In midtown Manhattan, a family (named the Sontags) are complaining about the situation at a parking garage when they are carjacked by several armed men.
It is revealed afterward that Tony has been using the armed men to steal a set of several luxury vehicles in preparation for a trip he will be taking to Naples, Italy, to meet with the head of a fellow crime family, belonging to the Camorra (the Neapolitan equivalent of the Sicilian Mafia). He finalizes the arrangements with the crew and announces to his family that he will be just going on a business trip, much to their chagrin.
Pussy is still feeding fake information to Skip Lipari in order to keep his head above water when he is recognized by a man named Jimmy Bones during a meeting in a supply store. Pussy and Skip are forced to make up a cover story on the spot, claiming that Skip is a made man from Delaware. Jimmy says that he hasn't heard of any made man from Delaware before he leaves. Although Skip tells him that he handled the situation well, Pussy is bothered and visits Jimmy's house later to silence him personally.
At a nearby diner, Carmela, Rosalie Aprile, and Angie Bonpensiero (Pussy's wife) have lunch together. Things are going well until Angie suddenly snaps and yells at Rosalie for speaking glowingly about her late husband, Jackie. She then tells the group that she's been depressed and having suicidal thoughts ever since Sal came back from his back surgery in Mexico, and says that she also found a lump under her arm and is considering a divorce. Carmela and Rosalie are mortified by this.
Tony, Chris, and Paulie take a flight to Naples and head toward their hotel. After being amazed by the number of beautiful women in the city, they are greeted by their contact, Furio Giunta, who welcomes them to the country and says that they're invited to dinner with several capos that evening. When Tony asks if Don Vittorio (the head of the family) will be present, Furio admits that he's not sure. Tony is left at a loss as the group retires to their respective rooms.
That evening, Tony and Paulie head down for dinner and are surprised when Chris is nowhere to be found. After sitting down, they are introduced to a capo named Nino and begin to negotiate the sale of the luxury cars with him, using Furio as a translator. However, tensions rise when Tony says he wanted to speak with Vittorio personally, leading Nino to rail at him for treating him disrespectfully. Furio continues to translate eloquently before Don Vittorio is wheeled into the room. Nino grudgingly introduces Tony to both Vittorio and the latter's daughter, Annalisa Zucca. Tony is surprised to discover that Vittorio is senile, as he brings up random American landmarks in amusement. At the same time, Christopher is seen smoking heroin with one of the Camorra associates, Tanno, in a hotel room.
The dinner continues and Furio admits to Tony that Vittorio doesn't run the family anymore, and neither does his second-in-command, Mauro Zucca, who was arrested and sent to prison for a life sentence. Furio says that Annalisa is Mauro's wife and controls the family business, and suggests that he talk to her about finalizing the deal for the car shipments. Annalisa later talks to Tony and suggests that he stay at her villa for the day, offering to give him a tour around the local area as well.
The group goes outside to see Don Vittorio off when dinner concludes. When the Don gets to his car, a series of loud explosions goes off and Furio dives onto him, shielding him with his own body. After reassuring the group that it was just a set of firecrackers, some of Vittorio's men find the culprit — a young boy playing on the street nearby. Furio slaps him mercilessly and chastises him for being stupid. When the boy's mother intervenes and asks him to be merciful, Furio momentarily calms her down before punching her in the face.
Tony retires to his hotel room and calls Carmela, but their conversation escalates when she snaps at him, still bothered by the Angie situation. Tony admits that the trip is uneventful before hanging up. He later has a dream that he's having sex with Annalisa before he wakes up with a start.
The next morning, Tony is driven to Annalisa's villa by a chauffeur while Christopher makes an excuse about being sick the night before to Paulie. When Tony arrives at the villa, his attraction to her is made evident, but she claims that she doesn't want to pursue a relationship and instead wants to focus on business. Tony attempts to persuade her to send several of her men over to America to work for the Soprano family because they value "old-world traditions", but Annalisa becomes angered when he asks for Furio and doesn't provide any immediate benefit in return. She curses up a storm and walks away.
Back in New Jersey, Angie is still despondent over the situation with her husband. When the test results on the lump come back negative, Angie, extremely relieved, informs a distracted Pussy, who merely states "that's good" before walking out, leaving his wife in a state of anguished shock. When Pussy later returns home bearing roses, an enraged Angie beats him about the head and neck with them. She attempts to fill out divorce papers and file them but is eventually swayed after Carmela reminds her of Pussy's role as a father and persuades her to stay with him.
