Recap / The Sopranos S 4 E 13 Whitecaps

Tony: You don't know me at all.
Carmela: I know you better than anybody, Tony, even your friends. Which is probably why you hate me.

Carmela falls ill, and Tony drives her to a checkup at Dr. Cusamano's office. Cusamano confirms that her sickness is just a common cold, citing stress as a possible factor in her poor health. As he drives her home, Tony misses a turn and takes an unexpected route. He surprises Carmela by bringing her to Whitecaps, a beachfront property he plans to buy, finally fulfilling one of the biggest caviar dreams from their youth and securing a location where the family can spend time together. Meeting with the realtor, Virginia Lupo, they learn that the owner, a lawyer named Alan Sapinsly, has already sold the property to another couple, but their home loan might be rejected, opening it up for an upfront cash payment from Tony.

Christopher gets out of rehab and is greeted by Adriana. Tony is pleased with Christopher's apparent good health but still needles him to ensure he's genuinely sober. He catches Christopher up on the events since he's been away, including the HUD conflict and Johnny Sack's plan to have Carmine Lupertazzi whacked. When Tony references Carmine's unwillingness to kill Ralph over the fat joke about Ginny as a factor in Johnny's motive, Christopher can't help but notice the irony in the situation. Meanwhile, Adriana meets with Agent Sanseverino, showing optimism about Christopher's sobriety. When Sanseverino asks about Ralph's disappearance, Adriana relays a cover story Chris told her, that he believes Ralph went off the rails with cocaine after his son's accident and would benefit from rehab. The two bond when Adriana mentions lecherous phone calls Vito Spatafore made to her during Christopher's absence, and Sanseverino allows her to leave their meeting early to visit her mother.

Johnny Sack is forced to cancel a vacation with Ginny in light of his lower income following Carmine's shutdown of the Esplanade. Intending to move forward with the hit, he meets with Tony, hoping to farm it out to Jersey. Tony remains cagey until Johnny offers to relinquish all HUD profits to Tony, with a 60/40 split favoring Tony on all future enterprises involving Zellman. Tony asks Christopher to arrange the hit on Carmine, intending to frame it as a carjacking. Christopher contacts Stanley Johnson and Credenzo Curtis, two former drug dealers who could believably carry out such a crime, and gives them information on Carmine's daily routine.

Though discouraged by the fact that Whitecaps has already been sold, Carmela is enticed by the beach house and asks Tony to buy it as an investment. Tony visits Alan Sapinsly with Christopher and offers an irresistible upfront payment, convincing Sapinsly to call the previous buyer, Dr. Kim, and cancel with him. The house is sold to Tony, who invites AJ and Meadow to explore it. Both are excited by the new location, AJ uncharacteristically so. Tony strolls on the beach with Carmela, and they share a romantic moment.

Irina, Tony's former goomah, drunkenly calls the Soprano home. AJ picks up and hands the phone to Carmela. Irina promptly introduces herself by saying "I used to fuck your husband", and Carmela hangs up in shock. Irina calls back moments later, revealing the reason for her call, that she has learned Tony had sex with her one-legged cousin Svetlana. Carmela threatens to murder Irina before hanging up again. Tony drives home to find Carmela throwing all of his belongings out the window and telling him to get out of their house. Tony follows her upstairs and an explosive argument ensues, with years of resentment bubbling up as Carmela tells Tony about the call from Irina. An enraged Carmela demands a divorce from Tony and breaks down sobbing.

Tony goes looking for Irina but finds Svetlana instead. He learns that Irina found out about the tryst from Svetlana's assistant Branca, who told her out of spite after a financial dispute, and Irina's resentment came from Tony's beating of Ronald Zellman, who lost his ability to perform in bed with Irina after she saw his belt beating, and subsequently broke up with her. Acquiescing to Carmela's demands, for the time being, Tony spends the night on the floor of Whitecaps. In the morning, Sapinsly finds him there and Tony explains his situation. Visiting with Sapinsly and his wife Trish, Tony asks that Sapinsly allow him to withdraw his purchase of Whitecaps. Sapinsly takes issue with this request, as the sale has already gone through, and tries to negotiate with Tony. After Tony leaves, Trish points out the danger of getting into a dispute with a mobster.

