WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.419 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Usually we take 00:00:02.419 --> 00:00:05.940 a wide -angle lens to a topic, a geopolitical 00:00:05.940 --> 00:00:09.220 shift, maybe a new tech trend, or a sprawling 00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:11.380 history of a specific industry. Right, the big 00:00:11.380 --> 00:00:13.460 picture stuff. Exactly, the big picture. But 00:00:13.460 --> 00:00:16.719 today... We are doing something entirely different. 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:18.920 We are zooming all the way in. We're taking a 00:00:18.920 --> 00:00:21.539 microscope to exactly 48 minutes of television 00:00:21.539 --> 00:00:25.239 that aired back in February of 1999. And honestly, 00:00:25.399 --> 00:00:28.260 if you are going to pick one single hour of television 00:00:28.260 --> 00:00:31.399 to completely overanalyze, this is the one. I 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:33.219 mean, it is arguably the most important hour 00:00:33.219 --> 00:00:35.380 in the history of the medium. That is a massive 00:00:35.380 --> 00:00:38.219 claim. But I agree. We are talking about The 00:00:38.219 --> 00:00:41.320 Sopranos, specifically the fifth episode of the 00:00:41.320 --> 00:00:43.719 very first season, an episode titled College. 00:00:44.240 --> 00:00:46.219 Yeah. Now, before we get too deep into the weeds 00:00:46.219 --> 00:00:48.420 here, let's establish the stakes for you listening, 00:00:48.520 --> 00:00:50.240 just to give you an idea of how highly regarded 00:00:50.240 --> 00:00:53.619 this is. Back in 2009, TV Guide released their 00:00:53.619 --> 00:00:55.820 list of the 100 greatest episodes of all time. 00:00:55.920 --> 00:00:58.320 A highly contested list, usually. Oh, always. 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:01.880 And usually those lists are dominated by massive 00:01:01.880 --> 00:01:05.299 series finales, you know, M .A .S. Cheers or 00:01:05.299 --> 00:01:08.140 huge cultural events like the moon landing coverage. 00:01:08.459 --> 00:01:10.900 But sitting right there at number two on that 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:14.579 list. It is even more impressive when you look 00:01:14.579 --> 00:01:17.840 at the internal rankings for just the show itself. 00:01:18.340 --> 00:01:21.120 Time magazine and Entertainment Weekly both rated 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:24.120 this as the single best episode of the entire 00:01:24.120 --> 00:01:26.829 Sopranos run. Which is wild when you think about 00:01:26.829 --> 00:01:28.590 it. It really is. Think about that. They didn't 00:01:28.590 --> 00:01:30.670 pick Pine Barrens with the Russian out in the 00:01:30.670 --> 00:01:32.989 snowy woods. They didn't pick the series finale 00:01:32.989 --> 00:01:35.829 with the infamous cut to black. They picked this 00:01:35.829 --> 00:01:38.709 mid -season, relatively quiet, almost bottle 00:01:38.709 --> 00:01:41.010 -like episode. So our mission today is to really 00:01:41.010 --> 00:01:44.310 unpack why. Why is this specific script considered 00:01:44.310 --> 00:01:46.430 the absolute turning point? We're going to dissect 00:01:46.430 --> 00:01:48.620 the two very distinct storylines here. The A 00:01:48.620 --> 00:01:50.900 story and the B story. Right. The A story, which 00:01:50.900 --> 00:01:52.939 is this father got a road trip that suddenly 00:01:52.939 --> 00:01:56.180 turns into a dark noir thriller. And the B story, 00:01:56.260 --> 00:01:58.560 which is basically a dark night of the soul involving 00:01:58.560 --> 00:02:01.560 Carmela Soprano and her local priest. And perhaps 00:02:01.560 --> 00:02:04.340 most importantly, we are going to look at the 00:02:04.340 --> 00:02:07.040 invisible war that happened behind the cameras. 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:09.979 Oh, yeah. The network battle. Because this episode 00:02:09.979 --> 00:02:12.729 almost didn't happen the way we saw it. There 00:02:12.729 --> 00:02:15.830 was this intense strategic battle between the 00:02:15.830 --> 00:02:18.770 creator, David Chase, and the executives at HBO 00:02:18.770 --> 00:02:21.389 that fundamentally changed the whole concept 00:02:21.389 --> 00:02:24.370 of what a television protagonist could be. Seriously, 00:02:24.509 --> 00:02:26.789 if the suits at the network had won that argument 00:02:26.789 --> 00:02:29.590 back in 99, we probably wouldn't have Walter 00:02:29.590 --> 00:02:31.849 White. We wouldn't have Don Draper. Exactly. 00:02:31.930 --> 00:02:34.530 The entire golden age of television basically 00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:37.449 rests on a decision made in the editing room 00:02:37.449 --> 00:02:40.689 for this specific hour of TV. Well, let's just 00:02:40.689 --> 00:02:42.310 jump right into it. Let's start with the A story. 00:02:42.509 --> 00:02:45.449 The setup is deceptively simple, right? Tony 00:02:45.449 --> 00:02:47.930 Soprano takes his teenage daughter, Meadow, up 00:02:47.930 --> 00:02:50.189 to Maine to visit prospective colleges. Right. 00:02:50.229 --> 00:02:52.550 They're looking at Bates, Colby, Boudoin. Yeah. 00:02:52.590 --> 00:02:55.590 Bates, Colby. It is a completely classic, wholesome, 00:02:55.650 --> 00:02:58.569 suburban rite of passage. A dad bonding with 00:02:58.569 --> 00:03:01.039 his daughter on a road trip. Structurally, this 00:03:01.039 --> 00:03:03.199 is what we call in the industry a bottle episode 00:03:03.199 --> 00:03:06.520 on wheels. You take two characters, you trap 00:03:06.520 --> 00:03:08.819 them in a confined space, in this case a luxury 00:03:08.819 --> 00:03:12.599 Lincoln Town car, and you literally force them 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:14.919 to talk. Because there's nowhere to hide. Exactly, 00:03:15.039 --> 00:03:17.939 nowhere to go. But the context here is what makes 00:03:17.939 --> 00:03:20.020 it so volatile. This isn't just an ordinary dad 00:03:20.020 --> 00:03:22.659 and a teenage daughter. This is a mafia boss 00:03:22.659 --> 00:03:26.240 and a highly intelligent, very observant teenager 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:29.259 who is just starting to realize that her incredibly 00:03:29.259 --> 00:03:31.180 comfortable life is built on something totally 00:03:31.180 --> 00:03:34.879 rotten. And that tension just snaps in, a scene 00:03:34.879 --> 00:03:37.319 that I think is permanently burned into the brains 00:03:37.319 --> 00:03:39.680 of anyone who watched it. They are driving along 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:42.560 this quiet, tree -lined