# Sopranos: 4/23 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 24, 2006, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921 "2006-04-24T02:04:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/41 "2006-04-24T13:40:07Z")
All I could think of in the Ben Kingsley scenes is that he is too good to appear in this Godfather/Ring movie, yet in real life he is not above appearing in yet another Uwe Boll classing ‘Bloodrayne’ [http://imdb.com/title/tt0383222/](http://imdb.com/title/tt0383222/). ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/42 "2006-04-24T13:52:28Z")
I don’t think it was that he was ‘too good’, but rather that those pitching the movie to him just struck him as unprofessional and creeped him out a bit. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/43 "2006-04-24T14:25:58Z")
[QUOTE=elmwood] Question: are there only two Italian restaurants in all of northern New Jersey? That’s the impresion I got from last night’s episode. [/QUOTE] Probably not - but from what little I know about the restaurant business, high-class Italian restaurants aren’t very common. Mostly because it’s hard to do Italian on a level that impresses the critics enough to garner all those coveted stars. I saw a Mario Batali special where he was trying to build the first five-star Italian restaurant in New York City, and he wasn’t sure he’d be able to pull it off. Here in Chicago there are very few high-caliber Italian restaurants (Spiaggia & Rosebud are the only two I can think of offhand). I get the impression that Vesuvio is supposed to be close to four-star, but has slipped to three or less. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/44 "2006-04-24T14:37:33Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] HS use to be on 57th but they could be long gone. It was a very big store. Is Tourneau a large store? [/QUOTE] It takes up the whole block on 7th from 57th to 56th and halfway to 6th - you can’t miss it ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/45 "2006-04-24T14:40:27Z")
[QUOTE=anyrose] It takes up the whole block on 7th from 57th to 56th and halfway to 6th - you can’t miss it [/QUOTE] I think you got it then. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/46 "2006-04-24T15:37:12Z")
Anyone else get the strong impression that that cash Tony sent to Vesuvio to pay on his tab never quite made it there? Often when they do something like that on the show they’ll say later something about “Did you get that package I sent you?”, but they didn’t this time. Of course it probably would have ticked Artie off even more, had he gotten the money. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/47 "2006-04-24T15:57:51Z")
[QUOTE=Kid\_A] Does it? I thought this was one of those cases where someone took a word and turned it in an acronym by assigning a word to each letter. [/QUOTE] You’re correct. [Here](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=swag) are several definitions. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/48 "2006-04-24T16:52:58Z")
[QUOTE=Chefguy] You’re correct. [Here](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=swag) are several definitions. [/QUOTE] cool site - I just added a word 😃 (it may not be there yet, but it’s _queechy_) ---
**Author:** ![Improv\_Geek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b3f665/32.png) [@Improv\_Geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Improv_Geek)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/49 "2006-04-24T17:15:44Z")
I enjoyed this episode. I think my fluff factor has steadily risen with BSG and Lost, so I endured this one well. I’m glad to see Artie getting some more air, and I did like seeing that he wasn’t going to get into the trap with Tony “helping” him. I don’t think Tony shows weakness by beginning to pay Artie. He has to help him keep afloat or else it hurts him in the end. Leeches don’t benefit by killing their host, they need them to keep on living so they can continue to feed. So long as Tony doesn’t go out of his way to help without any debt accrued, but paying the tab and such isn’t a sign of weakness. Does anyone else have trouble seeing Max Casella as anything but Doogie Howser’s little buddy? Or as Vinnie in Disney’s Newsies? I mean seriously. He does great in the Sopranos, but I keep remembering him in the other roles he’s played. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/50 "2006-04-24T17:20:43Z")
I always kind of hate it when the Sopranos shoe-horn in bullshit entertainment industry plots because they don’t fit in with the show at all. They can’t even use a real world mob scenario to make it work (like the mob running the teamsters who handle the trucks that film shoot use) But overall the episodes tend to be decent in and of themselves. Kingsley knew they were mobbed up even before they met him. He was talking to his agent on the phone and asked who they were… Kingsley then replied something to the effect of “Awww hellz nah!” Bacall getting popped one was shocking and pretty much made the episode. The Artie plot was great. Artie has come a long way as a character. He’s self-loathing and pretty much balls out. I loved that he kicked Benny’s ass. Benny was clearly off the reservation with this whole thing so he’s lucky Tony didn’t take him out or atleast demote him. Benny seems to be Chrissy’s right hand man which puts him in a potentially powerful position. I’m surprised no one else has mentioned this- Anyone kind of intrigued by the junkie flunkie that Chris farmed out the Italians to? The bit where he brushed off the hitmen when they asked where he was from was either nothing or something… ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/51 "2006-04-24T17:23:38Z")
What, you think he’s an agent? Learned Italian later in life, but has a made up backstory, which is why he didn’t want to say where he was from? I guess that’s plausible… as you said, could be something or nothing. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/52 "2006-04-24T17:29:16Z")
