I know that I typed a blog about Long Term Parking a month ago, but this post is full on about my emotions about Long Term Parking! Why do I consider Long Term Parking the most heartbreaking fictional event of all time ever? Because as Drea De Matteo says, Adriana La Cerva is the only character on The Sopranos that represents innocence! I never really saw Adriana La Cerva as this dumb young girl ever. Ever since Season 2, I always felt that Adriana La Cerva is a young pretty naive girl that needs guidance. I always felt that if Adriana La Cerva had some more guidance, she would have made much better decisions. It is easy for people who are older who haven't been in the situation that Adriana La Cerva was in to judge her and call her stupid. Yes, I wouldn't call Adriana La Cerva smart. The deceased Carmela Soprano was certainly much brighter, but it is also important to remember that the deceased Carmela was much older. It also gets forgotten that the late Carmela had both of her deceased parents up until the series finale. Meanwhile, Adriana La Cerva only had her deceased mother who was very loving. But to be fair, the only thing that the deceased Liz La Cerva was spot on about was the deceased Christopher Moltisanti. Because to be real, the deceased Liz La Cerva should have taken Adriana La Cerva away from both the deceased Christopher Moltisanti and the deceased Richie Aprile.
Because although the deceased Richie Aprile did love Adriana La Cerva, he was just as vile as the deceased Christopher Moltisanti was. Just because he didn't get what he wanted, the deceased Richie Aprile brutally beat up the deceased Beansie so badly with his car that the deceased Beansie needed a wheelchair for the rest of his life. If Adriana La Cerva was taken away from these deceased Sopranos characters, she would have been safe all along. But sadly, Adriana La Cerva was only around the deceased Sopranos characters who were all toxic for her.
Adriana La Cerva made a big reveal to the deceased Tony Soprano in Season 5 Episode 5 Irregular Around The Margins that often gets overlooked. It is so subtle, but towards the end of their first night together, Adriana La Cerva reveals that her deceased father abandons her. This may be Adriana La Cerva's biggest reveal about herself in the series. It tells us how she felt about the deceased Tony Soprano as well as partially why she stayed with the deceased Christopher Moltisanti for too long. Especially when the person is young, if they do not receive the proper paternal love, they will crave anything that feels like fatherly love to them. Even if it is toxic, because they feel like they need it. Very sadly, people who even only lack 1 paternal figure are easier victims for manipulation because they are more vulnerable. This is what happened to Adriana La Cerva: She is the one and only person that loves the deceased Christopher Moltisanti. All Adriana La Cerva ever wanted was for the deceased Christopher Moltisanti to genuinely love her back. That is all Adriana La Cerva wanted: She did everything she could to protect him.
When the deceased Christopher Moltisanti's drug addiction peaked in Season 4 to the point that Cozette died thanks to the deceased Christopher Motisanti sitting on her, to top Adriana La Cerva's grief for Cozette's death, the deceased Christopher Moltisanti brutally beat Adriana La Cerva up so badly to the point that she had to go to the deceased Carmela Soprano and the deceased Tony Soprano for safety. Knowing that the deceased Christopher Moltisanti is at risk of being murdered because of his drug addiction partially because earlier in the episode he got beaten up by the deceased drug dealers when he attempted to get heroin and partially because of how the deceased DiMeo crew feels about the deceased Christopher's drug addiction, with tears in her eyes, she looked at the deceased Tony Soprano and begged him to not hurt the deceased Christopher Moltisanti. This is one of Adriana La Cerva's most telling moments of her innocence: Each and every single time I watch the moment, my heart just sinks for her.
If anything, Adriana La Cerva's key flaw is that she wants to do more than what is possible. Adriana La Cerva always wanted the deceased Christopher Moltisanti to be safe, which she couldn't do because he was in the deceased DiMeo crew. Not through any fault of her own whatsoever. Even when it was clear in Irregular Around The Margins that Adriana La Cerva should have abandoned her club and left New Jersey to keep herself safe, she attempts to protect the deceased Tony Soprano by unsuccessfully attempting to prevent the deceased Sopranos FBI from putting cameras in her club. This puts more emphasis on how Adriana La Cerva's key flaw is wanting to do more than what is possible: Adriana La Cerva is doing the best she can. What happened to the deceased Tony Soprano has zero blame on her: She is just an innocent beauty. I always saw Adriana La Cerva as a young beautiful girl who was bulldogged. At home, Adriana La Cerva was bulldogged by the deceased Christopher Moltisanti. Outside of home, Adriana La Cerva was bulldogged by the deceased Sopranos FBI. From my perspective, I just saw a beautiful girl who was bulldogged and stuck in the middle. If anything, Adriana La Cerva amazes me because she was bulldogged by the deceased Sopranos FBI in 2002. Yet despite being targeted by the deceased Sopranos FBI, Adriana La Cerva stays under the radar and isn't even suspected for two years. Think about this: The deceased Salvatore Bonpensiero lasted for only 1 year and was dead by the Season 2 finale. Meanwhile, Adriana La Cerva stays under the radar until 2004. Adriana La Cerva isn't even suspected in Season 5 Episode 5
Yet it feels like Adriana La Cerva gets punished just because. Just because she offers the deceased Christopher Moltisanti the ticket for his safety, not only did the deceased Christopher Moltisanti refuse but he brutally beat Adriana La Cerva up just for attempting to protect him. Not only does Adriana La Cerva get brutally beaten up for this to the point of suffering a throat wound as if that isn't already punishment, but then the deceased Christopher Moltisanti goes on to betray her to the deceased Tony Soprano. For being bulldogged by the deceased Sopranos FBI, the deceased Tony Soprano decided to punish Adriana La Cerva by having the deceased Silvio Dante take her for a car ride. For being bulldogged by the deceased Sopranos FBI, the deceased Silvio Dante punished Adriana La Cerva by parking in the woods, violently grabbing her by calling her a dirty c word which is the last thing that she is and then dropped her violently to the ground. As if that isn't enough punishment, the deceased Silvio Dante even fires two gunshots at Adriana La Cerva. But as we last see Adriana La Cerva alive crawling in the woods and yes this is before the gunshots are heard, however the gunshots are heard offscreen. Regardless of what was intended when the deceased Silvio Dante shot Adriana La Cerva, the fact that it happens offscreen combined with the fact that Adriana La Cerva is alive during the last time we see her makes this scene the *cliffhanger* of The Sopranos
As Adriana La Cerva Is The Sole Surviving Sopranos Character After the end of The Sopranos when the screen goes to black
How to even start my blog post about Season 5 Episode 12 Long Term Parking, the only event in fictional TV history to take my heart, break it in half and make me cry like crazy? When it comes to this episode, I will specifically be focusing only on the most major parts of the episode. So let's get started!
