# "The Sopranos" - 3.12.06 SPOILERS! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 13, 2006, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126 "2006-03-13T03:09:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/121 "2006-03-14T17:20:35Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > Actually, Christopher _Moltisanti_ is Tony’s [second cousin](http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/cast/character/christopher_moltisanti.shtml) and Carmela’s first cousin. Tony affectionately calls Chris his nephew. I can’t figure where they’re getting that. Anyone? (Also, that link says in one place that Chris is Tony’s nephew; in another that he’s Tony’s second cousin; and in another than he’s not really his nephew but Tony calls him that. I’m thinking that someone at HBO doesn’t know what the term “second cousin” actually means as compared to “first cousin once removed”)? Re Melfi: come on! Being a “fat offenderati” has nothing to do with it. What episode were you guys watching? They only showed her for about 10 minutes - I was waiting for the scene with the huge legs and it never came through on my TV. Her legs looked completely normal. She didn’t look fat sitting there in her suit either. Where is this fat perception coming from? ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/122 "2006-03-14T17:23:46Z")
She looks bigger, a lot bigger, than she has in previous episodes. I wouldn’t call her fat (well, I did but that’s not how I meant it) but she’s larger than she was. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/123 "2006-03-14T17:44:35Z")
I do think she looks bigger (not really “fat” though but that’s subjective); but I was looking for the “huge legs” several people mentioned. Couldn’t find them. ---
**Author:** ![UntouchedTakeaway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/d78d45/32.png) [@UntouchedTakeaway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UntouchedTakeaway)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/124 "2006-03-14T17:49:19Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > I can’t figure where they’re getting that. Anyone? (Also, that link says in one place that Chris is Tony’s nephew; in another that he’s Tony’s second cousin; and in another than he’s not really his nephew but Tony calls him that. I’m thinking that someone at HBO doesn’t know what the term “second cousin” actually means as compared to “first cousin once removed”)? > > Re Melfi: come on! Being a “fat offenderati” has nothing to do with it. What episode were you guys watching? They only showed her for about 10 minutes - I was waiting for the scene with the huge legs and it never came through on my TV. Her legs looked completely normal. She didn’t look fat sitting there in her suit either. Where is this fat perception coming from? Could it be the angle? Her legs looked _miles_ long (and in a very GOOD way). That’s how I noticed the shoes. 😃 VCNJ~ ---
**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/125 "2006-03-14T18:02:51Z")
> [@shefDave](#): > > What’s not clear then is what Paulie’s role is now. Until the end of S5 at least, Paulie was still the capo of the Soprano Crew, which includes Chris, Little Paulie, Benny and probably a few others. It’s been suggested, maybe here or somewhere else, that Tony made Chris capo as his reward for giving up Ade, but I can’t imagine Tony making Chris the capo of anything other his old crew. Maybe Paulie’s just moved upstairs a bit, so to speak. One of the threads running through Season 5 was of Tony trying to isolate himself from the day-to-day goings on in the family. I’ve got to assume that slotting Paulie into the new role of underboss is a part of that. Chris, Bobby, Vito, etc. all hand their “envelopes” to Paulie instead of Tony. Looking at the history of the DiMeo Family Wiki page, Paulie’s promotion was made “public” in an Entertainment Weekly article and the [hbo.com](http://hbo.com) website just before this season started. Unfortunately, Paulie was notably almost absent from Sunday’s show (only appearing to complain about Artie’s service). If the speculation is true that the next episodes will go back in time, perhaps we’ll see how Paulie & Chris got their new jobs and why. ---
**Author:** ![deevee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@deevee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/deevee)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/126 "2006-03-14T18:23:21Z")
> [@Yogurt](#): > > Wasn’t he made an “acting captain” while Paulie was in jail on the gun charges? > > On a sidenote, what did Junior say right before he shot Tony? “a matza Malinga” Die Malinga! ---
**Author:** ![i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@i\_am\_a\_scientist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/i_am_a_scientist)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/127 "2006-03-14T18:45:15Z")
I can’t believe no one has suggested this, alternatively, I can’t believe I missed when someone suggested his. The Feds need a new rat, Vito is gay and blows guys in public. Couple this with him getting all power hungry and I strongly suspect they (the Fibbies) take some very incriminating photos of Vito making his complicity all but assured. Also, Finn proposed to Meadow b/c he’s afraid of Vito - in case anyone managed to miss that fact they presented the two scenes (blowjob followed by “Finn proposed!”) adjacent to one another. The only way to be more conspicuous would have been top draw a logic table. Finn will do something very bad to Meadow because (a) she’s a twat (b) he doesn’t like her, (I don’t car how hot she is). She will either respond in kind herself or have Tony or whomever do it for her and, bada bing, she’s in the life. /conjecture. ---
