History Recap / TheSopranosS3E11PineBarrens

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->''"Captain or no captain, right now, we're just two assholes lost in the woods."''
-->-- '''Christopher Moltisanti'''

** Valery's fate. He never appears again, although considering Valery was good friends with TheMafiya and they never do anything to retaliate against Tony or his crew, it's more than likely that he's dead.

** Valery's fate.

-->'''Paulie:''' "He killed 16 Czechoslovakians.[[note]]Meant to say "Chechens".[[/note]] Guy was an interior decorator![[note]]Actually worked for the "Interior Ministry"[[/note]]

* ForWantOfANail: Most of the events of the episode only happen because Silvio is sick with the flu and can't make his usual collection from Valery himself.

* DeusExMachina: It's an open question if Chris and Paulie would have been found alive if Paulie hadn't first lost his shoe, then made a makeshift snowshoe from the van carpeting, then had that shoe come off in the snow, then fired his gun multiple times at the shoe in frustration, thereby alerting Tony and Bobby (who were going in the opposite direction) to their location. The sequence allows the pairs to find each other through successive gunshots that allow them to home in on each other.

** Once the duo takes shelter in the van, Paulie calls up Tony outside the van and throws Chris under the bus for starting things with Valery, while Chris is out of earshot and still in the van.

* HasAType: Dr. Melfi pulls no punches in pointing out that Tony has a thing for women who are extremely difficult and impossible to please. She takes it even further and points out that they share those traits with [[EvilMatriarch Livia]], and therefore Tony struggles with OedipusComplex. The comment hits rather CloseToHome for Tony before the ending credits begin.

Meadow is sick and holed up in her dorm room, playing Scrabble with Jackie Jr., an activity that only highlights his stupidity. He attempts to initiate sex but Meadow doesn't feel up to it. Shortly after this, Jackie leaves. He calls later, canceling his plans to visit her again, and is seen applying cologne. Meadow's suspicions are raised.

* BookDumb: This episode goes out of its way to erase any lingering doubts that may yet exist in your mind that Jackie Jr. qualifies for this trope. To say that he's outmatched by BrainyBrunette Meadow during Scrabble games is an understatement to put it mildly. He mistakes oblique for a Spanish word and doesn't know what it means. Meanwhile, he can only come up with words like "ass" and "poo" to scrounge any points for himself.

* BrainlessBeauty: Meadow shows an awareness, even if reluctantly, that Jackie is good-looking yet dumb as rocks when she stares at the words he made during their Scrabble game, "ass", "poo" and "the". Caitlin of all people outright says it: "I mean he was cute, but he was really boring."

** Gloria then really loses it when Tony tells her has to leave, even though Tony is now convinced that Chris and Paulie are in a MatterOfLifeAndDeath situation. She [[{{FoodSlap}} throws her steak at Tony]] before he leaves, and then has an epic fit of TantrumThrowing once he's out the door.
* YouRemindMeOfX: Tony half-jokes with Melfi that he's dating Gloria maybe because she reminds him of her, only to say they are not alike at all, before settling in that they both [[ShesGotLegs have great legs]].