Eloise (The Sopranos episode)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Eloise
Series = The Sopranos
Season = 4
Episode = 51
Guests= "see below"
Airdate = December 1, 2002 (HBO)
Production = 412
Writer = Terence Winter
Director = James Hayman
Episode list = Episode chronology


Prev = Calling All Cars
Next = Whitecaps"Eloise" is the fifty-first episode of the HBO original series "The Sopranos" and was the twelfth of the show's fourth season. It was written by Terence Winter, directed by James Hayman and originally aired on Sunday December 1 2002.

Episode recap

Junior's trial

Junior Soprano's trial continues and Prosecutor Castleman makes his closing statement, referring the jury to the evidence gathered at Dr. Schreck's office. Junior gives the agent who posed as a nurse the evil eye, while Bobby Bacala surveys the jurors. Eugene Pontecorvo and Dogsy catch up with juror Danny Scalercio while he is out shopping with his son. Eugene intimidates Danny by talking about his family and tells him they know he will do the right thing.

Trouble with New York

Little Carmine and Johnny Sack meet on the golf course and wait for Carmine, Sr. When Carmine arrives, he belittles his son by asking him if he put sunblock on. Little Carmine presses ahead and tells of his meeting with Tony. Johnny and Little Carmine try to convince Carmine that he needs to come down from his demand of 40% of Tony's profits from his HUD scheme. Carmine insults his son again by saying he would have been proud to have Tony as his own son. This prompts Little Carmine to tell his father that Tony has been complaining about the dispute over the appraiser. Little Carmine explains that part of the problem may be Johnny and Tony's friendship. The elder Carmine grows angry and smacks a post with his golf club.

Tony and Silvio attend a meeting with Johnny Sack at Carmine's new restaurant, which is opening soon. Tony is annoyed once he finds out that Carmine will not be attending the meeting due to "family obligations." Johnny offers 40% only on future deals instead of on all HUD deals. Tony and Silvio are unimpressed and leave and decide to send Carmine a message. Little Paulie Germani takes Petey and Alfie to vandalize Carmine's new restaurant, including spray painting a phallus on a painting that once hung in Fiorello H. La Guardia's office when he was Mayor of New York City.

Later, Johnny visits Carmine and Carmine gives an order to shut down work at the Esplanade. Vito Spatafore, Patsy and Benny Fazio are shocked by the arrival of union reps at the construction site who close down work. Dave Fusco, the union representative, tells them the reason: employing non-union workers. Vito meets with Silvio and Tony to discuss the problems with construction. Tony decides to sit tight and wait for Carmine to cave in, as they will both lose money with construction shut down.

Tony drives to a clandestine meeting with Johnny Sack, where Johnny reminds him of their long friendship. Johnny tells Tony that he wishes for Carmine's own sake that he would see sense on the Esplanade project. Tony questions Johnny's motives in discussing this with him. Johnny postulates that the dispute would be over if something happened to Carmine. Tony is shocked, muttering "holy shit" to himself after Johnny leaves.

Carmela and Furio

At the Soprano household, Carmela and A.J. discuss a paper he is writing on "Billy Budd " —- he has missed the supposed homosexual subtext. Furio Giunta arrives and discusses home issues with Carmela: she suggests her father may be able to help. Furio compliments Carmela's baking, while in contrast, Tony comes downstairs and grabs what's on offer. He tells Carmela that he has booked them a trip to Florida and is surprised when she is unreceptive. He makes the mistake of theorizing that she got her hair cut because of their problems. As Furio drives him, Tony complains about his wife's attitude. Furio has difficulty restraining himself as Tony insults Carmela.

Carmela later visits Furio's house to discuss decorating. Furio tells her that she is a very special woman, but the moment is broken by one of her father's contractors. They arrange to go looking for tiles together.

