Cold Cuts (''The Sopranos'')

"Cold Cuts"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no. Season 5
Episode 10
Directed by Mike Figgis
Written by Robin Green
Mitchell Burgess
Cinematography by Alik Sakharov
Production code 510
Original air date May 9, 2004
Running time 53 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

see below

"Cold Cuts" is the 62nd episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the 10th of the show's fifth season. Written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, and directed by Mike Figgis, it originally aired on May 9, 2004.

Starring

* = credit only

Guest starring

Episode recap

Tony and Johnny meet about a missing load of smuggled Vespa scooters from Pontedera Tuscany that were supposed to be received by Carlo Gervasi's crew and split between the two families. Johnny denies any knowledge about the Vespas and makes a pointed reference to Tony's continued denial that Tony B was involved in the hit on Joey. Tony suspects Johnny seized the shipment for himself, and Silvio notes he has been acting hostile towards the Sopranos since Joey's funeral. Tony sends Benny and a member of Carlo's crew to the port to investigate. The two brutally interrogate a security guard, who divulges that Phil took the scooters. With a shipment of expensive Italian cheeses coming in, Tony and his crew worry about further financial losses that their strained relations with the Lupertazzi family could incur.

Janice is arrested after physically assaulting another parent at her stepdaughter's soccer game. Tony is infuriated over the publicity brought to his family and storms into Janice's house late at night, demanding she plead guilty to the charges and that Bobby "take control" of his wife. Citing her recent bellicose behavior, Bobby gives Janice an ultimatum to either see an anger management specialist or end their marriage. Janice starts attending anger management classes and informs Tony that they have helped her make tremendous progress; Tony says he is happy for her. The "Soprano temper" becomes the focus of Tony's next session with Dr. Melfi, who observes that depression and anger are traits in Tony's family and that depression can be a manifestation of rage turned inward.

Carmela continues to be hostile towards Tony and drains the water from their house's pool to keep him from swimming there. After another one of their fights, the two agree to eventually organize an engagement party for Meadow and Finn. However, when Carmela runs into Mr. Wegler at A.J.'s school, she spontaneously announces to him she is moving back in with her husband. Later, she is quick to deny she has any such plans to Rosalie.

Tony asks Tony B and Christopher to remove three bodies from Uncle Pat Blundetto's farm in Kinderhook, New York, which is about to have new owners. Chris complains to Adriana about their past treatment of him. Adriana suggests they leave New Jersey altogether and start over elsewhere, but Chris replies that he is a soldier for life. Despite early tensions, Chris and Tony B bond as they gradually dispose of the bodies. However, when Tony oversees the completion of the job, the two Tonys fall back into their old routine of picking on Chris. He passes up an opportunity to go hunting with them and leaves the farm early the next morning, driving home in tears.

Prompted by a documentary he watched at Uncle Pat's farm, Tony returns to the Bada Bing and initiates a discussion of terrorist threats tied to unexamined cargo containers at the ports. When Georgie Santorelli remarks that "you have to live for today," Tony suddenly explodes in fury and gives him a beating that sends him to the hospital and makes him partially lose his hearing. Afterwards, Tony is remorseful, and gives Paulie a wad of bills and insists that he make sure Georgie receives the best care. Paulie then informs Tony that Georgie is quitting his job at the Bing and doesn't want to see him again.

Tony joins Janice and Bobby for dinner, but becomes irritated when he sees Janice deal calmly with a series of minor annoyances. He breaks the calm by provoking the newly docile Janice by making sarcastic and increasingly hurtful comments about her estranged son, Harpo. Janice soon gets enraged and chases Tony around the room with a fork in her fist. Satisfied, Tony leaves the house and walks away.

First appearances

  • Uncle Pat Blundetto: Tony S and Tony B's uncle who was given an early retirement from the DiMeo crime family because of health issues. He settled on a large farm in Kinderhook, New York where he was often visited by his nephews Christopher, Tony S, and Tony B during their childhoods.

Title reference

  • Tony tells Dr. Melfi that "revenge is like serving cold cuts" (inadvertently mangling the adage "Revenge is a dish best served cold"). In the episode Johnny Sack continues to interfere with Soprano business in retribution for the murder of "Joey Peeps."
  • In a scene at Uncle Pat's farm, Christopher, Pat, and Tony B eat cold cut sandwiches for lunch.
  • The title may also refer to the dead bodies Tony B and Christopher are looking for in this episode.
  • Meat, specifically cold cuts, is a prominent symbol in the series that refers to Tony's past and anger issues.
  • The title may also refer to the joking and taunting and insults that Tony, Tony B and Christopher exchange and who affect Christopher the most. Tony uses cold maleficent provocations (cuts) to break Janice's anger management and force her into a tantrum.

Connections to previous episodes

  • Christopher and Tony Blundetto dig up and dispose of Emil Kolar's skeleton, moving his body for the second time. Christopher shot and killed Emil in the Pilot episode. Then, he and Pussy Bonpensiero unsuccessfully tried to put Emil's body into a dumpster. Later, they buried the body under a bridge somewhere. But, the burial was giving Christopher nightmares. So, Christopher and Georgie later dug up the body and relocated it in "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti."
  • After confronting Janice over her arrest, she tells Tony that woman she fought is lucky she didn't kill her. Tony responds by saying, "Well, we know that." It was obviously a reference to Richie Aprile after she kills him in "The Knight in White Satin Armor."
  • The woman Tony sleeps with was previously encountered in "Irregular Around the Margins" as an employee of the dermatologist's office where his cancerous mole was removed.

Other cultural references

  • Of Johnny Sack's belief that Tony Blundetto killed "Joey Peeps," Silvio comments that Sack should be "out looking for the real killers, instead of spending all his time on the golf course." This line is a not-so-subtle jab at O. J. Simpson, who in the years after his acquittal on murder charges claimed to be seeking "the real killers" while he was often criticized for spending much of his free time playing golf.
  • Dr. Melfi quotes W.B. Yeats' "The Second Coming" during a session with Tony in this episode. This poem will later be used prominently in Season 6 (including an episode titled "The Second Coming").
  • On the drive to Kinderhook, Tony B confides to Christopher: "that 'Legend of Sleepy Hollow' cartoon used to scare the piss out of me", and adds that "very sorry people" used to call Tony B Ichabod Crane. According to a notation by Washington Irving, the character of Ichabod Crane was based on a schoolteacher whom Irving befriended in Kinderhook, New York, in 1809.[1]
  • In the audio commentary, the episode's director, Mike Figgis, points out how the scene where Christopher and Tony Blundetto dig up the skeletal remains of a man Christopher knew (and killed) symbolically referenced the famous Yorick scene in Hamlet.
  • Christopher, as in episodes before, once again mistakenly calls Emil Kolar a Czechoslovakian when, in fact, he was a Czech-American. Paulie Walnuts once confused Chechens with Czechoslovakians in "Pine Barrens."
  • When Uncle Pat remembers where the missing bodies are buried, Christopher likens him to Johnny Mnemonic.
  • At a diner, Tony B mentions to Tony that Christopher has the same car (Hummer H1) as Schwarzenegger. Tony then erroneously calls it "the Humvee."
  • Tony misquotes the Phoebe Snow song "Harpo's Blues" (from her eponymous 1974 album) as "Harpo's Song" when he is deliberately attempting to provoke Janice during this episode's final scene.

Music

References

  1. ↑ "In Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Monument in Memory of Soldiers of the Revolution". The New York Times. New York: The New York Times Company. 1894-10-14. p. 17. Retrieved 2009-02-20.
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