still working on bloody TPO - I'll get you for this, Barnes!] I've just finished indexing the revised, updated and massively expanded book version of TPO. The 120,000-word tome will be going off to the printers in the next couple of weeks and should be available from all good Thrill-Merchants not long afterwards. Huzzah.
For the book edition I had to conduct dozens of new interviews, tracked down many people who eluded me last time and bring the history of 2000 AD up to date for this, its 30th anniversary year. Feels like I've been working on this project forever, certainly it's the longest time I've spent on a single book. Obviously, I'd love it to sell by the truckload and make me a fortune in royalties - but right now I'm just looking forward to getting the book in my hands. The long, long journey is nearly at an end. [By the way, never volunteer to index 120,000 word book, it's purgatory.]
After three days spent indoors starring at page proofs and a computer screen while outside's been all glorious sunshine [I swear, the weather's been goading me], I'm giving myself the afternoon off. Grud only knows when I'll get to the eight other things on my To Do list this week, but I need a fecking break. Consider me broken.
Fast forward to May 2nd, 2007 - five and half years after that initial conversation with Alan Barnes. [He's just written an animated Doctor Who adventure for the BBC, featuring the voices of David Tennant and co, while I'm still working on bloody TPO - I'll get you for this, Barnes!] I've just finished indexing the revised, updated and massively expanded book version of TPO. The 120,000-word tome will be going off to the printers in the next couple of weeks and should be available from all good Thrill-Merchants not long afterwards. Huzzah.
For the book edition I had to conduct dozens of new interviews, tracked down many people who eluded me last time and bring the history of 2000 AD up to date for this, its 30th anniversary year. Feels like I've been working on this project forever, certainly it's the longest time I've spent on a single book. Obviously, I'd love it to sell by the truckload and make me a fortune in royalties - but right now I'm just looking forward to getting the book in my hands. The long, long journey is nearly at an end. [By the way, never volunteer to index 120,000 word book, it's purgatory.]
After three days spent indoors starring at page proofs and a computer screen while outside's been all glorious sunshine [I swear, the weather's been goading me], I'm giving myself the afternoon off. Grud only knows when I'll get to the eight other things on my To Do list this week, but I need a fecking break. Consider me broken.
Sopranos episode guide #26: Funhouse
US Transmission Date: 9 April 2000
UK Transmission Date: 4 January 2001
Writer: David Chase and Todd A. Kessler • Director: John Patterson
Cast: Ajay Mehta (Sundeep Kumar), Dan Grimaldi (Patsy Parisi), Robert Lupone (Bruce Cusamano), Barbara Andres (Quintina), David Anzuelo (Flight Attendant), Ray Garvey (Guard #1), David Healy (Vice Principal), Jay Palit (Indian Man), Kathleen Fasolino (Meadow’s Friend)
Storyline: Tony meets with Livia and Barbara to decide whether Livia should live. Tony gives his mother illegally obtained airline tickets from the Scatino bust out for Livia and her sister Quintina to go stay with Aunt Gemma in Tucson. Tony and Pussy have an Indian meal at a restaurant and collect a fat envelope of cash from the owner. They go on to Vesuvio where Tony gives Silvio a cut of the money. They have another meal with Silvio and Furio. Patsy Parisi – brother of the late Philly Parisi – arrives with a sable coat for Tony. Tony goes home and presents the coat to Carmela. They make love with Carmela wearing just the coat. Tony falls asleep and starts having a series of surreal dreams. He wakes up and realises he’s about to vomit. Tony just makes it to their en suite bathroom in time.
Pussy meets with Skip Lipari and has to hand over nearly all his cut from a telephone calling card scam. Tony has another dream, including a section where he thinks he wakes up and has a session with Dr Melfi. Artie Bucco arrives to finalise the menu for Meadow’s graduation party. Tony accuses Artie of giving him food poisoning but Artie blames the Indian food Tony had already eaten by the time he got to Vesuvio. Tony runs for the bathroom again. Artie calls Pussy but he only had a touch of diarrhoea, so Tony’s illness can’t have been caused by the shellfish he shared with Pussy at Vesuvio. Livia and her sister are arrested at the airport.
Tony has another dream about Dr Melfi. The Soprano’s next door neighbour, Dr Cusamano, visits and thinks Tony has food poisoning which will pass. Tony dreams that Pussy is a fish who confesses to working for the feds. Tony gets out of bed and gets dressed. He and Silvio visit Pussy, not giving their friend enough time to put on his wire. Tony invites Pussy to help him decide whether to buy a new boat. Tony fakes another stomach cramp and goes through Pussy’s things while Pussy and Silvio have a coffee downstairs. Tony discovers the wire and tapes from a recording device – there can be no doubt that Pussy is a rat.
Tony, Pussy and Silvio are met at the docks by Paulie. They take the boat out to sea when Pussy is confronted with the truth. He claims to have given the feds disinformation and titbits, nothing substantial. He’s been a rat for 18 months. Pussy asks not to be shot in the face. His friends gun him down, wrap his body in a black tarpaulin, weight it down and throw the corpse overboard. Livia calls Tony from the airport to say she has been arrested. FBI Agents Harris, Cubitoso and others arrive to arrest Tony. They’ve already found more illegal airline tickets in his four wheel drive. They are taking Tony away in cuffs just as Meadow gets home with her friends.
Tony is soon bailed out by his lawyer who says the charges are relatively minor. Tony is angry with himself for giving the tickets to his mother.
Dr Melfi senses Tony is full of sorrow about something but is covering it up with rage. She feels she hasn’t confronted Tony enough in therapy because she was frightened of him. Tony walks out, waving goodbye and singing. Meadow graduates. Afterwards Tony tells Christopher he is recommended him to be a made man. Tony talks to Davie Scatino, who has split from Christine and is moving near Las Vegas to become a cowboy. He invites Tony to visit him. The Sopranos host a graduation party for Meadow, with guests from the family and the Family. Tony smokes a cigar. At the seashore, the sun sets and the waves keep rolling in…
Mobspeak: Tony tells Christopher he is proposing him for his button (becoming a made man, a full member of the Mafia).
