As they make wedding plans, Janice and Richie consider moving into a spacious new home in Jersey. Tony visits them there, witnessing Richie's son "Little Ricky" using the spacious foyer to practice ballroom dancing - something Richie does not approve of. He also encounters Jackie Jr., Richie's nephew and the son of his late friend Jackie Aprile. Tony seems disappointed that Jackie Jr. is spending his time drinking beer and watching football at Richie's place, rather than focusing on his education. After another argument with Richie and Janice, Tony comes close to having a panic attack outside the house.
Tony breaks up with his goomah, Irina Peltsin, and shortly afterward receives a call from her cousin Svetlana Kirilenko, learning that Irina attempted suicide. Carmella, who knows Tony has resumed his infidelity despite their agreement in "From Where To Eternity", confronts him about it. Tony reveals the situation with Irina, but Carmella only becomes angrier at the prospect of being forced to feel pity for Tony's goomah.
Carmella accompanies Janice to try on a bridal gown but makes some fairly cynical remarks about the future of her marriage to Richie and the likelihood of a goomah coming into the picture. Janice recognizes Carmella's depression but cites her willingness to let Richie hold a gun to her head during sex as a reason he will stay faithful. Carmella breaks down crying in private during Janice and Richie's engagement party. She later tracks down Vic Musto at a paint store in an effort to gain closure with him, speaking about their relationship as star-crossed lovers. Vic, however, is relieved when she departs, being terrified of involvement with Tony Soprano's wife.
Big Pussy, now feeling totally alienated from Tony, develops a delusional ambition to join the FBI once he's out of Jersey. Agent Lipari tries to dissuade him from this fantasy, but Pussy still clings to it. After hearing about a shipment of Pokémon cards Christopher is hijacking, he attempts to follow the truck, acting as an agent, but while tailing it he runs over a biker and crashes his car.
Richie learns from Janice that Tony does not want his kids around him and views Richie as a psychopath. Richie, finally fed up with Tony, begins making plans to have Tony killed and take over the family. He and Jackie Jr. visit Junior, claiming they can get support from other capos. Junior agrees to this, but Richie is later unable to convince Albert Barese to join in on the plan. Junior, realizing Richie can't "sell" his coup, makes a clear-headed appraisal of the situation and opts to side with Tony in the upcoming conflict, informing him of Richie's plot shortly thereafter. Tony and Silvio arrange to have Richie whacked.
Richie and Janice eat dinner together in Livia's house, and their conversation turns to Richie's disapproval of his son. When the more liberal Janice suggests that Little Ricky being gay would not be such a bad thing, Richie suddenly strikes her. As Richie sits down to eat, Janice retrieves his gun and returns to the dining room, shooting Richie once in the chest and once in the face, killing him.
Tony gets a call from a distressed Janice and departs from home in the middle of the night, rousing Carmella's suspicions that it is another Irina-type situation. Heading to his mother's house, Tony discovers Janice crying over Richie's corpse. Tony quietly puts on a triumphant grin behind Janice's back, before gathering himself and promising her that he will fix the situation for her. He commissions Chris and Furio to help dispose of the body, dismembering it in Satriale's. Carmella calls Livia's phone and when Tony answers, she hangs up, her suspicions quelled.
The next morning, Tony arranges for Janice to leave town. Livia comes downstairs, confused about all the commotion in her house last night. She taunts Janice upon finding out her relationship with Richie ended. Tony comes to Janice's defense and gets into a volatile argument with Livia, calling out her failures as a parent to both children present. Livia remains adamant that she has done nothing wrong, and accuses Tony of cruelty. Tony, disturbed by the encounter, trips on his way out of the house, and his gun falls out. Livia laughs at him before slinking back into the house.
Tony bids farewell to Janice at the bus station, sharing a sympathetic moment after the ordeal of the previous night and morning. Tony returns home to Carmella, and when questioned about the previous night, insinuates that Richie is dead, but asks her not to press any further. Carmella is initially surprised by this but comes to accept it. She then reveals that she has bought tickets to visit Rome with Rosalie Aprile. She remarks sardonically that if she doesn't get this vacation, she might kill herself, before heading upstairs, leaving Tony dumbfounded.
Tropes:
- Ambiguously Gay: Little Ricky Aprile is a ballroom dancer. Nothing else is known about him, but the other characters jump to a certain conclusion.
- Answer Cut: Victor Musto heaves a huge sigh of relief when Carmela leaves and without the expectation of carrying on an affair with each other. He asks Ramone, "You know who she's married to?" Cue the next scene of Tony sitting in Dr. Melfi's office.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Downplayed. After Livia taunts Janice about her relationship ending, Tony confronts Livia and tells her that Janice never had a chance with Livia as her mother.
- Awful Wedded Life: Carmela starts to feel this way as Tony's indiscretions become increasingly harder to ignore.
