At night in a diner, Tony meets with Jack Massarone, owner of Massarone construction and longtime Soprano family associate. Though historically Tony has had little patience for Massarone, whom he considers boring, they bond when Massarone gifts Tony with a painting of the "Rat Pack", and Tony finds out that Jack also had a cruel mother. Outside the diner where they meet, a cop spots two suspicious-looking men waiting in a car and records their license plate numbers. At the FBI headquarters, agents meet with Ray Curto to discuss tapes he recorded a year ago, and it is revealed that Massarone is an informant wearing a wire embedded in his baseball cap.
Carmine Lupertazzi passes away at the hospital, and his death leaves a power vacuum in New York as the family become divided over who should succeed him as boss. Johnny Sack, previously a shoo-in for the role given that he was Carmine's underboss, now finds competition in his son Little Carmine. Tony witnesses a petty argument between the two at Carmine's funeral over rosary beads placed in the corpse's hands, which escalates and becomes personal. Newly-released Lupertazzi made men Phil Leotardo and Angelo Garepe attend the funeral, as well as Lorraine Calluzzo, a rare female mob associate known as the "lady shylock".
Tony Blundetto, the cousin of Tony Soprano, finally gets out of prison as well and is greeted by Tony S at his mother's home. Tony brings Tony B to a surprise party at Vesuvio's, where Tony B faces the disappointing reality of what his family has become - Tony and Carmela have split up, Artie Bucco is depressed and miserable after a botched suicide attempt, and Tony B's ex-wife and twin sons did not attend. Tony takes Tony B to the Bada Bing, excited to show his cousin the success he's had, but bristles when Tony B comments on Tony's luck in staying out of prison. Inside the club, Tony warily eyes Tony B accepting money from Feech La Manna, and later walks up as Tony B says "Boy are you fat!" in a Jackie Gleason impression. The two men laugh it off, defusing possible tensions between them. The next morning, they get coffee and Tony B confesses that he developed an interest in massage therapy in prison, and plans to get his massage license and go straight. Tony is disappointed by this but agrees to set Tony B up with a legitimate job delivering linens until he can get the license. Later, Tony B delivers linens to Satriale's and winds up giving back rubs to the guys hanging out there. Tony arrives and takes issue with Tony B casually ribbing him. He confronts Tony B outside, telling him off, and they part on a sour note.
Adriana still struggles with her position as a mob informant, feeling alienated from her friends in the mob circle. She has trouble enjoying movie night with the mob wives at Carmela's house. Meanwhile, she notices Tina Francesca, her friend and soon-to-be maid of honor, flirting with Christopher. While meeting with Adriana, her handler Agent Sanseverino notices her depressed mood and opts to share some personal details in the interest of endearing herself to her. Sanseverino tells Adriana a story about how her sister was paralyzed when her criminal boyfriend fired a gun at a coconut and the shot ricocheted into her and explains that this inspired her to join law enforcement. Adriana is moved.
Tony learns from Patsy Parisi that a corrupt cop in his pocket saw FBI agents outside of the diner where he met with Jack Massarone. Tony suspects Jack of being an informant but meets with him again to make absolutely sure these suspicions are true before taking any drastic measures. After the second meeting, Tony still remains uncertain, mulling it over with Silvio and Christopher. Eventually Tony mentions that Massarone had claimed that he lost weight, seeming to suggest he was being overly sycophantic. Clearly anxious about the situation, Tony loses his temper when Tony B's boss at the linen fleet calls to complain about his cousin's job performance. Tony explodes, telling the boss to fire him, only to do a complete 180 when Christopher suggests sending Tony B to whack Massarone, accusing Christopher of being unsupportive of his cousin. Tony storms out, leaving Christopher and Silvio confused about whether he made a decision about the Massarone situation. That night, Tony drunk dials Tony B to reconcile over their previous conflict, reaffirming their bond. Unable to find a suitable location for the Rat Pack painting, Tony opts to toss it off a bridge. The next morning, Jack Massarone is found dead in a trunk, a golf club cover stuffed in his mouth.
At another movie night at Carmela's, Adriana shares a cigarette with Rosalie Aprile and briefly brings up the topic of Angie Bonpensiero. Rosalie denounces Angie and her husband, Big Pussy, for ratting to the FBI. Adriana, shaken, drinks excessively and winds up in tears, starting to make a confession to the mob wives but stopping herself and running outside. She falls on the pavement and drives away drunk, despite the others' attempts to stop her. Later she meets with Sanseverino again, and when asked for the information she reveals a scam Tina Francesca had been running at her father's department store, using her informant position for personal gain.
