initiated by Goldie on September 06, 2008 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0705234/)
During its first season, in the beautiful The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti, The Sopranos dealt head-on with criticisms raised at it for conveying negative stereotypes, the fun of the show being that it was the mobsters themselves who chastised Hollywood's depiction of Italians. The theme resurfaces 38 episodes later, in the aptly titled Christopher.Wait, forget that last part: the title has noth more
During its first season, in the beautiful The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti, The Sopranos dealt head-on with criticisms raised at it for conveying negative stereotypes, the fun of the show being that it was the mobsters themselves who chastised Hollywood's depiction of Italians. The theme resurfaces 38 episodes later, in the aptly titled Christopher.Wait, forget that last part: the title has nothing to do with Chris Moltisanti, despite the fact Michael Imperioli co-wrote the episode with Laura Marino; it is actually related to Christopher Columbus, who becomes the subject of a heated debate. The controversy rises from Native Americans' decision to boycott Columbus Day celebrations, on account of the famous explorer contributing to genocide when he first came to America. Silvio, however, perceives this as anti-Italian discrimination and enlists Ralph's help to settle things. Speaking of Ralph, he also gets dumped by Janice when she lays her eyes on Bobby "Baccala" (Steven Schirripa), whose wife has died in a car accident, and indirectly upsets Johnny Sack after the latter is told by Paulie what Ralphie said regarding Ginny Sack's ass.The death subplot notwithstanding, Christopher is one of the funniest stories in the show's run, although the humor stays pitch-black as usual: just like in the aforementioned Season One episode, the writers' way of satirizing Italian-American culture is priceless, especially when Ralph tells the protesters the most famous Native American actor of all time was actually a "ghinzo". The best bit, though, occurs when they manage to throw in a stab at the tensions between Italians themselves: as Furio points out, those from the North of Italy, like Columbus, have always looked down on those from the South, treating them like peasants ("terroni" is the word they use in the mother tongue). Bottom line: don't insult these guys; they're already too busy bad-mouthing each other.