- Being Personal Isn't Professional: Skip visibly worries about Big Pussy. Cubitoso reminds him that handlers need to keep a professional distance from their Moles.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Richie ends up as one, not only getting killed before the season finale but getting killed by his fiancee before his would-be rival Tony can take him out.
- Big Brother Instinct: Tony does his utmost to make sure that the authorities never discover Janice's role in Richie's disappearance.
- Boom, Headshot!: How Janice finishes off Richie after the first shot.
- Bungled Suicide: Irina after Tony breaks up with her.
- The Chessmaster: Junior shows shades of this when deciding to back Tony against Richie.
- Creepy Uncle: Tony sees Richie as one when he has his arm around Meadow's shoulder, triggering Papa Wolf thoughts on Tony's part.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Richie writhes in agony after the first gunshot from Janice hits him in the chest. She takes her time to finish him off with the headshot. It doesn't help that he'll forever after be remembered as a pathetic pretender by Tony and his crew.
- Deadpan Snarker: Carmela always had this quality, but takes it up to eleven as Tony's unfaithfulness, especially with Irina, become harder and harder to ignore.
- Disposing of a Body: Christopher and Furio dismember Richie's corpse using the meat-cutting equipment at Satriale's.
- Disproportionate Retribution: Richie hits Janice. Moments later, Janice shoots Richie dead.
- The Dreaded: Victor Musto is visibly relieved at not being pressured by Carmela into an affair. He then asks Ramone, "You know who she's married to?" That leads to the Answer Cut of Tony sitting in Dr. Melfi's office.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Jackie Aprile, Jr., introduced in this episode, tries to act as his uncle Richie's right-hand man, but gets completely ignored and dismissed whenever he tries to participate in negotiations with other members of the crew. Also doubles as his Establishing Character Moment.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Jackie Jr appears for the first time. He has a more prominent role and greater characterisation in the next season.
- Enemy Mine: Richie attempts to court the Bareses to join him against Tony on the basis that he screwed both over on the garbage business. It doesn't work because the older Larry Barese is too distracted by legal troubles, and that leaves the younger Albert with the feeling that openly moving against Tony would be Tempting Fate.
- Evil Laugh: Livia can't help laughing at Tony as he trips and falls on her doorstep and his gun slips out of his jacket.
- Evil Parents Want Good Kids:
- Tony doesn't want Richie around A.J., seeing Richie as a potentially negative influence.
- Tony also relates to Janice that Jackie Sr. wanted his kid to go to medical school to avoid the mob life. But note the Foreshadowing described below.
- Evil vs. Evil: The episode builds itself up as an epic clash between Tony and Richie. Then it all gets deflated by Janice taking out Richie herself.
- Fetish: Janice relates that Richie likes to hold a gun to her head during sex. Carmela is shocked.
- Foreshadowing:
- Tony sees Jackie partying with his friends in Richie's house, meaning he's not living up to expectations. Jackie Jr.'s arc for season 3 has been set up even as season 2 is winding down.
- Richie's Fetish for holding a gun to Janice's head foreshadows the headshot she will give him.
- Skip worries about Big Pussy. Turns out to be entirely justified.
- Tony explains to Janice that his shrink has evaluated Livia as having a narcissistic personality disorder that is utterly incapable of feeling any kind of joy or happiness. Tony will at some point acknowledge some troubling qualities about his father, Johnny Boy, and that Livia has a Freudian Excuse of her own.
- Freudian Excuse:
- Tony argues to Livia that her parenting made Janice the unstable personality she is today.
- Svetlana doesn't go into detail, but her appraisal of the uncle who raised Irina provides some explanation for Irina's psychological issues.
- Gilligan Cut: Richie has an expression of pure murderous rage on his face when Albert turns down his offer of an alliance against Tony. Cue the next scene where Carmela is in a shop, and all other sound is drowned out by a machine that distinctly sounds like an automatic weapon firing off rounds. It strongly suggests that Richie would love nothing more than to gun Tony down if given the opportunity.
- Gold Digger: Implied about Janice when Richie asks her to slow down her spending.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Richie's body parts aren't shown when Chris and Furio dismember his body with a meat saw.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Pussy's delusion of joining the FBI is shut down pretty quickly.
- Hide the Evidence: Tony is meticulous after learning that Janice killed Richie.
- He wipes the gun of any fingerprints before getting rid of it.
- He makes sure Janice showers and gets rid of the clothes she was wearing.
- He has Richie's Cadillac taken apart at a junkyard.
- He has Chris and Furio dismember and dispose of Richie's body at Satriale's.
- Hypocrite: Richie previously warns Chris not to strike a woman (in that case, his niece Adriana) unless he is married to her, then it isn't his business. Richie's undoing comes after he strikes Janice, who he is not (yet) married to. He really should have taken his own advice.
