Revisiting the “worst” episode of The Sopranos
Long considered a throwaway, "Christopher" still contains layers, acting as both a funny time capsule and a predictor of serious reckonings to come
TV Features The Sopranos
September 2002. America reels from the existential dread of the first anniversary of 9/11, My Big Fat Greek Wedding reigns supreme at the box office, and “How You Remind Me” by Nickelback is coasting to become Billboard’s most played song of the year. Perhaps Uncle Junior was right, when urged to take medication to help his memory: “There’s plenty I’d like to forget.”
Against this surreal canvas, The Sopranos dropped “Christopher,” the third episode of its fourth season—the first to scrub the Twin Towers from its intro—and a most peculiar of tangential chapters. As a standalone with little interest in advancing the action, besides tension ratcheted by a two-bit fat joke about a 95-pound mole, it instead dials up explicit acknowledgment and refutation of anti-defamation and criticism of the negative portrayals of Italian-Americans. Or, as Michael Imperioli, who plays Christopher Moltisanti and who wrote the episode, states on his podcast, Talking Sopranos: “The episode was our way of sticking it up their asses.”
With Artie Buco tough-guy-posturing—at least until the slushies fly—and Patsy lemur-climbing a pole to rescue a hanging Christopher Columbus dummy, a Mafia-led rally against Native American dissent of a Columbus Day parade sets the tone. The spirit of protest is high. Or, really, echoing Imperioli, protest of protest. Perhaps that is too many layers of parody. This publication called it the “clumsiest hour The Sopranos would ever produce”; Vox stated it was the series’ “one bad episode.” Critics Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall, in their indispensable book The Sopranos Sessions, go so far as to call the effort the “nadir … of the show, period,” citing mostly the lack of narrative progression.
There’s a certain type of Sopranos fan, though, especially after 20 years of rewatches, that might find the most pleasure in the plotless. In the simple misunderstandings, in the malapropisms, in the low-stakes sight of the fellas getting into a game of license plates over espressos on a sunny day in front of Satriale’s. That lived-in feel allows for feet-up luxuriating in the mind of Imperioli, in the ideas and explorations of all the facets of distinctly American dickheadedness.
Sharp reactions, and real-world bans
The real world didn’t take kindly to the episode, either. In response, both Dominic Chianese and Lorraine Bracco were banned from marching in the Columbus Day Parade in New York City that year, despite having received an invitation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Somehow, Christopher Columbus, the skeleton hanging in the closet of this episode’s movement, referred to here both as comparable to Milošević and as a “victim of his times,” was still something sacred. Maybe, for the “he was a brave Italian explorer, end of story” crowd (Tony), what the tale needed was a stronger, more admirable representation of Italian-American leadership and success. On that note, there is this bit on paisano pride from a keynote speaker and professor at Montclair State, a quip that has aged like a fine Barolo: “If they say John Gotti, you tell them Rudolph Giuliani.”
It is even-keeled Silvio with the hair across his ass in this one. “I can’t turn the other cheek here,” he says, and later evokes the spirit of “friend of ours” Joe Colombo, boss of the Colombo crime family, the first American-born boss of a New York syndicate and the founder of the Italian-American Civil Rights League. (Silvio wrongly claims it was the first “Italian-American Anti-Defamation Organization”—the type of subtle screw-up, intentional or not, that is gleaned from endless viewings and subsequent Wikipedia rabbit-holing.) Supposedly Colombo gave his blessing to the script of The Godfather once producer Al Ruddy agreed to remove any explicit mention of the “Mafia.” But the truest definition of “do as I say” sanctimony reflected here may have come from an instance in the filming of The Sopranos’ third season. A permit was denied for the production crew to shoot “Pine Barrens” at New Jersey’s South Mountain Reservation by Essex County Executive James Treffinger, due to the show depicting Italian Americans as corrupt. Treffinger would later be convicted and imprisoned for obstruction of justice and mail fraud.
