Episode 39 "The Army of One"

Well we have seen the season finale! Jackie was the one who took the hit. Sad to see him go, but at least Christopher lived to see the next season. Where is this show going now? A little food for thought as we wait a year to see the next season.

Rumors of Carmela's demise, and the female problems from last episode point to a few different scenarios. While watching her at the restaurant with the glass of wine, I couldn't help noticing that she really didn't seem to want to drink it like she might be pregnant. I guess we will find out next year.

Jr has beaten the" big casino"... or at least that's how it appears for now! We can look forward to seeing him in court (probably in episode 40) It looks like someone is going to flip, maybe one of the guys who got arrested tonight?

Is paulie ready to jump ship? We'll see if he survives the russians first.

Meadow seems more in the dark about family business than has been portrayed in the past 3 seasons. Her comments to Jackie's sister were unexpected at best. Does anyone think she is going to end up pregnant?

AJ...it's looking like he's going to be joining Tony by season 4 end. Expelled and unable to attend military school. He's got nothing going for him and looking more like his old dad every day. I think Tony will eventually see that he needs to take him under his wing to protect his future.

Ralphie...What can I say? It looks like he did the right thing by Tony, ordering the hit on Jackie Jr. but the ladies of the family are very close and all the guys know that Ralphie ordered the hit. When will Rosalie find out?

Chris and Adrianna.... Will they get married? It's really suspicious about the arrests and the new found friend from the FBI. They were after Chris to flip. Will it happen? I look for her role to expand next season.

Dr. Melphi... She seems to want Tony at this point. Is it me or is he talking funny these days? He also seems to be getting softer and a little dumber. I don't think the rape scene will come up again. I do wonder about her son and husband virtually missing since the rape episode early in the season.

Gloria... is she gone?

Johnny Sac... He looks to be more involved next season. He'll be "stickin his beak in" as much as possible.

Bobby Bacala... Where is his character going for next season. With Junior either being released after trial or going to prison it seems he will be pushed out of the role of man servant to Junior.

Tony... Where will he be following Jr.'s trial? He's under a lot of pressure from all sides, will he be able to handle it through the series finale? Will he become involved with Melfi next season?

Sorry, guides 8-12 are missing in action....

"Second Opinion" (Episode 7)

Junior is having surgery, Tony and bobbie are eagerly waiting for the surgeon to give them the news. During the surgery, Dr Kennedy is rushing to keep on schedule and is impatient waiting for lab results on the disected mass and surrounding tissue. Based on preliminary findings he decides to close him up and run on to the next case. He tells tony that everything is fine.

The followup visit showed that waiting for the full report would have saved Junior a second trip under the knife. Tony find out and insists on a second opinion. Jr. thinks Tony wants him to die quickly so he can move into his shoes and control all of Jersey.

Tony is called to the bing by pager. When he arrives he finds a singing bass fish- The song- "Take Me to the Rriver" He has a flashback of the talking fish from last season, grabs the fish plaque and cracks it over georgie's head.

AJ takes a trip to the capital leaving mom and dad alone for the first time in years! Tony skips his therapy session with dr. melfi and carmela, but carmela attends. She is referred to a colleage for sessions of her own.

Carmela bumps into Pussy's wife in the grocery store. Everyone thinks he was sent into protection for ratting on Tony, leaving his wife to fend for herself. She's short on funds and her dog needs surgery. Carmela mentions this to Tony.

Tony bashes in the windows and rear tail light on her new cadillac. He feels that the money he provides her should not be spent on such luxury, and doesn't want carmela to be involved or it sounds like he is threatening to cut her off. The dog seemed fine (thank god he didn't bash in the dogs head with that bat, or there would be another major uproar again this week!)

Carmela has been invited to a lunch with the president of Meadow's college. Tony refuses to go. She drops by to visit meadow who doesn't open the door for quite some time because she was "sleeping". She gorges herself with food her mom brought. She feels that her mother and father have conspired to break up her and Noah.

Carmela leaves for ther lunch with the president. She is wined and dined and then hit up for a donation of 50g. Tony is outraged and is only willing to give 5g. Carmela wants her name on that wall of the new student center I'm sure!

Christopher finds out about the new rules on checking for wires. He is made to do a strip search by paulie. This did not go over well! Later he visits their appartment at 2:30 AM for another search. He finds boxes full of designer shows and takes them all. Then he gets caught sniffing adriana panties!

Christopher and paulie will get into more trouble as the season progresses, they are testing each other and neither are willing to give in.

Uncle Junior see's another Dr. for a second opinion. After conversation they elect to have a board recommend his treatment. We find that errors were made during the initial surgery and Dr. Kennedy no longer wants to be involved with the case. Junior starts Chemo, Tony goes to visit him, he's having trouble with vomiting and tells Tony that Dr. Kennedy does not return his calls.

Tony double teams the Dr. at the golf course with Furio. Obvious threats are made and he is told in no uncertain terms that he is expected to return phone calls. We see the good Dr. later visiting during a chemo treatment.

