Agreed. Rabin's style is not well-suited for this show.

Very flattering picture!
He looks so great and handsome!

Patsy is old. Not as old as Paulie, but one of the older guys in the Soprano family.

Margo Martindale
Was not in the last episode. That was episode 2, her scene with Loretta.

I listened, and all Chase says about that line is "She's pretty sure of herself." He then follows that up to say "She's put up with a lot from this guy; but, you know, you can see she does care."

Artie and Charmaine's reunion
They seemed happier together post-reunion, to me. There's a scene in "Luxury Lounge," which, even though they're arguing, feels very warm to me.

Hey Todd, I have to take issue. According to some quick research I just did, the season 2 premiere drew 7 and a half million viewers, and that same season's finale nearly 9 million. Yes, the numbers got even better in seasons 3 and 4, but it's silly to argue that the first couple seasons weren't a big, big deal for…

Four season plan?
"At this point in the series, Chase thought he'd be on the air for another season…"

What set up? Patsy never talked to the Feds in any episode, including this one.

Harry Price
Michael Badalucco is also Joseph Badalucco's brother, who played Jimmy Altieri in the first season of The Sopranos. I actually thought it was Joseph at first, considering the Sopranos connection and the fact that they look so similar.

I like Bugged Drug Deal
That is all.

Yeah, Chase was the voice of "God" in The Test Dream. Similarly, Terence Winter did the horse race announcing in Pie-O-My.

The acting writers:
David Chase had two silent cameos, in "Commendatori" and "Luxury Lounge."
Robin Green played a therapy patient in a group session with Melfi in season 5's "Two Tonys."
Mitchell Burgess played a poker player at one of Tony's games in "Sentimental Education," also in Season 5.
Terence Winter played Tom…

I think just that Tony would be in trouble over the airline tickets and would try to get in Livia's good graces so that she'd say what he wanted to the authorities.

That is a good breakdown, but I would say season 2 is more broadly about Tony as a brother (Big Pussy being a "brother"), and season 5 is about Tony as a leader. Otherwise, spot-on.