Recap / The Sopranos S 5 E 9 Unidentified Black Males

Tony: You know, sometimes what happens in here is like taking a shit.
Melfi: Yes, ok. Although I prefer to think of it as childbirth.
Tony: Trust me, It's like taking a shit.

Tony goes to dinner with A.J., Finn, and Meadow. He gets angry at Finn for paying the restaurant bill when he felt that he, as the man of the house, needed to. But he afterward gives respect to Finn for being thoughtful.

Finn meanwhile struggles with the pressures of being a new graduate not yet firmly established in his career, while Meadow herself is still a starving student. Tony steps in with a no-work job for Finn, which at first seems like a godsend. But Finn finds himself in for a shock when he witnesses the brutally violent and homophobic subculture of the mobsters.

Finn nonetheless insists on doing hard labor work on the site, even though he doesn't have to. It leads to him becoming progressively short on sleep. He arrives on site in the early morning hours and catches Vito going down on a security guard. Vito invites Finn to a baseball game between the Yankees and the Padres, possibly with the intention of killing Finn to keep his homosexuality a secret. Finn is frightened and does not show up.

Finn begins packing up, fearing for his life, which leads to a huge fight with Meadow. He ends up taking Felicia (a secretary at the work site)'s previous advice about the engagement ring 'having a strange power' and proposes to Meadow, in a last-ditch effort to avoid a breakup.

Tony S notices that Tony B has a limp while they're enjoying grilled cheese and a baseball game together. Tony later plays golf with Johnny Sack. Sack relates that a witness saw Joey Peep's killer 'limpin' away'. The realization that Tony B may have drawn the Jersey family into the civil war overtaking the Lupertazzi family causes Tony S to have his first panic attack in a long time. He confronts Tony B with the accusation, along with the knowledge that he was sighted at the scene with his limp, but Tony B maintains his innocence. Tony S decides to give Tony B a casino to remove any incentive for unauthorized work. He also covers for Tony B against Johnny Sack with a false alibi.

Tony eventually explains the background with Tony B to Dr. Melfi. Both Tonys were to hijack a truck of Betamax players in The '80s. Prior to the hijacking, Tony S got into a fight with his mother, Livia, which brought on a panic attack, causing him to injure his head upon collapsing. He thereby avoided getting busted for the hijacking, even if unintentionally, and went on to climb the ranks of the Jersey mob. Tony B went through with the job and got busted, spending 17 years in prison.

Despite sleeping with Tony at her father's birthday party, Carmella decides to go through with the divorce. She discovers that Tony consulted with all the top divorce lawyers in the area; subsequently, none of them can take her on as a client without breaching legal ethics. A sympathetic attorney gives her the name of an associate, a lower-tier lawyer Tony hasn't consulted with. At first, the new lawyer is very interested in taking on Carmela as a client. When Carmela mentions unlisted assets on the joint tax returns, stressing it is not from illegal activity but her husband working in a cash business, the lawyer offers to hire a forensic accountant to maximize her divorce assets.

Emboldened, Carmela meets Tony for lunch at Artie's restaurant to inform him of her decision. Tony, who was expecting to hear more positive news, angrily calls out Carmela for trying to get money from his hard work and sweat, her hypocrisy in ignoring how he earned that money, and lets her know he will not submit willingly to her threats of using forensic accounting. When she tells Tony she wants what she is "entitled to", Tony tells her "You're entitled to shit", leaving angrily. A few days later, the lawyer calls her back with bad news. None of the accountants are willing to look at Tony Soprano's finances and the lawyer suddenly "remembers" he has a full docket. Realizing Tony has her beat, she throws her groceries down in the parking lot in frustration. Later, as she watches Tony lounge in the pool she is driven to tears from a mixture of Meadow's engagement and being outplayed by her estranged husband.