Meadow speaks with Carmela about the separation, and briefly references Furio as a potential contributing factor, but Carmela denies that she and Furio were ever involved. Meadow changes her tune, feeling appalled that Carmela could put up with Tony's constant infidelity for so long. Meanwhile at the Bada Bing, Tony gets advice on the separation from all of his subordinates, most of whom support an amicable process in the interest of the kids' well-being, while Paulie Walnuts insist that Tony kick Carmela out of the house he paid for.

Tony returns home to a hostile Carmela, who refuses to let him so much as open the refrigerator. This leads to another argument, and Carmela again demands that Tony leave the house. Seeking a compromise, Tony decides to move into the pool house, setting up an air mattress. AJ asks if he can move into the pool house with Tony rather than stay with his mother, but Tony quickly shuts him down and orders him to be especially good to Carmela during this hard time for her. Tony also insists that he will be taking a much larger role in AJ's life from now on.

Tony meets with a sympathetic Carmine Lupertazzi, who expresses remorse for Tony's marital difficulties. Possibly influenced by this, Carmine finally settles on a favorable HUD split, accepting Tony's offer of 12.5%. Though a deal has been reached, Johnny still wants to overthrow Carmine and wants Tony to follow through with the planned hit. Tony, however, smells a rat. Worrying that Johnny might be planning some kind of deeper game, and seeing no more need for the risky and destabilizing act of killing a New York boss, he calls off the hit and tells Christopher to leave no trace of the plan. Taking the hint, Christopher meets with Johnson and Curtis to pay them half, then has Benny Fazio and Petey La Rosa murder the would-be hitmen moments later. Tony later meets with Johnny, who is furious that the plan has been canceled, and the two part ways on the ambiguous ground despite Tony insisting that he still considers Johnny a good friend.

While Tony relaxes in the backyard pool, Carmela asks him to move some displaced chairs off the lawn. He considers this an excuse for Carmela to bother him, and the two argue again, with Tony criticizing Carmela's assertion years ago that he would go to Hell. Carmela relents that this was excessive and follows Tony into the pool house, attempting to reason with him and reminiscing about the good times they shared. Tony accuses her of hypocrisy for marrying a guy in his lifestyle but expecting a somehow unique arrangement, also leveling the accusation that she enjoys the wealth his lifestyle pays for. Carmela finally reveals that she had fallen in love with Furio, and compares Tony's presence in her life for the past year to cancer. Tony grabs Carmela and moves to strike her but punches several holes in the wall instead. Tony attempts to justify his affairs, Svetlana in particular, by claiming he looked for women who were stronger and more self-reliant than his wife. Carmela points out that he barely knew them, and calls him a hypocrite. Tony later calls Dr. Melfi but hangs up when she answers. Tony finally decides to move out of the property, sharing an emotional moment with his children before driving off, leaving Carmela alone with AJ in the house.

As Sapinsly remains stubborn about letting Tony out of the Whitecaps purchase and refunding his payment, Tony retaliates by sending Benny Fazio and Little Paulie out into the bay next to Sapinsly's home, loudly blasting Dean Martin albums from Tony's boat with his sound system to irritate Sapinsly and disrupt his home life. Trish gives her husband a reality check that Tony will not stop this harassment, and he finally seems to relent as he goes inside.

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Tropes:

• Affair Hair: Carmela brings up Valentina's nail again to call Tony out on his adultery, doubling as a Call-Back to the Mergers and Acquisitions episode.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Tony hints that Carmela still suffers this when he brings up that she chose him instead of a stable but boring pharmacist.
• Ambiguous Situation: Is Junior's order for Bobby to check the mail again made out of pettiness over seeing him and Janice get together, or is it because Junior's dementia is continuing to develop and he forgot that Bobby had already checked it?
• Answer Cut: Outraged over having found that Tony had a tryst with Svetlana, a poor and disabled immigrant, Carmela asks him "What does she have that I don't have?" The next time we see Tony interact with Svetlana, she expresses sympathy for him, but firmly and calmly upholds her earlier rejection of him and refuses to let push him to put the responsibility for what happened away from him and over on her, and in the end, Tony has no course but to realize that he has to concede the argument. This implies that the ultimate answer to Carmela's previous question is "Integrity."
• Armor-Piercing Question: In addition to Carmela's "what does she have that I don't have?" noted above, Irina poses a particularly mean-spirited but also honest one to Carmela at the end of her phone call.
  Carmela: You piece of shit!
  Irina: Yes, I'm a piece of shit. I'm a piece of shit which the world every morning strains and pushes out of its butt! If you can, imagine where you are on the pecking order...
• Brick Joke: At first, it just seems as though Tony is capriciously gutting the home theater system of its amplifier and front speakers. Turns out, he has a plan to exact some nice Laser-Guided Karma on Sapinsly.
• Broke Episode: A downplayed version. The Sacrimoni family isn't exactly in poverty. But Johnny missed his daughter's tuition payment, and is not sure he can afford the trip to Italy that Ginny wants, in the wake of Carmine shutting down the Esplanade project. It's meant to lampshade his motivations for wanting to initiate a coup against Carmine.
• Buy Them Off: Carmela, during one of several arguments with Tony, likens the Whitecaps house to a larger emerald ring. It's just to placate her while he carries on with his Goomahs.
• Call-Back: Tony lampshades to Chris that Johnny is still upset that Carmine never backed him against Ralph over the fat joke against Ginny, and therefore has additional motivation to try and launch a coup against Carmine.
• Chekhov's Classroom: Sabinsly gives Tony some advice on how to prevent a lot of local divorce lawyers from being able to take on Carmela as a client by exploiting rules around conflict of interest. Tony will put the advice to use in the future.
• Close to Home: The doctor's questions about stress hit a little too close for Carmela, who won't admit she's reeling over losing Furio.
• Continuity Nod: Tony, during one of several arguments with Carmela, brings up that Carmela told him he was going to hell just as he was about to start an MRI scan during the Pilot.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Tony, after Carmela reveals that she had an emotional affair going with Furio.
• Defenestrate and Berate: Tony drives home to the sight of Carmela tossing all of his belongings out the upper floor balcony. And then comes their massive argument that results in a separation.
• Distaff Counterpart: In this episode, it's Carmela who spends a good bit of time moping around the house in her robe and slippers.
• The Dog Bites Back: Irina calls Carmela and reveals her affair with Tony, as well as Tony's affair with Svetlana. She's motivated by spite after Zellman can no longer perform after Tony gave him a Belt Whipping. It becomes a critical factor in precipitating Tony and Carmela's separation..
• Disapproving Look: Danny gets lots of them from his fellow jurors after the jury is recalled.
• Drowning My Sorrows: Irina.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Multiple instances, which makes this episode practically a showcase in Chronic Backstabbing Disorder.
  • Carmela feels on some level betrayed by Svetlana, as they had been friendly with each other.
  • Paulie towards Johnny Sack, after realizing he got played and hard.
  • How Johnny Sack feels after Tony backs out of the hit on Carmine.
  • Carmela, when she learns that A.J. wants to live with Tony instead.
• Exiled to the Couch: Tony, after one of his blowouts with Carmela. Although he won't admit it.
• Flipping the Bird: Patsy gives one to Agent Harris, who's staking out Chris.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Carmine says he's not going anywhere soon, and Johnny Sack says Carmine is as 'healthy as a rhino'.
  • A.J. wants to stay in Tony's improvised man cave, under the delusion that Tony will be the easier parent to live with. He'll find out how that works in the future.