During the first key part of Long Term Parking, the deceased Tony Soprano and the deceased Christopher Moltisanti meet in a restroom. Because of the deceased Christopher Moltisanti screwing up a cigarette smuggling operation, the deceased Tony Soprano is deciding to punish him by having the late Paulie Walnuts Gualtieri lead those operations from now on. Back home, while Adriana La Cerva is crying having been diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, the deceased Christopher Moltisanti completely ignored her and spent all of his time violently screaming about the way he perceives he is treated by the deceased Tony Soprano and what he perceives as favoritism towards the deceased Tony Blundetto.
When the deceased Sopranos FBI sees surveillance at Crazy Horse in Long Term Parking catches Adriana La Cerva disposing of the murder of the deceased Gilbert Nieves by the deceased Matush, she is forced to come in. Adriana La Cera admits to what she did and we see the deceased Sopranos Chief Cubitoso do nothing but harass her and bully her, angrily abusing his position. When he could have easily protected Adriana La Cerva's safety by having The Long Branch Police Department investigate the deceased Matush, he decided to harass and bully Adriana La Cerva by telling her to either wear a wire or convince the deceased Christopher Moltisanti to join her in The Witness Protection Program. Adriana La Cerva spends 8 hours in the bathroom crying before the deceased Sopranos Agent Robyn Sanseverino knocks on the door.
As if things weren't already ugly, things were only bound to get worse. When Adriana La Cerva arrives at home, she is forced to tell the deceased Christopher Moltisanti that for two years, she has been forced into becoming an FBI informant and attempt to persuade the deceased Christopher Moltisanti to join her in The Witness Protection Program. Only thinking about himself, the deceased Christopher Moltisanti responded by brutally beating her up by violently grabbing her throat with his two hands. As you can see, Adriana La Cerva is surviving yet struggling to breathe. The deceased Christopher Moltisanti beat her up so badly to the point that Adriana La Cerva is suffering a throat wound. Yet amazingly, somehow Adriana La Cerva survives hence why I very strongly believe that she survives Long Term Parking. Because during this scene, Adriana La Cerva survives something that would have killed off almost any other Sopranos character! Then, shortly after letting go, Adriana La Cerva gets up coughing for breath as the deceased Christopher Moltisanti broke down crying. The deceased Christopher Moltisanti agrees to start a new life with Adriana La Cerva, the agreement that he broke.
Then, the deceased Christopher Moltisanti goes to fill up his Hammer H2 with gas. While filling up his Hammer H2 with gas, he watches a poor family in front of the gas station, their meager possessions strapped to the roof of a run-down car.
Showing the selfish human being that he was, the deceased Christopher Moltisanti betrays the one and only person that actually loves him by ratting her out to the deceased Tony Soprano. Thanks to this, from a payphone the deceased Tony Soprano calls Adriana La Cerva. Still suffering from a throat wound and in poor physical shape, Adriana La Cerva answers the phone. The deceased Tony Soprano plays a despicable game of manipulation by telling her that the deceased Christopher Moltisanti attempted suicide and is in the hospital and that even his deceased mother Joanne Moltisanti is worried about him. Adriana La Cerva accepts what she is told that the deceased Silvio Dante will pick her up. This transitions to what happens next when the deceased Silvio Dante is driving Adriana La Cerva. By the time the deceased Silvio Dante is crying, she knows that she will be taken to a deserted location for a murder attempt. But it isn't what the deceased Silvio Dante is planning on doing that hurts Adriana La Cerva the most: No the reason she is crying is because the deceased Christopher Moltisanti, who she loves the most and cares about more than anything in the world chose loyalty to his deceased mob crew over Adriana La Cerva who I proclaim as the greatest. As the deceased Silvio Dante is driving on Interstate 80, he drives her to an area of deserted woodland, turns off the road onto a track, and then stops. Adriana La Cerva unsuccessfully makes a last ditch escape attempt, but the deceased Silvio Dante grabs her violently, calls her the dirty c word and then dropped her onto the ground. Broken with zero adrenaline and having zero self worth, Adriana La Cerva is alive crawling away in the woods
After we see Adriana La Cerva crawling away in the woods alive, we see the deceased Christopher Moltisanti acting like a crybaby just because thanks to his decision, he doesn't have his possession anymore. Then, the deceased Tony Soprano enters the scene. Seeing Adriana La Cerva as one of the sexiest women alive in the world and the fun he had with Adriana La Cerva in Irregular Around The Margins, he feels similarly. Combined with seeing the deceased Christopher Moltisanti high on heroin, he takes the deceased Christopher Moltisanti and beats him up. Both of them have zero sympathy from me.
