The Fleshy Part of the Thigh

"The Fleshy Part of the Thigh" is the 69th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos, and the fourth of the show's sixth season. Written by Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, and directed by Alan Taylor, it originally aired on April 2, 2006.

Starring

• James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
• Dr. 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 Sigler as Meadow Soprano
• Janice Soprano Baccalieri
• Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
• Johnny "Sack" Sacrimoni
• Phil Leotardo
• Vito Spatafore
• Patsy Parisi

Synopsis

As Tony leaves the hospital, the paramedic approaches with an envelope of cash; he does not take it. As he is wheeled outside, Tony takes a few moments to observe the bustle of life. He grabs Janice's hand and comments that "every day is a gift" to him now. On a riverbank, Paulie finds Jason getting ready to go rowing. He viciously beats him with a metal pole and demands a monthly cut from him equal to the cost of Nucci's retirement home expenses. Brandishing a gun, he warns him not to say a word to Tony.

First appearances

• Albie Cianflone: Phil Leotardo's consigliere
  who, together with Phil, attends a meeting regarding Barone Sanitation with Tony and Paulie outside the hospital.

• Father Phil Intintola: Local Catholic priest and friend of Carmela's.

Deceased

• Aunt Dottie: Paulie's biological mother, who dies of natural causes.

Title reference

• When discussing ways to increase Marvin the rapper's reputation and popularity, Bobby proposes delivering to him a relatively benign gunshot wound to "the fleshy part of the thigh," or buttocks.^[1]

Production

This is the first episode written by Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider who joined the series' writing staff for the final season and also acted as supervising producers on it. They would write three more episodes. Frolov and Schneider previously collaborated with David Chase on Northern Exposure.

According to Steve Schirripa (Bobby Baccalieri), the rapper Fabolous originally played the role of Marvin; his scenes were later reshot with Treach in his place.

Other cultural references

• When
  persistent vegetative state
  , was a center of controversy in the late-1990s and early-2000s (decade), in regards to sustaining her life through artificial means.
• While having his wound dressed the day before surgery, Tony speculates that Janice is responsible for taping the Ojibwe saying introduced in "Mayham," "Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while, a great wind carries me across the sky," to his wall.
• Carmela saw a book about Sink the Bismarck! but half the pages were missing.
• After learning that Pastor Bob and his followers oppose female contraception, Tony asks them if their God disapproves of
  Viagra
  too.
• Tony's surgeon jokes to the surgical team that he found Jimmy Hoffa in Tony's abdomen.
• Tony tells the insurance agent his doctors look like the United Colors of Benetton.
• After moving to a regular hospital room after his surgery, Tony is watching the 1970s television series
  Kung Fu
  .
• In Da Lux's hospital room, members of his crew tell Da Lux that he "only got two less shots than Fifty," a reference to rapper 50 Cent, who survived 9 gunshot wounds in 2000.
• Pastor Bob presents Tony with a copy of the book Born Again by
  born again
  Christian while in prison.
• In addition, when Pastor Bob sees that Tony was reading a
  T-Rexes
  .
• Beth Kaplan says she has nothing against evangelical Christians as they revere Israel as the Holy Land.
• Tony reminds Jason Barone that Tony, Jason's father, and Paulie had taken Jason to watch the New York Mets, Mookie Wilson and Dave Kingman, play at Shea Stadium.
• The character John Schwinn was a scientist for Bell Labs, which built the first active telecommunications satellite, Telstar. While watching the fight on a satellite television system, the signal breaks up and, at one point, Paulie asks him to fix the reception.
• The character John Schwinn is played by actor Hal Holbrook, who famously interpreted Deep Throat in
  All The President's Men
  . At the end of the episode, Tony learns that Schwinn's larynx was removed.
• During the scene in the hospital as Tony and Paulie watch the fight, Schwinn makes a comment about everything being related to which Da Lux responds "Everything is everything, I can dig that." The actor playing Da Lux is Lord Jamar from the rap group Brand Nubian. Brand Nubian's third album is titled Everything Is Everything.
• Marvin bets on Pinnacle Sports.
• Tony mentions the Hurricane Katrina victims as an example of injustice.
• Bobby mentions a "Dr. Droop" to Marvin, a malapropism of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. He also mistakenly calls Da Lux, "Ex-Lax," a brand-name laxative.
• When Paulie pays Nucci a visit at her retirement community room, scenes from a Gilmore Girls episode can be seen on the TV in the background.
• The paramedic says "I was only doing my job," which Tony compares to the
  Nuremberg defense
  .

Music

• The song that plays as Jason Barone is sculling and Paulie and Patsy come to meet him is the first verse of "The Three Bells" by The Browns. The song would be used again in the next episode, "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request..."
• The song that Tony plays on the stereo while meeting with Phil is "Foreplay/Long Time" by Boston.
• The song playing during the end credits is a condensed version of "One of These Days" by Pink Floyd.

References

External links

• "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh" Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine at HBO
• "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh" at
  IMDb