Tony once again has his hands full dealing with his problematic mother Livia. Christopher and a friend of his, Brendan Filone (Anthony DeSando), buy lots of trouble when they hijack a truck from a company that is under Uncle Juniors' protection. Tony hears about the theft of his sons' science teachers' car from the school parking lot, and Big P***y and Paulie are tasked with trying to find out what became of it.
The characters are as lively and engaging as ever, with star James Gandolfini having particularly strong scenes with Nancy Marchand as Livia. Tony knows that living in a retirement community is the best thing for his mother, who's shown that she can't really live alone anymore. (She accidentally starts a fire in her kitchen, and also manages to run down her best friend with her car.). But she is so resistant to the idea of leaving her home that she lives him lots of grief over it. As a result, he feels lots of guilt and frustration, and realizes more than ever that repeated sessions with Dr. Melfi can be helpful.
One of this viewers' favourite moments was Paulie perusing the environment in a Starbuck's coffee shop, and voicing displeasure that the mainstream has so completely exploited Italian cuisine and culture for the sake of making a buck. Adding to the comedy elements is the fact that one employee of Tony's is so inept when placing / receiving phone calls that Tony eventually loses his patience with the guy. Silvio repeatedly references Al Pacino in "Godfather III", which always gets a laugh out of his cohorts.
A good follow-up to the pilot episode, this was likewise written by series creator David Chase, and was directed by Daniel Attias ("Stephen Kings' Silver Bullet"). Marchand is the true MVP of this episode.
Eight out of 10.
The characters are as lively and engaging as ever, with star James Gandolfini having particularly strong scenes with Nancy Marchand as Livia. Tony knows that living in a retirement community is the best thing for his mother, who's shown that she can't really live alone anymore. (She accidentally starts a fire in her kitchen, and also manages to run down her best friend with her car.). But she is so resistant to the idea of leaving her home that she lives him lots of grief over it. As a result, he feels lots of guilt and frustration, and realizes more than ever that repeated sessions with Dr. Melfi can be helpful.
One of this viewers' favourite moments was Paulie perusing the environment in a Starbuck's coffee shop, and voicing displeasure that the mainstream has so completely exploited Italian cuisine and culture for the sake of making a buck. Adding to the comedy elements is the fact that one employee of Tony's is so inept when placing / receiving phone calls that Tony eventually loses his patience with the guy. Silvio repeatedly references Al Pacino in "Godfather III", which always gets a laugh out of his cohorts.
A good follow-up to the pilot episode, this was likewise written by series creator David Chase, and was directed by Daniel Attias ("Stephen Kings' Silver Bullet"). Marchand is the true MVP of this episode.
Eight out of 10.