We last see the deceased Tony Soprano in this episode in a different woodland area where he is with the deceased Carmela Soprano purchasing an area to build a spec house for her. This is the coldest ending of any fictional episode that I have ever seen: While Adriana La Cerva is crawling away in the woods alive, the deceased Tony Soprano, the deceased Silvio Dante and the deceased Christopher Moltisanti are scot free not receiving the consequences that they should have received. Even the deceased Carmela Soprano was luckier than Adriana La Cerva. This cold ending ends with the heartaching song Wrapped In My Memory by the late Shawn Smith, who sadly passed away in 2020 aged 53 years old from COVID-19. This song is placed in the only Sopranos episode it deserves to be placed in: Dedicated to the greatest character in the world and the sole Sopranos survivor after the end of The Sopranos when the screen goes to black, Adriana La Cerva!!!!!!!!!
Where to begin about Paulie Walnuts? While several members of the DiMeo crime family had funny scenes, none of them had as many funny scenes as Paulie Walnuts. Not only that, but if you ask me his scenes were the funniest. Starting from Season 1, Paulie's comical scenes are gems. From when he relentlessly went after the deceased Salvatore Bonpensiero to find out if he was wearing a wire to The Sopranos series finale, Paulie had some of the funniest lines. What is my favorite Paulie Walnuts Sopranos episode? Too many favorite Paulie Walnuts Sopranos episodes!
My favorite Paulie Walnuts episode of Season 2 is the episode From Where To Eternity where he is compulsively worried about his death. The reason he is compulsively worried about his death is because he knows that he will go to hell when he dies, but the way he reacts is the stuff of legends. Because of how paranoid he is to the point of screaming hysterically at 3:00 AM, his girlfriend recommends him to go to a psychic in Nyack, New York. But this only backfires as the psychic communicates with Paulie's murder victims. Suffering an increasingly massive anxiety attack because of going to hell when he dies, Paulie angrily grabs a chair and throws it! For me, I had the blast of my life the first time I watched this scene!
Why don't we get started on Paulie Walnuts VS Christopher Moltisanti in Season 3, shall we? Because those scenes are the stuff of legends! When the late Tony Soprano makes Christopher Moltisanti a made man, Paulie makes sure to let Christopher know that he will not be getting any special treatment from him whatsoever just because he was the nephew of the boss Tony Soprano. In fact, Paulie makes this so well known that he makes Christopher hate being a made man. When Paulie gives Christopher orders, he lets Christopher know that the orders have to be followed exactly the way Paulie ordered them or there will be consequences. Which is exactly what happens when it comes to Paulie ordering a specific exact amount of money from Christopher to pay him as captain. Which ultimately ends with Christopher finally getting it right!
The ongoing craziness between Paulie Walnuts And Christopher Moltisanti comes at its peak in the episode Pine Barrens! In the episode, Christopher and Paulie go visit the Russian man who was Valery who murdered 16 Czechoslovakians. After tying Valery up, they put him in the trunk of the car and go to Pine Barrens to dispose him. But to the shock of Christopher and Paulie, Valery was still alive so far. Valery walked in Pine Barrens followed by Christopher and Paulie with their guns pointed directly at him. To preserve his life, Valery walks slowly to delay when Christopher and Paulie fire their guns. Once both Paulie and Christopher fire their guns, Valery runs and takes off. Even when Valery receives a successful gunshot to the head by Paulie, he falls and then quickly gets back up and runs off. Though the reason that the headshot didn't blow off Valery's head is merely only because of the part of Valery's head that received the gunshot, the fact that Valery was able to get up and run off quickly was astonishing. During this scene, Christopher and Paulie are both in shock. Does Valery die in the woods at some point or if he survives, how does he spend the rest of his life before he dies?
Despite the fact that the peak of the craziness between Christopher and Paulie is over when Pine Barrens ends, they still have some funny scenes in the show! Especially in Season 4 Episode 10 during Christopher's intervention! Being extremely angry about the fact that the young made man in the crime family is sick with drug addiction, Paulie fearlessly walks to Christopher and tells him exactly how he feels about how Christopher has become! Being one of the top 3 toughest mobsters in the DiMeo crime family, Paulie could care less about Christopher's feelings and makes sure to have him in his place and successfully defend himself physically against Christopher and win while Christopher loses when Christopher physically lashes out!
Wrapping up with two more paragraphs, let's fast forward to Season 6A Episode 3 Mayhem. At the end of the first episode of Season 6A, the late Tony Soprano was shot by his late uncle Junior Soprano who was gravely sick with dementia. Being mortally wounded, the hospital had to put the late Tony Soprano in a coma in order to keep him alive. Because of the late Tony being in a coma, many members of the DiMeo crime family think that the late Tony is dying. Because of all of this, the late Silvio Dante became the temporary boss of the DiMeo crime family. But the late Silvio would come to discover that being boss of the DiMeo crime family is the worst job a mobster can have in the mafia family. As temporary boss, the late Silvio was responsible for everything that went on with the DiMeo crime family. Literally everything! The late Silvio is under immense 24 hour stress to the point that his ashtma attacks are triggered. Too many scenes of the late Silvio having his moments as miserable temporary boss of the DiMeo crime family were hilarious, this moment was the prime moment!
