Yes, that intervention scene will forever be legendary. Just incredible from everyone involved. I always thought “The Strong, Silent Type” is named after Svetlana, who is the only woman who will not put up with Tony’s bullshit, has no interest in “propping him up”, has a serious disability that she never complains of…

Wanker Doof error of the week: The men were indicating that Sil would have been the likely one to be given the order to kill Ralph, not that he would kill Tony because of Ralphie.

Janice, right or not about Bobby letting go of Karen, is one of the most reprehensible, vicious, self-serving and amoral characters in the entire show (and she's intended to be, of course!)…which is certainly saying something in a TV show where a majority of the leading characters are animalistic psychopaths!! A…

One thing the show did brilliantly, I thought, was that despite being generally anticlimactic it gave us a series of increasingly frightening antagonists:

i guess he manuged to get the drop on her

So, you and Tony egg.

She offered to cook him eggs too! That of course was her biggest mistake in this world.

Nice set on her.

I think he's smarter than you, the way you keep shittin' on the test.

I think Artie's wife Charmaine is a pretty good example of an innocent,ethical person in the Soprano universe. And she manages it with a good deal of poise too.

yeah…. I love Christopher's take on foreign policy.

yeah I think Finn is actually hilarious and kind of an underrated character. He's the closest we get to a POV character for us as an audience.  He's kind of like how we would react in that situation.  Just like what the fuck.

I don't think she's innocent in real world terms. If most of us knew someone like Adriana, we'd think she was, at best, someone who needed serious psychological help. She's innocent in Sopranos terms, in that the show finds ways to let her off the hook when it wants to.

Never thought of that, but I still don't think that's the case. I don't like going off into "off camera" moments, but I suppose maybe the two Tonys were bullshitting about it and Tony dismissed Tony B's logic. I'd say that happened right before Christopher storms the Bing.

That interpretation was definitely "in the air" (or "on the message boards") back when this episode first ran, and I think it's entirely correct.  If the two Tonys hadn't worked it out in advance, how would Tony S. even know what (Tony B.'s) "my way" was?

I was typing much the same thing between when I first loaded the page and when you posted this message.  To build on what you've written, I would argue that the world Chase creates is one which is almost entirely devoid of innocence—even the kids are all stupid and mean.

The way he steps in and urges Tony to "try it my way," had me thinking the Two Tonys had discussed the plan to consult the physician — and maybe even set it up so that T could show the full force of his mettle to Chris, before Tony B would step in and play "good cop" with a solution.

GABAGOOL! MOOTZARELL!

Svetlana
Easily one of my favorite minor characters, if not my absolute favorite. The actress who plays her is obviously beautiful, but she plays a bone-deep Eastern European weariness masterfully.

Disgusting.