As Tony packs up to head back to his hotel room and get Chris and Paulie, Furio and Annalisa tell him they still have to finish their business. Despite his reservations after their prior conversation, he joins them for lunch and takes a walk around the villa with her afterward. He eventually comes to an agreement where she'll send soldiers (starting with Furio) from her organization to America, in exchange for Tony giving her a reduced price on the luxury cars that are shipped from his country. She also becomes more agreeable to pursuing a romantic affair, but he cuts her short by claiming that he doesn't "shit where he eats", and that it would be bad for business. Despite snapping at him, she agrees with his terms and leaves.
Tony, Paulie, and Chris eventually fly back to Jersey and are met by Pussy at the airport. As the episode ends, Tony gets back home and greets Carmela, who is still thinking about the situation with Angie...
Tropes:
- Actually Pretty Funny: When Janice tells Carmela that Richie has matured and "understands the plight of women", the latter bursts out laughing and can't continue the conversation anymore.
- Asshole Victim: Any sympathy for the carjack victim vanishes when he turns out to be a racist who has no trouble shouting the N-word in front of his kids.
- Awful Wedded Life: How Angie views her situation with Big Pussy. She gives him the good news about her biopsy coming back negative, and he (granted he's stressed out over the Jimmy Bones situation) can only be bothered with a curt and emotionless "good" before rushing out the door. She's on the verge of tears afterward. The end result is that she becomes fully resolved on divorcing him.
- Beneath the Mask: Annalisa is shown to be the real brains behind the Camorra, but deliberately passes herself off as Vittorio's caretaker in order to diffuse suspicion. She's later shown to be a tough, capable woman who can more than hold her own, and tells Tony that her brothers all died via in-family fighting while she excelled by playing a part.
- Break the Cutie: Angie Bonpensiero (Pussy's wife) is revealed to be deeply unhappy with her situation, admitting to Carmela and Rosalie that Pussy doesn't seem to acknowledge her anymore and that she found a lump under her arm. She admits that she's had suicidal thoughts and wants a divorce, but Carmela brings her back from the edge and urges her to stay strong for her husband's sake.
- Celebrity Paradox: The film opens with the guys trying to watch The Godfather Part II on a new DVD player. Vittorio Duse, who played Zi Vittorio, also played Don Tommasino in The Godfather Part III.
- Continuity Nod:
- Junior is shown to be using a wheelchair when he goes for a doctor's appointment to examine his sprained hip.
- Furio smacking around the kid and telling him that setting off firecrackers was a stupid way of applying for employment with the Camorras is quite reminiscent of how Tony reacts whenever Matthew and Sean try to suck up to him.
- When Tony visits Annalisa in her father's first house, he compliments her on taking good care of her father. She replies (with Bilingual Bonus to boot): "What are you going to do? Send him to an ospizio" Ospizio means "house" but in this context refers to a nursing home. A look of panged guilt crosses Tony's face in a blink and you'll miss it moment as he remembers a lot of his troubles came from forcing Livia into a "retirement community".
- Creator Cameo: David Chase makes a cameo appearance in the episode as an Italian man, sitting at a cafe with other men. When Paulie says "commendatori" to the table, Chase glances at him indifferently and then turns away.
- Dirty Cops: The Italian police drive away without lifting a finger even as Furio and his men are smacking around the kid with the firecrackers and his mother in plain sight.
- Distaff Counterpart: Annalisa is one for Tony. She's the real boss of the Naples family while somebody else officially sits on the throne. She also rules her clan with a no-nonsense iron fist and can play just as hard as Tony during negotiations. Tony even lampshades that her running the Naples family behind the scenes while Don Vittorio is the recognized boss is much like the situation Tony deliberately set up with respect to Uncle Junior.
- Elvis Impersonator: Big Pussy kills an Elvis aficionado named Jimmy Bones for running into him while meeting with his FBI handler.
- Establishing Character Moment: Furio has more than one.
- He shows up to the business meeting immaculately dressed, setting the tone for how he's often going to appear for his time in the series.
- He places himself over and covers Don Vittorio when the sounds of the firecrackers could still be mistaken for gunfire, indicating a willingness to sacrifice himself to protect the official boss of the family. He also shows a willingness to smack around the kid with the firecrackers and his mother. Furio shows himself as a Consummate Professional willing to do anything to anyone to get his job done. It makes Tony want to hire his services on the spot.
- False Reassurance: Furio momentarily reassures the mother of the boy who was setting off firecrackers, only to immediately clock her in the face when she stops screaming.
- Fish out of Water: Both Tony and Paulie get cases of this. Tony is shocked that a woman is running a Mafia family, and runs into friction with Annalisa when he tries to treat her as just another associate. Meanwhile, Paulie walks around Naples in a daze and is shocked by the cold attitudes of Italians when he tries to say hello, as well as the different cultural practices.
