Recap / The Sopranos S 3 E 3 Fortunate Son

"Once you're into this family, there's no getting out."

— Tony Soprano

Christopher gets a call from Paulie, telling him to dress nicely and meet in a nearby shopping center. Chris excitedly shaves and gets ready, certain he is about to get made. Adriana, while proud of him, shows a bit of superstitious paranoia. Christopher remarks that she "watches too many movies". However, as he meets with Paulie her anxiety appears to have rubbed off on him. It's unwarranted, though, as Chris is brought to a basement gathering to conduct the ceremony of finally being made along with associate Eugene Pontecorvo, with Tony presiding over it. The two new mobsters prick their fingers, then rub a burning card between their palms while swearing oaths of loyalty to the mafia. During this ceremony, Christopher is troubled to see a blackbird watching him from just outside the window.

A celebration is held subsequently at the Bada Bing. Paulie tells Chris that he is now in charge of his sportsbook, and will kick up to Paulie. Meanwhile, Tony encounters New York boss Carmine Lupertazzi along with Johnny Sack and is displeased when he finds that Carmine, though non-judgmental, is aware of Tony's panic disorder.

Jackie Aprile, Jr., the son of Tony's deceased friend and previous Jersey boss, is envious of Christopher's new promotion. His friend Dino tries to ingratiate himself to Chris when they encounter him at a pizza parlor and mentions an upcoming heist at a college charity concert by Jewel, to Jackie's chagrin as the heist was his and Dino's plan. Jackie then makes a scene when he confronts another patron "disrespecting" the pizza parlor. Chris, unimpressed, leaves. Tony later confronts both Jackie and Chris - he convinces Jackie that his uncle Richie went into witness protection, and orders Chris not to let Jackie get involved with crime, out of respect for his father's wishes.

In therapy, Dr. Melfi broaches the subject of recommending Tony to a behavioral therapist to continue the next stage of his treatment. Tony seems perplexed by this, especially in light of his mother's recent death. Tony attends a football game AJ is playing and is proud when AJ recovers a fumble for his team. AJ is fairly unenthusiastic, however, and would rather play Nintendo than go for celebratory hot dogs with Tony.

Later, Janice, as revenge for Svetlana Kirilenko refusing to give up Livia's record collection, which Svetlana insists Livia bequeathed to her, steals her prosthetic leg and hides it. Tony visits the house and encounters Irina, Svetlana's cousin, and his former goomah, there, who informs him of the theft of the leg. Tony binges on gabagool in the kitchen and suddenly has a flashback to his childhood — he walked in on his father strong-arming the butcher Satriale and chopping his finger off. Later Tony's mother and father became flirtatious and intimate after Johnny got a free roast from Satriale, and Tony suffered an early panic attack. Tony discusses this memory with Melfi, who notes the correlation between Tony's panic attacks and meat, perceiving a possible breakthrough in therapy.

Christopher, making rash decisions with his sports book, falls behind on his kickup to Paulie, who gives him a second chance to make up the payment. Backed into a corner, Chris remembers the benefit concert Jackie had mentioned and carries out the heist with Jackie and Benny Fazio, as Dino is in jail. Jackie drives for them, and while he pisses his pants the heist is successful, and Christopher returns to Paulie's good graces. Paulie tells Christopher to get some rest. Only a couple of hours later, however, Julie mentions to Tony that Chris had worked with Jackie against his wishes. Tony beeps Chris, who is in bed, but Chris ignores his newfound responsibilities.

After his successful play in the previous game, AJ is praised by a coach, who points out his leadership potential. This causes AJ to suffer his very first panic attack, collapsing on the field.

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Tropes:

• Amicable Exes: Subverted between Tony and Irina. Tony isn't pleased to see her when he answers Svetlana's call, and Irina wears a smile that can only be described as Stepford and Slasher at the same time.
• Artistic License – Sports: USC leads Oregon by 12 points with few seconds left. Oregon then converts a 63 yard field goal (a far distance not reflected by the images of the game◊), turning a two-possession dead game into… a two-possession dead game. There is no reason for Oregon to even attempt it, other than ruining Chris 's 11 points spread.
• Bad Boss: Tony calls Chris wanting to ream him out for involving Jackie Jr. with the Rutgers concert robbery. Chris knows what to expect on the other end of the line, so he doesn't bother answering.
• Being Personal Isn't Professional: Paulie shuts Chris down hard when the latter brings up their friendship to try and ease the pinch of the debt now owing.
• Black-and-Gray Morality: The made men vows, blended with the characters' Catholic background, explicitly invokes this. Tony promises Chris and Eugene that they'll burn in hell if they don't honor their vows, vows which will very frequently require them to lie, steal and commit murder.
• Blatant Lies:
  • When Tony tells Jackie Jr. that his uncle Richie went into witness protection.
  • Janice tries to tell Svetlana that Livia's record collection had sentimental value for her. Anybody who knows anything about Janice will know that she's just trying to cash the collection out.
  • Janice not knowing where Svetlana's laig is, taken up to eleven when she concedes that if her mother's records were to magically reappear, so would the laig ... that she knows nothing about.
• Blood Oath: We even see Chris and Eugene get their fingers pricked, and give drops of their blood when they take the made man vows.
• Bring Me My Brown Pants: Jackie Jr. pees himself in a car seat when Christopher and another mobster rob a benefit concert.
• Cool Shades: Jackie Jr. thinks he's got this going on when he walks into his restaurant meeting with Tony. Tony doesn't, and orders Jackie Jr. to take them off.
• Confess in Confidence: Temporarily suspended, but ultimately without consequence. Tony momentarily throws out the window his understanding about not discussing present or future crimes with Dr. Melfi. She's clearly very uncomfortable with Tony giving instructions for his gambling racket over the phone and in her office.
• Consummate Liar: Tony deftly spins some bullshit in this episode, when he sits Jackie Jr. down to relate Richie Aprile's apparent betrayal into witness protection. We know he's lying, of course, and the first thing Tony does is point out that Jackie would be an idiot to buy the story, but he frames the fiction with such surety and confidence one can appreciate how one not privy to the audience's knowledge might fall for it.
• Continuity Nod: Christopher, ever sensitive to not getting the respect he feels he deserves, is quick to praise Jackie Jr.'s work as a wheel man for the heist, even if he did have a Potty Failure.
  • Said Potty Failure is also one, from heists seen earlier, and explained previously as different people reacting to adrenaline in different ways.
  • A.J. doesn't seem to remember his earlier pronouncement of wanting to go to either Harvard or West Point when Tony tries to bring it up.
• Country Matters: Svetlana calls Janice one when she refuses to return the laig.
• Creepy Crows: Christopher sees one early on.
• Double Entendre: Livia and Johnny Boy when the latter brings home a good roast from Satriale's during the third Flashback.
  Johnny Boy: You like it standing with the bone in, huh, Lee?
  Livia: Look at those juices.
  And a bit later ...
  Johnny Boy: Lady loves her meat.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?:
  • Chris finds that being "made" is not an instant ticket to respect, but rather includes heavier responsibilities.
  • Jackie, Jr. feels entitled to respect because of his father.
• Establishing Character Moment:
  • Carmine Lupertazzi's first scene marks him as a feared and respected Don who can switch back and forth between polite conversation and barking orders that are followed instantly.
    • Carmine's initial conversation with Tony has him admit that he is aware of Tony's panic attacks and psychiatrist sessions and expresses sympathy for Tony's plight, sincerely encouraging him to take better care of himself. This firmly establishes him as an Affably Evil Reasonable Authority Figure but also as someone who knows everything, which cannot be taken lightly.
  • Benny Fazio makes his first appearance in the series alongside Chris in the pizza parlor. It becomes obvious that he's always going to be Chris' loyal sidekick.
• Evil Debt Collector: Paulie is inflexible in his demands for what he's owed after Chris screws up on the football gambling.
• Evil Parents Want Good Kids:
  • Tony intends to keep his promise to Jackie Sr. to keep Jackie Jr. out of the mob life.
  • Horrifically averted by Johnny Boy, who is impressed that Anthony didn't run from the sight of Satriale having his finger cut off.
• Fetish: Tony seemed to think Livia was only capable of sexual arousal shortly after receiving free meat from Satriale's. It is hinted that knowing that the meat was obtained by Loan Sharking is indicative of Livia herself having a thing for Bad Boys like Johnny Boy.
• Flashback:
  • The first one is of Johnny Boy and Uncle Junior shaking down Satriale in his butcher shop, and cutting his pinky finger off with a cleaver offscreen, also explaining how Satriale's came to be a Jersey mob hangout.