The late Vito Spatafore, having lost hundreds of pounds and feeling healthier than ever, would like his share of money thinking that the late Tony is going to croak! However, doing the hard work in order to get their cut of money, Paulie has zero tolerance for Vito's attitude. In order to get their cut, Paulie put himself in mortal danger even receiving a kick to the groin in order to get their cut! As the late Silvio goes to the bathroom falsely assuming that he has finally escaped his misery, misery even comes to the bathroom as the late Vito and Paulie come to the bathroom arguing over who should receive the most money! As the Silvio is literally sitting in the bathroom stall, the late Vito and Paulie consult the late Silvio over this matter! Prioritizing Carmela Soprano since she may become a widow, the late Silvio only serves to make both the late Vito and Paulie miserable by telling them that they must give the money to Carmela
Where to begin about Adriana La Cerva, the greatest character in the world of all time ever? From Adriana's first major appearance on Season 1 Episode 3 Denial, Anger, Acceptance, I fell in love with her as soon as she got out of the shower to answer the door for Meadow and her friend Hunter. When she came out of the shower, I knew immediately that she is the most gorgeous girl on The Sopranos. As she answers the door for Meadow and Hunter, she invites them to sit and serves them both water. Then, Meadow and Hunter reveal the real reason they have paid a visit: They paid a visit specifically for Christopher because of wanting him to give them speed to study for their SATs. With their SATs and choir recital on the same day, they do not have enough time to study especially because they are exhausted. Initially, Christopher refuses to give them speed even when the girls tell him that they will just go to the street dealers on Jefferson Avenue to get them speed if Christopher doesn't give it to them. But then, Adriana La Cerva reminds Christopher about how dangerous the street dealers on Jefferson Ave are. Adriana is worried about what will happen to the girls if they go to the street dealers on Jefferson Ave. Reluctantly, Christopher decides to give Hunter and Meadow the speed himself to protect them ensuring that the girls aren't in danger. As soon as Adriana La Cerva got herself involved to protect Meadow and Hunter, I immediately felt Adriana La Cerva's extraordinary caring nature. Throughout this part of the Adriana La Cerva blog and Part 2 of the Adriana La Cerva blog, I will be talking about Adriana La Cerva's extraordinary caring nature and why I feel she is the most caring character on The Sopranos.
Towards the end of this episode, something happens that serves as a foreshadowing moment on the show. Feeling extremely angry at both Christopher and his friend Brendan Filone for disrespecting him, Uncle Junior decides to teach them a lesson. Because of how much Livia loves Christopher, he has Russian goons do a mock execution on Christopher. The mock execution leaves Christopher with a neck brace. However, because Livia doesn't care about Brendan, he is not spared. At the end of the episode, Junior's executioner Mikey Palmice and Uncle Junior pay a visit to Brendan's house. Brendan is in his bathtub with his door open smoking a cigarette. With Uncle Junior behind the scenes standing nearby, Mikey goes into the bathtub and shoots Brendan dead. Though Christopher was spared this time because of Livia's love for him, the mock execution and the end of this episode foreshadows his death at the hands of Tony Soprano in Season 6 Episode 18 Kennedy And Heidi. When Tony fatally asphyxiates Christopher by smothering his nose, Christopher died.
This once again foreshadows Christopher's death in Season 1 Episode 4 Meadowlands. On the episode Meadowlands, Christopher is still injured with a neck brace from his mock execution. Worried about his friend Brendan wanting to make sure he is OK, Adriana La Cerva goes along with him to visit Brendan's house. But it is too late: Christopher and Adriana La Cerva find Brendan dead in the bathtub, causing Adriana La Cerva to scream suffering a massive anxiety attack and Christopher to suffer immense anger over the death of his buddy Brendan, wanting to avenge him. Even the moment when Christopher and Adriana La Cerva find Brendan dead in the bathtub foreshadows Season 6 Episode 18 Kennedy and Heidi when Christopher is dead. Shortly afterwards, Christopher and Adriana La Cerva go to Meadow's high school to pick her up. Adriana walks up to Meadow, telling her that they are here to pick her up because Christopher wants to have a talk with her. As soon as Meadow gets in the car, Christopher feels nothing but extreme anger at Meadow thinking that she told Tony about the speed that she received from him. At this point, Christopher doesn't know that it was Uncle Junior who ordered his mock execution for his own reasons. He thinks that Tony ordered his mock execution and murdered his friend Brendan for revenge. Feeling the extreme anger, Christopher shakes Meadow physically and screams at her. Needing to mediate the situation, Adriana La Cerva tells Christopher to calm down. Feeling bad realizing that Meadow did not tell Tony about the speed and that Tony had nothing to do with the mock execution, Christopher and Adriana La Cerva decide to make up for Christopher's moment by taking her to McDonald's and getting her a Happy Meal.
Then, in Season 2 Adriana La Cerva becomes one of the main characters on The Sopranos. Starting in Season 2, we see how much Adriana La Cerva cares about Christopher. In Episode 5, knowing about Christopher's dreams of being an actor/screenwriter, she enrolls him in an "Acting for Playwrights" course. During the acting class, Christopher is applauded for his acting in an emotional scene in which he plays a son with his father. When a student asks Christopher how he managed to cry he walks out, feeling embarrassed. In the next class, Christopher plays another scene with the student who played his father. Feeling triggered by the murder of his father Dickie Moltisanti when Christopher was young, he punches the student and kicks him as he lies on the floor. Despite the fact that Christopher got himself kicked out of acting class even knowing how violent Christopher was in the acting class, Adriana La Cerva shows nothing but compassion for Christopher and suggests that the reason he did this was because of his anger at his father for dying when he was young.
The relationship between Christopher and Adriana comes to a halt in Season 2 Episode 7 D-Girl. In this episode, Adriana La Cerva feels ignored by her boyfriend Christopher because of Christopher refusing to bring his girlfriend Adriana La Cerva to the filming set and then Christopher not calling her when he gives Jon Favreau a tour of the state. The fact that Christopher didn't bring Adriana La Cerva to the filming set shows he didn't care about Adriana La Cerva whatsoever as a person and viewed her as his possession. Later on at A.J. Soprano's confirmation party, Adriana anxiously wonders where Christopher is. When Christopher shows up late, she walks away feeling rejected by him once again.