road, and Meadow just 00:03:42.560 --> 00:03:44.990 turns to him and drops the hammer. Yep. She just 00:03:44.990 --> 00:03:47.669 asks him point blank, are you in the mafia? It 00:03:47.669 --> 00:03:49.610 is the big question. And we really have to pause 00:03:49.610 --> 00:03:52.229 here on why this was so revolutionary for TV. 00:03:52.650 --> 00:03:55.449 In the genre of crime drama prior to this, if 00:03:55.449 --> 00:03:57.770 you think about The Godfather or Goodfellas, 00:03:57.770 --> 00:04:00.949 the family dynamic almost always relies on this 00:04:00.949 --> 00:04:03.069 willful ignorance. Right. The wives and the kids 00:04:03.069 --> 00:04:05.050 just know not to ask where the money comes from. 00:04:05.289 --> 00:04:08.409 Exactly. There is a strict social contract of 00:04:08.409 --> 00:04:11.530 silence. By asking that specific question out 00:04:11.530 --> 00:04:14.610 loud, Meadow is breaching that contract. She 00:04:14.610 --> 00:04:16.970 is basically demanding that the subtext of their 00:04:16.970 --> 00:04:20.170 entire lives become text. And Tony's reaction 00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:22.829 is just fascinating to watch. James Gandolfini 00:04:22.829 --> 00:04:25.230 plays it with this perfectly flustered, incredibly 00:04:25.230 --> 00:04:27.910 defensive energy. Oh, it's brilliant. His first 00:04:27.910 --> 00:04:30.949 instinct is just a standard reflexive lie. He 00:04:30.949 --> 00:04:32.970 denies it completely. He says, I'm in the waste 00:04:32.970 --> 00:04:34.740 management business. Everyone is. He assumes 00:04:34.740 --> 00:04:36.100 you're mobbed up just because you're Italian. 00:04:36.199 --> 00:04:38.579 He immediately plays the victim card. Yes. He 00:04:38.579 --> 00:04:41.160 goes straight into full dad denial mode. But 00:04:41.160 --> 00:04:43.699 Meadow doesn't buy a word of it. She pushes back 00:04:43.699 --> 00:04:46.819 hard. She cites the late nights, the wads of 00:04:46.819 --> 00:04:49.180 cash around the house, the lavish lifestyle. 00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:52.100 She is essentially a prosecuting attorney presenting 00:04:52.100 --> 00:04:54.759 evidence in the passenger seat. And this forces 00:04:54.759 --> 00:04:57.759 Tony to make a really rapid calculation. He realizes 00:04:57.759 --> 00:05:00.620 the old lies, the waste management stuff, it 00:05:00.620 --> 00:05:03.000 just won't work anymore. She's way too smart 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:06.480 for that. So he attempts what what intelligence 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.199 circles called a limited hangout, a limited hangout. 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:12.060 Yeah, it's a spy craft term. When you are caught 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:15.459 in a lie, you admit to a very small, partial 00:05:15.459 --> 00:05:19.079 truth to satisfy the interrogator. And hopefully. 00:05:19.769 --> 00:05:22.509 cover up the massive, much more damaging lie. 00:05:22.670 --> 00:05:24.649 Oh, right. You give them a crumb, so they stop 00:05:24.649 --> 00:05:26.329 looking for the whole loaf of bread. That is 00:05:26.329 --> 00:05:28.350 a perfect way to describe it. So in this case, 00:05:28.410 --> 00:05:30.709 Tony admits that, yes, some of his income comes 00:05:30.709 --> 00:05:33.610 from illegal gambling. And as he delicately puts 00:05:33.610 --> 00:05:36.149 it, other activities. Other activities. That 00:05:36.149 --> 00:05:38.529 phrase is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It really 00:05:38.529 --> 00:05:41.579 is. But he validates her suspicion just enough 00:05:41.579 --> 00:05:43.759 to make her feel respected. He makes her feel 00:05:43.759 --> 00:05:46.139 like she is finally in the know. But he does 00:05:46.139 --> 00:05:48.639 this without actually admitting to being an extortionist 00:05:48.639 --> 00:05:51.139 or racketeer or, you know, a murderer. Right. 00:05:51.199 --> 00:05:53.740 He reframes his entire criminal empire as something 00:05:53.740 --> 00:05:56.870 almost benign. Just some underground poker games 00:05:56.870 --> 00:05:58.750 and cutting a few corners here and there. And 00:05:58.750 --> 00:06:00.850 it works. Meadow seems almost relieved to hear 00:06:00.850 --> 00:06:03.269 it. Because the door to honesty has finally been 00:06:03.269 --> 00:06:05.730 cracked open. Yeah. And she feels compelled to 00:06:05.730 --> 00:06:08.329 walk through it, too. This is that basic psychological 00:06:08.329 --> 00:06:11.430 principle of reciprocity. Yeah. He gave her a 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:13.550 piece of the truth, so she feels she owes him 00:06:13.550 --> 00:06:17.519 one. And her truth is a bombshell. She confesses 00:06:17.519 --> 00:06:19.980 that she took speed methamphetamine to stay up 00:06:19.980 --> 00:06:23.000 and study for her SATs. Which is just a narrative 00:06:23.000 --> 00:06:24.920 grenade to throw into the car. You have this 00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:27.560 mob boss who literally beats and kills people 00:06:27.560 --> 00:06:30.319 for a living, suddenly clutching his pearls because 00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:33.519 his high school daughter tried drugs. The hypocrisy 00:06:33.519 --> 00:06:37.459 is just... It is beautiful, hilarious hypocrisy. 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:40.839 Tony drops the tough gangster mask entirely and 00:06:40.839 --> 00:06:44.240 just becomes the terrified, angry, suburban dad. 00:06:44.579 --> 00:06:47.560 He is furious. He is. But look at Meadow's reaction 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.959 to his anger. She completely stands her ground, 00:06:50.100 --> 00:06:52.540 he demands to know who gave her the drugs, and 00:06:52.540 --> 00:06:55.160 she refuses to rat out her friend. Which, ironically, 00:06:55.300 --> 00:06:57.079 is the most mafia thing she does in the entire 00:06:57.079 --> 00:06:59.540 episode. Exactly. She adheres strictly to the 00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:02.019 code of silence. It's Omerta in the passenger 00:07:02.019 --> 00:07:04.509 seat of a Lincoln. Precisely. And the source 00:07:04.509 --> 00:07:06.129 material notes something really critical here 00:07:06.129 --> 00:07:08.370 about the aftermath of this argument. By the 00:07:08.370 --> 00:07:10.310 end of this conversation, despite the yelling 00:07:10.310 --> 00:07:12.870 about the meth, the vibe in the car isn't hostile 00:07:12.870 --> 00:07:15.100 at all. No, it's actually really peaceful. There 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:17.800 is a deep sense of mutual honesty on difficult 00:07:17.800 --> 00:07:20.800 topics. They have basically popped this blister 00:07:20.800 --> 00:07:22.759 of tension that had been building for the first 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:25.839 four episodes of the series. They feel closer 00:07:25.839 --> 00:07:27.579 than ever because they believe they are finally 00:07:27.579 --> 00:07:30.160 seeing each other clearly. It's a total seduction 00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:32.779 of the audience, really. The show seduces you 00:07:32.779 --> 00:07:34.680 into thinking you are just watching a quirky 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:37.720 family drama. We are watching a father and daughter 00:07:37.720 --> 00:07:41.360 bond over their flaws, and then wham, the genre 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:43.959 completely shifts. We enter a high -stakes thriller. 