A List Of Things Thrown Five Minutes Ago

YOU ACT LIKE BUTTER WOULDN'T MELT IN YOUR MOUTH: One way I've moved on from Wire Wednesday Withdrawals is that for the past two months I've been rewatching The Sopranos, which HBO-Signature has been re-running an episode per-night at 8pm. There's a lot, obviously, one can say about all of it, and the Wire v. Sopranos question is one you should feel free to weigh in on in the comments; I'd rather not, and just be thankful that we've had both shows to enjoy.

We're towards the end of season five, now (the Year of the Two Tonys, plus "Long Term Parking"), and last night was "Unidentified Black Males". It's the one most memorable for Vito's surprise early morning appearance, but the best part may have been that never-ending hot summer night conversation between Finn and Meadow which followed. Wikiquote has a good chunk of dialogue, showing just how overwrought college kids can talk around their anxieties, and the combination of Meadow's willingness to repeat whatever academic theory she was last taught (see also the Billy Budd debate), plus her denial to others as to her family's true nature (see also her comments after Jackie Jr's funeral, and her whole existence) culminates in one of the five funniest lines in the series, when Finn expresses his horror over seeing Eugene Pontecorvo pummel Little Paulie Germani at the construction site. To which Meadow responds with just masterful bullshit:

You know you talk about these guys like it's an anthropology class. The truth is, they bring certain modes of conflict resolution from all the way back in the old country, from the poverty of the Mezzogiorno, where all higher authority was corrupt.

One added bonus of watching all the episodes like this, after having already seen the series? You know what to anticipate whenever anyone mentions eggs.