With the 18th pick in the 1980 NHL entry draft the Boston Bruins selected Barry Pederson. Considering that he went on to have the 10th most career NHL points from that draft, it would be safe to assume that the Bruins got value out of this draft pick.  That, my friend would be the understatement of the NHL century. Some Bruins fans may lament the the trade of Joe Thornton. He was the former #1 Pick and corner stone of the franchise. Reluctant to sign Jumbo Joe to a jumbo sized contract after years of coming up small in the playoffs, the Bruins shipped him to San Jose for what really was pennies on the dollar*. More seasoned Bruins fans remember the Bruins making a similar trade, only being on the other side. In a trade that is widely considered one of the greatest thefts in NHL history, the Bruins traded Pederson to the Vancouver Canucks for Cam Neely and Vancouver’s first round pick in the 1987 NHL draft.

A little bit of background on the deal, Barry Pederson was an offensive dynamo for the Bruins,  in his first 3 full seasons he played 237 games, scored 129 goals along with 186 assists. Pederson had some back luck with a tumor on his shoulder that cost him a vast majority of the ’84-85 season. He bounced back with a respectable season in ’85-86, but the Bruins were wary of his future. Vancouver, in desperate need for a true scorer made the aforementioned, and the rest is history.

Really, this was highway robbery. Pederson only lasted 4 seasons with the Canucks, and was never the same player. Neely blossomed into a star, and to boot… the Canucks pick turned into the #3 pick in the draft. The funny thing is, they were a mere 2 points ahead of the Buffalo Sabers and the New Jersey Devils for the worst record and what could have been the #1 pick. Just to digress for a second, the prize of the 1987 NHL entry draft was Pierre Turgeon. While Turgeon turned out to be a fine NHL player (a bit of a understatement, he was superb on offense), he was considered to be the next great player going into the draft. They hype around him (and remember, this was pre-internet) was equal to that of Sydney Crosby. Had the Bruins landed him, who knows what would have come (can you imagine him and Neely?). With the #3 pick the Bruins took Glen Wesley, who was an excellent 2 way defenseman who helped the Bruins go to the Stanley Cup finals twice.

There, done…Neely and Wesley for Barry Pederson. For a player who’s best days were behind him, the Bruins got a franchise icon and a very solid player. I have never met a Canucks fan, but I would assume that they are pretty bitter over this. Yet, if we continue to peel away, the Bruins would reap even more reward form this already one-sided trade.

You see, in 1994, the Bruins traded Glen Wesley to the Hartford Whalers (R.I.P.) for 3 first round picks (’95,’95′,97).

In 1995, with the 9th pick acquired from the Whalers, the Bruins selected Kyle McLaren. Solid, one way defenseman, traded to San Jose in 2003 (after a bitter contract dispute) for a pair of Jeffs, Hackett and Jillson. The next season, the Bruins traded Jeff Jilson back to San Jose for Brad Boyes. Boyes was a nice goal scorer, who the Bruins surprisingly traded, after scoring 26 goals for them in ’05-06 to St. Louis for Dennis Wideman. This one was a real head scratcher, as the Bruins lacked goal scorers, and Boyes  had shown quite a bit of skill. Still, the Bruins said that they needed a puck moving defenseman and to be honest, in the ’06-07 season, they sucked. Now at first this trade looked like a big mistake, as Boyes went on to score plenty of goals in STL, but in ’08-09 Wideman had a fantastic season (as did most of the Bruins), but then took a big step back the next season. Going into the 2010 NHL draft, the Bruins had the #2 pick from Toronto as a part of the Phi Kessel trade (a future column?). A couple days before the draft, the Bruins shipped Wideman and their own first round pick #15 to Florida for Nathan Horton and Gregory Campbell.  As of right now, that one looks like another gem for the Bruins.