00:07:44.480 --> 00:07:46.579 The inciting incident for that shift happens 00:07:46.579 --> 00:07:49.160 at a random gas station. Tony is just pumping 00:07:49.160 --> 00:07:51.740 gas, looking around, and he sees a face across 00:07:51.740 --> 00:07:55.259 the way. Fabian Petrullio. Febby. Now, for the 00:07:55.259 --> 00:07:57.319 listener who hasn't totally memorized the DeMeo 00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:00.399 crime family tree, who exactly is Febby? Febby 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:02.819 is basically a ghost. He was a former member 00:08:02.819 --> 00:08:04.639 of the crime family who turned state's evidence. 00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:07.939 A rat? He testified against the family, entered 00:08:07.939 --> 00:08:10.439 the Federal Witness Protection Program, and supposedly 00:08:10.439 --> 00:08:13.899 vanished into normal, everyday America. So Tony 00:08:13.899 --> 00:08:16.459 spotting him at a random rural gas station in 00:08:16.459 --> 00:08:19.199 the middle of nowhere is statistically highly 00:08:19.199 --> 00:08:22.939 unlikely. Highly unlikely, yes. But narratively, 00:08:22.939 --> 00:08:26.079 it represents fate. It is the past coming up 00:08:26.079 --> 00:08:28.579 to Maine to collect a debt. Tony just stares 00:08:28.579 --> 00:08:31.850 at him. He isn't... Completely sure at first. 00:08:31.930 --> 00:08:34.429 So he does what any normal suburban dad would 00:08:34.429 --> 00:08:37.230 do. He goes to a payphone and calls his mobster 00:08:37.230 --> 00:08:40.149 nephew, Christopher Moltisanti, to run an illegal 00:08:40.149 --> 00:08:42.289 background check on a license plate. And Chris 00:08:42.289 --> 00:08:45.090 runs it, and the plate comes back to a guy named 00:08:45.090 --> 00:08:48.929 Fred Peters. Fred Peters. Fabian Petrillo. FP. 00:08:49.070 --> 00:08:51.429 It is an incredibly lazy alias. It's actually 00:08:51.429 --> 00:08:54.750 a really subtle dig by the writers at the incompetence 00:08:54.750 --> 00:08:56.490 of the witness protection program. Just keeping 00:08:56.490 --> 00:08:58.769 the same initials. Right. But it confirms the 00:08:58.769 --> 00:09:01.490 identity for Tony. And now Tony has a massive 00:09:01.490 --> 00:09:03.750 immediate problem. He is on a wholesome schedule 00:09:03.750 --> 00:09:06.690 packed college tour. He is actively playing the 00:09:06.690 --> 00:09:09.340 role of the good attentive father. But he has 00:09:09.340 --> 00:09:12.240 just located a man who, by the rigid, unforgiving 00:09:12.240 --> 00:09:15.139 rules of his organization, absolutely must die. 00:09:15.299 --> 00:09:17.519 Because there is no statute of limitations on 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:20.279 being a rat. This right here is the core tension 00:09:20.279 --> 00:09:23.059 of the entire episode. The duality of Tony Soprano. 00:09:23.120 --> 00:09:25.600 Can you be dad and executioner in the exact same 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:28.840 weekend? In the exact same hour, really. Tony 00:09:28.840 --> 00:09:31.259 resolves that he has to kill him. But he has 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:33.799 to somehow schedule this premeditated murder 00:09:33.799 --> 00:09:36.700 around his daughter's college admissions interviews. 00:09:36.879 --> 00:09:39.080 It becomes this really dark comedy of scheduling. 00:09:39.299 --> 00:09:41.940 Yes. He drops her off to meet some alumni students 00:09:41.940 --> 00:09:44.539 at Colby College. And while she is sitting there 00:09:44.539 --> 00:09:46.360 having coffee and casually talking about dorm 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:49.600 life, he literally goes hunting for a human being. 00:09:49.720 --> 00:09:53.210 He tracks Febby down. to his new workplace which 00:09:53.210 --> 00:09:55.990 turns out to be a small local travel agency and 00:09:55.990 --> 00:09:58.570 there is a very specific visual detail here that 00:09:58.570 --> 00:10:01.250 confirms the identity beyond a shadow of a doubt 00:10:01.250 --> 00:10:05.210 for tony the bust right the sculpture febby was 00:10:05.210 --> 00:10:07.629 known back in new jersey as a hobbyist sculptor 00:10:07.629 --> 00:10:09.950 tony peeks through the window of the travel agency 00:10:09.950 --> 00:10:12.470 and sees a carved bust sitting right there on 00:10:12.470 --> 00:10:15.409 a desk visual confirmation Target acquired. Target 00:10:15.409 --> 00:10:17.269 acquired. But this is where the episode completely 00:10:17.269 --> 00:10:20.149 elevates itself above a standard mob hit story. 00:10:20.370 --> 00:10:22.250 This isn't a one -way street. Febby isn't just 00:10:22.250 --> 00:10:24.610 a clueless target. He is an ex -mobster himself. 00:10:25.049 --> 00:10:27.110 He still has all the paranoid instincts of a 00:10:27.110 --> 00:10:29.769 predator. He senses he is being watched. He looks 00:10:29.769 --> 00:10:32.509 out the window, and he actually spots Tony. And 00:10:32.509 --> 00:10:35.990 suddenly, the dynamic flips. The hunter becomes 00:10:35.990 --> 00:10:38.870 the hunted. Which leads to the scene at the motel, 00:10:38.870 --> 00:10:40.889 which I genuinely think is one of the most terrifying, 00:10:41.169 --> 00:10:43.230 suspenseful moments of that entire first season. 00:10:43.250 --> 00:10:45.590 Oh, without a doubt. Febby tracks Tony back to 00:10:45.590 --> 00:10:47.870 the motel. He is standing outside their room 00:10:47.870 --> 00:10:50.470 in the dark, in the rain, holding a handgun. 