Feeling embarrassed by the way Christopher treated her at a restaurant in front of Carmela and Tony, Adriana cries and storms off accidentally telling Tony while in a meltdown about Christopher's screenplay. Shortly afterwards, Christopher decides to pay a visit to Adriana's mother's house where Adriana La Cerva is staying in as her safe place. During this very vital scene, Christopher shows his abusive side which will later get revealed more strongly in later seasons. Disrespecting Adriana's mother's house, as Adriana's mother tells Christopher that he is not welcome he physically shoves her aside as she has her phone ready to call the police. As Adriana's mother is giving Adriana La Cerva wise advice, Christopher shows her the ring that he purchased for her. Immediately because of how much she loves the ring, Adriana La Cerva says yes against her mother's wishes. Despite the fact that her mother was right, unfortunately Adriana La Cerva decides to accept his proposal. Because what Christopher was doing was exactly what domestic abusers do: They domestically abuse their partner, then apologize when they don't have access to their partner and then the behavior repeats and worsens as we see in the later seasons of The Sopranos with Adriana La Cerva being the receiving victim of domestic abuse.
Towards the end of this episode, Christopher gets shot 3 times and left unconscious. At the end of the episode, Christopher lies on a hospital bed in a coma with his loved ones by his side. Tony says "How could this happen?" Adriana La Cerva is one of the loved ones in the room, visibly crying as she is immensely worried about Christopher's mortality which will ultimately have a tragic end.
This transitions perfectly to the next episode From Where To Eternity with Christopher still lying on the hospital bed in a coma with now only Adriana La Cerva by his side. When Christopher gets taken into surgery, Adriana La Cerva has to go into the waiting room with everybody else. When it gets announced over the speakers that Christopher is dead for a minute, Adriana La Cerva goes to the room where the surgery is happening and knocks hard on the windows screaming that Christopher isn't supposed to be dead. Adriana La Cerva is forced to be physically restrained by Salvatore Bonpensiero and Paulie Walnuts. This scene is very vital because not only does it prove to me that Adriana La Cerva is the best girl on The Sopranos, but it shows who cares about Christopher the most. Adriana La Cerva is literally desperate for Christopher to survive and the fact of the matter that he was even clinically dead for a minute hurt her very deeply. Because while Adriana is materialistic in the beginning, starting in Season 2 she evolves. These two beginning scenes of the episode also shows how Adriana La Cerva cares about Christopher way more than any other girl cares about their man in The Sopranos in my opinion, showing me that Adriana La Cerva is the best girl on The Sopranos. I would even go as far as to say that Adriana La Cerva is the most caring character on The Sopranos, which shows when she protects Meadow and Hunter in Season 1, her nonjudgmental nature when Christopher gets kicked out of the acting class that she enrolled him in as a gift and during this episode with her facial expressions and the way she behaves when it comes to Christopher's mortality which will ultimately end tragically.
This episode begins with Tony Soprano greeting his daughter Meadow and her boyfriend from college Noah Tannenbaum at home. Briefly, Noah and Tony talk about Tony's favorite movie The Public Enemy. Then, Tony questions Noah about his ethnicity and if he had to fill out his ethnicity for college. Noah replies that college isn't allowed to ask about ethnicity and then confirms that he is half Jewish and half African-American. Being against interracial relationships, Tony tells Noah that he must stay away from his daughter Meadow. Noah replies to Tony's racism by swearing at him. Here is the video of the interaction in this episode between Tony and Noah.
Then, Meadow comes down the stairs to get ready to leave with Noah. When Meadow and Noah leave, Tony goes into the kitchen to unwrap some cold cuts. Seeing a box of Uncle Ben's Rice, Tony's anxiety about Meadow having a relationship with Noah gets triggered causing him to suffer a panic attack causing him to faint. Then, Carmela comes into the kitchen and gets worried seeing a fainted Tony on the floor after suffering a panic attack. Feeling worried about Tony, she kneels down to the floor and asks him if he is alright. Carmela helps Tony get up and then once Tony gets up, he starts angrily yelling about his bigotry against Noah and how his father would have reacted if one of his sisters brought home a boyfriend of mixed race. Carmela warns Tony to let her handle the relationship between Noah and Meadow and that if he does anything else, she will be pissed.
Then, Tony goes to visit his mother Livia Soprano in her home in an unsuccessful attempt to set things straight. When Tony visits, the first thing that Livia says is "Look who calls." Tony then replies by telling her that he is actually standing in front of her. When Tony asks her how things are going, she replies "What do you care? Out of sight? Out of mind?" Tony then replies by telling her that he brought her some books to read since she is struggling to concentrate. Livia responds with her catchphrase "I wish the Lord would take me now." Shortly afterwards, Livia's maid Svetlana comes and brings the journals that Carmela gave to Livia to write about her memories with her grandchildren A.J. Soprano and Meadow. Svetlana tells Tony that she is going to have Livia write down her memories with her grandchildren in her journal because it will be good for her. When Tony sees nothing written in the journals for 20 years, he angrily yells at her mother Livia about this. Livia replies to this by saying another one of her catchphrases: "Now look here, I don't like that kind of talk, now just stop it upsets me." Ignoring another one of her catchphrases, Tony no longer raises his voice but his tone is still angry and he still lets her know how angry he is that Livia will return those journals to Carmela with nothing filled out. To this, Livia says "It's none of anybody's business." Tony says "Too busy feeling sorry for yourself."
Then, the conversation switches to being about the stolen airline tickets that Tony gave Livia in Season 2 so that she could leave the country to finally stay out of Tony's life. Tony tells his mother Livia to tell the FBI that she never said that the airline tickets were stolen. Seizing the opportunity to make Tony's visit at her home all about herself, Livia says "I suppose I should have kept my mouth shut like I'm mute." Tony warns her saying that any kind of deal the FBI makes with her, she better keep her mouth shut. As Livia keeps on stonewalling him, Tony says "You know for a year, I didn't speak to you. Maybe I should have kept it that way." Once again, Livia dismissively waves her hankey at him. Exasperated, Tony tells her to do what she wants and then proceeds to leave.
