The Ride (The Sopranos)

"The Ride"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.	Season 6 Episode 9
Directed by	Alan Taylor
Written by	Terence Winter
Production code	609
Original air date	May 7, 2006
Running time	54 minutes
Guest actors
see below
Episode chronology
← Previous "Johnny Cakes" Next → "Moe n' Joe"
Episode chronology

"The Ride" is the seventy-fourth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the ninth of the show's sixth season. It was written by Terence Winter, directed by Alan Taylor and originally aired on May 7, 2006.

Starring

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

* = credit only

Guest starring

• Edoardo Ballerini as Corky Caporale
• John Bianco as Gerry Torciano
• Cara Buono as Kelli Lombardo
• Carl Capotorto as Little Paulie Germani
• Max Casella as Benny Fazio
• John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia as Albie Cianflone
• Miryam Coppersmith as Sophia Baccalieri
• Tony Darrow as Larry Boy Barese
• William DeMeo as Jason Molinaro
• Jonathan Del Arco as Father Jose
• Frances Ensemplare as Nucci Gualtieri
• Louis Gross as Perry Annunziata
• Will Janowitz as Finn DeTrolio
• Kimberly and Brianna Laughlin as Domenica Baccalieri
• Julianna Margulies as Julianna Skiff
• Angelo Massagli as Bobby Baccalieri, Jr.
• Patty McCormack as Liz La Cerva
• Arthur Nascarella as Carlo Gervasi
• Artie Pasquale as Burt Gervasi
• Crazy Legs Conti as himself
• Lenny Venito as James "Murmur" Zancone
• T.R. Shields III as Dale Hutchins

Episode recap

In preparation of the annual Feast of Elzéar of Sabran, Paulie Gualtieri and Patsy Parisi visit their local church and learn that the new priest, Father José, wants to raise the fee provided to the parish. When Paulie refuses to pay, Father José tells them they will not be able to use the golden hat worn by the Saint, a traditional part of the statue's garb. "Fuck the hat," Paulie decides.

Christopher Moltisanti's girlfriend, Kelli, tells him that she is pregnant. She nervously blames herself and assures him she will "take care of it" by going to a clinic. Christopher instead suggests they get married in Atlantic City and "make a day of it." Chris mentions how much he wanted to have a baby with Adriana and tells Kelli that his ex is probably having some "other guy's babies now". Later, Chris enters the Bada Bing wearing a wedding ring, happy that he is married and about to be a father. He and Kelli make an offer on a large house as he anticipates starting a family.

On their way home from a trip to Pennsylvania, Christopher and Tony Soprano make an impromptu bathroom stop in what they think is a deserted parking lot. When they pull behind a building, they witness two bikers stealing crates of 1986 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande wine from a liquor store. As the two bikers go back into the store, Christopher and Tony plunder their wine, moving the crates into Tony's SUV. When the bikers re-emerge (carrying an ATM), bullets fly. As he and Tony speed away, Christopher hits one of the bikers. They celebrate their escapade at a restaurant, and although Christopher initially abstains, Tony suggests, "You should toast to your wedding at least," and he pours Christopher a glass of wine. Later, they drink more of the wine in the parking lot, while Christopher recollects the time when he tearfully told Tony that his fiancée, Adriana, was an FBI informer, which led to her execution.

Carmela Soprano encounters Liz La Cerva (Adriana's mother) at the feast, who claims Christopher killed her daughter, telling Carmela that the FBI told her as much. Carmela laughs at her suggestion initially but next day she asks Tony about it. He insists that it would have been impossible for Christopher to have gotten away with killing his fiancée. At the feast, Tony and Phil Leotardo work out a deal where they agree to split the profits for the New York distribution of a trailer of Centrum multivitamins confiscated by Tony's crew. Phil's stipulation is that Johnny Sack be left out of the transaction in order to "spare John the stress of having to hear about this."

Christopher meets with Corky Caporale to pay him for the hit on Rusty Millio. Part of his payment includes some heroin. As Christopher watches Corky shoot up, he first recommends rehab to him, but then tells him he wants to "toot" a little himself. Christopher spends the night in a stoned stupor, bonding with a stray dog at the feast.

During the feast, several parishioners notice the missing gold hat and word begins to spread that Paulie scrimped on the planning of the festival. His frugal ways are blamed for an accident on a ride that left several people injured. Little Paulie Germani is left to deal with the police investigation. Janice and her baby were also on the ride, and although apparently unhurt after the accident, Janice seems to develop a neck injury after Meadow makes the suggestion that the injured may be compensated monetarily.

In Dr. Melfi's office, Tony laments about people lining up for thrill rides. "They pay money to almost puke." She asks if he's bored. Tony claims he continues to feel that every day is a gift, but "Does it have to be a pair of socks?"