Tony, Furio, Silvio, Patsy and Brian Cammarata are being entertained by Marty Schwartz at Chief Smith's casino. Silvio and Patsy leave while Tony and Brian continue to enjoy themselves. Furio refuses the offer of a visit upstairs with one of the girls. Brian has reached the barely coherent stage and they are eager to leave but have to wait for a limo. One of the girls suggests the helicopter. This causes a drunken Brian to break out humming the "Ride of the Valkyries," the background music during the Huey helicopter attack on the village in the movie "Apocalypse Now". Marty calls Chief Smith and he allows them to use it to get home. Up on the landing platform they are greeted by their pilot, Greg Erwitt. Brian vomits on his way to the helicopter, prompting Tony to urinate before flying. He and Furio stand near the tail rotor and Furio, after remaining silent and seemingly upset all night, grabs hold of Tony as if to push him into rotors. When a baffled Tony asks Furio what he is doing, he tells Tony he was standing too close to the blades.

The next day, Tony asks after Furio (who is late) and tells Carmela he's going back to bed because of his hangover. As soon as he is upstairs, she calls Furio to check on him, but gets his answering machine. Meadow calls to invite her parents to eat at her new place on Sunday; she is happy to report that Finn has invited her on a Canadian skiing trip. Carmela drives by Furio's but doesn't see his car in the driveway. At church, a friend of Carmela's tells her that Furio has put his house on the market. Carmela drives there immediately but the place is completely empty. Tony later finds out that Furio returned to Naples and relates the news to Carmela, crushing her.

Carmela and Rosalie Aprile have dinner at Nuovo Vesuvio and Carmela tells Rosalie about her troubles with Furio. When Rosalie suggests Tony may have realized that there was a nascent affair between Furio and Carmela and did something to Furio, Carmela gets so upset that she has to run to the bathroom. She later takes out her anguish on her daughter.

Carmela and Meadow

Carmela visits Meadow's new apartment and meets her roommate, Colin McDermott and his mother, Ellen, who is full of praise for Meadow. Meadow arrives home with her friend Alex. Meadow tells Carmela she is disappointed that her new boyfriend, Finn DeTrolio, hasn't told her that he loves her. Carmela, Tony and A.J. arrive in New York City for Meadow's dinner. When Tony and Carmela arrive at Meadow's apartment, Meadow is seen wearing an apron and preparing chicken cacciatore. Inside, Finn introduces himself to Carm and Tony. Tony is a big hit with Meadow's friends, making jokes and enjoying the food. Finn discusses A.J.'s college plans: he expects to go to Rutgers University. Like her son, Carmela has also missed the homosexual subtext of "Billy Budd" when the subject comes up after A.J. reveals he received a C on the book's essay. A.J. says his teacher Mr. Wegler said that it was a "homosexual book." The usually open-minded Carmela disgustedly denies it. When Meadow points out her error (noting that the literary critic, Leslie Fielder, an authority on this matter, had lectured at Columbia), she is completely hostile to the idea and maintains that "Billy Budd" had nothing to do with homosexuality. Carmela becomes more miserable throughout the dinner.

Later, Carmela is home alone and crying when she gets a call from Meadow, who wants to make a date to keep up their tradition of lunch at the Plaza Hotel on her birthday. Carmela gets annoyed when Meadow offers her route advice. When she arrives for lunch, Carmela is belligerent and she and her daughter end up bickering. Meadow says that maybe she should transfer to another school and drop out like Carmela did. Carmela apologizes but Meadow tells her she might go to Northwestern University to be closer to Finn.

Later at home, Tony asks Carmela about the lunch: she tells him it was horrible and she would be fine with never seeing Meadow again. Tony is shocked and Carmela gets mad at him. He storms off, telling her he has enough on his plate already. While packing for her ski trip, Meadow asks A.J. about Carmela's mood. He theorizes that she is upset over Furio's father dying, and reveals to Meadow that he and their mother have been to Furio's house numerous times. Tony talks to Meadow about Carmela and assures her that her mother loves her and asks her to cut Carmela some slack. Tony mentions that he and Carmela went to therapy together -— Meadow didn't even know Tony was in therapy himself. He also suggests that Carmela may be going through menopause. Rather than tell her father what she had learned about Furio, Meadow agrees with his theory.

