Sentimental Education (The Sopranos)
"Sentimental Education" | |
---|---|
The Sopranos episode | |
Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 6 |
Directed by | Peter Bogdanovich |
Written by | Matthew Weiner |
Cinematography by | Phil Abraham |
Production code | 507 |
Original air date | April 11, 2004 |
Running time | 55 minutes |
"Sentimental Education" is the 58th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the sixth of the show's fifth season. Written by Matthew Weiner and directed by Peter Bogdanovich, it originally aired on April 11, 2004.
Starring
- James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
- Lorraine Bracco as Jennifer Melfi *
- Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
- Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
- Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr. *
- Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
- Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri
- Anthony Soprano, Jr.
- Jamie-Lynn DiScala as Meadow Soprano
- Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cerva
- Janice Soprano Baccalieri
- Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
- Tony Blundetto
* = credit only
Guest starring
- Hugh De Angelis
- Rosalie Aprile
- Alison Bartlett as Gwen MacIntyre
- Eugene Pontecorvo
- Vito Spatafore
- Patsy Parisi
- Liza Lapira as Amanda Kim
- Carlo Gervasi
- Father Phil Intintola
- Robert Wegler
- Ed Vassallo as Tom Giglione
- Danielle Di Vecchio as Barbara Soprano Giglione
- Henry Yuk as Sungyon Kim
- Dennis Aloia as Justin Blundetto
- Kevin Aloia as Jason Blundetto
- Angela Bullock as Clerk
- Karl Bury as Tom Fiske
- Kimberly Guerrero as Dealer
Synopsis
Carmela abruptly leaves during another date with Wegler, saying she is upset about A.J.’s academic performance and troubled by the laws of the Church. The next day, Wegler pressures A.J.'s English teacher to raise his grade for a poorly written term paper. After several rounds of sex after which Carmela talks each time about strategies to elevate A.J.'s academic standing, Wegler concludes that she is just using him to get her son better grades and confronts her, telling her that she uses people. Carmela, deeply hurt, vehemently rejects his assessment, but Wegler calmly stands his ground and Carmela storms out. The next day, when her father suggests that she look for other men, Carmela replies that, as Tony's wife, her motives will always be distrusted.
Title reference
- Sentimental Education is a novel by Gustave Flaubert, who also wrote Madame Bovary, which Mr. Wegler recommends to Carmela.
Production
- The episode was directed by Elliot Kupferberg(Melfi's psychotherapist) on the show, although he does not appear in this episode.
- Although the sixth episode of the season, it was produced seventh, due to the scheduling availability of director Peter Bogdanovich, as the following episode was directed by cast member Steve Buscemi, who wanted to direct an episode in which his character was minimally featured.[1]
Cultural references
- Carmela finds the book The Letters of Abelard and Heloisein Wegler's bathroom and asks him about it. She later tells Father Phil, who erroneously corrects her pronunciation of 'Heloise'.
- During her confession, Carmela tells Father Phil Intintola that her affair makes her feel like "walking around on a cloud" as the character Maria from the West Side Story.
- Tony Blundetto refers to "piping in a little Keith Jarrett" when discussing his plan for a massage studio.
- Tony Blundetto buys his twin sons a pair of Nintendo Game Boy Advance handheld game consoles.
- A.J. tries to write an English school paper on Animal Farm but ends up plagiarizing it. He later tries to write a paper on Lord of the Flies, which he also plagiarizes.
- When Wegler tells A.J.'s English teacher, Mr. Fiske, to raise the grade of his term paper that was "90 percent CliffsNotes," Fiske refers to A.J. as "Fredo Corleone," a character from The Godfather novel and films, alluding to the fact that he is part of a powerful family despite being an unintelligent member.
- After Tony Blundetto tells Paulie and the others at Pearl Harbor!", ignorant to the fact that Kim is actually Korean.
- Kim compares Tony B to Henry Ford.
Music
- The song played on Tony B's delivery truck radio when it's stolen is "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)" by The Greg Kihn Band.
- The song played when Carmela is deciding what to wear before seeing Robert Wegler is "The Angels Listened In" by The Crests.
- The song played when Carmela and Bob eat at a restaurant is "Mon homme" (lyrics by Maurice Yvain).
- The song played when Carmela is peeling the cucumber is "Over The Mountain" by Johnnie & Joe.
- The song played in Paulie's Cadillac is "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me" by Mel Carter.
- The song played over the end credits is "The Blues is my Business" by Etta James.
- Tony Blundetto's ringtone is a monophonic version of "We Are The Champions" by Queen
- The song played in the restaurant at the end is a version of Modern Jazz Quartet's "Django."
References
- ^ DVD audio commentary for "In Camelot" by Steve Buscemi
External links
- "Sentimental Education" Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine at HBO
- "Sentimental Education" at IMDb