Carmela decides to visit the shrink recommended by dr. melfi. He is much different than the typical. He tells her she needs to divorce him and not take any money from him or she will never be truely happy. (Is this a setup by Dr. Melfi?) Carmela is devastated but believe the shrink is right. We find her at home on the couch wrapped in a blanket, Tony walks in, they exchange words about depression, sleeping, therapy etc. She tells him he has to do something nice for her today. She has already pledged the 50g to the university. He doesn't argue- he tells her she needs a break from cooking and they should go out to dinner.

University (Episode 6)

Highly controversial episode. Mostly bada bing action and very expilcit. We see a new VIP room. The girls are required to pay $50 and a blow job to Georgie to get in. Once they're in they can make$500 or more according to Georgie. We get to know a bing girl named Tracy (20 years old) . She tries to become friendly with Tony by baking bread as a thank-you for some advise on her kid. She is told that there will be no friendship - "Employer/Employee" relationship only.

Meadow is finding dorm life with her room mate nearly impossible. The girl is pulling out chunks of hair, talks incessently about very strange subjects and apparently can't handle day to day life in New York. ( where else in the world would you see a homeless woman with a plastic garbage bag for a skirt and the daily news stuck up her rear for underwear?)

Bing Scenes popping in and out with explicit sex scenes in private rooms.

Tracy approaches Tony, who is leaving the bing after a long night of hoochy koochy, with a problem. She's pregnant by Ralphie. Tony doesn't mince words. He tells her she doesn't need another kid, she's too young and Ralphie won't help her out. She ask him if she should get an abortion.

Meadow and Noah have their first sexual encounter. She is either terrified or really doesn't have a clue about sex. He seems uncomfortable also, but he was prepared with a condom! Meadow snuck an exacto knife out of her room prior to going up to Noah's. It's unclear why she took it and it never reappeared. (draw your own conclusions here- there have been theories posted on the boards on this one---very shocking!)

Noah tells Meadow he won't be around on the weekend because a friend from home will be coming to visit and they will be going up North. He insists he told her, she says not (seems a bit fishy) Katlyn is driving Meadow crazy so she goes home and has a mini heart to heart with Carmela. She expresses her concern about Noah's 2 very different personalities.

While Meadow is home Katlyn spends an afternoon alone with Noah presumably to study and not be "alone". When Meadow returns Katlyn is a totally different person, happy and plans for a trip up north (really fishy).

Noah's Father is in town on business and the 2 meet him in a classy restaurant (of course Noah didn't inform Meadow on how to dress) His dad tries to impress her with some name dropping and then asks her about her fathers business. She replies "waste management", "environmental clean up" She gets a funny look from Noah.

Noah received a C- on a paper he was writing while Katlyn was in his room. Daddy was not impressed and requested a restraining order against her (how bizarre is that?)

The next day in the Library, Noah drops a bomb on Meadow. He feels she is too negative and they should stop seeing each other. (there are multiple theories flying around about this!) Check the boards!

Tracy has been missing at work for 3 days. Silvio goes to find her.She's been with Ralphie and says she's been sick.She owes him for her new braces and she has to work to pay him back.

Later back at the bing-She shows up to work words are exchanged and Ralph follows her outside beats her to death, runs back in the bing for icy and tells how she fell down outside. She is found dead. Ralphie takes heat but isn't dead yet!

In the office with Dr. Melfi, Tony and Carmela are not speaking much because Tony was so upset over the death of Tracy. He does not provide details (just someone from work died in a work related injury)

Another Toothpick (episode 5)

Carmela's Uncle Febbie Dies of Cancer. Bacala's father visits to pay respect (He's got lung cancer and not doing well. I'll call him the "hacker". He's got a god son "mustang Sally. This dude likes to play golf off people's heads. Put a guy in the hospital in a coma over a trashy babe. Tony needs to find a way to"take care" of this problem. He approaches Old man bacala and tells him he's got to do the job. Bobbie's having a fit because his dad is not capable of much these days. He asks Jr why it has to be his dad. He drives up to the house, baits mustang sally, gets caught mid trigger pull by a room mate. The room mate takes a hit, old man bacala does some heavy duty fighting and blows the brains of out of Mustang Sally, lights up a cigarette, gets in his car, drops his asthma controller and nose dives into a billboard sign. DOA!

Meadow is still in deep with Noah.

Junior is panicing about all these people with cancer (seems strange) Janice (always politically correct!) calls them all "toothpicks" Uncle Jun it very upset.

Artie and Charmaine are arguing about Artie going into business with Tony. Appears it's her or a divorce.

Adriana resigns as hostess at Vesuvio. Artie appears to be in love with her and takes her to a fancy restaurant, but she doesn't bite. He seems angry and had harsh words with Christopher. (more will probably come of this situation in the future)

Uncle Jr. drops the bomb- He's got cancer- "The big Casino" In his stomach and needs surgery. Tony is sworn to secrecy. He immediately tells Janice.

Employee of the Month (Episode 4)

Tony is spending more time with Dr. Melfi these days working on the root causes of his panic attacks. He seems to be taking the therapy very seriously.

