Corruption is pervasive. With corruption comes twofacedness - showing one face to one person and a different face to others. Janice is trying to persuade her mother to return to the house she's lived in for most of her adult life, Tony's trying to resolve a union dispute, and Pussy is revealed to also be an FBI informant. Even Meadow is scheming to see her friend at the hospital instead of her grandmother, and she lies to her mother and her little brother to get her way. The FBI agent assigned to Pussy tells him a jaundiced view of his boss's situation.
Overarching this theme of double dealing is a lot of talk about the World War II generation - the African American organizer's father lived through World War II as a soldier; Tony watches the war on TV. Junior compares a house arrest bracelet to Nazi Germany which gets him a scolding from a Jewish judge. Livia's constantly calling everyone by the wrong name, seemingly transported back to the 1960s in her hospital room, complete with Mario Lanza and the DeCastro Sisters. It's implied that this generation is honest and Tony's is not, but that's not exactly what we see on screen.
Meanwhile through a rather large contrivance, Anthony manages to tell his grandmother about Janice discussing her Do Not Resuscitate; Livia begins to see the worst of Janice's intentions immediately. It could very well be her dream to be in a coma while the rest of her family has to support her financially (and ostensibly emotionally) without the pain of living, but more obvious is the fact that Janice doesn't really want to spend time with her mother and would likely welcome her demise.
At the episode's conclusion, Junior slips in the shower and needs to go to the hospital - he insists that Tony end his grudge with his mother, as a kind of dying wish. I have a suspicion this is partly because they know the show thrives on the tension between the two and they can't keep them apart all season.
Random observations -
We're introduced to Bobby Baccala in front of the sign at Satriale's that says 'SUCKLING PIGS - ANY SIZE' - was this deliberate? He takes Tony's abuse for the entire episode.
I looked for it in my previous posts and I swear there's a mention of it last season - maybe it was in an episode I didn't cover. But this is either the first or second mention of the New Jersey Devils in the series - Anthony is wearing a Devils hat. He acts as a kind of accidental tempter to his grandmother, plus he's probably rude to be wearing a hat indoors - it all works, as it almost always does in this show.
The elder African American offers Tony Coca-Cola when they meet at his house - is this to imply he's a teetotaler?
I didn't even discuss Tony's double-cross of his uncle vis a vis the pipefitters union but I find the mob stuff to be a driver of the rest of the action of the show.
"What did one prick say to the other prick?" We don't get the punchline to this joke. Shame on you, David Chase.
I didn't catch a deliberate malapropism in this episode - the best I can come up with is Mario Lasagna instead of Mario Lanza.
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