The Sopranos, "Pax Soprana": Is everybody in my life bananas or what?

A review/recap of the February 14, 1999 episode after I play shortstop for the Mets.

Talking out problems and dealing with new situations are the two main themes of this episodes. The title of the episode is a reference to Pax Romana, the relative long time of peace in the Roman Empire during the reign of Augustus Caesar (which Tony refers to in the episode). Tony has to deal with Junior officially becoming the new boss and the multitude of problems that arise from that, but at the same time by keeping peace.

The best way to deal with problems peacefully is to talk them out and that is done in this episode multiple times. The big problem in this episode is Junior as the new boss. He doesn't respect old arrangements and wants to start taxing Hesh. He wants to get more money, while not trickling it down to the captains. Since the other captains see Tony as the "real" boss, they come to him to complain. Instead of going to Junior directly, first Tony tells his mother about the situation so that she would tell Junior (he knows that Junior listens to her), but she pretends like she doesn't know anything about that world. Eventually Tony is able to convince Junior to give back money to the captains, and Tony returns his share of Hesh's tax back to Hesh.

Meanwhile, Tony is experiencing a decreased libido. He thinks it's due to the Prozac, but Melfi tells him it could be from depression. Carmela is jealous of Dr. Melfi, because she thinks thinks Tony actually cares about this woman, unlike his comares (whores), which she views as another form of masturbation for Tony because she isn't always around. Tony tells Melfi that he has been dreaming about her and that he is in love with her. Melfi explains that it is not love but postive feelings from the progress he has made in therapy. After talking with Father Phil, Carmela realizes that she does love Tony and wants to be with him. She tells Tony that she wants to be the female in his life and that he should keep going to therapy.  

We finally get to meet someone from the New York families, as John Sacramoni, "Johnny Sack" (Vince Curatola), the underboss of the Lupertazzi Family makes his first appearance.

It looks like the federal government will start to be a problem as they were able to infiltrate Junior's dinner and take pictures of the crime family. How awesome was that final scene (can be viewed below)? Luckily for Tony and the other captains, Junior is the boss that the government knows, just like they planned.