Jackie Aprile Jr. is getting more involved with mob activity. Tony is trying to keep him out of the family as a promise he made to Jackie's father. Jackie thinks he's not smart enough to make it through school and it will take too many years to start seeing real money.

Janice is attacked by Svetlana's russian friends. The leg is recovered. Janice requires treatment in the ER. Tony is called to pick her up and she realizes that she is "reborn" Something is just not quite right about this scene. I'm sure we will see more about the leg, the russians, and Janice's new theories of life.

Dr. Melfi is brutally raped in a parking structure. He ex-husband is on the scene in the hospital. He son makes a brief appearance. The rapist is caught shortly after the incident, but we find out later that he had to be released due to legal mumbo jumbo. The recovery phase brings on another dream sequence that has become common place in The Sopranos. This scene is much more psychological than others in the past, and extremely well done. Her dream interpretation leaves many doors open for continuation of this story line. She sees her rapist again later, on a photo at a cheezy fast food place as "employee of the month".

Meadow pops in at home briefly, but long enough to get Tony agitated.

The feds get a chance to listen in on a conversation between Christopher and Tony. They were talking about the concert heist and Jackie Jr. role.

The previews for next week show something will happen to that lamp, someone will be shot (maybe Jr.)

Send us your predictions for next week or the season.

The Fortunate Son (episode3)

Christopher becomes a "made guy" in a ritualistic "family" ceremony. He takes over Paulie's betting cover. He now has a 6 grand/week minimum debt to paulie (10 points) He now realizes how much more work he has to do. Paulie teaches him a valuable lesson on not producing the 6 g minimum.

Janice moves into mom's house. She steals Svetlana leg and holds it for ransom to get back the record collection Livia supposedly gave to her. Svetlana and Tony's ex Goomar call him to the house to settle the leg problem. Svetlana wants $50,000 to replace the leg and a calf skin boot. While at the house eating cold cut Tony has a flashback to age 11 when he saw his father chop a finger off the butcher for non payment of a debt. Age 11 appears to be the age when Tony first started having panic attacks. He is working with Dr. Melfi to find the sources of the ongoing problem.She implies it is somehow linked to meat.
Svetlana threatens Janice about returning her leg.... Is Janice going to get whacked next week?

Tony tries to keep Jackie Aprile Jr. out of the business. He tries to convince Jackie he didn't clip Richie. Tony has his hands full trying to keep Jackie in school and out of trouble.

AJ is on the Freshman football team. He makes the game saving play in the last minutes of the game. His play earns him the title of "defensive captain" and he collapses in what appears to be his first panic attack just like Tony.

Meadow tries to stage a family feud with her new boyfriend Noah. Tony likes to call him "sambo" or "buckwheat". Carmela urges Tony not to visit. Meadow is disappointed that her plan didn't work. She tells her mother she is going on a weekend trip with Noah to Connecticut.

Christopher robs the box office at a benefit concert at Rutgers University to make the extra money he own Paulie. Jackie Aprile Jr. is the driver.

It appears that with Liva gone we will start seeing more of Tony's dead father. There were no mysterious "ghosts" in this episode.

Premiere aired 3/4/2001

Despite all the complaints I found some very interesting points in the season debut.

David Chase, in an interview, said he viewed this show as a "comedy". Perhaps Gallows humor has been more appropriate in the past, but I felt he was trying to bring true humor to the first episode.
The Feds renamed all the Soprano family including their home. The "Bings" and the sausage factory. I found the entire sequence of the bugging hysterical.

Tony has been too smart to get caught with that little bugging device they planted so carefully. AJ is more likely to get busted. AJ's personality has changed dramatically from the previous season. Meadow is too close to home while she is at school. Expect lots of problems there too.

Carmela is lost without her muscular tennis coach. Her new coach appears to have eyes for Adrianna... More will come of that threesome.
Carm was also knocking back the shots at the funeral... is she developing a drinking problem?

There was little to no mention of the deaths of Pussy and Richie from last season. We did see a flash of Pussy in the mirror... pure speculation at this point. Is it a ghost or is he really not dead? Time will tell!

Janice is back and digging for gold in her mother's basement. How long do you think she'll stay this time? She mentioned a "fiance". He looked more like a young kid in a garage uniform, or was that her "homeless, streetwise, illegitimate," son?

Tony thinks he doesn't need Dr. Melfi now that Mom is dead... I don't think so!! He originally started seeing her for panic attacks and he is still having them...He now has to worry about some old adversaries and some of the guys from New York. Lots of problems are brewing with the waste management/sanitation business. Plus Meadow's new "friend" half Jewish, half African American.

Christopher seems to be using more drugs... I wonder where that will go now he's a "made man"

Paulie and Silvio had very little to say.

Hesh found a polite way to insult Livia at her funeral party. Only close family and friends attended the wake and funeral... Livia never wanted either but Janice would do without it despite her wishes.

Look for things to heat up quickly now the old business is partially cleared up and some new footings have been laid.