OTH: The Sopranos- "Pax Soprana" / "Down Neck"
"Always with the drama."
Season 1, Episode 6
Aired February 14, 1999
Directed by Alan Taylor
Written by Frank Renzulli
Synopsis: Tony meets with Dr. Melfi for the first time after his spat with Carmela, and he comes clean about it with her. She asks why he decided to see a female psychiatrist in the first place, with Tony suggesting that he had the choice between her, an Italian woman, and two Jewish men. Dr. Melfi switches the question around and notes what she has in common with his mother, wife and daughter, the primary women in his life, and if he’s trying to form a conversation with them by starting with her. He doesn’t quite have the answer for that, nor do his erotic dreams about her stop. This may be what’s causing his erectile disfunction, which causes him and Irina to fight when he rebuffs her advances one evening. It continues to further strain his relationship with Carmela, who notices the change and isn’t happy when he brings up Dr. Melfi’s opinion on how his Prozac use might affect his sex drive. He brings this up at their next meeting, and she suggests that while impotence can be an effect from the medication, it’s also possible from depression and can be resolved. Tony tries to fight this by having Irina dress up in a business suit, similar to something Melfi would wear, which she balks at. When Tony tries to tell Dr. Melfi this at their next meeting, he comes clean and admits that he’s in love with her, and leans in for a kiss, which she rejects. Their appointment is over and she asks to pick this up at their next meeting. That evening, as she’s relaxing at home, Jennifer discovers her car being returned, not realizing it was ever missing. As she’s had problems with its starter, she notices that it’s working perfectly fine and takes it into a shop, who notices that it has an entirely new starter. At their appointment, Dr. Melfi waits until the end to address Tony over his romantic desires towards her, stating that this is only a result of his positive feelings over the success of her treatment. She’s also unhappy to learn that Tony was responsible for having her car taken and replaced, but she intends to keep treating him, noticing a positive effect otherwise. At the same time, Carmela meets with Father Phil and confesses that she’s considering divorce, but he encourages her to give Tony another chance, as he’s trying to with his therapy. She agrees and later tells Tony that she wants to be the rock that keeps his journey into becoming a better person, which he accepts.
As the new boss of the DiMeo family, Junior is treading hot water. Tony meets with Mikey Palmice who notes that Junior isn’t respecting older arrangements and is trickling more money to himself as opposed to his capos, who are not happy, notably Hesh Rabkin, a friend of Tony’s father and Junior’s brother. Junior crosses a line after discovering that the grandson of his tailor committed suicide after suffering from drug-related depression, and learns that one of his capo’s top earners is who he got the drugs from. To ensure vengeance, Junior has Mikey and another accomplice push Rusty Irish, the dealer responsible, into the Great Falls of the Passaic, the same way the teenager died. Tony eventually sets a meeting between Junior and his capos and encourages his uncle to offer a better divide between them, proving Tony to be the resourceful leader behind the scenes that he is. The episode ends with the DiMeo family holding a banquet in Junior’s honor, which includes FBI informants taking photos in disguise, who replace the late Jackie Aprile’s position as boss on a leaderboard with Junior, unaware of Tony’s work behind the scenes.
How do you follow up one of your most significant episodes from a quality standpoint? This is a question especially worth asking when you hit the kind of high mark Chase and crew found only five episodes in with “College”, using as few of the show’s core characters as possible to further take us into Tony’s mindset. One way that I don’t see brought up often is to follow said excellent episode with another impressive one, this time furthering the show’s world.
In “Meadowlands”, Tony pushed away from taking Jackie Aprile’s position as leader of the DiMeo family in order to give Junior what he’s wanted for decades, and while this development was pushed to the side in “College”, we’re returning to just why he made the call this week, as Tony wisely deduces that giving Junior the title will take the heat off of him. Additionally, Tony recognizes that he’s able to pull the strings while his uncle thinks he’s in charge. Junior, who isn’t getting any younger but thus far hasn’t shown signs of mental deterioration as Livia, is in a good place even if he doesn’t realize who’s really in control.
It’s an interesting predicament. Junior may have seniority, but he isn’t a leader and seldom has shown such skills, especially compared to his brother, which is something Tony inherited. We’ve seen that Tony is not only able to command his way through his crew’s needs, but is able to negotiate with his fellow capos easily, something we’ve seen Junior disinterested in until persuaded otherwise. This allows for Tony to remain a versatile character, strategic yet brutal. It works well enough that Tony doesn’t make his name apparent on the FBI’s board.