• Frame-Up:
  • Chris enlists Curtis and Johnson for the hit on Carmine, to avoid blame coming to either the New York or New Jersey families.
  • Part of what has Tony Properly Paranoid about Johnny Sack is a valid concern that Sack may try to point the finger at Tony for the proposed hit on Carmine in order to deflect blame in front of the five families of New York. Even Chris of all people shows enough acumen to sniff that Sack is up to some kind of Long Game on that point.
• Gold Digger: Tony accuses Carmela of knowing ahead of time that she would be getting involved with a serial adulterer, much like other mobsters she knew aside from Tony, in exchange for enjoying the perks of being a Mafia Princess. Tony likens it to a contractual arrangement.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Junior, doomed to spend his entire life as a Confirmed Bachelor, can't stand the sight of Bobby and Janice apparently Happily Married, so he has another typical moment of pure pettiness where he orders Bobby to check the mail for him. Janice gives Junior a Disapproving Look in return.
• Gunboat Diplomacy: Sapinsly refuses to do business with Tony, so Tony in turn has some of his men park a boat next to the agent's beach house and play loud music.
• Heel Realization: Devastated by her parents' separation, Meadow takes a guilty look back at some of her Bratty Teenage Daughter behavior.
• Hypocrite:
  • Tony says that Carmine should have taken Johnny Sack's side against Ralph over the fat joke against Ginny. Arguably nobody enjoyed the joke itself more than Tony when Ralph made it. And Tony protected Ralph back then because Ralph was a Bunny-Ears Lawyer at the time.
  • Carmela is outraged over Tony enjoying himself with multiple Goomahs, even though she cheated with Furio in every way short of actually sleeping with him. Meadow even calls her on it.
  • Tony in turn is outraged over Carmela falling for Furio, despite his own numerous infidelities.
  • Tony also tries to justify his fling with Svetlana on the basis that Svetlana was actually a Self-Made Woman of substance, and could relate to her in ways he never could with Carmela. But Carmela is just as quick to point out that Tony actively undermined any efforts on her part to be more active and independent, and also points out that Tony's numerous other flings couldn't possibly be all self-made women with depth and connection.
• Irrevocable Order: Averted. Tony has Chris get rid of Curtis and Johnson before they can pull off the hit on Carmine.
• It's All My Fault: Meadow has a Flashback of one of her Bratty Teenage Daughter phases, signifying that she's starting to blame herself for her parent's separation.
• Jury and Witness Tampering: The efforts to get to Danny and have him hang the jury pay off. Uncle Junior gives Danny a Death Glare to make sure it sticks.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Tony almost tells Carmela that the fingernail she found didn't belong to Svetlana, but stops just short, probably realizing that this would not help his argument.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Tony threw a wrench into Irina's relationship with Zellman by giving him a Belt Whipping, so Irina returns the favor by calling Carmela to precipitate a separation.
  • Sapinsly threatened to make Mr. Kim's life miserable if he didn't cancel his purchase. Tony turns this around on him to get out of the same deal.
• Loud of War: Tony resorts to this against Sapinsly refuses to return him the entrance fee of a house that Tony no longer wants. The man lives by the sea so Tony's men play Dean Martin music day and night from a boat with almost sheer impunity. The man finally caves in.
• Mirror Scare: Carmela gets freaked out at the sight of Tony's reflection staring at her via the kitchen window.
• Nervous Wreck: Danny, the tampered jury member, is totally one as he's caught in between the other jurors who want to send Junior to jail and throw away the key, and The Mafia who gave him an Implied Death Threat.
• Parental Favoritism: It's implied that Carmine is even now anticipating the Succession Crisis that will hit his family after passing, and indirectly encourages Tony to back Little Carmine against Johnny Sack in the crisis to come, even though many in New York feel that Sack would be a more capable boss.
• Pet the Dog: Tony defends Carmela when AJ insults her and gives him some money to buy something nice for his mother. It is hinted that Tony left the house out of sympathy for Carm in the hopes AJ would be easier on her if he wasn't a constant presence in the house.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Tony pulls out of the hit on Carmine for multiple reasons.
  • One, he's worried that Johnny Sack may pull a Frame-Up on him in front of the five families of New York.
  • Second, he's worried about increased heat from the FBI should a high-ranking boss like Carmine get whacked.