The scene then transitions to Tony at home with Carmela coming to him to tell him some grim news. A.J. and Meadow come with Carmela. Then, Carmela reveals to Tony that his mother has just died. Carmela tells Tony that she received the news from a phone call with Svetlana. Svetlana told Carmela that after dinner, Livia went upstairs to get ready for bed. When Svetlana came upstairs to check on Livia, she saw Livia in her night gown under the covers. Mistakenly, Svetlana thought that Livia was sleeping. In shock, Tony sits down. Meadow and A.J. express their condolences to Tony about Livia's tragic death. Shortly after this, the scene transitions to Carmela and Tony visiting Livia's house to talk to Svetlana about the circumstances surrounding Livia's death. The first thing Svetlana does is attempt to comfort Tony by telling him that she was in no pain. When Carmela asks Svetlana about the cause of Livia's death, Svetlana confirms that Livia died of a massive stroke. Feeling like she broke her promise to Tony about Livia finishing her journals, Svetlana says to Tony that now because Livia has died, she will not be finishing her journals. Carmela asks "A journal?" Tony reveals to Carmela that Livia never touched the journals that Carmela brought for her to fill out. Then, they go into Livia's kitchen where Svetlana is smoking a cigarette with the 3 of them holding drinking glasses which Svetlana fills with an alcohol beverage. In Livia's memory, Svetlana says "Proshai, Livushka." When Tony asks what that means, Svetlana replies "Goodbye Little Livia."
As people begin to gather at the Sopranos residence, Tony's sister Barbara calls him on the phone hysterically crying. While hysterically crying, Barbara tells Tony that their sister Janice will not be coming to Livia's funeral. Furious, Tony calls Janice and demands Janice to be on the next plane to New Jersey. Initially, Janice makes excuses to stay in Seattle saying that Livia's funeral would be a stressful event for her and that nobody does well at funerals. Tony reminds her that nobody does well at funerals and dismisses her excuses. Then, Janice says that she will come to New Jersey only if Tony pays for her plane ride. Tony agrees to pay for the airplane ride so that Janice comes to New Jersey to attend her mother's funeral. Then, Ralph Cifaretto (A member of Richie's crew) arrives at Tony's house along with Patsy, Vito Spatafore, Gigi Cesterone and Albert Barese. Tony takes Ralph and Albert outside to confront them about the escalating sanitation dispute. Ralph says "his crew" is in line for a business contract and that he has been acting as their capo. Tony angrily warns Ralph, saying that he will be capo only when Tony says so and then orders Albert and Ralph to end their conflict. Instead of following Tony's orders, Ralph goes against Tony and has his men attack a man with baseball bats for interfering in his garbage business.
Because of the complicated grief that Tony is suffering, Tony discusses about Livia's death in a therapy session with Dr. Jennifer Melfi. Tony reveals to Dr. Jennifer Melfi that he is glad that his mother Livia is dead. But at the same time, Tony suffers immense guilty for feeling happiness about Livia's death. Tony feels like he was a bad son to his mother Livia because of the fact that he wished for her death while she was still alive and says that no son should wish for their mother's death. Then, he proceeds to ask Dr. Jennifer Melfi if her son Jason is a good son and that if he isn't a good son, then he deserves to be dead. Then, Tony says that he is happy that he wasn't a good son to his mother because she was nothing but a miserable old woman who even ruined her husband's life. Dr. Jennifer Melfi reminds Tony that his father wasn't her son and that he should be focusing more on how his mother hurt him. Annoyed, Tony claims that what Livia did to Tony is just a matter of public record. When Dr. Jennifer Melfi implies that he doesn't like to talk about it, Tony lets Livia off by claiming that she didn't even know what she was doing and that his Uncle Junior denies that Livia was involved with the attempt to assassinate him, even though it was Livia who manipulated Junior to attempt to assassinate her own son in the first place. Then, Dr. Jennifer Melfi says that his Uncle Junior loves him. Dr. Jennifer Melfi tells Tony that even though Tony's wish for his mother's death is taboo, it is normal that he feels this way and says that most people secretly wish for their parents to be dead when they lose all capacity for joy and are miserable like Livia was who treat their children the way Livia treated Tony.
Tony and his sisters Barbara and Janice gather at the funeral home. Going against Livia's wishes, Janice insists that her mother should be given a lavish funeral. Barbara gives a look to Tony implying that she agrees with Janice. Exasperated, Tony decides to go with his sister's wishes of their mother being given a lavish funeral to just get it over with. Later, Janice breaks into Livia's house in an attempt to get Livia's money that was left in the house. When Tony comes in, Janice scrambles. Janice shows Tony the mementos that Livia kept of her 3 children and tells Tony that she kept no memory of Janice, barely anything of Barbara and only kept her mementos of Tony. This implies that despite how much Livia and Tony mutually hated each other and that Livia even at one point wanted her own son dead, secretly she still loved him but could not allow herself to feel it. The immense guilt that Tony suffers feeling happy that Livia is dead also implies that Tony loved his mother deep down inside, but because of how much they mutually hated each other, his love for his mother was internal. Then, Tony tells Livia that Dr. Melfi told him that Livia just wasn't cut out to be a mother. When Janice asks him if his therapist is blaming Livia's 3 children, they affectionately bond with each other as brother and sister and Janice even gets affectionately teased by Tony with Tony joking that it was Janice's fault that Livia was the way she was.
Then, Livia's wake is attended by Christopher Moltisanti, Furio Giunta, Silvio Dante, and Adriana La Cerva. While everybody who has attended Livia's wake is gathered around Livia's grave, Janice asks Svetlana about Livia's record collection. Svetlana reveals to Janice that Livia left her records to her. Disrespecting her mother's wishes, Janice asks Svetlana for her records back. Svetlana refuses to give Janice the record collection, saying that she must respect Livia's wishes. While on the outside it appears that Janice is hurt because Livia refused to give her record collection to her own daughter, this is just one of the prime examples of how manipulative Janice is and how far she will go to get money. In reality, Janice wants her mother's record collection so that she could sell it and make money. Livia was a smart woman who knew that this would happen and because of this, she left the records to her maid instead of Janice knowing that her maid would protect the records from getting sold by Janice.