00:10:51.029 --> 00:10:54.190 Tony is sound asleep inside. Meadow is asleep 00:10:54.190 --> 00:10:57.210 in the next bed. It is a complete and total inversion 00:10:57.210 --> 00:11:00.289 of power. Febby has the absolute shock on him. 00:11:00.700 --> 00:11:03.100 He slowly raises the weapon. He could end the 00:11:03.100 --> 00:11:05.539 entire Tony Soprano story right there in episode 00:11:05.539 --> 00:11:08.639 five. We are looking directly at the extreme 00:11:08.639 --> 00:11:11.220 fragility of this protagonist. So the big question 00:11:11.220 --> 00:11:13.039 is, why doesn't he pull the trigger? He has the 00:11:13.039 --> 00:11:15.580 shot. Collateral damage. He looks through the 00:11:15.580 --> 00:11:18.039 gap in the curtains and he sees Meadow. And then 00:11:18.039 --> 00:11:20.559 at the exact same time, he sees two other motel 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:22.460 guests winding by on the balcony with an ice 00:11:22.460 --> 00:11:25.600 bucket. Just completely oblivious, innocent bystanders. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:29.539 Exactly. The sheer risk of having witnesses and 00:11:29.539 --> 00:11:31.659 specifically the presence of an innocent child 00:11:31.659 --> 00:11:34.899 in the line of fire is what stays his hand. He 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:38.500 lowers the gun. It is a fascinating, ironic moment 00:11:38.500 --> 00:11:42.360 where Tony's biological family, his literal daughter, 00:11:42.600 --> 00:11:45.559 unknowingly protects him from the deadly consequences 00:11:45.559 --> 00:11:48.179 of his business family. If Meadow wasn't in that 00:11:48.179 --> 00:11:51.340 room, Tony Soprano would be dead. 100%. That 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:53.019 is a chilling thought when you really sit with 00:11:53.019 --> 00:11:56.340 it. So Tony survives the night, completely oblivious 00:11:56.340 --> 00:11:58.279 that he was inches away from getting his brains 00:11:58.279 --> 00:12:01.259 blown out. The next morning, the sun is up. It's 00:12:01.259 --> 00:12:03.779 a brunk new day. He drops Meadow off for her 00:12:03.779 --> 00:12:07.159 interview at Bedouin College. And now the clock 00:12:07.159 --> 00:12:09.559 is ticking. He only has a small window of opportunity 00:12:09.559 --> 00:12:12.179 before she finishes her tour. This is the climax 00:12:12.179 --> 00:12:14.519 of the Ace story. Tony drives straight back to 00:12:14.519 --> 00:12:17.149 the travel agency. Febi is there alone. And what 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:19.210 happens next is so important to television history 00:12:19.210 --> 00:12:21.850 because of exactly how it is depicted. This isn't 00:12:21.850 --> 00:12:24.730 some stylized, slow motion, cool shootout. Tony 00:12:24.730 --> 00:12:27.570 doesn't use a silencer. No, he uses a wire. He 00:12:27.570 --> 00:12:30.460 literally garrots him from behind. It is incredibly 00:12:30.460 --> 00:12:33.519 visceral. It is a desperate, messy struggle. 00:12:33.980 --> 00:12:36.559 Tony is physically wrestling the life out of 00:12:36.559 --> 00:12:39.039 this man with his bare hands. He is grunting. 00:12:39.100 --> 00:12:41.360 He is sweating. He is staring directly into the 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:43.879 guy's eyes as the life literally drains out of 00:12:43.879 --> 00:12:47.299 them. The direction of this scene heavily emphasizes 00:12:47.299 --> 00:12:50.200 the sheer labor of killing a human being. It 00:12:50.200 --> 00:12:52.240 strips away all the Hollywood glamour of the 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:55.580 mafia. It's ugly. It's hard. It's brutal physical 00:12:55.580 --> 00:12:57.679 work. And immediately after doing this, after 00:12:57.679 --> 00:13:00.009 engaging in this, incredibly brutal, intimate 00:13:00.009 --> 00:13:03.029 act of violence. He has to go wash up, get back 00:13:03.029 --> 00:13:05.129 into Lincoln, and pick up his teenage daughter. 00:13:05.289 --> 00:13:07.210 He has to completely switch his code and his 00:13:07.210 --> 00:13:09.590 entire persona instantly. But the transition 00:13:09.590 --> 00:13:11.789 isn't seamless, and this brings us right back 00:13:11.789 --> 00:13:13.610 to that theme of honesty that we started the 00:13:13.610 --> 00:13:16.460 trip with. Meadow gets in the car. She is highly 00:13:16.460 --> 00:13:19.379 observant. She looks over at him, and she sees 00:13:19.379 --> 00:13:22.039 mud on his expensive leather shoes. And she sees 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:24.179 a fresh, bleeding cut on his hand from where 00:13:24.179 --> 00:13:26.059 the wire dug in. She asks him what happened, 00:13:26.100 --> 00:13:27.740 and this is the real tragedy of the episode, 00:13:27.820 --> 00:13:30.299 even more than the murder. Tony lies to her. 00:13:30.440 --> 00:13:33.799 He concocts this incredibly flimsy story about 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:35.759 slipping in the mud or hitting his hand on something. 00:13:36.279 --> 00:13:40.799 And Meadow, she just looks at him. You can see 00:13:40.799 --> 00:13:43.259 it entirely in her eyes. She absolutely knows 00:13:43.259 --> 00:13:46.409 he is lying. And this is the crucial turning 00:13:46.409 --> 00:13:49.110 point for her character. She chooses not to press 00:13:49.110 --> 00:13:51.970 it. That silence in the car is absolutely deafening. 00:13:52.009 --> 00:13:54.809 The grand pact of mutual honesty that they made 00:13:54.809 --> 00:13:57.490 the day before, it's broken immediately. She 00:13:57.490 --> 00:13:59.970 realizes that to keep her father, to keep the 00:13:59.970 --> 00:14:02.710 peace in the lifestyle, she has to actively accept 00:14:02.710 --> 00:14:05.399 his lie. It heavily implies that their relationship 00:14:05.399 --> 00:14:08.179 can only really exist if she agrees to be fully 00:14:08.179 --> 00:14:10.980 complicit in his deception. She effectively signs 00:14:10.980 --> 00:14:13.519 the exact same contract of willful ignorance 00:14:13.519 --> 00:14:15.980 that she tried so hard to tear up at the beginning 00:14:15.980 --> 00:14:18.139 of the drive. There's a great piece of analysis 00:14:18.139 --> 00:14:20.440 from the television critic Alan Sepinwall about 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:22.840 a very specific shot during this quiet ride home. 00:14:23.059 --> 00:14:25.779 Tony is driving and he finds himself staring 00:14:25.779 --> 00:14:27.559 up through the windshield at a clock of ducks 00:14:27.559 --> 00:14:30.740 flying overhead. The ducks! Such a massive recurring 00:14:30.740 --> 00:14:33.360 motif for Tony, starting right from the pilot 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:35.820 episode. Sepinwall argues that in this specific 00:14:35.820 --> 00:14:38.559 moment, the ducks stand in for these feelings 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:41.200 of pure family and peace that remain, quote, 00:14:41.659 --> 00:14:44.320 forever beyond his grasp. He desperately wants 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:46.259 to just be the guy watching the birds. He wants 00:14:46.259 --> 00:14:48.600 to just be the normal suburban dad. But his hands 00:14:48.600 --> 00:14:51.220 are literally cut and bleeding from strangling 00:14:51.220 --> 00:14:54.919 a man to death. It is a stunning visual juxtaposition. 