Mamma Mia: Livia whines that Tony won’t accept food from his own mother. She says she never conspired with Uncle Junior. Livia refuses to go back to Green Grove but Tony the retirement community has already refused to take her back because she was abusive to the staff. After she gets arrested Tony denounces his mother as a goddamn idiot and a fucking demented old bat.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: Livia tries to get Tony to eat some eggplant. Tony and Pussy have a meal at an Indian restaurant. Tony has chicken vindaloo, which gives him food poisoning. The pair go on to Vesuvio where they order zuppa di mussels and zucchini flowers stuffed with melted dry ricotta. Tony says Artie should put the flowers on the menu for Meadow’s graduation party, for which Artie is doing the catering. After he starts vomiting Tony wonders if the chicken vindaloo was actually cocker spaniel in disguise. Artie visits the Sopranos to finalise the party menu. He denies Tony’s claim that the mussels caused the food poisoning. Artie picks every piece of shellfish himself and Tony had top of the line Prince Edward Island mussels. Artie talks about Indian cooking’s use of clarified butter and how it is also used to light funeral pyres, like the one for Indira Gandhi. In one of his dream sequences Tony joins the rest of his family for a dinner of Chinese takeaway food. When he gets arrested Tony tells Agent Cubitoso not to expect any more deli trays to arrive on his birthday. There is a massive cake at Meadow’s graduation party along with all of Artie’s delicious food.
Mobbed Up: In one of Tony’s dreams Silvio repeats his impersonation of Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather’ films: ‘Our true enemy has yet to reveal himself.’ Tony sings the theme tune to the TV sitcom ‘Gilligan’s Island’ as he dreams, to the bemusement of Carmela and Dr Cusamano.
How Do You Feel?: Tony pretends to sob in a mocking manner when Dr Melfi suggests his mother inflicted serious psychic injuries on him as a child. The therapist tries to get past his rants about Indian food and his mother because she suspects there is something else which is causing him sorrow. Tony refuses to be drawn and walks out, waving his fingers at her and singing.
Sleeping With The Fishes: Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero, shot repeatedly by Tony, Paulie and Silvio for being a rat. They abide by his last request not to shoot him in the face. The trio weight and dump Pussy’s body at sea.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: This episode goes for the record of most dream sequences, although the ‘Isabella’ episode from Season One might run it close. But where those dreams were drug-fuelled fantasies, these dreams are brought on by food poisoning. Here’s a full list of the surrealisms – can you say fish? In the first dream sequence, Tony is walking along a snowy, deserted boardwalk by the sea. He meets Paulie, Hesh, Christopher, Pussy, Silvio and one of the Parisi brothers on the boardwalk. They are all waiting for someone who hasn’t arrived yet. Tony has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and has decided to set fire to himself, rather than put everyone through the agony of his illness. The crew praise his bravery. Tony thanks Parisi for the sable coat, thinking the brother is Patsy. But it is Philly, who turns to reveal the gunshot wound in the side of his head. Tony gets impatient and decides to go ahead with the burning. He pours a can of petrol over himself. Pussy has disappeared. Philly is getting a shoeshine from Gigi Cestone, the man who killed him. Paulie lights a Zippo and hands it to Tony. Christopher asks what if the doctors are wrong? As Tony thinks about this, he in engulfed in a fireball. In the second dream sequence, Tony is walking on the boardwalk again but the snow is gone. Junior looks at him from the broken window of an abandoned building. Silvio talks to him and imitates Al Pacino. Tony smiles widely. He looks throw a viewer out to sea, but the view is of the inside of a huge, empty railway station terminal. Tony sees himself playing cards with Paulie. He pulls out a gun and shots Paulie in the chest. Tony wakes up and hears Carmela’s voice. He goes to a session with Dr Melfi and talks about his dream. Melfi turns into Annalisa, the mob boss he met in Italy. She speaks with her own voice, then with the voice of Dr Melfi. Tony realises this is all still part of the same dream. In the third dream sequence Tony gets into a red car with Adriana in the driver’s seat and Christopher in the back. Tony asks who Pussy is but gets no response. Somebody hands him a roll of toilet paper from the back of the car – Furio is now sitting beside Christopher in the back. They all drive away in the car – a tiny, bright red bubble car. In the fourth dream sequence Tony sits in Dr Melfi’s waiting room. She calls him in and he follows, his trousers bulging with a massive erection. They talk about his penis, the dream about the duck stealing his penis, pussy and Pussy. Tony gets understandably confused and knows he’s in a dream. Melfi says she finds Tony immensely attractive, even though he goes out of his way to repulse her. He fucks Dr Melfi on her desk. In the fifth dream sequence, Tony has a conversation with Pussy who is represented by a talking fish on a fish stall at the seaside. Pussy admits to being a rat and says he gave the feds a lot of information. He jokes that the fish on either side of him are asleep. Tony tips the fish stall over in anger. In the sixth and final dream sequence, Tony arrives at a typical Soprano family dinner. He announces that he bought a boat today. Meadow announces that she has decided on going to Columbia University. Everyone is happy.
Quote/Unquote: Tony remembers how his mother slowly destroyed his father, a tough mobster. ‘He was a squeaking little gerbil when he died.’
Soundtrack: ‘Thru And Thru’ by the Rolling Stones. ‘Free Fallin’’ by Tom Petty. ‘Baubles, Bangles & Beads’ by Frank Sinatra. ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg’ by the Temptations. ‘Diamonds And Rust’ by Joan Baez. ‘Variations Pour une Porte et un Soupier’ by Pierre Henry.
Surveillance Report: In Tony’s first dream sequence, the Parisi brother says he is Philly and shows his gunshot wound to the head. In the episode where Philly was shot, he was played by Ian Grimaldi. Yet the credits for this episode only mention Patsy Parisi, played by Dan Grimaldi. Patsy does appear earlier in the episode but doesn’t speak and only speaking parts are mentioned in credits. In Tony’s final dream sequence he imagines Meadow announcing that she has chosen to go to Columbia. In Season Three she does exactly that, making Tony’s dream eerily prescient. The final sequence for the season shows shots of everyone celebrating at Meadow’s graduation party intercut with scenes of the many activities controlled by the Soprano Family – pornography, garbage collection, the stock brokerage, the telephone calling card scam, the motel and others. The final image is of the sea rolling in as waves onto the beach as the sun sets.
