| "Proshai, Livushka" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sopranos episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 3 Episode 2 | ||
| Directed by | Tim Van Patten | ||
| Written by | David Chase | ||
| Cinematography by | Phil Abraham | ||
| Production code | 301 | ||
| Original air date | March 4, 2001 (2001-03-04) | ||
| Running time | 57 minutes | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Sopranosseason 3 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"Proshai, Livushka" is the 28th episode of theHBO original seriesThe Sopranos and the second of the show's third season. It was written byDavid Chase and directed byTim Van Patten, and originally aired on March 4, 2001.
Meadow and her friend from college,Noah Tannenbaum, watchThe 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 halfJewish and halfAfrican-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 ofUncle Ben's Rice, triggering apanic attack.
Tony confrontsRalphie Cifaretto, an ambitious and effective member ofRichie Aprile's crew, andAlbert 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 theFBI; he is 'cooperating'.
Tony visits his motherLivia 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 astroke. Later, Tony tellsDr. Melfi, "I'm glad she's dead." Then he bursts out that he is "a bad son".
Tony's sisterBarbara informs him thatJanice 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 thefuneral home Janice insists that, contrary to her wishes, Livia be given a lavishfuneral 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 caregiverSvetlana 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, stoned onmarijuana andcocaine, gives a rambling, unfocused speech. Tony slips outside, where he is confronted by an angry and drunkArtie Bucco, who remembers Livia telling him about Tony'storching of the Vesuvio. Artie goes back inside and seems ready to speak about it, butCarmela 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 watchingThe 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.
The episode marks the first appearance of:
Listed in order of first appearance:[2]