00:14:55.179 --> 00:14:57.379 And what's amazing is that while all of this 00:14:57.379 --> 00:14:59.779 incredibly high stakes, literal life and death 00:14:59.779 --> 00:15:02.360 violence is happening up in Maine or what is 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:04.720 supposed to be Maine, we have a completely different 00:15:04.720 --> 00:15:07.620 kind of drama unfolding back home in New Jersey. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:10.620 Right. The B story. Carmela Soprano and Father 00:15:10.620 --> 00:15:13.049 Phil. This storyline is definitely quieter. It's 00:15:13.049 --> 00:15:14.990 mostly in one room, but in a lot of ways, it 00:15:14.990 --> 00:15:17.590 is just as intense. It creates a perfect thematic 00:15:17.590 --> 00:15:19.830 mirror to what Tony is doing on the road. So 00:15:19.830 --> 00:15:21.990 set the scene for the listener here. It is a 00:15:21.990 --> 00:15:24.629 dark, rainy night in North Jersey. Their son, 00:15:24.730 --> 00:15:26.809 AJ, is sleeping over at a friend's house, so 00:15:26.809 --> 00:15:29.029 Carmela is completely home alone in this massive 00:15:29.029 --> 00:15:32.049 house. And Father Phil Intantola, the family 00:15:32.049 --> 00:15:34.289 priest, just happens to drop by. Father Phil, 00:15:34.409 --> 00:15:37.950 the ultimate schnorrer priest. He always seems 00:15:37.950 --> 00:15:40.309 to miraculously show up right when the food is 00:15:40.309 --> 00:15:42.649 hot and the expensive wine is uncorked. He is 00:15:42.649 --> 00:15:45.389 a total spiritual parasite. He absolutely loves 00:15:45.389 --> 00:15:47.690 the perks of his parish, the baked ziti, the 00:15:47.690 --> 00:15:50.409 imported wine, the constant adoration of these 00:15:50.409 --> 00:15:54.370 wealthy mob wives. So he comes in and he and 00:15:54.370 --> 00:15:57.570 Carmela create this weirdly intimate domestic 00:15:57.570 --> 00:16:00.409 atmosphere. It honestly feels like a date. It 00:16:00.409 --> 00:16:02.509 does. The fire is going, the wine is flowing, 00:16:02.629 --> 00:16:04.809 they're eating together. And then the catalyst 00:16:04.809 --> 00:16:08.559 happens. The phone rings. It's Dr. Melfi's office 00:16:08.559 --> 00:16:10.860 calling the house to reschedule Tony's therapy 00:16:10.860 --> 00:16:13.539 appointment. Now, up until this exact moment, 00:16:13.720 --> 00:16:15.960 Carmela knew Tony was seeing a psychiatrist, 00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:17.899 but she didn't know who it was. She thought it 00:16:17.899 --> 00:16:20.539 was a man. In taking this phone call, she discovers 00:16:20.539 --> 00:16:23.000 for the very first time that Dr. Melfi is, in 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:25.460 fact, a woman, Jennifer Melfi. Oh, the bomb drops. 00:16:26.120 --> 00:16:28.379 Carmela immediately jumps to the absolute worst 00:16:28.379 --> 00:16:31.080 case scenario. She completely assumes the therapy 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:33.899 is just a convenient cover for an affair. she 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:36.600 is totally devastated she feels betrayed and 00:16:36.600 --> 00:16:39.240 humiliated and she is sitting there on the couch 00:16:39.240 --> 00:16:41.639 with a man who is supposed to be her spiritual 00:16:41.639 --> 00:16:45.519 guide but who is clearly actively attracted to 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:48.940 her this turns into a very strange very raw confession 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:51.840 scene she isn't in a wooden booth at the church 00:16:52.360 --> 00:16:55.100 She's in her own dimly lit living room, half 00:16:55.100 --> 00:16:58.100 drunk on wine, crying and confessing her deepest 00:16:58.100 --> 00:17:00.639 fears. She talks about the danger to her family. 00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:02.960 She talks about the morality of her life. She 00:17:02.960 --> 00:17:04.980 essentially admits out loud that she knows her 00:17:04.980 --> 00:17:07.400 entire lavish lifestyle is funded by blood money, 00:17:07.480 --> 00:17:10.779 but she accepts it anyway. And Father, he blurs 00:17:10.779 --> 00:17:13.140 the professional boundaries so dangerously here. 00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:15.299 He actually administers communion to her right 00:17:15.299 --> 00:17:17.380 there in the living room. That scene has always 00:17:17.380 --> 00:17:19.819 struck me as incredibly charged. It's almost 00:17:19.819 --> 00:17:23.269 uncomfortable to watch. It is a total sacrilegious 00:17:23.269 --> 00:17:27.190 blurring of lines. It is staged and shot almost 00:17:27.190 --> 00:17:29.950 exactly like a sex scene. He administers the 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:32.049 sacrament, she drinks the wine, and then he drains 00:17:32.049 --> 00:17:34.470 the rest of the cup. It represents an intense 00:17:34.470 --> 00:17:37.109 intimacy that is completely forbidding for him. 00:17:37.309 --> 00:17:39.230 And then they both fall asleep on the sofa together. 00:17:39.759 --> 00:17:41.880 They wake up a few hours later in that weird 00:17:41.880 --> 00:17:44.460 middle -of -the -night haze. The fire is dying 00:17:44.460 --> 00:17:47.299 down to embers. The sexual tension in the room 00:17:47.299 --> 00:17:49.900 is just screaming. They are inches apart on the 00:17:49.900 --> 00:17:51.819 cushions. They are leaning in, about to kiss. 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:54.420 The tension is palpable. You think they are actually 00:17:54.420 --> 00:17:57.420 going to cross the line, but then the turn happens. 00:17:57.680 --> 00:17:59.980 Father Phil suddenly stops. He just freezes, 00:18:00.119 --> 00:18:02.619 pulls away in a panic, runs to the guest bathroom, 00:18:02.779 --> 00:18:05.880 and he vomits. The wretch. It is such a visceral, 00:18:05.980 --> 00:18:08.799 incredibly unglamorous reaction to a romantic 00:18:08.799 --> 00:18:10.839 moment. Why does he do that? Is it just too much 00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:13.460 wine on an empty stomach? It is likely a mix 00:18:13.460 --> 00:18:15.980 of the alcohol, sure, but mostly it's a severe 00:18:15.980 --> 00:18:18.819 physiological reaction to his own moral hypocrisy. 