After an upsetting dream that involved, among other things, his now-deceased goomar and capo, Tony finds himself at the mercy of Dr. Melfi, begging her interpretation. When she replies with her characteristic ambiguity, however, Tony finally decides to quit his therapy after four years, citing a lack of progress.
It’s a shame, because the big man is going to need all the emotional support he can get in the coming weeks. It’s exactly what an increasingly impatient Janice offers Bobby Baccalieri, after he shows more and more signs of inability to accept his status as a widow.
Janice flat out demands Bobby pull himself out of his morbid funk, but when that doesn’t work, she goes back to her conniving ways and manipulates his children into thinking they can contact their mother through a Ouija board.
Meanwhile, Tony has a sitdown with Carmine and Johnny Sack after they demand a taste of the HUD-scam money, because, as Carmine puts it, “We share [Assemblyman] Zellman.” Don’t think for a second the gears aren’t turning in T’s head, though, as he sees the burgeoning conflict with New York as a perfect way to pass off Ralphie’s death on Carmine and Johnny’s greediness.
Tony also comes to the realization that Johnny and Paulie have been discussing Family business without his knowing, a relationship that most likely brought on the whole Ginny Sack debacle. Much to Silvio’s chagrin, Tony arranges for a meeting with Carmine’s son to resolve the HUD issue without the help of Paulie.
Like the waning episodes of Season Three, “Calling all Cars” and its ilk are beginning to pack as much drama as possible into the remaining episodes, as though David Chase and company forgot they could spread it out evenly over the course of the entire season.
But whereas last season skated by on the charisma of Joe Pantoliano (as Ralph Cifaretto) and a number of other intriguing character developments (Uncle Junior’s cancer, Meadow and Jackie Jr.), Season Four has placed the brunt of its narrative thrust solely on the shoulders of Tony Soprano with regrettably mixed results.
It’s clear the final two hours of the season are building to a body-count heavy climax — take your pick: Paulie, Furio, Carmine and/or Johnny Sack — but it certainly won’t have been worth the wait.
The seeds of these conflicts have only just been planted, while early season plotlines seem to have been arbitrarily mowed down. Whatever happened to Artie’s failed business venture? What of Tony’s many goomars? Is Meadow still a character on the show?
Unanswered questions like these should cause more dissension in the audience than curiosity, but then again, there’s always Season Five.
Best line: “Because I’m the oldest and closest to the afterlife.” (Anthony Jr. explaining to the Baccalieri children why he is able to have contact with the spiritual world.)
