User Reviews

I've always loved that scene with Artie cooking at the end. After all the chaos, with the low point punching an elderly woman, it's nice to have a good ending. With the Sopranos it doesn't happen much! Ben Kingsley made a wise choice not doing Cleaver although I'm of the opinion the South Beach Strumpets subspecies would have been more up his alley. I love this episode. Ben Kingsley is an absolute legend! Very interesting to see how much Chris grovels when his mob powers are pretty useless when dealing with Celebs in L. A. in the end they resort to robbing Lauren Bacall as an act of petty revenge at the end. Artie really is one of my favorite characters. He represents the part of all of us that can feel bogged down in life and want more even if the things we want won't make us happy. It's a beautiful little scene for him to reignite his passion and find happiness doing the thing he was born to do.

This sixth season is heating up so no wonder Artie is spending less time in the kitchen as his restaurant is suffering. John Ventimiglia is wonderful as Artie and shows an amazing range as he wises off to Tony, becomes jealous of his new hostess, and even shockingly beats up one of Tony's guys. Tony is still his friend through it all and even gives him advice that is hurtful but true. Tony also lets Christopher go to California for a meeting. Christopher is still plugging away with a bad script and Little Carmine finds himself equally as clueless in the world of film. Ben Kingsley is hilarious as himself constantly bothered by Christopher who goes completely off the wagon and even slugs Lauren Bacall, in a wonderful cameo. You can also say farewell to Rusty who gets blown away in his car by two of Tony's hit men from Italy. Tony even wisely denies putting the hit out as we also see Phil's anger at Vito brewing. Very well acted and directed episode. I just hope the momentum continues because so far this season has had it all.

Chris is going to Hollywood with a mafia script and his colleague they want to get Ben Kingsley to play mafia boss, but he is not too interested. Yet he gets them into Luxury lounge that interests Chris so he even robs Lauren Bacall. And Artie deals with fraud in his restaurant and beats on of Tony's guys up.

A more light episode, besides the killing of a cute bunny. I wish they didn't kill so many animals in this show, and yes yes I know no animal was killed.

The Hollywood story was pretty funny, especially the robbing of Lauren bacall. Her and Ben Kingsley were great star guests. And Ben Kingsley dealing with Chris interested in the luxury lounge was hilarious.

Funny thing about this episode is that Ben Kingsley cannot act as himself. He just doesn't pull it off, which surprised me. Michael Imperioli is a terrific, natural actor & he merely emphasises that BK maybe has to have a character to act....he's all over the place here.

The Sopranos go to Hollywood... again! The wiseguys grieve that they haven't been able to track down Vito yet, especially Phil Leotardo who gives a haunting Joe-Pesci-in-GoodFellas-like speech about how he wants to kill Vito. While the family deals with these issues, Tony grants Christopher the permission to travel to Hollywood with Little Carmine to promote their new upcoming movie 'Cleaver' about the mobster killed who comes back to life to reek vengeance on his boss that Christopher violently forced a second-rate screenwriter from his rehab support group to write. They pitch the idea to actor, Sir Ben Kingsley, who they agree was stunning in Sexy Beast (my sentiments exactly) to play the mob boss in the picture. Kingsley isn't interested, but the guys get to meet Lauren Bacall who they later beat up and rob after an awards ceremony to get their hands on her expensive gift basket. Back in New Jersey, Artie Bucco and Benny Fazio get in a tiff, that ends with Benny putting Artie's hand in hot tomato sauce. Also, Tony finally has two Italian guys from Naples whack Rusty Millio (Frankie Valli) in a crafty hit scene that was one of the highest points of the episode. This episode was half-entertaining, half-not. I loved the whole Hollywood thing, but I hated the Artie sub-plot. The last time they did the Artie sub-plot thing was Season 4's horrendous episode 'Everybody Hurts' which was by far the worst episode of the series. Artie is just a character that bothers me because he is so pathetic and stupid, but doesn't exude comedy with this. His scenes were boring, except when Benny burnt the crap out of his hand which resulted in Artie crying like a little baby. This episode was half good, half not-so-good, the second weakest episode of the season thus far. My Rating: 8/10.

