Tony: Jesus Christ, AJ, you make me want to cry. It's a movie. You've got to grow up, you're not a little kid anymore, you hear me? You've got to grow up.
Vito sees firetrucks racing down the street. He follows them, and witnesses Johnny Cakes as a volunteer fireman rescue a little boy from a burning house. Vito finds himself falling in love. The pair continue to send each other looks as Vito comes to the diner every morning for breakfast. He also tries to start a new life for himself by adopting a cover as a sportswriter named Vince, who's conducting research on a book about famous boxers. Holes in his cover are revealed when gaps in his knowledge of the boxers' lives start to show up. Vito is also surprised to learn that Johnny Cakes has a daughter.
He and Cakes start to become close and is invited to hang out with him and his fellow volunteer firemen at the local bar. But afterward, Vito gets a panicked reaction when Cakes makes a first attempt to kiss him. They get into a fist fight, but Cakes drives off after having Vito at his mercy. They spend a little time apart. Vito then manages to patch things up with Cakes when he returns to the diner. They drive off on bikes together and make out at a secluded riverbank.
Vito also temporarily "borrows" a phone from another guest at the bed-n-breakfast he stays at and makes a goodbye call to Marie and Vito Jr., letting the former know where more hidden cash in the house is. Marie believes Phil when he says he just wants to get "help" for Vito. But Vito knows Phil intends to kill him and refuses Marie's pleas to come home. Meanwhile, Phil exerts pressure on Tony to have Vito killed, angrily calling him out on the fact that he is not actively searching for the fugitive mobster, while Tony makes continued vehement protests that with Vito being his underling, it is still his decision when to deal with him.
Patsy and Burt Gervasi go around collecting fees from small businesses for the protection racket. Their attempt to force it on a corporate-franchised coffee shop goes nowhere. The corporation can tolerate the odd act of vandalism or robbery, and there's no way for the employees in any particular location to make it work without attracting corporate scrutiny. Patsy remarks to Burt that "It's over for the little guy!"
Juliana Skiff, a representative of Jamba Juice, shows up at Satriale's. She offers to purchase a building owned by Tony, which houses a small business run by one of the Italian locals, for expansion by the Jamba Juice franchise. Tony bristles against it, wanting to hold onto the Little Italy that he remembers.
Tony laments that A.J. has become listless and shows no direction or purpose in his life. And indeed A.J. spends his days at a part-time job at Blockbuster, where he still puts in the minimum amount of work possible, and then spends his nights clubbing while getting mooched off of by people pretending to be his friends, as they keep asking him for juicy gossip about his life as the son of an infamous mob boss.
An argument ensues when A.J. justifies his clubbing as a pathway to becoming a club manager himself. He becomes especially irate when Carmela and Tony try to point out pathways that involve learning the business through hard work first, and promptly goes back upstairs in a huff. As he goes clubbing the next day, however, A.J. is being unusually morose. His dark mood continues the next day as he mopes around and watches TV, and Carmela even remarks on him being more distant than normal. Finally, A.J. comes to his room to get a knife from his drawer.
A visibly nervous A.J. next shows up at the retirement home that Uncle Junior is living in, with the intention of murdering him. But due to his nerves, he ends up dropping the knife before he can close in on Junior, and gets arrested. Tony uses his connection to Assemblyman Zellman to get A.J. out of an attempted murder charge. They then have a heart-to-heart, where Tony tells A.J. that he wants him to remain a good-hearted kid. They drove home with the agreement that Carmela will not hear about what happened.
A.J. continues to go clubbing with his user friends, who continue to pressure him for favors on the basis that Tony can open any doors for them. He has another panic attack in the club washroom.
Tony agrees to sell Vic Caputo's business to Jamba Juice once Julianna raises the purchase price high enough. He heads over to the apartment to both sign the deal and sleep with her. But his conscience gets the better of him, and he decides to leave in order to remain faithful to Carmela. But denying himself the pleasure makes him surly once he gets home. He takes it out on Carmela by yelling at her for not having cold turkey in the fridge waiting for him.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Nickname: Vito starts calling Jim "Johnny Cakes".
- Armored Closet Gay: Vito initially puts up the armor in front of Johnny Cakes during a first kiss attempt, but it doesn't last long.
- Bad Liar: Vito has trouble maintaining his Vince the sportswriter cover since it turns out he doesn't know quite as much about boxing as a professional sportswriter should.
- Being Good Sucks: Tony becomes angry after denying himself the pleasure of sleeping with Julianna, so he goes full Jerkass on Carmela when he comes home.
- Blatant Lies:
- Marie apparently believes Phil when Phil says he just wants to get "help" for Vito.
- Tony is just being "theoretical" when he references an "extra-curricular outlet" during a therapy session with Dr. Melfi.
