History Recap / TheSopranosS1E4Meadowlands

* KilledOffscreen: Jackie Sr.

* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Jeremy the bully gives A.J. the $40, after being obliged by his father. Jeremy's father previously received [[AnOfferYouCantRefuse An Offer That Can't Be Refused]] from [[TheDreaded Tony]].

A.J. gets into a fight with a fellow student, Jeremy, who insults him and rips his shirt at school. After Tony inadvertently runs into Jeremy's father at a garden store and intimidates him, the latter tells his son to apologize to A.J. and give him the money for a new shirt. A.J. is left confused and bewildered. When he goes to Meadow for advice, she claims that their father is part of the Mafia and his reputation caused Jeremy and his father to back down...

He then meets a contact outside the retirement home -- Dirty Cop Vin Makazian. Tony asks him to get as much information as he can find on Melfi, but not to bother or hurt her in any way. Makazian sarcastically agrees and heads on his way.

They drive to the local high school and harshly question Meadow about whether she told Tony about the drugs. She tells him she had nothing to do with it and says she hates being a Soprano. Chris apologizes before letting her go on her way.

The next day, Chris walks out of the hospital with Adriana after his [[Recap/TheSopranosS1E3DenialAngerAcceptance mock execution at the hands of Junior's goons]]. Despite her attempts to get him to lighten up, he is intensely paranoid and wonders if Tony did it to him because he gave drugs to Meadow. They drive to Brendan's apartment but are horrified when they discover his corpse in the bathtub.

* MaleGaze: During Tony's dream sequence, as the camera pans up Melfi's legs.

* PacManFever: Tony comes in to find A.J. playing ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' and then joins him in the race. We get the correct sounds, there is a cartridge in the ''UsefulNotes/Nintendo64'' and they consistently stay on the same track (Luigi Raceway); A.J. does a bit of button-mashing, but not too egregious. A.J. does mention to Tony that he should "watch out for the ghosts" and, while Boos are one of the weaker items (and a non-avoidable one), they do at least exist in the game. To really nitpick, they complete all three laps of Luigi Raceway in some 20 seconds (though the time shown on the screen shows a more realistic 2 minutes 27 seconds)! All in all a pretty faithful representation of Mario Kart on TV. Oh, and Tony holds the N64 controller one handed, using the central grip, only moving the analogue stick.

* RevengeBeforeReason: Chris' one consuming thought is to immediately and violently avenge Brendan's death, to the point of repeatedly ignoring advice from more experienced mobsters on the need to be patient about things.

** Tony's dream with the heart beat soundtrack and a mysterious figure he taps on the shoulder references a dream sequence in ''Film/AngelHeart''.

* SingleEpisodeHandicap: Chris is forced to wear a neckbrace for the duration of the episode, causing him to rely more on threats and stationary attacks (attempting to strangle a man laying on the ground) than out-and-out fistfights.

* XanatosGambit: Tony puts a long-term plan into action, which involves letting Junior think [[ILetYouWin he runs the New Jersey crime family]]. As a result, Tony settles the dispute with his uncle, gets a pair of front operations for his trouble and avoids any law enforcement heat.

'''Season 1, Episode 04:'''
!Meadowlands

He wakes up with a start in bed with Irina, then returns home and gives some advice to AJ about staying in focused in school before retiring for the night.

The next day, Chris walks out of the hospital with Adriana after his [[Recap/TheSopranosS1E3DenialAngerAcceptance mock execution at the hands of Junior's goons]]. Despite her attempts to get him to lighten up, he is intensely paranoid and wonders if Tony did it to him because he gave drugs to Meadow. They drive to Brendan's apartment, but are horrified when they discover his corpse in the bathtub.

They drive to the local high school, and harshly question Meadow about whether she told Tony about the drugs. She tells him she had nothing to do with it, and says she hates being a Soprano. Chris apologizes before letting her go on her way.

He then meets a contact outside the retirement home -- DirtyCop Vin Makazian. Tony asks him to get as much information as he can find on Melfi, but not to bother or hurt her in any way. Makazian sarcastically agrees and heads on his way.

