Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Today, we are
firing up the time machine a bit. Yeah, it is.
It's really good to be here. I am looking forward
to this one. Same here. So we are setting the
dial for a very specific date, March 14th, 1999.
We're going back to the turn of the millennium
to look at a cultural artifact that, you know.
really changed television forever. We are, of
course, talking about HBO's The Sopranos. We
are, but we aren't just doing some broad, general
overview. We are zooming in, like, microscope
style on, on a single, very specific slice of
that history. We are dissecting season one, episode
10, the episode titled A Hit is a Hit. Which
is, it's a fascinating choice for a deep dive
because in the canon of The Sopranos, this episode
is a bit of an outlier. It is often debated by
fans, right? Some love it, some completely skip
it. It is. It's weird. It's awkward. It's incredibly
cringy at parts. Honestly, it's profoundly insightful.
If we had to put a mission statement on what
we were doing today, it's to unpack the collision
of worlds that happens in this specific hour
of television. Yeah, it is basically a car crash
of cultures. You have the gritty, violent world
of the New Jersey mob crashing headfirst into
the music industry. And simultaneously, you have
that exact same mob world crashing into polite,
upper crust suburban society. Right. And the
results of those crashes are what we are here
to analyze for you today. We are going to talk
about delusion. We're going to talk about what
you call cultural tourism. And of course, we
absolutely have to talk about a box of sand.
The box of sand. It really might be the single
greatest punchline in the history of petty revenge.
Oh, we will definitely get there. But before
we get to the sand, we need to lay the foundation.
Let's orient you, the listener. Our primary source
for this deep dive is the Wikipedia entry for
the episode. A hit is a hit. Along with the production
details. and the thematic breakdowns outlined
there. So set the stage for us. Where does this
sit in the grand timeline of the show? So we
are deep into season one. This is episode 10.
And for context, there are only 13 episodes in
that first season. So we were really ramping
up toward the finale here. As you mentioned,
this aired on March 14th, 1999. Which is a totally
different world. Pre -smartphone, pre -social
media. The music industry looked completely different
then too, which is highly relevant to this story.
Completely. People were still buying CDs. The
writing credits for this one go to Joe Basso
and Frank Renzulli, and it was directed by Matthew
Penn. Now, the context is key here. The previous
episode was Boca. Which was incredibly heavy.
Extremely heavy. It dealt with Junior Soprano's
sexuality, deep secrets, and a lot of intense
internal family tension. And the episode right
after this one is Nobody Knows Anything, which
is where the paranoia hits a massive fever pitch
and people actually start getting clipped. So
a hit is a hit is kind of the sandwich meat.
In a way, yes. It sits in the sweet spot. It
functions almost as a breather, a standalone
story. But and this is the key insight we got
from the sources. It does a lot of heavy lifting
regarding the show's big picture themes. Which
are what exactly? Primarily the tension between
assimilation and legitimacy. Tony Soprano doesn't
just want to be a rich crook. He wants to be
a regular suburban dad grilling sausages who
just happens to have all this unseen power. He
wants the American dream. But he wants to cheat
to get it. And this episode takes that desire
and splits it up into two tracks. You have Tony
desperately wanting to be accepted by his fancy
doctor neighbors, the Medigans, as he calls them.
And then you have Christopher and Adriana desperately
wanting to be legitimate music moguls. Exactly.
Everyone is trying to be something they really
aren't. And they all fail spectacularly. It is
about the pain of trying to change your class
status or your cultural status overnight. Let's
get right into the mechanics of it. Every tragedy
needs a catalyst. What sets this whole chain
of events in motion? Well, the inciting incident
here is classic Sopranos. It starts with a crime,
a brutal one. We open with Pauly, Christopher,
and Big Pussy pulling a robbery. They target
a Colombian drug dealer. And it's not a clean
robbery. It's not graceful like in a heist movie.
No, it is messy. They end up killing the dealers.
It's violent. It's loud. It's chaotic. But the
result is the important part for our narrative.
They walk away with a massive amount of cash,
a literal fortune wrapped in plastic. I think
Tony actually refers to it as a once -in -a -lifetime
score. Right. And you have to pause and think
about the psychology of that. Once -in -a -lifetime.
That phrase carries a lot of weight. In the mob
world, money is usually a constant stressor.
Tony is always yelling about where the money
is, who is kicking up, who is light this week.