Now, on to the 1996 pick, #8 in the draft, the Bruins took Johnathan Aitken. This one did not turn out to well. Aitken would go on to play 44 games in his NHL career (3 with the Bruins) and get a grand total of 1 assist. Let’s move on…

With the 1997 pick, #8 overall (so the Bruins got 3 top 1o picks for Wesley) the Bruins took Sergei Samsonov (the Bruins also had the #1 pick in the draft from a result of them sucking, and took Joe Thornton… who there is still more to come on).  Here is where I need to take a brief turn and discuss another phenomena, sports cards. In the early 1990′s the industry took off.  New brands were popping up every year, and each brand would cover each sport and put out multiple different brands within the brand. It was a crazy time I tell you. The corollary effect of this was, kids were being somewhat educated on the upcoming prospects. This was a big deal because Hockey players were flooding over from Europe and the only way us young fans learned about them was from their cards (and Beckett). Samsonov was one of the most hyped guys. For some reason, he played a season in the IHL (abnormal for a Russian prospect) and got lots of American press for the year leading up to the draft. When the Bruins netted the two most talked about prospects, thousands of boston area kids dished out all of their allowance in an attempt to get Thornton and Samsonov cards. Needless to say, it seemed that the Bruins had drafted what would be their goal scoring future. Samsonov was undersized, but very skilled. He went on to win the Calder Trophy, while Thornton took more time to develop. Samsonov was a fan favorite, and he scored goals reasonably well, but the Bruins were going nowhere and he was traded to Edmonton in 2006 for Marty Reasoner, Yan Stastny and the Oilers second round pick in 2006 NHL draft.

With the 50th pick in the 2006 NHL draft, the pick acquired in the Samsonov deal, the Boston Bruins selected…. wait for it…..

Milan Lucic.

To recap.. the Bruins traded Barry Pederson for….

Franchise Icon, and current team President, Cam Neely and 7 quality season of Glen Wesley.

Wesley became 3 top 10 picks that eventually spawned current Bruins Nathan Horton, Gregory Campbell and Milan Lucic.

Now that is what you call, return on investment.

*the Thornton trade, in return for him the Bruins got Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau and Brad Stuart. They traded Stuart  (who was never going to re-sign with Boston when his contract was up) and Primeau to Calgary for Chuck Kobasew and Andrew Ference. The Bruins flipped Kobasew to the Wild for Alexander Fallstrom (?), Wild 2nd round pick in 2011 (who knows?) and Craig Weller. The Bruins sent Weller along with Byron Bitz and a 2nd round pick to Florida for Dennis Seidenberg, Matt Bartkowski. So in the end, directly and indirectly the Bruins did end up with 2 of their 6  current defensemen for Thornton. Not exactly Neely, Horton, Campbell and Lucic..but not nearly as bad as we originally thought after the deal.

Evander Holyfield, 1962. He must get a plethora of gifts with his 37 children.

Jon Favreau, 1966. “Couples Retreat” was a mistake big guy.

Chris Kattan, 1970. The king of laughing at himself on SNL.

Keith Foulke, 1972. The uncrowned MVP of the 2004 World Series. Never gets the proper credit for all he did in 2004 for the Red Sox. I appreciate you buddy.

Michael Young, 1976. Keep up the good work, beat the Yankees.

Oh and one more person……

Me. 34.

I don’t think either one is better, in fact the result is the same. However, I truly love the called third strike. I guess there is something about fooling the guy SOO badly that he doesn’t even swing. Of course, it is almost as cool when the batter swings at a pitch that dives out of the strike zone. So for me, the art of making it look like it is going to be a ball, is much cooler than the art of making it look like it is going to be a strike.

It’s great when you see a guy way behind of 100MHP heat, but I would rather see knees buckle at the sight of uncle charlie.

Just my preference. What is yours?

I have to say, I was SHOCKED when I heard the news that the Patriots were in trade talks with the Vikings over Randy Moss. Logic would seem to be that  IF the Patriots wanted to trade Moss, it would have happened before the season started. Now Patriot fans are left wondering what the hell is going on. One thing I know is that Bill Belichick knows more about football than I do. However, I like to pretend like I know something, so let’s take a look at the “action and reaction” of the Moss trade.

#1- Regardless of what happens, the Patriots got very little in return. Assuming the Vikings improve with Moss, the pick is likely to be in the lower half of the 3rd round. The Patriots also gave the Vikings a 7th round pick, but that is pretty much a throw away (especially with the amount of picks the Patriots have in the upcoming draft).

