OTH: The Sopranos- "Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office..." / "Do Not Resuscitate"
To the victor belongs the spoils.
Season 2, Episode 1
Aired January 16, 2000
Directed by Allen Coulter
Written by Jason Cahill
Synopsis: An undisclosed amount of time since Junior’s incarceration and Livia’s stroke, Tony and his inner circle are returning to normal to the best of their ability. First to shake the system, Pussy returns and asks to meet Tony in his front yard. Tony is shocked and unsure, insisting that they meet in his house, where Pussy reveals that he went to Puerto Rico for treatment on his back, which he asks to keep a secret as he had an affair while down. Tony welcomes him back with a hug, which is really him patting his old friend down as he’s still unconvinced that he isn’t a mole. With Dr. Melfi still in hiding, taking appointments in a motel out of town, Tony has stopped seeing her and begins self-medicating, which proves to be dangerous as he gets drowsy on the road and crashes onto a goal post. While he isn’t seriously injured, it’s clear that this isn’t working out and he sets up an appointment with a new therapist. However, this goes nowhere as the psychiatrist recognizes Tony and shoots him down immediately. Tony tries to patch things up with Dr. Melfi, who hasn’t returned his calls after he gave her the clear to return to town. He has no choice but to find her at a diner, where she rebuffs him, noting that one of her patients killed herself when she wasn’t available.
To shake things up, Tony’s sister Janice comes into town unannounced, and despite some apprehension to the scenario (usually she comes back in hopes of some cash), he invites her to stay at the house. With his new medication routine, he’s in a better place and suggests that they call up their other sister, Barbara, and have a family reunion. It turns out that Janice is here to watch after Livia, who Tony has disavowed, but recognizing that this will get him out of the clear from her, he agrees to give Janice some money to repair their mother’s old car so she can use it to potentially take them to Seattle. Next up is Tony’s plans to sell their childhood house, but in the time since Livia has been taken away to the retirement center, the house has been invaded by neighborhood pranksters and is a hard sell. At the family reunion, which is a full-blown affair with Barbara and her family, Carmela’s parents, and Tony’s regular circle (but no Livia), Tony looks into Livia’s old car, which is now Janice’s, and notices a for sale sign inside of it, which has him think that Janice is intending to buy their old house back. He’s livid, but Carmela advises him to back off and return to the party, where he attempts to reconnect with Pussy as they shoot the shit with Silvio, Paulie and Hesh.
Christopher, meanwhile, becomes the SEC compliance officer of a middling stock company, Webistics, which is actually a scam set up to make some easy money. One day, Chris takes a long lunch with Adriana and fails to notice a beatdown a couple of his accomplices force when one of his employees suggests alternate stocks. Tony, who received a call from the company’s manager, demands that Chris takes this seriously, first by apologizing to the employee who was hurt and by asking his hired goons, a couple of NFL rejects, to watch their shit.
Something I noticed just before I started typing this up- not only do we not see Uncle Junior at all in this episode, I don’t believe he’s even mentioned, besides the FBI agents removing his place on their pinboard with Tony. We spend a lot of time being reminded about Tony’s fractured relationship with Livia, but Jun is MIA.
He can wait, however, as we did fit another piece of the family puzzle in- two to be exact, with Tony’s sisters finally arriving. Neither oldest Janice nor youngest Barbara seem very interested in the family business- but they sure remember it, cracking jokes at how Silvio and Paulie are still alive after all these years- but with our brief moments with them, there’s a darkness to the ladies that is shared with their brother and mother. Whether they inherited this from their parents or learned it from their environment, I can’t say.
“Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist’s Office…” does its job, reintroducing the world of The Sopranos to its audience as it sets up the next phase, a terrific first chapter of a second book. Things look good for Tony on one level, as he’s off the hook with the FBI, Pussy swears on his life that he’s no informant, and his energy-draining mother is out of his life. Still, this is no way to think about the woman who raised him, and he seems lost without Dr. Melfi, as self-medicating ultimately does not work for him. Their scene together is one of the episode’s most memorable, where she violently rebuffs his request for assistance. Lorraine Bracco is doing wonders with the character as she shows necessary backbone and refuses to get back into this world. Not that Jennifer is off the hook, but I’ll discuss her character in a later episode.
Apologies for a lighter week, but I promise that The Sopranos will have a second season with a lot to talk about, and we’ll live up to that soon. Sometimes a first chapter works best as a warm-up.
