OTH: The Sopranos- "Big Girls Don't Cry"
I won't lie- that first title only makes me think of Fergie.
Season 2, Episode 5
Aired February 13, 2000
Directed by Tim Van Patten
Written by Terence Winter
Synopsis: Following the previous episode, Tony is trying to make Furio’s arrival hospitable, as he gets Artie to agree to give him a job as he applies for immigration. He also promotes Paulie to capo and Silvio to consigliere, although there’s an ulterior motive here- Tony’s work as de facto boss is becoming public knowledge, and he hopes that the two and Furio will help keep some heat off of him. Pussy, however, is not gifted a promotion, primarily because he’s seen on the news with Tony, although he isn’t aware of why. Pussy becomes incredibly jealous, which turns into anger when Pussy is asked to step aside from an impromptu meeting with Johnny Sack and Furio when he’s having lunch with Paulie. Pussy retaliates by sharing more information with his FBI informant, Agent Lipari.
Dr. Melfi continues to grapple with the feelings of abandonment she has with Tony, particularly her dream near the end of “Toodle-Fucking-Oo”, and she shares said feelings with Dr. Kupferberg, who insists that she did the right thing to leave her patient behind when he became a threat to her health. Dr. Kupferberg also tries to pry into who, exactly, her patient is, but Jennifer refuses, and soon realizes that she was wrong to abandon Tony and offers to take him back. While he’s initially reluctant, Tony agrees to return, recalling an earlier meeting with Hesh, who revealed that Tony’s father suffered from the dsame kind of panic attacks he does. While he’s relieved to share this bit of news, his meeting with Dr. Melfi turns sour almost immediately, as she asks what he really hopes to achieve with their meetings. To his credit, or perhaps lackthereof, Tony doesn’t give her a straight answer.
As a birthday gift from Adriana, Christopher takes an acting class meant for aspiring screenwriters. This is meant to help Chris overcome his writer’s block, and he soon learns that he has a knack for acting, although he rejects a passage from The Glass Menagerie he’s asked to rehearse and instead takes James Dean’s part in a sequence from Rebel Without a Cause. Chris proves to be quite adapt at the performance, doing his best to not invoke an easy Dean impression, but he storms off after his tearful finish. During his next class, Christopher attacks his partner during their practice despite no warning offered for said attack. When Adriana tends to his broken foot afterwards, she suggests that his acting has had Chris recall his father’s death, which happened when he was young. Christopher denies this, but later that evening throws away any evidence of his screenplay.
I used the word of the day earlier in my recap for “Big Girls Don’t Cry”- abandonment. Most of this week’s stories return to that feeling in one way or another.
Tony feels abandoned by Dr. Melfi, which is something she struggles with herself, although her return isn’t an easy one. She remains rightfully skeptical of Tony’s intentions and refuses to let him back in easy, at least without discovering his true intentions. Dr. Melfi is smart enough to recognize if she’s being tricked or not, although part of me thinks that she may stay around regardless, as she does seem to like the thrill she receives from Tony’s violent life. Notice how she doesn’t recoil when Tony describes the violent encounter he lead Furio to, and only asks more about the incident.
To be fair, Dr. Kupferberg seems just as interested in the lifestyle, which is why he keeps prying into who her patient is. Peter Bogdanovich continues to remain a welcome addition to the show’s world and he even gets a movie reference of his own this week as he helps Jennifer narrow down which Wizard of Oz song and character she’s imagining. I appreciate any break we get from the more expected mafioso nods the show takes, but I also enjoy the fellow psychiatrist’s conflicting attitudes about their profession. Dr. Melfi appears to be more straightforward and earnest, while Dr. Kupferberg is a little deceptive, in hopes to get what he wants. It makes both of their scenes all the more exciting.
Christopher, meanwhile, still has daddy issues that digs into his writing and comes further into his acting. Michael Imperioli continues to prove why Chris is one of the show’s breakout characters, as every opportunity he’s given, he nails, and the acting class scenes offer us further insight into the character. Winter’s teleplay is as strong as usual, but Imperioli finds even more edge and pathos to the character than allowed, making his material feel earned.
And then there’s Pussy, who feels abandoned by his crew, which is kind of on him, as he’s proving Tony’s suspicions from the previous season to be right. Tony’s reluctance to fully trust his old partner again is a smart call, even if he doesn’t know how right his suspicions are. It’ll be interesting to see how the addition of Furio shakes the dynamic up over the rest of the season, as his time here so far makes it look like business as usual, which is what Tony wants. Whether Pussy wants this or not as wel, however, isn’t sure.
So hey, pretty good stuff, right? And it makes me hungry to try Furio’s freshly-cut mozzarella.
Dr. Melfi’s Notebook:
I mentioned Fergie’s “Big Girls Don’t Cry” in the captions, but the episode takes its title from Frankie Valli and the Four Season’s song of the same name, which is featured as soundtrack for Artie’s restaurant.
Tony asks Richie to put his pants on, and what does he do when handed them? Puts them on the kitchen table.
“Guess I didn’t get the memo.” “Would you have read it if you got one?”
Dr. Melfi’s advice to Tony is that if he wants to learn how to be a better criminal leader, read Sun Tsu’s The Art of War. And there’s your weekly book rec!
Next Week: Apologies for only doing one episode this week, I had a little less time to write than I anticipated. But we’ll go back to two next time when we see what happens when Tony brings a friend to his card game, while Christopher gets to meet… Jon Favreau?