Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today we were
doing something a little different and honestly
I am incredibly hyped about it. Oh yeah this
is a really fun one. Because usually we are tackling
you know a non -fiction book or a really complex
scientific concept but today today we are cracking
open a specific artifact of pop culture history.
Something that I think really defines the golden
age of television. Exactly. we are looking at
The Sopranos. And not just the series in general.
We aren't doing a broad overview of the whole
show here. No, we are zooming in. Okay. Weigh
in on a single pivotal hour of television. Season
one. Right, season one, episode seven, titled
Down Neck. Now, for anyone listening who thinks
they know everything about The Soprano Family
because they maybe binged it once 10 years ago.
Stick with us. Yeah, stick with us because I
promise you there are layers here you definitely
miss. We have gone through the production notes,
the critical analysis. Yeah. The cultural context
of 1999. We have a stack of sources here that
is genuinely impressive. It really is a fascinating
piece of the puzzle. It is. Down Neck is such
a crucial entry because it originally aired on
February 21st, 1999. Right. Think about that
context for a second. The show is still finding
its footing. It hasn't become the global phenomenon
it eventually became yet. Exactly. It is still
establishing its core thesis. And this episode
specifically serves as the pivot point. Pivot.
That is the word I keep coming back to. Up until
this point, you could argue the show was a quirky
mob drama. A guy in therapy, sure, but lots of
mob business of the week. Right. Who owes who
money? But Down Neck is where the show decides
it is not just a crime procedural. It is a Greek
tragedy about family history. It pivots from
the external, the whacking the money collection,
to the internal. So the mission for our dive
today is to explore how this specific episode
shifts the focus. We are looking at heredity,
the unreliability of memory, and how the past
haunts the present in very literal ways. It is
the origin story in a way, but told through a
very foggy lens. We have a lot to get through
today. We really do. We are going to break down
the plot, obviously, but we are also going to
look at the introduction of flashbacks. Which
was a huge stylistic shift for the show at the
time. Completely. We've got cultural references
and some incredible behind -the -scenes facts
that just... Blew my mind. The facts are particularly
good today. Oh, they are top tier. Yeah. We have
a future Hollywood superstar hiding in the background
of a scene. Someone you absolutely know and love.
We have a literary mix -up involving a fish that
tells us everything we need to know about Tony's
dad. And we have a music cue that is so ironically
perfect it almost hurts. That music cue involving
the rascals is one of my favorite details in
the entire series run. It is subtle. But once
you hear it, you cannot unhear it. So let's jump
right in. The episode is called Down Neck. Before
we even get to the plot, let us unpack that title.
What are we looking at here? It is a geographical
reference. Right. Down Neck refers to the ironbound
section of Newark, New Jersey. This is where
Tony Soprano grew up. It is a working class,
neighborhood heavy industry. Very different from
the green lawns of North Caldwell, where he lives
now. By using that title, the show signals that
we are going back to the roots. We aren't in
the suburban sprawl of the Soprano Mansion anymore.
We are going back to the streets where it all
began. And we aren't going back voluntarily.
No. The catalyst for this trip down memory lane
isn't a mob war or a whacking or an FBI indictment.
It is AJ. It is Tony's son. It usually is the
family stuff that triggers the biggest crises
for Tony. Which brings us to the first part of
our analysis today, the catalyst, AJ's rebellion.
So let us set the scene here, AJ Soprano. Throughout
the early episodes, he is usually just sort of
a background texture. He is playing Nintendo.
He is complaining about food. He is being moody.
Here, he actually takes action. He does something
pretty wild. He and his friends break into the
chapel at their Catholic school, Verbum Dei.
And they don't just break in to hang out or vandalize
the place. They steal the sacramental wine. The
sacramental wine. I mean, in the see also section
of our source material, this is literally categorized
as host desecration. That is a heavy charge for
a teenager. You are not just breaking a school
rule. You are breaking a divine law, theoretically.
It is a mortal sin, technically. But what makes
this so distinctly AJ. and this is where the
character writing really shines, isn't just the
theft. It is the lack of planning regarding what
they do with it. They don't sell it. They don't
save it for a Friday night party. They drink
it immediately and then they show up to gym class
drunk. That is the detail that always gets me.
