History Recap / TheSopranosS4E12Eloise

** Little Carmine gets stung by Carmine Sr.'s admiration for Tony with remark of how he have made a good son for him. So much so that he reneges on his promise to Tony to smooth over the conflict over the [[TheCon HUD scam]].

* ForWantOfANail: Had Minn not had the car accident, Paulie might not have driven the old ladies to the cafe. Paulie wouldn't have overheard Cookie talk about the cash Minn keeps under her mattress. And it may have remained an open question of whether Paulie could have worked his way back into Tony's good graces.

** Meadow refers to Carmela as Ms. Danvers from ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'' to bristle against Carmela's efforts to dictate arrangements that won't involve pre-marital sex with Finn.

* EpicFail: The end result of Paulie's misguided efforts to change teams to New York.

* GreenEyedMonster: Little Carmine gets stung by Carmine Sr.'s remark that Tony would have been a good son for him. So much so that he reneges on his promise to Tony to smooth over the conflict over the [[TheCon HUD scam]].

** Paulie realizes that his efforts to join New York have been an EpicFail, and turns his energies to getting back into Tony's good graces. He takes to robbing Minn's cash out of perceived necessity.

* {{Turncoat}}: Paulie tries to ingratiate himself with Carmine Sr. to hasten what he hopes will be a defection to New York, but Carmine has no idea who he even is. Paulie realizes that he's been strung along by [[ManipulativeBastard Johnny Sack's]] BlatantLies and that his efforts have been an EpicFail.

* WeNeedADistraction: Of a verbal sort. Johnny tries to change the subject to the green of the golf course getting resodded. And it's in an effort to stop Little Carmine from derailing the effort to get Carmine Sr. to give ground on the [[TheCon HUD scam]]. It doesn't work.

Tony and Carmela visit Meadow's new shared house for dinner with Meadow and her roommates. One roommate has nothing but praise for Meadow, which satisfies Tony, but Carmela remains troubled by Furio's disappearance. During the dinner, Tony makes several crude jokes but is generally jovial. When the subject of ''Literature/BillyBudd'', a book AJ has been reading for class, comes up, AJ reveals that his teacher considers it to have homoerotic themes. Others present, including Meadow's new boyfriend Finn De Trolio, agree on the general literary consensus that this is true, but Carmela bristles and overreacts at the prospect, humiliating Meadow with a homophobic rant about the "gay agenda" in the media and alienating Meadow's liberal college student friends.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Carmela tries to restrict Meadow's arrangements to prevent pre-marital sex with her boyfriend, Finn. But it could be said that Carmela has committed emotional adultery with Furio even if she hasn't gone that far with him.

* BlatantLies: Paulie learns the hard way that Johnny Sack telling him that Carmine Sr. always asks about him and thinks the world of him amounts to an UpToEleven example of the trope.

** Tony and Carmela get on A.J. for his poor grades and later spew homophobic comments in front of Meadow's roomates.

* CloseToHome: Tony has no idea how his ending conversation with Carmela, whereby he cites reasons to to be proud of Meadow (e.g. smart, independent, likely to find somebody else even if Finn doesn't work), will trigger corresponding desires in his wife.

* DontYouLikeIt: Carmela has an underwhelmed reaction to Tony's gift of a three day getaway to a resort. The underlying reason is that it would tear her away from Furio.
* DoubleMeaningTitle: There's a pivotal scene where Meadow and Carmella have brunch at the Plaza Hotel under the famous painting of the eponymous character of ''Eloise at the Plaza''. More subtly, though, the title alludes to Carmela's dissatisfaction in her marriage and to the UnresolvedSexualTension between her and Furio, which evokes the tragic love affair of Abelard and Heloise. The latter meaning is made clearer in the following season, when Carmella takes an interest in the letters of Abelard and Heloise shortly after separating from Tony.

* GolfClubbing: Carmine Sr. loses it when he realizes that Tony is using any inroad and end run possible to gain a concession for the [[TheCon HUD]] negotiations, and ends up smashing his driver over a sign post.

* HopeSpot: Carmela finds what appears to be a post card from Italy in the mail, only to find its advertising from a hair salon and not a post card from Furio as she clearly hoped.

** The entire Soprano family, excepting Meadow, make themselves obvious that they look down on homosexuality, with even A.J. using the word 'fag'.

** Did [[ManipulativeBastard Johnny Sack]] bring Tony to Carmine Sr.'s new restaurant to encourage the BrokenWindowWarning, and to put Tony and Carmine at loggerheads with each other? How long has it been since Johnny starting becoming TheStarscream plotting against Carmine, and has now only revealed his intentions to Tony?

* [[TheSmartGuy The Smart Girl]]: Meadow continues to show herself as a BrainyBrunette by revealing an extensive knowledge of English literature during her interactions with Carmela, who only reads material at surface level.

** The sweeteners, crackers and dinner rolls in the restaurant may be complementary. But Cookie, Minny and Nucci loading up their doggy bags with as much of them as they can really stretches acceptable social mores surrounding those perks.

