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You motherfucker! He was wearing a wire when he came to the party, he already had the suit on!
Tony Soprano

"…To Save Us All From Satan's Power" is the tenth episode of season 3 of The Sopranos. It is the 36th overall episode of the series. It was directed by Jack Bender and written by David Chase, Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess. It originally aired on April 29, 2001.

Episode cast[]

Guest starring[]

Episode Recap[]

Me and Jackie met him down here in '95, when he got back from Boca.
Tony Soprano
Tony Soprano Salvatore Bonpensiero Jackie Aprile Flashback …To Save Us All From Satan's Power

Tony, Pussy and Jackie meeting in Asbury Park in December 1995.

Tony is strolling the Asbury Park boardwalk arranging a meeting with Paulie over the phone. After hanging up, freezing from the cold winter weather, he stops and looks in the distance towards to the ocean with an expression full of regret and reminiscence. Tony flashes back to December 1995, when he and Jackie, who had only recently been named acting boss, were eating at a diner near the boardwalk watching and commenting on the aftermath of the O. J. Simpson trial on television. Then, Pussy appeared after a trip to Boca Raton where he had met with Junior to organize a truce between him and Jackie regarding a trucking dispute. While sitting down next to Tony, he complained about his back pains and jokingly stated Junior was afraid of retaliation on Jackie's part, but the boss cunningly reminded him not to speak about business until they were outside the establishment. As the three were walking on the boardwalk, Pussy briefed them on Junior's concerns with Jackie's new rule over the family, since he was outraged at taking orders from Jackie, a younger mobster who once looked up to him, while Aprile interjected, "Fuck him" and asked if he would agree to a sitdown, which Pussy confirmed, as long as his nephew guaranteed his safety. Agreeing to hold the meeting on Christmas, Pussy complained about the additional expenses he had to pay for his family due to a $5000-a-week cruise Angie booked and his children's college tuition, to which Jackie reminded him to come to him if he was ever in need of money, while Tony counseled against him selling any more heroin due to it being a high-risk crime. Pussy simply turned towards the ocean, mentioning how he always wanted a house by the sea — "Maybe in another life," he lamented. Back in the present, Paulie arrives and asks Tony why he's looking so contemplative, and he responds about how he has been thinking about their former friend and that he should have noticed his treachery years ago, but Paulie reassures him and tells him not to waste his breath on "that rat fuck". He then tells Tony how he has been unable to collect his debts due to Ralph's strike at the Esplanade after his promotion, and Tony promises to talk to Ralph.

Tony Soprano Begins Suffering Panic Attack …To Save Us All From Satan's Power

Tony suffers a panic attack in bed while thinking about Pussy.

Later, Tony is lying in bed, half-asleep, when Carmela comes in the room carrying some Christmas gifts, appearing annoyed and frustrated. Tony opens his eyes and looks at an "X-mas" to-do list he has written on Dr. Melfi's notebook he has by his drawer, which reads, "boat" (crossed out), "transfer cannolis", "gift for Carm" and "scooter". Exhasperated by his responsabilities this season, he begins to get up from bed, but as he does, he feels a tightness in his chest and starts hyperventilating, collapsing back into his pillow, still conscious but extremely worn out. Carmela doesn't take notice of this and tells him about the family duties this Christmas, namely that he has to buy A.J. a scooter and announcing Janice insists on making dinner for Christmas Day, which means Carmela will have to bring over her kitchen tools to Janice's house to help her with cooking, also mentioning that Tony will need to go there as well to help repair Janice's fuse box, which inconveniences him very much. During therapy with Melfi, Tony states that he is "back to square one" due to another panic attack despite feeling well lately, embarrassingly confessing that he doesn't take his medication every day. Melfi inquires what he believes preceded the attack, to which Tony first takes out his to-do list, with Melfi sympathizing that this time of year is so tiring, she calls it "Stress-mas". Moving on, Tony explains his trip to Asbury Park the day before, but says he can't speak about the issue troubling him. When pressed on by Melfi, he reveals that, "without going into specifics", he was having guilty thoughts about a former friend who was working for the federal government, which visibly discomforts Melfi, with Tony jokingly asking if he is "ruining [her] Christmas".

