Another Toothpick

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“Another Toothpick”
The Sopranos episode

Episode no.	Season 3 Episode 31
Guest stars	see below
Written by	Terence Winter
Directed by	Jack Bender
Production no.	305
Original airdate	March 25, 2001 (HBO)
Episode chronology
← Previous	Next →
"Employee of the Month"	"University"
Episode chronology

"Another Toothpick" is the 31st episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. It was the 5th episode for the show's third season. The episode was written by Terence Winter and was directed by Jack Bender. It originally aired on Sunday March 25, 2001.

1 Guest Starring roles
2 Episode recap
3 Deceased
4 Title reference
5 Trivia

[edit] Guest Starring roles

Jason Cerbone as Jackie Aprile, Jr.
Peter Riegert as Ronald Zellman
Vince Curatola as Johnny Sack
Charles S. Dutton as Officer Leon Wilmore
Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore
Paul Schulze as Father Phil Intintola
Kathrine Narducci as Charmaine Bucco
Suzanne Shepherd as Mary De Angelis
Tom Aldredge as Hugh De Angelis
Matt Servitto as Agent Harris
Frank Pellegrino as Bureau Chief Frank Cubitoso
Brian Tarantina as Mustang Sally
Burt Young as Bobby Bacala, Sr.
Robert Funaro as Eugene Pontecorvo
John Fiore as Gigi Cestone

[edit] Episode recap

As they have their first therapy session with Dr. Melfi together, Tony remains quiet throughout the whole session while Carmela asks Melfi questions. Melfi then asks if Tony has been telling Carmela about any of the origins of his "root causes". Carmela tends to forget, which forces Tony to remind her of the cappicola from Satriale's. Carmela then asks Dr. Melfi why she has not helped him with the therapy since he is still passing out on a regular basis. She then yells "maybe it's because you stick your dick into anything that has a pulse, can that be considered that a root cause". When Melfi says she notices tension, Tony sarcastically remarks "you must have been at the top of your fucking class".

After the session is over, Tony drives Carmela home who is in tears. Tony continues to speed the car in frustration and is pulled over by a police officer. Tony automatically senses there is going to be trouble just by the cop's appearance and body language. Tony tries to be friendly and comical but Tony resists, as he is so naturally inclined as an alpha male a position of such prominence as he is. Tony does finally turn the engine off after the police officer requests for backup on the radio, then makes a bigoted comment to Carmela saying "I can't believe this smoke is writing me up." while the officer walks away. The dispatch is cancelled when Tony reluctantly gives in. The officer then writes Tony a ticket and sends him off.

Tony then gets in touch with his government contact Assemblyman Ronald Zellman about the situation. Zellman says he will look into the situation and take care of it. Days after, when Tony goes to purchase a few items at a garden / nursery store, he sees his "cop friend" selling pots. Tony goes up to him and becomes very sarcastic. Leon tells him he was sacked from his job thanks to him. Tony tells Leon he had nothing to do with his sacking. He later calls Zellman who informs Tony that Officer Willmore was let go because he had issues within the force. This relieves Tony, but he asks if he can have his job back. Later when meeting with Zellman, Tony tells Zellman to forget it since he got what he deserved. Zellman also mentions that Leon has been thought to be battling depression or other mental illness, and Tony seems to briefly give the issue some thought and seemingly has some sympathy for the Officer.

Meanwhile, after attending a funeral for Carmela's uncle, Tony meets up with Bobby Bacala and his father Bobby, Sr. Tony then learns that Bobby, Sr. has lung cancer and has trouble breathing. When Vito Spatafore's cousin Bryan is sent to the hospital after being clubbed by a thug Mustang Sally, Bobby Sr. agrees to do the hit since he is his godfather. Bobby Bacala is afraid of this because of his father's health and asks Junior to convince Tony to get someone else. Bobby Bacala wants to do the hit and proceeds to visit Mustang Sally's house in Staten Island. After manipulating Sally into getting him a glass of water, Bobby Sr. comes up from behind and shoots him in the ear. They then fight and Bobby shoots Sally and his friend Carlos. Bobby then takes Sally's cigarettes and smokes them in the car. After he drops his inhaler, he cannot breathe and loses control of the car, crashing into a pole.

Bobby Bacala is extremely upset which causes Junior to first ask how exactly he was killed, prompting Bobby to reply that "with all due respect Junior," it doesn't really matter either way. Corrado then unleashes his fury by breaking a lamp and picture frames. Junior then tells Tony at Dr. Schreck's office that he has cancer. He asks Tony not to tell anyone and is visibly scared. Tony tells Janice and they both meet at Livia's for a drink and discuss Janice's new found religion.

During an argument in the Soprano household between Tony and Meadow about Tony's racial beliefs, Meadow picks up the lamp that was holding the bug planted by the FBI to her dorm at Columbia, claiming the halogen lights make her sick.

Artie Bucco is upset when he learns that Adriana is leaving her post as hostess at Nuovo Vesuvio now that Christopher is earning more money. He then humiliates Christopher in front of Tony which causes a fight, which Tony breaks up. Artie tells Tony that he is in love with Adriana, but Tony tells him to sober up and never utter those words again. He tells Artie he has a proposal for him, which they talk about the next day. Tony proposes that he and Artie go into business together selling Italian food products. Charmaine is against this since they should not be doing business with a mobster. After an argument in the restaurant, Charmaine threatens divorce, and Artie scoffs. Angered by the exchange, Charmaine tells him the marriage is over, and that he should not to expect custody of the children. Artie later has an awkward dinner with Adriana. Even though she attended the dinner without telling Christopher--ostensibly because it was a "going away" dinner--she soon realizes that Artie is interested after he repeatedly attempts to hold her hand and suggests that she is not ready for marriage.

It is also revealed that Uncle Junior holds the superstitious belief that "these things come in threes," pertaining to events such as the recent deaths of Febby, whose funeral and another extended family member who had just recently succombed to death. He most likely felt that his good friend Bobby Bacala Sr had just taken Corrado's place in death, and maybe felt pangs of guilt.

[edit] Deceased

Febby Viola: died of cancer; Carmela's uncle
Mustang Sally: shot on orders by Tony Soprano and Gigi Cestone
Carlos: Mustang Sally's friend who was shot for being a witness to his murder
Bobby Bacala, Sr.: cause unknown; either from cancer (though it may have been Emphysema, as Janice says that Bobby "always had a sweet man for a father, even when he had emphysema") or the collision into the sign on the side of the street.

[edit] Title reference

Janice claims that Livia often said this when a person was about to die of cancer because of the emaciated appearance that comes with metastatic illness.