HOW I RANKED OTHER EPISODES THIS SEASON Episode 71: 'Live Free or Die' - 9/10 ; Episode 70: 'Mr. and Mrs. Sacrimoni's Request' - 8.5/10 ; Episode 69: 'The Fleshy Part of the Thigh' - 8/10 ; Episode 68: - 'Mayham' - 9/10 ; Episode 67: 'Join the Club' - 7.5/10 ; Episode 66: - 'Members Only' - 8.5/10.

We saw Michael Imperioli's encounter with Jon Favreau in Season 2, and here we see him with Ben Kingsley. Some pretty exciting televison.

Great storylines as well. Artie and Christopher acted their ASSES off here. You feel so much sympthay for them both.

Matthew Weiner is great when it comes to these character development episodes, but I felt like this one was one of the weaker ones.

Regardless, I enjoyed myself.

This season and really, this episode reflects the incompetence of the new writers. Or am I missing something? There are so many threads that should have been carried through from season 5. The Soprano's edgy writing of the previous 5 seasons just isn't here. For instance, Pussy's story ran for half of the first season and ended in the whacking of the rat in the last episode of the second season right after a brilliant dream sequence that Chase was so famous for. OK, that said, wouldn't you think that Adriana's mother would be kind of wondering what happened to her? What does Tony B's mother think happened to her son? Wouldn't you think that Jimmy's taking down Johnny Sack which "would have gotten all the way to Big Carmine had he lived" also taken down also have taken down Phil Leotardo who is on parole? I like Artie Buco as much as the next person but a whole episode on the failing restaurant and the credit card scam with all these questions left unanswered is perplexing. The old Tony Soprano would have taxed Benny for pulling this scam in Artie's place. I know Tony has changed and that's OK but give us die-hard Soprano's fans something to hope for. Please, Christopher and his sponsor would have not even gotten to LAX after hitting Lauren Bacall and hitting another car. The whole plot with him and Little Carmine in Hollywood wasn't even funny, it is getting so stupid it is annoying. If they are going to pull us into a plot, continue it for goodness sakes. So, Vito disappears (one plot that carried over), what is going on with Junior? I will keep watching, if for no other reason than to find out of this concludes in wrapping this all together and making a fool of me. But some continuity with the plots they are developing please.

Christopher forever fantasized about being a screenwriter and he idolized movie gangsters. Humphrey Bogart was the ultimate movie gangster, far more than any other actor. Bogart was married to Lauren Bacall when Lauren was in her twenties and early thirties. Lauren was now close to ninety. She would have been the last person on the planet that Christopher would have assaulted and robbed. It would have made more sense for one of Christopher's friends to attack Lauren and for Christopher to beat that friend bloody. As Bugsy Siegal said to Lawrence Tibbett, "I would protect you from anyone who tried to hurt you. I revere you." That should have been how Christopher felt about Lauren Bacall, only more so because she was an old woman who had been the true love of his idol. If the storyline had to go the way it did, then two hundred other actresses who hadn't been married to Bogart would have been more credible.

The Artie-Benny conflict was interesting, though that too wasn't altogether believable. If they were kept around long enough, many Sopranos characters that had been minor were ultimately given an episode where they were highlighted. Eugene and Finn were pretty much background until they were allowed to shine, one time each. This was Benny Fazio's moment.

Artie pushed Tony almost as far as Christopher had, throughout the series. Both characters had pointed guns at Tony, which would normally have been automatic death penalty offenses. Both had shown disrespect several other times and both had proven rather volatile. Things didn't end in a good place for Christopher, proving that there was a limit to how far Tony could be pushed. Artie didn't think he could ever cross the line and he thought Tony would always protect him. Pussy, Tony Bludetto, Jackie Junior and Christopher had all once held sacred places in Tony's heart. I was truly surprised that Artie had survived the series. He didn't do anything whack-worthy in this episode so I guess I can see why Tony would have stood up for him, yet another time.

What I wasn't sure I accepted was the outcome of the physical confrontation. Artie was a restaurateur who spent his days licking the heels of his customers, arguing with his rather assertive wife and cooking Eggplant Parmesian. Benny's day job often involved beating people up and breaking their limbs. Plus, Benny was at least fifteen years younger than Artie. Yes, the verdict was possible, though not probable. The Lauren Bacall assault and robbery was not plausible.