The Verdict: ‘Not in the face, okay?’ Tony contracts food poisoning and realises Pussy is a rat. Tony, Paulie and Silvio execute their friend at sea. Meadow graduates from high school. The FBI finally manage to arrest Tony, in connection with illegally obtained airline tickets. But they lose a significant informant with the ‘disappearance’ of Pussy, who is left literally sleeping with the fishes. This brings sadness for Tony, but it is balanced by Meadow’s graduation. This episode ties up two long-running plot threads with the revelation that Pussy is a rat and Christopher finally becoming a made man. But unlike the finale to Season One, this episode does not paint the series into a corner for future instalments. Instead it sets up several new plots for the coming year, such as Meadow going to college, Tony’s feelings about having to execute his friend and the FBI tightening the net around Tony. Season Three should make for very interesting viewing, but one very significant character will be absent…
UK Transmission Date: 4 January 2001
Writer: David Chase and Todd A. Kessler • Director: John Patterson
Cast: Ajay Mehta (Sundeep Kumar), Dan Grimaldi (Patsy Parisi), Robert Lupone (Bruce Cusamano), Barbara Andres (Quintina), David Anzuelo (Flight Attendant), Ray Garvey (Guard #1), David Healy (Vice Principal), Jay Palit (Indian Man), Kathleen Fasolino (Meadow’s Friend)
Storyline: Tony meets with Livia and Barbara to decide whether Livia should live. Tony gives his mother illegally obtained airline tickets from the Scatino bust out for Livia and her sister Quintina to go stay with Aunt Gemma in Tucson. Tony and Pussy have an Indian meal at a restaurant and collect a fat envelope of cash from the owner. They go on to Vesuvio where Tony gives Silvio a cut of the money. They have another meal with Silvio and Furio. Patsy Parisi – brother of the late Philly Parisi – arrives with a sable coat for Tony. Tony goes home and presents the coat to Carmela. They make love with Carmela wearing just the coat. Tony falls asleep and starts having a series of surreal dreams. He wakes up and realises he’s about to vomit. Tony just makes it to their en suite bathroom in time.
Pussy meets with Skip Lipari and has to hand over nearly all his cut from a telephone calling card scam. Tony has another dream, including a section where he thinks he wakes up and has a session with Dr Melfi. Artie Bucco arrives to finalise the menu for Meadow’s graduation party. Tony accuses Artie of giving him food poisoning but Artie blames the Indian food Tony had already eaten by the time he got to Vesuvio. Tony runs for the bathroom again. Artie calls Pussy but he only had a touch of diarrhoea, so Tony’s illness can’t have been caused by the shellfish he shared with Pussy at Vesuvio. Livia and her sister are arrested at the airport.
Tony has another dream about Dr Melfi. The Soprano’s next door neighbour, Dr Cusamano, visits and thinks Tony has food poisoning which will pass. Tony dreams that Pussy is a fish who confesses to working for the feds. Tony gets out of bed and gets dressed. He and Silvio visit Pussy, not giving their friend enough time to put on his wire. Tony invites Pussy to help him decide whether to buy a new boat. Tony fakes another stomach cramp and goes through Pussy’s things while Pussy and Silvio have a coffee downstairs. Tony discovers the wire and tapes from a recording device – there can be no doubt that Pussy is a rat.
Tony, Pussy and Silvio are met at the docks by Paulie. They take the boat out to sea when Pussy is confronted with the truth. He claims to have given the feds disinformation and titbits, nothing substantial. He’s been a rat for 18 months. Pussy asks not to be shot in the face. His friends gun him down, wrap his body in a black tarpaulin, weight it down and throw the corpse overboard. Livia calls Tony from the airport to say she has been arrested. FBI Agents Harris, Cubitoso and others arrive to arrest Tony. They’ve already found more illegal airline tickets in his four wheel drive. They are taking Tony away in cuffs just as Meadow gets home with her friends.
Tony is soon bailed out by his lawyer who says the charges are relatively minor. Tony is angry with himself for giving the tickets to his mother.
Dr Melfi senses Tony is full of sorrow about something but is covering it up with rage. She feels she hasn’t confronted Tony enough in therapy because she was frightened of him. Tony walks out, waving goodbye and singing. Meadow graduates. Afterwards Tony tells Christopher he is recommended him to be a made man. Tony talks to Davie Scatino, who has split from Christine and is moving near Las Vegas to become a cowboy. He invites Tony to visit him. The Sopranos host a graduation party for Meadow, with guests from the family and the Family. Tony smokes a cigar. At the seashore, the sun sets and the waves keep rolling in…
Mobspeak: Tony tells Christopher he is proposing him for his button (becoming a made man, a full member of the Mafia).
Mamma Mia: Livia whines that Tony won’t accept food from his own mother. She says she never conspired with Uncle Junior. Livia refuses to go back to Green Grove but Tony the retirement community has already refused to take her back because she was abusive to the staff. After she gets arrested Tony denounces his mother as a goddamn idiot and a fucking demented old bat.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: Livia tries to get Tony to eat some eggplant. Tony and Pussy have a meal at an Indian restaurant. Tony has chicken vindaloo, which gives him food poisoning. The pair go on to Vesuvio where they order zuppa di mussels and zucchini flowers stuffed with melted dry ricotta. Tony says Artie should put the flowers on the menu for Meadow’s graduation party, for which Artie is doing the catering. After he starts vomiting Tony wonders if the chicken vindaloo was actually cocker spaniel in disguise. Artie visits the Sopranos to finalise the party menu. He denies Tony’s claim that the mussels caused the food poisoning. Artie picks every piece of shellfish himself and Tony had top of the line Prince Edward Island mussels. Artie talks about Indian cooking’s use of clarified butter and how it is also used to light funeral pyres, like the one for Indira Gandhi. In one of his dream sequences Tony joins the rest of his family for a dinner of Chinese takeaway food. When he gets arrested Tony tells Agent Cubitoso not to expect any more deli trays to arrive on his birthday. There is a massive cake at Meadow’s graduation party along with all of Artie’s delicious food.
