Cunnilingus & Psychiatry: "The Ride"

(SPOILER SPACE: If you don't want any of Sunday's Sopranos episode spoiled for you, do not scroll down past the picture of Christopha Moltisanti)



Sunday's episode was pretty much missable as far as storyline was concerned but excellent for those of you that are really into characters Christopher and Paulie.

I find the Christopher character to be the best written on the show and this week did nothing to disspell that belief. "The Ride" was a microcosm of Christopha's entire life for the past six seasons. Being taken under Tony's wing and all the destruction that comes with that in the background of his attempts to better himself, whether it be through screenwriting or drug addiction recovery. It pains us to see Christopher relapse just as it would a real friend or family member, thats how you know a character is real written, when you care about him or her like you know them. The disjointed attempted at bonding scene at the end in Tony's basement was a message that Mafia life didn't have that much to offer him.

This episode like last week's used symbolism to bring home a point with the glasses of wine when Tony was talking about impeding Christopher's progress. It was impossible not to sense the hypocrisy in that.

The other main character of the episode was Paulie. Still reeling from the revelation of his true mother, Paulie half-asses the funding for the Italian Street Festival run by the church. Of course an accident is caused by the cheap funding of safety and it directly affects another family member, Bobby and Janice's child. A possible case of Prostate Cancer keeps Paulie from caring even at this point and we see more scenes of him staring into a mirror. This didn't do as much for me as it was simply the same old Paulie mannerims just shown in a different context.

Other passing thoughts:

I am enjoying the marginalization of the Janice character.

"You're doing a heck of a job, Brownie" was a genius line.

They seem to be going back and forth between Vito in New Hampshire episodes, I didn't see any previews for next week missing the original showing but hope to catch a repeat.