History Recap / TheSopranosS1E7DownNeck

* ForWantOfANail: When Tony starts reconsidering that he was predestined to be a criminal he thinks back to the time when his father wanted to make an honest living working for Rocco in Reno, and his mother violently shut him down by threatening to kill his kids. The fact that Rocco eventually became a legitimate billionaire haunts Tony and adds to his building resentment of Livia. Had Johnny Boy made the move it's possible Tony could not only be far wealthier but also could have avoided his criminal lifestyle. At the same time, it's equally possible that even if Johnny had made the move he would have continued to be a criminal and simply gotten involved with the organized crime in Vegas.

A.J. is forced to visit Livia at Green Grove as part of his punishment, and she happily greets him when she arrives. When he tells her that he's been going for psychological testing, she refuses to believe him. He then reveals that Tony is also going for counseling. She breaks down in tears after realizing that Tony is likely ranting about her to his psychiatrist.

[[{{Flashback}} The year is 1967]]. A young Tony walks outside his family's home in Newark, New Jersey and sees Junior, who asks if his father, Johnny Boy, is home. While Johnny Soprano comes outside and drives off with Junior, Livia tells Tony that he's missed the bus and will need to walk to school. As Tony walks along, he is introduced to the family business after witnessing Johnny and Junior beating up a rival crew...

* AbusiveParents: Tony is emotionally manipulated and terrorized by his difficult mother throughout his childhood and well into his adult life. One notable incident featured his mother threatening to stick a fork in his eye when he was only ten years old. Tony's father was outwardly friendly, but also a manipulative sociopath who indoctrinated his son into violent crime and the mob. It's implied that the various degrees of emotional manipulation and terror Tony suffered under his parents is what turned him into the violent sociopath that heads the New Jersey crime families.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Tony is revealed to have had a tough upbringing, including verbal and emotional threats from his mother, nearly being beaten up by a trio of children, and witnessing gang violence and police raids in close proximity, all within the span of a couple weeks. Despite his attempts to claim otherwise to Melfi, it's made clear that his experiences helped shape the man he became.

* ExplainExplainOhCrap: During the school psychologist's speech on A.J. possibly having ADD, Tony butts in by saying that all A.J. needs is a "good smack upside the head". Once the psychiatrist explains the symptoms further and says it's akin to an illness, Tony hastily makes up an excuse to explain why he doesn't hit his children, and was just talking in a figure of speech.

* ForWantOfANail: When Tony starts reconsidering that he was predestined to be a criminal he thinks back to the time where his father wanted to make an honest living working for Rocco in Reno, and his mother violently shut him down by threatening to kill his kids. The fact that Rocco eventually became a legitimate billionaire haunts Tony and adds to his building resentment of Livia. Had Johnny Boy made the move it's possible Tony could not only be far wealthier but also could have avoided his criminal lifestyle. At the same time, it's equally possible that even if Johnny had made the move he would have continued to be a criminal and simply gotten involved with the organized crime in Vegas.

* {{Leitmotif}}: "White Rabbit" by ''Music/JeffersonAirplane'' plays more than once over the course of the episode. The song itself came out in ''Main/TheSixties'' when Tony's childhood took place. Grace Slick also said the song's multiple references to characters from ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' is a musing on why parents would expose their children to certain kinds of information (like the Alice novel) and then wonder why their kids became screwed up afterwards. It overlaps with Tony's reflections on [[LikeFatherLikeSon following in Johnny Boy's steps]], wondering how much A.J. knows about him being a mobster, and wondering what A.J. finding out about Tony being a mobster will mean for A.J.'s future.

* NeverMyFault: Livia moans to A.J. about how she gave her life to her children "on a silver platter", and not showing any awareness or sense of responsibility about how her woeful approach to being a mother royally screwed up at least two of her children.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: In the flashbacks, Johnny Boy and Junior Soprano beat up a rival mob associate, Rocco, by punching him numerous times, smashing a vase over his heads and both kicking him repeatedly as he lies on the ground.

'''Season 1, Episode 07:'''
!Down Neck

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sopranosdownneck1.jpg]]

Elsewhere, Tony arrives at a construction site, where it's revealed that the foreman hasn't been paying his union dues. He manages to resolve the situation with the help of Chris. Afterwards, he gets word from Carmela that he needs to go to the school, and arrives to find A.J. still intoxicated and the principal lecturing them about the incident. The school's psychologist, Peter Galani, goes into a breakdown of A.J.'s symptoms and says that he may have attention-deficit disorder. Both Tony and Carmela pledge to punish A.J. after the principal tells them he'll be suspended for three days.

Afterwards, Tony and Carmela retire for the night. He wonders aloud if A.J. knows about the family business, and she says that Meadow knows. Tony flashes back to [[Recap/TheSopranosS1E5College the college trip]], and says that they'll have to sit her down and tell her eventually. Tony also pledges to agree to psychological testing for A.J. He dreams that he's at Melfi's talking about how A.J.'s behavior is a reflection of himself before waking up and taking his Prozac. He stands in the mirror and stares at himself before flashing back to the past...

[[{{Flashback}} The year is 1967]]. A young Tony walks outside his family's home in Newark, New Jersey and sees Junior, who asks if his father, Johnny Boy, is home. While Johnny Soprano comes outside and drives off with Junior, Livia tells Tony that he's missed the bus and will need to walk with school. As Tony walks along, he is introduced to the family business after witnessing Johnny and Junior beating up a rival crew...

Tony goes for another session at Melfi's, and muses aloud whether he and A.J. inherited reckless tendencies [[InTheBlood from Johnny Boy]]. Melfi brings back the subject of [[Recap/TheSopranosS1E1Pilot Tony's dream about the ducks flying away]], and asks if it had anything to do with his own family. Tony flashes back to a traumatic memory of his mother threatening to gouge his eye out with a fork when he was a child. He then recalls how [[{{Foreshadowing}} his sister, Janice]], was the favored one in the family, as he saw his father and Junior taking her to a fairground for rides and games. When the young Tony took a trip to the fairground on his own, he discovered that the fairground was a front operation for the Mafia, and witnesses a police raid that ends with one associate dead and Johnny being hauled out in handcuffs while Janice cried and pleaded for them to stop.

Afterwards, Tony learns from Dr. Galani that A.J. has a borderline case of ADD. Learning from his experiences and therapy over the last few days, Tony goes back home and spends more time with his son, proving that he doesn't have to be like his own father...

* DirtyCoward: The three black kids close in on a very young Tony with the intention of ganging up on him. They run the other way the instant a cop car pulls up in front of Tony, albeit with the cops focused on Johnny Boy and his associates.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Tony tries to call Livia out on holding Johnny Boy back from joining Rocco in Las Vegas, and threatening to smother the kids if she tried. Livia feigns ignorance to such a degree that it has shades of trying to [[{{Gaslighting}} Gaslight]] Tony into believing none of it actually happened.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Tony tries to call Livia out on holding Johnny Boy back from joining Rocco in Las Vegas, and threatening to smother the kids if she tried. Livia feigns ignorance to such a degree that it has shades of trying to [[Gaslighting Gaslight]] Tony into believing none of it actually happened.

Livia and Junior come over to the Soprano home that night for dinner. Despite Tony trying to smooth over the situation with A.J., Livia escalates things by [[NotSoDifferent pointing out]] how Tony used to do the same antics (and more) when he was a child. A.J. acts up again and Carmela grounds him for three weeks before he storms off in anger.