Tropes:
- Acting Unnatural:
- Jack refuses to take off his hat while indoors, much to Tony's confusion and slight bewilderment. The earlier gift of the painting helps brush this off. He's also rather defensive at their second meeting when the suggestion of being tailed is brought up.
- Adriana starts acting more erratic at the movie nights as her anxiety over being an informant continues to build up.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Bobby Jr. to Tony B: "How come we never even heard of you?"
- Awful Wedded Life: All of the Mafia wives, except Adriana, let on about how disappointed or outright bored they became with their marriages after just a few years. It feeds even more Adriana's growing Despair Event Horizon.
- Bad Liar combined with Too Clever by Half: Jack ultimately gives himself away by commenting more than once that Tony has lost weight as an effort at flattery. Anybody who's been watching the show since season 1 will know that Tony has become only more and more of a Fat Bastard with each season.
- Beat: When Tony S and Carmela are left to themselves at the Family Disunion, they don't have a single thing to say to each other.
- Big Damn Reunion: Tony S and Tony B.
- Book Dumb: Zizagged with Paulie. He understands the concepts of The Art of War (Sun Tzu) and Machievelli's The Prince, and well enough to apply their lessons to his own criminal activity. But he pronounces Tzu as 'Tizu' and Machiavelli as "Matchabelli".
- Bus Crash:
- Jack Massarone makes a reappearance since early-Season 4 as a rat and winds up dead by the end of it.
- Tina Francesco makes her first ever named-appearance in this episode, after being seen as Mustang Sally's girlfriend from Season 3. After Adriana ousts her crimes to the FBI, she doesn't make a further appearance.
- Call-Back: Agent Sanseverino shows pictures of a very dead Joey Cogo, the same guy Adriana saw getting roughed up during the Pie-Oh-My episode. Doubles as Foreshadowing both for Massarone in this episode, and herself later on.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Adriana is willing to give up Tina to the FBI, partly because she didn't like Tina flirting with Chris.
- Coincidental Broadcast combined with Close to Home: The World War II documentary contains an interview where Ed 'Babe' Heffron speaks of a soldier's willingness to take a bullet for his comrades. It reminds Tony that his cousin got sent to prison for a burglary gone wrong, which Tony was Unluckily Lucky to avoid.
- Continuity Nod:
- Tony sees a Memorial Photo of Livia at his aunt's house.
- Tony B wonders why Tony S and Artie don't seem on speaking terms. Tony S briefly summarizes the French Vodka episode, and admits he and Artie have had a falling out since then.
- Corrupt Cop: The one on Patsy's dime notices the FBI agents staking out Jack and Tony S in the diner. It eventually leads to Jack being Killed Off for Real.
- Could Say It, But...: Tony S asks, "Go ahead, say it, I haven't changed a bit, right?" Tony B's facial expression makes it obvious he is tempted to make a fat joke but thinks better of it.
- Country Matters: Chris certainly thinks Tina is one.
- Creepy Uncle: Tony B doesn't even try to be subtle about ogling Meadow while ignoring A.J.
- Dead Guy on Display: Jack's tied-up body gets stuffed into the trunk of a car for the feds to find in the morning.
- Desecrating the Dead: Jack's corpse is left out in broad daylight, Bound and Gagged with his face stuck in a shocked expression.
- Despair Event Horizon: More and more Adriana has trouble seeing a way out of her Morton's Fork. Even selling out Tina only provides temporary relief.
- Distinction Without a Difference: Silvio doesn't find any change in Tony's new bachelor life at all.Tony: I'm havin' a fuckin' time. Stay out late, come home drunk, fuck anyone I want.
Sil: Yeah, so what's the difference?
Beat
Tony:... I don't know. It's a mindset. - Double-Meaning Title:
- It can refer to the famous Rat Pack from the 60s, a picture of which Tony receives as a present, though the episode also focused on the FBI's multiple informants within the Mafia, making them a "rat pack" too.
- Junior refers to the newly released ex-cons as "the Class of 2004, old rats on a new ship."
- Drowning My Sorrows: Rosalie notes that Adriana has been 'drinking like crazy' lately. It's not hard for the audience to figure out why.
- Due to the Dead: Zigzagged. Almost the entirety of both the Jersey and New York families turn out for Carmine Sr.'s funeral, full of compliments for a man who was once a Living Legend in his time. However, Tony feels that it amounts to Last Disrespects that Johnny Sack and Little Carmine can't even wait until the funeral's over to start the Succession Crisis. "Body's not even cold."