00:18:18.940 --> 00:18:21.140 He desperately wanted the emotional intimacy. 00:18:21.400 --> 00:18:23.279 He wanted the intense adoration from her. He 00:18:23.279 --> 00:18:25.559 wanted to play house with Carmela. But when it 00:18:25.559 --> 00:18:27.559 actually came dangerously close to committing 00:18:27.559 --> 00:18:29.859 the physical sin of sex, his body completely 00:18:29.859 --> 00:18:32.420 rejected the situation. He is a man who wants 00:18:32.420 --> 00:18:34.339 to stand right next to the fire to get warm, 00:18:34.480 --> 00:18:38.740 but absolutely refuses to get burned. It is so 00:18:38.740 --> 00:18:41.019 interesting to contrast these two men, Tony and 00:18:41.019 --> 00:18:43.819 Father Phil. Television critics really love to 00:18:43.819 --> 00:18:45.940 compare their actions in this specific episode. 00:18:46.220 --> 00:18:48.359 Emily St. James wrote a truly brilliant piece 00:18:48.359 --> 00:18:50.819 on this for the A .V. Club. She calls the entire 00:18:50.819 --> 00:18:53.500 episode a meditation on what it means to choose 00:18:53.500 --> 00:18:56.279 the easy path every single time. How so, though? 00:18:56.339 --> 00:18:58.900 Because Tony just physically wrestled a man to 00:18:58.900 --> 00:19:00.740 death with a wire. That did not look physically 00:19:00.740 --> 00:19:03.660 easy. Physically, no, it was exhausting. But 00:19:03.660 --> 00:19:06.400 morally. Killing the rat is actually the easy 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:09.319 solution for Tony. It solves his problem definitively. 00:19:09.319 --> 00:19:11.640 It completely removes the threat to his freedom. 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:15.400 It requires zero emotional nuance, zero negotiation. 00:19:15.759 --> 00:19:18.980 He just blindly follows his mafia code. It is 00:19:18.980 --> 00:19:21.480 the path of least moral resistance for his conscience. 00:19:21.799 --> 00:19:24.539 And Father Phil, how is he taking the easy path? 00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:26.970 Father Phil is also taking the easy way out. 00:19:27.009 --> 00:19:29.410 He constantly seeks out the emotional and physical 00:19:29.410 --> 00:19:31.390 benefits of a relationship with Carmela, the 00:19:31.390 --> 00:19:34.150 amazing food, the domestic comfort, the massive 00:19:34.150 --> 00:19:36.349 ego boost of having this powerful woman seek 00:19:36.349 --> 00:19:38.730 his guidance. But he wants all of that without 00:19:38.730 --> 00:19:41.009 the heavy cost of actually breaking his vows 00:19:41.009 --> 00:19:43.170 or facing the harsh reality of who she really 00:19:43.170 --> 00:19:46.109 is. Both men are just indulging their baseline 00:19:46.109 --> 00:19:48.529 impulses while desperately trying to maintain 00:19:48.529 --> 00:19:51.150 a fake veneer of righteousness. Wow. So next 00:19:51.150 --> 00:19:52.990 morning, the sun comes up in Jersey, just like 00:19:52.990 --> 00:19:55.890 it did up in Maine. Carmela is stone cold sober 00:19:55.890 --> 00:19:58.369 now. The spell is broken. She looks at him and 00:19:58.369 --> 00:20:01.289 says very firmly, we didn't do anything. She 00:20:01.289 --> 00:20:03.990 is drawing a hard boundary in the cold light 00:20:03.990 --> 00:20:06.910 of day. But when Tony finally returns home from 00:20:06.910 --> 00:20:09.650 the college trip later that day, the two storylines 00:20:09.650 --> 00:20:12.509 violently collide. Carmela immediately tells 00:20:12.509 --> 00:20:14.670 Tony that Father Phil stayed over the night before. 00:20:14.869 --> 00:20:18.359 Which is... Such a massive power move. She knows 00:20:18.359 --> 00:20:20.680 exactly how suspicious that sounds to a guy like 00:20:20.680 --> 00:20:24.000 Tony. It is a calculated preemptive strike. She 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.000 tells him before he can possibly find out from 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.759 a neighbor or someone else. And naturally, Tony 00:20:28.759 --> 00:20:31.160 gets instantly defensive and sarcastic about 00:20:31.160 --> 00:20:33.799 the priest sleeping on his couch. But Carmela 00:20:33.799 --> 00:20:36.140 has the ultimate trump card ready to play. The 00:20:36.140 --> 00:20:38.799 phone call. Exactly. She reveals that she knows 00:20:38.799 --> 00:20:42.119 all about Dr. Melfi. She uses that phone call 00:20:42.119 --> 00:20:44.980 as heavy ammunition to completely neutralize 00:20:44.980 --> 00:20:47.779 Tony's anger about the priest. It is a pure stalemate. 00:20:47.779 --> 00:20:50.079 It's mutually assured destruction in a marriage. 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:52.759 Exactly. They both have these dark secrets. They 00:20:52.759 --> 00:20:54.779 both literally and metaphorically have mud on 00:20:54.779 --> 00:20:56.700 their shoes, so they just retreat to their respective 00:20:56.700 --> 00:20:59.779 corners. The marital status quo is preserved 00:20:59.779 --> 00:21:02.619 purely through mutual blackmail. Now, I want 00:21:02.619 --> 00:21:04.740 to pivot a bit to the industry side of this episode. 00:21:05.180 --> 00:21:08.259 We teased that huge battle between David Chase 00:21:08.259 --> 00:21:11.380 and HBO at the top of the show. Why was the network 00:21:11.380 --> 00:21:13.539 a network that was already known for pushing 00:21:13.539 --> 00:21:16.960 boundaries? so terrified of this specific script. 00:21:17.160 --> 00:21:19.539 You really have to remember the television landscape 00:21:19.539 --> 00:21:23.400 of 1999. We were coming out of an era where TV 00:21:23.400 --> 00:21:25.799 protagonists, even the flawed ones, were fundamentally 00:21:25.799 --> 00:21:29.000 likable. Even the gritty antiheroes like Andy 00:21:29.000 --> 00:21:31.839 Sipogitz on NYPD Blue, they were ultimately on 00:21:31.839 --> 00:21:34.079 the side of the angels. They had a core moral 00:21:34.079 --> 00:21:36.220 code that the audience generally agreed with. 00:21:36.299 --> 00:21:38.539 So the HBO executives read the script for college 00:21:38.539 --> 00:21:40.819 and they completely panicked. Specifically about 00:21:40.819 --> 00:21:44.119 the premeditated murder of Febby. Yes. specifically 00:21:44.119 --> 00:21:46.680 the murder. They went to David Chase and basically 00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:49.680 said, look, you have spent four entire episodes 00:21:49.680 --> 00:21:52.359 carefully building Tony up as a highly sympathetic 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:54.799 