#2- The prevailing logic from NFL analysts is that opposing teams will no longer have to worry as much about the deep threat. This will allow them to play more men in the box, and in theory will crowd things for Welker et al. I agree with this, however there is a flip side to that coin. Perhaps having Moss draw double coverage was preventing the Patriots from going deep. It seems as if almost every deep ball was thrown to Moss, ergo every deep ball was thrown into double coverage. Perhaps having teams tighten up on the short stuff will in fact open up the long ball for someone like Brandon Tate. This is wishful thinking at best. Sure it’s possible Tate is ready to step up, but this is a question mark, AT BEST.

#3- What does Tom Brady think about this? One would think that the Patriots would not make this deal without his blessing. Is this going to motivate him, or is he going to revert to 2006 Brady. Remember, in ’06 Brady routinely pouted and yelled when Caldwell dropped balls. I really hope Brady was on board with this trade, maybe he sees things in the rest of the receiving corps that can be better exploited without Moss on the field. Does Hernandez move out wide? Will the Patriots play with both Welker and Edelman? The Patriots have a bye week, so it seems safe to assume that their offense could have several new “looks” when they next take the field.

#4- Everyone is talking about Tate as the guy who steps in, but I think it could actually be Gronkowski who sees more action. I may be wrong, but it seems as if he has only seen action in goal line and short yardage situations. Gronk can block and catch, does this mean less Crumpler? Algee is pretty much a roving blocker, without Moss, can the Patriots afford to have a non-catching entity out there?

#5- There is more to this story than meets the eye. Now it is coming out that Moss had an altercation with QB Coach Bill O’Brien, I am sure there has to be more than that. Of course, BB runs a tight ship and it will take a while for the real story to come out. I refuse to believe that this is a knee-jerk reaction to a conflict with a coach. There has to be more.

#6- The Patriots trade Moroney, and the next week, Faulk gets injured. What are the odds a WR goes down in the next game? I say about 75%.

#7- The Patriots need help on defense, maybe with all those draft picks they can make a trade for some defensive help. I think that would be a good idea. Teams like Buffalo, Detroit, and Carolina are pretty much toast. I am sure there is a player on one of those teams that could help the Pats. I don’t see the Bills doing business in the division, but a team like the Panthers may be prime to get a pick back.

#8- All this talk that the Patriots want to go back to 01-04 style of play is nonsense, back then the defense was a strength. Right now, this defense is questionable. I believe that they can improve, but it’s going to take time. Patriots schedule is brutal, these guys are going to need to improve on the fly. The offense needs to be able to more than carry their load. Is it possible that the Patriots don’t want to have a lot of big plays because they need their offense on the field as long as possible? So, if they aren’t going to use Randy, might as well dump him? This at least seems logical.

#9- The Patriots play the Vikings on Halloween. I hope Randy gets the runs and misses the game.

#10- Randy Moss may have dogged it on plays, his hands may not be as good as they once were… but the guy is still a total threat. Belichick has proven time and time again that he knows what he is doing. Of course, lately, he has had more misses than hits. This move is really going to test the fans faith. Win and people won’t care at all. Loose, and loose because the offense isn’t effective, and I think this will be the biggest strike against Belichick in his Patriots tenure.

I did my best to narrow the list down to 10, but I couldn’t omit two extra episodes from the conversation. So this is really a top 12, but for search-able reasons (you know, people dont search top 12, 10 seems to be the number), I have 10, and 2 runners up. Also, this is just my opinion, if you are a Sopranos buff, you may have a completely different list. However, this is my list.

Runner up #2- Commendatori Season 2, Episode 4 (#17)

Why I love it- This is the episode where Tony goes to Naples to meet with the local mafia about importing stolen cars. There is some great interaction with Paule Walnuts and the local mafioso who view him as a buffoon (they laugh at him when he tries to order some pasta with “gravy”). Clearly the New Jersey mobsters are fish out of water in the old country. While the guys are in Italy, Carmela and the ladies are doing their thing, and at a lunch, Angie Bonpensiero lets the ladies in on the secret that she wishes her husband (Big Pussy) had never returned. She tells them that her heart sank when she heard Pussy come come in the door for the first time. The wives of the gangsters are not ignorant to their husbands antics, but I am pretty sure this is the first time that one of them talks about it openly. What makes this episode great for me is the use of music. Two times during the episode when you are seeing Carmela, you here “Con te partiro” in the background. It is such a beautiful song, but of course it is Italian. The English translation is “time to say goodbye”, very apropo. In the future, Carmela will toil with why she stays with Tony in spite of his philandering. At the very end of the episode, when Tony comes home, Carmela hears him enter and the song plays for the third time in the episode as it fades to credits. Of course the insinuation is that she feels the same way as Angie did when Pussy came home. Of course, it takes a while for Carmela to say goodbye, but this is the start, and a really effective use of music as an enhancer.

