A review/recap of the January 24, 1999 episode after I watch what I'm doing before I squeeze the quail.
The clashing and fighting between people (internally and externally), cultures, beliefs, and ways of life are central in this episode. The main one, and the main storyline being Tony's crew trying to get Ariel (Ned Eisenberg) to divorce his boss Shlomo's (Chuck Low) daughter.
Ariel, Shlomo, and Hillel (Sig Libowitz) are Hasidic Jews who run a motel down the street from the Bada Bing. Shlomo and his son Hillel come to Tony to ask for his help in getting Ariel's divorce. Hillel does not want his father doing business with Tony (Hillel says that Tony is a golem), and even Hesh warns Tony not to do business with Jews. Tony sees a bug business venture that could get them a lot of money by helping Shlomo and he can't turn him down. This of course is the problem, as Silvio and Paulie can't convince Ariel their "way" at first. When Tony is called in to help them, he threatens to castrate Ariel, which convinces Ariel to follow through with the divorce. However, when Tony goes to congratulate Shlomo, Shlomo tells him that he agreed to give Ariel 15% of the business for the divorce, which only angers Tony and tells Shlomo that he is still owed the 25%.
There is also the clash between the strong and healthy and the weak and sick with Jackie's cancer. When Tony first tells Melfi about Jackie's condition, he says "he's so fucking mean, he'll scare the cancer away." When Tony and his crew visit Jackie for the first time in the hospital, Jackie is able to talk about work for a little, but before he decides on anything he becomes too tired. By the end of the episode Jackie has become very sick and cares more about his health than work. Tony tries explaining to him about Shlomo, but Jackie is more concerned about his fever. The looks that James Gandolfini uses shows that Tony sees this once powerful man dying right in front of him.
Carmela and Charmaine (Katherine Narducci), Artie's wife, also clash representing the rich (Carmela) and the working class (Charmaine). Carmela and Tony visit Artie and Charmaine's new house, and Carmela is surprised at what it is like, while Tony just says it needs some work. Later, Carmela hires Charmaine and Artie to cater a silent auction for a pediatric hospital at the Soprano home. Carmela treats Charmaine the same way she treats her housekeeper. When the two are cleaning up, Charmaine, to fight back, tells Carmela that she and Tony went out a few times and slept together, when he and Carmela weren't together. She says that she is happy with the choice that she made, with the undertone being that she could have been the rich, wife of Tony.
The biggest, most important, and overarching clash involves the old school (Uncle Junior) and the new school (Christoper and Brendan, with Tony's protection) of gangsters. Junior is still upset about Brendan stealing the truck and the way that Tony is given thanks for having it returned. After visiting Livia, Junior decides that he needs to take action against the two young people. Livia tells him that she likes Christoper ("He put up my storm windows for me one year") but she doesn't care about Brendan. Christopher is kidnapped and is mock executed by Russians, while Mikey (Al Sapienza), Junior's right-hand man, kills Brendan by shooting him in the eye while he is taking a bath.
The funniest part of this episode was Silvio and Paulie trying to deal with Ariel. From hitting him in the head with the bell, to struggling to get him in the trunk of the car, and then him fighting back against Paulie, and Paulie and Silvio deciding that he should work for them, because he doesn't stop fighting. Also, Ariel telling Tony the story of Masada, where a 900 Jews fought off 15,000 Romans for two years, choosing death over enslavement. Ariel then asks where the Romans are now, to which Tony responds, "Your looking at them asshole."
Sign of the Times: the posters in Meadow's bedroom (the only one I could see clearly was one of Lisa Loeb).
This episode started pulling together all the things that are going to be problems for Tony, including his own daughter (who starting using speed to study for the SATs). And I think the person Tony should be the most afraid of is his mother Livia. She seems to be the person controlling all of the strings that hold Tony's fate.
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