The Sopranos, "Meadowlands": Focus through distractions

A review/recap of the January 31, 1999 episode after I heard the nurses said you made number two in your pants.

Tony and the rest of the characters of The Sopranos have to deal with their fears and distractions in this episode. Tony has the most distractions and the most to fear, because he is the one who has the most to gain (and lose) with the events of this episode and into the future.

Both of Tony's families give him plenty of distractions and fears to worry about. Tony hides that fact that his therapist is a woman from Carmela, his mother is constantly getting on his nerves, Uncle Junior is ready to go to war with him, and Christopher wants to attack Junior final-scene of Scarface style.

This is the first episode where we get to see one of Tony's dreams. He is at Melfi's office when he sees AJ, Hesh, Silvio, Paulie, and Pussy also there. He then freaks out enough to wake up. This can be interpreted to mean that Tony is afraid that these people will find out that he goes to therapy and see him as weak. He wants to be strong for his son, as well as his crew so that they know he is a good leader.

Tony is also afraid of going to war with Junior, even if the other captains think he should be acting boss and that they would back him in a war. Tony knows it wouldn't be good and decides to let Junior be acting boss. The other captains are scared of Junior being in charge, but Tony is able to calm them down. He says that he will still make the decisions, and that Junior is now the lightening-rod for the government. 

Christopher is scared of Tony finding out that he gave crystal meth to Meadow. At the beginning of the episode he thinks Tony was behind his mock execution. Later, he becomes distracted because people think (and correctly) that he soiled himself. He wants to take all of his anger out on Junior.

The other children at AJ's school are scared of AJ and at first he doesn't know why. When Meadow shows him the mafia web site, and (presumably) tells him that their father is in the mob, AJ understands and then his scared of what that means for the relationship between him and his father. He understands that no matter what Tony is still his loving father, when Tony winks at him as the government officials are taking photographs at Jackie's funeral.

And of course Mefli's boyfriend(?) Randall (Mark Blum) is now literally scared of going outside after Vin Makazian (John Heard), a police detective that Tony uses to follow Melfi brutally beats him up.

Sign of the Times:

• AJ is trying to beat the high score on Mario Kart 64 on his Nintendo 64
• AJ's Marilyn Manson t-shirt
• The mafia web site Meadow shows AJ

This certainly wasn't the best of the first 4 episodes, but it was a good filler episode and one that moved the story along.