Imperioli goes on to discuss the idea of the episode, formed in concert with journalist Maria Laurino, as almost a “flight of fancy” and “satirical.” “It gets ridiculous,” he states, somewhat defensively, as if he’s caught the way the cultural wind blows. Indeed it does, absurdity shading each of the mounting grievances and insensitive cultural slights: Montel Williams, playing himself, takes offense to Sicilians using the term “Middle Passage,” Hesh thinks Columbus being paralleled with Hitler is anti-semitic, the Carmela-led mafia wives group is upset that their luncheon speaker sounds anti-organized crime. Furio spits at the name Columbus, but for reasons all his own: Columbus is from Genoa, or the north of Italy. “I hate the north.” Protest leader Del Redclay can’t believe someone might be onto the truth around Iron Eyes Cody, Native American poster child but actual second-generation Sicilian from Louisiana (a “total fugazi,” but a “total environmentalist”). A bunch of toughs, outlaws, captains of industry … everyone has their righteous outrage point. For many, it’s only as far away as the second Monday in October. Silvio even seems pained to be reminded that James Caan is not, in fact, Italian.
Like Carmela describes a distracted, bothered Tony, everything seems a little moosha moosh. Everyone is on their virtues, their signaling, or they are trying, the whole thing such a rotating cycle of characters and grating identity performance it is hard to believe that, at this point, social media hasn’t even been invented. Twinged with vague post-9/11 dread, nationalism, xenophobia, and a new world depression turning toward confused rage, it might all seem chilly, uncomfortable, if not for how darkly hilarious it all is. An indignant Sil: “I’m gonna take action here,” followed by a wide shot of the whole crew, looking sated and beached in front of the pork store. But aside from the humor, at this remove what is evident is the Sisyphean pointlessness. The only one with much of an end game in mind is casino owner Chief Smith, and his motives are trying to land a Frankie Valli performance.
When there are no heroes
For all the critical discourse on Tony Soprano defining the archetype of antihero, what slides is the logical followup that, well, actually there are no heroes. Maybe for a country perched on the precipice of a revenge war predicated on a lie, this is what we deserve: Silvio, petulant and buffoonish; Ralphie, unable to comfort a grieving Rosalie, wondering “what’s in it for me?” and interested mainly in role play and amyl nitrite and vibrators. For every good man, of which there is exactly one—Bobby—there is a Janice waiting to pounce, to exploit, to be moved by an ember of real tenderness and emotion, only for it to succumb to her true inner character, for her to push Ralphie down a flight of stairs because he didn’t take his shoes off, to get him out of the way, to set her back on her path of “compassion and respect.”
“There was a time when the Italian people didn’t have a lot of options,” Tony defends, negotiating with himself and with Meadow at one point earlier in the series. To which she rebuffs him: “You mean like Mario Cuomo?” Even if she is right, for every Mario Cuomo, there is an Andrew Cuomo. “My father didn’t watch The Godfather, and I never watched Sopranos,” Imperioli relates the second Cuomo telling him, accounting for a time when he met the then governor before playing him in Escape To Dannemora. In hindsight, Cuomo may have been better served watching The Sopranos, like the rest of us in 2020, as opposed to manipulating COVID death data and sexually harassing co-workers.
It ends, like so much of The Sopranos, with a shoulder shrug. “It’s all a big nothing.” What are ya gonna do? The episode takes the long way around righteousness and Essex County to get back to the foot of the driveway, picking up the paper and seeing more bad news. Silvio forgets the day of the big parade, distracted by a night of blackjack at a Native American casino. These aren’t complicated men so much as they are a bunch of everyday Joe Jerkoffs: middle-aged half-wit careerists trying to provide for their kids or buy a horse or do whatever thing may distract from the suffering around them, from the suffering they cause, from the pain their friends endure.
Andrew Cuomo was forced to resign in shame, Giuliani segued from unifying mayoral hero to democracy-undermining lunatic, and today it seems few if any true defenders of Columbus’ actions exist. He was an asshole. As powerful men so often are. Time has not been kind, and the tide will continue to lap waves of judgment across their character. Meanwhile, a throwaway episode of a television show still contains layers, acting as funny time capsule and predictor, for our time of outrage and our country of hypocrisy, inanity, and hopelessness. Here lays the rotten core of American greed and nothingness that extends from organized crime to politics and everything each touches, which is to say, everything. But maybe it reveals the best of what the country reflects in an entirely different way. Angered, annoyed, sick of the posturing, eventually Tony lays into Silvio: “Where the fuck is our self-esteem? That stuff doesn’t come from Columbus, or The Godfather, or Chef fuckin’ Boyardee…” Echoing Tony in a way, Imperioli goes on to recap his rebuff of Cuomo: “We should be proud that Italians made The Sopranos.”
