He Is Risen (The Sopranos)
| "He Is Risen (The Sopranos)" |
|---|
"He Is Risen" is the thirty-fourth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the eighth of the show's third season. It was written by Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess and Todd A. Kessler, directed by Allen Coulter and originally aired on Sunday April 15, 2001.
Guest starring roles
- Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
- Tom Aldredge as Hugh De Angelis
- Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile
- Jason Cerbone as Jackie Aprile, Jr.
- John Fiore as Gigi Cestone
- Robert Funaro as Eugene Pontecorvo
- Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore
- Annabella Sciorra as Gloria Trillo
- Suzanne Shepherd as Mary De Angelis
- Turk Pipkin as Aaron Arkaway
- Vincent Curatola as Johnny Sack
- Denise Borino as Ginny Sacramoni
- Peter Bogdanovich as Dr. Elliot Kupferberg
Episode recap
As Tony Soprano enters Dr. Melfi's office for his regular appointment, he learns that she accidentally double-booked. The other patient is an attractive woman—a fellow Italian-American -- named Gloria Trillo who works for Globe Motors, a Mercedes-Benz dealer. Tony is instantly intrigued by her personality and asks Dr. Melfi why she needs therapy, but Melfi reminds him that she cannot discuss other patients' problems with him.
Thanksgiving draws near, which is likely to bring animosity between several members of the family. Tony is still angered at Ralph Cifaretto over the incident involving Tracee, stating that he "disrespected the Bing" as well as himself and the organization. To add insult to injury, while gambling at the Bloomfield Avenue casino, Ralphie refuses to greet Tony, which is customary and is exercised all around them by the rest of Tony's crew. When Ralphie finally acknowledges Tony's presence, he does not accept Tony's offer to have a drink with him. Tony becomes extremely irritated over this show of disrespect, which can cause an "early retirement" for Ralphie. Tony, remembering that Ralphie and Ro are set to join them for Thanksgiving dinner, forces Carmela to lie to Ro, saying there will not be a Thanksgiving this year due to Carmela's father's poor health.
Ro believes the lie, but both mothers also notice the budding relationship between Meadow and Jackie Jr. Ro, recently widowed by the death of Jackie's father, formerly one of Tony's closest friends, thinks it is a wonderful idea for the two of them to date. However, Carmela is quite unsure, despite a significant history of friendship and mutual respect between the two families, and the fact that nearly everybody in their social network believe that Meadow and Jackie Jr. would be an ideal couple. Carmela subtly tries to avoid the relationship going any further. After Thanksgiving dinner, Jackie arrives at the Soprano house to invite Meadow to a movie. They end up in a parked car near Hunter Scangarelo's house where they make out, but Meadow warns Jackie that their relationship is unlikely to go anywhere at the moment. Days later, a very drunk Meadow steals Jackie's car keys while he is playing pool and runs to the parking lot. Jackie runs after her to prevent her from driving, but Meadow is already in the car. She then almost causes an accident and drives off of a ramp. Meadow is unharmed but Jackie's Chevrolet Cavalier is totaled. Jackie Jr. expresses what seems—at the very least to Meadow—to be a genuine realization of how traumatic it would be if Meadow were hurt or killed, and how he did not know what he would have done if that had happened. They are both shaken by how close they were to tragedy. Meadow then expresses that she wants to go with Jackie instead of being driven home.
Ralphie understands that Carmela's excuse for disinviting the Apriles to Thanksgiving dinner was an affront and expresses his dissatisfaction with Tony to fellow made men Eugene Pontecorvo and Vito Spatafore and even explains the situation to a curious Jackie, Jr. Livid and considering setting up a hit on Tony, he seeks the counsel of Johnny Sack, who explains the gesture of having Carmela call was "posturing" and "part of the game". He advises Ralphie to give Tony a believable and genuine apology since he was indeed disrespectful. Ralphie reluctantly agrees and proceeds to make his move. Sack informs Tony ahead of time but also to give something to Ralph in return. Johnny suggests elevating Ralph to the rank of capo but Tony refuses. Johnny calmly lies to the two stubborn infighters in an effort to achieve peace, which is strategically successful for a while. At Vesuvio, Ralphie approaches Tony while he's eating, but is not invited to sit while asked by Tony what he wishes to see him for. Ralphie does a complete mea culpa, humbly apologizing for all his past indiscretions including disrespecting Tony's request for a drink and killing Tracee. Ralphie ends up leaving just after Tony looks up at him from his plate of pasta and Tony asking him "Anything else?" just after apologizing without being offered anything from Tony. This infuriates him and he again approaches Johnny to tell him that he's ready to take out Tony.