It is a grind. They're usually living envelope
to envelope. But here, suddenly the pressure
valve is just gone. Exactly. The tank is totally
full. And this is the crucial takeaway for you
listening. This specific windfall is the direct
fuel for the delusions we see play out later
in the episode. Without this specific pile of
dirty money, Christopher simply cannot pretend
to be a music producer. Right, because he can't
afford the studio time otherwise. Exactly. And
without this sudden sense of profound financial
security, Tony probably doesn't feel relaxed
enough to go play golf at the country club with
the neighbors. That is a great point. The money
lowers their guard. It makes them feel invincible.
Usually they're looking over their shoulder,
but when your pockets are overflowing, you start
looking at the horizon. It creates a totally
false sense of mobility. They think, well, I
have the money, therefore I have the access.
They confuse pure purchasing power with social
capital. They think they can literally buy their
way out. of the gritty new jersey underworld
and right into the elite so they have the cash
now they need a place to spend it this leads
us to the first major collision of the episode
the mob versus gangster rap this storyline is
such a perfect time capsule of 1999. it is almost
quaint now But at the time, the intersection
of hip -hop culture and Italian -American mob
culture was a huge talking point in the media.
We have to talk about the guest stars here because
they are heavy hitters. We have Gokeem Woodbine
playing a character with arguably the best name
in television history, Massive Genius. Massive
Genius. It is perfect. He is a superstar rapper,
clearly modeled on the really big hip -hop moguls
of that specific era. If you think of Master
P or Puff Daddy, he's wealthy. He's very articulate,
and he carries himself with a kind of regal authority.
So Christopher and Adriana are out enjoying their
new well, and they bump into Massive Genius at
a burger joint of all places. A fast food joint,
which is a great leveler for these two worlds.
And the dynamic is immediate. Massive Genius
is interested. Ostensibly, he is interested in
Christopher's business. He recognizes him as
a made guy or at least a connected associate.
But let's be real here. He is looking at Adriana.
Always Adriana. Treyda Mateo really shines in
this episode. She has been a background player
largely up to this point in the season, just
the girlfriend. But here she really steps into
the center of the frame. Massive genius sees
her and you can see the wheels start turning.
But the pretext for their interaction is what's
fascinating. Christopher, wanting to be the big
shot, wanting to show off his connections, arranges
a sit -down. He brings together Massive Genius
and Hesh Rafkin. Hesh, played by the legendary
Jerry Adler. For those who might need a quick
refresher, Hesh is Tony's trusted advisor. But
his backstory... which is crucial here, is that
he was a heavy hitter in the music industry back
in the 50s and 60s. He was a record label owner.
Right. Modeled somewhat on real figures from
that era. And this is where the conflict ignites.
Massive Genius isn't just there to hang out and
talk shop. He has a serious grievance. He claims
that Hesh stole royalties from a deceased black
singer who was a relative or a close associate
of Massive's family. This is heavy stuff. Yeah.
The show is tapping into a very real, very dark
history of the music business, right? The widespread
exploitation of black artists by early rock and
roll and R &B labels. Absolutely. It is a historical
fact that the show weaves right into the narrative.
The early days of rock were just rife with unfair
contracts where the artists got pennies and the
label owners who were often white men like Hesh
made absolute fortunes. So Massive Genius is
demanding reparations. He wants restitution for
those stolen years. He throws out a very specific
number, $400 ,000. Which is not a small amount
of money, even for a wealthy rapper or a high
-level mobster. No, it's huge. And in most gangster
shows, this would immediately turn into a shootout.
You have a mob associate being shaken down for
cash. You would expect threats, maybe someone
getting a beating in an alley. But Hesh, Hesh
is different. Hesh doesn't even blink. He has
seen it all. He really doesn't. Hesh flat out
refuses the claim. He basically says, I didn't
steal anything. That was the standard legal contract
back then. He hides comfortably behind the legality
of the exploitation. But he doesn't just rely
on denial. He is way too smart for that. He has
done his homework. He has a counter move ready
to go. The unauthorized sampling. Hesh reveals
that he has had his people analyze Massive Genius'
music, and they found a sample from a song that
Hesh still owns the rights to, and Massive's
label never cleared it. So it is a total stalemate.
You sue me for the back royalties, I sue you
for the uncleared sample. It is mutually assured
destruction, but legal style. It is a cold, hard,
modern business transaction. And this leads to
the moment that I think really defines the mob
psychology of this entire episode. Massive genius,
realizing he is completely checkmated here, threatens
to see Hesh in court. He literally says, I'll
see you in court. And the reaction from the Soprano
crew is so pivotal. You have Tony, Paulie, Silvio,
Christopher, these guys who literally murder
people for a living. And they just start jeering.
