Tony Soprano's cousin Christopher and his associate Brendon Filone steal a Comely truck filled with DVD Players. Comely trucking we learn is strongly associated with Junior Soprano. At the Soprano house AJ tells the family that his teacher had his car stolen right from the school parking lot. Tony says he'll look into it. At the first mention of helping out, notice that Meadow heads out the door, being keenly aware not to be involved in her father's business dealings. At the Bada Bing (Tony's Strip Club/hangout) Tony berates Georgie the bartender for not knowing how to put a call on hold. Georgie then drops a call while trying to place it on hold, Tony continues to be irritated at his inability and he remembers that he needs to call his mother. Who places the phone down after answering to check on the mushrooms she's cooking in the kitchen. Livia becomes distracted by the black mail person across the street and notices a burning smell and the pan suddenly is on fire after she splashes water on it. She's able to follow Tony's instructions to put the fire out with the fire extinguisher, we see Carmela come to her aid escorting the fire department out of Livia's house. Carmela tries convincing her to go live at Green Grove retirement community, which she roundly rejects. At the first mention of making her some food, her face turns up at it. Carmela then offered her a place in her home, Livia rejects that as well.
Pussy Bonpensiero(Vincent Pastore) and Paulie(Tony Sirico) team up to find the stolen car tracking an employee of a Starbucks knockoff. The symbol of the coffee chain even says Tacoma/Seattle roasters. This is just one example of the great pop culture commentary on the corporate capitalist consumerism making a profit on the culture of other people. You used to have to go to a specialty shop to get things, now it's on every street corner. Being able to track down the coffee employee Sal and Paulie successfully break in to the thief's apartment and after a quick beatdown and bloodied nose the two men inside are threatened with pistol's to the face. The teacher's license plate leads them to a junk yard and it's sitting on the trunk of another car. Pussy lets them know they're going in to get the plate and then they'll hold one while the other boosts(steals) another car. The teacher's car ends back up in it's same spot the next morning to many bystander's amazement. AJ lets everyone know what a hero his dad is for being able to locate his teacher's car.
Tony is back in therapy discussing his mother, saying that Carmela is the reason she can't live at home with her son. Tony's mother has agreed to have a helper come in some days. We find that Tony has two sisters, but that they cut it off with their mother a long time ago. Melfi reflects that "So you're carrying all this guilt when you're mother has a hard time maintaining a relationship with anyone. You afford this little old lady an almost mystical ability to wreak havoc." Tony defends her by saying "Come on, she's a little old lady." Melfi asks "What were some of the good experiences you remember as a child, the loving, warm, ones?" Tony reflects on a memory where his father falls down the stairs and everyone laughed. That violence, is the clearest memory of being happy around his family all of them laughing. He can't come up with another memory. "Hey she's a good woman, she put food on the table every night. I'm the ungrateful fuck because I come here and I complain about her and let my wife exclude her from my home." He throws this back at the DR when he feels this guilt come to the surface.
Tony comes over to see his mother, meeting the new helper sent for his mother. He remarks to her that while she's here "No ganja on the job." The black woman looks embarrassed and annoyed at this assumption and casual racism. Livia tells Tony she doesn't need anyone Tony lets her know she is going to stay, she lets him know Junior is upset about the truck. Meeting outside of Satriale's Tony sits down with Junior and their collective boss Jackie Aprille (Michael Rispoli) they agree about Christopher kicking up to Junior to make restitution for the lost revenue from the DVD players. Again the use of the branding of DVD and being a major product at the time this was shot being a reference of consumable pop culture. The scene shot outside Satriale's where we first meet the family boss is so beautifully captured and the colors pop right off the screen. Junior remarks as Tony leaves to Jackie "A smoke he hires for his own mother." Tony says hello to Mikey Palmice joking around by breaking his balls a little bit but we can see he doesn't really like it. More annoyed than anything. There is a beautiful one shot of Tony, Christopehr, and Brendon walking into Satriale's complete with an entire table filled with freshly cut beef, it leads us into the backroom. While making an off color comment trying to boost Tony's ego, Brendon is sent flying through the backroom onto the table with the meat in the other room and sent tumbling. Christopher is told "Open the fuckin' door!" Christopher protests the kick up, but eventually concedes.
Tony's mother and Carmela's mother and father join the Soprano family at their home for dinner, before she can get there she ends up accidentally running over her neighbor she was giving a ride home during a moment of leaving the car in drive. Livia has a broken wrist from the experience, Tony remarks in therapy the next day. Melfi tells Tony she must be made to see the distinction of going to a retirement community that is cushy like Green Grove vs a nursing home. Tony is at his mother's home having some ham and peppers, Livia complains that Tony never lets her feed him, she continues to focus on giving things away, always focusing on her eventual death. Tony gets upset when he tries to explain this to his mother, but she keeps harping on her death. Tony nearly cries out that he can't stand "this black cloud anymore". Tony threatens to get power of attorney and force her to go to Green Grove, she then starts to cry because she was so hurt by what Tony had just said. Tony is registering his mother at Green Grove, the attending director trying her best to cheer up Livia is turned away at every attempt. Christopher and Brendan want to make up for the money they lost when they kicked it up to Junior so they plan to steal another truck. This is fine Italian Suits. Very easy money. Chrstopher decides against it at the last minute to respect the family and Brendan goes it alone. In the process he accidentally kills the driver and everyone scatters. Christopher gets ahold of Tony and they meet up to look at the haul and figure out the next course of action. Tony has them return the suits minus a rack or two, so mostly no harm no foul, minus a dead truck driver. Christopher is criticized because he stayed home and didn't do anything to stop it. Tony lets them know to leave the trucks alone or anything to do with his Uncle Junior.
Tony is shown going through his mother's house, the house he grew up in packing away old pictures of his mother. He has a panic attack, but is able to sit down in time not to collapse. Tony back in therapy explains what just happened. Melfi says this is an improvement, Tony responds "It's good that I'm sad I put my mother away?" Melfi says "Sad is good, unconscious isn't." Tony offers up the information that "She won't speak to me." Melfi "That is sad. But whose choice is that?" Tony responds "Well somehow that doesn't make it any better." Melfi says "Can you admit to yourself, that yes, you're sad, but you're very angry and full of rage." Tony states again "I'm sad." Melfi states "It's hard to admit that you might have feelings of hatred toward your own mother, isn't it?" Tony "You're out of your tree." Melfi says "Listen to me carefully, of course you love her, what I'm trying to say is own the anger, instead of displacing it otherwise it defines your life. It needs to be acknowledged." Tony storms out disgusted by the thought that he could ever hate his own mother. Back at The Bing, Tony is having a drink while Georgie is attempting to navigate a phone menu. Articulating almost every point gaining on Tony's short temper, as Georgie calls out hello continuously we see Tony's rage building. He beats Georgie over the had multiple times with the phone receiver and leaves the bar to the outside. The scene fades out as strippers dance in the background. Tony's inability to identify his own feelings about his mother led him to beat Georgie, as Melfi says he has to acknowledge it or it will control his life. We see that directly scene by scene here.
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