canyonwalker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
canyonwalker) wrote2021-10-23 03:40 pm
canyonwalker) wrote2021-10-23 03:40 pm
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The Sopranos Pulls Out of its Season 4 Slump
Ironically just 1 episode after I complained about The Sopranos season 4 hitting a slump the series picked up its pace again. In s4ep9, "Whoever Did This", Ralphie become distraught after his son is injured in an accident. He shows some character growth by reckoning with some of the bad ways he's treated people... but in his grief he also starts losing control and does something awful that enrages Tony.
A late night fire erupts at the stable where Ralph's racehorse, Pie Oh My, is kept. Several horses die in the fire; Ralph's is injured so badly it has to be put down. Tony, who's become quite fond of the horse, goes to the scene to survey the damage and comfort the horse's trainer. Ralphie isn't there.
Tony is suspicious of the fire's origin. He seems to recognize a pattern involving an arsonist his gang has used before— including for when he blew up his friend Artie's restaurant in the show's pilot— and he knows that Ralphie had a $200,000 insurance policy on the horse. He confronts Ralphie, who initially denies it but then, in so many words, basically confirms he did it. The two men fight in Ralphie's kitchen. Tony smothers Ralphie.
In the next episode, "The Strong, Silent Type", the picked-up pace continues. We see another scene of Christopher's heroin use— one of the things that made the mid-season episodes tedious— but now this arc of the story reaches a climax. Christopher hits a new low with his fiancee, Adriana. He accidentally kills her dog by sitting on it while he's high. He doesn't even realize until hours later when Adriana comes home and wonders where the dog is. Then he gets up from the sofa and realizes he's been sitting on a dead dog. Christopher and Adriana fight. Christopher punches her in the face, and she leaves.
Adriana appears at the Soprano household, seeking help from Carmella. Tony sees her with a black eye and demands to know what happened. When she explains, Tony is more upset about Christopher killing a dog than punching her in the face. This aligns with Tony being so incensed about a horse being killed that he murdered Ralphie over it.
Christopher's friends and family stage an intervention. They enlist the help of distant associate of the gang who's a recovered drug addict. He's actually a good guy who's very patient and tries facilitate a positive, "by the book" intervention. It's humorous, though, that he thinks these gang thugs never confronted anyone about a problem. They threaten and beat people frequently! The intervention starts out gently, but gangsters Paulie and Silvio predictably lose their cool and start beating Christopher up in front of everyone, including his mother— who eggs them on! (Christopher and his mom have a strained relationship. That was shown at the end of the episode where he learns who killed his father.)
Christopher enters a drug rehab clinic after Tony makes it clear to him it's that "or else".
A late night fire erupts at the stable where Ralph's racehorse, Pie Oh My, is kept. Several horses die in the fire; Ralph's is injured so badly it has to be put down. Tony, who's become quite fond of the horse, goes to the scene to survey the damage and comfort the horse's trainer. Ralphie isn't there.
Tony is suspicious of the fire's origin. He seems to recognize a pattern involving an arsonist his gang has used before— including for when he blew up his friend Artie's restaurant in the show's pilot— and he knows that Ralphie had a $200,000 insurance policy on the horse. He confronts Ralphie, who initially denies it but then, in so many words, basically confirms he did it. The two men fight in Ralphie's kitchen. Tony smothers Ralphie.
In the next episode, "The Strong, Silent Type", the picked-up pace continues. We see another scene of Christopher's heroin use— one of the things that made the mid-season episodes tedious— but now this arc of the story reaches a climax. Christopher hits a new low with his fiancee, Adriana. He accidentally kills her dog by sitting on it while he's high. He doesn't even realize until hours later when Adriana comes home and wonders where the dog is. Then he gets up from the sofa and realizes he's been sitting on a dead dog. Christopher and Adriana fight. Christopher punches her in the face, and she leaves.
Adriana appears at the Soprano household, seeking help from Carmella. Tony sees her with a black eye and demands to know what happened. When she explains, Tony is more upset about Christopher killing a dog than punching her in the face. This aligns with Tony being so incensed about a horse being killed that he murdered Ralphie over it.
Christopher's friends and family stage an intervention. They enlist the help of distant associate of the gang who's a recovered drug addict. He's actually a good guy who's very patient and tries facilitate a positive, "by the book" intervention. It's humorous, though, that he thinks these gang thugs never confronted anyone about a problem. They threaten and beat people frequently! The intervention starts out gently, but gangsters Paulie and Silvio predictably lose their cool and start beating Christopher up in front of everyone, including his mother— who eggs them on! (Christopher and his mom have a strained relationship. That was shown at the end of the episode where he learns who killed his father.)
Christopher enters a drug rehab clinic after Tony makes it clear to him it's that "or else".