Walk Like a Man (The Sopranos)

"Walk Like a Man" is the 82nd episode of the

• James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
• Lorraine Bracco as 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
• Steve Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
• Patsy Parisi
• Little Paulie Germani

* = credit only

Guest starring

Synopsis

Tony makes peace between Christopher and Paulie, and the money situation is worked out. The two reconcile their differences at the Bing, where Christopher drinks with Paulie to mark the occasion. Christopher gets drunk and rambles about his daughter, causing Paulie to make some off-color jokes. Christopher thinks everyone is laughing at him, Tony most of all, and abruptly leaves. He goes straight to J.T.'s apartment, but J.T. cannot help him much as he is no longer Christopher's sponsor, he has work to do, and it is dangerous for him to hear the things Christopher starts to tell him. Rebuffing him, he says, "You're in the Mafia." After a few seconds, Christopher quietly says, "Fine", and begins to walk away, before turning around and killing J.T. with a shot to the head.^[2]

First appearances

• Jason Parisi: son of Patsy Parisi and a friend of A.J. Soprano and Jason Gervasi. He attends Rutgers University and is part of a small-time crew that runs sports book operations at his college. He and Jason Gervasi are known as "The Jasons".
• Walden Belfiore
  : soldier in the Gervasi crew, seen at the Bada Bing! with the other mobsters.
• Dr. Richard Vogel: A.J.'s psychiatrist

Deceased

• "J.T." Dolan: murdered by Christopher Moltisanti, after refusing to listen to his story about the Mafia.

Title reference

• The episode's title refers to the song "
  Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, which is about a father telling his son to get over a woman who left him. Tony tries to pull A.J. out of his depression over the breakup with Blanca. Frankie Valli himself formerly had a role in the series as New York capo Rusty Millio, and an earlier episode ("Big Girls Don't Cry
  ") was also named after a Valli song.
• The phrase alludes to the belief that a man should be tough. A.J. should get over Blanca, Chris should get over his weaknesses for drink and drugs.

• Carl Capotorto (
  Little Paulie Germani
  ) is promoted to the main cast and billed in the opening credits but only for this episode.
• "Walk Like a Man" is the directorial debut of Terence Winter, a Sopranos writer and producer since the second season, who also wrote this episode. Winter, along with creator David Chase is one of only two screenwriters on the show to have both written and directed a single episode at the same time.
• Georgie the bartender of Bada Bing! returns in this episode for a brief final appearance, despite having been severely abused by Tony in "Cold Cuts", which led to Georgie's resignation, and his insistence for Tony to stay away from him. He was apparently later reasoned with and convinced to come back after a pay-off from Tony.
• The scene where Christopher observes mobsters laughing in slow-motion and looks for Tony's reaction, in particular, is similar to the scene from "
  Feech La Manna
  's reaction. Both Tony and Christopher seem to look for how these important people genuinely value them in the difficult-to-fake situation of immediate laughter.

Connections to prior episodes

• Christopher and Paulie have feuded many times in the past, most notably in episodes "Fortunate Son" when Christopher became made, "Second Opinion" when Paulie harassed Christopher and sniffed Adriana's panties, "Pine Barrens" when they got lost in the woods, "The Strong, Silent Type" when Christopher's drug intervention took place, and "Two Tonys" when Christopher had to pay for Paulie's outrageous restaurant bills.
• Tony turns down Dr. Melfi's offer to recommend a therapist for A.J., saying her previous referral for Meadow was "incompetent," referring to the psychotherapist who encouraged her to take a gap year in college and go on a trip to Europe in "No Show".

Other cultural and historical references

• In the opening scene, Tony walks down the stairs singing about his "hands feeling like two balloons" from "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd
• At the start of the episode, A.J. is in the living room, watching a Tom and Jerry short, "Yankee Doodle Mouse" on TV.
• Carmela quotes to AJ from "In Memoriam A.H.H." by Alfred, Lord Tennyson: "better to have loved and lost".
• A.J. is watching the movie Annapolis when Tony comes downstairs at night.
• While A.J. is switching channels, Tony spots the John Wayne movie Hellfighters.
• Tony says A.J. could have died in
  Iraq
  (meaning he would have been old enough to be enlisted) when Carm protests about him going to a strip club.
• Before Christopher murders J.T. Dolan, Dolan is writing a script for Law & Order. Michael Imperioli starred in five episodes of that show in a recurring role as Detective Nick Falco.
• After Tony and A.J. arrive home to find Carmela and Meadow up, snacking, Carmela mentions that they stayed up to see Rachael Ray on Leno.
• Carmela reads Rebel-in-Chief by
  George W Bush
  .
• The guys joke about Christopher ordering a Lime Rickey non-alcoholic cocktail.
• Tony mentions the songs "Tears On My Pillow;" there are two different songs of this name, one by Little Anthony and the Imperials and one by Johnny Nash. He also mentions the Nat King Cole song "Mona Lisa."

Music

• Tony sings a few lines from "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd as he descends the stairs at the start of the episode.
• "White Flag" by Dido is playing at the pizza parlor when A.J. watches a couple kissing and breaks down in tears.
• The song playing while Tony is flirting with a stripper at the Bada Bing! is "
  Hot Chocolate
  .
• While Jason Parisi is talking to Tony at the Bada Bing!, "Body Burn" by Cubanate and "Supermassive Black Hole" by Muse are played.
• The song played at the first frat party is "Salt Shaker" by Ying Yang Twins featuring Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz.
• The song playing at the party when Jason Parisi tells AJ about the financial benefits to be had taking sports bets from fellow students, and as a stripper offers AJ a lapdance (which he accepts, albeit with a marked lack of enthusiasm) is "Y.U.H.2.B.M.2" by Whitey.
• The song playing in the VIP room of the Bing when Christopher reconciles with Paulie is "Mood Indigo", performed by Keely Smith.
• The song played at the second frat party is "Hand On the Pump" by Cypress Hill.
• As Christopher exits the bar,
  Walk On By
  " can be heard playing.
• Tony is listening to "Tom Sawyer", by Rush, as he arrives home from the bar.
• The song played over the end credits is "The Valley" by Los Lobos.

References

External links

• "Walk Like a Man" Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine at HBO
• "Walk Like a Man" at
  IMDb