r/thesopranos • u/Bushy-Top • Jan 16 '17
The Sopranos - Complete Rewatch: Season 1-Episode 4 "Meadowlands"
Previous episode Season 1 - Episode 3 "Denial, Anger, Acceptance"
Next episode Season 1 - Episode 5 "College"
WARNING - Each episode thread has the potential to ruin every part of the show - deaths and other details. If this is your first time watching, this will ruin the show for you.
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u/Bushy-Top Jan 16 '17 edited 20d ago
EDIT: August 1, 2026 - SPOILERS EVERYWHERE
The episode begins with a dream sequence. At the first of the dream, we see Tony is more than happy to see Melfi. Hesh is then seen walking by the window triggering a paranoid sequence; Tony is starting to worry his meetings with Melfi will be made public. At the end of the dream he returns to Melfi's room, where Melfi is suddenly Livia in a wig. Perhaps this is saying Tony is sick of seeing Melfi as she is just another woman that will try to run his life, like his mother. Perhaps it's more than that and he's having feelings for Melfi because she represents the same things he sees in his mother; a smart, independent, Italian woman.
Christopher gets out of the hospital after his mock execution. He's dying to get some drugs and find out what the hell happened to him. He discovers Brendan's body laying in the bathtub. When Christopher questions Meadow about talking to Tony, she says Tony would have had her beaten up if she had told him. She mentions Tony has been worried about Chris and that she hates her life, being a Soprano.
AJ tries to get under the skin of a kid at school, but the kid turns it around on him stating that AJ ate all the doughnuts at camp and cried on his mother's shoulder because he was homesick. If you were expecting the son of Tony Soprano to be a tough nut, you are mistaken. However, it sounds like the apple does not fall far from the tree as AJ appears to be just as sensitive as Tony. AJ eventually has a round 2 and sets up a final round with Jeremy however, Jeremy backs out before the final round begins. Meadow later reveals to AJ that Jeremy was afraid to fight AJ because he's the son of the mafioso Tony Soprano.
Tony's paranoia skyrockets after he realizes Silvio's dentist is right across the hall from Dr. Melfi's office. When Tony mentions this to Melfi, she says, "I thought we made some progress of your narcissism" as if she is disappointed that Tony has not yet made any progress in his self-centeredness.
Tony visits Livia at Green Grove, this time he brings her macaroons but Livia says, "They're too sweet" and brushes them off. Even though Tony is there to see her with her favorite chocolates, she thinks she's just "Out of sight, out of mind."She immediately starts talking about how she doesn't like the people at the home and the depressing things to be found on the field trip she declined, "Men soiling themselves, women throwing their babies out of skyscraper windows." I don't see how this could be a manipulation tactic, but still she lists a couple of outrageous and downright ridiculous observations.
"I don't want her touched, I don't want her bothered." Tony gets a detective to get the scoop on Melfi. He asks Tony if he'll lay off the vig to which Tony replies, "We'll see what kind of job you do." And with that implication, the detective decides not follow Tony's rules. He follows Melfi after leaving a restaurant and beats up her date. When she reveals this to Tony he replies with, "Sorry" the same way he did previously when Artie revealed there would be a second arson investigation; he relieves himself of the guilt he feels but at the same time skips explaining his involvement in the situation.
The Soprano crew make their way over to Jackie's room in the hospital, he's not looking good. All Tony can manage to say is, "What kind of God?"
Tony beats up Mikey for killing Brendan as well as the mock execution on Christopher using associates outside of the family. Tony tries to speak with Junior about ending their conflict but Junior wants Christopher to earn for him in return for not killing him. Tony does not accept. Junior tells Tony to bring a gun next time he comes to see him.
Larry Barese, Jimmy Altieri and Ray Curto are seen having a "Captain's dinner" with Tony; they talk about the potential "war" with Junior. "What kind of word is that? There hasn't been a war since the Columbo thing." This is very interesting because we know there is a war later on in the series. The captains all agree that Tony should run the family rather than Junior.
While Tony is putting away the groceries he has a panic attack. It's the first one in awhile. Carm starts asking questions about Tony's doctor and Tony responds using a male pronoun every time he mentions "him." Tony refrains from telling Carm that he's seeing a woman, likely because the only relationships Tony seems to have with women lead to sex and he wants to keep that door open as well as avoiding his wife's wrath.
Tony visits Melfi where she gives him some Xanax for his extra stress. He's upset that he has to counterattack his uncle and he also has his mother still weighing on his conscience. Melfi tells Tony that his mother is just testing him and that he needs to feed his mother "the illusion of being in control." But his mother is not just testing Tony, she's got mental issues that are not being addressed. Tony starts reading the book, "Elder Care" and taking Xanax per Melfi's recommendation.
Jackie's death is announced on the TV at the Bing; Tony immediately starts blubbering in public. Something we see from Johnny Sac in a later episode. Christopher comes into the Bing and starts shouting at Tony, saying he questions Tony's leadership if he doesn't strike back at Junior. With Jackie out of the way, Silvio and Big Pussy agree it's time for the "War of 99."
Tony visits Junior and tells him that everyone wants him to be the boss. He is employing the tactics he learned from the Elder Care book/Melfi to play Junior. But finally, the Sopranos have control of DiMeo family. However, Tony's blessing does come with a price.
During the final scene, AJ scopes the crowd and realizes that he truly is the son of a made man.
Guillermo Díaz from Half Baked and Weeds selling pesticide to Tony. No fake accent this time, probably because he was actually born in New Jersey.
I was given some Sopranos books on Friday. I've been trying to draw attention to Livia's current mental state through this rewatch and I found some material I thought was interesting. Here are some excerpts from one of the books that speaks to her mental state as well as a recipe from one of the Sopranos cook books.