It is absurd. Getting drunk before gym class
specifically, of all the classes to be inebriated
for physical education, seems like the absolute
worst choice. You are running laps. You are dodging
balls. It is a recipe for disaster. You need
coordination. It highlights a lack of foresight
that becomes a running theme for AJ. He lives
entirely in the moment with zero consideration
for consequences. But this act lands Tony and
Carmela in the principal's office. Or, specifically,
a meeting with the school psychologist, Dr. Peter
Galani, and the administrator, Mr. Meskimen.
And this is where the conflict starts. The school
has a theory. They aren't just saying your kid
is bad or your kid is a delinquent. You're offering
a medical diagnosis. They suggest that AJ might
have attention deficit disorder. ADD. Now we
have to pause and look at the context here. This
is 1999. The conversation around ADD and ADHD
was very different back then compared to today.
Completely different. Today, a diagnosis is often
seen as a tool. A roadmap to getting help, maybe
medication, maybe an individualized education
program. But for a guy like Tony Soprano in 1999.
He hears disorder and he hears broken. He hears
weakness. Tony reacts exactly how you would expect
Tony Soprano to react. Scornful rejection. He
hates it. He absolutely hates it. He dismisses
it entirely. His argument is that AJ is just
acting like a normal 13 -year -old. In Tony's
mind, stealing wine and getting drunk is just
boys being boys. It is a rite of passage. He
refuses to label it as a medical condition. And
Carmela, where is she in this meeting? In the
office, she backs him up. They present a united
front. It is that classic us against the world
mentality. They walk out of that office together,
essentially telling the school, you are the problem,
not our son. But that unity doesn't last long,
does it? No, it doesn't. Once they get back to
the fortress of their home, The cracks start
to show. It crumbles pretty fast. The fallout
comes home. Later, they are having dinner with
Livia. Tony's mother. And AJ starts misbehaving
again. He is fidgeting. He is rude. He is not
listening. And that is the straw that breaks
the camel's back. AJ gets grounded. But then
the real fight happens. Tony and Carmela start
arguing about why AJ is the way he is. And this
is where the episode really starts to dig deep.
This is crucial. Carmela circles back to the
school's idea. She is the pragmatist here. She
suggests that maybe special education is needed.
She is worried about his future, his grades,
his ability to function. But Tony, Tony is terrified
of something else entirely. He is not worried
about schoolwork. He is worried about biology.
Exactly. Tony fears the genetic component. In
the source material, this is described as Tony
fearing the rotten putrid gene. Rotten putrid
gene. That is such a visceral way to put it.
It is. He is scared that AJ has inherited reckless
tendencies from his side of the family. He looks
at his son. And he doesn't see a bored suburban
teenager. He sees the ghost of himself and the
ghost of his father. And that is the trigger.
That specific fear. That his son is broken because
he comes from broken line. That is what forces
Tony to look backward. He cannot understand AJ
without understanding himself. And that brings
us to the flashbacks. This is a major structural
shift for the episode and the series. We move
to the second major part of our discussion today.
The flashbacks to 1967 Newark. Now visually these
scenes are distinct. They have this sepia toned
high contrast look. It feels like a memory. A
little bit hazy, a little bit distorted. And
the atmosphere is heavy. The source material
notes that these flashbacks take place around
the time of the 1967 Newark riots. So the tension
in the air isn't just family tension. It is societal
tension. The city is a powder keg. just like
the Soprano household. The first memory is triggered
specifically by Tony contemplating talking to
AJ about the family business. He is trying to
figure out how to be a father so he remembers
his own father. Let us walk through this first
memory. It starts with a failure. Young Tony
misses the bus. Which is a classic kid in trouble
setup. He misses the bus so he is wandering the
streets of the Ironbound section when he shouldn't
be. And he witnesses something traumatic. He
sees his father. Johnny Boy Soprano. Played by
the late, great Joseph Saravo. And Uncle Junior.
And they are beating a man. A man named Rocco
Alatorre. It is not just a scuffle. It is a vicious
beating. And what is interesting here is the
sensory detail. The source notes the specific
song playing during this scene. Don't bring me
down by the animals. It is perfect. That driving
bass line, Eric Burden's gritty vocals. It captures
the grime and the downward spiral of the violence.
Don't bring me down. Almost sounds like a plea
from the victim or maybe from Tony's own conscience.
But young Tony doesn't run away. A normal kid
might screen or run home to mom. Tony does something
that I think explains his entire adult life.
He follows them. He hides in the trunk of Johnny's
car. This is the narrative progression of the
memory. He literally stows away in the dark,
cramped trunk just to be close to his father.
