The Sopranos 3x03 Reaction

Okay, the first time I watched it I didn't notice the moment where AJ is looking at his dad and Chris and being jealous. But now that you guys pointed it out I totally see it and now I'm wondering how I missed it the first time I watched it, because it makes total sense for AJ's character to be jealous of Chris's relationship with Tony.

I think this is one of the most important episodes of the show. I haven't seen it in a long time, but the father-son issues we get a window into here are both dramatic and poignant. If they didn't nail this episode a lot of the patriarchal issues that followed in subsequent episodes and seasons wouldn't have rung as true.

I really hope we never get people who hate AJ in these comments. Surprisingly there’s a lot.

Also, we see more of Jackie Jr in this episode. The scene with him and Tony in the restaurant is pretty funny, since Tony tells him that he has to be a shithead if he believed Tony about his uncle Richie, and he believed Tony in the end, thereby confirming that he IS a shithead. He may be an ass but I always like watching Jackie Jr just because his style is so late 90s/early 2000s that it made me nostalgic about that time lol.

You girls discussed the possibility of AJ's coach over-praising and making a big deal of AJ's accomplishment because of who Tony is in the review, and I think that's what the episode alluded to. The guy Tony is sitting next and speaking to during AJ's game is George Piacosta, the father of Jeremy Piacosta. He was the kid AJ got into a fight with in season one, and ultimately backs down because of who Tony is. That incident is the first time AJ realized who his father really is and what he does for a living (still one of my favorite Sopranos ending). In the football game, a fumble practically lands in AJ's lap, but this is the first "manly" accomplishment Tony's ever seen out of AJ. George Piacosta, still paranoid over the fight his son Jeremy had with AJ a couple of years earlier, kisses Tony's ass by overtly cheering with him. The football coach, possibly in the same ass kissing mode as George Piacosta, is over-congratulatory to AJ about a fumble recovery that was gifted to him, which in turn trigger his first panic attack. Does AJ think back to Jeremy backing down from their fight, Meadow explaining why he backed down, and linking this to the coach's present fondness for him? I believe George Piacosta was in this episode to help the audience make this connection. AJ in this episode also changed his mind about Harvard and Westpoint because, as it turns out, he does internalize what Tony said to him in season 2. People can say that Tony was encouraging him to "crack open the books" in that conversation, but when you start with "You might see them on TV, but that's as close as you can get", you kinda set the tone of the conversation in the other way. "Harvard or West Point. That's what you said." "No way, I never would have said that." "Yes you did, you were sitting right there." "I could never get in." ...mom and dad doesn't even bother to argue on that one.

Shout out to Rutgers lol I graduated from there. It’s always throw me off to see my university mentioned in this episode.. anyways, what I like about this episode is how they are able to show multiple characters( in this case “sons” like characters like AJ or Christopher) and they navigate their life while dealing with the pressure of trying to make their parent figures proud. I know many people don’t like AJ but I feel his character is just misunderstood tbh.

Carmine Lupertazzi is the boss of one of the New York families, and this is the first time we're seeing him. Johnny Sack, who has appeared before as a longtime friend of Tony, is a member of Carmine's crime family. The relationship between the Soprano family and the NYC families is a very sensitive subject, going back to the pilot. New York has the prestige that New Jersey lacks, and may have more power as well, but it's also split up between multiple families while NJ only has one (officially). Many people talk about NY as the "real" mafia as opposed to NJ. Several of the more famous gangster films focus on organized crime in NYC as well. These points together set up Carmine as a "real" crime boss, instead of a jumped-up thug. Now he's telling Tony that he knows all his secrets, but says it in a way that's supportive. Because of who he is and what he represents, every single word out of his mouth has to be taken seriously. Chris getting promoted here sees him rise to his level of incompetence. He's always been good at the violence part of crime (From killing Emil Kolar in the first episode, to fighting back when Sean & Matt ambushed him), but we've never seen him show leadership ability. He couldn't keep Brendan Filone from hijacking a truck even after he backed out personally, and he couldn't tell that Sean & Matt were turning against him, either. So now that he's supposed to be stepping into a management role, he can't pull it off. So, he has to fall back on armed robbery to make up the difference. He might have been happier remaining an Associate and never being made at all. True, he wouldn't have the opportunity to make more money, but it'd be less pressure and would let him stay in his comfort zone. BTW the guy who got Made along with Chris is Eugene Pontecorvo. It will be worthwhile to keep an eye on him as the series progresses to see how things play out differently between him and Chris.