The other big thing about “Pax Soprana” (itself taken from a period in Roman history where Roman civilization thrived due to a lack of change to rule) is Tony’s confession to Dr. Melfi. His wet dreams are reoccurring, but here he makes it clear that he has the hots for her, but does he really, or is taking her credo for something that it isn’t? Jennifer suggests as much, and I think she’s onto something, at least at this point in the show’s run. Tony appears to thrive best when he has a woman attracted to him on his side.
Although I say that while he’s suffering from impotence, and neither Carmela or Irina are happy. The latter largely appears as a distraction thus far, reminding the audience that Tony is no saint as often as it can, but Carmela’s story is a little more interesting, as she struggles to accept her husband’s inability to commit. Carmela’s frustration over Tony’s lifestyle continues to make for a fascinating story, as she continues to sidestep over how she enables his recognized bad behavior when it benefits her, only calling attention to it when it affects her. I really like the character’s arc thus far, how Carmela is a good Christian woman, one who goes to church, combs through her bible, and has a dedicated friendship to her pastor, but can only accept her compliance up to a point. Perhaps Father Phil’s encouragement to stick through it and be the rock her husband needs is his way of having Carmela at least acknowledge some of her fault. It makes for a lovely seen to end her story this week on, at least.
We’ve already seen television legend Alan Taylor’s work on The West Wing’s first season, but this is his first time directing for The Sopranos, and he’ll prove to be a vital force for the series, already adding to the show’s cinematic flair. He’s matched well with Frank Renzulli, an actor who occasionally dips into screenwriting, whose work similarly fits right in.
“Pax Soprana” may be less shocking or original as “College”, but it’s going to stand tall in the long run, not only for how it develops the ongoing narrative.
Season 1, Episode 7
Aired February 21, 1999
Directed by Lorraine Senna Ferrara
Written by Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess
Synopsis: A.J. and two of his friends sneak into their school’s church (yes, it looks like he goes to a Catholic school) and drink some of its communal wine, which was really not a smart idea right before PE. The kids struggle to keep up with their workouts and when confronted by their coach, one of the boys vomits. Tony and Carmela are called in to discuss what happened, as A.J. is suspended for three days. He’s asked to leave the office, when the school’s psychologist speaks to Mr. and Mrs. Soprano to inform them that he suspects that A.J. may have ADD. Tony, thinking that this may be a ploy to get at the family, balks at the suggestion, and doesn’t agree to have him tested. Carmela and Dr. Melfi, meanwhile, both think that it’s worth looking into while he discusses Meadow’s strange behavior following their college trip with his wife and his feelings for his psychiatrist with her, along with revealing that he has a girlfriend. The Melfi stuff isn’t working to his advantage, but the thing about Meadow is worth addressing, as Carmela asks if Tony thinks that she’s aware of his lifestyle, which he stays mum on. She also starts to wonder if A.J. knows, based on a remark from dinner that evening.
The next morning as he wakes up to an argument between Carmela and A.J., Tony has a flashback to his own childhood, recalling a day that he walked to school and saw his father and uncle beat up a guy who supposedly owes them money. He recalls the memory at his next appointment, while also confessing that Johnny Boy Soprano considered the belt the best form of parenting. We’ll leave this to return to Tony’s other parent, as A.J. goes to visit Livia as part of his punishment. He tells her about the tests he’s taking with the school psychologist, although he doesn’t quite understand why he’s taking them. Livia isn’t happy to hear that her grandson is seeing a therapist, and is devastated when he reveals that Tony sees one, himself, although this isn’t addressed when Tony comes to pick A.J. up. The two stop on a corner to fix a flat tire, when Tony brings up his son’s remark from the previous night, and A.J. responds by asking the same question Meadow did on their road trip. Tony stays mum on the subject. During his next visit with Dr. Melfi, she asks more about his father, and further memories comes up, first of him and Uncle Junior throwing a ball around as a child. This follows a story where Johnny Boy takes Janice, Tony’s older sister, out without him. At the time, Tony didn’t understand why, but one day he hides into the trunk of his father’s Cadillac and sees the two go into an amusement park. Young Tony’s heart is broken, but he decides to follow them to the park next week, this time taking the bus, where he sees Johnny Boy and his cohorts taken away by the police. It turns out that Johnny was using Janice as a front, alongside his fellow capo’s daughters, to hide their business from being detected, which clearly worked up to a point. Johnny Boy came home later that evening, and all is seemingly back to normal. Tony later learned that his father was arrested for violating parole by hanging with “known undesirables”. Reflecting on his father’s legacy, Tony considers A.J. doomed to follow the same path that both himself and Johnny Boy have taken, but Dr. Melfi argues against this, believing that life isn’t preordained and that people have their own freewill. This also comes with the revelation that Johnny received an offer to work a legitimate business in Nevada, hoping to raise his family properly, but Livia refused to even consider the idea, going so far to threaten to “smother her children to death” before taking them away from Jersey. Tony brings this up to his mother when he visits her for dinner, but she doesn’t answer, instead bringing up his therapy meeting instead. The episode ends with Tony and Carmela meeting his psychologist, who suggests that while A.J. has no noticeable learning disability, he shows enough symptoms to be a borderline case of ADD. Tony is particularly displeased to learn that fidgeting is a symptom and storms out, calling the diagnosis bullshit and calls his son normal, which Carmela agrees with.