That night, Makazian and his partner are trailing a vehicle who the former claims was at the scene of a triple homicide. They stop the car, where it is revealed that Melfi was being driven home after dinner by a date. The man, a lawyer named Randall, steps out of the car and attempts to understand what's happening, but Makazian brutally beats and arrests him. He then antagonizes Melfi before driving off.

A.J. gets into a fight with a fellow student, Jeremy, who insults him and rips his shirt at school. After Tony inadvertantly runs into Jeremy's father at a garden store and intimidates, the latter tells his son to apologize to A.J. and give him the money for a new shirt. A.J. is left confused and bewildered. When he goes to Meadow for advice, she claims that their father is part of the Mafia and his reputation caused Jeremy and his father to back down...

At that moment, Chris arrives and tells them that Junior's crew are attempting to muscle their way in to their operations. Tony tells him that it's not the time, but Chris insists on action or else he'll question Tony's leadership. Tony threatens Chris before storming out.

Tony goes to Junior's armed, but reveals to the latter that he wants him to be the leader of the crew in exchange for a pair of front operations. Junior is incredibly relieved and happy to hear it, and hugs Tony in response.

* StuffedInTheFridge: Uncle Junior and Mikey left Brendan's body in the tub as a message for Chris and Tony.

* TwoDecadesBehind: Tony expresses a [[TheChainsOfCommanding hesitancy to accept leadership of the crime family]] with Jackie's death regarded as on the horizon. Larry Boy Barese tries to persuade him on the basis that Uncle Junior is too behind the times to be an effective leader, and that New York recognizes it.

* AnxietyDreams: The episode starts with Tony dreaming that everybody finds out that he's seeing a psychiatrist, which at this point in the series is one of worst fears. The dream ends with Dr. Melfi turning around in her chair, only for her face to be replaced with that of Livia's. That bit provides {{Foreshadowing}} of Tony's ParentalIssues and OedipusComplex with respect to Livia.

* CeilingBanger: Meadow and Hunter are playing music way too loud, prompting longer and louder "HEEEEYYY!"s from Tony, who pounds the wall as he shouts.

Tony is taking his medication and reading the book on elderly care at the Bada Bing when a news report comes on stating that [[KilledOffForReal Jackie Sr. died that afternoon]]. He and the rest of the crew break down upon learning about what happened and give a toast to their fallen leader.

* KilledOffForReal: Jackie Sr.

Tony is taking his medication and reading the book on elderly care at the Bada Bing when a news report comes on stating that [[CharacterDeath Jackie Sr. died that afternoon]]. He and the rest of the crew break down upon learning about what happened and give a toast to their fallen leader.

* CharacterDeath: Jackie Sr.

-->'''Tony''': Is that a threat?

* CeilingBang: Meadow and Hunter are playing music way too loud, prompting longer and louder "HEEEEYYY!"s from Tony, who pounds the wall as he shouts.

** Tony's BadDreams where he sees Livia replacing Dr. Melfi in the office will suggest he suffers from a kind of OedipusComplex where he feels drawn to women who share the same qualities as his mother.

* BadDreams: Tony begins to suffer from these. The first one leads to a CatapultNightmare.

* PacManFever: Tony comes in to find A.J. playing ''VideoGame/MarioKart64'' and then joins him in the race. We get the correct sounds, there is a cartridge in the ''UsefulNotes/Nintendo64'' and they consistently stay on the same track (Luigi Circuit); A.J. does a bit of button-mashing, but not too egregious. A.J. does mention to Tony that he should "watch out for the ghosts" and, while ghosts are one of the weaker items (and a non-avoidable one), they do at least exist in the game. To really nitpick, they complete all three laps of Luigi circuit in some 20 seconds (though the time shown on the screen shows a more realistic 2 minutes 27 seconds)! All in all a pretty faithful representation of Mario Kart on TV. Oh, did I mention that Tony holds the N64 controller one handed, using the central grip, only moving the analogue stick?

** Two to ''Film/TheGodfather'' - Pussy mentions that Brendan got "the Moe Greene special]]", while Tony mentions going to the mattresses.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Chris has it in his head that going after Uncle Junior and Mikey with bazookas in both arms like Al Montoya in ''Film/Scarface1983'' would actually be a good idea.