The Sopranos: The Complete Third Season: Disc 1

Released 2001
Starring James Gandolfini, Dominic Chianese, Edie Falco, Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Lorraine Bracco, Robert Iler, Steve Van Zandt, Tony Sirico, Joe Pantoliano
Directed by Allen Coulter, Tim Van Patten, Henry J. Bronchtein, John Patterson

Please note that this is volume 1 of a 4 disc set. For the conclusion of this feature, you will need to rent The Sopranos: The Complete Second Season: Discs 2, 3 and 4.

Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) has two families to care for … and one of them is the New Jersey mob. No wonder he's consulting a psychiatrist for anxiety attacks! Even more brilliant than the first two seasons, this Complete Third Season of the Emmy Award-winning HBO series offers thought-provoking story lines that introduce new characters and see old characters irrevocably changed. Disc 1 of 4.

This disc contains the following episodes:

Episode 27: Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood
Season Three opens with the Sopranos going about the daily activities of a typical upwardly mobile American family: Anthony, Jr. is skateboarding, smoking cigarettes and denigrating school authority. Carmela is taking tennis lessons. Meadow is adjusting to her first semester at Columbia and Tony is winning the bread that makes it all possible. They're a typical family, but with one major difference: their every move is being watched by the FBI.

The Feds have stepped up their efforts to build a RICO case against Tony, even though they no longer have the services of Cooperating Witness 16, AKA Pussy Bonpensiero. Since Pussy is, as Agent Lipari delicately puts it, "probably compost," the Bureau is going to have to find some other way to get close to Tony. So they get a special warrant to bug the Sopranos' basement, hoping to listen in on any business Tony might conduct there.

While the FBI is figuring out how to install a covert listening device in Tony's basement, Tony is trying to sort out a sticky situation of his own. Patsy Parisi, twin brother of the deceased Philly Parisi, may have figured out that his brother became deceased on Tony's order. Patsy's been behaving erratically, drinking a lot and telling people that he knows who killed Philly. He even showed up one afternoon - drunk - in Tony's backyard. Unseen by Tony, Patsy pointed a gun at him, urinated in the swimming pool and then left. While Tony would prefer not to have to give Patsy the same treatment he gave his brother, Paulie advises him, "we always have the option."

Meanwhile, after a few setbacks, the FBI finally manages to get a bugged lamp installed in Tony's basement. So, now that they can eavesdrop on his inner sanctum, here's what the Feds have learned about New Jersey's most notorious crime boss: he needs to step up his dental hygiene and get more roughage in his diet.

Episode 28: Proshai, Livushka
Tony hadn't had an anxiety attack for months, but suddenly one morning, Carmela comes home to find him out cold on the kitchen floor. So what, after all this time, brought this on? The immediate cause is meeting Meadow's new college "friend," Noah Tannenbaum. Noah tells Tony he's Jewish and African-American. Tony tells Noah to get out of his house. Right after that, the sight of a box of Uncle Ben's rice in the kitchen cabinet caused him to swoon.

But it's not just encroaching multiculturalism that's giving Tony the vapors. Squabbling over local garbage routes has escalated into violence. If that weren't enough, the government wants Livia to testify in their RICO case - against Tony. Tony tries to persuade his mother to keep her mouth shut about the stolen airline tickets he gave her, but the conversation ends like they all do: Livia cries into her Kleenex while Tony storms out the door. But as fate would have it, Tony won't have to worry about Livia testifying. In fact, he won't have to worry about her, period. Later that evening, he gets word that Livia has died. Since Janice's departure, Livia was being looked after by Svetlana, the cousin of Tony's ex-goomah. According to Svetlana, Livia went to bed and had a massive stroke.

It quickly becomes apparent that the most difficult thing about Livia's passing is planning her send-off. Despite her mother's stated desire for no memorial service, Janice, returned from Seattle, insists otherwise. "When she was young, she used to picture her funeral," Janice tells Tony. So Tony agrees to a small get-together at the house, but warns Janice against pulling "any California bullshit." But Janice, being her mother's daughter, isn't about to let Tony be the boss of her. At the wake, she corners everyone into sharing impromptu remembrances of Livia. But Janice gets more than she bargained for when the guests start saying what they really thought about the not-so-dear departed.

