Janice is upset with Tony because she feels Tony marginalizes Bobby to get back at her. Tony retorts that no matter what he could do, Janice will always be unhappy and find something to complain about.
Dr. Melfi explores whether Tony had a buried thing for Janice when she was a teenager, and vice versa. Tony becomes angry and defensive. He also admits that a lot of his resentments towards Janice stem from Janice disappearing for years and allowing Tony and younger sister Barbara to soak up Livia's abuse, and Janice only conveniently returns when Livia is nearing death, with an estate and other pieces of mobster action to claim.
Johnny Cakes discovers that Vito isn't a sportswriter, and is initially angry. Vito to some degree comes clean with Johnny, although he remains rather vague about his Mafia past. They spend the night together.
Cakes is called in for another fire rescue. Vito insists on coming along, although Cakes doesn't want him to. The rescue has a man stranded in a submerged basement, with a loose electrical wire presenting an electrocution hazard. Vito draws on his knowledge as a contractor to neutralize the wire and facilitate the rescue. Cakes becomes angry and comes to blows again with Vito.
They go celebrate at the local pub. Vito speaks of joining the firemen. The other firemen encourage him except for Cakes. Cakes informs Vito that becoming a fireman requires serious commitment and dedication. He also looks disapprovingly at Vito when he appears to be flippantly enthusiastic about joining the firemen, and when he maintains his cover lie of being a sportswriter. Vito wants to spend the rest of the night playing darts and poker in the pub. But the other firemen go home, as they live strictly regimented lives.
Vito prepares a romantic candlelit dinner for Johnny Cakes. Johnny Cakes admits his angry reaction to Vito joining in on the fire rescue was because he was worried about Vito getting hurt. They declare their love for each other and then kiss.
But Vito really struggles with the lifestyle change that comes with working steady 9 to 5 shifts in New England. He leaves Johnny Cakes early in the morning before Cakes wakes up. He drives away while drinking. He ends up crashing into the jeep of a man who was checking his mail. The man insists on filing a police report of the accident. But Vito is desperate to avoid detection either by law enforcement or the crime families he had been a part of, so he shoots the man dead and drives away.
Bobby makes a collection in the bad part of town late at night. He gets ambushed and beaten to a pulp by several Black youths armed with baseball bats. They rob him of his cash and gun, which they shoot off the pavement. Bobby's eye gets hit by the ricochet bullet.
The other mobsters sympathize with Bobby and recognize that he made up the lost payment to Tony. Paulie is especially sympathetic, as he is struggling with early-stage prostate cancer for which he is undergoing radiation therapy. But Tony is callous and dismissive of Bobby's ordeal, to the chagrin of the other mobsters. On the surface, Tony does have a point that it wasn't particularly smart of Bobby to make a collection by himself, late at night, and in the bad part of Newark. But underneath, Tony's callous disregard towards Bobby is tied to his resentment of Janice.
Johnny Sack initially refuses an offer to take a deal that requires him to testify about the existence of the Mafia. He tells his lawyer that it would be the equivalent of the lawyer (who's Jewish) becoming a Nazi. But he becomes increasingly aware that his family is struggling financially. He tries to get Tony to pressure his partners in a New Orleans company to cash out in order to make provisions for Ginny and his family. Tony tries, but one partner refuses to sell. Tony drags his feet on pushing it any further.
Tony decides to go through with it when he also sees an opportunity to please Janice and get her off his back. He agrees to a slight reduction of his finder's fee but insists that Sack sell him his house at half price, which he in turn will gift to Janice. Sack, more desperate than ever to look out for his family, agrees. Ginny is on the verge of tears as Janice moves into the house.
Sack also agrees to an allocution deal to leave additional financial resources for his family. He testifies generally as to the existence of The Mafia, but he does not describe specific activities of his former partners in crime. Mobsters from both New Jersey and New York still feel utterly betrayed and outraged over Sack taking the deal and testifying.
Chris meanwhile has the Maserati he purchased from Sack repossessed by state authorities. Sal Vitro also manages to persuade Tony to let him out of doing Johnny Sack's yard for free. And Carmela continues to pressure Tony to get the permits needed to finish her spec house.
Tropes:
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Bobby, when the Black youths have him at gunpoint.
- Anger Born of Worry: The reason Johnny Cakes becomes angry when Vito participates in the Heroic Fire Rescue.
- Awkward Father-Son Bonding Activity: Averted. Bobby just can't get his son to share his passion for toy railroad assemblies.
- Bad Boss: The other mobsters are rather appalled at Tony's Lack of Empathy for Bobby after the latter took a bullet to the eye.