- Establishing Character Moment: Tony B wastes little time establishing himself as the all-series champion of Snark-to-Snark Combat. Nobody else in the series, not even Tony S, can keep up with him once he gets going.
- Evil Mentor: Feech tries to be this for Tony B.
- Failed a Spot Check: Tony S hugs Jack, and makes a point of feeling around his back, in an attempt to discover the Hidden Wire. He didn't realize that Jack was wearing a new model of wire in his baseball cap.
- Family Disunion: The family holds a big welcome back party for Tony B. But his arrival on the scene is going to introduce a whole new set of problems for Tony S.
- Foreshadowing:
- The other mobsters try to make fun of Tony B for being a Stranger in a Familiar Land, accented by his sincere efforts to go straight. For his part, he's perfectly capable of firing back. But the interactions let on that he can't truly fit in with either The Mafia or the civilian world.
- We get an early indication that Tony B got off on the wrong foot with his laundry boss, Kim, and that's before we even see Kim onscreen.
- Easy to miss, AJ is shown downing his drink during Tony B's welcome home toast. Tony (his father) chastises him for doing so in 'Long Term Parking'.
- Gilligan Cut: Tony views Carmine Sr.'s dead body, and then a jarring cut to mortar shells exploding on Tony's television as part of a World War II documentary. Just in case any viewers somehow haven't figured it out yet that Carmine's death has triggered a Succession Crisis and Enemy Civil War.
- Girl's Night Out Episode: Carmela and the other Mafia wives don't go out clubbing per se. But this episode does give them some time when Carmela effectively takes over the house, including Tony's man-cave and its entertainment system.
- A Good, Old-Fashioned Paint Watching: Citizen Kane, long praised by previous generations and film critics as a classic immortal among films, totally puts the Mafia wives to sleep. They pretend to offer critiques based on by now well-known plot points after they rouse themselves out of their slumber.
- Guilt-Ridden Accomplice: How Adriana feels about being an FBI informant against the crime family.
- Hidden Wire: Jack was wearing one in his baseball cap.
- I Am the Noun: Tony S declares himself the boss of the family in an attempt to gain immunity from Tony B's penchant for Snark-to-Snark Combat. Tony S later introduces a slight caveat—Tony B can continue with his wisecracks privately, but not in front of the other mobsters so that Tony S can maintain his authority as The Don.
- I Ate WHAT?!: Junior suddenly loses his appetite for Feech LaManna's salad of dandelion greens when Tony makes him think about how they might have been fertilized.
- "I Know What We Can Do" Cut: After some bickering and deliberation, Tony decides he should go and meet with Jack Massarone to sniff out a chance of him being a rat, without any clear plans. He's confident since his own father was apparently good at "feeling people out". After the scene of them meeting, cut back to Tony saying he couldn't "feel shit" and wondering why they decided that was a good plan.
- The Informant: This episode centers around different informants.
- Internalized Categorism: Adriana starts to really feel like a traitor after her conversation with Rosalie.
- Just Got Out of Jail: Tony B.
- Killed Off for Real: Jack Massarone.
- Lame Pun Reaction: How Tony B reacts to Tony's joke about how he shouldn't be a masseuse if 'he rubbed Kim the wrong way'.
- Last Disrespects: Johnny Sack and Little Carmine on the surface are arguing over Carmine Sr.'s rosary at the funeral, but it's not hard to see that they've already grabbed the opportunity to start the Succession Crisis and Enemy Civil War.
- Living Legend: Chris notes Lorraine "Lady Shylock" Calluzzo is considered one.
- Lonely at the Top: The Mafia waves briefly discuss Citizen Kane after having pretended to watch it. Carmela takes a certain satisfaction on thinking of Tony as an Expy for Charles Foster Kane.
- Make an Example of Them: For being a rat like Jimmy Altieri (maybe), Massarone is killed and has his body left in public with something stuffed into his mouth. They use a golf club covering in his case. Ray Curto takes notes by re-emphasizing what benefits he'll get after the body's discovered.
- Meaningful Name: Besides the Class of '04, Lorraine Calluzzo is also known as Lady Shylock.
- The Mole: Plenty.
- Adriana, albeit still roped in by her Morton's Fork.
- Jack Massarone, and he doesn't last very long.