Gigi Cestone, capo of the Aprile crew, meets with Tony and explains to him how Ralphie's driving ambition to unseat him combined the stresses of closing a contract and putting two kids through school is bothering him, but that he will not let affect his production. Silvio Dante comments to Tony that the weight of Gigi's responsibilities are driving him to an early grave and Junior Soprano tells him that, while Gigi is strong and capable, there is something about him that keeps him from being a great leader and he will constantly get undermined by his crew. Gigi enjoys turkey sandwiches at his business hangout with his crew sans Ralphie, despite having problems with his bowel. Enjoying Ralphie's absence, he relaxes and chats. Later that day, when Gigi is found dead on the toilet of a heart attack, Tony is pressed into the decision who to elevate to captain of the crew.
At Gigi's funeral, Tony scopes out his potential candidates: Vito, who is slovenly wiping the sweat off his face, Eugene, who is sleeping, Donny K., who is straightening out the ruffles in his tie, and Ralphie, who sits in the corner, tapping his cheek and ambitiously waiting for Tony. Tony is now free of making the decision of demoting Gigi, which Uncle Junior suggested and faced with the new one Silvio advised of giving Ralphie "a bump up" to captain, what he had always wanted. At another dinner in Vesuvio, Tony tells Ralph that he has been made captain. Ralphie is ecstatic but also wondering if Tony did this because "someone blew a gasket", or if he actually earned it by merit. Tony tells him to be happy with the decision and makes no further attempt to nurture Ralph's ego. Ralph then asks if he is going to join him for a drink but Tony gulps down the remainder of the drink he already had and exits.
Tony later visits Globe Motors and asks Gloria if she will accompany him on a test drive. They end up on Tony's boat, where it is implied that they have sex. Gloria is then forced to cancel her therapy and call Dr. Melfi to inform her, as she is beginning to run late. Dr. Melfi appears to hear a man's voice in the background.
First appearances
- Gloria Trillo: a therapy patient of Dr. Melfi's and a saleswoman at Globe Motors.
- Little Paulie Germani: Paulie Gualtieri's nephew and crew member.
- Aaron Arkaway: Janice's Christian boyfriend who suffers from narcolepsy.
Deceased
- Gigi Cestone: dies from complications of heart disease while on the toilet at the Aprile crew hangout.
Title reference
- Could be taken as an ironic reference to Gigi's death, or a more literal one to Ralphie's rise to captain.
- It is also a reference to Aaron, Janice's narcoleptic, evangelical boyfriend, who asks Jackie Jr. if he has heard "the good news, He is risen" (of Jesus Christ's resurrection).
Media references
- The deaths of Elvis Presley and Don Simpson. At the funeral of Gigi Cestone (who dies of heart failure while on the toilet), all are in agreement that Gigi's death, while natural, was arguably one of the most embarrassing ways to go. Anthony Soprano states that it's "..how Elvis went." Silvio Dante mistakenly replies, "That guy in Hollywood, too. 'Don' something. Producer of The Simpsons."
- When Tony gives up his therapy appointment to Gloria, she enters Dr. Melfi's office and the camera shows Tony looking into the office as Dr. Melfi shuts the door. This mirrors the last shot of The Godfather, with Kay Adams looking in on Michael Corleone as his associate shuts the door.
Production
- The voiceover on the Mercedes TV commercial, which Tony watches before going to bed with Carmela and which makes him think to Gloria (who works as a saleswoman for a company that sells the cars), is voiced by Joe Mantegna, who also voices mob boss Fat Tony on The Simpsons, as well as Joey Zaza in The Godfather Part III.
Music
- The song played over the end credits is "The Captain" by Kasey Chambers.
- When Ralphie turns his back on Tony at the casino, the song playing under the scene is "Black Hearted Woman" by The Allman Brothers Band. Prior to this, "Rag Doll" from The Four Seasons was heard. (Lead singer Frankie Valli would appear in this series later in its run.)
Additional
- In Gigi's funeral scene, his corpse can distinctly be seen taking two breaths.