Runner up #1- The Strong Silent Type Season 4, Episode 10 (#49)

Why I love it- For me, this episode comes down to one scene, the intervention for Christopher. Maybe one of the best scenes in the shows history. Silvia and Paulie, not know for being gentle are both abrupt and short with Christopher. It comes out that Christopher accidentally killed Aidriana’s dog, Tony (still emotional after the death of Pie-O-My), loose it. When Christopher calls his mother a whore, Sil and Paulie can take it no more and beat the crap out of him. It Sopranos comedy at its best.

Now for the official “Top 10″

#10-Soprano Home Movies Season 6, Part 2, Episode 1 (#78)

Why I love it- Great episodes and season 6 don’t usually fall in the same category, but this one does stand out to me. At the time, Tony was just fully recovered from his shooting, and his world was really starting to change. Tony and Carmela go up to visit Bobby and Janice at their lake cabin in upstate NY. At one point, Tony and Bobby B. are relaxing on his boat when Tony brings up the fact that Bobby has never “popped his cherry” aka kill someone. Up to this point, Bobby has always been the one good guy in the Soprano crime family. At first, Tony sees him as a joke, and his duties are to keep track of Junior. However as time goes on, Bobby becomes more of a serious player. Marrying Janice obviously puts Tony in the position to take care of Bobby, but at the same time, it takes him a while to believe in him. Later, during a booze fueled game of Monopoly, Tony can’t help himself from making snide comments to Janice. This is not the first time he has done this in Bobbys presence, but this is the first time Bobby takes action. The two have a huge brawl with Bobby getting the best of Tony. Tony has a hard time dealing with the defeat, and with Tony, you never know how he is going to re-act. In this case, Tony’s solution is to give Bobby a hit. It’s quite the malevolent decision, Tony can’t kill Bobby because he is his brother in law, but instead he is going to dam him. Bobby looses his innocence and from this episode on, Bobby is no longer the innocent of the family. It really is powerful stuff as throughout the series, Bobby is the one guy that you can’t hate. What this episode really proves, is that no matter what the situation, Tony finds a way to come out on top. Tony looses a fight, Bobby looses his soul.

#9- The Happy Wanderer Season 2, Episode 6 (#19)

Why I love it- This episode is best remembered for the executive card game that gets played (with Frank Sinatra Jr. in attendance), but it’s an early peek into Tony’s moral compass. At a school event, Tony bumps into an old high school friend David, who also happens to be the father of Meadows classmate and friend. David is in debt with Richie Aprile (Tony’s growing nemesis), but he finds his way to the executive card game. At first, Tony does not want to let him play, because he really doesn’t want his friend (non-mafia) to be in debt. However, it doesn’t take much for David to talk his way in. Of course David looses $45,000 when all is said and done. With no way to come up with the cash, David gives Tony his sons car (Meadows friend) as a down payment. Tony in all his glory then give Meadow the car. Of course, she is none to happy to be receiving her friends car. What I love is this is an early glimpse into how Tonys mind works. He sees no wrong in what he has done. This is the earliest episode on the list (none from season 1 make my top 10, er 12).