- Bothering by the Book: The coffee shop manager is able to get Patsy and Burt to give up on their attempt to extort the shop just by explaining why it's impossible for them to add it to their protection racket. The corporation that owns the place is big enough that it can afford to brush off acts of vandalism or assault at a single location. Moreover, everything in the shop is in the computer system and has to be accounted for. If he did start skimming the till for them, corporate would notice immediately and replace him with someone else.
- Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: Vito patches things up with Johnny Cakes after their fisticuffs.
- Call-Back: A girl expresses curiosity to A.J. about whether Tony will exact vengeance on Uncle Junior according to Mafia movie stereotypes. A.J. emphasizes: "We don't talk about that with outsiders". It's almost a carbon copy of when Meadow told Kelli the same thing during Jackie Jr.'s funeral.
- Calling the Old Man Out: A.J. calls Tony out for being a Hypocrite while trying to lecture him on right and wrong.
- Coattail-Riding Relative: Zigzagged. A.J. gains a certain amount of admiration and social clout just by being the son of Tony The Don. But it also exposes him to getting taken advantage of by a bunch of false friends.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Johnny Cakes gives Vito one, but restrains himself from dishing out a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown when he has Vito at his mercy.
- Didn't Think This Through: A.J.'s plan to kill Uncle Junior wasn't very well thought out to say the least.
- Double-Meaning Title:
- The episode's title refers to a jonnycake, a type of pancake that is a local specialty at a diner frequented by Vito.
- "Johnny Cakes" also becomes Vito's pet name for Jim.
- Et Tu, Brute?:
- Vic Caputo feels betrayed by Tony selling his business to Jamba Juice.
- So does Patsy, since it means fewer earnings for the Protection Racket.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Vito makes a goodbye call to Marie and Vito Jr. and lets Marie know where he has more hidden cash.
- Tony protects A.J. from the considerable legal ramifications that would ordinarily have resulted in trying to murder Uncle Junior in front of several witnesses. He also has a heart-to-heart with A.J. afterward.
- Patsy is angry at Tony about the real estate deal as it means has less money to put his son through college.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids: Tony really loses it on A.J. for going after Uncle Junior with a knife. He expresses the feeling that A.J., although a Lazy Bum and Spoiled Brat, would have lost his more endearing qualities had he went through with killing Junior.
- False Friend: A.J. has some hangers-on about him when he goes clubbing. And they put on the act long enough to leave him with the tabs. And sure enough, some of them hone in on him for a delayed wire scam.
- Family Honor: Phil pressures Tony to have Vito killed off because he considers it a source of shame and embarrassment to his own family on account to Vito having been married to his own cousin, Marie.
- Fictional Counterpart: The corporate coffee shop that Patsy and Burt fail to extort is Starbucks in all but name; it's even based out of Seattle.
- Foreshadowing: Vito overhears a discussion about dishwashers. A recommendation to avoid using the pre-rinse cycle because it can "trick the sensors into thinking the dishes are cleaner than they really are" ends up describing Vito's interactions with Johnny Cakes to a very real degree.
- Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex: And a source of great relief for Tony when he finally gets to have some with Carmela.
- Greed: Tony is hesitant to sell away Vic Caputo's business, wanting to hold onto Little Italy. But all it takes is for Juliana to raise the price enough to make him give in.
- Heteronormative Crusader: Phil really wants to see Vito in the grave.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: Johnny Cakes saves a little girl from a burning house, and Vito is there to see it.
- High Hopes, Zero Talent: A.J. has it in his head that frequenting clubs gives him the know-how to run one as well. It's open to question whether he's actually serious about it when his folks call him on it and bring up pathways to managing a club that involves real work and dedication first.
- I Just Want to Be Badass: A.J. and his friend, pretending to possess expertise in knife-fighting while watching The Hunted (2003) in the Blockbuster.
- Ignored Aesop: Remember when Tony was buying into An Aesop about how he should appreciate each new day as a gift to make himself the best person he can be? He ends up giving that Aesop a far more self-serving interpretation to justify trying to have an affair with Julianna. Although he ultimately subverts it at the end by not going through with things with Juliana.
- It Runs in the Family: Lampshaded when one of A.J.'s "friends" asks him an Armor-Piercing Question: "Do you have a history of panic attacks?"
- Jerkass Has a Point: Tony rides A.J. for having a creep like Fernando as a "friend". A.J. is just as quick to question Tony's choice of friends.
- Lazy Bum: A.J., like always.
- Living Lie Detector: Vito knows exactly what Phil meant when he told Marie he just wanted to get "help" for Vito.
- Love at First Sight: The chemistry between Vito and Johnny Cakes continues.
- A Man Is Always Eager: Both Chris and Tony immediately set their sights on Julianna.
- Manly Gay: Johnny Cakes. Vito's attraction to him only increases after witnessing Johnny's Heroic Fire Rescue.