Silvio: "Tony, guess what we found in the bottom of the Christmas box?"
Tony: "The Santa outfit."
Silvio: "You guessed."
Tony: "Burn the fucking thing."
Silvio Dante and Tony Soprano after finding the Santa Claus outfit

Janice Soprano Tony Soprano Carmela Soprano Apparently There's Nerve Involvement …To Save Us All From Satan's Power

Janice tells Tony that her wrist is still hurting from the Russians' assault.

At Janice's house, she and Aaron are working on their unfinished Christian rock demo, with Aaron playing the electric keyboard and Janice doing the vocals and guitar playing, though she unenthusiastically complains that the lyrics they've come up with aren't very meaningful and could be misinterpreted. When hearing a ring at the door, she gets up to greet Tony and Carmela, at which point Aaron falls asleep on the couch and spills his soda can. Carmela expresses sympathy, while Janice simply picks up his spilt drink and heads towards the kitchen, which is littered with rubbish and untidy utensils scattered everywhere; Tony sternly refuses to eat there unless everything is clean, but Janice rebuts that her damaged wrist from the Russians' light assault prevent her from completing most house chores, and apparently, her condition isn't improving despite having been prescribed Percodan pills. While Carmela helps her sister-in-law tidy up the place, Tony worriedly inquires Janice on the seriousness of her injury, to which she apathetically responds that she might need an operation as she says she has some nerve damage. Tony confirms the Russians caused her pain and reluctantly picks up his to-do list to write down another errand, "Janice's Russian".

When Tony brings the topic up again at the pork store, Silvio Dante begins having nightmares regarding Pussy. Further reminiscence is prompted when Silvio and Paulie have to find a replacement for their former friend to play Santa Claus at the Satriale's Christmas party, a tradition set up by Tony's father. It was revealed that Mr. Satriale's gambling had caught up with him and the elder Soprano engaged in bankruptcy fraud, causing Satriale to commit suicide. After Soprano bought the butcher shop, he started an annual Christmas party to alleviate the gloom caused by the news of Satriale's death and give back to the children of the neighborhood. The mobsters at the pork store first try to get Tony to play Santa on account of his girth, but, when he refuses, they pick Bobby "Bacala" for the part. Unlike Big Pussy, who back in his day could play Santa Claus at the Christmas party to everyone's liking, Bobby's shyness and bluntness do not go well with his role. After a child swears at Bobby, Tony tells Bobby to be more cheerful. Angry that Baccalieri made a bad Santa, Tony remarks that next year they are enrolling Bobby in a Santa school to learn how to handle children.

When Tony is mulling over Pussy's betrayal and death, he remembers the time when Pussy missed a sitdown to mediate peace between Jackie Aprile and Junior Soprano he himself had previously set up in Boca Raton in 1995. Tony thinks it was this night when the FBI coerced him into cooperation after catching him selling heroin. Later Tony has a flashback from a Christmas party, presumably from 1995, and believes the FBI made him wear a wire when he dressed up as Santa at Satriale's. At the party Pussy quizzed Tony about business and got touchy when one of the guys tried to give him a friendly hug. However Tony's thoughts that Pussy was an informant at this time are assumed to be incorrect, as Skip Lipari of the FBI mentions how Pussy had been with them "since 98" in a previous episode in the second season. Paulie ends that flashback and says to Tony "Even if he did make a good Santa, let him sleep with the fishes".

Meanwhile, Janice Soprano announces that she will cook Christmas dinner since she feels guilty about always being served by Carmela. When Janice tells Tony that her wrist is becoming hard to manage, she reminds him about her encounter with the Russian thugs who arrived to take back Svetlana's prosthetic leg. Tony adds to his Christmas "to-do" list an entry: "Janice's Russian." As a favor to Tony, a member of the local Russian mob, who launders money for him, gives Tony the name of Janice's attacker (Igor) and his place of employment (a taxi firm for which he drives a cab). The following evening, Tony and Furio get into Igor's taxi, beat him and throw him through a glass window of a mall display where the beaten Igor is later found wearing a Christmas hat and lying under a Santa's sled decoration. The following day on the news, the reporter presenting the story says a youth street gang is suspected to be responsible. When Janice sees this on television, she becomes emotional, wakes up her narcoleptic boyfriend, Aaron, and mentions that what's missing from their Contemporary Christian music song they are trying to write is the "brother concept."