121 Comments
I only saw this season on DVD shortly before season 6 premiered, kinda late to the whole Sopranos thing. I had no idea it was hated. It’s a fucking brilliant, hilarious episode. If this had been South Park or something, people would have gone on talking about how witty and satirical it is. But it’s The Sopranos so since no one gets whacked (iirc), zomg wurst epidoe!!1
Not my favorite episode, but not the nadir, either (that’d be Christopher Moltisanti: Music Producer). It definitely hits on a key but generally unexamined aspect of the rank-and-file Mafia: they were a bunch of dumb, excitable mooks who did not have the brain power to do literally anything other than what they could (occasionally) do well.
Sopranos has a lot of misfires, especially when hip hop is involved. But it’s still so great I can’t help but feel affection for the weak storylines too.
I think the fact that it’s as big and messy as it is while still undeniably being among the very best shows of all time adds to its mythos, too. Most shows these days are so streamlined and uber-economical that they end up sacrificing that sense of sprawling detail and intimacy.
This is a good point. I felt there was something off about “prestige”/streaming tv shows and I think that’s it.
It is NOT hated, I assure you, no matter what the writer (who was probably in 4th grade when it aired) has to say lol
Silly and inconsequential, enjoyable, it’s no big whoop. I liken this episode to the Lost episode about Jack’s tattoos guest starring Bai Ling.
Yeah, but that genuinely was the worst episode of that series. (And the ads for it didn’t help: “This week, one of the show’s biggest mysteries WILL be resolved.”)
(And the ads for it didn’t help: “This week, one of the show’s biggest mysteries WILL be resolved.”) I remember that horseshit. Just fucking awful.
BIG MYSTERY SOLVED was to Lost promos as CLOSE THE DOOR was to Mad Men promos.
An episode this funny can’t possibly be the worst. The car conversation alone is worth the price of admission. ‘He was gay, Gary Cooper?’ ‘Nooooo!’
I agree. It’s somewhat of a departure, but it’s funny as hell, especially that Furio bit and how actual Italians and Italian-Americans have very separate hagiographies. I can’t necessarily identify a “worst” episode of the show, though, so maybe. But the worst Sopranos is still great.
The worst episode is “Join The Club” (Tony in a coma). Just a total writing cop out to let Gandolfini show even more of his acting chops. Reminiscent of Star Trek ‘Holodeck’ episodes, or the episodes of Night Court where Dan Fielding gets trapped in the elevator.
I mean that coma dream sequence is basically the inciting incident for Tony’s final arc and the central thematic motif for the last season, to call it a “writing cop out” suggests to me that some of the larger ideas at play may have been missed. I’d highly suggest Emily St. James’ write-up of the episode done for this very publication (back when it was worth reading)!https://www.avclub.com/the-sopranos-join-the-club-1798172542
Obviously, breaking out of the conventional narrative for a surrealistic episode that advances themes (something the show did a few other times, better) isn’t for everybody, but it’s kind of the opposite of a cop out.
Is that the one where Tony has the big dream where Lee Harvey Oswald shows up alongside Pie O My?
Why…don’t I remember this?
Its an entire surreal episode that features Phil getting shot, Tony yelling at an old gym teacher and a lot of other stuff.
I think the coma stuff could have been condensed a little, but it was at least somewhat interesting. What was really good though I think was all the “real” stuff in those episodes. They basically showed us what would happen if Tony died without having to kill him off yet.
I always skip Mr. Ruggerio’s neighborhood, mainly because of the Peter Gunn mashup with The Police but it’s also just a bit too contrived.
I really like that episode but that musical choice is so out of character. It’s goofy. The Sopranos is never goofy. Funny as hell, but never silly.