[QUOTE=ISiddiqui] What, you think he’s an agent? Learned Italian later in life, but has a made up backstory, which is why he didn’t want to say where he was from? I guess that’s plausible… as you said, could be something or nothing. [/QUOTE] the less he says, the further removed Tony stays paraphrasing: “Thanks for taking care of our friend” “I turned Johnny down” ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/53 "2006-04-24T17:45:52Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I meant to add that this episode really had that “one-off” feel to it, like Pine Barrens. I don’t think the particulars are going to come up again. [/QUOTE] Maybe on the particulars, but I don’t think we’ve heard the end of the links to the Arabs. It might be the thing that brings the New Jersey family down (if Chase decides to end it that way). Artie’s beatdown on Benny was great. I liked Tony rehashing an old saying to Benny, “you don’t shit where you eat and you really don’t shit where **I** eat.” Artie’s in an interested spot. He’s tied to the mob because of Tony, but he’s also reasonably safe for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/54 "2006-04-24T17:54:19Z")
[QUOTE=Push You Down] I’m surprised no one else has mentioned this- Anyone kind of intrigued by the junkie flunkie that Chris farmed out the Italians to? The bit where he brushed off the hitmen when they asked where he was from was either nothing or something… [/QUOTE] Oh yeah. He’s way more intriguing than he needs to be, for a “minor” character. Do you know who the actor is? He looks familiar. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/55 "2006-04-24T18:19:03Z")
[QUOTE=ronincyberpunk] Does anyone else have trouble seeing Max Casella as anything but Doogie Howser’s little buddy? [/QUOTE] Yes! I was going to post this very same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/56 "2006-04-24T18:20:29Z")
[QUOTE=RogueRacer] Maybe on the particulars, but I don’t think we’ve heard the end of the links to the Arabs. [/quote] Probably not, no. We’ve spent too much time with them. > [@](#): > > Artie’s beatdown on Benny was great. I liked Tony rehashing an old saying to Benny, “you don’t shit where you eat and you really don’t shit where **I** eat.” Artie’s in an interested spot. He’s tied to the mob because of Tony, but he’s also reasonably safe for the same reason. I liked Tony’s scene with Benny- I thought it was a pretty stern telling-off. This situation is going to be a bigger problem for Benny than it is for Tony, as I see it. Tony told Benny “it’s over,” and not only did Benny fail to drop, he _told_ Tony he might just ignore the order (that line about ‘shoot me after if you have to’). ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/57 "2006-04-24T18:31:38Z")
[QUOTE=ISiddiqui] What, you think he’s an agent? Learned Italian later in life, but has a made up backstory, which is why he didn’t want to say where he was from? I guess that’s plausible… as you said, could be something or nothing. [/QUOTE] I doubt he is an agent. They wouldn’t let an actual mob hit go down. Still, it was an odd little scene. ---
**Author:** ![RogueRacer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7ab992/32.png) [@RogueRacer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RogueRacer)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/58 "2006-04-24T18:36:35Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] I liked Tony’s scene with Benny- I thought it was a pretty stern telling-off. This situation is going to be a bigger problem for Benny than it is for Tony, as I see it. Tony told Benny “it’s over,” and not only did Benny fail to drop, he _told_ Tony he might just ignore the order (that line about ‘shoot me after if you have to’). [/QUOTE] Yeah, it was definitely a nice scene. I think it highlights where Gandolfini really shines in this role. There are a lot of times where the guy just doesn’t seem very tough looking or acting in spite of his size. Heck, it might be because of his size (the extra weight). In that scene he brings Benny close and congratulates him on his wife’s pregnancy and then all of a sudden he is menacing in a subtle and very believable way. When the scenes call for it, there is no doubt he’s the alpha male. ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/59 "2006-04-24T19:39:40Z")
[QUOTE=D\_Odds] I could be wrong, but I don’t think Bennie has been “made”, so popping him one in the mouth isn’t the same as popping Paulie. Tony also reminded Bennie about passing up Tony’s cut, which put Bennie on the defensive. That said, I was wondering if Artie was going to make it to the end of the episode. Martina was 100% right about Artie’s motives, though. [/QUOTE] Yeah, she was. Artie has a habit of developing crushes on his hostesses, and none of them ever return his feelings. I thought he was going to get himself killed when he started crushing on Ad. I loved the end bit, though, where he pulled his father’s recipe book out and started cooking from that. I was thinking, maybe now he’ll remember what he loves about cooking and try to pull the business out of its slump. I felt acutely embarrassed on Chris’ behalf during most of his scenes with Sir Ben. Talk about not getting a hint. ---
**Author:** ![anyrose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/54ee81/32.png) [@anyrose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anyrose)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921/60 "2006-04-24T20:07:43Z")
[QUOTE=Maureen] Yeah, she was. Artie has a habit of developing crushes on his hostesses, and none of them ever return his feelings. I thought he was going to get himself killed when he started crushing on Ad. I loved the end bit, though, where he pulled his father’s recipe book out and started cooking from that. I was thinking, maybe now he’ll remember what he loves about cooking and try to pull the business out of its slump. I felt acutely embarrassed on Chris’ behalf during most of his scenes with Sir Ben. Talk about not getting a hint. [/QUOTE] He was high (stoopit junkie) and tell me please what good having Murmurs there did? Isn’t murmurs his sponsor? so no narcotics, but muggins are okay? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sopranos-4-23/353921.md?page=4)