Mobbed Up: In one of Tony’s dreams Silvio repeats his impersonation of Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in ‘The Godfather’ films: ‘Our true enemy has yet to reveal himself.’ Tony sings the theme tune to the TV sitcom ‘Gilligan’s Island’ as he dreams, to the bemusement of Carmela and Dr Cusamano.
How Do You Feel?: Tony pretends to sob in a mocking manner when Dr Melfi suggests his mother inflicted serious psychic injuries on him as a child. The therapist tries to get past his rants about Indian food and his mother because she suspects there is something else which is causing him sorrow. Tony refuses to be drawn and walks out, waving his fingers at her and singing.
Sleeping With The Fishes: Salvatore ‘Big Pussy’ Bonpensiero, shot repeatedly by Tony, Paulie and Silvio for being a rat. They abide by his last request not to shoot him in the face. The trio weight and dump Pussy’s body at sea.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: This episode goes for the record of most dream sequences, although the ‘Isabella’ episode from Season One might run it close. But where those dreams were drug-fuelled fantasies, these dreams are brought on by food poisoning. Here’s a full list of the surrealisms – can you say fish? In the first dream sequence, Tony is walking along a snowy, deserted boardwalk by the sea. He meets Paulie, Hesh, Christopher, Pussy, Silvio and one of the Parisi brothers on the boardwalk. They are all waiting for someone who hasn’t arrived yet. Tony has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and has decided to set fire to himself, rather than put everyone through the agony of his illness. The crew praise his bravery. Tony thanks Parisi for the sable coat, thinking the brother is Patsy. But it is Philly, who turns to reveal the gunshot wound in the side of his head. Tony gets impatient and decides to go ahead with the burning. He pours a can of petrol over himself. Pussy has disappeared. Philly is getting a shoeshine from Gigi Cestone, the man who killed him. Paulie lights a Zippo and hands it to Tony. Christopher asks what if the doctors are wrong? As Tony thinks about this, he in engulfed in a fireball. In the second dream sequence, Tony is walking on the boardwalk again but the snow is gone. Junior looks at him from the broken window of an abandoned building. Silvio talks to him and imitates Al Pacino. Tony smiles widely. He looks throw a viewer out to sea, but the view is of the inside of a huge, empty railway station terminal. Tony sees himself playing cards with Paulie. He pulls out a gun and shots Paulie in the chest. Tony wakes up and hears Carmela’s voice. He goes to a session with Dr Melfi and talks about his dream. Melfi turns into Annalisa, the mob boss he met in Italy. She speaks with her own voice, then with the voice of Dr Melfi. Tony realises this is all still part of the same dream. In the third dream sequence Tony gets into a red car with Adriana in the driver’s seat and Christopher in the back. Tony asks who Pussy is but gets no response. Somebody hands him a roll of toilet paper from the back of the car – Furio is now sitting beside Christopher in the back. They all drive away in the car – a tiny, bright red bubble car. In the fourth dream sequence Tony sits in Dr Melfi’s waiting room. She calls him in and he follows, his trousers bulging with a massive erection. They talk about his penis, the dream about the duck stealing his penis, pussy and Pussy. Tony gets understandably confused and knows he’s in a dream. Melfi says she finds Tony immensely attractive, even though he goes out of his way to repulse her. He fucks Dr Melfi on her desk. In the fifth dream sequence, Tony has a conversation with Pussy who is represented by a talking fish on a fish stall at the seaside. Pussy admits to being a rat and says he gave the feds a lot of information. He jokes that the fish on either side of him are asleep. Tony tips the fish stall over in anger. In the sixth and final dream sequence, Tony arrives at a typical Soprano family dinner. He announces that he bought a boat today. Meadow announces that she has decided on going to Columbia University. Everyone is happy.
Quote/Unquote: Tony remembers how his mother slowly destroyed his father, a tough mobster. ‘He was a squeaking little gerbil when he died.’
Soundtrack: ‘Thru And Thru’ by the Rolling Stones. ‘Free Fallin’’ by Tom Petty. ‘Baubles, Bangles & Beads’ by Frank Sinatra. ‘Ain’t Too Proud To Beg’ by the Temptations. ‘Diamonds And Rust’ by Joan Baez. ‘Variations Pour une Porte et un Soupier’ by Pierre Henry.
Surveillance Report: In Tony’s first dream sequence, the Parisi brother says he is Philly and shows his gunshot wound to the head. In the episode where Philly was shot, he was played by Ian Grimaldi. Yet the credits for this episode only mention Patsy Parisi, played by Dan Grimaldi. Patsy does appear earlier in the episode but doesn’t speak and only speaking parts are mentioned in credits. In Tony’s final dream sequence he imagines Meadow announcing that she has chosen to go to Columbia. In Season Three she does exactly that, making Tony’s dream eerily prescient. The final sequence for the season shows shots of everyone celebrating at Meadow’s graduation party intercut with scenes of the many activities controlled by the Soprano Family – pornography, garbage collection, the stock brokerage, the telephone calling card scam, the motel and others. The final image is of the sea rolling in as waves onto the beach as the sun sets.