- Bad Liar: It's only a matter of time before Johnny Cakes figures out that Vito isn't a sportswriter.
- Blackmail: Tony relates to Dr. Melfi that Janice eavesdropped on and tape-recorded a fight between himself and his other sister, Barbara. Janice used the tape to extract all kinds of favors and services from Tony for over a month.
- Blood from the Mouth: Bobby, after getting beaten to a pulp by several Black youths with baseball bats.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Vito kills the man with the jeep.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Bobby Jr. constantly mouths off at his dad, including a Precision F-Strike during a Giants game.
- Break the Cutie: Ginny has over the course of the past season seen her loving and faithful husband, Johnny Sack, go to prison. Then she watched him get deliberately humiliated by federal authorities at her daughter's wedding, which caused her to faint. Now we see her in this episode on the verge of tears as she's forced to move out of the large house Sack had bought, just as Janice is moving in.
- Broken Pedestal: How the mobs on both sides of the Hudson River feel about Johnny Sack after he takes the allocution deal.
- But Not Too Gay: The love scene between Vito and Johnny Cakes doesn't get much further than brief kissing in bed.
- Butt-Monkey: Remember that Maserati Chris bought from Johnny Sack? It gets repossessed after Sack takes the allocution deal.
- Call-Back:
- Sal Vitro was tasked with landscaping Johnny Sacrimoni's land during the Paulie - "Feech" La Manna feud in "Where's Johnny?"
- Vito kills the civilian the same way he murdered Jackie Aprile Jr. in "Army of One" - with a shot to the back of the head.
- Janice pleads with Tony to make Bobby a Captain but Bobby replaced Murf as Captain of Junior's crew in Season 2.
- Caught in the Bad Part of Town: Bobby picks up a late-night collection in the run-down neighborhood late at night. He gets ambushed and beaten by several Black youths armed with baseball bats, robbed of his cash and his gun, and takes a ricochet bullet in the eye.
- Chekhov's Gift: Carmela continues to pressure Tony over the spec house. It isn't until later that Tony is able to realize its true value.
- Chekhov's Skill: Vito's know-how with electricity from his days as a contractor come in handy in rescuing a stranded old man during the Heroic Fire Rescue.
- Cluster F-Bomb: Chris really loses it when the Maserati gets repossessed.
- Vito yells out several profanities as he tries to untangle his car from the rear bumper of the jeep he crashed into.
- Consummate Professional: Johnny Cakes makes a point of emphasizing to Vito that being a fireman requires serious effort and dedication, to make it clear that he has to be serious about joining.
- Continuity Nod:
- Angie is seen on the phone while the rest of the Mafia wives are socializing with Ginny. A reminder that Angie has become One of the Boys.
- The driver of the jeep notices that Vito's airbag didn't go off. Vito explains that somebody stole the airbag and sold it.
- Disapproving Look:
- Johnny Cakes gives Vito a prolonged one at the bar when Vito maintains his cover lies in front of the other firemen, and lightheartedly speaks of becoming a volunteer fireman himself without appreciating how much of a commitment it really is.
- The other mobsters all look appalled at Tony for being callous about Bobby taking a ricochet bullet in the eye.
- Double-Meaning Title:
- While playing with his model train set, Bobby asks his son to watch the "Moe 'n Joe action." The term "Moe and Joe" is in reference to a model flatcar from Lionel (which includes the Moe and Joe characters, a pair of workmen) that unloads wooden boards, as shown in the episode. A model train reference as an episode title will be used again for the penultimate episode of the series, "The Blue Comet".
- The title could also refer to Vito Spatafore, who tries to be a workman in this episode. He works with lumber in a blue-collar construction job but ultimately finds it intolerable and quits.
- The title could refer to the relationship between Vito and Jim or their lifestyle as the slang Moe ('mo) for homosexual and Joe as in "regular Joe" for a working-class male.
- The title may also refer to a line in Do the Right Thing, where the character "Charlie" refers to two black teens who sprayed his car with water from a fire hydrant as "Moe n' Joe Black," to the responding police officers. The character "Charlie" is played by Frank Vincent, who also plays Phil Leotardo.
- Drowning My Sorrows: Vito loads up not only while working (bored out of his mind), but while driving in an effort to cope with leaving Johnny Cakes. Johnny Cakes could smell it on his breath earlier.
- Drunk Driver: Vito was downing plenty while driving away in order to cope with leaving Johnny Cakes. Unfortunately, it leads to him crashing into that jeep, and then it goes From Bad to Worse.
