The fourth episode of The Sopranos opens with a bizarre dream sequence from Tony, in which his subconscious focuses on Dr Melfi's lovely legs (Oo-lalla is this going somewhere?), his crew suspect him of seeing a shrink, he fears he may end up like Jackie, he faces the possibility that he may be using Jennifer for some much-craved motherly attention, and confronts the fact that he is neglecting his son. After he wakes up, Tony plays some Mario Kart with Anthony Jr and, like in his life, covers his son's eyes and cheats to win. Meadowlands makes a departure from the casual violence that we have seen in the first three episode. Here we can see how a mob typically reacts to a death in their ranks when they find out. From Chris' side, he's become paranoid after seeing his friend lying in a blood bath and misguidedly suspects this was Tony's doing for giving his daughter drugs, spouting all sorts of frenzied drivel. He then spends a couple of days avoiding Tony and confronts Meadow, who is sure to tell him that she had nothing to do with it. And from Uncle Junior's point of view, well, nothing of course. A hit is a hit, and the next time we see Uncle Junior and his crew he is contently eating away, probably awaiting a far more important death in the coming days. Chris joins the crew in visiting Jackie in the hospital. It was slightly – hmm, is touching the correct word? - seeing Tony's reaction to Chris walking in with a cervical collar. He wisely suggests that this was Junior's doing. Chris, rather unwisely, loads his gun and, unless I misinterpreted the scene, prepared to whack a made man. Talk about doing a Tommy DeVito. Luckily he's brought to his senses by his boss. After failing to fight off the cancer, Jackie finally snuffs it. In doing so, he leaves New Jersey without a boss, which could threaten to start a war unless Tony plays his cards right. Before the announcement of the death, Tony, in the most macho way possible, confronts Junior about the death of Brendan and the beating of Chris. He does so in an extremely professional fashion. Despite this, Junior makes senseless demands and warns Tony to come "heavy" the next time he comes down Junior's place. I've found Junior's behaviour pretty disgusting and quite simply I think he's a cranky old man. And, according to Tony's crew, the big guys down in New York think so too. Despite this, Tony plays it cool and gets an idea after having talked to Dr Melfi about giving senior citizens the illusion of control. Speaking of Dr Melfi, Tony hires a corrupt detective to follow her without hurting the woman or any one she is with. So of course the guy goes bat **** crazy and proceeds to beat up Jennifer's date on a night out. Still, at least he got enough Intel to let Tony know that his psychiatrist has issues of her own. This low key but very important episode's title is probably derived from Tony's daughter, who plays a central figure to the plot. She of course is blames by Chris for his beating at first, and interestingly tells a naïve Anthony Jr the truth about their father. This is after the boy raises a question about why another kid at school refused to fight him. These little scene show just how much David Chase and co. take care of the supporting cast, who are all fully realised characters with their own problems and issues. This is amplified in the episode's closing at Jackie's funeral, where Anthony Jr looks on at his father confused and taken aback at having learned the truth, who in turn gives him a sharp wink. The most pivotal scene in the episode comes after Tony's heartfelt "Buon' anima" with the crew in honour of Jackie. He goes down heavy to Junior's (who awaits him without a sign of sorry at the loss of Jackie) and crowns Junior and the de jure boss of north Jersey. What may seem like a submissive move carried out in order to avoid a fight is in fact extremely clever: everyone knows Tony is the man who really runs things, but he won't be the one serving as a magnet for surveillance and hits. In addition Tony gains two new territories. Junior is now the face and the face alone. For me I feel Junior knows that Tony is the true boss. I think he's jealous and spiteful of him for it. Had he had enough balls he could have called himself the boss and taken the claim to the captains, but instead waits for the main who really calls the shots to make a decision. This could be seen as a wise move on Junior's part though, and any hasty decisions could lead to tension and, ultimately, war. Tension s all around, but the big game players are being wise. Christopher, take note. My Rating: 7.5
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