The Verdict: ‘Not in the face, okay?’ Tony contracts food poisoning and realises Pussy is a rat. Tony, Paulie and Silvio execute their friend at sea. Meadow graduates from high school. The FBI finally manage to arrest Tony, in connection with illegally obtained airline tickets. But they lose a significant informant with the ‘disappearance’ of Pussy, who is left literally sleeping with the fishes. This brings sadness for Tony, but it is balanced by Meadow’s graduation. This episode ties up two long-running plot threads with the revelation that Pussy is a rat and Christopher finally becoming a made man. But unlike the finale to Season One, this episode does not paint the series into a corner for future instalments. Instead it sets up several new plots for the coming year, such as Meadow going to college, Tony’s feelings about having to execute his friend and the FBI tightening the net around Tony. Season Three should make for very interesting viewing, but one very significant character will be absent…
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
TV novel versus Telenovela
ITV Productions has announced its working with writer John Fay on Liaison, a major new drama series inspired by the TV novel storyteling style of HBO's The Wire. No broadcaster's bought the project yet, but ITV Productions seem to be gung ho for this series about the work of police family liaison officers, examining their lives on and off the job while showing how they interact with the families of victims and killers. The show would play out over two series like a novel, with a beginning, middle and end.
The TV novel is a brave choice of format, because it demands viewer loyalty. A show like The Wire is utterly uncompromising about this, displaying a stunning narrative density while expecting audiences to pay attention. At the Script Factory's TV Forum in London last week, speakers pointed out how dialogue-driven TV drama is often little more than radio with pictures. Filmmakers follow the mantra 'show, don't tell'; too much TV drama opts for show and tell.
The TV novel is not a wholly new concept. In the 90s science fiction series Babylon 5 was a prototype TV novel, telling a greater story over five years and 110 episodes. That can make for a very slow start and a lot of patience from the audience. More common now is the story-a-season model, as pioneered by the likes of Murder One and made popular by 24. Then there's serial storytelling, as seen in Lost and a host of failed clones in the last couple of years.
Science fiction sensation Heroes [coming soon to BBC2] mixes serial storytelling and the story-a-season model. Each episode is labelled as a chapter, and the big ensemble cast suggests a novelistic approach, but its comic book roots offers a closer analogue. There are plenty of other variations upon this style: the Big Bad season-long arc, as featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each episode stands on its own merits, more or less, but certain plot threads build through the year to a Big Finish. Doctor Who has a hint of this in its Bad Wolf/Torchwood/Saxon subplots.
TV novel may be catchphrase of the week, but British TV's still scrambling to find a way of embracing the telenovela. This is a South and Central American phenomenon that went internatinal with the massive crossover success of Ugly Betty. Essentially, these are finite series, much like a novel. So, how are they different from TV novels? For a start, there's the general style and subject matter.
Telenovelas tend to be romantic melodramas, up to six episodes a week, with 120 episodes in all. The storytelling style is heightened to the point of being lurid, or over the top, or sometimes camp as a row of tents. In Spanish- and Portugese-speaking countries where telenovelas started, storylines tend to be historical romances, cross-class romances, teen dramas and pop music stories. [I can sense Simon Cowell's minions developing a Pop Idol telenovela as I type these words.]
Whereas TV novels tend to be tough, gritty and often challenging drama, telenovelas are light, frothy and above all entertaining. In its own way, Footballers' Wives was not unlike a telenovela. Shows like Bad Girls, No Angels and even Skins could have been tweaked to fit the telenovela style, with considerable ramping up of melodrama. The question is whether British production companies want to embrace their camp side and plunge face-first into the fluffy souffle of telenovelas? Or do they prefer to crave out grim and gritty, award-winning TV novels?
The TV novel is a brave choice of format, because it demands viewer loyalty. A show like The Wire is utterly uncompromising about this, displaying a stunning narrative density while expecting audiences to pay attention. At the Script Factory's TV Forum in London last week, speakers pointed out how dialogue-driven TV drama is often little more than radio with pictures. Filmmakers follow the mantra 'show, don't tell'; too much TV drama opts for show and tell.
The TV novel is not a wholly new concept. In the 90s science fiction series Babylon 5 was a prototype TV novel, telling a greater story over five years and 110 episodes. That can make for a very slow start and a lot of patience from the audience. More common now is the story-a-season model, as pioneered by the likes of Murder One and made popular by 24. Then there's serial storytelling, as seen in Lost and a host of failed clones in the last couple of years.
Science fiction sensation Heroes [coming soon to BBC2] mixes serial storytelling and the story-a-season model. Each episode is labelled as a chapter, and the big ensemble cast suggests a novelistic approach, but its comic book roots offers a closer analogue. There are plenty of other variations upon this style: the Big Bad season-long arc, as featured in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Each episode stands on its own merits, more or less, but certain plot threads build through the year to a Big Finish. Doctor Who has a hint of this in its Bad Wolf/Torchwood/Saxon subplots.
TV novel may be catchphrase of the week, but British TV's still scrambling to find a way of embracing the telenovela. This is a South and Central American phenomenon that went internatinal with the massive crossover success of Ugly Betty. Essentially, these are finite series, much like a novel. So, how are they different from TV novels? For a start, there's the general style and subject matter.
Telenovelas tend to be romantic melodramas, up to six episodes a week, with 120 episodes in all. The storytelling style is heightened to the point of being lurid, or over the top, or sometimes camp as a row of tents. In Spanish- and Portugese-speaking countries where telenovelas started, storylines tend to be historical romances, cross-class romances, teen dramas and pop music stories. [I can sense Simon Cowell's minions developing a Pop Idol telenovela as I type these words.]
Whereas TV novels tend to be tough, gritty and often challenging drama, telenovelas are light, frothy and above all entertaining. In its own way, Footballers' Wives was not unlike a telenovela. Shows like Bad Girls, No Angels and even Skins could have been tweaked to fit the telenovela style, with considerable ramping up of melodrama. The question is whether British production companies want to embrace their camp side and plunge face-first into the fluffy souffle of telenovelas? Or do they prefer to crave out grim and gritty, award-winning TV novels?
Sopranos episode guide #25: The Knight in White Satin Armor
US Transmission Date: 2 April 2000
UK Transmission Date: 3 January 2001
Writer: Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess • Director: Allen Coulter
Cast: Jason Cerbone (Jackie Aprile, Jr), Richard Maldone (Albert Barese), Andy Blankenbuehler (Richie Aprile, Jr), Alla Kliouka (Svetlana)
Storyline: Tony helps Janice begin moving furniture into the house she has bought with Richie. Richie’s son, Richie Jr, is ballroom dancing around the house – he’s ranked in the world top ten. Also visiting is Jackie Aprile Jr, son of the late boss and Richie’s nephew. Tony has sex with Irina and then dumps her. She threatens to commit suicide unless he comes back. Tony meets with Larry Boy Barese’s cousin Albert, Richie, Jackie Jr and Dick Barone to divide up lucrative garbage contracts. Tony takes away one of Richie’s contracts as punishment for continuing to sell cocaine on his routes.
