All Happy Families...

"All Happy Families..."
The Sopranos episode
Episode no. Season 5
Episode 4
Directed by Rodrigo García
Written by Toni Kalem
Cinematography by Alik Sakharov
Production code 504
Original air date March 28, 2004
Running time 52 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

see below

"All Happy Families..." is the 56th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the fourth of the show's fifth season. Written by Toni Kalem and directed by Rodrigo García, it originally aired on March 28, 2004.

Starring

* = credit only

Guest starring

Also guest starring

Plot

In New York, Lorraine and Jason are murdered by Joey and Billy Leotardo after they refuse to give their collections to Johnny. Little Carmine is shocked by the news, but is advised by fellow capo Rusty Millio to take aggressive action against Johnny. Tony advises his capos and soldiers not to get involved in the New York feud. Feech comes to the meeting and regales the younger mobsters with stories from his mob career, including one when Tony and Jackie Aprile, Sr established themselves by robbing his card game. Tony laughs at this, but Feech asks if he can run the game once again. Tony considers the offer, since it is now run by his uncle Junior's crew, and allows Feech to supervise it and get 20% of its profits. When Feech leaves, Silvio warns Tony that Feech is a notorious egomaniac.

A.J. has a difficult time in school and disrespects Carmela. Tony and Carmela visit A.J.'s guidance counselor, Robert Wegler, who advises A.J. to do better with his classwork. Upon learning he was once almost diagnosed with ADD, A.J. suggests that he could use the learning disability angle to get unlimited time on his SATs and enter college. Wegler goes over A.J.'s academic record, which Carmela partly blames on her separation from Tony. After they leave the office, A.J. overhears Wegler being informed that two students were involved in a deadly car accident. Tony buys A.J. a new Nissan Xterra as a "motivational tool" to get better grades, saying that Carmela will keep the keys until his grades improve. Later, in an argument with Tony, Carmela points out that he doesn't have many friends, just "flunkies" who would laugh at his jokes only because he is the boss and they fear him.

Dr. Melfi finds that Tony has left a basket of expensive toiletries and a bathrobe in her waiting room. Later, she reads the gift card to her own therapist, Dr. Elliot Kupferberg, which contains an apology from Tony for calling her a "cunt". Kupferberg tells her it represents ablution. At the card game, Feech's jokes and anecdotes annoy Tony but generate uproarious laughter from his crew. To test Carmela's suggestion, Tony makes a primitive joke to the card players to see if they laugh, which they do. The following day, A.J. asks his mother if he can attend a Mudvayne concert in New York with friends. Carmela refuses because A.J. and his friends are planning on staying overnight at a hotel. Angered, A.J. gives her the silent treatment. Carmela gives in on the condition that he go to Meadow's apartment after the concert and return home the following morning. A.J. agrees.

On the night of the concert, A.J. calls Meadow to tell her that he will not be coming to her apartment afterward, and she reluctantly agrees to cover for him. At the hotel, A.J. and his friends get drunk and high. The next morning, A.J. and his friend Matt wake up when a worried Carmela rings his cell phone. A.J. doesn't answer; his face is Krazy Glued to the carpet, and his eyebrows have been shaved off and redrawn with permanent marker. Carmela frantically calls Tony to search for A.J. just as the boy arrives back home, rudely rebuffing her. After Tony arrives, he and Carmela notice what has happened to his eyebrows. In the ensuing argument, A.J. sells a false story about his whereabouts to Tony and makes him take sides against Carmela. When Tony sends A.J. outside, Carmela admits that she may be at fault for A.J.'s actions and suggests he should take A.J. to live with him. At Tony's, A.J. bonds with Tony, Tony B and Artie as they watch TV. However, Tony eventually sends him off to do his homework.

