Tony collapses after watching Meadow and Noah, a guy from one of her classes, head back to Columbia. They came over to the house to watch a movie because the VCR in the dorm was broken. It was a movie for a class they were taking. Tony gets agitated because the guy is biracial, part Black and part Jewish. He doesn't want Meadow dating that kind of guy. He tells the guy but doesn't tell Meadow. He has a panic attack after they leave and collapses. Carmela finds him.
Livia, Tony's mother, dies in her sleep. Barb and Janice, Tony's sisters, come to town for the funeral. Livia didn't want a funeral but they end up having one anyway. Tony and Barb seemed ready to forego the funeral but Janice is the one who pushed it.
Tony has trouble with some of his crews. There have been firebombs planted in trash trucks that Tony's men are responsible for. The city official who is responsible for awarding contracts has been playing fast and loose with them. Tony orders Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) to get things under control and to cut the firebombing. Ralph takes Tony at his word and send a couple of his men to beat up the city official.
Svetlana, the woman who was looking after Livia, is still living in Livia's house. Tony gave her permission to stay there after his mother died, until she could find some place else to live. Janice approaches Svetlana after the funeral and tells her to move out because she will be living there. Janice also asks Svetlana to return the records that Livia gave her. Svetlana tries to argue but Janice shuts her arguments down.
Artie and Charmaine cater the reception at Tony and Carmella's home after the funeral. Artie has a flashback to the moment (in 1.13) when Livia told him that Tony was responsible for the destruction of his restaurant. He gets a moment alone with Tony and throws a tantrum. For a second it looks like he is going to tell everyone at the reception about it but he doesn't.
Janice does something she said wanted to do but Tony was against. She gathers everyone at the reception in the living room and asks them to say something they remember about Livia. It gets very awkward. Almost no one wants to say anything. Christopher is high and starts babbling at one point about how everyone is unique.
Carmela, after several awkward testimonials, starts unloading about how stupid it is that they had a funeral for a woman who didn't want a funeral. Her mother tries to encourage her to stop but then Carmela's father joins in. He unloads about how miserable Livia made their lives by keeping them from seeing Carmela and their grandchildren.
The episode ends with Tony in front of the television. He had been watching, throughout the episode, bits and pieces of The Public Enemy, starring James Cagney. The movie ends with The episode ends as Tony finishes the movie. The final scene of the movie shows Cagney's dead body being dumped in his mother's home. The episode ends as Tony watches that moment.
Thoughts
Nancy Marchand, the actress who played Livia, died before this episode was finished. She may have died before they started shooting Season 3. They used some camera tricks to make it look like she was in this episode. It isn't hard to see that something isn't quite right in the first, of two scenes, that she appears in this episode. I think the second one is a replay of a scene from an earlier episode.
There is a split second during the reception when Tony sees Pussy's face in a mirror. It happens as he is opening a door with a mirror on it. Blink and you miss it.
Ralph Cifaretto makes his first appearance in this episode. He isn't a captain but Uncle Junior wants Tony to make him a captain. The handwriting is already on the wall. Ralph is trouble.
Tony never does come clean about what he said to Noah Tannenbaum. Meadow keeps giving Tony dirty looks throughout the episode. Noah didn't tell Meadow exactly what her father said to him but she knows he must have said something.
I don't recall clearly but I've got a feeling that Tony is going to get angry when he finds out about Janice moving into their mother's old house.
There are a lot of little moments in this episode but for the most part it seems to revolve around the death of Livia. I like the episode but there's a lot flowing into it and from it and it lacks the punch that some episodes have. There is a moment at the end when it seems like Tony is getting a bit choked up about the end of the movie but I didn't feel it. Good episode but not a favorite.
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