- Manly Tears: A.J. sheds them aplenty. Tony can barely hold them back.
- Metaphorically True: Tony tells Carmela he has a "real estate thing" as a justification for busting out the expensive Canali shirt.
- Morality Pet: Ms. Conte sort of acts as one to Tony, a reminder to try and preserve Little Italy against corporate encroachment. It doesn't stick, though.
- Nervous Wreck: A.J., after having his heart to heart with Tony, and with his "friends" still pressuring him for favors on the perception that his mobster father has limitless cash, has a panic attack of his own.
- No-Sell: Patsy and Burt can't make their effort to force a corporate-franchised coffee shop to join their Protection Racket stick. A large corporate franchise can absorb the odd act of vandalism or robbery, and there's no way the employees at any particular location can cook the books in a way that would avoid corporate scrutiny.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- Tony assumes that the Latinos visiting A.J. must have their eyes on the valuable chattels in the house.
- He and Ms. Conte are definitely in agreement that Blacks or Puerto Ricans playing rap isn't good for the neighborhood.
- He's also anything but pleased when A.J. sells his drums, previously gifted to him by Tony, to Rastafarians.
- Protection Racket: Patsy and Burt are shown collecting from their usual small business customers. Their efforts to expand fall flat when they try to intimidate a corporate-franchise coffee shop into joining their racket.
- Rule of Symbolism combined with Foreshadowing: Tony and Phil meet near a statue of Lou Costello holding a baseball bat in New Jersey, alluding to Vito's eventual fate at the hands on Phil and his minions.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Ms. Conte, with shades of Politically Incorrect Villain too.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Tony calls on his connection with Assemblyman Zellman to get A.J. out of an attempted murder charge.
- Shame If Something Happened: Patsy and Burt Gervasi try this on the manager of the coffee shop. It's subverted when the manager explains that the corporation has enough resources to shrug off any vandalism and if they try injuring him, they'll just bring in a new manager to take his place. This causes them to give up.
- Shout-Out: A.J. going after Uncle Junior with the knife is an obvious one to when Vito Corleone gutted Don Ciccio in The Godfather Part II.
- A.J. references Michael Corleone murdering crime boss Sollozzo and police chief Mc Cluskey (in retaliation for the attempted hit on Michael's father Vito Corleone) in The Godfather, using Tony's reverence of the scene as fuel when he calls bullshit on his father's disapproval of A.J.'s actions .
- Situational Sexuality: Vito is more than a little surprised to learn that Johnny Cakes, who previously held Vito's hand, has a daughter.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Chris and Silvio engage in some together. Chris has apparently learned a thing or two from Tony B, as he manages to get Silvio to Flip The Bird at him.
- Spoiled Brat: A.J. is still very much one. And the "job" at Blockbuster isn't really inculcating any kind of work ethic in him.
- Starting a New Life: Vito tries to start a new life in New Hampshire with Johnny Cakes. But to that end, he pretends to be a sportswriter named Vince researching for a book on boxers. It's only a matter of time before it comes back and bites him in the ass for multiple reasons.
- Television Geography: The Lou Costello statue is an actual landmark in New Jersey, and is only a few blocks away from Paterson Falls.
- This Is Reality: A.J. attempts to pull a Michael Corleone on Uncle Junior to avenge his father. Tony gives him a dose of reality by telling him that it's a movie and that he needs to grow up.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: It's implied that A.J. may have been going off of Vito Corleone's murder of Don Ciccio in The Godfather Part II. And putting aside a romantic appreciation for the movie itself, a realistic appraisal of that scene would say odds were better than average that Don Ciccio's men would have gunned Vito down afterward. And indeed he later admits he was inspired by the famous scene of Michael Corleone shooting Sollozzo and McCluskey in The Godfather.
- Ye Goode Olde Days: How various characters remember better days gone by is a recurrent theme in this episode.
- Patsy remarks to Burt that "It's over for the little guy" when their attempts to coerce a corporate-franchised coffee shop falls flat. Patsy isn't so much decrying the loss of opportunities for small businessmen, but more the declining number of small businesses to force into the Protection Racket.
- Tony initially resists selling a small business held by an Italian local to the Jamba Juice franchise because he wants to hold onto the Little Italy that he knows and is familiar with.
- Tony bemoans that the Tough Love parenting he received as par for the course from Johnny Boy has given way to societal coddling that enables kids like A.J. to put off growing up seemingly indefinitely.
- Phil laments that Johnny Boy would have put Vito six feet under the instant he heard of even the hint of homosexuality, while Tony drags his feet on what for Phil should be a non-issue.
- Patsy lampshades the theme at the end of the episode with: "What the fuck happened to this neighborhood?"
- You (Almost) Killed My Father: A.J.'s motivation for going after Uncle Junior.
- You Can't Go Home Again: Vito is marked for death should he ever turn up in Jersey again.