Season 2, Episode 2
Aired January 23, 2000
Directed by Martin Bruestle
Written by Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, Frank Renzulli
Synopsis: Uncle Junior is granted a transfer to house arrest, which will bar him from leaving his residence aside for groceries and doctors visits. Not an ideal situation, but better than spending more time in prison. And it helps that Tony has a physician friend who is able to set up fake appointments for his uncle so they can talk shop. Per Tony, he decides that his uncle can continue to make a profit through some of his ventures, but the lion’s share goes to him now, although his uncle gets to keep his stripes. Junior accepts this but requests that Tony go easy on his mother, as she’s not to blame for the hit, which he refuses. Although Junior is still upset with Tony for colliding with his other capos to have their mothers stay at the same retirement home as his mother. What’s more, supposedly the director of the center has made a joke about Tony “stuffing his mother’s pillow”, which he decides to take care of. Later in the episode, Junior trips in the shower while shaving. Tony rushes to take his uncle to the hospital, where he once again asks Tony to make peace with his mother, not wanting to take his guilt to the grave.
Back home, Janice schemes to buy her childhood home from Tony so she and Livia can try to make amends, but her mother surprisingly isn’t very interested in the idea and would rather go back to the nursing home. Janice tries to convince her otherwise, but is stopped when Livia chokes on a cookie. She recovers quickly and asks Janice and the nurse to leave, which gives said nurse the opportunity to talk about a possible DNR for her mother. The thing is, Tony has power of attorney over Livia and he’s still adamant about not acknowledging his mother’s existence. AJ hears them fight over it and when he goes to visit her, asks his grandma what a DNR is. She’s unhappy with the insinuation and now suspects Janice has ulterior motives for trying to move in with her. That evening, Livia calls a disinterested Carmela and tells her that she intends to leave her money to her grandchildren and laments on how she only raised two good kids, warning Carmela that Janice is a snake in the grass.
For the record, I do think that it is wise to have a discussion about DNRs with your elderly parents. Not a happy conversation, but important. At the same time, Livia seems to be onto something regarding Janice, if her vision is any indication.
“Do Not Resuscitate” is a fine second episode, one that has a clear focus- cherish your elder ones while they’re here, or at least talk to them. Regardless of their skeletons, you never know if they’ll be here tomorrow. Reverend James Jr. recognizes this when he loses his father, a World War II veteran played by (still-active!) legend Bill Cobbs, but the two have a good relationship, even if the elder Reverend wasn’t aware of his son’s shady business with Tony Soprano. Does he even care about hiring more Black people in healthy construction jobs?
Speaking of our favorite DiMeo capo, Tony has an easier time forgiving Junior, the person truly responsible for his hit, than his mother, who was complicit and indifferent. It’s interesting to see how Tony tries to handle the conflicting emotions he has towards his loved ones with Dr. Melfi to offer her wisdom, but she’s deliberately off screen this week, not even receiving a name drop as it’s his burden to bear. As I see it, Tony is quicker to forgive his uncle largely due to their business ties, but also holds back on his mother to embrace the long-stemming animosity he’s been holding for her. Is this healthy? As of now, it’s hard to say, but Tony shows much more concern for his uncle’s slip than his mother’s stroke at the end of the previous season, and I don’t think the smile he glances is entirely why.
But what about Janice? Is she really staying in Jersey to make amends with her mother or is she trying to find an easy way to receive her share of her family’s wealth? She doesn’t seem concerned about her uncle at all thus far, so do with that information what you will. Aida Turturro is continuing to find her character as Janice, as she’s slowly removing the bohemian sparkles she came into town flourishing with and shows more of an edge. Is it a similar edge to her brother’s, or the kind you’d see in a fatale in a film noir remains to be seen.
Directed by producer and co-Northern Exposure (along with Chase) alum Martin Bruestle, “Do Not Resuscitate” does its job to expand the show as necessary in its second season. The characters remain defined here as they move into a new, but not alarming direction. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
Dr. Melfi’s Notebook:
Drea de Matteo and Aida Turturro are added to the main cast for the second season, the former deserved given Adriana’s presence last season, and the latter promising for Janice’s character.
The bit where Christopher hires an Asian man to take his exam for him sounds like a South Park bit, right? Close, but wrong- that happened on Drawn Together.
I haven’t been great on keeping up with song choices in the series, but I love how the first episode starts with one of my favorite Sinatra songs, “It Was a Very Good Year”.
In case you’re curious, the movie Chris was watching in his apartment featuring Edward G. Robinson was Key Largo.
Terence Winter, upcoming writer and director for the series, plays the patient of Dr. Melfi’s who meets at her motel. From what I understand, he was assigned to the role when director Coulter couldn’t find a satisfactory actor in time.
We meet Bobby “Bacala” Baccalieri in the latter episode. A little lazy, sure, but he’ll become a recurring player as the show goes on.
Next (Other) Week: Dr. Melfi starts feeling guilty about refusing to treat Tony, but before that’s resolved, he goes to Naples with Christopher and Paulie. Oh snap, I think that’s the one where Paulie [REDACTED].