"Remember When" is the 80th episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos, the third episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, and the 15th episode of the season overall. Written by Terence Winter and directed by Phil Abraham, it originally aired on April 22, 2007 and was watched by 6.85 million viewers on its premiere.
Video Remember When (The Sopranos)
Starring
- James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
- Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi *
- Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
- Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
- Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr.
- Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
- Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri
- Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr. *
- Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano *
- Aida Turturro as Janice Soprano Baccalieri *
- Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
- Frank Vincent as Phil Leotardo
* = credit only
Guest starring
- Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
Also guest starring
Maps Remember When (The Sopranos)
Episode recap
On a tip from reincarcerated capo "Larry Boy" Barese, the FBI begins investigating the 1982 killing of bookie Willie Overall, which was Tony's first murder. The FBI searches for and eventually finds Willie's body. Tony and Paulie drive to Miami to lie low until the heat blows over. On the way, Tony questions Paulie about how Johnny became aware of Ralpie Cifaretto's joke about his wife, which nearly led to hostilities between the Soprano and Lupertazzi families. Paulie denies any knowledge of it. In Miami, Tony and Paulie have dinner with Beansie and some women in a restaurant. Tony becomes irritated by the incessant reminiscing between Paulie and Beansie and angrily leaves the table. However, after having sex with one of the women, Tony learns that Paulie's anecdotes left her with the impression that they were best friends. Tony admits Paulie used to be his role model when growing up. Tony phones Hesh and asks for money in the form of a bridge loan, to which Hesh agrees.
Tony and Paulie arrange a meeting with Cuban contacts of Beansie in Broward County, Florida somewhere along Florida State Road 84, which results in the parties agreeing to trade stolen goods. Tony tells Beansie that he is concerned Paulie may be a liability. Despite commending Paulie's boldness, Tony wonders whether his loyalty has ever been truly "put to the test." He learns that, thanks to misinformation given by Larry, the FBI blames Overall's murder on the deceased Jackie Aprile, Sr. Tony proposes renting a sport fishing boat to celebrate; Paulie accepts despite serious misgivings due to the similar circumstances of Pussy's death. On the boat, Tony more aggressively questions Paulie about the joke leak, to which Paulie again denies involvement. Tony considers attacking Paulie with a bait knife when his back is turned. That night, Paulie has a dream in which he encounters Pussy, after which he frantically lifts weights. Upon returning to New Jersey, Paulie sends Tony and Carmela a $2,000 espresso machine. When she wonders why, Tony angrily says that they owe their lifestyle to the hard work of people like Paulie.
In New York City, Faustino "Doc" Santoro and his bodyguard are murdered in a hit arranged by Phil, who becomes the new boss of the Lupertazzi family. Elsewhere, at the Wyckoff mental care center, Junior is visited by his former soldiers Pat Blundetto and Beppy Scerbo and begs them to aid his escape. He returns to his old mob habits, bribing an orderly for special treatment and organizing an illicit poker game for other patients. However, the game is put to an end when Professor Lynch, a patient who Junior regularly teases, informs on him. Junior finds an admiring follower in a younger patient named Carter Chong, who has been institutionalized for his anger issues.
One day, Junior beats Professor Lynch in the presence of the staff and is given a new regimen of sedatives. Carter devises a plan to distract the orderlies handing out the pills to Junior so that he can covertly throw them away. Unfortunately, some of the drugs were meant to combat Junior's incontinence, and he soon humiliatingly urinates on himself. Correctly suspected of receiving bribes, Jameel is fired, and Junior is threatened with a transfer to a less pleasant, state-run mental facility if he does not take his medications. Junior complies with the treament, much to the disappointment of Carter. Junior tries to make amends, but refers to the young man as "Anthony." Later, when Carter throws wads of paper at a woman playing the piano, he becomes enraged when Junior disapproves and furiously attacks him. The episode ends with a catatonic Junior idly petting a cat while engaged in animal-assisted therapy outdoors.
Murders Committed
- Willie Overall: A bookie shot dead by Tony Soprano with a revolver on orders from "Johnny Boy" Soprano. Tony's very first murder at the age of 22. (A flashback from 1982)
- Faustino "Doc" Santoro: killed after leaving a massage parlor in New York City by multiple gunshots from a trio of gunmen on orders from Phil Leotardo to take over his Lupertazzi crime family boss's title and/or as a revenge for the Gerry Torciano murder and/or as payback for his insults done to Phil.