Junior meets with his lawyer, who wants an extra $400,000 for litigation against the wiretaps which could send Junior to jail. Junior gets home to discover Tony has cut off another of his cash supplies. Richie wants to whack Tony but Junior suggests he seek support from Albert Barese. Pussy tries to give a gift to his FBI handler, Agent Skip Lipari. Pussy is now ridiculously co-operative and imagines a future where he could tour police departments giving lectures about organised crime. He gives Skip an airline ticket from the Scatino bust out. Skip wants Pussy to wear a wire to the engagement party for Janice and Richie which the Sopranos are hosting.
Carmela smells CK One on a shirt of Tony’s in the laundry basket. This means he is still seeing his Russian mistress. At the engagement party Pussy tries to get information from Tony on tape, but Tony is obsessed with Richie. Carmela is cold and distant with Tony. When Janice gives a speech about how Richie is her soulmate, Carmela leaves the room and bursts into tears. Tony gets a phone call from Irina’s friend Svetlana, Irina is in hospital after getting drunk and taking twenty sleeping pills. Tony visits Irina and agrees to pay her medical bills.
Carmela helps Janice choose a wedding dress. Carmela says Janice will have to accept Richie having a mistress within a year. Janice doubts any mistress would let Richie fuck them with a loaded revolver held to their head. She says he usually takes the ammunition out. Skip and his boss, Agent Cubitoso, discuss Pussy’s conversion to gung-ho informant. Cubitoso warns Skip not to get too close to Pussy. Richie finds Victor Musto in a decorating store and thanks him for not getting involved with her.
Tony asks Dr Melfi for a psychiatrist for Irina. He says he is dumping the mistress because he’s supposed – and it’s not fun anymore. Richie reports Albert Barese’s reluctance to Junior. After Richie has gone, Junior decides he is better off with Tony – nobody respects Richie. Pussy visits Christopher at the stock brokerage in search of fresh information for Skip. Christopher invites Pussy along on a planned raid on a truck loaded with Pokemon trading cards. Pussy phones Skip with this news but the FBI agent warns him not to get involved in violent crime.
Tony tries to give the therapist’s number to Irina but she refuses it. Richie tells Janice to stop spending on the new house as money may be tight, thanks to Tony’s rulings. Janice says Tony stopped AJ seeing Richie, turning Richie further against Tony. Pussy follows Christopher on his way to the hijack but has to swerve to avoid another vehicle. Pussy collides with a cyclist and crashes his car into another. He limps away from the scene. Irina calls Tony at his home but he hangs up on her. Carmela confronts Tony about his mistress. Afterwards Carmela wishes Tony were more like Victor Musto, but Gabriella Dante tells Carmela that Victor stayed away from her because he feared Tony.
Junior tells Tony that Richie plans to whack him. Tony increases Junior’s income by 50% in gratitude. Junior wonders how much influence Janice has over Richie in this matter. Tony orders Silvio to whack Richie. Janice and Richie argue at Livia’s house about whether Richie’s son is gay. Richie punches Janice in the face and then goads her. She gets a gun and shots him twice in the chest, killing Richie. Janice phones Tony for help. He arrives to find her having a cigarette by the body. Tony calls his crew for help. Skip confronts Pussy at the hospital where he is being treated. He tells the mobster he will never be able to join the FBI. Pussy sulks.
Christopher and Furio take Richie’s body to Satriale’s Pork Store, where they chop it into small pieces for easier disposal. Livia comes downstairs just as Tony arrives to take Janice to the bus station – she is going back to Seattle. Mother and son argue, then Tony storms out. He trips and falls as he leaves – Livia laughs at him. Silvio gives Irina $75,000 for her future from Tony. When Tony finally gets home, he hints to Carmela what has happened to Richie. She says she is going to Rome for three weeks with Rosalie Aprile after Meadow graduates. Tony will have to look after the children when she’s away.
Mamma Mia: When she hears that Richie is missing, Livia says he probably jilted Janice and it’s the story of her daughter’s life. Livia denies nagging Janice about her weight or calling her a tramp. The old woman reveals her philosophy of child rearing: ‘Babies are like animals. They’re no different than dogs.’ Livia sobs and whines one of her beloved catchphrases about giving her life to her children on a silver platter. She calls Tony cruel when he won’t kiss her goodbye, then laughs at him when he trips and falls.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: Carmela serves finger foods on trays at the engagement party for Richie and Janice. Tony sends Frank Cubitoso a large tray of cold meats, bread and cheese with balloons for the FBI Agent’s birthday. Junior is eating a sandwich for lunch when Richie reports that Albert Barese wouldn’t support a hit on Tony. Junior loses his appetite. Janice cooks Richie his last supper, tomato sauce and pasta. Christopher cuts up Richie’s body using the equipment at Satriale’s. He says it will be while before he eats anything from the pork store again.
Mobbed Up: Tony asks if Richie Jr is still ‘Flying Down To Rio’, a ballroom dancing reference to the first film to feature Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Tony asks Junior if he’s become a secret agent like Matt Helm, who was played by Dean Martin in four films.
How Do You Feel?: Tony says he is ending relationship with Irina because he thinks that what he’s supposed to do and that’s what Dr Melfi has been telling him to do all the time. The therapist refutes passing judgement on a patient’s sex life. Tony admits he dumping Irina now because it’s not fun anymore.
Sleeping With The Fishes: Richie Aprile, shot twice by Janice for punching her in the face and taunting her. He had already been marked for death by Tony, so Richie was not long for the world anyway. Janice just got her retaliation in first.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Livia says she had the strangest dreams all night long. People were coming and going but she couldn’t get off her bed. In fact, Janice had given her mother two Nembutals to keep Livia quiet.
