Season 2 Episode 6, "The Happy Wanderer"

The opening scene in this episode is of Tony at a college seminar for high school students with Meadow. After the seminar gets out, they both talk to an old friend of Tony's who's at the seminar with his son. I find scenes like these to be really humanizing for Tony, as it's easy to forget that he is a father and goes through stuff many parents go through like sending their children to college. 

The next scene is of Tony at his therapist's office, discussing how he dislikes that she is always making him feel like a victim. He also talks about the fact that he doesn't understand why he's so angry sometimes, and why it bothers him so much if he sees someone else who is happy. I really resonated with this scene and Tony's sentiments here. Sometime, I also get in a sour mood, and like Tony, it bothers me when I see someone who seems to be super happy and in a great place mentally. And it's super silly and there's no need for it, but it happens. So I completely understand where he's coming from here.

Season 2 Episode 5, "Big Girls Don't Cry"

The episode begins with Chris paying a visit to a nail salon (with whom there seems to be some sort of business between). Chris is pissed at the owner for not having the money that he is owed. He threatens him and calls it unacceptable. Something's definitely going to go down later with this.

A couple scenes later, Chris is shown arriving to an acting class. When he introduces himself in front of the class, he changes his last name and says he works in stocks (he does this for obvious reasons). Anyway, I'm glad this episode is setting itself up for a lot of Chris. His appearances in the show fluctuate sometime so it's good to see him back after he's been lightly used the past 3 episodes or so. Relating to the story itself, Chris' desire to get into Hollywood was a subplot I always enjoyed. It was very different from what we were seeing with the mob stuff and I also respect Chris for wanting his career to go beyond the mob life.

Meanwhile, Tony receives a call at his house telling him that his sister Janice is trying to take out a loan on their mothers' house.This enrages Tony and he rips the phone out of the wall and throws it, in front of Carmela and AJ, who is cut to multiple times throughout the scene looking a bit frightened of his dad. After Carmela scolds Tony for being immature, she sternly tells AJ to go get dressed. Tony's behavior in situations like these make me feel bad for AJ and the fact that he 1) Has a dad with such a volatile personality and 2) Often takes the brunt of that. I wish Tony would be a better example for his son sometimes.

Another scene at acting class with Chris. He's doing some improv with some other actors and when one of the other actors messes up by taking something out of his pocket when he was supposed to be holding a bag of oranges, Chris calls him and says, "What are you doing? You just dropped your oranges." The class laughs and the teacher praises him. Chris is super pleased with himself. I feel happy for him. Finally something Chris is good at AND getting recognized for.

Later he's practicing some lines with his girlfriend at their apartment. He gets frustrated with some of the lines in the scene and Adriana compliments his acting skills. Good to see Chris 1) Being passionate about something other than drugs and 2) Getting along with Adriana.

                                                               Chris in his apartment.

                                                     Tony and Paulie discussing business.

Season 2 Episode 4, "Commendatori"

Just going off memory here, but this is a memorable episode. Tony and his crew take a trip to Italy to jump start a car importing "business" (a scam, obviously). One of the firsts scenes in the episode is of a family of five's Mercedes being carjacked from them by two men. It's a pretty messed up scene and you feel bad for the family, who just went through a terrifying ordeal. However, in the next scene, you see Tony going through photos of stolen Mercedes'. These cars will be part of whatever deal goes down in Italy. But as Tony's going through the photos, he's smiling, taking joy in it. It really does not out Tony in a good light and makes him very unappealing to root for. These are just the traits of an anti-hero, I suppose.

Tony, Paulie, and Chris arrive in Italy. They talk about how beautiful the women are. Chris remarks that "even the skanks are worth f*****g." Seemingly unaware that he's in a relationship. Being faithful to your partner is something that just doesn't exist in the mob world.

While a big dinner is going on between Tony, Paulie and the Italian side of the family, Chris is off doing heroin with an associate of Furio (guy on the Italian side who later joins the Sopranos in America). This is a great opportunity for Chris to make a good impression for the big guys yet he's completely blowing it by staying in his hotel room and getting high. Paulie scolds him the next morning, telling him, "If you want to get made, this is not the way to do it." Yet another example of Chris' poor judgement getting in the way from him and success. Meanwhile, Tony and Furio discuss the details of the car deal when the Don appears in the room. He is being pushed in a wheelchair by his beautiful daughter, most likely in her mid-40's. The Don is very old at this point and his daughter seems to have more of a role in the business than anyone probably anticipated.