- Ironic Echo:
- Richie compares his son to Jackie Jr. and finds him wanting, using nearly the same words Tony used to express his displeasure in A.J. just a few episodes ago.
- Carmela is skeptical when Tony tells her he's broken it off with Irina, and that he's only maintaining contact with her for the time being because she tried to commit suicide. Carmela ends the episode with "I just might have to kill myself", to make it clear that she's taking her three-week trip to Rome with Rosalie, and without any concessions on her part about Tony picking up the slack in her absence.
- Jerkass: Livia makes a cruel dig at Janice about Richie 'jilting her'.
- Killed Off for Real: Richie.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Uncle Junior, speaking out loud, weighs whether to throw in with Richie or Tony. His assessment is that seeing how Richie failed to rope in Larry or any other significant allies for his plan to move against Tony, he simply will not have enough respect to endure as boss of the family, and therefore to side with him and against Tony would be to wind up on the losing side.
- Lady Macbeth: Janice dials this trope up to eleven when Richie informs her that Tony's been making his wallet lighter. Overlaps with her being a Gold Digger too.
- Laser-Guided Karma: While it takes Tony the better part of a season to finally decide to put a stop to Richie's insubordination, Janice reacts to his first moment of physical abuse more or less instantaneously and kills him.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Janice when she's crying over Richie's dead body.
- Nervous Wreck: Big Pussy crashes into a cyclist and flees the scene while trying to tail Chris on a hijack job.
- Never My Fault: Livia claims she was just trying to teach her kids right from wrong, while at the same time trying to pull a But for Me, It Was Tuesday when Tony tries to call her out for abusive behavior towards Janice.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Silvio gives Irina $75,000 to part ways with Tony. He doesn't directly threaten physical harm to Irina, but one can always read between the lines when it comes to the Mafia. He punctuates the offer by pointing out that Irina will run out of options once her best days are behind her, and implies that she should find another man before that happens.
- Oh, Crap!: Besides the fact that the first bullet wound must surely hurt like hell, the expression on Richie's face also conveys the sudden realization that Janice wasn't bluffing after all when she pulled the gun on him.
- Playing Both Sides: Junior in the brewing Tony/Richie conflict.
- Pint-Sized Powerhouse: Both Bobby and Uncle Junior acknowledge Richie as one.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: Richie absolutely bristles at the possibility of his son being gay, and hits Janice for taking a more liberal stance. This quality ends up being Richie's undoing.
- Pragmatic Villainy: Junior sides with Tony against Richie because he realizes Richie will not be able to garner enough support.
- Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: The fate that Tony and Silvio plan for Richie. Janice beats them to the punch though.
- Sanity Slippage: Big Pussy harbors delusions of becoming an F.B.I. agent, despite multiple attempts by Skip to shut it down.
- Smug Smiler: Tony (and Chris for that matter) completely fails for a moment to contain his utter glee at realizing that Janice saved him the trouble of taking out Richie himself.
- The Starscream: Richie does his utmost to try and overthrow Tony, at least until he gets taken out of the picture.
- Stop Copying Me: Richie tries to be polite and hide his bewilderment at Albert repeating back his phrases, since he's trying to enlist the Bareses for a cup, but he's visibly perplexed and speechless a couple of times.
- Surveillance as the Plot Demands: Tony tries to press Janice over his home phone over why she's crying and what just happened. Janice urges him to "think for a minute". Tony almost instantly realizes, given the smart Mob boss that he is, that Janice can't spell out in detail a crime over the phone for fear of a possible wiretap.
- Title Drop: When Irina asks Tony, "Where's my knight in white satin armor?"
- Understatement: Carmela gets probably the biggest one in the series when she sums up Richie and Janice's union as a match not made in Heaven.
- Ungrateful Bastard:
- Three episodes later and Richie is still angry that Tony gave his gift of a leather jacket away to his maid's husband.
- Livia also accuses Tony of being one, with Crocodile Tears to boot, for not appreciating all her sacrifices to be the best mother she could be for him.
- Wham Episode: After fighting and getting into conflicts all season, Tony decides to have Richie whacked, but Janice beats him to the punch, killing Richie after a domestic dispute goes wrong. Janice leaves after the events of this episode.
- White-Collar Crime: Chris confirms for Big Pussy that the Webistics pump and dump scam has been completed.
- Would Hit a Girl: As stated in his introductory episode, Richie has no problem striking a woman once he's put a ring on her.
- Yandere: Irina slides hard into this territory.
- You Do Not Want To Know:
- Tony refuses to tell Janice where Richie's body is, with some snark along the way.
- Carmela also becomes curious about Richie, but Tony uses the words "accessory after the fact" to stop her cold from pressing any further.
- You Wouldn't Shoot Me: Richie continues to mouth off to Janice when she pulls a gun on him, thinking that she's bluffing. It turns out she wasn't.
