Moe n’ Joe (S06E10)
Airdate: May 14th 2006
Written by: Matthew Weiner
Directed by: Steve Shill
Running Time: 53 minutes
As The Sopranos entered its final season, its protagonist, Tony Soprano, found himself besieged on all fronts: his family fracturing, his crew restless, and his psyche buckling under the weight of paranoia and guilt. Yet Moe n’ Joe, the episode that opens this grim chapter, subverts expectations by presenting a rare moment where fortune briefly smiles on Tony. Here, the universe aligns to grant him small victories—financial windfalls, dominance over rivals, fleeting control over his disintegrating world. But true to the show’s ethos, these triumphs are hollow, built on the cascading misfortunes of those around him. The episode becomes a perverse comedy of errors, where Tony’s gains are inseparable from others’ losses, exposing the moral rot at the heart of his power.
The episode’s most seismic shift arrives with Johnny Sack’s decision to accept a plea deal, a move tantamount to treason in the Mafia’s rigid code of honour. Once a regal figure who embodied the gravitas of La Cosa Nostra, Johnny is reduced to a broken man, ground down by incarceration and the FBI’s relentless asset seizures. His allocution—publicly admitting his Mafia ties—is a pragmatic bid to salvage scraps of dignity and provide for his family, yet it is perceived as unforgivable cowardice. Phil Leotardo, Johnny’s erstwhile protégé, seethes with contempt, framing his own decades in prison as a badge of honour. Tony, ever the opportunist, swoops in to “help” Johnny’s family retain a sliver of their wealth, all while commandeering the lion’s share of their assets. The acquisition of Johnny’s mansion, sold at a cut-rate price to Bobby and Janice, is less a gesture of loyalty than a predatory land grab. Tony’s exploitation of Johnny’s humiliation underscores his transactional view of relationships: even allies are reduced to marks.
Bobby’s brutal assault by a group of African American teenagers in a derelict neighbourhood should elicit sympathy. Instead, Tony weaponises the incident to belittle him, mocking his physical frailty and questioning his competence. This cruelty, as Tony confesses to Dr. Melfi, is rooted not in genuine frustration but in petty resentment toward Janice, Bobby’s wife and Tony’s sister. The crew’s muted disapproval of Tony’s behaviour signals a growing fissure in their loyalty. Bobby’s eyepatch becomes a symbol of his diminished stature—a once-respected enforcer now reduced to a punchline in Tony’s psychological theatre.
Tony’s callousness extends to his own family. When Carmela struggles with bureaucratic hurdles for her speculative housing project, he pointedly withholds assistance, relishing her frustration. His refusal is less about practicality than asserting dominance, a reminder that her ambitions remain contingent on his whims. Similarly, his tactless remark about Meadow “living in sin” with Finn DeTrollio—delivered as her relationship crumbles—reveals a staggering lack of empathy.
In a rare gesture of leniency, Tony releases Sal Vitro, the landscaper enslaved to the Soprano and Sack families, from his obligations to Ginny Sack. Yet this “mercy” is poisoned by ulterior motives. Tony’s decision stems not from compassion but from schadenfreude toward Johnny, whose downfall renders the Sack family’s demands irrelevant. Sal’s freedom is incidental, a byproduct of Tony’s vendetta. Even acts of apparent decency are tainted by vindictiveness.
Paulie’s cancer diagnosis lays bare his isolation. He confides in Tony not out of loyalty but because he has no one else—a stark contrast to the familial bonds the Mafia mythologises. Tony’s tepid response, devoid of empathy, underscores his emotional sterility. Having survived his own health crisis, Tony views Paulie’s vulnerability as weakness, further alienating a man already adrift. The scene is a quiet tragedy, highlighting the existential void beneath the Mafia’s bravado.
Vito’s arc reaches its nadir as his attempt at a quiet life in New Hampshire unravels. His romance with Johnny Cakes initially offers redemption, but the mundanity of honest work—grilling at a diner, fixing motorcycles—proves intolerable. Accustomed to the adrenaline of mob life, Vito spirals into alcoholism and self-sabotage. His impulsive decision to return to New Jersey culminates in a fatal car accident and murder of an innocent driver, sealing his doom. The episode’s experimental flourish—a voiceover of Vito’s internal monologue—feels tonally jarring, disrupting the series’ signature realism. While intended to convey his inner turmoil, the device muddles more than it illuminates.
Matthew Weiner’s script crackles with bitter irony, particularly in Johnny Sack’s comparison of plea deals to Jewish collaboration with Nazis—a line that foreshadows his own “betrayal.” Yet the episode occasionally strains credulity, particularly in Tony’s unchecked malice. His relentless spite toward Bobby, Carmela, and Meadow risks caricature, flattening his complexity into one-note cruelty.
Director Steve Shill delivers a taut, visually assured episode, though his experimentation with Vito’s internal monologue—a first for the series—misses the mark. The sequence feels incongruous, a stylistic departure that clashes with the show’s grounded aesthetic.
Moe n’ Joe presents Tony Soprano at his most paradoxically potent and pathetic. His fleeting victories are illusions, masking the erosion of his world. As others’ lives implode—Johnny’s disgrace, Bobby’s humiliation, Vito’s upcoming demise—Tony’s pyrrhic gains only hasten his moral decay. The episode serves as a grim prologue to the series’ endgame, where every triumph is a step toward ruin. In this world, even winning feels like losing.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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