#8- All Happy Families…. Season 5, Episode 4 (#56)

What I love- There are two great things in this episode. Number one thing that was Sopranos comedy at its finest.  At this point, Carmela and Tony are separated, and AJ treats Carmela with utter disdain. To try and curry favor with the brat, Carmella lets him have a night in NYC with his friends, on the condition that he spend the night at Meadow’s apartment. Of course he lies to her and spends the night drinking and smoking weed with his buddies in a hotel. When he wakes up, after not returning any of his mothers calls, he is super glued to the carpet of the hotel with his eyebrows shaved. Carmela in a panic calls Tony to find him, moments later AJ arrives home, sans eye brows. He tells Carmela to “fuck off” and goes to his room. When Tony arrives, he takes one look at his son, but can’t figure out what is wrong with him. It’s Tony at his finest, he loves his family, but details aren’t his strong suite. After BS’ing his way out of trouble, Carmela has had enough and tells AJ to go live with his father. The second great part of this one is Tony’s dealing with recently paroled gangster Feech La Manna. Season 5 starts with the news that many of the old-time gangsters are being paroled from their early ’80s convictions. I loved this reasoning for introducing new characters as it made sense. Feech was a gangster from Tony’s fathers era who started stepping on toes of other guys business interests despite Tony’s warnings. As a gesture of good faith, Tony gives Feech run of one of his casinos. While at the Casino one night, Tony tells a mundane joke and everyone erupts in laughter. Everyone, that is except Feech (though he is in the background). Later, when Tony and Carmela are having a verbal joust, she calls him out that he has no friends. She tells him that it is fear, not friendship he has with his associates. This causes Tony to reflect on the joke at the casino and then he realizes that Feech was not laughing, there for he does not fear Tony. Not wanting to upset his men, Tony elects to set up Feech for a parole violation rather than killing him. Also, the episode has a great ending with Carmela, all alone in the house. It’s perhaps the first time since the separation that she may doubt the decision to separate.

#7- Everybody Hurts Season 4, Episode 6 (#45)

What I love- As mentioned in the previous episode, Tony does not have many friends. Artie Bucco is probably the closest thing he has to a friend, and even that relationship is dysfunctional. Tony and Artie were childhood friends, and both followed their fathers’ career path. Artie owns Nuovo Vesuvio, the restaurant that all the Sopronos “Family” regularly frequent. Artie gets approached about a business venture by his hostesses brother, but he needs money. Artie first goes to Ralph Cifaretto for the loan, but Ralphie won’t lend him the money. He knows that if Artie doesn’t pay him back, he won’t be able to “collect” because of Tony’s relationship with Artie. Tony gets word that Artie is looking for a loan and is insulted that Artie wouldn’t come to him. Of course, Tony loans him the money, and of course Artie gets screwed. Artie tries to be a tough guy and collect but instead gets his ear ring ripped out for his troubles. This leads Artie to take an overdose of sleeping pills, then he makes a tearful call to Tony. Tony calls 911, then meets Artie at the hospital. He lets Artie off, informing him to tell people he was mugged, so as not to loose face. Artie then asserts that Tony saw the lone as a no win situation, and he resents Tony for taking advantage of him. While it is true, Tony would not have let anyone else off the hook like he did Artie. In the future the two would have their ups and downs, but in the Sopranos universe, Artie is really Tony’s only friend.

#6- Employee of the Month Season 3, Episode 4 (#30)

What I love- I am not a big fan of Tony’s psychiatrist Jennifer Melfi, but this is her episode. Lorraine Bracco really puts on a show stealing performance. In the episode, Dr. Melfi is raped in a parking lot. When she returns home, she finds out that the perpetrator got let off on a legal technicality. This all leads up to the final scene, while in therapy with Tony, she gets startled when something in her office falls. She had told Tony that she was in a car accident, but he sees her shaken and gets up to comfort her. This alone is a big thing as Melfi likes to keep roles defined and the doctor/patient relationship is something she takes very seriously. So as Tony comforts her, she tells him to get back to his seat. Tony persists, and at that moment, EVERY SINGLE VIEWER IS YELLING AT THE SCREEN… TELL HIM!!!!!!!!!!!! You really want to see her use Tony to gain revenge, you know that if she tells Tony what really happened to her, Tony will extract extreme revenge. He finally says,”do you want to tell me something?” After a pause of merely seconds, she says no. Fade to black, end of episode. It really is some great acting because the viewer wants her to use Tony for justice, something that the legal system has failed to deliver.