Tropes:

• Ambiguous Situation: It's not exactly clear whether Vito was planning to murder Finn after taking him to the ball game. The episode strongly implies that Vito wants to ensure his silence in any way possible, but when Vito gets stood up, he still goes in to watch the game, implying that the game wasn't just an excuse to get Finn alone. We don't see Vito make any overt attempts to harm Finn thereafter.
• Bait the Dog: Finn befriends Vito at the construction site and generally gets along well with the mobsters. Even after he witnesses disturbing violence between them, they're able to win him back over. But then he shows up early for work one morning, and sees something he really ought not to have seen...
• Berserk Button: Eugene initiated his Grievous Bottley Harm and Curb-Stomp Battle on Little Paulie because the latter cracked a joke implying that Eugene was homosexual. Ties in with the Cultural Relativism set up in the episode as well.
• Blame Game:
  • Finn and Meadow pull it on each other in spades during their arguments.
  • Apparently it's Dr. Melfi's fault that Tony still suffers from panic attacks.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Tony B maintains his innocence of having killed Joey Peeps.
  • Carmela maintains that Tony's unreported income doesn't come from an "illegal stream".
  • Tony S tries to cover for Tony B against Johnny Sack with a false alibi.
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Finn and Meadow argue so intensely that it looks like a break-up is inevitable. Then Finn proposes to her with a ring, and avoids the break-up. They're engaged.
• "Cavemen vs. Astronauts" Debate: Eugene Pontecorvo and Patsy Parisi ask Finn whether Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali would win a boxing fight if both were in their prime, a question which Finn is afraid to answer for fear of angering Eugene and causing another of his violent outbursts.
• Character Development:
  • Meadow came around to believing that Jackie Jr. was killed by drug dealers, not by the Italian gangsters, and we see that again here. She gets closer and closer to becoming Daddy's Little Villain.
  • Further punctuated when she justifies mob violence so long as it's properly sanctioned according to the rules, by connecting the practice to a history of oppression under Sicilian nobles.
• Close to Home: Carmela pretends to feel ecstatic for Meadow becoming engaged to Finn. But the news, combined with the sight of Tony in the swimming pool, serves to remind her that she's become an Ineffectual Loner in her own house.
• Condescending Compassion: Finn doesn't want to "take away a job that a minority could have."
• Continuity Nod:
  • Finn was previously associated with an awkward discussion of homosexuality when he and Meadow insisted on a homo-erotic interpretation of Billy Budd to Tony and Carmela at dinner in "Eloise".
  • Christopher sang a few words of "If I Were a Carpenter" in "No Show", beginning the opening verse as "If I were a carpenter, and you were a douchebag..."
  • Little Carmine dismisses suggestions to negotiate with Johnny Sack by saying: "This is not the U.N." In "Where's Johnny?", Johnny Sack responded to Tony's suggestion of a power-sharing arrangement: "What's this, the fuckin' U.N. now?!"
  • In "Whitecaps", Tony is advised to quickly consult all the best local lawyers so that they cannot represent his wife. He has apparently done so.
• Corrupt the Cutie: An interesting, not-in-your-face male example with Finn across the episode, that's ultimately made void by the Outside-Context Problem Vito slams him with. He starts out considering honest options for work and is glad when Tony gets him a job at the construction site for $20/hour. While there he puts the work in; contrasted to the mobsters he befriends, who spend their time sleeping the day away. He is horrified when he witnesses violence between them, but they're able to draw him back into their sphere of comfort and he even joins them slacking off and eating doughnuts after Vito ensures he won't actually have to do any work. He also flirts lightly with Felicia. After he happens upon Vito going down on a security guard and feels threatened by his behavior, the entire experience is torpedoed and the question of whether his personal ethics are really so lofty is suddenly the least of his issues.
• Culture Justifies Anything:
  • What prompted Eugene's Grievous Bottley Harm and Curb-Stomp Battle on Little Paulie is that the latter cracked a joke implying that Eugene was homosexual. Vito remarks "I saw that coming'" while Eugene is kicking a down and out Little Paulie. The sequence establishes that homosexuality is severely frowned on within the subculture of The Mafia.
