Sunday’s installment, aptly titled “Christopher,” dealt not with the young Moltisanti’s rapid rise to acting capo, but with the disputed celebration of Columbus Day.

Silvio and the gang at Satriale’s see the holiday as a celebration of Italian-American pride, but Native-American activists protest the day’s events, labeling the explorer a monster on par with Hitler. In an ill-advised flare of temper, Sil leads a crew to the protest site where things have turned violent — maron, isn’t he supposed to be a consigliere?

In response, Ralphie approaches a Native-American coalition with a threat to expose poster-boy Iron Eyes Cody as an actor of Sicilian descent, but he comes away empty-handed. Speaking of Tony’s favorite new capo, Ralphie bails on Rosalie Aprile after she pours her heart out to him about the ubiquity of death in her life. He greets Janice as a monogamous man, only to have her push him head over heels down the stairs.

On the subtle side of the episode’s racial commentary, Carmela attends a church luncheon with a speaker giving a talk on the new role of Italian-American women. In a great indicator of her social standing, she’s forced to smile gracefully while bearing the accusatory eyes of her friends, who know about “this thing of ours.”

Most of “Christopher” felt very heavy-handed, as the episode struggled to establish a consistent tone. “The Sopranos” is notorious for receiving flak on its stereotyped portrayals of Italians, and David Chase has effectively addressed these issues before (most notably through the voice of Dr. Melfi’s stubborn husband). But bringing the issue out through a confrontation between Native and Italian-Americans needlessly muddles the show’s social critiques while undermining its clever self-consciousness.

Best Line: “Somebody’s talking too much. And it’s costing me money.” (Tony to Silvio, succinctly summing up all of the family’s problems so far this season.)