When Feech's hired goons carjack the attendees of a wedding for the daughter of Tony's close friend, Dr. Ira Fried, and sell the vehicles to Johnny's men, Tony recalls the joke he told at the card game and realizes the only person not laughing was Feech. Concerned about a repeat of his situation with Richie Aprile, Tony reluctantly decides that Feech—although well liked and respected—has to be dealt with. However, instead of killing Feech, Tony sends Christopher and Benny to Feech's house and trick him to hiding a truckload of flatscreen TVs. Feech agrees for the cost of $2,000 and one of the TVs. The following day, a substitute parole officer visits Feech and asks about the flatscreen in his living room, then asks to see his garage; Feech has no choice but to comply. For violating his parole by keeping stolen merchandise, Feech is returned to prison and looks forlornly at his last glimpses of the outside world.

Over lunch, Carmela discusses A.J.'s troubles as well as her own with Wegler. He recommends that she read Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary, noting parallels between Carmela and the book's protagonist. Carmela has a flashback of the time when A.J. careened down the driveway and out into the street on his Big Wheel. She frantically screams "Anthony!" snapping back to the present. She turns and opens the door and enters. She stands in the foyer, groceries still in arm, alone in the big house with Meadow, Tony, and now A.J. gone.

First appearances

Deceased

  • Lorraine Calluzzo: shot by Billy Leotardo on orders from Johnny Sack
  • Jason Evanina: shot on orders from Johnny Sack, presumably by Billy Leotardo.
  • Dominica (Nica) Payalini: killed in a car crash offscreen.

Title reference

  • The episode's title is taken from the famous opening sentence of Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina: "All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."[1] It refers to the breakup of the Soprano household.
  • It may also refer to the inner struggles within the Lupertazzi crime family following Carmine's death, as well as to internal strife within Tony's family with Feech La Manna.

Production

  • As Christopher and Benny pay a visit to Feech, he called them "Olsen and Johnson". This was in reference to the popular vaudeville duo in the first half of the 20th Century.
  • Tony's greeting to white-bearded, portly, Brillstein, upon entering the card game, likens Brillstein to Santa Claus.
  • Meadow and Finn are watching the film Frida on TV.
  • When the parole inspector asks Feech to open his garage, Feech quips, "that's where I make my weapons of mass destruction", in hopes the inspector will be dissuaded by the humorous reference to the United States' inability to find Saddam Hussein's WMDs in Iraq. This is unsuccessful.
  • Tony, Artie, Tony B. and A.J. watch "The $99,000 Answer" episode of The Honeymooners on TV.
  • While trying to connect with A.J., Carmela references the "drum solo" from The Beatles' song "Birthday", which she mistakenly calls "Happy Birthday".

Music

  • Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" is played in the background, probably on a radio, while Lorraine is murdered.
  • The Starlight Orchestra performs "Siman Tov! Mazel Tov!" during the Horah at the wedding receptiion.
  • As Tony and Carmela see Mr. Wegler about A.J., Tony asks what A.J. did: "Did he call the teacher 'Daddy-O'?" This was based on a line from The Coasters song, "Charlie Brown".
  • One scene in the Bada Bing features The Cars' "Moving in Stereo" — an appropriate song for a topless bar, as it featured in a famous fantasy sequence featuring a topless Phoebe Cates in the film Fast Times at Ridgemont High. There is also a brief discussion about the cars Feech's crew stole that takes place during this scene.
  • In the scene where Tony is arguing with Feech, Jimi Hendrix's "Who Knows" can be heard in the background through the entire scene.
  • As A.J. and his friends smoke marijuana in the hotel room, "Trouble" by West Coast rapper Roscoe can be heard playing in the background.
  • The music played over the end credits is "La Petite Mer" by Thierry Robin.
  • "Beat Connection" by LCD Soundsystem can be heard in a scene set in the Crazy Horse.

References

  1. ↑ Martin, Brett (2007-10-30). ""Once You're in this Family, There's No Getting Out:" Meet the Sopranos". The Sopranos: The Complete Book. New York: Time. p. 54. ISBN 978-1-933821-18-4.
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