The Sopranos, "Down Neck": I'm glad if he's proud of me

A review/recap of the February 21, 1999 episode after I sell patio furniture in San Diego.

The past, present, and future are this episode's theme. After AJ gets in trouble at school, Tony starts thinking about his childhood and if AJ will turn out to be just like him.

AJ and two of his friends get drunk off of sacramental wine at school and is suspended. The principal and the school's psychologist tell Tony and Carmela that they have been watching AJ and they think he should be tested for ADD. As the psychologist is talking about AJ's behavior and the symptoms of ADD, it seems as if he is also talking about Tony and his behavior (the psychologist calls AJ by his real name of Anthony, which of course is Tony's full name as well, and the behavior he describes also applies to Tony's).

Tony starts thinking about his own childhood, and talks to Melfi about it. He tells her about how he found out about his father being in the Mafia. He tells her about how he saw his father and Uncle Junior beat up a man named Rocco because he owed them money. He also tells her about the first time he saw his father get arrested at a carnival where he and his associates would use their daughters as a front.

Tony starts to wonder if AJ knows what he really does for a living. Carmela tells him that Meadow knows some of it (which Tony flashes back to the "College" episode). Tony tells Melfi that he thinks being the way he is and how his father was is hereditary and he thinks AJ will be just like them as well. When Tony asks AJ about what he thinks he does, AJ tells him that other children at school say that Tony is in the Mafia. AJ tells Tony that he first noticed it at Jackie's funeral with the people taking pictures and writing down license plates, "like in Godfather I." AJ also tells him about the web site Meadow showed him, but that he didn't see Tony's picture. 

As part of AJ's punishment, he has to visit his grandmother at the retirement community. AJ tells Livia that Tony is seeing in therapy, just like he is. Livia refuses to believe it at first. Later, she is about to tell Junior about this, but Tony walks in before she has the chance. Tony does confront his mother about not letting Tony's father move the family to Reno, Nevada to make more money. When Livia says she doesn't remember, Tony says that if she grew up with the feminists, she would have been a real gangster.

At the school, the psychologist tells Tony and Carmela that AJ is a borderline case of a child with ADD. Tony gets upset when the psychologist tells him the symptoms that AJ shows, including fidgeting and that he doesn't wait his turn, saying that every 13-year-old boy has those symptoms. Carmela agrees with Tony and they walk out of the psychologists office. 

Funniest parts:

• Livia using a magnifying glass to read the obituaries.
• Livia refusing to believe that Tony goes to a psychiatrist, while AJ eats a pear
• Uncle Junior hitting Tony with a ball as they play catch during one of the flashbacks
• Livia in all of the flashbacks

Sign of the times:

• Christopher's huge cell phone
• AJ planning on watching the first episode of South Park again

This definitley wasn't the best episode, but it was important as we get to know more about Tony's childhood and his fear of his son finding out about him and eventually becoming just like him. Tony's past might becoming back to haunt him. As Tony is a fan of history, he knows that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.