They openly mock him. They laugh him right out
of the room. They are making fun of him as he
walks away in his expensive suit. Why do you
think that is? What does the source material
suggest? Well, the breakdown suggests it is because
he is a self -proclaimed gangster. In their eyes,
a real gangster does not call a lawyer. A gangster
breaks legs. A gangster burns down a building.
Precisely. This is the big aha moment. To Tony
and his crew, legitimacy means operating entirely
outside the system. They view the legal system
as something for suckers. For regular civilians,
for them, resorting to a lawsuit is a profound
admission of weakness. Saying I'll sue you is
the ultimate weakness to them. It is like tattle
-telling to the teacher on the playground. But
there's a massive irony here that this show is
highlighting. Massive Genius represents a modern
corporate version of the gangster. He adopts
the aesthetic of the outlaw, the tattoos, the
jewelry, the tough attitude, but he operates
safely within the machinery of capitalism and
the law. He is ultimately smarter than them.
He is certainly much more sustainable. The mobsters
are laughing at him. But Massive Genius is the
one walking away with a clean criminal record,
a massive legitimate portfolio, and the full
protection of the courts. He has evolved. The
Soprano crew is completely stuck in the past.
They are dinosaurs laughing at a meteor. That
is a fantastic way to put it. They are desperately
clinging to a code that makes them obsolete,
while Massive has figured out exactly how to
monetize the gangster image without the actual
risk. of going to federal prison. He is playing
the system. They are just playing outside of
it. So while the guys are busy mocking the rapper,
Adriana is busy seeing dollar signs. And this
brings us to the most painful yet incredibly
hilarious segment of the episode, Adriana's dream.
Or as I like to call it, the visiting day disaster.
It is so rough. So Adriana gets an idea. She
sees massive genius. She sees the glicks of the
music world. And she thinks, I can do this. I
have a good ear. She wants to pivot from being
a restaurant hostess to a music producer. And
Christopher, who is still riding super high on
that once in a lifetime score from the Colombians,
readily agrees to fund it. He wants to be a big
shot. He wants to be the guy discovering the
next big thing. He imagines himself as this brilliant
music mogul. So they bring in the band, Visiting
Day. And the lead singer is a guy named Richie
Santini, who... Just to add a thick layer of
toxicity to the whole thing is Adriana's ex -boyfriend.
A recipe for outstanding success if I ever heard
one. Hey, let's finance your ex -boyfriend's
terrible local band with literal blood money.
What could possibly go wrong? The scenes in the
recording studio are just masterful. If you want
to deeply understand cringe comedy, you watch
these scenes. The band is, let's be charitable
here, they are struggling. They are terrible.
But they are also incredibly pretentious about
it. They are agonizing over every single note,
acting like they are recording Abbey Road or
something. They are recording a song called Erase
Myself, I believe. Erase Myself. The lyrics are
total nonsense. The melody is just droning. But
they treat it like high art. You know, saying
things like we need to get the drum sound right
or I'm not feeling the vibe in here. Meanwhile,
Christopher is sitting in the control booth and
he is just watching the clock tick. He is paying
by the hour. Every time the singer stops to whine
about the microphone placement or the vibe, Christopher
literally sees his hard earned drug money evaporating
into thin air. The friction is so palpable. You
have the fragile artistic process egos searching
for perfection, violently colliding with the
brutal, impatient efficiency of a mobster. Christopher
does not care about art. He cares about product.
And it culminates in violence. Of course it does.
Christopher just cannot handle the whining anymore.
He snaps. He storms in, grabs the guitar, Richie's
acoustic guitar, and violently smashes it right
over the guy's back. It is shocking. But it is
also darkly funny. It just shatters the illusion
instantly. Adriana is trying so hard to build
this safe, creative space, and Christopher brings
the raw street violence right into the vocal
booth. It shows that Christopher simply cannot
change. He can buy the studio time, but he cannot
buy the temperament of a producer. He resolves
every conflict with violence, not negotiation.
He treats the musician exactly like a Shylock
victim who won't pay up. But the delusion persists.
Even after the assault, Adriana still firmly
thinks they have a hit on their hands. She's
so desperate for this to work out, they realize
they need an expert opinion. So who do they call?
Hesh. They bring Hesh back into the fold. And
this is where we get the title drop of the episode.
