History Recap / TheSopranosS3E6University

* SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: The girls at the Bing are effectively sex slaves, with the point driven home by Silvio's harsh treatment of Tracee. In particular, he lampshades matters by telling Tracee that on account of her owing him for paying for her dental work, "... your shaved twat belongs to me."

* HolyGround: Tony's crew, in their own way, regard the Bing as such, even though as a strip joint it [[{{Hypocrite}} profits from vices]] [[InvertedTrope condemned as sin]] by Catholicism. That the mobsters, possibly excepting Tony, are more upset about a perceived disrespect to the Bing than that a 20-year-old girl lost her life is a really sad statement on their particular set of values.

** This episode has a few references to horses (e.g., Silvio calls Tracee a "thoroughbred"), and will become very important in the events of a later episode that deals with an actual horse.
** Ralph cracks a [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain Politically Incorrect joke]] about Native Americans. A future episode will focus on a conflict between Tony's crew and Native American protesters.

* DisposableWoman: Tracee's only role in the story is to create a rift between Tony and Ralph over her death.

** Noah may have eventually broken up with her anyway, but his father apparently forces the issue since he disapproves of Noah dating a MafiaPrincess.

* BlackAndGrayMorality: The mobsters, with the possible exception of Tony, are more upset about a [[InvertedTrope perceived]] disrespect to the Bing than the fact that Tracee was brutally murdered.
* {{Blackmail}}: George extorts fifty bucks and a blowjob from every Bing stripper that wants to turn tricks at the Bing's VIP room

* BadBoss: Silvio managing the Bing basically means being a violent pimp who runs a stable of sex slaves. The point gets driven home when Silvio won't hear it about Tracee being sick, and pimp slaps her into going back to work.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: The dinner with Noah's father forces Meadow to confront the fact that, compared to a family like his, the Sopranos are really just [[NouveauRiche ignorant upper-middle class outsiders to the true intellectual and wealthy elite of American society]].

Tracee holes up with Ralph for several days when she gets sick. Silvio, demanding repayment on his loan that paid for her braces, drives to Ralph's house to retrieve her. Ralph stands up to Silvio at first but relents when he learns how much Tracee owes. Silvio slaps Tracee around in the parking lot while Ralph laughs from his window. Later, during another VIP night, Tracee insults Ralph, calling his manhood into question and prompting others -- including Christopher, Bobby, and Gigi -- to laugh at him. Ralph follows Tracee out to the parking lot to confront her and claims that he intends to raise their child together. When Tracee is convinced of his sincerity he laughs in her face, taunting her and calling her a whore. Tracee slaps Ralph, who for a moment stands stunned at what happened, before he flies into a rage, savagely beating her to death.

Meadow has a heart-to-heart with Carmela about her relationship with Noah, implying that she lost her virginity to him. Noah takes Meadow to meet his father, a lawyer in show business, and the dinner becomes fairly awkward once the subject of her own father's work comes up, and she claims he's in "waste management". Meanwhile, Caitlin's behavior continues to grate on both Noah and Meadow. She visits Noah's dorm while he is studying and he later complains at length to Meadow when he gets a C- on the test he had been studying for, blaming it on Caitlin's clingy behavior distracting him. Shortly after this, Noah reveals to Meadow that in light of the effect on his grades, his father has sent a restraining order against Caitlin. Meadow is put off by the extremity of this response.

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: The dinner with Noah's father forces Meadow to confront the fact that, compared to a family like his, the Sopranos are really just [[NoveauRiche ignorant upper-middle class outsiders to the true intellectual and wealthy elite of American society]].

* SuperOCD: Caitlin, and accurately portrayed. Her hair pulling isn't the problem in and of itself, but a symptom of much deeper issues. In Caitlin's case, almost anything that is even remotely suggestive of human suffering causes her extreme distress. Homesickness is also suggested to be part of the picture.

* BuxomIsBetter: Tony notes that, unlike most strippers at the Bing, Tracee has no need for breast implants.

* SmallRoleBigImpact: PlayedWith. Ralph and others consider Tracee a DisposableSexWorker, but Tony is shaken by her murder and comes to despise Ralph for it, creating a lasting enmity whose consequences will possibly affect the entire crime family--to wit, when Tony murders Ralph after the Pie-O-My incident, the emotional outburst he delivers mid-fight could just as easily be applied to Tracee's death at Ralph's hands. Perhaps to drive the point home, Tony sees her picture at the Bing at the end of [[WhamEpisode that episode]]. And for the rest of the series, and possibly his life, Tony has to live in fear of getting whacked over killing one of his capos without having a sitdown first(him being TheDon or not).