The Sopranos - Family Values

Richardson's Review

Richardson's Review
By Matt Richardson
(Episode 67 - JOIN THE CLUB)

The fall-out from Uncle Junior shooting Tony began in episode 67, though much of the show was taken up by a dream (omen?) sequence in which Tony is a business man who loses his wallet and briefcase and thus for the remainder of the episode is confused for the man who's items he did take - a gentleman from Arizona named Kevin Finnerty. While this sequence is interspersed throughout the episode, the reaction at home is varied. Carmela and Meadow are upset (the doctors prognosis is grim) and are routinely stationed at Tony's bedside, even at times when doctors change his open-wound bandaging. AJ, meanwhile has not surprised anyone and is not holding his weight and even talks to reporters against his mothers wishes. Junior meanwhile, is seen in only one scene when he is being questioned by investigators. When the shooting comes up Junior says Tony must have done it himself because his nephew is "a depression case." On the wise guy front Silvio holds an impromptu meeting at Eugene Pontecorvo's wake in which he informs the guys that he will be taking over Tony's collections and duties until the big man gets back on his feet.

Also:

Christopher runs (again) into some federal agents and has a brief discussion about terrorism with them...AJ informs his mother that he has flunked out of college and was told not to come back for the following semester...Chris, by the way, has also bought Johnny Sac's Maserati, proving that Johnny is having money troubles ahead of his RICO trial...Carmela has an interesting conversation with Rosalie Aprile in which Rosalie urges her to take a tougher stand with AJ...AJ, meanwhile finally comes around and spends time with a comatose Tony towards the episode, only to declare that he will get revenge against Junior and shoot him for what he has done to Tony...On a different note Edie Falco gave one of her best performances ever in this episode...As usual David Chase picked excellent music for the mood of the show and the last scene filmed to Moby's "When it's Cold I'd like to Die" was filmed beautifully.

Shock Factor: C + Richardson's Review: B +

--Still trying to figure out the title of the song that played in the beginning and end of episode 66, though I think the artist is William Boroughs. If you have any info, don't hesitate to e-mail me.

Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome via e-mail to BoxingWriter@AOL.com

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