  • The second one is where Johnny Boy sees potential in Anthony to be his successor since he didn't run when Satriale got his finger cut off. He begins to cultivate Tony as Daddy's Little Villain. He also provides a bit of Foreshadowing when he tells Tony that he should never gamble.
  • The third one features Johnny Boy's and Livia's use of Double Entendre. It also features Tony's very first panic attack.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Tony's declaration of the vows that made men take itself presages several events throughout the series. In particular, it will present Chris with several demands for Undying Loyalty that requires him to put the crime family above all else.
  • Also, note how the camera makes a point of focusing on Chris exclusively as Tony says the words, "before your wife".
  • The words "there's no getting out" will take on special meaning for Eugene a few seasons later.
  • Tony pursues the topic of med school with Jackie Jr. Jackie himself honestly admits he doesn't have the smarts to be a doctor. And boy do we see Jackie grip that Idiot Ball hard for the rest of his time on the show.
  • Tony also asks if Jackie will be dropping out of Rutgers, which Jackie denies. Guess what happens?
  • Johnny Boy tells Tony during the second Flashback that he should "never gamble". Tony's gambling habits will become a recurrent theme, both during season 3 and seasons to come.
• Gilligan Cut:
  • Tony tells Jackie Jr. that he doesn't want the mob life for A.J. either. The next scene is of A.J. during his football game.
  • Tony helps himself to some cold cuts in Livia's fridge. Then the Flashback of Johnny Boy and Uncle Junior shaking down Satriale begins.
  • Tony asks Paulie when Chris is ever going to grow up. The next scene is the football coach foisting leadership responsibilities onto A.J.
• Gory Discretion Shot: As Johnny Boy brings the meat cleaver down on Satriale's finger, we don't see any blood, only the Sopranos reacting to it.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Jackie Jr. tries to start a fight in the pizza parlor over bumping into another customer. Chris uses his newly acquired authority to diffuse it.
• Half-Truth: Tony is technically correct when he tells Jackie Jr. that he didn't kill Richie. He doesn't mention that he would have had Janice not done it first.
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: Paulie, The Ace at sports betting, gives Chris the reigns over the gambling racket as his first new responsibility as a made man. Chris struts in like he's going to make a killing, but it proves disastrous. Chris both never bothers to research the detailed information on sports teams and players that would inform good bets like Paulie does, nor does he listen to the hired bookies who try to give him advice.
• Hypocrite: Jackie Jr. criticizes Chris for riding Tony's coattails. There may be some truth to that, but it doesn't change the fact that Jackie Jr. himself spends most of season three trying to ride his father's name to a higher place in the mob.
• Inadequate Inheritor: Chris mentions that Jackie Jr. having been Jackie Sr.'s kid may actually give him a legitimate claim to become a member of the organization, if not the boss of the family someday. Aside from Tony's promise to Jackie Sr., Tony retorts with the additional reason he intends to keep Jackie Jr. out of the mob life. Jackie Jr. just doesn't have his father's acumen and isn't cut for leading the mob.
• Internal Reveal: Averted, because it's Blatant Lies, but treated as a straight example when Tony informs Jackie Jr. that Richie was a rat who went into witness protection.
• Like Father, Like Son:
  • The episode flashes back to Tony's first panic attack and concludes with A.J.'s. Given that we know Johnny Boy had panic attacks too, it reinforces that It Runs in the Family.
  • Dr. Melfi thinks she has made a breakthrough when she learns that Tony's first panic attack was in response to witnessing both Johnny Boy cutting off Satriale's finger, and Livia carving the roast that Satriale sent, so close together. Her diagnosis is that Tony passed out because he couldn't handle the inevitable truth that he would end up just like his father, no matter how much he might try to get out of it.
• Loose Lips: Dino lets it slip that he and Jackie Jr. have a campus robbery job planned. Averted in that there are no negative consequences for any participants, Dino included, after Chris wants in.
• Malaproper: Carmine when he's trying to cushion the fact that he knows that Tony is seeing a shrink: "There's no stigmata these days".
• Memento MacGuffin: Janice's and Svetlana's conflict over Livia's record collection escalates, to put it mildly.
• Nepotism: Jackie Jr. expresses the view that Chris would be nothing were he not Tony's nephew. He's not entirely wrong either.
• Obfuscating Stupidity: Janice pretends not to know what happened to Svetlana's leg, and from her mimicry of Svetlana's accent may even be pretending she doesn't know what a laig is.
• The Oner: The scene where Christopher arrives to meet with Paulie and sits in his car begins with a long shot.
• Open Secret: Tony is taken aback when Carmine asks him how's handling his panic attacks, and how his therapy sessions with a shrink are going. Carmine informs him that EVERYBODY knows about it.