Back at the Soprano residence, Janice has everybody come into the living room to conduct a remembrance for Livia against Tony's wishes. Livia got eulogized by Hesh Rabkin, her friend Fanny and a drunk Christopher. With his arm around his girlfriend Adriana La Cerva, Christopher says the obvious: That there are no two people on Earth exactly the same, no two faces, no two sets of fingerprints. But then Christopher's speech while drunk starts to get unique: He says that it is impossible to confirm this to be true because even with computers, it is still impossible to get every single human being that has ever lived in the same room. Because Christopher says that in order to see if there were a human being similar to Livia Soprano, not only would we have to get people who are still alive but people from the future and the people that were alive before Livia Soprano. Because according to Christopher, perhaps there was a woman that came before Livia that was just like her. Maybe not with her fears or paranoia, but still just the same.
To take a break from the remembrance, Tony goes outside in his backyard. But Tony can't even catch a break in his own backyard. Having a flashback to when Livia told him about Tony burning down his restaurant, Artie storms outside to Tony's backyard and angrily confronts Tony. Drunk, Artie takes the garbage cans in Tony's backyard and makes a mess. Tony tells Artie to clean up his mess, but he doesn't listen. Then, Tony and Artie go back inside where Artie is ready to expose the truth that Tony burned down his restaurant. From my interpretation, as Artie is about to do this, we see Tony hovering in over Artie's shoulders, ready to whack him if he dares expose the fact that Tony burned down his restaurant.
However, Artie gets saved by the bell when a drunk Carmela interrupts Artie. Despite being drunk, finally for the first time since Livia's death, the truth about Livia gets exposed. Carmela talks about how Livia didn't want a funeral because she knew that she was so unlikable that she inaccurately thought nobody would want to come. Feeling that her own daughter is disrespecting the deceased Livia Soprano, Carmela gets angry and tells her to stop it. However, Carmela responds that this is her house and that she will do as she pleases. Offended, Carmela's mother gets up to leave. But just as she is about to leave, Carmela's father angrily sits her down and tells her to let Carmela speak, feeling angry at the deceased Livia for having them estranged from their own daughter Carmela. With the exception of Carmela's mother and Janice, everybody else in the room agrees with Carmela.
At the end of the episode when everybody who attended Livia's remembrance goes home, Tony sits in the living room by himself in front of the television with a glass of liquor and watches a scene from his favorite film The Public Enemy featuring the main character's mother joyfully preparing her new home for her son's arrival from the hospital. Feeling immense grief not only about Livia's death but about not being able to have the relationship with his mother that the main character in The Public Enemy had with his mother, Tony becomes teary and starts to cry and the episode ends.
To emphasize on what Carmela said about Livia and this whole post about Livia, I am going to talk about the first time we meet Livia Soprano. Arriving at his mother's house with a Sharp LCD TV as a gift for her, Tony knocks on the door repeatedly. Livia asks who is it and Tony replies that it is him. Stonewalling him, Livia asks him "Who are you?" Frustrated, Tony tells Livia to open the door. Livia replies "Anthony?" Tony says once again in frustration "Yeah it's me, ma. Open the door." Finally, Livia opens the door allowing Tony to come in. Livia asks him if he locked the door behind him. Tony goes to lock the door behind him. Livia tells him that somebody called on the phone last night, but she didn't answer because it was dark. Tony implies that it was him who called his mother, saying that she cannot understand that since the phone is an auditory device. Sarcastically, Livia says "Oh look at him, he knows everything." Then, Livia asks him if he wants lunch. Tony says that he will not eat since he is not hungry physically. Tony proceeds to tell Livia that he ran into Uncle Junior.
Being manipulative attempting to manipulate Uncle Junior and Tony against each other, Livia complains about how he doesn't ever take the time to see his sister in law. Then, Tony asks Livia if she remembers his best buddy Artie Bucco. Livia confirms that she does remember Artie and then tells Tony to his face that Artie is a better son to his mother than Tony is to her since he calls his mother everyday, according to Artie's mother. Tony responds to this by deciding to confide in his mother by saying that Uncle Junior is going to make a problem for Artie that could impact Artie's livelihood. Then, Tony tells Livia that he also got her a CD player as a gift. Livia replies by telling Tony that she does not want the CD Player. Getting extremely stressed, Tony reminds her that the CD Player has CDs of the music that Livia loves such as Connie Francis. In an unsuccessful attempt to cheer Livia up, Tony plays the song Who's Sorry Now by Connie Francis and then attempts to dance with his mother, but his mother tells him to stop it as she does not want to dance with him.
Tony reminds Livia that she needs to do things to occupy herself, but then Livia angrily tells him to stop telling her how to live her life and even tells her only son to shut up. Tony tells Livia that he is just worried about her, to which Livia replies by telling him to not start about the nursing home. Losing his patience, Tony angrily tells Livia that it is not a nursing home. When Tony drops the topic and just simply tells Livia to speak to Uncle Junior about Artie since Livia is special to Uncle Junior, Livia tells him that if his uncle does business then he knows what he is doing. Tony asks "And I don't?" Livia gets off topic and says "Well, all I know is that daughters take better care of their mothers than sons." Having had enough, Tony angrily says "Yeah and I brought a CD Player for a broken record" and then as he proceeds to leave, he reminds his mother that he expects to see her tonight at Anthony Junior's birthday party with her baked ziti. Livia says that she will come only if she is picked up and dropped off at home. Tony tells her that she should drive since she is a healthy girl and then says that he has to go back to work and kisses her hand. Livia has the last word by saying "Sure, run off" and then closes the door.