At Nuovo Vesuvio, the newly separated Charmaine Bucco has started to wear revealing clothing, attracting compliments from several mob members. As Tony, Paulie and Silvio eat dinner, Charmaine walks over to the table where she jokes to Tony that she believes the people at the next table are FBI. Silvio becomes offended by this, and Artie apologizes. The following day, Tony meets up with Charmaine at the coat check where she tells him that she does not want him and "his boys" there all the time and that he ruined their marriage. Tony becomes angry and he, Silvio and Christopher leave. The trio check out the Bada Bing's rival strip club where they spot Jackie Aprile, Jr. getting a lap dance from a stripper. Infuriated, Tony drags him into the bathroom where he shoves, punches and slaps him, drawing blood from his nose. After confiscating Jackie's gun (which he got from Ralph Cifaretto), Tony finally knees Jackie in the groin and tells him "You bottomed out."

On Christmas morning, the Sopranos open their gifts when Jackie Jr. arrives with presents from Rosalie. He then gives Meadow a necklace with the engraving "To M.S. from J.A.: I will always be true...," to Tony's irritation. As Tony goes to the kitchen, Jackie follows. Jackie confesses to him that he "flunked out" of Rutgers University but that he wants to enter the men's fashion business and that he still wants to be supportive and loving to Meadow. Jackie then leaves saying he has to drive his mother to visit his grandmother. Returning to his family to continue unwrapping presents, Tony has to fake a happy face when he finds that Meadow has bought him a Big Mouth Billy Bass, the singing fish looking so similar to the one in his dream he had earlier that year, the dream that made him first realize Pussy had been a turncoat.

Gallery[]

Title reference[]

  • The episode's title is taken from a verse of the Christmas carol "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen".

References to prior episodes[]

  • The Big Mouth Billy Bass, including the song "Take Me to the River", was previously featured in the episode "Second Opinion".
  • The Asbury Park boardwalk in winter, along with the view of the sea closing the episode, was previously featured in "Funhouse".
  • In 1995, Big Pussy mentioned that he always dreamed of having a house on the ocean and said, "Maybe in another life". This is ironic because Tony, Silvio, and Paulie dumped his body in the ocean after shooting him on Tony's yacht in the episode "Funhouse".

References to other media and events[]

  • In the 1995 flashback scenes involving a television, reports of the O. J. Simpson murder trial were seen.
  • When Janice says their song "is missing the brother concept," Aaron asks: "He Ain't Heavy?"
  • In one scene in Tony and Carmela's bedroom, they were watching the film It's a Wonderful Life on television.
  • In the back room at Satriale's, Tony, Christopher, Silvio, and Paulie discuss several holiday icons, including Santa Claus, his elves, and the Dr. Seuss book How the Grinch Stole Christmas! Christopher claims that the Grinch is "where the money is." Christopher also references Jim Carrey in The Grinch.

Production[]

  • Tony's deductions about Big Pussy's betrayal timeline conflict with prior information: in Season 2, FBI Agent Skip Lipari reminds Big Pussy that he's been working for them since 1998, not 1995 as suggested in this episode by Tony. Also, just before his execution in 2000, he admits to Tony (perhaps truthfully) that he has been working for the FBI for a year-and-a-half. It is possible that Tony was just being paranoid about the events of 1995.
  • In his only cameo appearance in the series, director of cinematography Alik Sakharov plays Russian-mob bookkeeper Agron. Like the character, Sakharov is also of Russian heritage.[1]

Music[]

  • The song played over the end credits is "I've Got a Feeling" by the American Sacred Steel gospel group, The Campbell Brothers with Katie Jackson.
  • During the 1995 Christmas flashback at Satriale's, the jukebox was playing "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)", by The Chipmunks.
  • The song Silvio has turned off in the Bada Bing is "The Cycle" from Virgos Merlot's Signs of a Vacant Soul album.
  • A remixed version of "The Little Drummer Boy" plays at the rival strip club where Tony beats up Jackie Jr.
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