The trial of Junior Soprano comes to an end. As closing statements are made, Bobby Baccalieri identifies a nervous juror with a wedding ring in the lineup. Eugene Pontecorvo approaches the juror, Daniel, while he visits a corner store with his son. Eugene cordially thanks Daniel for performing his civic duty, and makes it clear that the mob knows who he is.
Little Carmine Lupertazzi arrives in New York as promised, meeting with his father during a game of golf and broaching the subject of recent tensions with Jersey. Carmine belittles and humiliates his son in front of Johnny Sack. When he compares Little Carmine unfavorably to Tony, Little Carmine gets jealous and reverses his position, suggesting that the problem is that Tony views Johnny as a friend. Carmine, fed up with the situation, resumes his hardline position, still demanding 40%.
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 brings Furio on a trip to a casino in Connecticut, owned by Doug Smith, the native chief they had collaborated with against the Columbus Day protests. Furio watches stoically while Tony gets belligerently drunk, disgusted by his infidelity to Carmela as he dances with a younger escort. One girl accompanying them mentions a helicopter, and a drunken Brian Cammarata eagerly jumps on the opportunity to fly out of the casino. On the helicopter pad upstairs, Tony urinates next to the spinning tail rotor, and Furio impulsively grabs him, pushing him towards the blade but stopping before Tony can be killed. Furio excuses himself by pretending he was trying to move Tony away from the blades. The next morning, a hungover Tony does not seem to remember the near-death encounter, but both he and Carmela are curious when Furio doesn't show up to drive him the next morning. Carmela learns from a chance encounter with a real estate agent she knows that Furio abruptly sold his house, and Tony gets a call informing him that Furio apparently moved back to Italy. Carmela drives to Furio's home and looks into the empty interior through the window, crestfallen.
Tony, AJ 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 Billy Budd, 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 him back into his good graces.
Johnny meets with Tony in Carmine's new restaurant, hoping to compromise on 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.
Tropes
- All for Nothing: The end result of Paulie's misguided efforts to either change teams to New York or outright supplant Tony as boss with another Family's backing.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents:
- Carmine Sr. asks Little Carmine if he's put on sun block, in front of Johnny Sack.
- Tony and Carmela get on A.J. for his poor grades and later spew homophobic comments in front of Meadow's roommates.
- Asshole Victim: Paulie robbing and smothering an old lady to death would be horrible if she weren't such a miserable, bitter old bat.
- Assurance Backfire: When caught red-handed by Minn while breaking into her house, Paulie tries to reassure her that he won't hurt her by reminding her she has known him since he was a kid. She immediately starts screaming for help.
- Blank Stare: Carmine Sr. is rather taken aback by Paulie's efforts to ingratiate himself.
- Blatant Lies: 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 up to eleven example of the trope.
- Boss's Unfavorite Employee: Paulie has the mistaken notion that 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 The Unfavorite status among the Capos because of his decreased earnings.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Meadow still shows shades of this during her tea date with Carmela. To be fair, Carmela does push her buttons as well.
- Broken-Window Warning: Tony has Benny and Little Paulie thoroughly trash Carmine Sr.'s new restaurant to get the message across to be more reasonable about the HUD negotiations.
- Bullying a Dragon: Tony knew he was grabbing the bull by the horns when he had Benny and Little Paulie vandalize Carmine Sr.'s new restaurant. Carmine for his part is only too willing to live up to the "Dragon" part of the trope by having the union shut down the Esplanade project.
- Butterfly of Doom: 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.
- Call-Back: Minn getting into a car accident serves as a reminder of when Livia had one herself.
- Change the Uncomfortable Subject: Johnny tries to change the subject to the green of the golf course getting re-sodded in an effort to stop Little Carmine from derailing compromise over the HUD scam with Carmine Sr. It doesn't work.
- Chekhov's Gag: Minn's bickering with the other women at the dinner table over where she keeps her money seem as though it's simply filler dialogue. It later becomes a point of robbery as a possible way for Paulie to earn his respect back with Tony.
- Close to Home: Tony has no idea how his ending conversation with Carmela, whereby he cites reasons 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.
- Deadpan Snarker: Paulie has this going on the whole episode. A particular example includes this exchange with Minn.Minn: I've been driving since I was a little girl.Paulie: Horse and buggies don't count.
- Death Glare:
- Dies Wide Open: Minn, after she gets suffocated by Paulie.