Last week, I watched The Sopranos Season 1 Episode 10 A Hit Is A Hit twice! This episode introduces the greatest character in the world of all time ever Adriana La Cerva's love for music! Seeing how much his girl loves music so much, Christopher supports Adriana's wish to be a music producer. When Christopher and Adriana go to the burger joint Le Cirque to order burgers to take home, they meet Massive Genius. During this scene, Christopher embarrasses his girlfriend Adriana by making a scene in the restaurant. As Christopher and Adriana walk out of Le Cirque, the friends of Massive Genius approach them and invite them to a party at the house of Massive Genius.
As we see in this episode, things are not going so well for Massive Genius. Massive Genius is feeling angry at Hesh Rabkin and makes his voice heard during a phone call between them arranged by Tony Soprano. Massive Genius threatens Hesh, saying that he is acting on the behalf of the mother of a deceased black singer whose royalties Hesh stole and is now claiming $400,000. Despite the threats of Massive Genius, Hesh does not back down. Hesh responds saying that there is an unauthorized sampling by Massive's record label of a song that Hesh's label still controls. Massive Genius threatens Hesh one last time by saying that he will sue him. Hesh threatens him right back by saying that he will counter-sue Massive Genius and then Massive Genius ends the phone call by saying "See you in court!" When the phone conversation is over, Tony Soprano and his crew jeer at Massive Genius.
Christopher decides to finance a demo for the band Visiting Day whose singer Richie Santini is Adriana's ex boyfriend. Visiting Day's demo is not going well whatsoever. They are burnt out and just want to go home. Not wanting the money he paid for the demo to go to waste, Christopher offers Richie drugs to keep up his energy so that the demo could continue. When Richie refuses to take the drug because of being sober now suffering from drug addiction/alcoholism, Christopher gets angry. Richie mocks Christopher to his face by saying that he will now be going to Alcoholics Anonymous and calls Christopher a jerkoff. Livid, Christopher takes the acoustic guitar and physically smashes Richie with the instrument, causing the acoustic guitar to break. Despite how badly the demo went that Christopher financed with his money, Christopher and Adriana decide to get together with Massive Genius to decide to add Adriana's vocals to Visiting Day's song. During the parts of the song where there was dead air, Adriana adds her vocals to the song by repeatedly singing "Meow." In this episode, Adriana's vocals are absolutely awful which is what makes this moment one of her best comical moments along with the moment at Le Cirque mocking Carmela Soprano!
When Christopher brings the recording to Hesh, Hesh lays out the truth to Christopher. With his music expertise, Hesh tells Christopher that Adriana has no musical talent and that he refuses to produce the song. Hesh reminds Christopher that because he is much older than Christopher, he has much more music expertise than he does. Hesh reminds Christopher that he saw Jimi Hendrix invent heavy metal which is real talent, unlike what Adriana has. Christopher continues to defend Adriana, just for Hesh to tell him to stop wasting his time and will not relent whatsoever. When Christopher comes home to Adriana, he tells her that the band Visiting Day may be no good which Adriana has to prepare for and that Massive Genius is only interested in Adriana because of her physical appearance which is factually the only reason that Massive Genius was helping Adriana out. Adriana responds angrily by calling Hesh old, claims that Christopher is jealous because she is branching out and making new friends unlike him which he can't stand and then gets ready to leave.
As Adriana proceeds to leave, Christopher walks up to her and says "I love you." Adriana responds angrily by saying "That is a lie!" and then storms out. While Adriana is completely wrong in this argument, now that I have completed the series The Sopranos I find this particular scene to be very vital. While Christopher wasn't domestically abusive to Adriana in Season 1, starting in Season 2 he would start beating Adriana up all the time causing Adriana to temporarily leave him to live with her mother just for Christopher to go to Adriana's mother's house and propose to Adriana with a diamond ring which she enthusiastically accepts. Unfortunately, Adriana is the victim and survivor of domestic abuse from Seasons 2-Season 5 with the domestic abuse starting to escalate in Season 4 and especially in Season 5.
Meanwhile, we see the first appearance of the doctor that recommended Dr. Jennifer Melfi to be Tony Soprano's psychiatrist named Dr. Brian Cusamono. Interested in Tony's life as a North Jersey mobster, he invites Tony to his country club for a game of golf with Brian's buddies. Unfortunately, Brian's buddies only want to hang around with Tony this one time because of their interest in Tony's life as a North Jersey mobster. Tony regrets accepting the invitation to go golfing with them and feels embarrassed because of the questions he is getting asked and depressed because they are only interested in Tony's life as a mobster and are not interested in a personal friendship.
To cope with what happened to him over the weekend, Tony vents about this to Dr. Jennifer Melfi. During this therapy session, we learn about the way Tony and his friends treated this kid who has a cleft palate named Jimmy Smash. Tony feels extreme guilt about the way he treated Jimmy because now he can only imagine how badly excluded Jimmy must have felt only being used for entertainment all these years, just as Tony was used for entertainment at the country club. It only gets worse. While Jimmy is so far still alive, unfortunately he is now in jail.
Shortly after this therapy session, Tony sees his neighbor Brian Cusamono from across his house: They are both in their house yards. Tony walks over to greet Brian, who informs him that Tony can't join the country club because their membership is full and new members can only join after a member of the club dies. Hatching up a savage plan, Tony decides to give a "gift" to make him suffer immense stress. As can be seen because of what happened to him at the country club over the weekend, Tony is in a vindictive mood and wants to make Brian suffer as much immense stress as possible; as payback for what he did to Tony along with his friends at his country club over the weekend. While putting the "gift" on the kitchen table, Brian is with his wife Jean Cusamono who is curious about the "gift" and is interested in opening it. Out of precaution, Brian tells Jean to not open it because they need to be on the safe side since Tony's "gift" could be anything. Across their house, Jean and Brian overhear Tony screaming loudly as he lifts 100+pounds heavy weights