The worst episode is “A Hit is a Hit”, the one with Massive Genius
Crap, I forgot about that one. I’m going to go with that. I love Woodbine most of the time, but that was rough. The saving grace is the overall crack at the metal-to-emotional-grunge transition and how fucking terrible Visiting Day is, but everything Massive Genius has got to be the show’s nadir.
It’s also so unintentionally racist. The writers were like “There are no black people in this show, lets add some. What are black guys like?” and then made them all rappers, made them wear ridiculous clothes and try to bag a white guy’s girlfriend.
Agreed, though I think a record producer of any ethnicity would want to bag Adrianna in that episode. Yowza.
Yep.Someone needed to tell them that no one cared whether the biggest fuck-up on the show ever became a fucking music producer.
The other plot with Tony joining the country club and fucking with his neighbors in the end is pretty great though.
meow
The worst episode in my book is “Luxury Lounge,” by a mile. You get Artie trying to be a tough guy in one storyline and the really
broad “Chris goes to LA and meets celebrities!” crap in the other.
It’s a wheel-spinning episode – they’re in the middle of Season 6A and obviously don’t have enough story to cover all 12 episodes – but more importantly it’s one that doesn’t have a lot to say about the characters. “The Ride” comes two episodes later and it’s another largely standalone piece that doesn’t advance any of the big 6A plots, but it uses Chris’ struggles with sobriety as a metaphor for his relationship with Tony. (I mean, it’s built around Tony goading Chris into falling off the wagon, so it’s not a particularly subtle metaphor. But it’s at least trying.)
Luxury Lounge can’t be the worst episode. Bacall and Kingsly are too great. That last “fuuuck” as he realizes they’re on the same plane always gets me.
It’s just too goofy and too…cute(?) for me. It’s also a Matt Weiner-penned episode that hits some of the tiresome “Boy, LA sure is different than New York!” stuff that I dreaded every time somebody got on a plane for the first couple seasons of Mad Men.
Absolutely. And we mustn’t forget that hearing Lauren Bacall’s say, “Jesus, my fucking arm” is also quite wonderful.
I agree that Luxury Lounge is the worst. How did they not learn anything from the previous terrible “Chris Does Hollywood” episode?
I enjoy all the wheel spinning episodes. When episodes like Christopher and Luxury Lounge originally aired, I think fan reaction was negative primarily because they lack mob action. When viewers were waiting all week to find out if Tony was going to kill Ralphie or if there was finally going to be a war with the NY family, it was disappointing to get one of these low stakes hangout episodes where not much happens.But the show’s been over a long time now. We know that all the mob storylines lead to a satisfying and almost unrealistically bloody conclusion (something like half of Tony’s mob family dies in the span of 5-6 years). The hangout vibes are always amusing and it’s fun to watch these well realized characters bounce off each other without anyone getting shot in the head.
I’m fine with the no mob action episodes! If I didn’t make it clear in my original post, I don’t dislike the episode because it’s not pushing the story along. I dislike it because it’s a gimmick hour (“Holy crap, we got Ben Kingsley and Lauren Bacall!”) that doesn’t say anything we don’t know about the characters by the point. Also, there’s very little “hangout vibe” to “Luxury Lounge,” as it’s focused on Artie – the comic relief character who only sometimes crosses over with the main crew – and Christopher, spending the hour isolated from the other knuckleheads on the other side of the country.
I think that part of the episode and the casino scenes hit the nail on the head on how people perceive power and whiteness in America
No one ever told me this episode was bad so I always assumed the fans loved it. It certainly has had a long shelf-life with some pretty good memeage.
The actual worst is a tie between “A Hit is a Hit” and “D-Girl”
It isn’t just shitty for an episode of “the greatest TV show ever.” It’s a just plain shitty episode.
I think this episode is really good. Nothing huge or exciting happens, but it all feels ordinary and believable in a lived in way, as you said. Also, as a history professor who read A People’s History of the United States in college, I really appreciated the debate that takes place at the dinner table.
Anyone who thought this episode was bad, didn’t understand the show.
It’s the same people who thought Tony was a hero (no “anti” prefix”) and held him up as an aspiration.
