Meadow and her friend from college,
Noah Tannenbaum, watch
The Public Enemy,
Tony's favorite film. Tony arrives and converses with Noah privately. He subtly tries to determine Noah's ethnicity, and after several indirect questions Noah states that he is half
Jewish and half
African-American. Tony makes some offensive remarks and urges him to stop seeing his daughter. Noah swears at him and storms out. Still somewhat shaken from the encounter, Tony goes to the kitchen; he sees a box of
Uncle Ben's Rice, triggering a
panic attack. Tony confronts
Ralphie Cifaretto, an ambitious and effective member of
Richie Aprile's crew, and
Albert Barese about a sanitation dispute. He urges them not to start any more fires that may attract press attention. Instead, Ralphie has a man beaten up with baseball bats. Separately,
Ray Curto meets his handler from the
FBI; he is 'cooperating'. Tony visits his mother
Livia and asks her not to say anything to the feds about the stolen airline tickets. As ever, she is combative and seems to stonewall him. Exasperated, he walks out. That evening, Livia dies from a
stroke. Later, Tony tells
Dr. Melfi, "I'm glad she's dead." Then he bursts out that he is "a bad son". Tony's sister
Barbara informs him that
Janice will not be coming for the funeral. He furiously calls her in Seattle and orders her to be on the next plane; she inveigles him into paying the fare. At the
funeral home Janice insists that, contrary to her wishes, Livia be given a lavish
funeral and, exasperated, Tony agrees. In Livia's house, Janice hammers at the basement wall. At the funeral, still at the graveside, she has a dispute with Livia's caregiver
Svetlana about Livia's collection of records. Svetlana says Livia gave them to her; Janice orders her to give them back. At the post-funeral reception at the Sopranos' house, Janice, against Tony's wishes, corrals everyone into the main room for a ceremony of remembrance. With some reluctance, one or two people speak in memory of Livia.
Christopher, high on
marijuana and
cocaine, gives a rambling, unfocused speech. Tony slips outside, where he is confronted by an angry and drunk
Artie Bucco, who remembers Livia telling him about Tony's
torching of the Vesuvio. Artie goes back inside and seems ready to speak about it, but
Carmela and her father Hugh give their blunt perspectives on Livia. Carmela then upbraids Tony, Janice, and Barbara for ignoring their mother's wishes and having an elaborate funeral. Artie ultimately remains silent. Afterward, Tony continues watching
The Public Enemy and becomes emotional when the main character's mother joyfully prepares her home for her son's return, not knowing that he is dead. ==First appearances==