And what does Tony really think about her? He tells Melfi he's glad Livia's dead, adding that her death means "we're probably done here, right?" But if he thinks his troubles died with Livia, he's deluding himself. Because in addition to the problems he knows about, there are some whoppers he's unaware of: Janice and Svetlana are squaring off over Livia's possessions and Raymond Curto is the latest made guy to sport a wire. If Livia's somewhere watching, she's probably smiling.

Episode 29: Fortunate Son
"This has gotta start showing results, or end." Tony's not pleased with the pace of his therapy. Not to mention the notoriety: it seems like every made guy on the east coast is aware of Tony's "spells." And while they may tell Tony that "there's no stigmata" attached to his seeing a psychiatrist, he knows they don't mean it. Melfi, in turn, tells Tony that she can help him, but only if he's truly willing to "focus and delve." So Tony starts to delve. And it quickly becomes apparent that it wasn't the box of rice that precipitated his recent swan dive onto the kitchen floor, it was the cappicola he took out of the fridge. And that's not all: the attack that brought Tony to Melfi two years ago happened while Tony was grilling sausages and steaks. Could it be that the trigger for Tony's anxiety attacks is... meat.

But the meat/mind connection isn't the only thing Tony has to think about. While Christopher has finally been granted admission to the ranks of made men, his decision-making skills are still at the cugine level. Now in charge of Paulie's football action, Christopher takes reckless bets and mismanages the point spread. As a result, a single unanticipated field goal puts Christopher two G's short of what he owes Paulie for the week. In order to make up the difference - plus the extra two thousand Paulie tacks on as a late fee - Christopher robs the box office during a Jewel concert at Rutgers, using Jackie Aprile, Jr. as his driver.

So Christopher is out of hot water financially, but Tony is steamed about how he accomplished it. Tony is determined to honor Jackie Senior's dying wish that his son stay out of "this thing of ours." To that end, Tony had a serious sitdown with the younger Aprile, telling him his Uncle Richie is in Witness Protection and that he should stay in school. At the end of their talk it seemed Jackie Jr. was coming around to Tony's point of view. So Christopher's use of the kid to stick up his own college is not going to stand him in good stead with the Boss.

If that weren't enough, Tony also has female troubles. Meadow won't talk to him and the tensions between Janice and Svetlana have escalated. Janice makes another request that Svetalana return Livia's valuable record collection, but Svetlana only shrugs and tells her, "Possession is nine tenths of law." Janice retaliates by taking possession of five tenths of Svetlana's legs - she steals Svetlana's prosthesis while she's sleeping. When Janice later proposes a leg-for-records swap, Svetlana refuses, muttering something in Russian that's best not repeated here.

In spite of all this, Tony starts making genuine progress in therapy. He remembers that his first attack was when he was eleven years old, shortly after witnessing his father and Junior cut off Mr. Satriale's finger in the back of his butcher shop. Later, as he watches his mother gleefully carving a Satriale's roast, Tony hits the floor. At last, Melfi points out, Tony's getting at something: the trauma of witnessing the brutality of his father's world and his fear that he would one day be a part of it.

Throughout all this agita, the one bright spot in Tony's life lately is Anthony, Junior. A.J.'s become the surprise star of his football team and Tony couldn't be prouder. Yet when the coach rewards A.J. by making him defensive captain, his response is to pass out and hit the ground like he'd been tackled. He's certainly becoming a chip off the old block.