- Unnamed Bodyguard: killed alongside "Doc" Santoro.
Title reference
- Tony angrily describes "Remember when..." reminiscing as the lowest form of conversation.
- Many stories from the past are told in this episode, particularly from Paulie, most of them beginning with the phrase "Remember when...?"
- Junior briefly gets a taste of his old life while running his card game in the hospital.
- Could also refer to Junior's advancing stages of dementia and his increasing memory loss.
- A recurrent motif is Tony reminiscing about the disclosure of Ralph's insensitive joke to Johnny Sack.
Production
- "Remember When" was the career directorial debut of Phil Abraham, a longtime Sopranos cinematographer ever since the first season of the show. Abraham initially started only as a camera operator for the TV series.
- Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer and future star of Hamilton and In the Heights, makes a brief appearance in this episode as the bellman with whom Tony and Paulie briefly converse from the car.
Connections to prior episodes
- Paulie remembers the time Ralphie was obsessed with Gladiator and hit Georgie with a chain, which happened in the Season 3 episode "University".
- Tony repeatedly asks Paulie if he told Johnny Sack about the off-color joke that Ralph told about a mole on Ginny "Sack"'s posterior (in the episode "No Show"). Paulie denies this (Paulie actually did tell it to Johnny Sack, in the episode "Christopher").
- Beansie is a paraplegic and has to void in a bag due to the injuries he sustained when Richie Aprile ran over him in the Season 2 episode "Toodle Fucking-Oo.'"
- Tony recalls finding a painting of himself as a general at Paulie's house, which occurred in the Season 5 finale "All Due Respect").
- When Paulie boards a boat with Tony, this episode uses flashback scenes from the murder of Big Pussy on a boat, taken from the Season 2 finale "Funhouse."
Other cultural and historical references
- During the times Junior is in his room, he watches television. Shows that he watched in this episode included a Weather Channel documentary hosted by Jim Cantore, and The $25,000 Pyramid.
- When driving through Maryland near Washington, DC, Paulie asks, "Chevy Chase, whatever happened to him?" Paulie means the actor Chevy Chase but is actually looking at a road sign for the town Chevy Chase.
- Paulie mentions an incident when, after being pulled over, Tony's father tricked him into insulting a cop by saying his cousin was "on the job" and his name was Barney Fife.
- In his letter to Dick Cheney, Junior refers to the then-Vice President's 2006 hunting incident as an example of a gun discharge accident, which, Junior claims, is similar to his own "accidental" shooting of Tony Soprano.
- Junior's orderly Jameel sells his autographed photos on eBay.
- Tony, complaining about what a big mouth Paulie is, mutters "Gary Cooper," a reference to an actor known as "The Strong, Silent Type".
- When Tony hears Paulie laughing loudly, he leans over his balcony and sees Paulie sitting on his bed, watching the '70s sitcom Three's Company.
- As a diversion for Junior to covertly not take his drugs, Carter screams: "Where is my iPod?"
- The closing scene, which depicts Uncle Junior sitting on an outdoor chair, lost in thought, as the screen slowly fades to black, is possibly a nod to the closing scene of The Godfather Part II, which shows Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in a similar pose. Michael Corleone's father Vito Corleone was memorably depicted stroking a cat in The Godfather.
- Tony's tomato plants in his yard are highly reminiscent of the ones Vito Corleone had in his garden.
- The hit on Doc Santoro highly resembles the assassination of Paul Castellano.
Music
- The song playing on the radio as Tony and Paulie travel through the Fredericksburg, Virginia area (according to the station identification for WWUZ heard in this scene) was "Rock On", by David Essex.
- The instrumental piece played in the bar during Tony and Paulie's stop in Virginia is an instrumental version of I Just Wanna Stop by Gino Vannelli.
- The piano piece playing in the hotel canteen, when Tony tells Paulie off, is the theme for the movie Terms of Endearment, composed by Michael Gore.
- The song Junior sings with the other patients is Take Me Home, Country Roads, a song made famous in 1971 by John Denver.
- The instrumental piece played over the end credits is Sing, Sing, Sing (With a Swing) by the Benny Goodman Orchestra.
References
External links
- "Remember When" at HBO
- "Remember When" on IMDb
- "Remember When" at TV.com
Source of article : Wikipedia
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