You can be a first cousin once removed. It’s the relationship I described.
Such as, you, Captain Amazing, have a cousin, Bob. Bob has a child, Sally. You are first cousins with Bob. You are first cousins once removed with Sally (she’s a generation removed from you). Your child, Tim, and Bob’s child Sally are second cousins. If your child Tim has a child, that child will be second cousins once removed with Sally (your own second cousin).
Since we don’t know who the relative is in common to both Chris and Tony, it’s hard to say what the actual true relationship is.
Stop. With. The. Spoiler. Boxes. Already!!! Anybody who has made it three pages into a thread about the Sopranos premiere and doesn’t want to have any surprises exposed should just fuck off and die.
Fuck off! Just because people want to come in here to discuss episode one doesn’t mean they want to see spoilers on future episodes. You fuck off and die you prick.
Guys… there is a Pit… and this isn’t it ;).
RumMunkey and devee: there are no insults in Cafe Society, and there is no telling people to ‘fuck off and die’. You’ve both been warned.
Tony Soprano Voice / Ya see? Eh, eh? SEE DAT THERE? Like I don’t got enough to deal with. Whattya gotta start on each udder wit’ that for? You mooks. Next time be satirical and insult teach udder in character! Aaaah. / Tony Soprano Voice
I’m late to the thread, but I just got back from vacation.
Can someone who actually knows about building in New Jersey comment on the pine thing? I realize that there are different grades of lumber, but when you’re building a “stick built” (might be a local term for the kind of house Carm is building) house, what else would you use besides “pine” (generic use of the word pine)? You aren’t going to use oak for framing. I’m not into construction, but as far as I know, the 2x6’s or 2x8’s for the wall studs are going to be pine. The trusses are going to be pine. The floor joists are going to be 2x10 or bigger pine or else something more like a LVL. Load bearing beams will probably be a LVL. I’m sure there are thousands of code violations you could make, but that kind of seemed silly. Since several posters jumped on it, it really makes me wonder what I’m missing.
Carm was definitely being shallow and just showing off the car. That will not go good when Johnny Sack’s wife tells him the news.
Vito was doing some serious kissing up to Phil (Johnny Sack’s fill in), kind of like Paulie a few seasons ago.
I loved the scene with Tony complaining about not catching a break followed by the informant dying in the car with the FBI.
I think that the issue was with the particular grade of pine that was used.
Slightly tangential question: how do you spell Ade’s first name? On the HBO website it’s spelled “Adrianna,” but in the most recent issue of Rolling Stone, the interview with David Chase spells it “Adriana.” Would you trust HBO or Rolling Stone for this?
IMDB had it as Adriana .
Is IMDB more reliable than www.hbo.com/sopranos?
Didn’t the building inspector mention Douglas Fir?
As for the rest of the season going back in time theory … it could be done with a combination of fantasy episodes that Tony dreams about, or real happenings in flashback mode or current events as the players/families vie for position while Tony is in a coma.
It could, if they contracted Industrial Light & Magic or Weta to create digital characters to replace all the actors who have aged conspicuosly or gone through other remarkable physical changes during the two-year hiatus.
If everything looks disjointed and out-of-whack (like Livia did after Nancy Marchand died,) we can put it down to Tony’s synapses misfiring as his life ebbs way. 
Yeah, he called what Carm’s dad used utility grade pine, and said the code called for Douglas Fir grade stamped for joists, rafters, etc.
I’m not spoiler-boxing because this is all entirely speculation…
Yeah, that sounds right. Entertainment Weekly (I think…) said that one of the upcoming episodes will involve a lengthy dream/fantasy sequence. They did not say outright, but inferred that this was due to Tony’s GSW. It does sound like there will be some flashbacking, but I agree with Larry Mudd that a complete Memento-style reversal would be pretty tough to pull off effectively.
Unless…they filmed the episodes in reverse order! Of course! So the one we just saw was the last one filmed? Didn’t I read somewhere that they’ve finished all filming for this season before they began to air episodes? That would make a whole lot of sense, then. Plus it would be cool to see AJ’s hair get shorter, Vito get fatter, etc.
Wow, I’m beginning to cotton to this idea…
I just want to say that having references to death in a series about the mob does not foreshadow anything in anyway that we don’t know about.
No one has mentioned what I thought was the funniest part of the episode. When Tony says that he can’t catch a break and a major FBI informant dies.
Here’s one way to justify the speculation that we’ve just seen the last episode (or, more likely, the next-to-last) as the first of the final season. Suppose the plan was to do exactly that. Suppose after lengthy discussion the writers decided that for the idea to work, enough time would have to pass for these aging effects to be noticed by the audience. Flashbacks and out-of-sequence episodes would have to rely on either excellent makeup and effects or a long delay before showing the episodes.
Well, we have had a long delay. It’s not out of the realm of reason that such planning took place and that (for the sake of novelty) HBO bought into the concept. The cast would have to have had some idea of the overall scheme, but that’s not too big a stretch considering their loyalty to the show.
Even “Gene” may have been shown to have evolved into the situation he reached this past week. The actor was on at least two talk shows I saw after the episode aired and he gave circumspect answers to all questions relating to where the show is headed.
I wouldn’t put it past Chase to attempt this sort of thing. He’s that creative.
Post #147.
I saw one of the replays. Definitely a great episode.
There was a funny moment when Melfi says something like, “well isn’t that because yo’ve never come to grips with the fact that your mother didn’t love you?” and Tony looks at his watch.
It was also funny that when Melfi brought up that Tony put his mother in “assisted living”, he exclaims, “it was a nursing home.” But I think when he was trying to sell the idea of moving Uncle June he was calling it “assisted living”.
I cracked up when they were trying on the sunglasses. Silvio is hilarious without saying a word.
That’s just it though. That sounds like complete crap to me. That’s why I was curious if anyone knew of any actual codes or if it was just a plot device that the writers thought sounded believable. I guess it made it worse for me when a few of the posters jumped on with comments about what a cheap bitch Carm is for using pine. Hello? That’s what is used to build most houses as far as I know. Keep in mind that I’m not a contractor or anything. It just seems like some ignorance needs to be fought here. I will openly admit that it could still be mine.