No Show

"No Show"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 2
Directed by	John Patterson
Written by	David Chase and Terence Winter
Cinematography by	Alik Sakharov
Production code	402
Original air date	September 22, 2002
Guest stars
see below
Episode chronology
← Previous "For All Debts Public and Private" Next → "Christopher"
Episode chronology

"No Show" is the forty-first episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos. It is the second episode of the show's fourth season. It was written by David Chase and Terence Winter, and was directed by John Patterson. It originally aired on September 22, 2002.

Guest starring roles

Will Arnett as Agent Mike Waldrup Carl Capotorto as Little Paulie Germani Max Casella as Benny Fazio Robert Desiderio as Jack Massarone Raymond Franza as Donny K Danyelle Freeman as Misty Giaculo Robert Funaro as Eugene Pontecorvo Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore

Lola Glaudini as Agent Deborah Ciccerone Dan Grimaldi as Patsy Parisi Linda Lavin as Dr. Wendy Kobler George Loros as Raymond Curto Richard Maldone as Albert Barese Arthur J. Nascarella as Carlo Gervasi Frank Pellegrino as Chief Frank Cubitoso Matt Servitto as Agent Dwight Harris

Episode recap

Meadow's recent lack of drive continues to worry her parents. Carmela tries to discuss her failure to register for classes but Meadow again uses Jackie Aprile, Jr.'s death as an excuse. She eventually reveals that she hasn't registered because she hopes to travel to Europe with her friend Misty. Tony discusses the problem with Dr. Melfi and she recommends a psychologist specializing in adolescents. Meadow agrees to see Dr. Wendy Kobler, who actually encourages Meadow's plans. This prompts a protracted family argument where Meadow confronts Tony with the truth about his business life by calling him "Mr. Mob Boss." Tony responds, quite emotionally, by telling her he did everything he could to save Jackie. She flees the house saying she has made up her mind. Meadow eventually goes to Columbia and registers for some courses while her parents worry if she has fled the country.

Carmela's flirtation with Furio Giunta continues and she continues to take pleasure in his morning visits to pick up Tony. Furio tells her he is planning to buy a house.

The crews have a birthday party for Albert Barese at Vesuvio. Ralph Cifaretto makes an off-color joke about Ginny Sack's weight, saying she has had a "95-pound mole removed from her ass." While Paulie Walnuts is incarcerated, Patsy Parisi and Little Paulie Germani have arranged a sit-down on his behalf to discuss Ralphie's division of jobs at the Esplanade site. It takes place in the Vesuvio and Silvio Dante presides. After some haggling, they settle with five jobs: three no-works and two no-shows. Capo Paulie receives the first no-show job. Silvio announces that Tony wants Christopher Moltisanti as acting capo of Paulie's crew during his absence and gives Chris the second no-show job. This upsets Patsy, who believes he has seniority over Chris, as he has been a made man longer. Indeed, it was Patsy and not Christopher who negotiated the jobs in the meeting. The three no-work jobs are given to Paulie to distribute, and they go to Furio, Benny, and Little Paulie.

As they leave the meeting, Chris jokes to Silvio that the first thing he will do is get wings in his hair—much like the gray "wing-like" hair Paulie has on the side of his head. Silvio is not amused; he is also put out by the promotion as he realizes that Chris is starting to usurp his place in Tony's inner circle. Chris later visits the construction site where Patsy, Benny Fazio, Little Paulie, Donny K. and Vito Spatafore are enjoying their no-work jobs. The guys have noticed a lot of valuable materials lying around; they mention this to Chris and he seems interested.

When the materials go missing, Tony immediately calls Chris in to reprimand him. Tony tells him he is not seeing the financial potential of the construction contracts and that he is angry about the unwanted attention thefts will bring to their involvement in the job. Christopher goes home to get high and complain to Adriana. He also relays the rebuke to crew members Patsy and Little Paulie, but Patsy insists Chris gave him "a look" that he took as a go ahead.

Silvio approaches Tony about Patsy feeling marginalized by Chris' promotion. Tony doesn't seem too concerned but Silvio is obviously upset about having a new rival. Patsy visits Silvio at the Bing and mentions some floor tiles at the site; Silvio tells him to steal them in spite of Tony's orders, most likely due to Silvio's feelings of disdain towards Christopher's being made acting capo instead of the more experienced Patsy. Following this theft, Jack Massarone finds Tony playing golf with Artie Bucco and tells him about what has happened. Chris gets a verbal battering from Tony for not controlling his crew. Chris drives straight to the Esplanade site despite being on his way to a prior engagement with Adriana at her mother's house. Chris argues with Patsy and the argument descends into violence. When an African-American construction worker threatens to phone the police, Patsy makes a "Ralph Bunche" reference and beats him with a scaffolding pole.

