Remember When (The Sopranos)
"Remember When" is the 80th episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos, the third episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, and the 15th episode of the season overall. Written by Terence Winter and directed by Phil Abraham, it originally aired on April 22, 2007, and was watched by 6.85 million viewers on its premiere.
Starring
- James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
- Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi *
- Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
- Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
- Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr.
- Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
- Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri
- Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr. *
- Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano *
- Aida Turturro as Janice Soprano Baccalieri *
- Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
- Frank Vincent as Phil Leotardo
Guest starring
- Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
Also guest starring
Synopsis
On a tip from reincarcerated capo "Larry Boy" Barese, the FBI recovers the body of bookie Willie Overall, who Tony murdered in 1982. Tony and Paulie drive to Miami to wait until the heat is off. On the way down, Tony asks Paulie how Johnny heard about Ralphie's joke about his wife, an incident that nearly led to hostilities between the Soprano and Lupertazzi families. Paulie says he doesn't know. Paulie was his role model when he was growing up, but Tony tells Beansie Gaeta he now thinks he may be a liability: he talks too much, and Tony wonders whether his loyalty has ever been truly "put to the test." In Miami, the two men meet Beansie's Cuban contacts and agree to trade in stolen goods.Larry tells the FBI that the late Jackie Aprile, Sr. killed Overall. To celebrate, Tony rents a sport fishing boat. Paulie is reminded of the murder of Pussy and becomes uneasy. On the boat, Tony again questions Paulie about the joke leak; Paulie again denies involvement. Tony glances at a hatchet and some fishing knives. That night, Paulie dreams of Pussy. "When my time comes," Paulie asks him, "will I stand up?" Upon returning to New Jersey, Paulie sends Tony and Carmela a $2,000 espresso machine. When she wonders why, Tony says that they owe their lifestyle to the hard work of people like Paulie.
While in Miami, Tony arranges a $200,000 bridge loan from Hesh. He explains that he has had a string of losing sports bets.
In New York City, Faustino "Doc" Santoro and his bodyguard are murdered in a hit arranged by Phil, who becomes the new boss of the Lupertazzi family.
At his mental care center, Junior is visited by his former soldiers Pat Blundetto and Beppy Scerbo and begs them to aid his escape, but he soon loses his resolve: "Where would I lam it to?" He returns to his old mob habits, bribing an orderly and organizing an illicit poker game for other patients. However, the game is put to an end when Professor Lynch, a patient who Junior teases, informs on him. Junior finds an admiring follower in a young patient named Carter Chong, who has been institutionalized for his anger issues.
One day, Junior assaults Professor Lynch and is given a new regimen of sedatives. Carter devises a plan to distract the orderlies handing out the pills to Junior so that he can covertly throw them away. Unfortunately, some of the drugs were meant to combat Junior's incontinence, and he soon humiliatingly wets himself. Correctly suspected of receiving bribes, the orderly is fired, and Junior is threatened with a transfer to a less pleasant, state-run mental facility if he does not take his medications. Junior complies with the treatment, much to Carter's disillusionment. Junior tries to make up with him, but calls him "Anthony." At a piano recital, Carter starts throwing paper balls at the pianist; when Junior shows disapproval, he becomes enraged and ferociously attacks him.
The episode ends with the patients receiving animal-assisted therapy in the garden. Junior is in a wheelchair, with one arm in a cast, petting a cat. He is seated apart from the others; mentally, too, he seems to be disconnected.
Deceased
- Willie Overall: A bookie shot dead by Tony Soprano with a revolver on orders from "Johnny Boy" Soprano. Tony's very first murder at the age of 22.
- Faustino "Doc" Santoro: killed after leaving a massage parlor in New York City by multiple gunshots from a trio of gunmen on orders from Phil Leotardo to take over his Lupertazzi crime family boss's title and/or as a revenge for the Gerry Torciano murder and/or as payback for his insults done to Phil.
- Unnamed Bodyguard: killed alongside "Doc" Santoro.
Title reference
- Tony angrily describes "Remember when..." reminiscing as the lowest form of conversation.