  • Even Meadow justifies mob use of violence while properly sanctioned by connecting it to the history of oppression under Sicilian nobles. Another sign that she's surely becoming Daddy's Little Villain.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Eugene smashes a bottle into Little Paulie's face, and then kicks him a few times.
• A Degree in Useless: Played With. Dentistry is certainly an employable degree. But Finn is struggling to find work as a new graduate in the middle of a recession and even contemplates a career change (even if temporarily) towards photography.
• Did Not Think This Through: Carmela thinks that she'll be able to get a significant alimony from Tony even with most of his income being off the books. She's then forced to face the reality that no divorce lawyers or forensic accountants want to risk their necks looking into the personal finances of a known mob boss.
• Disapproving Look: Tony S gives Tony B one for embroiling him in the New York mess.
• Disposable Sex Worker: The Jersey mobsters might have been outraged if Joey's wife or Goomah had been killed with him, but not a prostitute. Little Paulie even cracks a joke about how "silicone must have been everywhere".
• Disproportionate Retribution: Eugene smashes a bottle into Little Paulie's face and kicks him over a gay joke.
• Divorce Assets Conflict: Averted. Carmela tries her darnedest to start one with Tony. But a combination of Tony's adroit use of Loophole Abuse, and his own fearsome reputation that precedes him, take any meaningful options away from her.
• The Dreaded: Forensic accountants won't go anywhere near Tony's finances once his name is mentioned.
• Due to the Dead: Played With for Joey's funeral.
  • Everyone treats it as a solemn affair, even those who had ordered the hit on him.
  • Then again, there's the matter of the name "PEEPS" on his gravestone.
• Embarrassing Cover Up: Tony continues to Maintain the Lie that it was 'mulignans' jumping him that prevented him from showing up for the hijacking job, and not a panic attack after a fight with his abusive mother. The former has him valiantly fighting back against multiple attackers, and therefore enhances his status within the hyper-masculine subculture of The Mafia. Admitting to the latter would have the exact opposite effect.
• Empathic Environment: It really starts to rain as Joey's funeral concludes. Rule of Symbolism suggests that the body count has only started.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Johnny Sack thought quite highly of Joey Peeps and was highly invested in Joey as a loyal member. Sack spends a lot of time angry over Joey's death.
  • Tony puts his relationship with Johnny at stake by lying to him in order to protect his cousin.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Tony is outraged that the name "PEEPS" appears on Joey's gravestone, and considers it disrespectful notwithstanding whoever Joey happened to be. Silvio immediately offers to have the gravestone replaced with the proper last name of "Pepperelli" on it.
• Fish out of Water: Finn at the construction job, both because the concept of a no-work job is totally lost on him, but also because it's a shocking experience for him to see just how brutally violent the mobsters can be with very little provocation.
• Foot-Dragging Divorcee: Tony engages in Loophole Abuse around rules against conflicts of interest to prevent Carmela from being able to hire a divorce attorney worth anything.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Remember the words "grilled cheese on the radiator" for later on.
  • Eugene's Grievous Bottley Harm and Curb-Stomp Battle on Little Paulie establishes the Cultural Relativism of The Mafia, and its accompanying severe intolerance for homosexuality. Just in time for Vito's arc based on homosexuality to get started.
  • Vito is present when the guys are sitting around "breaking balls" at a construction site and Eugene says Little Paulie's girlfriend's mustache is so thick "...it must have been like kissing a fireman". A volunteer fireman with one hell of a mustache will become a love interest later in the series.
  • Finn mentions that he's a Padres fan when he discusses baseball with the rest of the crew. It becomes plot-relevant later in the episode. Proof that no line of dialogue in the series is ever without purpose, no matter how innocuous it may seem at first.
• Gayngster: Vito is revealed to be one when Finn accidentally witnesses him giving a blowjob to a security guard.
• Gold Digger: Meadow flat out accuses Carmela of being one, and that her life hasn't been anything other than one of Distracted by the Luxury.