I don’t think Emily St. James the person who wrote the AV Club retrospective reviews for the series thinks that Tony was a hero so maybe this take is a wee bit reductionist? Maybe go read the linked review to see why she thought that and you might get a better idea of peoples problems with it.
absolutely not, it’s the people who appreciated the subtlety of the show’s messages and writing and the clunky-ass dialogue and themes of this episode stood out glaringly
I don’t think it’s the worst episode but I’ll admit it’s pretty clunky, and I can see why if you’re looking for the worst episode it stands out as an easy mark.
I think there is this idea that we as the audience have to take sides. I thought the idea of the episode was that arguments like this literally devolve into tribalism, everyone becomes protective of their own mythology. Also, the Zinn book AJ is citing was 20 years old in 2002, this was not new information. So yes, the characters are acting like total assholes. But, if the criticism here is that the episode sucks because the characters have a misguided view of history that seems weird to me too.
Howard Zinn released an updated version that is excellent. But, yeah I first read that book my freshman year in 1988 and it changed my outlook completely. I was also living in Texas, and I’m sure I became extremely annoying for a while with my newfound “real” historical knowledge and righteous anger.
This is kinda funny to say considering the biggest criticism of this episode is how heavy-handed and didactic it is when compared to the rest of the show. I don’t think it’s bad, I just don’t think it’s very subtle, and it’s almost after-school special “here’s what were’s talking about this week” tone makes it stick out like a sore thumb. The Janice and Ralphie scenes are fucking hilarious, though.
Yeah, I don’t get the shade. It’s about jerky guys being jerky guys. I thought some of the on-the-nose stuff with Melfi’s yuppie dinner pals was always cringier then seeing xenophobic mobsters doing exactly what you expect. The Melfi ‘splaining stuff was like elementary school teachers who can’t think of anything to talk about for Black History Month besides George Washington Carver stories about peanut butter.
Anyone who thinks this was the worst episode has forgotten the name Kevin Finnerty.
It’s always weird when people call something a “predictor,” or “before its time,” when in reality it’s depicting an issue that existed at the time and simply persists.
This happens a lot. The Italian-American/Columbus thing simmered quietly for a while until the anti-woke MAGA era, so a new generation is seeing it for the first time.
It’s a common problem when you have writers writing about things that aired when they were in preschool.
Preschool? Doc, several of the writers were born after Season 1.
You aren’t wrong, but I do appreciate seeing an actual article on here and it’s interesting to see someone who was probably too young to really engage with this kind of thing when it aired and to see how they think about it
There were a few other scenes and characters that were a direct response to Italian Americans criticizing The Sopranos, which was pretty big in the media at the time. Like if Melfi is hanging out with her friends and family it’s likely there will be a forced conversation about it.
Im sure I could find someone saying Columbus sucked in the 1910s. This wasn’t like an opinion that appeared out of the blue one day.
I’m like 95% sure I’ve read contemporaneous criticism of Columbus’s raping and pillaging and slaving
Doesn’t he basically admit it in his own journals?
You are 100 percent correct. From his own crew saying he was a tyrannical jackass to a priest who was horrified at the treatment of the native tribes to King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella throwing Columbus in prison for killing people and not converting them. Criticism of Columbus began in 1492, I’m just thinking of historical academic criticism which is also not a new trend.
Yeah, there are several criticisms from the Jesuits in particular that were like “dude this shit is monstrous”
For those who aren’t constant Sopranos rewatchers, maybe provide a little synopsis to help jog the memory?
Omg I think about this episode every Columbus Day. It honestly made me stop watching the Sopranos; made me feel like it was not as good as it used to be. I think it was self indulgent for Imperioli and like “look at me writing about real issues” but it wasnt that deep. Also, its basically the mafia on the pro Columbus side of the debate which doesn’t reflect well.
The fact that the mob wasn’t looking very deeply, and were pro-Columbus makes perfect sense. It makes me question whether you even understood the point of the show. (Protagonist == Smart or good.) The main characters being on a side is usually an indicator that that side is *wrong*, or at least not well thought out.
You’re missing out if you stopped watching here. It’s an anomaly.