Episode 30: Employee of the Month
"My mother's dead and I haven't had a panic attack since then." That's Tony's report to Dr. Melfi. But while Tony may think he's in the express lane to recovery, Melfi knows better. "Are you happy?" she asks. When there's no answer forthcoming, Melfi suggests it's time to bring Carmela into Tony's sessions to provide her perspective on his progress. Later, Melfi meets with Dr. Kupferberg, and faces her own unhappiness - about her relationship with Tony. Still conflicted over whether she should continue to treat him, Melfi confides, "I've let myself be charmed by a sociopath." She also slips up and reveals Tony's identity. Dr. Kupferberg's rejoinder is blunt: it's time for her to cut Tony loose. And Melfi doesn't have to look too deep inside herself to see he's probably right.

On the other side of town, Janice is doing some in-depth searching of her own. Still convinced that Livia left behind a mother lode somewhere in her house, Janice has taken to scouring the place with a metal detector. Tony stops by one day just long enough to tell her she'd better quit looking for buried treasure and give Svetlana her leg back. "Don't mess with the Russians, Janice," he tells her, "that's all I'm gonna say."

But Tony can't waste time on his big sister's latest delusion-of-the-week. New business commands his attention. Tony's gratified to learn that a local waterfront real estate project in which he's involved - that includes a new Museum of Science and Trucking - is going to receive twenty-five mil in state and federal funding. But he's less sanguine about another New Jersey development: Johnny Sack has moved into the Garden State. And while Johnny assures Tony that he's only relocating so his wife can be closer to her sisters, Tony can't help but wonder whether the New York Boss wants to be closer to the twenty-five mil.

And speaking of developments, Ralph Cifaretto is turning into a first-class headache. He's being unnecessarily violent and has started letting Jackie Junior accompany him on collections - against Tony's express orders. As a result, Tony installs Gigi Cestone as capo of the Aprile crew instead of Ralph. When Ralph protests, reminding Tony, "I ate at your house," Tony reminds him back that that was pleasure and "this is business."

Meanwhile, Janice finds out that Tony's warning about the Russians was disconcertingly apt. Two large émigrés from the land of Lenin break into Livia's house and demand Svetlana's leg. Janice is defiant at first, but three broken ribs later, she retrieves the leg from a bowling alley locker and hands it over. When Tony picks her up later in a hospital emergency room, Janice experiences an epiphany: by committing grand theft prosthetic, she's sunk to an all-time low. There's only one way out of the depths, she tells Tony: from now on she's going to devote her life to God.

Janice isn't the only woman in Tony's life to suffer violence this week. One evening, while getting into her car, Dr. Melfi is jumped by a solitary young man. He drags her into a stairwell and rapes her. Although Melfi can positively identify the perpetrator, because of a technicality, the police let him go. Later she tells Dr. Kupferberg that she fantasizes about siccing Tony on her attacker, admitting, "there's a certain satisfaction knowing I could have that asshole squashed like a bug if I wanted." In her next session with Tony, Melfi has her chance. Tony can tell that something is troubling her, and when he offers to start seeing a behaviorist, Melfi breaks down weeping. Tony attempts to console her, asking, "Is there something you want to say?" And despite what she confessed to Kupferberg, despite knowing that Tony could mete out the punishment the legal system couldn't, Melfi answers in one clear syllable: "No."

Summary from http://www.hbo.com/sopranos

There's good news and bad news. The good news is we finally got rid of Livia Soprano, that black cloud of self-pity that instantly sucked the joy out of any person she encountered. The bad news is we got Janice back. I was hoping she was gone for good, but no such luck. At least the Russian mob gave her a good beating. That was fun, but there are a couple other beatings we need to get to. The first is for Jesus Rossi, Dr. Melfi's attacker. He actually deserves to disappear after a good torture session, but I don't think that will happen. Psychiatrists like to believe they're above human emotions, so I expect this to be forgotten. I hope I'm wrong... The other beating we need is for Meadow's boyfriend, Noah, who apparently has no idea who Tony Soprano is. He also has no manners as we see when he meets Carmela. Does this mean he deserves a beating? No, but his attitude toward the parents of the girl he's dating definitely merits a beating, and I can't wait for him to come down a peg or two. --Bill Alward, September 14, 2002