Hesh comes down and listens to the song. He sits
there, completely impassive. The music plays.
Christopher and Adriana are watching him like
hawks, just waiting for the praise to roll in.
And then he delivers the verdict. He looks at
Christopher and says, simply, the band is not
good. So blunt. No sugarcoating it. No, maybe
if you tweak the mix it could work. Just, it's
not good. Christopher tries to argue with him.
He says, but it's got a beat. Or something to
that effect. He desperately tries to rationalize
the money he spent. And Hesh says, a hit is a
hit. And this, my friend, is not a hit. It is
crushing. It is the cold voice of objective reality
piercing the bubble of their delusion. Hesh represents
the audience here. We know it's bad. Hesh knows
it's bad. Only Adriana and Christopher don't
know. And it triggers a really sad chain reaction.
Christopher, armed with this undeniable truth,
realizes something else. If the band is terrible,
and Hesh says they are terrible, then why was
Massive Genius acting like he was so interested
in them? He does the math pretty quickly. The
band sucks, therefore Massive Genius does not
want the band. Therefore, Massive Genius just
wants my girlfriend. Exactly. He realizes the
whole music thing was just a pretext. It was
a Trojan horse for Massive to get close to Adriana.
So he confronts her about it. And this is a really
tragic moment for Adriana. Christopher tells
her the band sucks and this guy just wants to
sleep with you. He is using you. And her reaction
is key to her character. She does not accept
it. She gets incredibly defensive. She accuses
Christopher of jealousy, of trying to hold her
back from her dreams. She storms out in tears.
Why is she so intensely resistant to the truth?
Because the truth completely destroys her dream.
We really have to empathize with Adriana here.
She has ambition. She has drive. She wants to
be something more than just a mob girlfriend.
She wants agency. She wants an identity that
is entirely hers. But she's trapped. She is trapped
in a terrible pincer movement. On one side, she's
being objectified by massive genius, who simply
sees her as a sexual conquest. On the other side,
she's being possessed by Christopher, who basically
sees her as his property. And tragically, she
also genuinely lacks the talent, or at least
the ear for talent, to succeed on her own merits.
She picked a completely losing horse with Visiting
Day. It is the ultimate tragedy of cultural tourism.
She visited the world of music production, but
she didn't actually understand the language.
She thought passion and money were enough. But
as Hesh points out, you actually need a hit.
So Christopher and Adriana fail to conquer the
music world. Meanwhile, Tony Soprano is fighting
a very different battle. He is trying to conquer
the suburbs. This is segment four, Tony and the
Medigans. We keep using that word. We should
probably clearly define it for you listening,
just so we are all on the exactly same page based
on the source material. Right. Medigan. It is
an Americanization of the Italian word americano.
In the specific context of the show, it refers
to white Americans who aren't of Italian descent.
Or even more specifically, it refers to Italian
Americans who have assimilated so fully into
mainstream culture that they have lost their
distinct flavor. It implies blandness, right?
Wonder bread, mayonnaise, people who follow all
the rules, people who never shout at the dinner
table. Exactly. And Tony has a massive complex
about them. He despises them on one level. He
thinks they are weak and boring and bloodless.
But he also deeply craves their validation. He
wants to be able to stand next to them and feel
like an equal. He wants the respectability that
they effortlessly have. So he finally gets his
chance. His next door neighbor is Dr. Bruce Cusimano,
a very respectable, wealthy family doctor. Cusimano
invites Tony to play golf at his private country
club. This is the holy grail of suburban assimilation
for Tony. The private country club, it is exclusive.
It is polite. It is literally everything Tony
is not. So Tony goes. He is dressed the part.
He has got the nice clubs. He is there with Cusimano
and his doctor friends, guys like Jack Krim,
Randy Wagner, professional men, wealthy, legitimate
men. And at first, Tony thinks it is actually
going well. He thinks he is just one of the guys
chopping it up, playing 18 holes. He is telling
jokes. He is sharing expensive scars. But the
vibe noticeably shifts. It does. The other golfers
start asking him questions, and they aren't asking
about his golf swing or about his legitimate
waste management business or the stock market.
They're asking things like, what about Gotti?
Is it true about the contracts? Have you ever
met so -and -so? They are totally fanboying out
on his criminal life. They are treating him like
an exhibit in a museum. But it is not genuine
respect. It is pure curiosity. It is voyeurism.