• Grievous Bottley Harm: Eugene starts his Curb-Stomp Battle on Little Paulie by smashing a bottle over his head. Also doubles as a Continuity Nod for when nearly the same thing happened to Little Paulie during the Native American protests.
• Guilt Complex: Tony still feels some guilt over the fact that his rise in the Jersey Mob was made possible by avoiding getting busted for a hijacking through an uncanny instance of Unluckily Lucky, while Tony B got jailed for 17 years and hasn't been doing so well since he got released.
• Half-Truth: Dr. Melfi sniffs the trail for Tony's issues, but is unable to get to the bottom of things as Tony is only willing to give out nuggets of the larger picture.
• Hope Spot: Finn is a nervous mess after witnessing Eugene's harrowing beatdown of Little Paulie, but Eugene, Vito, and Benny bring him over and make it clear he has nothing to worry about from either them or his nominal boss (who Vito gave a talking-to to ensure Finn could slack off). When he arrives early for work the next morning, though...
• Hypocrite: Chris feels Tony S is giving undeserved favor to Tony B by giving him the casino, just because they're cousins. And after Tony S explicitly pointed out to him after the intervention that Chris has gotten so many breaks and would be six feet under were it not for his own familial connection with the boss.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Hinted at or suggested with respect to Tony B.
  • Both Tony's were to hijack a truck of Betamax players in the 80s. The only reason Tony avoided getting busted and jailed was that a fight with his Hate Sink of a mother, Livia, brought on a panic attack. Tony went on to climb the ranks of the Jersey mob, making the incident itself a case of Unluckily Lucky for him. Tony B went through with the job and got busted, making him a member of the Class of 04.
  • But it's never made clear if Tony B is The Resenter towards Tony S over that turn of events. He maintains with seeming sincerity that he truly holds no hard feelings towards Tony S over it. But the borderline Stepford Smile with which he says it, and his subsequent behavior that is often in explicit defiance of Tony S' orders, raise the question of whether he does in fact harbor lingering resentments and is simply that good at Emotion Suppression when he denies it. Ambiguous Situation indeed...
• Informed Ability: Tony B has an IQ of 158. Tony S is in defensive awe of this, but Tony B isn't convinced it means much and Melfi also seems to put less stock in it than her patient does.
• Interrupted Intimacy: Finn arrives early for work, early enough for a front-seat view of Vito giving head to a security guard.
• It's All About Me: Meadow and Finn accuse each other of putting themselves first during their arguments with each other. At least in Finn's case, he genuinely fears for his life because he thinks Vito may want to kill him, but all Meadow can talk about is how much shit she'll hear from her father when he hears Finn quit.
• Last Disrespects: Played straight and then averted. In order to help smooth things, Silvio agrees to pay for Joey Peeps' headstone. Unfortunately, Peeps is only a nickname but it ends up as the surname on the tombstone. Tony is less than thrilled by the mistake, especially when Silvio tries to blame the error on the assigned underling's dyslexia. Tony apologizes to Johnny Sack and promises to have it fixed.
• Living Lie Detector: Johnny Sack does not buy Tony's false alibi for Tony B for even a second.
• Loophole Abuse: Remember when Sapinsly told Tony, during the Whitecaps episode, about having just an initial consultation with all of the decent family lawyers in town so that they can't represent Carmela either? Tony as a Foot-Dragging Divorcee puts the advice into motion, preventing Carmela from hiring any divorce lawyer of any worth. It's based on rules against conflicts of interest that prevent lawyers from taking on clients if they already received confidential information from the other party. Carmela is frustrated, to say the least.
  • What a coincidence, the bear from the season premiere is in the backyard at the same time.
• Lured into a Trap: It's heavily implied that Vito invited Finn to the Yankees-Padres game with the intention of silencing him, and keeping his homosexuality a safe secret. Finn doesn't fall for it though.
• Malaproper: What was supposed to be Little Carmine's rallying speech only ends up filled with his characteristic malapropisms. Rusty and Angelo are obliged to take over the real talking.