Fortunate Son. Season 3 kinda doesn’t begin until this episode. The first two are very insular, one being an episode focusing on the FBI, and the second was essentially a big farewell to Livia Soprano, and Nancy Marchand. LM are right in saying this is a great episode title, referencing the Creedence Clearwater Revival song of the same name obviously, but also having four characters be the so-called ‘fortunate sons’: Tony, Chris, AJ, and Jackie Jr. I disagree a little when Lola says Chris “isn’t cut out for this.” There is a learning curve with anything, and by the end of the week Chris has overcome his initial shortcomings, at least for now he’s doing okay imo. He is undoubtedly capable in certain regards, not many would survive two would-be assassins, getting a headshot on one whilst shot. The Sopranos has linked violence and food for a long time now, but here we shine a beacon on it via therapy. Satriales Meat Store has been a source of butchery and murder since the pilot episode. Food and Violence could honestly be a subtitle for this whole show it’s so prevalent as a theme. Janice, delightful as always, has amputated (in-practice) a leg, like her father amputated fingers back in the day. His ruthlessness certainly seems to have been inherited. Tony’s dismissal of AJ going to Harvard or West Point has definitely been internalised, and he now thinks he would never state such a lofty ambition, really sad to see. Tony did add to this dismissive statement that AJ would need to crack the books if he wanted to go however, which is a true statement. I think there are differences between Tony and Johnny, and how they raise their kids. Tony is objectively closer to his kids from what we have seen, and has not used physical violence to discipline them the way Johnny did. The last episode with a flashback with young Tony was the episode ‘Down Neck’, and in it we see both the similarities but also the differences between these two father/son dynamics. The end of the episode is Tony making sundaes for himself and AJ, playing around with the whipped cream and generally being a better father than we ever see Johnny be. Lola took this scene negatively, as Tony giving AJ a pass for his bad behaviour, but personally I think it’s to show that while Tony is repeating patterns and learned behaviour, he is not quite the same figure to AJ as Johnny was for him. One quick note: the older man talking to Tony about his panic attacks and therapy was Carmine Lupertazzi. A mob boss from one of the New York families. I think the subtext of him bringing these things up was to let Tony know that he knows all about his ‘dirty laundry’ in the eyes of the mob, just as a bit of a pressure move. The words themselves are supportive, but the use of “fits” and epilepsy comparisons are implications of weakness, not a trait you want to put out as a boss.

It's so sad seeing AJ seem so disinterested/unengaged in every scene and he only perks up when its related to Meadow :( This second watch is making me appreciate his character more with all this shitty behavior he deals from Tony.

The reveal of Christopher’s “How Do You Do Fellow Kids?” college outfit is so perfect

All this for a slice of Gabagool?

Like this comment to petition LM to post the rest of Act 1 and all of Act 2 for Arcane tomorrow! Lol

Love this episode, the reveal of Tony's past and the gabagool triggering his panic attacks is so good. I love the AJ story too. L&M picked up on aspects of it I missed, like Tony discouraging him from college. Tony not 'being taught right from wrong' leads to him being very childish and unable to control his impulses at times, having to apologise after the fact.

Good reaction and discussion afterwards. I do feel the one to one comparisons are too clean and there’s more nuance to them. - Tony’s dad said he was brave for not running while being exposed to violence. He doesn’t even talk about mafia business in front of AJ. He has said since the first season he doesn’t want AJ in the business. It’s a fundamental core part of his character. - The college remark, i brought it up last time but he said “if you want to get in, you need to crack the books”. He didn’t just say the dismissive thing (which yes he shouldn’t have said) but framing it without the second part goes against something Chase has espoused before and also leans too much into a clean parallel when the show has shown many times the subtle differences. Tony’s parents would only say the first part, Tony said it with the second line, which isn’t a complete dismissal. “X won’t happen, unless you do Y” is not the same as “X won’t happen”. - If a parent says you need to study more to get in college, then study more. I think what’s being portrayed is that Aj is particularly sensitive, which is fine since all kids are different and have different needs. Aj is not the same kid as Meadow and they’re not the same kid as Tony. Tony’s failing as a parent is not being in tune with how do deal with a more sensitive kid, especially given his own upbringing. Meadow grew up in the same household and she has no aversions towards school. Tony needs to be more attentive towards Aj’s habits in a way where he probably didnt need to for Meadow but he’s probably not home enough to be like “are you doing your homework right now?”. - Aj explicitly got Tony’s cheers and approval in football. There was that cheesy slow-mo emphasizing this. Would Tony’s parents ever do this? Cheer for him in anything? Does this not go against that Tony mainly puts Aj down? Aj got a panic attack anyways and he wasn’t exposed to violence nor was it as clean as Melfi would like to put it. - We also can’t completely remove Aj’s agency just like the show doesn’t want to completely remove Tony’s. While Tony expressed some annoyance towards Aj wanting to play nintendo, he still agreed to it to spend time with his son and AJ is the one who changed his mind. Would Tony’s parents ever acquiesce to any of his requests?

Noah: "He's lucky I didn't punch his lights out" 😂 I bet Noah has never punched anyone in his entire life. I don't like what Tony said but let's be honest, that kid sounds like a pretentious asshole.

it is hard to cope this season, but that is why we love sopranos xD

Soapranos

To be fair, Tony told AJ that if he wanted to get into those schools he needed to hit the books harder. So he didn't exactly shoot him down, he just said you need to work hard to get into those schools and he's not wrong.

Meadow rebelling isn't even necessarily because of Tony's racism (she always knew, Carmela has the same line of thinking and that doesn't mean she's ignoring her mother) it's more because of a whole set of things that have already been happening in the relationship between father and daughter and she is trying to impose herself

Does anyone else get random old videos in their Patreon feed sometimes? Today it's Westworld 2x08 from 2018 near the top of my feed. /shrugs

Had the worst day and you ladies just made it 20x better with this upload

Watch for meat cleavers. The first murder of the show is when Christopher shoots Email Kolar while he’s snorting coke off a meat cleaver.

Well, the next episode will REALLY not get easier too, Milena…

I recognize Chris' sportsbook business partner as a detective from The Wire.

like a father like a son

Looking forward to tomorrow, I can wait :D My condolences to the Discord who have been eagerly awaiting Arcane episode 2 with lots of memes today. :D

so what? there's no stigmata about schedule changes nowadays

I like these types of issues