Quote/Unquote: Irina tells Tony she is reading ‘Chicken Soul for the Soul’ but he suggests a different book. ‘You should read “Tomato Sauce For Your Ass”,' he replies, 'it’s the Italian version.’ Melfi asks Tony if he feels responsible for Irina’s suicide attempt. He says he was banging Irina for two years. ‘Was that a hardship for her?’ Melfi asks. Carmela is upset with Tony’s reason for the perfume on his shirts. ‘You’re putting me in a position where I’m feeling sorry for a whore who fucks you?’ Carmela sums up Richie and Janice’s fatal attraction: ‘That… that was not a marriage made in heaven.’
Soundtrack: ‘I Saved The World Today’ by Annie Lennox. ‘The Memory Remains’ by Metallica.
Surveillance Report: There’s a bizarre use of subtitles in this episode for some of Irina’s dialogue – even though she’s speaking English. Her accent is thick but not so thick it can’t be understood. The subtitles are reminiscent of scenes from the David Lynch TV series ‘Twin Peaks’. When Richie and Albert discuss whacking Tony, Richie calls Larry Boy Barese the king of dermabrasion, a reference to his recent facelift. At the end this scene a sound like machine gun fire breaks in from the next scene. The picture changes to show the sound coming from a paint mixer at a DIY store. This clever transition was also used in the film ‘The Usual Suspects.’ Christopher pronounces Pokemon as ‘Pokey-Man’. Irina retells the story about her friend Svetlana’s prosthetic leg falling off in a Gap store and her boyfriend carrying her out. Irina previously told this story to Tony over the phone in the ‘College’ episode during Season One. Irina creates this episode’s title by combining the romantic notion of a knight in shining armour with the song title ‘Knights In White Satin’ by the Moody Blues. Livia laughs when Tony trips outside her home. This echoes dialogue from a first season episode in which he recalled his mother laughing when his father fell over as an example of a loving memory of Livia.
The Verdict: ‘All and all though, I’d say it was a pretty good visit.’ Richie tries to organise a hit on Tony but meets his own death at the hands of an unexpected source. Tony dumps his Russian mistress but not without difficulty. Junior allies himself with Tony for the foreseeable future. All the agita between Richie and Tony finally pays off in this gripping episode. Rather than meet the audience’s expectations of having Tony pull the trigger, it’s Janice who does the deed. She might put up with being fucked by a man holding a loaded pistol to her head, but she won’t stand for being punched in the face by her fiancé. But with Janice leaving town, who’ll look after Livia? As that plotline reaches its bloody conclusion, FBI informant Pussy is becoming increasingly unstable. The groundwork has been laid for the finale of Season Two, but it won’t be what viewers expect…
UK Transmission Date: 3 January 2001
Writer: Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess • Director: Allen Coulter
Cast: Jason Cerbone (Jackie Aprile, Jr), Richard Maldone (Albert Barese), Andy Blankenbuehler (Richie Aprile, Jr), Alla Kliouka (Svetlana)
Storyline: Tony helps Janice begin moving furniture into the house she has bought with Richie. Richie’s son, Richie Jr, is ballroom dancing around the house – he’s ranked in the world top ten. Also visiting is Jackie Aprile Jr, son of the late boss and Richie’s nephew. Tony has sex with Irina and then dumps her. She threatens to commit suicide unless he comes back. Tony meets with Larry Boy Barese’s cousin Albert, Richie, Jackie Jr and Dick Barone to divide up lucrative garbage contracts. Tony takes away one of Richie’s contracts as punishment for continuing to sell cocaine on his routes.
Junior meets with his lawyer, who wants an extra $400,000 for litigation against the wiretaps which could send Junior to jail. Junior gets home to discover Tony has cut off another of his cash supplies. Richie wants to whack Tony but Junior suggests he seek support from Albert Barese. Pussy tries to give a gift to his FBI handler, Agent Skip Lipari. Pussy is now ridiculously co-operative and imagines a future where he could tour police departments giving lectures about organised crime. He gives Skip an airline ticket from the Scatino bust out. Skip wants Pussy to wear a wire to the engagement party for Janice and Richie which the Sopranos are hosting.
Carmela smells CK One on a shirt of Tony’s in the laundry basket. This means he is still seeing his Russian mistress. At the engagement party Pussy tries to get information from Tony on tape, but Tony is obsessed with Richie. Carmela is cold and distant with Tony. When Janice gives a speech about how Richie is her soulmate, Carmela leaves the room and bursts into tears. Tony gets a phone call from Irina’s friend Svetlana, Irina is in hospital after getting drunk and taking twenty sleeping pills. Tony visits Irina and agrees to pay her medical bills.
Carmela helps Janice choose a wedding dress. Carmela says Janice will have to accept Richie having a mistress within a year. Janice doubts any mistress would let Richie fuck them with a loaded revolver held to their head. She says he usually takes the ammunition out. Skip and his boss, Agent Cubitoso, discuss Pussy’s conversion to gung-ho informant. Cubitoso warns Skip not to get too close to Pussy. Richie finds Victor Musto in a decorating store and thanks him for not getting involved with her.
Tony asks Dr Melfi for a psychiatrist for Irina. He says he is dumping the mistress because he’s supposed – and it’s not fun anymore. Richie reports Albert Barese’s reluctance to Junior. After Richie has gone, Junior decides he is better off with Tony – nobody respects Richie. Pussy visits Christopher at the stock brokerage in search of fresh information for Skip. Christopher invites Pussy along on a planned raid on a truck loaded with Pokemon trading cards. Pussy phones Skip with this news but the FBI agent warns him not to get involved in violent crime.