- Do You Want to Haggle?: Carmine Sr. and Tony work out a sharing deal over the HUD scam at Motor Mouth pace.
- Don't You Like It?: 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.
- Double-Meaning Title: 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 Unresolved Sexual Tension 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.
- Enemy Mine: Johnny begins trying to court Tony as an ally against Carmine Sr. once he's judged that hostilities over the HUD scam have gone far enough.
- Et Tu, Brute?:
- Uncle Junior gives the nurse who had been stinging him as The Mole a Death Glare. Also doubles as Call-Back.
- The look on Paulie's face says it all once he realizes Carmine Sr. has no idea who he even is.
- False Friend: The mutual welcomes between Johnny Sack and Little Carmine really give off this vibe. Also doubles as Foreshadowing with respect to the coming Succession Crisis about to hit the New York family.
- Gasshole: A.J. lets out a big fart to get rid of Meadow, but also pronounces "Meeting's over" and has a good laugh over it.
- Golf Clubbing: Carmine Sr. loses it when he realizes that Tony is using any inroad and end-run possible to gain a concession for the HUD negotiations, and ends up smashing his driver over a signpost.
- Green-Eyed Monster:
- Little Carmine gets stung by Carmine Sr.'s admiration for Tony with the 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 HUD scam.
- Furio begins viewing Tony with contempt as he not only badmouths his wife during a ride but also generally disgusts him with his raunchier behavior as he carries on with other women. It fuels his view of Tony as undeserving of Carmela.
- Groin Attack: Minn knees Paulie where it hurts, but it only delays the inevitable. Doubles as Foreshadowing when Paulie gets another identical one, but from someone who can put far more force behind it.
- Gut Feeling: A.J. relates his and Carmela's visits to Furio's house, and that Carmela has been moody of late. Meadow figures out that Carmela had a thing for Furio, and her issues stem from Furio going Off the Grid. But she doesn't tell Tony.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: Paulie and Silvio have a round with each other in the office of the Bada Bing.
- Have We Met?: At a wedding party, Paulie confidently introduces himself to Carmine Sr. as someone Johnny Sack has discussed with him before, ready to ask for a favor. A confused Carmine Sr. makes it known he has no idea who Paulie even is.
- Hope Spot: Carmela finds what appears to be a postcard from Italy in the mail, only to find its advertising from a hair salon and not a postcard from Furio as she clearly hoped.
- I Have No Daughter!: Carmela at least expresses the sentiment after her tea date with Meadow doesn't go well. Even Tony's aghast at this.
- In Love with the Gangster's Girl: Furio towards Carmela. He ends up resolving it by going Off the Grid to let Carmela go.
- Jury and Witness Tampering: Eugene uses an Implied Death Threat framed in Double Speak to intimidate Danny into hanging the jury at Uncle Junior's trial.
- Lame Pun Reaction: How everyone reacts to Tony's joke that Finn can put the teeth back in for anybody who creeps on Meadow, after taking them out first.
- Like a Son to Me: Carmine Sr. indicates that, as flawed as he thinks Tony is, he'd have been proud to call Tony his son. It naturally triggers a "Well Done, Son" Guy complex and Green-Eyed Monster reaction from Little Carmine.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Tony directly orders Benny and Little Paulie to trash Carmine's new restaurant. He didn't even bother to give the order through Paulie, who is quite miffed when he finds out after the fact. It reflects Tony's Properly Paranoid suspicion that Paulie has been suffering from Loose Lips, and has been the Turncoat all along.
- Loose Lips: Doug Smith and his right-hand man are furious that a new escort told Tony and Brian about their helicopter.
- Meet the In-Laws: Tony and Carmela meet Meadow's new boyfriend, Finn, at a dinner party arranged by Meadow.
- Mistaken for Gay: Tony assumes Meadow's roommate Finn is gay because he shares an apartment with two women.
- Murder the Hypotenuse: Averted. Furio could have pushed Tony into those helicopter blades, and definitely thought of going through with it. He instead decides to go Off the Grid and leave Carmela for good.
- Native American Casino: Tony and company enjoy themselves at the same casino run by Doug Smith, a Continuity Nod to the Christopher episode.
- Never Got to Say Goodbye: Carmela is clearly hurt when she has to find out that Furio is gone for good by finding out that he put his house up for sale. Even more so when Tony verifies that Furio left a message that he's moved back to Italy on Silvio's answering machine at the Bada Bing.