Bad blood erupts between Bobby Bacala and Paulie after Bobby learns from Dale Hutchins, the ride's operator, that Paulie was responsible for withholding money needed for maintenance on the ride. Paulie has other problems, including having a biopsy to determine if he has prostate cancer. At the feast, he runs into Nucci, the aunt who raised him as her son. She points out how his cheap spending was not only wrong but also a sin to allow St. Elzear go without his gold hat; he harshly replies to her, leaving his adoptive mother crying in the street.

At Christopher's belated bachelor party, held at Vesuvio's, there is noticeable lingering tension between Paulie and Bobby, who departs the dinner early. In the restroom, Tony runs into Paulie and demands he work things out with Bobby, which prompts Paulie to disclose his medical concerns to Tony.

At the feast, baby Nica Baccalieri cries, anxious to go on the tea cup ride again. As an exasperated Janice looks on, Tony placates Nica, picking her up into his arms, swinging her around as she giggles and laughs.

At home, Paulie is unable to sleep, then calls his urologist's answering service in the middle of the night. He is informed his doctor is out of town. The next morning, after seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary at the Bada Bing, a shaken Paulie visits Nucci at Green Grove. She warns him that she does not want to argue; Paulie enters her room and sits down to watch The Lawrence Welk Show on TV with her.

Title reference

• The episode's title refers to a faulty amusement ride at the feast, on which Janice, Bobby III, and Domenica were all riding. The title may also refer to the ride Tony and Christopher were taking when they stole the wine and bonded.

Production

• The Feast of Saint Elzear takes place on September 27th.
• The episode includes a flashback scene of Christopher's emotional revelation to Tony that Adriana had been working for the Feds. That scene was originally shot as part of episode 5.12, "Long Term Parking" (directed by Tim Van Patten and photographed by Alik Sakharov), but had been cut to heighten the suspense surrounding Adriana's execution.
• The theme of a wind driving the characters is continued in this episode - the closing shot is of wind rustling autumn leaves as Paulie reconciles with Nucci.
• Actor Tony Sirico, who plays Paulie, cited the final scene as probably his character's favorite thing to do with his mother as a child, going on to explain that he really has no one else who loves him, which explains Nucci's sudden change in mood and silence.^{[citation needed]}
• Shortly after Paulie arrives at Nucci's place, Nucci mentioned that she was watching Lawrence Welk on channel 55. Since the 1980s, The Lawrence Welk Show was seen exclusively on PBS member stations. While there is a channel 55 in the New York City television market, WLNY-TV, that station is a commercial independent station.

References to other media

• Christopher is watching the movie Saw II at the start of the episode, probably as a reflection of his "Saw meets The Godfather" slasher film that is referred to in previous episodes.
• The first scene of The Feast of San Elzear, the music playing is from the opera Cavelleria Rusticana.
• Following Tony and Christopher's heist of the wine (and again when Tony unloads the wine in his basement), Christopher comments that one of the bikers, with scraggly hair and a full mustache and beard, looked like "Grizzly Adams", a famed 19th Century mountaineer, later made popular as the title character in the 1977–1978 NBC television series The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams.
• The episode continues the use of references to Hurricane Katrina. Tony runs into Paulie in the bathroom and says "you're doing a heck of a job there, Brownie", a reference to a similar statement made by George W. Bush to then-Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael Brown. Bush's comment is often used to sarcastically praise someone who is doing a poor job.
• Christopher calls Tony "The Bad Lieutenant". The film of that name is a 1992 Abel Ferrara tale full of religious undertones and Catholic iconography similar to this episode. In the film, the unnamed Lieutenant sees a vision of Christ just as Paulie sees a vision of the Virgin Mary at the Bing.
• Upon arriving at a house that he is looking at for a potential purchase, Christopher says, "This is what I'm talking about, stately Wayne Manor" (the residence of Bruce Wayne).
• Paulie and Nucci watch The Lawrence Welk Show, a musical variety show which ran from 1951 to 1971.

Music

• The song playing in the background at the Bada Bing while Christopher announces his marriage is "Flash and Crash" by 1960's Seattle garage rock band Rocky & The Riddlers.
• A live cover version of "Pipeline", performed by Johnny Thunders, plays over the episode credits.
• The song playing throughout Christopher's high is "The Dolphins" by folk artist Fred Neil.
• The music playing while Christopher and Tony are driving and stealing wine is "All Right Now" by British rock band Free.
• The song briefly heard while Christopher and Tony are driving home is "Midnight Rider" by The Allman Brothers Band.
• The song played when Tony Soprano and Phil Leotardo meet at the feast is "A Chi" by Italian singer Fausto Leali. The song is played again at the end of the episode when Tony and Carmela join the Baccalieris at the feast.
• The song played when Tony Soprano lifts the baby and spins her around is "Red River Rock" by Johnny & The Hurricanes.
• The polka played on accordion by Myron Floren on The Lawrence Welk Show during Paulie's visit to Nucci is the Norwegian children's song "Hompetitten" (presented as "Johnny Oslo Schottische"). The music was written by Gunnar Wahlberg and originally had lyrics by Alf Prøysen.

External links

• "The Ride" at HBO
• "The Ride" at the Internet Movie Database
• "The Ride" at TV.com