Tony tries to give the therapist’s number to Irina but she refuses it. Richie tells Janice to stop spending on the new house as money may be tight, thanks to Tony’s rulings. Janice says Tony stopped AJ seeing Richie, turning Richie further against Tony. Pussy follows Christopher on his way to the hijack but has to swerve to avoid another vehicle. Pussy collides with a cyclist and crashes his car into another. He limps away from the scene. Irina calls Tony at his home but he hangs up on her. Carmela confronts Tony about his mistress. Afterwards Carmela wishes Tony were more like Victor Musto, but Gabriella Dante tells Carmela that Victor stayed away from her because he feared Tony.
Junior tells Tony that Richie plans to whack him. Tony increases Junior’s income by 50% in gratitude. Junior wonders how much influence Janice has over Richie in this matter. Tony orders Silvio to whack Richie. Janice and Richie argue at Livia’s house about whether Richie’s son is gay. Richie punches Janice in the face and then goads her. She gets a gun and shots him twice in the chest, killing Richie. Janice phones Tony for help. He arrives to find her having a cigarette by the body. Tony calls his crew for help. Skip confronts Pussy at the hospital where he is being treated. He tells the mobster he will never be able to join the FBI. Pussy sulks.
Christopher and Furio take Richie’s body to Satriale’s Pork Store, where they chop it into small pieces for easier disposal. Livia comes downstairs just as Tony arrives to take Janice to the bus station – she is going back to Seattle. Mother and son argue, then Tony storms out. He trips and falls as he leaves – Livia laughs at him. Silvio gives Irina $75,000 for her future from Tony. When Tony finally gets home, he hints to Carmela what has happened to Richie. She says she is going to Rome for three weeks with Rosalie Aprile after Meadow graduates. Tony will have to look after the children when she’s away.
Mamma Mia: When she hears that Richie is missing, Livia says he probably jilted Janice and it’s the story of her daughter’s life. Livia denies nagging Janice about her weight or calling her a tramp. The old woman reveals her philosophy of child rearing: ‘Babies are like animals. They’re no different than dogs.’ Livia sobs and whines one of her beloved catchphrases about giving her life to her children on a silver platter. She calls Tony cruel when he won’t kiss her goodbye, then laughs at him when he trips and falls.
Bright Lights, Baked Ziti: Carmela serves finger foods on trays at the engagement party for Richie and Janice. Tony sends Frank Cubitoso a large tray of cold meats, bread and cheese with balloons for the FBI Agent’s birthday. Junior is eating a sandwich for lunch when Richie reports that Albert Barese wouldn’t support a hit on Tony. Junior loses his appetite. Janice cooks Richie his last supper, tomato sauce and pasta. Christopher cuts up Richie’s body using the equipment at Satriale’s. He says it will be while before he eats anything from the pork store again.
Mobbed Up: Tony asks if Richie Jr is still ‘Flying Down To Rio’, a ballroom dancing reference to the first film to feature Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Tony asks Junior if he’s become a secret agent like Matt Helm, who was played by Dean Martin in four films.
How Do You Feel?: Tony says he is ending relationship with Irina because he thinks that what he’s supposed to do and that’s what Dr Melfi has been telling him to do all the time. The therapist refutes passing judgement on a patient’s sex life. Tony admits he dumping Irina now because it’s not fun anymore.
Sleeping With The Fishes: Richie Aprile, shot twice by Janice for punching her in the face and taunting her. He had already been marked for death by Tony, so Richie was not long for the world anyway. Janice just got her retaliation in first.
I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano: Livia says she had the strangest dreams all night long. People were coming and going but she couldn’t get off her bed. In fact, Janice had given her mother two Nembutals to keep Livia quiet.
Quote/Unquote: Irina tells Tony she is reading ‘Chicken Soul for the Soul’ but he suggests a different book. ‘You should read “Tomato Sauce For Your Ass”,' he replies, 'it’s the Italian version.’ Melfi asks Tony if he feels responsible for Irina’s suicide attempt. He says he was banging Irina for two years. ‘Was that a hardship for her?’ Melfi asks. Carmela is upset with Tony’s reason for the perfume on his shirts. ‘You’re putting me in a position where I’m feeling sorry for a whore who fucks you?’ Carmela sums up Richie and Janice’s fatal attraction: ‘That… that was not a marriage made in heaven.’
Soundtrack: ‘I Saved The World Today’ by Annie Lennox. ‘The Memory Remains’ by Metallica.
Surveillance Report: There’s a bizarre use of subtitles in this episode for some of Irina’s dialogue – even though she’s speaking English. Her accent is thick but not so thick it can’t be understood. The subtitles are reminiscent of scenes from the David Lynch TV series ‘Twin Peaks’. When Richie and Albert discuss whacking Tony, Richie calls Larry Boy Barese the king of dermabrasion, a reference to his recent facelift. At the end this scene a sound like machine gun fire breaks in from the next scene. The picture changes to show the sound coming from a paint mixer at a DIY store. This clever transition was also used in the film ‘The Usual Suspects.’ Christopher pronounces Pokemon as ‘Pokey-Man’. Irina retells the story about her friend Svetlana’s prosthetic leg falling off in a Gap store and her boyfriend carrying her out. Irina previously told this story to Tony over the phone in the ‘College’ episode during Season One. Irina creates this episode’s title by combining the romantic notion of a knight in shining armour with the song title ‘Knights In White Satin’ by the Moody Blues. Livia laughs when Tony trips outside her home. This echoes dialogue from a first season episode in which he recalled his mother laughing when his father fell over as an example of a loving memory of Livia.
The Verdict: ‘All and all though, I’d say it was a pretty good visit.’ Richie tries to organise a hit on Tony but meets his own death at the hands of an unexpected source. Tony dumps his Russian mistress but not without difficulty. Junior allies himself with Tony for the foreseeable future. All the agita between Richie and Tony finally pays off in this gripping episode. Rather than meet the audience’s expectations of having Tony pull the trigger, it’s Janice who does the deed. She might put up with being fucked by a man holding a loaded pistol to her head, but she won’t stand for being punched in the face by her fiancé. But with Janice leaving town, who’ll look after Livia? As that plotline reaches its bloody conclusion, FBI informant Pussy is becoming increasingly unstable. The groundwork has been laid for the finale of Season Two, but it won’t be what viewers expect…
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