Tony and Carmela talk on the phone when Tony gets back to his hotel room after dinner. He recommends Carmela go get some Chinese food with the kids instead of working really hard baking. She snaps at him saying she doesn't need his permission if she wants to get Chinese food. In times like this, I empathize with Tony. he merely made a suggestion and Carmela just unnecessarily flipped out. Totally uncalled for.

Season 2 Episode 3, "Toodle-Fucking-Oo"

This episode starts with Tony getting called to his mother's old house because Meadow (his daughter) threw a party there. Something I don't understand in this show is how Tony's kids ever dare cross their dad. That's just someone whom I would never want to cross. He's not gonna whack his own kids obviously, but if I messed up hardcore, I'd be scared shit-less. ANYHOOTS, Tony and Carmela are deliberating as to how to punish her and are hard pressed in coming up with a good solution. They figure that if they confine her to the house, they have to act like prison guards. If they take her car, they're her chauffeur.

Meanwhile, Richie Aprile (brother of former boss Jackie Aprile) is out of jail, and aiming to settle a few old issues. His firsts top is this pizzeria he seems to have helped get off the ground floor. He's now owed some money, which the pizzeria owner is refusing to hand over to him. They have an intense discussion which ends with Richie beating the guy over the head with a coffee pot and beating him. AKA, solving the issue Sopranos style.

Tony, Carmela, and Meadow meet in their kitchen to discuss her punishment. It's quite obvious Tony doesn't know how to punish her when Meadow volunteers to relinquish her credit card for two weeks and Tony awkwardly blurts out "three!"

Enter my second parasocial relationship! Chris is back and now he's being introduced to Richie by Tony. Richie blindsides Chris by saying if he ever hits his niece again (Chris is going out with Adriana, Richie's niece). Chris asks how Richie found out. Richie then dismisses Chris. Another dumb decision by Chris has come back to hurt him.

After Chris walks away, Richie attempts to discuss business with Tony and Tony suddenly walks away. This is because no one ever discuss business with Tony at Satriale's, the deli they were both at and the spot where the crew frequently hangs out. Richie is dumbfounded when Tony walks away. At this point, I don't remember whether or not this affects their relationship, but I'm going to guess that it does.

Lo and behold, it does! Richie and Tony meet up in a mall and contentiously discuss whether or not Richie has a right to take back former business that he was in charge of. Richie thinks it's his right to get it back, whereas Tony views it as "letting him have it." Tony's in a tough position. It's a different climate from when Richie was last involved. Things change, and that going to be tough for Richie to accept. I empathize with Tony here because the right choice is one that this psycho is not going to accept. Part of the reason I call him a psycho now is because he went back to the pizzeria owner and RAN HIM OVER WITH HIS CAR. He did this because the guy notified Tony about what Richie previously did to him.

Good luck to Tony dealing with this guy. Don't think this is going to end well.

      Tony during his contentious meeting with Richie.

Beanzie, the poor guy who Richie ran over with freakin' car. rip. He didn't actually die, I just like saying "rip" to people.

Season 2 Episode 2, "Do Not Resuscitate"

The episode begins with Tony paying a visit to his Uncle Junior, who's currently in jail. Junior informs Tony of the word on the street that Tony attempted to suffocate his mother with a pillow (this happened at the end of Season 1). The fact that people are aware of this freaks Tony out. Image means quite a great deal in the mob world, and how others perceive you could mean life or death.

Meanwhile, Tony calls his sister out on the fact that although he intended to sell their mothers' house, Janice took the "for sale" sign out of the ground. Tony's pissed about this and the fact that Janice is pretty much defending their mothers' actions. I empathize completely with Tony here. Janice is a super annoying and belittling character and I would also hate for her to be my sister. Sounds harsh, but it's true.

He calls Uncle Junior's right hand man Bobby Bacala into a meeting and informs him that he's going to let Junior keep earning (making a cut of their earnings) from jail and that he can keep his title of boss (even though it's literally only the title, Tony performs all the duties of the boss). He then tells Bobby to "get the fuck out before (he)" Classic Ton'!

