Hosting a sister is a 30 BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY!

Nice to see a lot of comic relief in this week's ep, between Paulie's histrionics and Bobby and the rapper. Most hilarious is how the plan for the rapper to get street cred by getting shot was totally undermined by the fact that Bobby shot the guy in the ass. Some nice work by Hal Holbrook guest starring also. Definitely looks like a major war is brewing between the NY and NJ families.

Question about Paulie whacking the kid's knees at the end of the episode...even after Tony assured the mother that no harm would come to the guy, did Paulie do this because of mixed feelings about a mother defending her son or because he was headed out of the room when Tony gave his assurances? (I'd have to watch the ep again to see if Paulie was outside the room when Tony spoke or if he was headed out the door but still heard what Tony said.) Any thoughts?

JasonR totally agree with you on the comic relief.

Some of my fav lines:

Paulie's response to Father Whats-his-name's inquiry into Tony's health: "He's alot better than those fucking nuns you got up there!"

The doctor saying he found Jimmy Hoffa while sewing Tony up...

The viagra rant...

Great episode, IMO.

Dasher-

I'm pretty sure he did it out of mama issues. Remember, he told the kid any word of this to Tony, and he'd see to it he'd have bullets coming out his eyes after a brief detour through his ass. Also, notice the same amount he wants kicked up to him (4 grand) is the same amount he pays for his "Ma's" assisted living.

Big site redesign. Why does that make me nervous?

Poor Tony. Reaching out to Janice as he left the hospital and for nuthin!

Winds of change seemed to be the current running through this ep. Since Tony caved so quick to Johnny's demands there's gonna be a major shitstorm.

I like how Cramella let Tony know not to trust Vito. She shoulda expanded more on Paulie. That guy is a total whackjob.

I'm curious where the show is going with the philosophies and concepts -- Ojibwa, Hal Holbrook's theory, Christian fundamentalism, of course, Gloria Trevi's Bhuddism, the Monks, psychotherapy, the "pseudo-epicureanism" of mobsters generally... there are some big ideas being bounced around in the midst of people getting whacked.

Have I mentioned that I love this show?!?

god i love this show.

i watched it last night finally and was thinking it was such an "upbeat" episode and had this feelign in my stomach that it wouldnt last long. i was right.

i think something will happen to paulie. remember when carmella saw his expression after he and vito forked over the money. then paulie goes and whacks this poor kids knees after tony assured the mother nothing would happen to the kid--then paulie saying "you wont say a think to tony about this" paulies ife is much too chaotic to continue on this type of trajectory for much longer.

the psycho religious people were very amusing when juxtaposed against tony, his questions and his overall character.

i love this show.

The Wallet Biopsy.

Vito was in the can for an hour and a half - could have built a jetty!

hb

This season keeps getting better with every episode! The growing tension between Johnny Sack and Tony is bound to lead to a tremendous crescendo of violence and mayhem. And Paulie’s reaction to the revelation of his mother/aunt shows what a sick, violent, sociopath he truly is. The spiteful, sadistic beating of that innocent college puke (despite Tony’s assurances to the kid’s mother) opened a window into Paulie’s disturbed mind. It’s amazing how effortlessly he could instantly dismiss the woman who raised him from childhood…as easily an accounting write-off. It’s telling that it took Tony’s (of all people) moral compass to right Paulie’s course, at least temporarily.

That Hal Holbrook character was masterly performed and interesting, but did we really need an A-list actor to play this part? One of the things that makes this show so original is the cast of largely unknown actors, with real names as Italian as that of their characters. I suspect that every major actor in Hollywood has been pressuring their agent to schmooze David Chase into offering them a cameo appearance on the series.

This show loses its momentum when the story line gets diverted during these celebrity jock-sniffing sessions. Remember that monstrosity of an episode with Annette Bening? “Ay, you Annette Bening, ount you?” Or that episode with John Favreau (no…really, THE John Favreau, the famous director!) and Jeannine Garofalo? One of the few entertaining moments in that story arc was the association of Ms. Garofalo with the word “Boucuock”.

I hope the writers ease up on the gratuitous political proselytizing in future episodes. It’s fine, though distracting, on hackey shows like Boston Legal. But such self-indulgent crap is beneath a show this good.

Please forgive me, but who is Hal Holbrook? I'm having a hrad time remembering this episode, and didn't recognize any actors.