• The Peter Principle: Chris got his promotion (at least in part) on account of being very good with the violence and intimidation activities of the mob. After all, he's a Pint-Sized Powerhouse who's beaten men with several inches on him, and Sean Gismote during season 2 found out the hard way that he can call on Improbable Aiming Skills with a gun when he has to. But his first new responsibility as a made man, to run a gambling racket, sees him far out of his depth as that task requires thorough research and keen analytical skills. It's telling that Chris has to fall back on what he knows best (i.e. the robbery) to make up his debt to Paulie.
• Politically Incorrect Villain:
  • Tony's racism hasn't diminished at all since the last episode. He really unloads on Dr. Melfi about his feelings of Meadow seeing Noah, and calls Noah "Buckwheat" to boot.
  • Carmela isn't any better, she's just less obvious about it. She has to look down when Meadow and Noah hug each other, as though she's having to cover her eyes during a particularly gruesome scene during a horror movie. And by now, she's learned that she won't make progress by trying to force the issue, but Meadow is now starting to catch on to Carmela's more indirect methods.
• Portent of Doom: How Chris sees the Creepy Crow at the window.
• Potty Failure: Jackie Jr. is having trouble holding his bladder while the heist is going on, and loses it when he hears gunshots.
• Reliably Unreliable Guns: One of Chris' or Benny's guns go off when they try to make a security guard at the concert stand down. Nobody gets hurt, but it definitely forces the duo to hightail it out of there.
• Rule of Symbolism: Chris notices a crow staring through the basement window while the made man vow is being administered, and also notices that the crow is gone the moment he has completed taking the vow. He's definitely spooked by it, wondering if even taking the vow has effectively made him a damned soul.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Averted, much to Jackie Jr.'s credit.
• Sensory Abuse: A.J.'s point of view during the football game has him hear Tony's cheers like they were grunts from an inhuman monster. It reinforces that A.J. suddenly doing something that pleases his father is a lot to take in.
• Serious Business: "Don't disrespect the pizza parlor!"
• Shout-Out:
  • Adriana's nervous about Christopher heading off to get made, which Christopher attributes to "watching too many movies". This specifically references Goodfellas, in which Tommy De Vito was whacked under the pretense of being made. In the next scene, while Christopher waits for Paulie in the parking lot, a dolly zoom similar to a scene of paranoia in Goodfellas is used.
  • The bookies trying to help Chris inform him that Paulie is The Ace at sports betting, as he researches the sports teams and their players, and every other possible angle, before placing successful bets. That makes Paulie a Shout-Out to Sam "Ace" Rothstein of Casino fame.
  • Chris getting bitten by The Peter Principle as he moves from street thug to running a gambling racket also has shades of Nicky Santoro, also from Casino.
  • Chris and Benny rob the campus concert while wearing Ghostface masks.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Paulie pulls no punches when laying it out for Chris the realities and responsibilities that come with being a made man. "Welcome to the NFL, rookie!"
• Social Climber: Chris and Adriana are elated at the news that Chris is about to get made. Adriana even expresses hopes of finding a nice house like Tony's instead of the dingy apartment they're in.
• Spotting the Thread: The normally slow A.J. has one of his sharp moments when he figures out, just from seeing Noah and witnessing the tense interaction between Carmela and Meadow, that Tony called Noah a "mulignan".
• This Is Reality: Christopher learns the hard way that, unlike how it's depicted in the gangster movies he's watched, becoming a made man does not mean he gets to live life on easy street. Instead, the promotion means he has more responsibilities and is under even more pressure to earn.
• Time to Move: Completely inverted. Tony can't stand having Janice around, so he convinces Svetlana to move out of Livia's house, and thereafter obliges Janice to move into it.
• Titled After the Song: The title refers to "Fortunate Son" by Creedence Clearwater Revival about American youth.
• We Will Meet Again: Svetlana makes a threat of this type to Janice after realizing she can't get the leg back right away.
• You Are Not Ready: A.J. is overwhelmed when he catches glimpses of the big wide world with adult responsibilities while visiting Meadow. He's subsequently pessimistic about being able to amount to anything at dinner with Tony and Carmela. Then his football coach praises his leadership on the field and anoints him defensive captain. The last event is what triggers A.J.'s first panic attack.
• You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry!: Chris uses this kind of threat to remind Jackie Jr. not to start driving until he and Benny are back in it.
• You're Not My Father: Meadow takes this attitude towards Tony as she's still angry at him for his racist treatment of Noah.
  • During one call, she asks Carmela if Tony is "burning a cross" in the backyard.
  • When Tony answers the phone for another call, she coldly and repeatedly asks for either A.J. or Carmela while not wanting to speak to him.
  • Carmela also doesn't think it's a good idea for Tony to visit her, at least not yet.

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