          " 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞, 𝐝𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲.
               𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲, 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞.
                     𝐃𝐚𝐝𝐝𝐲."

These are the words whimpered by Christopher at the feet of his acting partner, but that’s much later.

Macho man Christopher moltisanti opens up this episode beating the shit out of a pimp who owes him money. The conventional gangster task. Cold and emotionless. This life style forces you to tuck away your true emotions and wear a facade. Funny enough, after threatening the pimp, he returns to his car so he can then drive to the acting class Ade signed him up for. A habitat for letting all feelings out and on the table. An elephant in the room he makes his first impressions among the average joes. With an alias of Chris MacEveety this already a sign that Chrissy is hiding his true self from the people around him. Soon enough he realizes his potential in the acting business with some great improv. This feels more natural and true to his inner passions, and possibly a gateway out of the life.

Over to Tony, his anger is building from the stress of his family and friends. Acting out in hateful and profane ways with his own adolescent and impressionable son in the room. He later tries to apologize, but Tony's attempts to save are never as strong as his actions to destroy. Richie Aprile is now slowly slithering into Tony's family life as he is now living with Janice. It's harder and harder day by day for Tony to keep his cool. While taking a visit to Hesh, Tony finds out more information about his late father who also apparently had panic attacks. This is a pandora's box of questions now. Tony now knows this isn't a matter his own singular self. This is a matter of a decades long string of genes passed down genration by generation. What he doesn't put into consideration yet though is how this will be inevitable for his only son. Those rotten putrid genes. Taking a break from that groundbreaking info. Tony takes Irina out to his boat. Just for it turn sour moments later because of Tony's insecurities about perception by others around him. " 𝐈 𝐝𝐨𝐧'𝐭 𝐤𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐈'𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲 𝐚𝐭, 𝐈'𝐦 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐫𝐲." [2x6]

 
Acting class is going good now as Chrissy is preparing for the climatic scene from " Rebel Without a Cause". He's worried that he meant be taken as soft but goes ahead anyway. The scene starts with pretty mediocre acting on his part, but soon as the scene shifts attention to the father figure Chrissy falls apart. Now we can look at this in many ways. As Chrissy is at the feet of "The Father" he can be thinking of 2 different people. This could be a cry of help to his actual Father Dickie or Tony, his "adopted" father. One is a son calling out to his late father wondering why he left him so early in life, and the other is a cry to Tony to let him go. Chris doesn't want this life even if he won't admit it. While he's vulnerable in this moment he is true to himself. This can also be taken as just a cry for help from his inevitable downfall and death. Watching this episode rewatch i can't help but think of this scene as supernatural almost. In season 1 Chris asks Paulie if he thinks that " 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐠𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐨𝐧𝐧𝐚 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮." [1x8] Later in season 2 Christopher explains that Hell is an endless loop where you die the same death over and over again. Looking at Chris's final scene and first scene. They are very similar. As if we've come full circle and looped. This show can metaphorically be taken as Chrissy's hell. Every time you rewatch he lives the same life and dies the same death on loop forever. It's as if he's crying out the father to save him from the inevitable. When he asked Paulie that question it’s as if he subliminally knew he was in this endless cycle of pain. That's just something that I like to think of when watching for some more depth and eeriness. No matter the interpretation this scene is great and one of the finest acting scenes from Imperioli in the show. The father tells him to stand up tall. Reminds me also of 6x17 when Chrissy replants that tree to stand upright and "Walk Like a Man".

Finally I'd like to leave off on the note of Tony. He lets Furio do his thing and refuses Melfi's therapy like a tough guy. When he eventually does return he flaunts what he and Furio were doing. Beating the shit out of someone who owed him money, and he says how he wishes he was in there when it happened. When hearing this Melfi asks one of my favorite questions of the show. " 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭?" Like Christopher in the beginning, Tony was at the same whorehouse acting like the same tough guy. Yet, he knows deep down that he wants to be punished for it.

Specials

Season 1