#5- Who Ever Did This Season 4, Episode 9 (#48)

What I love- This is the episode when Tony kills Ralph Cifaretto. Tony and Ralphs relationship is always contentious, but this is when Tony snaps. While not admitting to it, Tony believes that Ralph started the stable fire that killed Pie-O-My (the horse that was owned by Ralph, but commandeered by Tony). One thing about Tony, throughout the entire show, he loves animals, but he doesn’t just kill Ralphie over the horse, it’s a combination of everything that Ralphie has done up to this point (involvement with NY, the killing of the stripper at the Badda Bing). Tony is not immune to loosing his temper, but this is probably the most angry he every gets. The entirety of this episode probably isn’t worthy of top 10 inclusion, but I just can’t help myself. It is certainly one of the most memorable, highlighted when Christopher goes to cut off Ralphies head, only to pull off his toupee. This episode also has great significance because it’s the first time Tony kills one of his own without “just cause”. This is one of the great mysteries in the Sopranos, as the only people who know about what happened to Ralphie are Tony and Christopher. The blame is laid on NY, but there are whispers in the Soprano crew that Tony did in fact whack Ralphie. The ramifications (which never come to fruition) are that Tony doesn’t protect his guys, and at the time of the episode, you did not know how the rest of the crew would react.  Lastly, Joe Pantoliano needs to be recognized for his portrayal of the amoral, Ralph Cifaretto. Without a doubt, Ralphie  is one of the best characters on the show, ever.

#4- Amour Fou Season 3, Episode 12 (#38)

What I love- Two big things in this episode. First is Tony end his relationship with his comari Gloria. Out of all of his mistresses, Gloria and Tony have the most intense relationship. Tony met her in Melfi’s office, so they shared the therapy thing. She was Italian, self sufficient and drop dead gorgeous. However, she was a loony tune extraordinaire. When realizing that Tony is in fact dumping her, she provokes him to kill her. Only the realization that she wants to be killed, makes Tony stop. The second, and by far and away best part of this episode is when Jackie Aprile Jr (at this point, Meadow’s boyfriend) tries to become big time. After his step father, Ralph Cifaretto tells him the story about how Tony and Jackie Sr took down Feech La Manna’s card game back in the day, and that was how they made their names. Jackie and his friends think its a good idea to do the same, figuring that because of who his father is, he will be let off for the crime. Unfortunately, things don’t go well and they end up botching the robbery of card game run by, Ralph. Here is the brilliance of the episode. Recently, Tony had reluctantly made Ralph boss of his crew (by default), so as boss, he charges Ralph with the task of dealing with Jackie Jr’s fate. This is machiavellian Tony at his finest. By passing the no-win decision on to Ralph, he gets to wash his hands of deciding Jackie Jr’s fate. Ralph of course is left with two choices, kill his step-son or let him off and have the entire crew loose respect for him. This is probably one of Tony’s most shrewd decisions in the history of the show.

#3- Whitecaps Season 4 Episode 13 (#52)

What I love- The season 4 finale is the longest episode of the Sopranos, it is also Eddie Falco’s finest performance. After agreeing to purchase a luxurious beach house things with Tony and Carmela seem to be good. A few days later Carmela receives a phone call from Irina, Tonys ex-come. Now Carmela knew about Irina, but she is informed that Tony has had sex with Svetlana (the one legged care giver first for Tony’s mother, then Uncle Junior). When Tony comes home to his stuff being thrown out the window, he has no idea why. Carmela at first says it’s the fact that Irina even called the house. However, the truth comes out in their heated argument that is the fact that he had sex with Svetlana, someone Carmela knew and liked. Carmela is not ignorant to Tony’s philandering, but her self image is shattered when she finds out he had sex with a cripple. It’s funny that she can deal with him having sex with younger, more attractive girls, but she realizes that it’s not about that for Tony. He will have sex with whoever he wants, and she reaches her breaking point. Really, this is Eddie Falco at her finest. You feel her pain. Also in this episode, Tony wants to get out of the arrangement to buy the house, but the owner is reluctant to let him out of the agreement without penalty. As revenge, Tony gets a couple of his guys to park his boat out in front of the house owner and blasts Dean Martin music. Another funny thing is, that Tony not only screws him on the house, but the guy also gives him the best legal advice (to meet with all the top divorce lawyers to eliminate them for Carmela). Still, the lasting impressions of this episode is Carmela.