**Author:** ![KidCharlemagne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ed8c4c/32.png) [@KidCharlemagne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KidCharlemagne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/128 "2006-03-14T18:50:36Z")
Never in my life have I seen such blatant, graceless product placement. I don’t mind the stuff being in the background, but when entire conversations revolve around the product I lose it. It was just as bad in Big Love. The problem posting this is that if you haven’t noticed it before, you will now. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/129 "2006-03-14T19:01:05Z")
**D\_Odds** , absolutely nothing personal, but bull to your spoiler. On the grounds that if Furio sets foot out of Naples again, he’s dead. Carmella told Tony of their mutual obsession, plus he tried to push Tony into the rotor of a helicopter. He’s not coming back. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/130 "2006-03-14T19:03:05Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > I can’t figure where they’re getting that. Anyone? (Also, that link says in one place that Chris is Tony’s nephew; in another that he’s Tony’s second cousin; and in another than he’s not really his nephew but Tony calls him that. I’m thinking that someone at HBO doesn’t know what the term “second cousin” actually means as compared to “first cousin once removed”)? Near as I can figure it out, Tony’s mother had a sister. The sister married a man named Blundetto, and they had kids. One of these kids was Tony Blundetto (Tony’s first cousin, played by Steve Buscemi), another was Chris’s mother. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/131 "2006-03-14T19:04:39Z")
**Rilchiam** , I know. The article referenced is nearly 16 months old. Also, it would ruin one of my pre-season predictions. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/132 "2006-03-14T19:14:55Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > So, if there were to be a “war” between the two families (Jersey & NY), what would it look like? > > Would the “soldiers” stop all of their hussling duties and go hunt down members of the other families? Pitched gun-battles in the streets? Mass restaurant burnings? Exactly what form would it take? Anyone have any ideas about this? They often allude to a “war” between the two families, or “starting world war 3”. Did this kind of thing ever happen for real? All out war between crime families? ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/133 "2006-03-14T19:20:10Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Near as I can figure it out, Tony’s mother had a sister. The sister married a man named Blundetto, and they had kids. One of these kids was Tony Blundetto (Tony’s first cousin, played by Steve Buscemi), another was Chris’s mother. If that’s the lineage, then Chris would be Tony’s first cousin once removed, not his second cousin: Tony and Chris’s mother are first cousins, so Chris’s mother’s son (Chris himself) would be Tony’s first cousin once removed. But I really thought though that Chris was related by blood to Carmella, not to Tony. I thought Carmella has mentioned this a few times. I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![RumMunkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@RumMunkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RumMunkey)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/134 "2006-03-14T19:25:18Z")
> [@](#): > > Actually, Christopher Moltisanti is Tony’s second cousin and Carmela’s first cousin. Tony affectionately calls Chris his nephew. > [@](#): > > I can’t figure where they’re getting that. Anyone? That’s exactly how Adrianna explains it to the Feds in season 5. “It’s an Italian thing…” Now, regarding the possibility of the dis-jointed story line; I was talking it over with a friend and we’ve come up with a theory. I’ll use a spoiler box here just in case we’re right: Was this the second-to-last episode? It’s the perfect cliff-hanger going into the finale (does Tony die?), and we could easily spend the rest of the season getting caught up on the events leading up to this episode -in prequel style. Not each episode shown in reverse like the original theory, but next week’s episode starts with Tony picking up the morning paper (episode 1), and we follow it all in order up to the show we all saw on Sunday. -All building up to the big reveal in the final show; does Tony die from his GSW? We’d see Vito (?) start to lose his weight, Meadow’s wedding, Christopher’s promotion, Janice & Bobby get pregnant, and so on… ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/135 "2006-03-14T20:02:02Z")