Adriana continues in her friendship with "Danielle", an undercover FBI agent, arranging to meet her at the Crazy Horse. When they meet, Adriana discusses her fears that she may be unable to have children because of complications of an abortion she had before she was with Christopher. Danielle had been pushing Adriana to reveal Chris' involvement with the Mafia, so she is a little surprised with what she did learn. However, she sympathetically offers to recommend a good OBGYN that her sister knows in New York (she has actually just had a baby herself). Chris and Little Paulie arrive at the club and Chris gives Little Paulie some cocaine right in front of Danielle.

Ralphie and Janice's relationship continues and they are spending time at Janice's house. Tony arrives unexpectedly and Ralphie hides upstairs. When Tony finds his shoe, he warns Janice about getting involved with Ralph but she is unreceptive. Little Paulie visits his uncle in Youngstown, Ohio and gives him the news from the sitdown. Paulie asks if anyone has been to visit his mother and Little Paulie tells him nobody has but that Tony sent a box of chocolates. Little Paulie relays Ralph's joke from Albert's birthday party, which Paulie does not find funny, most likely due to his budding partnership with Johnny Sack.

Christopher and Adriana are spending the evening at Crazy Horse with Danielle. While the couple share a kiss, Christopher puts a hand on Danielle's thigh, which starts an argument between him and Adriana, and prompts Danielle to leave. Chris claims Danielle put his hand on her thigh and Adriana chooses to believe him. She stops returning Danielle's calls; when Danielle persisted in calling, Adriana called back, telling Danielle not to see her anymore. The FBI decides to bring Adriana in and reveal Danielle's true identity—Special Agent Deborah Ciccerone. Agent Harris accompanies agent Ciccerone to pick up Adriana. She is taken to meet with Chief Frank Cubitoso, where the agents tell her she can choose between twenty-five years in prison for possession and intent to supply cocaine (with an additional possible consequence of retribution by Tony Soprano for bringing an undercover agent to his and Moltisanti's homes, and the club) or begin co-operating with them by answering some questions. Overly anxious and extremely upset, Adriana promptly vomits all over the table and Chief Cubitoso.

Title reference

• The title refers to the way the mob assigns paid jobs at a construction site to workers who never have to show up but continue to be paid. In the episode, the family splits the no show jobs between Ralph and Paulie's crews — Christopher and Paulie both receive a no show job. Also doled out are three no work jobs, in which a "worker" shows up for the titular job for the hours allocated but doesn't lift a finger doing actual work but, as depicted by Patsy, sit around in beach lounge chairs.
• The title also refers to Meadow's decision. "No show" is the airline code for passengers who have bought the ticket but they do not show themselves at check-in points and therefore they miss the flight.

Production

• The episode creates a major plotline in the season regarding Ralphie's behavior. The joke Ralphie makes about Ginny Sacramoni becomes a major problem and topic of conversation in the next two episodes, and resurfaces in the show's final season.
• When Adriana throws a drink at Christopher during their argument at the Crazy Horse after the incident with Danielle, the couch alternates between wet and dry in successive shots.

Connections to prior episodes

• Silvio, Patsy, and Little Paulie discuss the no show and no work jobs for Paulie's crew. In "...To Save Us All From Satan's Power", Paulie tells Tony that Tommy Angeletti, a contractor for Ralphie's Esplanade Project, owes him $100,000 from betting on college basketball. Since Ralphie held out Angeletti for more money, he is unable to pay back his debt. Paulie requests that Tony give him the jobs as compensation.
• When Chris and Patsy get into a fight at the construction site, Chris warns Patsy that he didn't forget about his sniffing Adriana's underwear. Patsy responds that it wasn't he. This is a reference to the incident in "Second Opinion", wherein Paulie and Patsy barge into Chris and Adriana's apartment demanding their cut of Chris' score of designer shoes. While searching around, Chris spots Paulie, not Patsy, sniffing Adriana's underwear.
• While talking to Dr. Kobler, Meadow mentions that she was irritated by Junior's singing Italian ballads at Jackie Jr.'s wake, and the attendees' sentimental reactions (in "Army of One").

References to other media

• When Tony visits Janice at her house, the video he picks up is Faces of Death. He comments, 'Was The Sound of Music already rented?'
• Chris pulls up to the construction site singing Tim Hardin's If I Were A Carpenter, substituting the word 'douchebag' for 'lady'.
• Meadow has an N*Sync poster up in her room at the Soprano home.
• At Chris and Adriana's house, Ade watches Everybody Loves Raymond on television as Chris gets high on heroin. Ray Romano's character and Tony Soprano's sanitation business share the "Barone" name. HBO subsidiary HBO Independent Productions is a co-producer of that series.
• While Ralphie clips his toenails on the bed, Janice is reading The Origin of Satan by Elaine Pagels.

Music

• The song played over the end credits is the title track of Radiohead's 2000 album Kid A. This refers to Meadow, who plays a large role in this episode; she is the first-born child and an honors student: a "Kid A".

External links

• HBO.com — The Sopranos official website
• The Sopranos at the Internet Movie Database
• "No Show" at the Internet Movie Database
• Television Without Pity — The Sopranos recaps
• The Sopranos — Family Values