#2- Marco Polo Season 5, Episode 8 (#60)

What I love- I am not sure this episode would be on many peoples top 10 list, let alone #2, but I love this episode. It centers around a (ruined) surprise 75th birthday party for Carmela’s father, Hugh. With Tony and Carmela being separated, she asks Tony to not come to the party. He tries to play it off like he is OK with it, but you can tell he is deeply hurt. Eventually at Hugh’s insistence Tony is invited, the man of the house should be present. When Tony arrives at the party, Hugh immediately lights up.  Carmela’s parents opinion of Tony is never really discussed, clearly they know he is a gangster. Carmelas mother is more offended by Tonys manners, than she is his profession. Hugh is smitten with his sun-in-law, and Tony truly cares about him. This episode highlights Tony as a father and as a husband (even though they are separated). One thing you can not doubt about Tony is his love for his children. When it comes to AJ and Meadow, Tony almost always does right by them (as opposed to another popular TV character, Don Drapper. He is a terrible father). There is another, very small detail about this episode that I find meaningful. While Tony is manning the grill, Carmela comes over to thank him for coming and helping host. He asks her to get him a beer, then she to has one. Now, I don’t think we have EVER seen Carmela drink beer before, she is a wine lady. It just seems at this point, with all the bullshit with the separation, that she just wanted to share a beer with her husband. Just relax and enjoy the end of the party. Maybe it didn’t mean anything, but in the Sopranos, when everything does mean something, I think this meant something. In the end, Tony and Carmela sleep with each other and the door is clearly open for reconciliation (though it took a couple more ups and downs, this was the start). Still, this was the first time during the entire season that the Soprano family (real) was together and having fun. It just highlighted how important that his wife and kids are to Tony. Sure her is no saint, but he does love them more than anything. Never is it more evident than in this episode. The other major plot point is Tony B whacking Joey Peeps. In classic Soprano fashion, while he is shooting his victims, the car runs over his foot. Just some added dark humor. Still, I can’t say enough how much I enjoy seeing Tony whoo Carmela, he may fuck other woman, but Carmela is his only love.

#1 Pine Barrens Season 3, Episode 11 (#37)

What I love- This is the gold standard for Sopranos episodes, and it was Steve Buscemi’s first episode directing. The story lines in Sopranos are very strong, but this episode could stand alone. A non-Sopranos fan could watch this episode and still enjoy it. The main plot surrounds Christopher and Pauley going to make a collection for Silvio. When Pauley is offended by Valery (a Russian mobster), a fight breaks out (instigated by Pauley) and Valery appears to be dead, only to not be dead when they take him out of the trunk in the middle of south Jersey. Of course, Valery escapes, but it looks as if he is shot, of course they can’t find his body. What ensues is a comedy of errors that leaves Christopher and Pauley stuck, mid winter in the woods. Pauley looses his shoe and Christopher is starving because he didn’t eat anything that day. All the while they are trying to get in touch with Tony but are doomed by poor cellphone service. When Tony relays to Paule that Valery was “in the Russian Ministry of the Interior’s Special Forces” and once killed 16 Chechen rebels. Pauley tells Christopher that Valery killed 16 Czechoslovakians and was an “interior decorator”. To which Christopher replies, “really, his house looked like shit”. Perhaps my single favorite back and forth in any Sopranos episode. When stumbling through the woods, they spot a rusted out old van that they take refuge in. In it they find a bag with old condiments in it, and they suck on them as if they were the tit of the lord. Eventually when Tony and Bobby B come to say them, Pauley, who is always dapper, is a disheveled mess. Like I said, this episode stands on it own. It is by far the funniest episode (of a non-comedy) but it also highlights the relationship between Christopher and Pauley. While teetering on the brink of insanity, the two let their worst fears take control and become very wary of each other. This episode also take the characters out of their element, and humanizes them. After all, it doesn’t matter who you are, if you are lost in the forrest, you are just someone who is lost. For all their money and bravado, these two gangsters are reduced to nobodies, worried if they are going to live through this ordeal. The biggest negative about this episode, is that they never followed up on what happened to Valery. Perhaps the writers didn’t think the viewers would care, but Valery’s fate is never confirmed.