- Off the Grid: How Furio resolves his dilemma over Carmela. Also ties in with his Uncertain Doom.
- Playing Sick: Averted. The judge and the psychiatrists don't buy Uncle Junior's feigned dementia defense.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- The entire Soprano family, except Meadow, make it obvious that they look down on homosexuality, with even A.J. using the word 'fag'.
- Even Carmela laments politically correct recognition of homosexuality pervading the educational systems, and gets into a heated debate with Meadow about whether Billy Budd was homosexual literature.
- Pretender Diss: Even with the respect Carmine Sr. has for Tony and the cooperative business relationship between the Lupertazzi Family and the DiMeo Family, Carmine Sr. holds little respect for their organization as he calls the New Jersey mob "a glorified crew" at the golf course.
- Riddle for the Ages: More than one moment raises the question of whether a specific character was spontaneously being a Jerkass, or whether it was a deliberate Long Game as part of being The Chessmaster.
- Did Carmine Sr. know exactly what Little Carmine was up to, and deliberately remark how Tony would have been a good son as part of a Batman Gambit? Was it to deliberately keep his 40% starting position on the HUD scam intact?
- Did Johnny Sack bring Tony to Carmine Sr.'s new restaurant to encourage the Broken-Window Warning, and to put Tony and Carmine at loggerheads with each other? How long has it been since Johnny started becoming The Starscream plotting against Carmine, and has now only revealed his intentions to Tony?
- Sherlock Scan: Bobby shows a degree of Hidden Depths by noticing that one of the jurors at Uncle Junior's trial is nervously grasping at his own wedding ring. He thereby identifies that juror as especially vulnerable to tampering.
- Shout-Out:
- Carmela references Sonny Bono's skiing accident to caution Meadow to be careful during an upcoming ski trip.
- Meadow refers to Carmela as Ms. Danvers from Rebecca (1940) to bristle against Carmela's efforts to dictate arrangements that won't involve pre-marital sex with Finn.
- The Smart Girl: Meadow continues to show herself as a Brainy Brunette by revealing an extensive knowledge of English literature during her interactions with Carmela, who only reads material at the surface level.
- Spotting the Thread: Meadow deduces that Carmela had a thing for Furio after hearing about her trips to Furio's house, and making the association between Furio's departure and Carmela's moodiness.
- Stealing from the Till:
- 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.
- Paulie realizes that his efforts to join New York have gotten him nowhere, and turns his energy to getting back into Tony's good graces. He takes to robbing Minn's cash out of perceived necessity.
- The Starscream: Johnny Sack begins to enter this territory, admitting to Tony that Carmine Sr. has given him plenty of cause for Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal.
- Title Drop: When Meadow suggests to Carmela that they observe their birthday tradition of having tea underneath Eloise's picture.
- Too Dumb to Live: Minn, despite knowing full well the kind of man Paulie is and what he does for a living, having known him for years, in threatening and attempting to call his mother on him.
- Tranquil Fury:
- Furio is filled with it whenever he sees Tony carrying on with other women, as it prompts feelings that Tony doesn't properly appreciate Carmela.
- Carmine Sr. when his new restaurant gets thoroughly vandalized.
- 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 Johnny Sack's manipulation and that his efforts have been all for nought.
- Ungrateful Bastard: How Tony feels about Carmela's reaction to his gift of a three-day getaway.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Cookie condemns Minnie to certain death by mentioning in front of Paulie that Minnie keeps her cash underneath her mattress.
- Villainous BSoD: Paulie hits one hard after realizing he's been played like a fiddle by Johnny Sack, and that his efforts to join New York have gone nowhere.
- Voice of Reason: It's actually Johnny Sack, not Little Carmine, who tries to convince Carmine Sr. to be more reasonable in reaching a compromise with Tony over the HUD scam.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Brian vomits after getting himself piss drunk at the Native American Casino.
- Vorpal Pillow: How Paulie ends Minn's life.
- We Wait: Tony switches gears to this strategy after Carmine Sr. has the Esplanade project shut down, reasoning that Carmine will lose money too along the way and cannot sustain the shutdown.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Little Carmine clearly struggles living in the shadow of his father, The Don, and a Living Legend. 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 Green-Eyed Monster inside of him.
- Wicked Cultured: Carmine Sr. doesn't truly recognize the Jersey mob as a legitimate Mafia family, but instead dismisses them as a "glorified crew".