- Foreshadowing: Downplayed, but definitely there. We see Uncle Junior in a wheelchair prepping Tony for his visit to Naples. Once Tony does arrive in Naples, he learns that Don Vittorio is confined to a wheelchair, has long since become a Scatter Brained Senior, and that Annalisa is the real boss of the Naples family.
- Functional Addict: Totally subverted. Chris resolves at getting his high, enjoying the sights of Naples as a tourist, and advancing his position in the Jersey mob by helping Tony with business. He only succeeds at the first objective, spending all of his time doped out on heroin and sleeping with prostitutes, to the complete neglect of the other two objectives. Even Paulie warns him that he'll end up becoming The Load if he can't manage things better.
- Gory Discretion Shot: Seen when Pussy beats Johnny to death with a hammer, instead focusing on the latter's blood splattering onto a picture frame.
- Hair-Trigger Temper: Annalisa flies into verbal rants when she doesn't get what she wants, as evidenced by Tony trying to softball the initial arrangement for the luxury cars, and his later rejection of her after she tries to start an affair with him.
- He Knows Too Much: Pussy beats Jimmy Bones to death with a hammer after his relationship with the FBI is compromised.
- Heritage Disconnect: Tony and Paulie discover that there are actually significant differences between Italian and Italian-American cultures. Paulie in particular is seen as a boorish American by the locals rather than a paisan.
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Comes into play when Paulie finds he doesn't like the continental-Italian cuisine during the business meeting and asks for the more familiar pasta and tomato sauce characteristic of American Italian fare. The two native Italian mobsters sitting across from him cannot help but express disgust in Italian, since they consider their food more refined. "And you thought the Germans were classless pieces of shit," in translation.
- Hookers and Blow: How Chris spends most of his time during the trip to Italy.
- Hypocrite: Janice, for all her problems, provides Carmela a spot-on deconstruction of the hypocrisy of Mafiasos thinking of themselves as men among men while letting their mothers pull their strings, and enjoying lots of Goomahs on the side while expecting their wives to live as chaste as celibate nuns.
- Imagine Spot: Tony tells Carmela to stop imagining things about his time in Naples, before cutting to a dream Tony has about having sex with Annalisa while they're dressed in Roman clothing.
- Interrupted Intimacy: Tony starts to stroke Annalisa's knee to start a move on her. Some kids in the background start to act up, obliging her to get up and put them to bed. Tony is left sitting by himself after a "good night".
- The Lad-ette: Annalisa has shades of this. Despite presenting herself as ultra-feminine and dressing in skintight pants at one point, she plays golf and curses up a storm when Tony presents a proposition she doesn't like.
- Male Gaze: Used repeatedly as Tony eyes Annalisa's body at dinner and during a round of golf the next day.
- Percussive Maintenance: Paulie deals with a recalcitrant DVD player with what his Army Signal Corps training referred to as a "brogan adjustment". It works about as well as you'd expect a Paulie Walnuts plan to work.
- Pet the Dog:
- Used literally, when the two carjackers who steal the Sontag family vehicle stop to open the door so their family dog can exit safely.
- Another literal example, with Tony playing with a small dog after dinner at the villa.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: The Sontag family dog immediately flees the scene after the carjackers let it out of the car, despite the family's attempts to get it to come back.
- Shout-Out: The episode begins with Tony and the crew attempting to watch a bootlegged version of The Godfather Part II, and getting exasperated when the DVD doesn't work. Amusingly, this scene appeared as an Easter Egg in the official The Godfather DVD Collection set.
- Spotting the Thread: Chris figures out that Tanno (one of Vittorio's associates) is a drug user after glimpsing the injection sites on his arms. Seeing as Chris is a drug user himself, he recognizes the pattern instantly.
- Suicide is Shameful: Invoked as part of the characters' Catholic background. Carmela does her utmost to talk Angie out of it when she admits to having suicidal thoughts, while Rosalie makes the sign of the cross.
- Tactful Translation: Furio dutifully translates Nino's insult-filled responses into nicer terms for Tony's benefit.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Big Pussy, while asleep on the couch, loudly speaks words of wanting to kill Jimmy Bones and silence him, proving he's terrified of Jimmy betraying his identity as The Mole to the Jersey mob. Angie wakes him, and although she hears the words, she can't understand their meaning or significance.
- Title Drop: Several times courtesy of Paulie after he and Tony are addressed this way. His use of it only makes him stand out that much more as a Fish out of Water.
- Too Dumb to Live: Strongly implied when Jimmy Bones decides to taunt Big Pussy with not knowing anybody Mafia-connected from Delaware. If Pussy had any doubts that his work as The Mole was put in danger by being seen in the toy store with his handler, they were definitely removed by that taunt.
- The Woman Behind The Man: It is revealed that Annalisa has been running Don Vittorio's business dealings behind the scenes, as he has become senile and forgetful in his old age.