Paulie's loyalties

Paulie Walnuts' mother, Nucci, is out shopping with Cookie Cirillo and Minn Matrone when Minn crashes her car. Paulie visits them at the hospital, and Minn blames Nucci's distracting chatter for the accident. Paulie offers to take them into the city to see "The Producers". Cookie makes the mistake of revealing that Minn keeps her cash at home while she's having dinner with Paulie and his mother.

At the Bada Bing!, Paulie complains to Silvio that Tony used his nephew for the job of vandalizing Carmine's restaurant; he feels he is purposefully being kept in the dark. Silvio tells him that his attitude has been noticed and that his payments have recently fallen behind those of the other capos. Paulie tells Silvio he is not worried because of his strong friendship with Tony. He becomes angry and tells Silvio he has a long history in the family, going back to Johnny Boy Soprano, farther than Silvio himself. He blames Silvio for his problems, saying that it all started when he had to make his collections and ended up in the Pine Barrens. Paulie calls Silvio a "wormy cocksucker" but leaves before they come to blows.

Paulie attends a wedding where he makes it a point to bump into Carmine. He tries to discuss the dispute between the two families, but when Carmine doesn't even recognize him and reveals that Paulie was never brought up by Johnny Sack, Paulie realizes his shift in loyalties may have been premature. His face aghast, Paulie makes his way to the bathroom and blankly stares at himself in the mirror. Paulie later breaks into Minn's house and starts to look for her cash. She interrupts him and he tries to make excuses but Minn knows his past and believes he is there to rob her. Paulie initially tries to calm her down, but when she cries for help and knees him in the groin, he chases her and suffocates her with a pillow. He gets the money and delivers a large envelope of cash to Tony. When Johnny calls, Paulie is quick to call him a "prick" but Tony still sends him from the room. Anxious, Paulie listens from behind the door.

Guest starring roles

* Ray Abruzzo as Little Carmine Lupertazzi
* Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile
* Fran Anthony as Minn Matrone
* Anna Berger as Cookie Cirillo
* Elaine Bromka as Ellen McDermott
* Carl Capotorto as Little Paulie Germani
* Max Casella as Benny Fazio
* Dan Castleman as Prosecutor Castleman
* Matthew Del Negro as Brian Cammarata
* France Esemplare as Nucci Gualtieri
* Robert Funaro as Eugene Pontecorvo
* Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore
* Michael Goduti as Alfie
* Jerry Grayson as Marty Schartz
* Dan Grimaldi as Patsy Parisi
* Kevin Interdonato as Dogsy
* Will Janowitz as Finn DeTrolio
* Tony Lip as Carmine Lupertazzi
* Mark Lotito as Dave Fusco
* Bruce MacVittie as Danny Scalercio
* Jeffrey M. Marchetti as Petey
* Brian McCormack as Greg Erwitt
* Evan Neuman as Colin McDermott
* Aleksa Palladino as Allesandra
* Richard Portnow as Attorney Melvoin
* Joe Pucillo as Beppy Scerbo
* Gay Thomas-Wilson as Nurse

First appearances

The episode marks the first appearance of:
* Finn DeTrolio: Meadow's boyfriend.

Deceased

* Minn Matrone: suffocated by Paulie Walnuts after he attempted to steal her money and she caught him in the act.

Title reference

* The title refers to the portrait "Eloise" at the Plaza Hotel, which is based on the books of the same name. Carmela and Meadow have a tradition of eating lunch while seated in front of this painting.

Music

* The song played during the Soprano family's visit to Meadow in New York is "New Slang" by The Shins.
* The song played over the end credits is "Little Bird" by Annie Lennox.