It speaks to his desperate need for connection,
even if that connection is dangerous. He wants
to know the secret life. And where does he go?
The car drives them to a mob run fairground or
carnival. Right. And this leads to the second
major trauma. And arguably the visual centerpiece
of the flashback sequence. Young Tony watches
Johnny Boy Jr. and their friends get arrested.
He sees his dad in handcuffs. The police are
there. The people are shouting. It is chaos.
That has to be a shattering moment for a kid.
It is, but the show handles it with this incredible
juxtaposition. The source material points out
that during the arrest, the music playing is
the Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II. The waltz.
A classical, elegant, swirling waltz. So you
have this gritty, street -level criminality.
Cops, mobsters, handcuffs. And over it, you have
this music that belongs in a Viennese ballroom.
Why do you think they made that choice? It creates
a total disconnect between the reality of the
crime and the way Tony perceives it. If we heard
sirens and shouting, we would feel the shame
and the fear. But with the waltz, it feels grand.
It feels operatic. It turns Johnny Boy into a
tragic hero rather than just a thug getting busted.
And he does romanticize it, right? Because later
he talks to Dr. Melfi about this specific moment.
That is the expert analysis of the character
here. Tony confesses to Melfi that despite seeing
the arrest, or maybe because of it, he felt proud
to be Johnny Boy's son. Proud. Hero worship.
He sees his father as a powerful figure who commands
attention. Even the police have to come in force
to take him down. He admits Johnny was a complicated
man, but he struggles with the morality of it.
He doesn't want AJ to be like Johnny, but he
cannot help but love Johnny himself. He is trapped
in that admiration. That phrase, complicated
man, keeps coming up. It is like his shield.
It is the euphemism he uses to avoid saying criminal.
It is how he rationalizes the abuse and the crime.
If he is complicated, then the bad stuff is just
part of the package. Speaking of abuse, we have
to talk about the next major theme today. Because
it is not just Johnny Boy who leaves a mark.
It is Livia. Oh, Livia. If you thought Nancy
Marchand's portrayal of older Livia was intense,
seeing Livia as a young mother is terrifying
in a different way. She's played by Layla Robbins
in the flashbacks. There is a specific memory
Tony recalls. that I think haunts every viewer.
The fork memory. Tony recalls a moment where
Livia threatened to gouge his eye out with a
carving fork. With a fork. I will stick this
fork in your eye. That is not normal parenting.
That is straight up horror movie stuff. It is
decidedly not normal. And this is what Tony discusses
with Melfi. He implies that his parents were
abusive. This fuels that fear we talked about.
That he and AJ have inherited these reckless
tendencies. It is not just about ADD or brain
chemistry. It is about a lineage of violence
and instability. He is asking, can you grow up
in a house like that and not come out broken?
But there is a moment of levity amidst this darkness,
and it comes from Johnny Boy. It is one of my
favorite aha moments from the hook we teased
earlier. The literary mishap. I love this detail
so much. Yes, so there is an argument between
Johnny Boy and Livia in the kitchen. It is about
a job offer. Apparently, Rocco Alator, the guy
getting beaten up earlier, had actually offered
Johnny a legitimate job. A way out. A job in
Reno, Nevada. Can you imagine that alternate
timeline? The Sopranos in Reno. Tony growing
up in a casino town instead of Jersey. It would
have been a completely different show. But Johnny
turns it down. He chooses the life in Jersey.
And he describes the alternative or perhaps the
burden of his current life. He was flustered.
He tries to use a fancy metaphor to explain his
feelings to Livia. He says it would be an albacore
around my neck. An albacore? Like the tuna? Now,
obviously, he is trying to reference high literature
here. He is trying to quote Samuel Taylor Coleridge's
poem, The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. The actual
phrase is an albatross around my neck. Right.
An albatross is a giant seabird. In the poem,
the mariner kills the bird, which is a sin against
nature. And he has to wear the dead bird around
his neck as a symbol of his guilt and his burden.
It is a very heavy, specific symbol. Johnny Boy
replaces the bird of guilt with a fish. A tuna
fish. It is a brilliant writing detail. The expert
note here is that this highlights Johnny's lack
of education. He has street smarts, sure. He
runs a crew. He knows how to earn. But he misquotes
literature. He tries to sound profound and he
ends up sounding ridiculous. And Tony is hyper
aware of this. He remembers it. He does. And
he sees that same lack of focus, that same roughness
in AJ. When AJ is failing history or getting
drunk before gym, Tony sees the albacore mistake.
