History Recap / TheSopranosS4E3Christopher

* [[{{UsefulNotes/Italy}} Useful Notes on Italy]]: Furio provides some exposition to his Italian American friends. North Italians look down their noses at Southern Italians, and have for centuries. And the way he describes it will sound eerily similar to how race relations in America could be described. Furio himself, and a great many Italians from the southern part of the land of the sun, therefore do not necessarily view ''UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus'' as a hero worthy of acclaim or adoration, as he was from Genoa.

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Paulie, motivated by simmering resentments against Tony, tells Johnny Sack about Ralph's [[{{FatComicRelief}} fat joke]] at Ginny's expense, as well as Tony's score off the [[{{RealEstateScam}} Freelingheysen Avenue]] property. The former almost starts an EnemyCivilWar, while the latter costs Tony money.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Janice is seeing a [[{{TheShrink}} Shrink]] of her own. The session itself, right down to detailed references to her [[{{AllGirlsWantBadBoys}} questionable taste in men]], and an OedipusComplex towards either Johnny Boy or Tony himself, is a dead ringer for several sessions Tony has had with Dr. Melfi.

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Played with and a matter of perspective. Tony and the rest of the crew regard the Native American protests against Columbus Day as an example of the trope. These protests are actually a [[{{TruthInTelevision}} pretty frequent thing]]. And it's not without reason that the protesters make an association between Columbus Day and historical atrocities inflicted on their ancestors as well as current conditions. [[{{CorruptPolitician}} Assemblyman Zellman]] won't touch it precisely out of fear of a political correctness blowback, "sensitive stuff".

* YouOweMe: Chief Doug Smith plays Tony like a fiddle: he completely fails to do anything about the demonstration, but the fact that he "tried" now [[HonorAmongThieves obligates]] Tony to do what he can to get Frankie Valli to sing at the casino.

* SingleWomanWantsGoodMan: Janice moves from having a [[{{AllGirlsWantBadBoys}} thing for bad boys like Richie and Ralph]] to becoming fascinated with Bobby after seeing his genuine love for Karen and his devastation at losing her.

* HeritageDisconnect: Doug Smith's Native American heritage is questionable to begin with, but it becomes obvious that [[{{ItsAllAboutMe}} he's only in it]] for the perks that being chief and head of a casino provides him.

* HeritageDisconnect: Doug Smiths' Native American heritage is questionable to begin with, but it becomes obvious that [[{{ItsAllAboutMe}} he's only in it]] for the perks that being chief and head of a casino provides him.

* PatrioticFervor: A major and recurring theme in this episode, with plenty of other examples besides the obvious one that pits the main characters and the Native American protesters against each other. Heck, even Hesh, who previously told [[{{SelfDeprecation}} Self Deprecating jokes]] that played into GreedyJew stereotypes in order to score points with his Mafia buddies, has a moment of Jewish pride that results in a severed friendship.

* [[{{UsefulNotes/Italy}} Useful Notes on Italy]]: Furio provides some exposition to his Italian American friends. North Italians look down their noses at Southern Italians, and have for centuries. And the way he describes it will sound eerily similar to how race relations in America could be described. Furio himself, and a great many Italians from the southern part of the land of the sun, therefore do not necessarily view ''UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus'' as a hero worthy of acclaim or adoration, as he was from Genoa.

* TraumaCongaLine: More than one character.

* ADayInTheLimelight: Silvio gets sort of one in this episode, as his intense pride in being Italian American combined with the Columbus day protests drives him into actions and decisions [[{{OOCIsSeriousBusiness}} that are quite out of character for him]].

* PoliticalCorrectnessGoneMad: Played with and a matter of perspective. Tony and the rest of the crew regard the Native American protests against Columbus day as an example of the trope. These protests are actually a [[{{TruthInTelevision}} pretty frequent thing]]. And it's not without reason that the protesters make an association between Columbus day and historical atrocities inflicted on their ancestors as well as current conditions. [[{{CorruptPolitician}} Assemblyman Zellman]] won't touch it precisely out of fear of a political correctness blowback, "sensitive stuff".

** Imagine any negative stereotypes you can possibly think of with respect to Native Americans, lazy, ungrateful for handouts, [[{{AddledAddict}} Addled Addicts]], etc. Silvio and the others bring up all of them to express their resentments towards the Columbus day protesters. Even [[{{NiceGuy}} Bobby]] of all people gets into it.

** Even Tony takes up the argument over the SuppressedHistory of ''UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus'' with A.J. In the course of the argument Tony ascribes to the viewpoint that the Indigenous peoples Columbus did enslave were just a bunch of [[{{TheSavageIndian}} primitive savages]] not worth making a fuss over, therefore there was no injustice that could have been committed, therefore Columbus couldn't possibly anything less than a Hero. It verges on InsaneTrollLogic by today's standards.

* [[{{PoliticallyIncorrectVillain}} Politically Incorrect Villains]]: Imagine any negative stereotypes you can possibly think of with respect to Native Americans, lazy, ungrateful for handouts, [[{{AddledAddict}} Addled Addicts]], etc. Silvio and the others bring up all of them to express their resentments towards the Columbus day protesters. Even [[{{NiceGuy}} Bobby]] of all people gets into it.

* [[{{UsefulNotes/Italy}} Useful Notes on Italy]]: Furio provides some exposition to his Italian American friends. North Italians look down their noses at Southern Italians, and have for centuries. And the way he describes will sound eerily similar to how race relations in America could be described. Furio himself, and a great many Italians from the southern part of the land of the sun, therefore do not necessarily view ''UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus'' as a hero worthy of acclaim or adoration, as he was from Genoa.

* SuppressedHistory: ''UsefulNotes/ChristopherColumbus'' is the subject of the History when it comes to this episode's use of the trope. It's a given that the Italian characters have a more flattering view of Columbus (possibly excepting Furio), while the Native American protesters have a more negative view of the man. Whether he was the great hero and mover and shaker the main characters view him as, or whether he was the racist murderer and rampager and slave trader the protesters cast him as, is not a question that the show even tries to provide any answers for. It's enough to bring out the different viewpoints by way of gradual {{Exposition}} in order to set up the story arc for this episode.

* BadBoss: Tony gives Patsy one for publicly getting himself arrested during the EscalatingBrawl with the Native American protesters.

** How Ralph attempts to get leverage over Del Redclay. It's based on a threat to reveal that Iron Eyes Cody was actually Italian American without a drop of Native American blood. Although Redclay [[{{ScrewYourUltimaturm}} blows off]] Ralph, he afterwards admits to being worried about the PR implications.