As I'm watching these episodes (re-watching, rather), it's becoming pretty evident to me that Tony's temperament reminds me of my own dad's. Tony's mood is really prone to shifting in extreme ways, from overly joyous to angry. Tony also has very little patience for arrogance/negligence. My Dad is the same exact way, and the short fuse Tony exhibits in this episode really reminds me parts of my childhood, growing up with that from my dad.

He reconvenes with Bobby Bacala later in the episode and proceeds to call him a "fat fuck." Such a sweetheart. Also a fairly ballsy move, considering that Tony isn't exactly thin himself.

Chris has yet to appear in this episode and I'm now almost certain he won't be. Sad face.

Uncle Junior slips and falls in the shower. Tony comes over and urges Junior to go to the hospital while Junior refuses. Tony then physically lifts Junior into his car. V cute.

A great deal of time in this episode was dedicated to the continuing drama between the Soprano household and Livia Soprano, Tony's mom. Having already watched this show, I'm aware of the fact that Tony's mom dies in the near future (actually, Nancy Marchand, the actress who portrays Livia, died and they wrote the character off). Anyway, I would advise Tony to stop stressing so much over his mother because she'll be gone soon anyway. Sounds savage, but yeah.

Because I haven't seen these episodes in about three years, I'm going to make some predictions as to what I think will happen in the subsequent episodes: Tony and his mother are going to have an awkward encounter about DNR, which stands for "Do Not Resuscitate." In this episode, Tony and Janice had a big argument about what to do with their mother if she were to go into cardiac arrest. Anthony Jr overheard the conversation take place and then went to his Grandma in the hospital and asked her what it meant since his dad and aunt were arguing about it. Awkward...

                                           Tony, shown here being incredulous to something.



                                               

                                         The Soprano family (plus Janice) at the dinner table.

Season 2 Episode 1, "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office"

The two characters with whom I have parasocial relationships in The Sopranos are Tony Soprano and Christopher Moltisanti, Tony's cousin and a crucial component of Tony's crew. This episode is the first of Season Two and Tony is acclimating to his new life as boss. In the beginning of the episode, Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpiensero (another member of the crew) re-appears after going missing for a while and not saying a word to Tony. Tony is understandably pissed at Pussy for not keeping him in the loop. So Pussy shows up in Ton's driveway ten they take it inside and talk in Tony's house. Pussy claims he felt that he wasn't able to open up to Tony and was getting odd vibes from him and the crew. I totally get this as Tony can have an extremely volatile personality at times and I'm sure it would be intimidating to go up to him and let your feelings be known. You don't know how he'll react.

As for Chris, he's now the head of an investment firm that sells a program called "Webistics." he decides to take a trip to the Jersey Shore instead of overseeing the project so he hires two associates (Matt and Sean) to watch the office for him. One of the guys in the office is advising his clients to consider alternatives so these associates Chris has hired administer the guy a beating and pour coffee on him for not selling the program. Tony finds out about this and then scolds Chris for being irresponsible in putting these two psychos in charge and putting the business at risk. Doing something irresponsible like this is nothing new for Chris and is why it's so hard to root for him sometimes. The guy's judgement is just off too much of the time.

Tony's sister janice also is now staying at Tony's house after she comes back from Seattle. Tony's not too enthused about this and they don;t have the best relationship. They both talk about their mother and Tony remarks that she"s "dead to (him)." This is because, in the finale of Season 1, it was revealed that their mother put a hit on her own son. I could not even begin to imagine how Tony feels in regards to this. The possibility of my own mother wanting me dead would leave me so perplexed, hurt, and angry. Tony calls her the "devil" (lol) and puts her house on the market, on account of her being in the hospital.

Tony also has now stopped seeing his therapist and is self-medicating (uh-oh). His wife is urging him to return to therapy but Tony is unwilling. It's probably a pride thing. Something I really identify with regarding Tony is his difficulty in revealing his true feelings and emotions. He tends to bottle his true feeling up until they come spilling out in anger or sadness, something that I do from time to time.

Chris is out to dinner with his girlfriend Adrian (with whom he has an extremely volatile relationship) and Matt & Sean. Chris gets into a big argument with Adriana and he ends up hitting her and vice versa. She storms out of the restaurant while Chris yells at her to "get (his) dinner ready." His actions and words towards her are pretty despicable. Why do I like this guy again?

                                              Chris Moltisanti and his girlfriend, Adriana

                                  Tony and his sisters (Barabara on the left, Janice on the right).