He sees the limitations of his father repeating
in his son. It is funny, but it is also tragic.
It shows the limits of Johnny's world. He cannot
even get the metaphor right. Precisely. It is
a malapropism that reveals the tragedy of the
character. He is reaching for something higher,
but he cannot quite grasp it. Moving on to the
next segment, we get a collision of worlds that
critics absolutely loved. We step out of the
flashbacks and into the present day for the comedy
of errors involving A .J. and Livia. This is
a subplot that runs parallel to the heavy flashbacks.
As part of his punishment for the gym incident,
A .J. has to visit Livia at her nursing home,
Green Grove. Punishment duty. visiting grandma.
Okay, context is key. AJ is oblivious. He is
a teenager. He is not paying attention to the
mob war or the psychological drama. But he has
overheard something at home. He overheard Tony
and Carmela discussing therapy. So he is sitting
with Livia, probably bored out of his mind, and
he just spills it. Innocently. He mentions that
Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. And Livia, how
does the master manipulator react? Her interpretation
is instantaneous and completely narcissistic.
She immediately assumes Tony is talking to the
shrink about her. Which, to be fair, he is. A
lot of his therapy is about her. He absolutely
is. But she takes it as a betrayal. And her reaction
is immediate manipulation. She tries to pass
this dangerous information to Uncle Junior. And
we have to remember the stakes. In the mob world,
seeing a psychiatrist is a death sentence. It
is a vulnerability. It implies you might flip
or share secrets. If Junior finds out Tony is
done... It is a close call. Tony walks in just
before she can tell Junior. He interrupts the
conversation, preserving the secret for the moment.
But the tension is there. The critical reception
for this scene was huge. We have a note here
from the critic, Alan Sepinwall. Yes, Sepinwall
praised this combination. He noted that AJ is
so oblivious that he is essentially immune to
Livia. Livia starts her usual routine. The waterworks,
the loud self -pity, the I gave my life to my
children on a silver platter speech. And AJ.
He just doesn't care. He doesn't even notice
she's doing it. He's probably thinking about
what level he is on in Mario Kart. It is the
unstoppable force meeting the immovable object
of teenage apathy. Sepinwall called it priceless.
It shows that Livia's power relies on people
caring about her opinion. Tony cares so she can
hurt him. AJ doesn't so she cannot touch him.
That brings us to the resolution segment. We
have had the flashbacks, we've had the comedy,
and now we have the truth. There is a scene in
the garage that brings the father and son together.
The garage scene. It is intimate. Tony is changing
a flat tire. AJ is assisting him holding the
light or the lug nuts. It is a classic father
-son activity. But AJ drops a bomb. He asks,
point blank, are you in the mafia? This is the
moment. The flashbacks have been building to
this. The Albacore story has been building to
this. AJ isn't just asking randomly. He cites
evidence. He saw police photographers at Jackie
April Sr.'s funeral. He is putting the pieces
together. And Tony's answer. It is one of the
most important lines in the season. He denies
being like Jackie April. But he uses that phrase
again. He says Jackie was a complicated man.
He is recycling the excuse he made for his own
father. Exactly. He uses the same euphemism for
his friend that he used for Johnny Boy. It shows
he hasn't really processed it yet. But he tries
to bond. He tells AJ that he doesn't have to
be like Johnny Boy. He is trying to break the
cycle. And what about the ADD diagnosis? Do we
get an answer? Oh, do! Psychological testing
confirms borderline ADD. So the school wasn't
wrong. And Tony's takeaway. He resolves to spend
more time with his son. He applies what he learned
from the memories of his own absent criminal
father. He wants to be present. He thinks that
if he is a good dad, he can overwrite the rotten
gene. It is a hopeful ending in a way. He is
trying. He is trying. Whether he succeeds well,
that is the rest of the series. Now let us get
into the final major section today, the production
trivia and cultural context. This is where the
deep dive really shines. We need to talk about
the music of Down Neck. The music choices in
The Sopranos are always deliberate, and this
episode is packed. We already mentioned the blue
Danube during the arrest, and Don't Bring Me
Down during the beating. But there is a scene
involving Prozac that uses a very specific anthem.