They treat him like a novelty act, a spectacle
for their afternoon. They want the thrill of
being near a real bad guy without taking on any
of the actual danger. Tony realizes this later
and he explicitly describes it to his therapist,
Dr. Melfi. He says he felt used for somebody
else's amusement, like a dancing bear. That image,
the dancing bear, is devastatingly powerful when
you break it down. Unpack that for us. Why a
dancing bear specifically? Think about what a
dancing bear actually is. It is a dangerous,
wild predator. A killer that has been forcibly
tamed, chained up, and forced to perform silly
tricks for a civilized paying audience. It is
a total inversion of the natural order. Usually,
Tony is the apex predator. He walks into a room
and the temperature drops. People are terrified
of him. He holds all the power in his normal
world. But out there on the golf course, he is
merely the entertainment. He realizes that despite
his money, and he probably has enough hidden
cash to buy and sell these doctors, he lacks
the social capital. To them he will never be
a true peer. He will always be a specimen. A
fun story they can tell at their next dinner
party. Guess who I play golf with today? The
mobster from next door. That deep humiliation
has to sting Tony more than fear or hatred ever
could. Oh absolutely. Tony can handle being hated.
He practically thrives on being feared. but being
laughed at, being seen as a clown or a mascot.
That is completely intolerable to his fragile
ego. He realizes that no matter how much he assimilates,
to them, he's just a thug wearing a nice golf
shirt. Which brings us to the climax of this
whole subplot, and this is genuinely my favorite
part of the episode. Segment five, the revenge
of the box. This is Tony Soprano at his absolute
piteous and his absolute most brilliant. So he
feels humiliated. He wants to strike back at
Dr. Crisomano. But he cannot just hit him. He
cannot kill him. Doing that would just prove
he's an animal. That would prove he really is
just the dancing bear. Right. If he uses physical
violence, he proves their stereotype correct.
He has to use psychological warfare instead.
He has to beat the smart doctor at his own game.
The mind game. So Tony goes home and fills a
box, just a standard cardboard package. And he
seals it up tight with lots of tape. It looks
heavy. It looks very serious. And he walks over
to Cusimano's house. He acts a little jittery.
Little overly serious, he purposefully glances
over his shoulder, and he asks Kusumano a favor.
Can you hold on to this for me, just for a little
while? I really need it out of my house. The
implication is screamingly loud. This box contains
something highly illegal. Guns? Drugs? Maybe
evidence of a murder? And Cusimano, who was so
eager to play with the gangster on the safe golf
course, suddenly realizes what that actually
means in reality. You can see the blood drain
right from his face. He takes the box, but he's
visibly terrified. The reality of the mob is
now literally sitting in his hall closet. It
is not a fun anecdote anymore. It is a potential
felony charge. But here is the absolute genius
of it. What is actually in the box? It is sand.
Just pure sand. Maybe completely useless sand.
It costs Tony nothing. Zero dollars. Just a scoop
of dirt from a local construction site. But the
psychological payoff is immense. Tony leverages
the very stereotype that Cusimano mocked him
with. Cusimano thinks Tony is a dangerous criminal.
Fine. Tony will act exactly like a dangerous
criminal. And he completely ruins Cusimano's
peace of mind. You just know Cusimano is staring
at that box every single night, sweating, wondering
if the FBI is going to kick down his front door.
He probably cannot sleep at all. It powerfully
reasserts Tony's power. He flips the script on
them. He might not have the fancy medical degree.
but he can entirely control the doctor's emotional
state with a simple cardboard box. He proves
that he is the one actually in charge. You want
a scary bear, I will give you a scary bear. It
is the ultimate be careful what you wish for
moment. Tony brilliantly turns the cultural tourism
of the doctors right back against them. Now,
while all this intense male posturing is going
on, the rapping, the golfing, the box filling,
there is a quieter but very important subplot
running through the episode involving Carmela.
Yes. Carmela's financial anxiety. This is crucial
because it directly mirrors Adriana's story,
but with a very different outcome. Carmela is
looking at her life. She sees the immense risks
Tony takes every day. She sees the threat of
violence. And she starts asking the hard, practical
questions. What about me? What about the kids
if something happens? She asks Tony point blank,
if something happens to you, are we provided
for? And Tony gives her the standard dismissive
mob husband answer. You are taken care of. Don't
worry about your pretty little head. There is
cash hidden away. But Carmela is smart enough
to know that cash in a birdseed bag in the backyard
is not a real financial plan, especially when
the federal government can seize assets at any
time or when Tony's enemies could just come and
take it. So a friend introduces Carmela to the
stock market. This is her version of visiting
day. She wants a piece of the legitimate action.