Also, its basically the mafia on the pro Columbus side of the debate which doesn’t reflect well.Doesn’t reflect well on… the Mafia? What?
will someone PLEASE think of the poor oppressed mafiosos
I remember this episode having some funny moments, but it did seem like it was trying to be political for the sake of making a point rather than being the best possible episode. I wouldn’t say I hated it, but I remember not loving it. I don’t think anyone would expect Tony and his crew to be deep thinkers. I would expect working class middle-aged Italian Americans to likely be pro-Columbus, so that part was realistic.
During my initial viewing, I would’ve sworn the side quest with Vito and Johnny Cakes were my least favorite episodes, but after my (somewhat scary) number of rewatches, I realized it was part of the show’s “Let’s use side characters to demonstrate what every possible out for Tony would look like, (before we definitely kill him in the final second of the finale).” By this point, I genuinely can’t find fault with a single episode, this one included.
The Vito/Johnny stuff also shows exactly why wiseguys do what they end up doing: they tend to be lazy, shiftless, bored people who react to actual labor with something akin to “But MAAAAAAAA, I don’t wanna!”Tony could never “go straight.” It isn’t in him. Any more than his crew could.
He never had the makings of a varsity athlete
Exactly. He was our surrogate “Hey, Tony could lam it or go into witness protection.” I was always struck by Vito’s internal monologue when he’s “working.” It was the only time (other than a small bit in the pilot, I think) when VO was used. Plus it was so “Whaa Whaa” to the rest of us wage slaves.
I genuinely think that’s one of the most important scenes of the whole show, like if I had to pick one scene to explain what the show’s about to someone who hadn’t seen it I think that’s what I’d go with
Does it ever occur to any of the rest of you that our fascination and constant revisiting of this show is our generation’s equivalent of Tony’s WW2 obsession?
“In hindsight, Cuomo may have been better served watching The Sopranos, like the rest of us in 2020, as opposed to manipulating COVID death data and sexually harassing co-workers.”This side swipe is fucking weird, dude. Like yeah, Cuomo was a shitty governor. That’s not what this article is about though so restrain yourself from bringing up irrelevant shit.
Yep that was gobsmacking dude. But par for the course at AV Club. Constant right wing political slant to any/every story. They spend more words slandering Cuomo (for things he was never convicted of) than they do attacking the erstwhile subject at the heart of the episode…Columbus, about whom the worst the author can say is “He was an asshole. As powerful men often are”. Ironically, a dig that would have been more factually and historically accurate about Andrew Cuomo! No mention of Columbus being a genocide, murdering, raping, pillaging, colonizing maniac”. I guess they wanted to save space for their obligatory “Woody Allen slept with his ‘daughter”” slander, just in case.
It’s right wing to criticize Andrew Cuomo and Woody Allen?
Yeah, and apparently they do it in every article too. When you criticize a disgraced Democratic politician, it nullifies your previous writings in 100% of all cases.
I’m loathe to defend any of the current writing staff, but Cuomo’s father and Giuliani were specifically referenced in the episode. Politicians are organized criminals with the protection of the state.
This whole article is insufferably difficult to parse
Both Cuamo and Guiliani are referenced as good Italians in the show, both families are known to be corrupt if not criminal. Bad writing?Sure.Irrelevant?No.
But that’s not what the article is about. The article isn’t about the gulf between past portrayals of people weighed against current perceptions. It’s about what makes this episode a bad episode. And a couple of mild compliments for Guiliani and Cuomo aren’t why it’s a bad episode. If you got a thesis stick with it. If you start dragging in other stuff you’re just confusing the point you’re trying to make.
I doubt anyone was confused, and this is a weird hill to die on
I don’t think anyone was confused I just think it’s bad writing.
His other misdeeds notwithstanding, Andrew legalized cannabis in New York State before leaving office so he kind of tried to redeem himself?
The reason Silvio is so out of character in this episode is that it was supposed to be Paulie, but then Tony Sirico suffered a back injury that kept him mostly out of the season’s first half, with Paulie jarringly having been thrown in jail between seasons.I rewatched the whole show to prepare for Many Saints of Newark, and laughed long and loud at that Giuliani line.
Is that the most ironically aged line in the whole series? I sure think so.