* UngratefulBastard: How Tony feels about Carmela's reaction to his gift of a three day getaway.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Little Carmine clearly struggles living in the shadow of his father, TheDon and a LivingLegend. And it ends up provoking him into sabotaging his earlier promise to Tony when Carmine Sr. thinking Tony would have made a good son stirs the GreenEyedMonster inside of him.

'''Season 4, Episode 12'''
!Eloise

Furio arrives as usual to pick up Tony from the Soprano home, and has another romantically charged interaction with Carmela. As Tony comes downstairs he reveals that he bought tickets for himself and Carmela to go on vacation as a surprise gift. When Carmela is less than enthusiastic about having to reorganize her schedule around this trip, Tony becomes angry. He later bad-mouths Carmela to Furio in the car, while Furio holds his tongue but seethes with rage. Later, Carmela visits Furio's house to discuss decorating the new guesthouse for his parents. They schedule a shopping trip, and Carmela exclaims "It's a date!"

Paulie talks with Silvio about his less than stellar performance as an earner recently. Paulie insists it's only a temporary setback, and that his friendship with Tony will garner more favor than any financial kickup. Silvio and Tony, however, both seem suspicious of the duplicitous Paulie. Meanwhile, Paulie's mother Nucci gets involved in a minor car crash while on an excursion with nursing home friends Minn Matrone and Cookie Cirillo, when a distracted Minn runs into another car while driving. Paulie no longer wants his mother in a car driven by Minn, and offers to drive them to an upcoming concert. While dining with them after the concert, Paulie notices Minn taking bread rolls which he claims belong to his mother. He also overhears that Minn keeps savings in cash under her mattress.

Tony and Carmela visit Meadow's new shared house for a dinner with Meadow and her roommates. One roommate has nothing but praise for Meadow, which satisfies Tony, but Carmela remains troubled by Furio's disappearance. During the dinner, Tony makes several crude jokes, but is generally jovial. When the subject of ''Literature/BillyBudd'', a book AJ has been reading for class, comes up, AJ reveals that his teacher considers it to have homoerotic themes. Others present, including Meadow's new boyfriend Finn De Trolio, agree on the general literary consensus that this is true, but Carmela bristles and overreacts at the prospect, humiliating Meadow with a homophobic rant about the "gay agenda" in the media and alienating Meadow's liberal college student friends.

Paulie, hoping to get closer to New York in light of his alienation from Tony, approaches Carmine at a wedding and introduces himself under false pretenses. Carmine has no idea who Paulie is, despite Johnny's previous assertions that he holds him in high regard. Realizing that alignment with New York is no longer an option, Paulie panics and raids Minn Matrone's home, remembering the cash under the mattress she had mentioned. Minn catches Paulie taking the money, and threatens to call the cops. When Paulie can't calm Minn down, he smothers her to death with a pillow. He brings the sizable resulting envelope to Tony, entering back into his good graces.

Johnny meets with Tony in Carmine's new restaurant, hoping to compromise in the HUD deal, but Tony is put off by Carmine's unwillingness to show his face at the meeting. He later orders several low-level thugs to vandalize the restaurant. In retaliation, Carmine has the Esplanade shut down through his own union ties, freezing significant income to both families. Johnny becomes disillusioned with Carmine's actions as he hemorrhages money, and arranges a private meeting with Tony, subtly indicating a plan to have Carmine killed.

Meadow and Carmela continue their yearly tradition of dinner at the Plaza Hotel under the Eloise painting, but Carmela's negative attitude sours the encounter and they part on bad terms. Meadow speaks to AJ and asks him about Carmela's mood, learning about her frequent visits to Furio's house before he dismisses her with a loud fart. She then speaks to Tony and learns for the first time about his therapy with Dr. Melfi, briefly asking if Carmela seems particularly unfulfilled lately. Tony, oblivious to the situation with Furio, chalks it up to menopause, and reassures Meadow that her mother loves her. Meadow keeps the information about Furio to herself, half-heartedly agreeing with Tony's menopause diagnosis. Tony climbs into bed with Carmela that night and tells her she should be proud of the successful and independent woman she has created, while Carmela simply agrees with everything he says in monotone.

** Even Carmela laments [[PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad politically correct recognition]] of homosexuality pervading the educational systems, and gets into a heated debate with Meadow about whether ''Literature/BillyBudd'' was homosexual literature.

* LooseLips: Doug Smith and his right-hand man are furious that a new employee told Tony about their helicopter.

Johnny meets with Tony in Carmine's new restaurant, hoping to compromise in the HUD deal, but Tony is put off by Carmine's unwillingness to show his face at the meeting. He later orders several low-level thugs to vandalize the restaurant. In retaliation, Carmine has the Esplanade shut down, freezing significant income to both families. Johnny becomes disillusioned with Carmine's actions as he hemorrhages money, and arranges a private meeting with Tony, subtly indicating a plan to have Carmine killed.

** Tony and Carmela get on A.J. for his poor grades in front of the entirety of Meadow's dinner party.

* BosssUnfavoriteEmployee: Paulie has the mistaken notion that [[BunnyEarsLawyer his closeness with Tony means he can do no wrong]], while at the same time noticing that he's been cut out of the loop. Silvio breaks it to him that Paulie is descending into Unfavorite status among the Capos because of his decreased earnings.