- Many stories from the past are told in this episode, particularly from Paulie, most of them beginning with the phrase "Remember when...?"
- Junior briefly gets a taste of his old life while running his card game in the hospital.
- Could also refer to Junior's advancing stages of dementia and his increasing memory loss.
- A recurrent motif is Tony reminiscing about the disclosure of Ralph's insensitive joke to Johnny Sack.
Production
- "Remember When" was the career directorial debut of Phil Abraham, a longtime Sopranos cinematographer ever since the first season of the show. Abraham initially started only as a camera operator for the TV series.
- Lin-Manuel Miranda, writer and future star of Hamilton and In the Heights, makes a brief appearance in this episode as the bellman with whom Tony and Paulie briefly converse from the car.
Connections to prior episodes
- Paulie remembers the time Ralphie was obsessed with Gladiator and hit Georgie with a chain, which happened in the Season 3 episode "University".
- Tony repeatedly asks Paulie if he told Johnny Sack about the off-color joke that Ralph told about a mole on Ginny "Sack"'s posterior. Paulie denies this.
- Beansie is a paraplegic and has to void in a bag due to the injuries he sustained when Richie Aprile ran over him in the Season 2 episode "Toodle Fucking-Oo".
- Tony recalls finding a painting of himself as a general at Paulie's house, which occurred in the Season 5 finale "All Due Respect".
- When Paulie boards a boat with Tony, this episode uses flashback scenes from the murder of Big Pussy on a boat, taken from the Season 2 finale "Funhouse".
Other cultural and historical references
- During the times Junior is in his room, he watches television. Shows that he watched in this episode included a Weather Channel documentary hosted by Jim Cantore, and The $25,000 Pyramid.
- When driving through Maryland near Washington, DC, Paulie asks, "Chevy Chase, whatever happened to him?" Paulie means the actor Chevy Chase but is actually looking at a road sign for the town Chevy Chase.
- Paulie mentions an incident when, after being pulled over, Tony's father tricked him into insulting a cop by saying his cousin was "on the job" and his name was Barney Fife.
- In his letter to Dick Cheney, Junior refers to the then-Vice President's 2006 hunting incident as an example of a gun discharge accident, which, Junior claims, is similar to his own "accidental" shooting of Tony Soprano.
- Junior's orderly Jameel sells his autographed photos on eBay.
- Tony, complaining about what a big mouth Paulie is, mutters "Gary Cooper," a reference to an actor known as "The Strong, Silent Type".
- When Tony hears Paulie laughing loudly, he leans over his balcony and sees Paulie sitting on his bed, watching the '70s sitcom Three's Company.
- As a diversion for Junior to covertly not take his drugs, Carter screams: "Where is my iPod?"
- The closing scene, which depicts Uncle Junior sitting on an outdoor chair, lost in thought, as the screen slowly fades to black, is possibly a nod to the closing scene of The Godfather Part II, which shows Al Pacino as Michael Corleone in a similar pose. Michael Corleone's father Vito Corleone was memorably depicted stroking a cat in The Godfather.
- Tony's tomato plants in his yard are reminiscent of the ones Vito Corleone had in his garden in The Godfather.
- The hit on Doc Santoro resembles the assassination of Paul Castellano.
- When Tony calls Hesh from Florida to ask for a loan, Hesh is sitting in Katz's Delicatessen.
Music
- The song playing on the radio as Tony and Paulie travel through the Fredericksburg, Virginia area was "Rock On", by David Essex.
- The instrumental piece played in the bar during Tony and Paulie's stop in Virginia is an instrumental version of "I Just Wanna Stop" by Gino Vannelli.
- The piano piece playing in the hotel canteen, when Tony tells Paulie off, is the theme for the movie Terms of Endearment, composed by Michael Gore.
- The song Junior sings with the other patients is "Take Me Home, Country Roads", a song made famous in 1971 by John Denver.
- The instrumental piece played over the end credits is "Sing, Sing, Sing " by the Benny Goodman Orchestra.