• Professional Butt-Kisser:
  • Paulie swings hard into this mode to try and get back into Tony's good graces, after realizing he got totally played by Johnny Sack.
  • Johnny Sack to Carmine, but that's more to avoid suspicion on himself as The Starscream.
• Properly Paranoid: Tony suspects Johnny Sack of wanting to get Carmine out of the way for his own reasons.
• Punch a Wall: Tony provides a very literal example after Carmela reveals her emotional affair with Furio. It's all he can do to avoid hitting Carmela herself.
• Rage Breaking Point: While Carmela has been willing to put up with Tony's affairs before (despite how much they have angered and pained her), first losing Furio and then having it rubbed in that Tony had a fling with Svetlana, a poor immigrant, is finally just too much for her to swallow, leading her to angrily demand a divorce.
• Read the Fine Print: How Sabinsly tries to keep Tony roped into the purchase contract, by arguing that Tony can't back out after having provided the deposit.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Carmine and Tony manage to work out a mutually beneficial deal after the Esplanade shutdown has gone on long enough.
• Recovered Addict: Chris completes his rehab program and, now realizing how bad his health actually was, commits himself to staying sober.
• Shout-Out:
  • Johnny Sack references the assassination of Paul Castellano at the behest of John Gotti, as well as the need to placate the other four of the five families of New York. It serves to lampshade that Sack has definitely become The Starscream.
  • Tony greets Chris with "Hey, Jack Lemmon, how's Lee Remick?" This is a reference to Days of Wine and Roses, which is about a couple struggling with alcoholism.
  • Tony's line "Bad for the grass, bad for the grass" when Carmela tells him that his theatre seats harm the grass is a quote from Chinatown.
• Suddenly Shouting:
  • Johnny Sack, during an argument with Ginny.
  • And Sack again towards Tony, multiple times, as his plans to pull a coup on Carmine unravel.
• Suspiciously Apropos Music: Tony has "Layla" by Eric Clapton playing on his radio just as he pulls up in the driveway, and just in time for Carmela's Tantrum Throwing.
• Swear Jar: Carmela tries to enforce one over Tony and A.J., but it doesn't work very well.
• Sweet Tooth: Chis develops a taste for Coke, which lampshades that he is indeed a Recovered Addict since recovering drug addicts often crave sweet-tasting edibles.
• The Starscream: Johnny Sack, who wants to take over from Carmine. He's motivated at least partly by the prospect of Little Carmine taking over, whom he views as The Wrongful Heir to the Throne.
• Tantrum Throwing: Carmela when she's throwing Tony's belongings out of the house or down the stairs.
• Technology Marches On: Subverted. Tony lets on that he actually prefers the dial and touch-tone phones of years past. At least they didn't have Embarrassing Ringtones as more current cellphones do.
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Benny and another Mafia thug, on Chris' orders, completely empty their guns into Curtis and Johnson.
• The Unapologetic: Chris and Tony agree that Chris should avoid the 12 recovery step that requires apologizing to his victims. It overlaps with Pragmatic Villainy since it is motivated by a desire to avoid saying too much that could find its way to law enforcement.
• Visual Title Drop: The name of the house at the shore.
• Waxing Lyrical: Johnny quotes The Beatles' "Hey Jude" - "I take a sad song and make it better".
• Wham Episode: Tony's bitter ex-girlfriend calls his house, telling Carmela that she used to "fuck your husband." Fragile over Furio's departure, Carmela confronts Tony on his infidelity and the state of their marriage; they decide to separate.
  • This makes it a wham episode in a sense that might not have been predicted earlier in the episode; the audience is initially led to believe that the big setpiece of the episode is going to be the whacking of New York boss Carmine. Instead, that hit is called off, and the Soprano marriage is what gets whacked.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Svetlana calls out Tony for the Belt Whipping on Zellman, as it led to him breaking up with Irina after no longer being able to perform for her.
• You Know I'm Black, Right?: Curtis and Johnson call Chris on planning the Carmine hit on the basis of Gangbangers stereotypes.
• You Know Too Much: Tony orders Chris to dispose of Curtis and Johnson to avoid even the possibility of it getting out to the New York families that the Jersey mob agreed, even if only momentarily, to participate in a hit against Carmine.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Danny, who hung the jury, tries to smooth things over with a fellow juror named Beth. She pulls this on him in retort.

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