Wow, that makes perfect sense; Silvio was def acting the whiny “victim” that defined Paulie’s character
Wow AV Club never misses an opportunity to inject their jaundiced, meme deep right wing talking points into any/every story if there’s even the slightest opportunity to slander a liberal. You spend more words attacking Andrew Cuomo (for things he was never charged or convicted of btw) than you do on um…Columbus himself, the erstwhile subject at the heart of the episode, about whom all you can say is “He was an asshole. As powerful men often are”. No mention of him being a genocidal, raping, murdering, pillaging. colonizing maniac. Just kinda like …ya know, a bad boss! Cuomo, on the other hand you opine “would have been better off spending 2020 binging TV shows”…you mean instead of becoming the voice of science, reason and science based action against a new a raging pandemic, we knew little about, while the Trump bloviated about it being “like the flu”, “gone in 2 weeks”, maybe something we disinfect our bodies of cleaners etc. How Cuomo became a beacon of calm, rational reassurance for not just the country but the world? Did you run out of room for your obligatory Woody Allen references? And the rancid cherry on top of your “opinion” would be your conclusion that the entire Columbus Day battle is soooo old news now: “Today it seems few if any true defenders of Columbus’ actions exist”! Really? Since you obviously don’t have access to the internet…here’s the leader of the Republican Party, and then President Trump’s Official Columbus Day Declaration made almost 20yrs after Imperioli penned this excellent episode you now deem passe…”WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump used a White House proclamation to commemorate Columbus Day and to accuse “radical activists” of trying to undermine the Christopher Columbus’ legacy. The proclamation, issued Friday, called on Americans to observe the holiday with “appropriate ceremonies and activities” and ordered that the American flag be displayed on all public buildings.“Sadly, in recent years, radical activists have sought to undermine Christopher Columbus’s legacy. These extremists seek to replace discussion of his vast contributions with talk of failings, his discoveries with atrocities and his achievements with transgressions,” Trump said in the announcement declaring Monday Columbus Day.
This episode was inevitable of course because of all the hell the Sopranos took from some in the Italian American establishment, but it also works well because there was a lot of sensitivity around apologizing for any element of American history right after the 9/11 attacks (this aired just over a year after the Twin Towers and Pentagon were attacked, and so likely written and filmed in the very weird months following the plans crashing). I remember commentators talking about US involvement in the Middle East getting shut down or threatened on a regular basis. Things are heated today in a way that is truly unprecedented, but we got a taste of that in the early Bush junior years.
If you didn’t grow up Italian in Bay Ridge, or New Jersey, or on Long Island, being patronizing about Columbus and Columbus Day is ignorant. Generations of Italian-American school kids were brought up to view Columbus as a great explorer and hero. Regardless of whether it was historically true, these were kids of immigrants in tough circumstances who found in Columbus Day and the idea that Columbus was a national hero some evidence that they might be accepted at some point. At least the ones that I know are still pissed-off that the myth of Columbus was taken from them. It’s nothing to belittle.
This was the same in Ohio when I was younger. What with the whole Columbus being the capital stuff.
That is a very good take. Whenever I think of this episode for some reason I am reminded of the first season of “Soap.” There was a hysterical episode where Danny Dallas is working with Mob and he is arguing with his stepfather Bert (the late, great Richard Mulligan). I can’t find the scene but it went something like this:Danny: Everyone is always picking on the Italians. The Godfather, the Mafia, etc. I am just sick of people picking on the Italians!Bert: But Danny, you’re not even Italian!
What an absolutley ridiculous way to view the world, what’s next “reclaiming Bill Cosby?”. Because facts are facts – Bill Cosby didn’t rape nearly as many women and he absolutley brought more authentic representation to African-Americans than Columbus ever did for Italians.
Why should any of us care that a bunch of morons were raised to be morons and now steadfastly refuse to be less-than-morons? Backwards Cletus logic detected.
It is something to belittle. Adults shouldn’t get angry when they learn that fairy tales they were told as kids turn out to be false.
lol
The only episode I don’t like features CGI Livia.
