4x05 Pie-O-My

A boy and his horse. Tony Soprano actually loves something. That's too critical, probably. He certainly loves his kids, even if he shows it in weird ways. And he loves Carmella, though not necessarily romantically at this point. But his love for the horse is uncomplicated. He sees something and feels connected to it. Though it's likely blind luck, he predicts how the horse should race, and paying the vet falls to him, furthering his many tensions with Ralphie. But when he sits in that stable, and tells Pie-O-My, along with her goat friend, that things will be alright, it's sweet.

Janice's moves on Bobby Bacala are not nearly as sweet. Don't get me wrong, I love the character of Janice; even I think she's often a terrible person, she's an entertaining character, but the way she worms her way into Bobby's life. Yeesh, no scruples that one. Though Bobby himself has a great scene where we finally get to see him as more than Junior's bumbling gopher, when he intimidates the union leader. Portends interesting things.

Otherwise this was a pretty steady episode. The story of Carmella's worries about the family's financial future and her tension with tony continues apace. There's certainly an interesting contrast in how Tony is willing to put money into the horse and gamble in a way he's hesitant to do with his wife. Adrianna's plot with the FBI thickens a bit, though it's just another shade of the Big Pussy story so I haven't been terribly compelled by it yet. Granted, it's different that Pussy's storyline because she's on the outside looking in at the mob, and Christopher treats her terribly so you actually root for her to get out, but it still feels a little underdone somehow. Junior's still an SOB.