Tony's anxiety issues continue to plague him. His life is very stressful. One of the biggest stresses is his relationship with Vivian, his mother. In the last episode he tried showing her a retirement community but she didn't want to move there. She wants to continue living by herself in her home. She almost burns the place down in this episode, while cooking. She almost kills one of her friends with her car, accidentally, of course. Tony tries bringing in a housekeeper but his mother chases her off pretty quickly.
More stress for Tony materializes in the form of his cousin Christopher and his buddy Brendan. They hijack a truck full of DVD players which is under the protection of Uncle Junior. Tony is forced to have a sit down meeting with Uncle Junior and Jackie Aprile, the provisional boss, over the hijacked truck. Tony doesn't want to have to deal with crap like this but he does. He forces Christopher and Brendan to hand over the money they made selling the DVDs. He tells them not to hit any more of Uncle Junior's clients. They listen, Christopher agrees but Brendan isn't quite so respectful.
Big Pussy and Paulie are given a mission: find the car belonging to AJ's science teacher. It was stolen a couple days before. They track down the guys who did it. When Pussy finds out that the car has already been stripped he forces them, at gun point, to find a replacement. By the end of the episode the science teacher has his car back but it is quickly apparent that it isn't his car. The interior isn't the right color and there is blood on the bumper.
Tony meets with Dr. Melfi who suggests that his mother is a major cause of stress and that he doesn't really love her. Tony doesn't want to hear it but does take Dr. Melfi's advice about getting her into a retirement community. Vivian is forced against her will to move out of her home and into an apartment. Tony refuses to consider that his mother is a source of stress for him, despite all the heartache she causes him.
Brendan and Christopher plan to hit another truck, this one carrying men's suits. Like the last one, his truck is also under the protection of Uncle Junior. Christopher backs out of the project at the last minute. Brendan carries through with the plan without him. During the heist the driver of the vehicle is killed. Christopher contacts Tony and tries to explain. Tony doesn't want to hear it, he holds Christopher as equally responsible even though he wasn't there. He tells them to return the suits. The issue isn't fully resolved at the end of the episode. I don't recall exactly what happens but I've got a feeling that Brendan is going to pay the price for this screw up.
Adriana, Christopher's girlfriend for most of the run of this series, makes her first appearance in this episode. Drea de Matteo, the actress who plays Adriana, was also in the pilot very briefly but she is credited as playing a different character in that episode.
Mickey Palmice, Uncle Junior's right hand man, makes his first appearance in this episode. He doesn't last long but he's in the majority of the episodes in this season. As I recall that's a running theme throughout the series. People come and people go. There are very few characters who make it out of the series alive. Most of the other mobsters that Tony comes into contact with end up dead one way or another.
I can see why I liked this show so much back when I first watched it. I still like it. It isn't revolutionary or quite as top notch in my mind as it once was but it is still damn good television. I like the way the different plot threads are weaved together. It isn't this or that, it is all of it and the way it's put together. That and there are some damn good performances, not the least of which is James Gandolfini who plays the role of Tony Soprano.
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