• Nepotism: Finn ends up experiencing its benefits, even if unintentionally. He got the construction job for being Meadow's boyfriend to begin with. Once he starts, Paulie shows up and initially tries to make Finn his Butt-Monkey by making him scrape dog crap off his wheel rims. Paulie, once he finds out who Finn actually is, immediately switches into Professional Butt-Kisser mode.
• Nervous Wreck: The realization that Tony B has likely pulled the Jersey family into the New York Enemy Civil War by killing Joey Peeps causes Tony to have his first panic attack in a long time.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Jason from Tony's crew is tasked with purchasing the gravestone for Joey's funeral. Problem is that Joey is known as Joey "Peeps". So much so that the name "PEEPS" shows up on the gravestone instead of the proper "Pepperelli".
• Oh, Crap!: Tony has one when Johnny lets on that his Corrupt Cop interviewed a witness, a witness who saw the shooter 'limpin' away'.
• Pet the Dog: Tony S puts Tony B in charge of The Casino on Bloomfield Avenue. It's partly to address perceived resentments on Tony B's part, partly to address his own guilt over having been Unluckily Lucky, and partly to still try to keep Jersey firmly out of the New York Succession Crisis.
  • In a more straightforward example, Vito gives Finn's boss at the construction site a "talking-to", allowing him to slack off with the mobsters instead of actually having to do any work.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Tony S may be sincerely trying to do right by Tony B by giving him the casino. But it's also partly motivated by trying to keep Tony B away from any future temptations to do things that are both unauthorized and would create problems for Tony S.
• Pride: Tony gets touchy about Finn paying the bill instead of him.
• Professional Butt-Kisser:
  • Rusty is not above it in order to cement his status as The Man Behind the Man. "But you may be a stronger man than your dad was." Seriously?
  • Paulie as well once he finds out that Finn is actually Meadow's boyfriend.
• Properly Paranoid: Finn is rightfully worried about Vito's intentions for the Yankees-Padres baseball game, and doesn't show up.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Tony tries to warn Johnny that he's stopped being one since the Succession Crisis has started.
• Running Gag combined with Title Drop: The tendency of multiple characters to blame their situations on conveniently unidentified Black men.
  • Tony B didn't get his right foot run over while murdering Joey Peeps. A couple of Black guys jumped him while he was coming out of a bar in Irvington.
  • Vito's "I think I seen a couple of niggers runnin' that way" to provide a cover for Euguene's Curb-Stomp Battle on Little Paulie.
  • Now even Meadow is buying into the lies that it was "African American drug dealers" who killed Jackie Jr.
  • Tony initially blamed his not showing up for the hijacking on getting jumped by several 'mulignans'. He didn't want to admit that his Mommy Issues on account of Livia caused a panic attack that made him a no-show.
• Sleep Deprivation: Finn hasn't been getting a lot lately since taking on the construction job, which leads to him catching Vito in the act.
• Snark-to-Snark Combat: The guys at the construction site pass time with it.
• Speak Ill of the Dead: The guys certainly enjoy themselves joking about the now-dead Joey Peeps.
• Starving Student: Finn and Meadow find themselves in this situation together, with the scarcity of summer jobs and both of them being too proud to accept assistance from their parents.
• Suddenly Shouting: Johnny Sack numerous times, on account of his anger over Joey Peeps' death.
• Tantrum Throwing: Carmela throws her groceries in the parking lot once she realizes that Tony S' reputation and his Loophole Abuse tactics are killing her intended Divorce Assets Conflict before it can even start.
• Wham Shot: Finn arrives early at work in the construction yard and notices a security guard in his car. Finn nods his head at him... and it is revealed that Vito is performing oral sex on him.
• With This Ring:
  • Felicia tries to explain to Finn that there is a difference between just living together and actually being married, that the wedding ring "has this strange power".
  • Finn actually ends up putting Felicia's convictions into use. He proposes to Meadow at the end of a really nasty argument in what he perceives to be a last-ditch attempt to avoid a breakup.
• You Do Not Want To Know:
  • How Tony B tries to add another layer to his denial of killing Joey Peeps, "Even if I was, would you really wanna know?"
  • Forensic accountants refuse to go anywhere near Tony's and Carmela's Divorce Assets Conflict for similar reasons.

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