Marco Polo (The Sopranos)

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"Marco Polo"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 8
Directed byJohn Patterson
Written byMichael Imperioli
Cinematography byAlik Sakharov
Production code508
Original air dateApril 25, 2004 (2004-04-25)
Running time53 minutes
Episode chronology
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"In Camelot"
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"Unidentified Black Males"
The Sopranos season 5
List of episodes

"Marco Polo" is the 60th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the eighth of the show's fifth season. Written by Michael Imperioli and directed by John Patterson, it originally aired on April 25, 2004.

Starring

* = credit only

Guest starring

Synopsis

After the recent car chase, Tony meets with Johnny and agrees to pay for the damage to Phil's car. To control costs, he has the work done in the late Big Pussy Bonpensiero's body shop, now run by his widow Angie. When the work is finished, Phil demands further repairs for non-existent defects.

Tensions continue to rise in New York. Little Carmine's yacht is deliberately sunk. His crew attempt to recruit Tony B through Angelo, his old prison buddy. Angelo and Rusty offer him "a chance to earn": in retaliation for Johnny's hit on Lorraine, "someone has to go". Tony B, knowing that Tony wants to keep the family out of New York hostilities, initially refuses. But he is short of money and his young sons envy Tony's standard of living, and eventually he agrees. His assigned target is Joey Peeps. Tony B finds Joey in his car outside a New York brothel and shoots him along with a prostitute by his side. Tony B's foot is injured when Joey's car rolls over it, and he hobbles back to his own car.

Carmela is planning a surprise party for her father Hugh De Angelis's 75th birthday. Nudged by her mother Mary, she tells Tony that, because of the separation, it would be better if he didn't attend. Tony is taken aback, but consents. Mary does not want him present because she thinks his vulgar behavior will embarrass her in front of an old friend, Russ Fegoli, who will be attending with his wife. Mary has enormous respect for Fegoli, who had a modest career in the Foreign Service. Junior tells Hugh about the party, intentionally ruining the surprise. When Hugh insists that the "man of the house" attend, Carmela reluctantly invites Tony at short notice.

At the party, Mary is duly embarrassed by Tony's behavior. He presents Hugh with a Beretta Giubileo shotgun, but Fegoli observes that the best ones are not exported. At the end of the evening, Tony roughly puts the now-devalued shotgun in the trunk of the car. As the Fegolis are leaving, Mary apologizes to them for Tony's conduct. Carmela is furious at her mother's snobbery, commending Tony for his gift to Hugh and his courtesy to the guests.

As Artie leads the younger guests in a game of Marco Polo, Tony and A.J. grab Carmela and throw her into the pool. Eventually, Tony and Carmela find themselves alone. They kiss in the pool and spend the night together. He leaves in the morning before she wakes.

Deceased

Title reference

  • After Hugh's birthday party, a game of Marco Polo breaks out in the Sopranos' pool. The game is named for the Italian explorer Marco Polo; Italian identity and pride plays a role in the episode.

References to previous episodes

  • Sal Vitro is seen landscaping at the Sacrimoni residence per the deal that was set up in the episode "Where's Johnny?"
  • Tony says to Fegoli, "A doctor in the house? That's good, because somebody usually goes down at these affairs." In "The Sopranos", Tony had a panic attack while barbecuing.
  • Tony is wearing shorts, even though the late Carmine told him, in "For All Debts Public and Private", "A don doesn't wear shorts."
  • Paulie Gualtieri is called "Paulie Walnuts" by Tony B. This is only the second of two times that the nickname is used in the show, the first being by the bad stand-up comedian in "Toodle-Fucking-Oo."

Other cultural references

Music

Reception

Television Without Pity graded "Marco Polo" with a B, criticizing the washing machine installation scene as covert product placement.[2]

For The Star-Ledger, Alan Sepinwall praised Edie Falco's "Marco?" line in the Marco Polo pool scene as having humorous delivery that expressed "[f]rustration, pathos, sarcasm, love and affection" all at once.[3]

Italian studies professor Franco Ricci noted the symbolism in the scene where Uncle Junior watches La dolce vita on television, as La dolce vita has a "plot about unrequited love and impossible happiness" that echoes the "constant bickering between Tony and Carmela". Furthermore, Junior's comment about not understanding La dolce vita illustrates a "heritage gap between American Italians and Italians."[4]

References

  1. ^ J. O. Halliwell-Phillipps (1843). The Nursery Rhymes of England: Obtained Principally from Oral Tradition (2 ed.). London. p. 122.
  2. ^ Aaron (May 1, 2004). "Marco Polo". Television Without Pity. Archived from the original on August 15, 2004. Retrieved November 17, 2024.
  3. ^ Sepinwall, Alan (June 4, 2004). "Comic relief on 'The Sopranos' -- but don't tell Tony". The Star-Ledger. Archived from the original on May 6, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2024.
  4. ^ Ricci, Franco (2014). The Sopranos: Born Under a Bad Sign. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 246. ISBN 9781442668829 – via Google Books.