> [@KidCharlemagne](#): > > Never in my life have I seen such blatant, graceless product placement. I don’t mind the stuff being in the background, but when entire conversations revolve around the product I lose it. It was just as bad in Big Love. The problem posting this is that if you haven’t noticed it before, you will now. Sorry. **Black Knight** posted this earlier. . . > [@Black Knight](#): > > Which is interesting since this season of The Sopranos is supposed to be largely about the shallowness of image and consumerism. We already saw some of this with Vito losing weight, Tony worried about getting fatter, and Carmella’s car. There were also numerous very blatant product placements. > > Plus, Florida-man gave a nice rant about how Tony and Sal only cared about image. Now, I don’t know where he gets the “supposed to be about. . .” but if they are trying to work in larger themes about conspicuous consumerism, it kind of puts a new light on a lot of the product placement. Certainly, a lot of it was within character, and helped established certain relationships (like the Carmella-Angie exchange). Someone highlighted the conversation about the pine frame for the house, too. . .nodding at the idea of maintaining appearances while not having the internal in order. The Nestles thing was so obvious, it was almost comical. Seen in a vaccuum, I’d agree with you about this episode, but let’s see what the season brings. Besides, the way people watch TV now. . .with TIVO’s and remotes and iPods and onDemand, and DVRs. . .well, product placement is just the the way it is now. Placement-free TV is going the way of buggy whips. You might as well rail against the wind. It’s starting to wash right over me. ---
**Author:** ![usar\_jag](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f0a364/32.png) [@usar\_jag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usar_jag)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/136 "2006-03-14T20:04:07Z")
> [@RumMunkey](#): > > Was this the second-to-last episode? It’s the perfect cliff-hanger going into the finale (does Tony die?), and we could easily spend the rest of the season getting caught up on the events leading up to this episode -in prequel style. > > Not each episode shown in reverse like the original theory, but next week’s episode starts with Tony picking up the morning paper (episode 1), and we follow it all in order up to the show we all saw on Sunday. -All building up to the big reveal in the final show; does Tony die from his GSW? > > We’d see Vito (?) start to lose his weight, Meadow’s wedding, Christopher’s promotion, Janice & Bobby get pregnant, and so on… Actually, I like your theory, because Newsweek did describe the season-opening show as “…a cliff-hanger” (Although, I’m not convinced it will play out the way you suggested–we’ll just have to wait until next Sunday.) ---
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/137 "2006-03-14T20:07:45Z")
> [@RumMunkey](#): > > That’s exactly how Adrianna explains it to the Feds in season 5. “It’s an Italian thing…” 'Zactly. I have “uncles” and “cousins” and “neices” and “nephews” that have been removed so many times it isn’t funny. Easier to just cut through it all for the sake of expediency, or you’d be explaining long after the person walked away. It’s an Italian thing. ---
**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:** [March 14, 2006, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/138 "2006-03-14T20:14:48Z")
> [@Maureen](#): > > 'Zactly. I have “uncles” and “cousins” and “neices” and “nephews” that have been removed so many times it isn’t funny. Easier to just cut through it all for the sake of expediency, or you’d be explaining long after the person walked away. It’s an Italian thing. My Sisters Cousin-In-Laws Daughter was close to the same age as my Niece. So while they were growing up and very close, we always refered to her as a Niece. My best friend is around family get togethers so much that when he is not at a BBQ, my Father will ask where is other son is? This is a very Italian thing. I didn’t realize others didn’t do this until I was 30. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/139 "2006-03-14T20:15:11Z")
> [@missbunny](#): > > If that’s the lineage, then Chris would be Tony’s first cousin once removed, not his second cousin: Tony and Chris’s mother are first cousins, so Chris’s mother’s son (Chris himself) would be Tony’s first cousin once removed. > > But I really thought though that Chris was related by blood to Carmella, not to Tony. I thought Carmella has mentioned this a few times. I could be wrong. Well, yeah, Chris is Carmella’s first cousin through his father. He’s related to Tony through his mother. And wouldn’t Chris, in that situation, be Tony’s second cousin once removed? I’m not sure that you can be a “first cousin once removed”. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2006, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126/140 "2006-03-14T20:56:13Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Well, yeah, Chris is Carmella’s first cousin through his father. He’s related to Tony through his mother. And wouldn’t Chris, in that situation, be Tony’s second cousin once removed? I’m not sure that you can be a “first cousin once removed”. Sure you can. Your first cousin once removed is either (a) your cousin’s child or (b) your parent’s cousin. Whether either of these applies to Chris and Tony I have no idea. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-sopranos-3-12-06-spoilers/348126.md?page=8)