Yes. When Tony takes his Prozac and remembers
his childhood, the song playing is White Rabbit
by Jefferson Airplane. One pill makes you larger,
one pill makes you small. It is a psychedelic
classic about altering your consciousness. about
going down the rabbit hole. It is the perfect
choice for a scene about psychiatric medication
and unlocking repressed memories. It also plays
during the Ice Cream Sunday ending, tying the
whole episode together. But the best music fact,
and I know you love this one, is the irony of
the Rascals. This is brilliant. So there is a
scene in the flashback where a song is playing
on a TV in the background in 1967. It is I've
Been Lonely Too Long by the Rascals. Great tune.
Classic blue -eyed soul. And while this is playing,
Livia is watching the news about the mob arrest
and she starts complaining. She says they are
always picking on Italians. She is playing the
victim card. The world is against us. But the
irony, and this is a fact check from our source,
is that the Rascals were huge stars at that moment.
And three of the four members of the Rascals
were Italian -Americans. Dino Dinelli, Felix
Cavallari, and Eddie Bregotti. So she is sitting
there complaining about anti -Italian discrimination
while listening to a band that proves Italian
-Americans are dominating American pop culture.
Exactly. It shows her narrow worldview. She only
sees the persecution. Never the success. She
ignores the joy of the music to focus on the
misery of the news. Now let us talk about the
cast. We teased a future superstar earlier. We
did. In the cast list under also guest star in
Is the Kid, we have a credit for a Rydland kid.
And that kid is... Michael B. Jordan. The Michael
B. Jordan. Creed, Black Panther, The Wire. One
of his earliest roles. He is one of the kids
chasing young Tony at the fairground. He throws
a bottle or something. It is a blink and you
will miss it moment, but it is there. That is
wild. From chasing Tony Soprano in a carnival
to ruling Wakanda. That is quite the career arc.
It really is. And we also have a significant
note about the director. Lorraine Santaferrara.
Why is she significant? She holds the distinction
of being the only woman to direct an episode
of The Sopranos. Wait, out of the entire series?
Out of all 86 episodes. She is the only female
director listed in the credits. That is a staggering
statistic. And it is interesting that she directed
this episode. It makes sense, doesn't it? This
episode is so focused on the mother -son dynamic
on Livia, on the emotional interiority of the
characters. I think she brought a specific sensitivity
to the flashbacks. It feels less like a mob movie
and more like a domestic drama, which makes the
violence even more shocking. We also have some
cultural references that ground the episode in
1999. AJ references South Park. He specifically
references the very first episode, Cartman Gets
an Anal Probe. This grounds us firmly in the
late 90s pop culture landscape. It shows the
generational divide. Tony is listening to classic
rock. AJ is watching irrelevant cartoons. And
on the high culture side, Dr. Melfi quotes George
Santayana. Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it. Although our source
notes she slightly misquotes it. Everyone misquotes
that one. It is like play it again, Sam. Exactly.
And Tony mentions Leopold and Loeb, the famous
murderers, during therapy. He is really reaching
for comparisons to understand his own nature.
He asks if he is like them broken evil. So what
does this all mean if we zoom out as we wrap
up? We have covered the plot, the flashbacks,
the music, the trivia. What is the big picture
here? This episode is the pivot. It establishes
the generational trauma. It establishes that
Tony isn't just a bad guy. He is a guy made of
bad parts. memories, genetics examples set by
his father. The contrast between the glory days
he imagines and the brutal reality of the flashbacks
is the core of the show. He wants to believe
his dad was a hero, but the flashbacks show us
a thug. Emily St. James of the AV Club noted
this in her review. She said the episode rarely
deviates from its central thesis about fathers
and mothers and their sons. It is incredibly
focused. And that focus pays off. We leave this
episode understanding why Tony is the way he
is. He is a guy with an albacore around his neck.
A fish out of water. And I want to leave you,
the listener, with a final provocative thought
on that. We laughed about the albacore malapropism.
Johnny Boy meant albatross, a bird. He said albacore,
a fish. Right. But maybe it fits better. An albatross
is a burden from the sky. It is airy. An albacore
is a dead weight from the deep. It implies you
are underwater. And Tony Soprano lives in the
deep end. He is drowning in his family history.
It is not just bad luck. It is his environment.
He is swimming in it. That is a profound way
to look at a slip of the tongue. He really is
the fish who doesn't know he is wet. That is
what we do here on The Deep Dive. Oh. We find
the meaning in the mistakes. We certainly try.
Thanks for listening, everyone. Go re -watch
Down Neck. Look for Michael B. Jordan. Listen
for the waltz. And think about the fish. See
you next time. Keep watching those credits. You
never know who you will see.