I used that image of younger Livia for a reason- her depressive personality isn’t a result of aging or loneliness from the death of her husband. She’s always been this way, and the time we spend with her in “Down Neck” only proves this.
As much of a brute as Tony is, he is a product of his environment, which we’ve seen with Livia’s overwhelming pessimism, Junior’s stone-cold indifference, and now Johnny Boy’s brutal (if loving) command. Thus far in the series, we’ve seen him try to fight all of his core figure’s tendencies, and he’s succeeded in some ways- he makes it clear that he and Carmela don’t hit their kids, for one- but these are the adults that Tony looked up to and continues to lean towards. For better or worse, their tendencies continue to shine through.
“Down Neck” is a pretty tight episode, tight in how it largely sticks to one theme, parents and the influence they leave behind on their children, and does so while only focusing on two fascinating stories. I do think the flashbacks tend to be the more interesting aspect of the episode, finally introducing us to Johnny Boy and proving that Livia was, in fact, always like that. Here, Tony gets to see first hand what his father does for a living and remains conflicted on whether living up to his father’s footsteps is the right call for him.
Tony also ends his story by stating that it was in his nature to accept destiny, while Dr. Melfi offers a worthwhile counterargument, stating that humans have free will and can live the life they desire. Thus far, she may be true, Tony has the freewill to stick to this, but I do think that eventually, he would have returned to the lifestyle. He’s good at what he does, absolutely, to the point that the call is too strong to say no. To Tony, this is the only way he can make a living. and he will accept it by any means.
Meanwhile, Tony and Carmela know better about AJ and want him out. To be fair, if I was a capo, I wouldn’t want someone like him as a soldier, either. AJ is still figuring out who he is, and this week that includes what appears to be a borderline case of ADD. It’s interesting to see how Tony and Carmela interact with their son’s diagnosis. Tony’s rejection of his son’s diagnosis represents how parents of his age range struggle to accept relatively more recent discoveries like the mainstreaming of ADD and autism, something he rejects because his son’s symptoms are relatable to most children his age, like fidgeting, something even Carmela sides with him on. I like how this shows that even though Tony and Carmela consider themselves more enlightened than their parents generation, they’re still struggling to adapt to the next cycle, even if it’s too their benefit. We see this as Tony decides to not delve further into his son’s diagnosis, potentially leaving him untreated. AJ may turn out okay, but it’s becoming clear that his parents don’t always have his best interests out for him.
This is not only the first episode with a female writer and director collaborating (impressive, as it took Buffy five seasons to achieve the same goal, and even that had the same woman in both roles), but the first to have a female writer and director in tow, period. Lorraine Senna is a longstanding veteran of television, directing various episodes of many series from the 70’s until her possible retirement shortly after, and she proves her worth in her one episode of the series. Senna is paired well with Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, an impressive husband-wife writing duo who don’t miss a beat in adding to the show’s lore. They’ll be back, and this starts their tenure off with a fine episode that further looks into Tony’s world and explores his children’s psyche. Pretty good stuff.
Dr. Melfi’s Notebook:
I’ll admit, it’s funny to see Junior pour his heart out to his tailor when he’s not wearing pants.
“Whatever happened to ‘boys will be boys’?” Well, hopefully we’re phasing out that mentality, at least for more serious offenses. “Boys will be boys” might work as an explanation for something like lighting a fart on fire or maybe even stealing sacramental wine, but it is a bad look to use a line like that to justify sexual harassment. Not what Junior was going for, but boys should be held accountable.
It’s a shame that Robert Iler largely retired from acting following The Sopranos, as he’s already doing some fine work even at just thirteen years old. The little tear he drops after receiving his punishment cracks me up.
One of the kids who chases Tony down the street for dropping the candy wrapper is a young Michael B. Jordan. Not the last future big name we’ll see as an incidental character!
Next (Two) Weeks: I’m taking next week off to visit my family, but when we come back, the FBI is going to start a raid, and Uncle Junior’s talent for pussy eating is revealed. Yes, that’s the take away from that episode.