"The Sopranos"
The Ride (2006)

Director:

Alan Taylor

Writers:

David Chase (creator) and
Terence Winter (writer)

TV Series:

"The Sopranos" (1999)

Original Air Date:

7 May 2006 (Season 6, Episode 9)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Paulie finds public opinion turned against him after an amusement ride accident, while Chris tries to start a new life as a husband and father.

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Drug Addiction | Crime Boss | Female Nudity | Organized Crime

Cast

James Gandolfini	...	Tony Soprano
Lorraine Bracco	...	Dr. Jennifer Melfi
Edie Falco	...	Carmela Soprano
Michael Imperioli	...	Christopher Moltisanti
Dominic Chianese	...	Corrado 'Junior' Soprano (credit only)
Steve Van Zandt	...	Silvio Dante (as Steven Van Zandt)
Tony Sirico	...	Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri
Robert Iler	...	Anthony 'A.J.' Soprano, Jr.
Jamie-Lynn Sigler	...	Meadow Soprano
Aida Turturro	...	Janice Soprano
Steve Schirripa	...	Bobby 'Bacala' Baccalieri (as Steven R. Schirripa)
Frank Vincent	...	Phil Leotardo
John Ventimiglia	...	Artie Bucco
Ray Abruzzo	...	Little Carmine Lupertazzi
Dan Grimaldi	...	Patsy Parisi

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Bramhall Avenue, between Ocean and Clerk, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Brad Grey Television

Quotes:

Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr.: Everyday's a gift, but does it have to be a pair of socks?

Movie Connections:

References Saw II (2005)

Soundtrack:

Pipeline

Quite a ride!

Poor Paulie Gualtieri, this just doesn't seem to be the right season for him. First he learns his aunt was actually his mother, and now this... Ay, madon'!

The premise of the episode is that Paulie always organizes a St. Elzear parade every year, given Italians are quite proud of their traditions, only this year he has a disagreement with the local church over how much money the clergymen are gonna get. Consequently, he is banned from using St. Elzear's hat during the parade. In addition, an amusement park ride malfunctions almost fatally, leading to a heated confrontation with Bobby Baccala, and on top of that Paulie is told he might have prostate cancer. What a week!

On the brighter side, Christopher decides to marry his new sweetheart Kelli the moment she tells him she's pregnant. Of course, he could have avoided doing drugs at the bachelor party, and having Adriana's mother accusing him of killing his former fiancée doesn't help much either.

One life striving for improvement, the other going towards the toilet: that's the structure of The Ride, going up and down as it pleases. Paulie's personal tragedies lend the character more humanity than ever, and the fight with Bobby is as fun a piece of writing as the show has ever delivered. The best, and saddest, scene, however, has nothing to do with him: it's a poignant flashback that depicts when Chris told Tony about Adriana's work for the FBI and the boss sanctioned her assassination. The sequence was meant to appear in Long Term Parking, the episode where Adriana died, but was cut to keep her demise an unexpected shock. Playing it now works much better: seeing Christopher get on with his life and witnessing how far he went in saving Tony's ass before Ade's makes for some of the program's most intriguing drama. It also serves as a reminder of what a strong presence Drea de Matteo was in the series. Not that the show suffered from her departure: much like Chrissy, it moved on and got better.