character. We see him feeding the ducks in his 00:21:54.799 --> 00:21:57.099 pool. We see him being tender with his kids. 00:21:57.240 --> 00:21:59.720 We see him suffering from debilitating panic 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:04.519 attacks. The audience relates to him. If he savagely 00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:06.599 kills this guy in cold blood, especially while 00:22:06.599 --> 00:22:08.759 he is on a wholesome college trip with his daughter, 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:11.200 the audience is going to permanently turn on 00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:13.299 him. They thought people would just tune out. 00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:15.059 They thought people would hate him. They said, 00:22:15.140 --> 00:22:18.200 we will lose our hero. We were basically terrified 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:20.299 of breaking the save the cat rule. Exactly. Save 00:22:20.299 --> 00:22:23.119 the cat is a very famous screenwriting term coined 00:22:23.119 --> 00:22:25.880 by Blake Snyder. It dictates that when you introduce 00:22:25.880 --> 00:22:28.160 a hero, they have to do something demonstrably 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:30.880 nice early on, like literally saving a cat from 00:22:30.880 --> 00:22:33.039 a tree so the audience instinctively likes them 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:35.359 and roots for them. HBO desperately wanted Tony 00:22:35.359 --> 00:22:37.299 to save the cat here. They wanted him to just 00:22:37.299 --> 00:22:39.559 let Febby go, maybe stalk him, maybe scare him, 00:22:39.619 --> 00:22:41.819 maybe beat him up a bit, but ultimately... show 00:22:41.819 --> 00:22:44.380 mercy and let him live. So what was David Chase's 00:22:44.380 --> 00:22:47.319 argument against that? Because he obviously didn't 00:22:47.319 --> 00:22:50.359 back down. Chase completely flipped their logic 00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:52.859 on its head. It was brilliant. He told the executives, 00:22:53.119 --> 00:22:55.400 the audience will not turn on him if he kills 00:22:55.400 --> 00:22:57.380 the rat. They will turn on him if he doesn't 00:22:57.380 --> 00:22:59.400 kill the rat. Wait, if he didn't do it, they 00:22:59.400 --> 00:23:02.200 would hate him for showing mercy. Yes. Chase's 00:23:02.200 --> 00:23:05.529 core logic was that Tony is a mafia boss. That 00:23:05.529 --> 00:23:08.210 is his chosen profession. That is his entire 00:23:08.210 --> 00:23:11.990 life. If a ruthless mafia Don somehow finds a 00:23:11.990 --> 00:23:14.029 known snitch and just lets him walk away simply 00:23:14.029 --> 00:23:16.109 because he happens to be on a college tour with 00:23:16.109 --> 00:23:19.069 his kid, he looks incredibly weak. He looks incompetent 00:23:19.069 --> 00:23:21.430 at his job. Chase argued that the television 00:23:21.430 --> 00:23:23.769 audience actually craves competence and realism 00:23:23.769 --> 00:23:26.369 far more than they crave traditional morality. 00:23:26.609 --> 00:23:29.670 That is such a brilliant, cynical insight into 00:23:29.670 --> 00:23:32.440 human nature. We root for competence. We just 00:23:32.440 --> 00:23:33.920 want to see people be really good at whatever 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:35.819 their job is, even if that job happens to be 00:23:35.819 --> 00:23:38.299 murder. And Chase won the decision, obviously. 00:23:38.539 --> 00:23:41.579 HBO backed down. And television history proved 00:23:41.579 --> 00:23:44.359 him absolutely right. The episode aired, and 00:23:44.359 --> 00:23:47.299 Tony Soprano became immensely more popular, not 00:23:47.299 --> 00:23:50.339 less. It definitively proved that we, the audience, 00:23:50.539 --> 00:23:52.920 are totally willing to root for a literal monster 00:23:52.920 --> 00:23:55.920 as long as he is a complex, highly competent 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:59.000 monster. That one network decision really did 00:23:59.000 --> 00:24:00.859 pave the way for everything that followed in 00:24:00.859 --> 00:24:03.119 the next two decades. Think about Vic Mackey 00:24:03.119 --> 00:24:05.380 and the Shield, or Dexter Morgan, or Walter White, 00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:08.539 or the entire ensemble cast of Succession. They 00:24:08.539 --> 00:24:10.839 all owe their existence to the fact that Tony 00:24:10.839 --> 00:24:14.039 Soprano was allowed to strangle Febby Petrullio. 00:24:14.319 --> 00:24:16.460 It completely shifted the fundamental question 00:24:16.460 --> 00:24:18.079 of television writing. It went from, is this 00:24:18.079 --> 00:24:20.480 character a good person, to is this character 00:24:20.480 --> 00:24:22.759 compelling to watch? I also read in the background 00:24:22.759 --> 00:24:25.640 materials that the initial idea for this specific 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:27.779 plot didn't even come from David Chase originally. 00:24:28.240 --> 00:24:30.200 That's right. It was actually writer and producer 00:24:30.200 --> 00:24:33.700 Frank Renzulli who first hatched the idea. He 00:24:33.700 --> 00:24:36.980 came up with the core high concept hook. Tony 00:24:36.980 --> 00:24:39.740 is out of his element and randomly spots a mob 00:24:39.740 --> 00:24:43.119 rat in witness protection. It is such a simple, 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:45.900 clean premise, but it allowed for all this incredible 00:24:45.900 --> 00:24:48.480 character depth to naturally emerge. And just 00:24:48.480 --> 00:24:51.519 a quick production fun fact for location nerds 00:24:51.519 --> 00:24:53.500 out there listening. Even though the entire A 00:24:53.500 --> 00:24:56.009 story is set up in Maine. They didn't actually 00:24:56.009 --> 00:24:57.910 go anywhere near Maine to shoot it. No, standard 00:24:57.910 --> 00:25:00.950 TV magic right there. The Maine scenes were all 00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:04.230 filmed in rural New Jersey. And the college campus 00:25:04.230 --> 00:25:06.670 scenes, that was just Drew University in Madison, 00:25:06.789 --> 00:25:09.349 New Jersey, standing in for all these elite New 00:25:09.349 --> 00:25:11.930 England schools. It is amazing how much quaint 00:25:11.930 --> 00:25:14.609 New England aesthetic you can find hidden in 00:25:14.609 --> 00:25:16.170 the Garden State if you just frame the camera 00:25:16.170 --> 00:25:18.299 shot right. And speaking of framing shots and 00:25:18.299 --> 00:25:19.920 production, we should definitely touch on the 00:25:19.920 --> 00:25:22.079 critical reception because the industry didn't 00:25:22.079 --> 00:25:24.180 just accept this dark episode. They completely 00:25:24.180 --> 00:25:27.160 threw trophies at it. Oh, absolutely. James Manos 00:25:27.160 --> 00:25:29.779 Jr. and David Chase actually won the Primetime 00:25:29.779 --> 00:25:32.779 Emmy Award for outstanding writing for a drama 00:25:32.779 --> 00:25:35.930 series for this specific script. Incredibly well 00:25:35.930 --> 00:25:38.890 -deserved. The dialogue is flawless. But significantly, 00:25:39.269 --> 00:25:42.410 Edie Falco, who plays Carmela, won her very first 00:25:42.410 --> 00:25:45.710 primetime Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in 00:25:45.710 --> 00:25:48.309 a Drama Series, purely based on her performance 00:25:48.309 --> 00:25:50.130 in this episode. That makes total sense when 00:25:50.130 --> 00:25:51.910 you watch it. The emotional range she has to 00:25:51.910 --> 00:25:53.789 show in that living room scene is just incredible. 00:25:54.049 --> 00:25:57.250 She cycles through intense vulnerability, boiling 00:25:57.250 --> 00:26:00.680 anger, suppressed lust. deep religious guilt, 00:26:00.859 --> 00:26:03.079 sometimes displaying all of them in the exact 00:26:03.079 --> 00:26:05.259 same light. It is an absolute masterclass in 00:26:05.259 --> 00:26:07.400 subtle acting, and the television critics completely 00:26:07.400 --> 00:26:10.400 recognized that at the time, too. Emily St. James, 00:26:10.539 --> 00:26:12.420 writing for the A .V. Club, openly called the 00:26:12.420 --> 00:26:15.420 episode pure genius. She specifically noted how 00:26:15.420 --> 00:26:18.059 the storyline blends every single aspect of the 00:26:18.059 --> 00:26:20.779 show's complex world so completely that it just 00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:22.839 feels natural. It doesn't feel like a contrived 00:26:22.839 --> 00:26:25.500 TV plot. It feels like messy reality unfolding 00:26:25.500 --> 00:26:28.160 in real time. She also highly praised the cinematography, 00:26:28.259 --> 00:26:31.200 right? Yes, the camera work is phenomenal. The 00:26:31.200 --> 00:26:33.319 use of cross -cutting and those tight point -of 00:26:33.319 --> 00:26:35.819 -view shots. It aggressively puts the viewer 00:26:35.819 --> 00:26:38.420 right in the claustrophobic headspace of both 00:26:38.420 --> 00:26:42.079 the hunter and the stalker. physically feel the 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:44.440 anxiety of Febby watching Tony from the motel 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:47.539 window, and we feel the cold, predatory focus 00:26:47.539 --> 00:26:50.859 of Tony tracking Febby. It is a technically brilliant 00:26:50.859 --> 00:26:53.359 episode as well as a perfectly written one. And 00:26:53.359 --> 00:26:56.500 Alan Sepinwall from Uproxx also heavily praised 00:26:56.500 --> 00:26:58.400 the narrative structure. He really liked that 00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:01.180 they chose to use only two stories. So many shows, 00:27:01.359 --> 00:27:04.240 especially back then, try to cram in a C -plot 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:06.900 and a D -plot to keep the pace up by stubbornly 00:27:06.900 --> 00:27:09.500 sticking to just Tony and Meadow in the car and 00:27:09.500 --> 00:27:11.470 Carmela and Phil. in the house that could let 00:27:11.470 --> 00:27:13.650 both of those stories play out in exhaustive, 00:27:13.650 --> 00:27:16.470 powerful detail. Nothing at all felt rushed or 00:27:16.470 --> 00:27:18.549 unearned. It really does feel like a perfect 00:27:18.549 --> 00:27:20.569 storm of television production. The writing, 00:27:20.630 --> 00:27:22.769 the acting, the directing, and even the sheer 00:27:22.769 --> 00:27:25.529 bravery of the network to finally step back and 00:27:25.529 --> 00:27:27.849 let it happen. It is exactly the moment the show 00:27:27.849 --> 00:27:29.869 officially transitioned from being just a hit 00:27:29.869 --> 00:27:31.990 series about the mob into being great art. So 00:27:31.990 --> 00:27:34.009 as we wrap up this deep dive, I want to go back 00:27:34.009 --> 00:27:37.910 to that final... quiet car ride, Meadow and the 00:27:37.910 --> 00:27:40.089 Lie. The ultimate moment of complicity. Yeah. 00:27:40.369 --> 00:27:42.710 We so often look at a show like The Sopranos 00:27:42.710 --> 00:27:45.650 as being a show about them, about criminals, 00:27:45.849 --> 00:27:49.289 sociopaths, people fundamentally unlike us. But 00:27:49.289 --> 00:27:52.109 I think college asks a very, very uncomfortable 00:27:52.109 --> 00:27:55.170 question about us as a viewers. Oh, go on. How 00:27:55.170 --> 00:27:58.230 so? Well, Meadow represents the normal person 00:27:58.230 --> 00:28:00.859 in this dynamic. She heavily enjoys the expensive 00:28:00.859 --> 00:28:03.660 college tuition, the nice clothes, the safety 00:28:03.660 --> 00:28:06.099 and status provided by her father's brutal power. 00:28:06.500 --> 00:28:09.279 She literally sees the mud on his shoes. She 00:28:09.279 --> 00:28:11.700 sees the blood on his hands. She is smart enough 00:28:11.700 --> 00:28:13.799 to know exactly where it all comes from. But 00:28:13.799 --> 00:28:16.259 in that silent moment in the car, she actively 00:28:16.259 --> 00:28:18.400 decides that her comfort is worth her silence. 00:28:18.579 --> 00:28:21.000 It is weaponized willful blindness. She edits 00:28:21.000 --> 00:28:23.400 her own reality just to stay comfortable. Exactly. 00:28:23.400 --> 00:28:25.539 So the provocation for you, the listener, is 00:28:25.539 --> 00:28:28.500 this. In your own life, Whether it is the massive 00:28:28.500 --> 00:28:30.900 corporation you work for, the politicians you 00:28:30.900 --> 00:28:33.279 routinely support, or even just the messy family 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:35.859 dynamics you navigate every day. How often do 00:28:35.859 --> 00:28:38.079 you spot the mud on the shoes? And how often 00:28:38.079 --> 00:28:40.500 do you consciously choose not to ask the difficult 00:28:40.500 --> 00:28:42.859 follow -up question simply because you really 00:28:42.859 --> 00:28:45.759 like the ride? That is the real terrifying danger 00:28:45.759 --> 00:28:49.799 the show exposes. We are all, in some small way, 00:28:50.059 --> 00:28:52.440 a little bit like Meadow Soprano sitting quietly 00:28:52.440 --> 00:28:55.380 in that passenger seat. That is a genuinely haunting 00:28:55.380 --> 00:28:57.720 thought to leave on. That is the deep dive on 00:28:57.720 --> 00:28:59.700 college. Thanks for joining us. We will see you 00:28:59.700 --> 00:29:00.059 next time.