- Ray Curto, explaining a wiretap tape from the premiere of season 4 to the FBI, and he manages to last a little longer.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Adriana wonders why Angie Bonpensiero isn't ever invited to their movie nights. Rosalie points to her husband (supposedly) going into Witness Protection, rants on about how awful it is for someone to turn betray the mob and their family members after knowing them for a better part of his life, and when she compares it to Judas, she mockingly says he was at least willing to hang himself after doing so. Adriana is left shivering by her words.
- Oblivious Mockery: Rosalie expresses how shameful she believes going into the folds of the FBI to save one's self is, in front of Adriana. When she notices Ade's reaction, she mistakes it as being from the cold weather.
- Obviously Not Fine:
- A Downplayed case when Tony asks Massarone if he's noticed anything unusual lately or if he's been followed. His response is quick deflections and some obvious flattery.
- Adriana starts drinking more during the girls' second night and gets emotional as her internal conflicting feelings being to pour out. Tina asking her if she's okay sends her running out early and tripping off the curbside as she's racing to her car. Everyone there is left worried.
- Out-of-Character Alert: While he didn't have much characterization, Jack comes across as jumpy or standoffish in the scenes where he meets Tony, even refusing to take his hat off indoors despite Tony's usual feelings on such manners.
- Pet the Dog: Tony S, once he realizes that Tony B is actually serious about going straight, does what he can to help him out, including getting him a wage-earning job with a Korean laundry outfit, and getting him his driver's license and other credentials.
- During his toast to Tony B., Tony S. relates how he always wanted a brother when he was a kid, and his mother responded with "What's wrong with your cousin Tony?", to which Tony S. acquiesces that she was right. It is heartwarming that Tony acknowledges that his mother was capable of displaying some empathy.
- Precision F-Strike: Tony B, "Fifteen fucking years!"
- Quaking with Fear: Adriana, owing to her Despair Event Horizon and Internalized Categorism during her conversation with Rosalie. Rosalie mistakes it as shivering in response to the cool air outside.
- Reformed Criminal: Tony B hopes to go straight by running his own massage parlor.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves combined with Call-Back: Rosalie makes it clear to Adriana that she views Big Pussy's execution and Angie's ostracization as deserved examples. It feeds Adriana's Despair Event Horizon and the onset of Internalized Categorism for her.
- The Runaway: Tony B's daughter, Kelli, ran away and as far as anyone can tell, is completely Off the Grid.
- Saw "Star Wars" Twenty-Seven Times: Subverted. The Godfather is next on the viewing list for the Mafia wives. But with the prospect of seeing it YET AGAIN, the looks on their faces say it all.
- Snark-to-Snark Combat: Tony B is the undisputed master of it, as even the likes of Paulie and Vito learn the hard way. Even Tony S isn't immune, at least to begin with...
- Spotting the Thread: Tony fails to locate a wire on Jack's body due to the new hat method provided by the FBI. He's initially dumbfounded, until he realizes Jack decided to flatter him by suggesting he's lost weight. Tony looks in the mirror and quietly admits to himself he definitely hasn't, letting him see through Jack's ploy and uncovering him as The Mole.
- Stealing from the Till: Tina admits to pilfering her own father's business.
- Succession Crisis: Johnny Sack and Little Carmine waste no time starting the Enemy Civil War, at Carmine Sr.'s own funeral no less.
- Take a Third Option: Adriana relieves the pressure of her Morton's Fork temporarily by giving the FBI solid information on Tina's scam while continuing to avoid giving anything on Chris or Tony.
- Take Back Your Gift: Tony fails to find a suitable place to put Jack's painting and opts to throw it off a bridge into the river. This helps mark his decision to confirm the hit on Jack.
- Then Let Me Be Evil: From Adriana's perspective at least, following the guilt-slinging from Ro. She decides to confront her guilt and despair as an informant by at least using her role to her benefit, throwing Tina to the FBI after her flirting with Chris.
- The Teetotaler: Chris manages to succeed at this while he's out in a club, but he tears one off of Adriana for "tempting" him with wine in their apartment.
- Visual Title Drop: The painting Massarone gives Tony of Sammy, Frank, and Dean.
- We All Die Someday: The news of Carmine's passing obliges Uncle Junior to reiterate his demands to Tony for his cremated remains to become part of an enduring memorial.
- The Wrongful Heir to the Throne: How Johnny Sack and many others see Little Carmine, and why the resultant Enemy Civil War and Succession Crisis have real legs.
- You Are Fat: Tony B pulls it on Tony during the Bada Bing welcome back party. Mixed in with a little Jackie Gleason impersonation.