Oh….poor you! 😉
Fun fact, actually not fun, Columbus Day was an apology to the Kingdom of Italy after the Hennessey Affair in New Orleans where in the 1890s an Irish police chief was shot dead by criminals and dozens of Italians were arrested. Later a lynch mob killed over a dozen in what is the worst mass lynching in American History. President Benjamin Harrison created the holiday as an apology to Italy for the events.
That is great! I mean, its a great fact to know.
It was basically Italian pride day to say sorry for innocent people being killed by racists. Its truly an American Holiday.
We need a replacement holiday for Italian Americans. Too bad Garibaldi never took up Lincoln’s offer of a commission in the US Army in the Civil War. Then again, he did plenty to help unify Italy, so…
Last week tonight had a gag where he replaced it with Frank Sinatra, Mario Batali and Al Pacino. Honestly even Amerigo Vespucci is a less terrible choice for Italian Pride day.
You can’t even honour him with the consumption of his biscuit since, y’know, it’s illegal over there (more or less).
History is so fucking messy, it’s great. Great in its awfulness.
This was a really well-written article; I enjoyed it a lot. I actually always liked this episode since it initially aired on HBO. It was a fun slice-of-life break from the usual Sopranos darkness and contains a couple of now-classic lines of dialogue.
There are very few things more pathetic up here in Northeast America than 3rd or 4th generation Italians getting bent out of shape about A) portrayls of italians in the media or B) columbus. There are more of the latter but I’ve bumped into the former.Just universally some of the whineiest, most ignorant white people in the whole of the country.Which…yeah, the Cuomos work here.
The worst episode is the one late in season 6 where it shows Tony getting addicted to gambling. All it did was show us that Tony is a shitty person, which, yeah we know. I don’t know how much of a hot take this is but season 6 had no business being that long.
the one bad episode? Like not the one where they murder that hooker because Chase hated Tony and wanted everyone else to hate him too? Not the one with the little kid stepping in his shit on screen in the locker room or wherever? Not JOHNNY CAKES?
“Like not the one where they murder that hooker because Chase hated Tony and wanted everyone else to hate him too?”Are you talking about the one where Ralphie kills Tracee? Wasn’t Tony, like, righteously furious over that and almost had Ralph killed? It was a hollow fury that stemmed solely from “what if this happened to Meadow?”, but still.
They were all the worst. That has to be one of the most overrated shows to have ever existed. If it wasn’t for ‘murica’s douchey obsession with mob-chic, if ‘murica wasn’t populated by broey wannabes, this show would have tanked. Unfortunately, this country is both of those things. So, here we are, a fuck to death wasteland of the lowest possible expectations this champions shows like this. That said, Eddie Falco is a damn fine actor, and the only person from that show deserving of praise.
damn, tell us how you really feel
The good use of malapropisms is one of the show’s greatest strengths.
This is a good episode, I don’t care what people say.I think the only people who hate it are Italian Americans who need their participation trophy holiday, otherwise they’re worried they won’t be considered white anymore.
With Artie Buco tough-guy-posturing—at least until the slushies fly—and Patsy lemur-climbing a pole to rescue a hanging Christopher Columbus dummy, a Mafia-led rally against Native American dissent of a Columbus Day parade sets the tone.I started reading this article, and then I spent like five minutes trying to parse this sentence and finally had to give up.
yeah there are no bad episodes of the sopranos, especially compared to the never-ending firehose of embarrassing garbage for babies that’s reviewed and talked about on this site!
This episode is definitely a bit of a clunker, but it gets redeemed a little bit at the end when Tony berates his underlings for getting involved in this nonsense. It’s probably my favourite comedic moment from The Sopranos.
It’s such a bad episode to me that I like to think in-universe Chrissy wrote it…very meta in that respect.
Horribly written woke article no nothing author
Hate on Giuliani all you want.. he was the best mayor NYC ever had..and best mayor a city and country could ask for during/after 9/11… how you all forget….he deserves and earned a free pass from ridicule
I watched this episode last night because of this article, and I gotta say – it’s pretty goddamn funny. Parts of it are literally shot like a sitcom. It’s smart, it’s layered and it is pure satire. Michael Imperioli is a lot smarter than I realized and that knowledge makes me quite happy. It makes his portrayal of Christopher more interesting knowing that he is fully ‘in on the joke.’