She wants to use her own brain to make money.
She gets a hot tip on a stock. She buys it. And
unlike Adriana, she actually profits. The stock
goes up. She makes real money. It is a small
win, but it feels incredibly significant to her.
It is significant. It represents true agency.
For the first time, she made money that did not
come directly from Tony breaking someone's legs.
It is in her mind. clean money. Well, clean is
relative since it was basically insider trading
based on a tip, but it feels legitimate to her.
It feels like she actually did something on her
own. It shows that the women in this show are
desperately looking for a safety net that is
not entirely tied to their husband's criminality.
Adriana tries music and fails because she lacks
the skill and the support. Carmela tries stocks
and succeeds, at least for now. It heavily foreshadows
her future attempts to build a life outside of
Tony's massive shadow. So we have dissected all
the parts. Let's try to put this whole machine
back together for you. What is the big takeaway
here? We have the rapper suing the producer,
the mobster playing golf, the mob girlfriend
trying to produce rock music. If we zoom out
and look at the source analysis, the overarching
theme is clearly the illusion of legitimacy.
Break that down for us. All these characters
are trying to cross rigid lines. They are trying
to enter worlds they fundamentally do not belong
in. They think that because they have money or
raw power or a scary reputation, they can just
walk into a totally new life. But the doors are
locked. Or they walk through the door and quickly
realize they don't know any of the rules. The
mobsters enter the music business and immediately
bring street violence. Tony enters the country
club and brings all his criminal baggage. They
simply cannot shed who they are. You can put
a mobster in a nice polo shirt, but he is still
a mobster. Exactly. And it all goes back to the
title. A hit is a hit. It is a tautology. A thing
is exactly what it is. Right. In the music business,
a song works or it doesn't. You cannot force
it with money or threats. And in life, you are
who you are. Tony's assimilation wasn't a hit.
Adriana's producing career wasn't a hit. They
struck out because they were faking it. And we
also have to touch on the power of stereotypes,
because that concept was weaponized all over
this episode. It is like a game of 4D chess with
stereotypes. Massive Genius is a stereotype,
the gangster rapper, but he brilliantly flips
it by using corporate law. Tony is a stereotype.
the Italian hood, but he uses that exact fear
to psychologically torture his neighbor. It is
like they realize they are trapped in these roles,
so they decide, well, if I'm trapped here, I
might as well use the weapons available to me.
It is a deeply cynical lesson from the writers.
It says, don't try to change. The world won't
let you anyway. Instead, just lean hard into
what makes you dangerous. That is dark, but very
Sopranos. I have a final question for you to
consider, and for you listening at home to mull
over. Lay it on me. When you look at this entire
episode, all these characters running around
trying to be something else, who is actually
the most honest person? That is a tough one.
Everyone is lying to themselves in some way.
I would argue it is Hesh. Hesh, the guy who exploited
artists in the 60s. Think about it in the context
of the present day. Hesh is the only one who
simply speaks the unvarnished truth. He tells
massive genius, I am not paying you a dime. He
tells Christopher, the music is simply not good.
He does not pretend. He does not perform for
anyone. That is true. Everyone else is wearing
a heavy mask. Massive is playing the street gangster.
Tony is playing the relaxed suburbanite. Adriana
is playing the big -time producer. The doctors
are playing the inclusive liberals while actually
treating Tony like a zoo animal. Everyone is
acting, except Hesh. Hesh knows exactly who he
is. He is a ruthless businessman. He is a guy
with a good ear for music. And maybe that's exactly
why he is the one who survives and thrives while
the others struggle. That is a truly fascinating
way to look at it. In a world full of delusions,
the man with absolutely no illusions is king.
A hit is a hit. Hesh knows a hit when he hears
one. And he definitely knows a delusion when
he sees one. Wow. Well, that is a whole lot to
chew on. Next time you see a heavy cardboard
box of sand or hear a terrible local band playing
at a coffee shop, you will definitely think of
The Sopranos. And maybe think twice about trying
to be something you're not. Exactly. Stay in
your lane, or at the very least, know the rules
of the road before you try to merge. Well, that
wraps up our deep dive into A Hit is a Hit. Thank
you so much for listening. It has been a pleasure.
If you enjoyed this breakdown, please make sure
to follow us. We have plenty more deep dives
into your favorite source materials coming your
way. Until next time.