- Et Tu, Brute?:
- Both Jersey and New York mobsters feel utterly betrayed by Johnny Sack taking the allocution deal.
- Sack taking the deal was in turn spurred by Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal (see below).
- "Eureka!" Moment: Tony, when he realizes he can leverage Johnny Sack's desperate situation to obtain Sack's house at a discount.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Johnny Sack takes the allocution deal because he wants Ginny and his children provided for.
- Vito falls in love with Johnny Cakes, but it doesn't last.
- Evil Is Petty: Tony admits that his current mistreatment of Bobby and Janice amounts to getting back at Janice for issues between them when they were kids.
- Eye Scream: Bobby takes a ricochet bullet in the eye after getting beaten badly by Black youth with baseball bats, and has to wear an eye patch for quite some time afterward.
- Fish out of Water: Vito just cannot make his new life in New Hampshire work. It's just too different from the life he knew in Jersey.
- First, he gets caught sleeping on the job that Johnny Cakes got for him.
- Second, he wants to spend all night playing darts and poker, seemingly unaware that the other firemen are early to bed and early to rise, guys.
- Although he prepares a Romantic Candlelit Dinner for Johnny Cakes, it also signals that he misses eating Italian-American food night after night as he did in Jersey.
- Vito thrived in the little work lots of money lifestyle that he knew in The Mafia. He really struggles with holding a steady 9 to 5 job. Time slows to an unbearable crawl for him when he's on shift.
- The Friend Nobody Likes: Tony and Silvio roll their eyes at the thought of having to meet with Johnny Sack's brother-in-law, Anthony.
- Genre Blindness: Johnny Sack's brother-in-law outright admits he sucks at Mafia Double Speak.
- Gilligan Cut: Carmela asks Kelli where Chris is. She replies that he went to an AA meeting. Cut to Tony stocking his basement with the bottles of wine he and Chris stole from the bikers.
- Good Feels Good: Vito feels an odd emotional high after lending his electrical know how to aid the Heroic Fire Rescue.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Vito experiences one when he feels an emotional high after helping the volunteer firemen with their Heroic Fire Rescue. It doesn't last very long though, since the realistic result happens...
- Heroic Fire Rescue: Vito uses his know-how with electricity to help the volunteer firemen with a Heroic Fire Rescue.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Remember the numerous time's Johnny Sack used to coerce Tony into yielding concessions and tribute on various endeavors, with the background threat of the New York mob being more powerful than the Jersey mob? Tony is now able to take advantage of Sack's desperate situation and hold Sack's feet to the fire to get a lopsided deal. That deal includes a minimally reduced finder's fee, and Sack's Jersey house purchased for Bobby and Janice at half the price. Could also double as Laser-Guided Karma.
- Hypocrite: Tony tells Meadow that she's "livin' in sin" with Finn. Good one, Tony.
- I Lied: Vito comes clean to Johnny Cakes, along with some vague hints about his Mafia past.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Tony relates to Dr. Melfi that Janice was the Alpha Bitch every guy in high school wanted.
- Incest Subtext: Dr. Melfi tries to explore the possibility that Tony may have had a thing for Janice when she was a teenager, and vice versa.
- Innocently Insensitive: Tony was sincerely trying to comfort Meadow when she was crying over her relationship with Finn breaking down. But "livin' in sin" was a really poor choice of words on his part.
- It's All About Me: Tony summarizes Janice's character in one sentence: "Janice only does acts of Janice".
- Jerkass: Tony decides to let Sal Vitro out doing Johnny Sack's yard for free. But not without trolling Sal and making him sweat with a little fear first.
- Leonine Contract: Tony and Johnny Sack work out an agreement for cashing out the New Orleans company and purchasing Sack's house, but Sack clearly gets the worst of it.
- The Load: A lot of Tony's resentments towards Janice stems from the fact that she left Barbara and himself holding the bag in front of Livia their Abusive Mother for years, and only conveniently returned for Livia's house and other pieces of Mafia action when Livia was nearing death along with an estate to claim.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Tony and Johnny Sack, at the latter's insistence, deliberately avoid letting Phil in on the deal to sell the New Orleans company. Sack rightly suspects that Phil has already screwed him over at least once already and will try again given the opportunity.
- Love Confession: Johnny Cakes and Vito say it to each other.
- Manly Tears: Vito's eyes are watering while he's driving away from Johnny Cakes.
- Masochism Tango: Vito and Johnny Cakes have a little of it going on after Vito provides Unwanted Assistance during the Heroic Fire Rescue.
- Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: Johnny Sack struggles immensely with whether or not to take the allocution deal. But it's implied that his suspicions that Phil is screwing him over behind his back, along with Tony taking advantage of his desperate circumstances to lock him into a Leonine Contract, definitely make it easier to take the deal.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: The man with the jeep insists on filing a police report when Vito crashes into him. Vito is desperate to remain Off the Grid and avoid detection either by law enforcement or the crime families he had once been a part of. So Vito discreetly pulls a gun out of his car, and then shoots the man in the back of the head.
- No Sympathy: Tony doesn't feel an ounce for Bobby taking a ricochet bullet in the eye, although that may be tied in with his issues with Janice.
- Not Staying for Breakfast: Played with. Johnny Cakes wakes one morning to find Vito long gone. It's actually a partial subversion in that Vito did want to stay with Johnny Cakes, but left because he struggled immensely with being able to adapt to Cakes' New England kind of lifestyle.
- Pet the Dog:
- Tony decides to let Sal Vitro out of doing Johnny Sack's yard for free after Sack takes the allocution deal. There is a question of how little it had to do with actually being nice to Sal Vitro, who he made sweat with trolling and more to do with resentment towards Sack.
- He also acquires Johnny Sack's house for Janice and Bobby.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Tony refers to the Black youths who ambush Bobby as "crackhead animals".
- Properly Paranoid: Johnny Sack asks Tony not to let Phil in on the attempt to broker a sale of the New Orleans company. And given that Phil cut Sack out of the vitamins score behind Sack's back, it's entirely justified.
- Romantic Candlelit Dinner: Vito prepares one, Italian-American style, for Johnny Cakes.
- Rule of Empathy: Paulie, among all the main characters, is the most sympathetic to Bobby's eye getting injured owing to Paulie's own struggles with cancer.
- Sadistic Choice: Johnny Sack struggles immensely between keeping quiet on The Mafia that he has shown Undying Loyalty to his whole life but watching his family struggle financially, and making a deal that amounts to betrayal but will provide for his family. He squirms and struggles to find alternatives that will provide for his family without having to provide the allocution, such as having Tony broker the deal with the New Orleans company. But he ends up relenting and providing the allocution when his efforts to find those alternatives prove inadequate to both look after his family and avoid taking the deal.
- Sibling Rivalry: Tony and Janice lock horns early during the episode. Tony also relates to Dr. Melfi that they definitely had the rivalry going when they were kids.
- Starcrossed Lovers: Although Vito and Johnny Cakes do spend some time together, things seem to ultimately play out this way for them.
- Tears of Joy: Janice breaks down after Tony gets Johnny Sack's house for her.
- Time to Move: Subverted. Ginny doesn't want to leave the house when Johnny Sack sells it. But she's utterly powerless to stop the deal when Mafia interests are also at stake.
- Title Drop: Bobby, when he tries to show off his new railroad set to Bobby Jr.
- Too Dumb to Live: Tony thinks it was just outright stupid for Bobby to be making a collection in that part of Newark late at night. "Candidate for a brain transplant".
- Tough Love: Janice seems to be undergoing a little Character Development, showing a newfound ability to get Bobby Jr. to stay home and do his homework where Bobby Sr. wasn't able to.
- Ungrateful Bastard:
- Tony levels this accusation at Sal Vitro the first time he tries to get out of doing the Sacrimonis' yard for free.
- Janice feels that Tony is being one towards Bobby, who's becoming more capable and yet is still an unpromoted Butt-Monkey within the Jersey mob.
- Tony in turn points out that no matter how much he might do for her, she'll still find something to be unhappy about and complain about.
- Tony himself comes across as one even when Bobby made up the pickup he lost after getting jumped in the bad part of town. And the looks on the other mobsters faces convey that assessment.
- Unperson: Johnny Sack.
- He spells it out to his Jewish lawyer that providing testimony against The Mafia to take a deal would be the same as the lawyer becoming a Nazi.
- And he cements his status as such before the eyes of his former Mafia associates when he takes the deal.
- Unwanted Assistance: Johnny Cakes gets pissed off at Vito for helping out with the Heroic Fire Rescue.
- Visual Pun: Following a love scene between Vito and Jim, the director cuts to the image of a train entering a tunnel (Bobby's Lionel) and later Vito sawing wood, metaphors for sex.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Tony admits to Dr. Melfi that he had this kind of complex with respect to Johnny Boy.
- You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Bobby tries to invoke his Mafia connections in an attempt to scare off the Black kids who jump him. It predictably doesn't work. Could also double as a Continuity Nod to when Chris tried something similar.
