Season 3 of The Sopranos sees the FBI step up their surveillance of the DiMeo crime family, while Tony butts heads with one of his soldiers, Ralphie
The Sopranos is still one of the greatest television dramas of all time, despite having been off the air for over 16 years now. James Gandolfini is stunning as New Jersey mob boss, Tony Soprano and the supporting cast around him are every bit as good. The Sopranos ran for six seasons on HBO, debuting in 1999 and ending in 2007. It is widely considered to be responsible for giving birth to the golden era of television.
Season 3 is one of the strongest in the whole series, and features arguably one of the best episodes of television ever made in Episode 11’s ‘Pine Barrens’, directed by Steve Buscemi. Joe Pantoliano also joins the cast in season 3 as one of Tony’s soldiers, Ralphie, who provides constant stress for Tony with his inability to control his outbursts.
How does The Sopranos Season 3 end?
Jackie Jr is hiding out in the Boonton Projects after the card game hold up went wrong, and calls Tony to beg for his life. However, with members of the DiMeo Family out for revenge on Jackie, Tony refuses to intervene. Tony toys with the idea of giving Jackie Jr a pass for the failed robbery, due to his close relationship with his late father, while Ralphie makes sure not to let Tony know of his role in suggesting the attempted robbery on the card game in the first place. Tony and Ralphie have a sit down to discuss what to do about Jackie, with the extra complication of Ralphie dating Jackie Jr’s mother, Rosalie.
Tony makes it clear that, regardless of what happens, the important thing is that action is taken “in a timely fashion.” in one of Tony’s most iconic quotes. Ralphie gives Aprile soldier, Vito Spatafore, the order to take out Jackie outside the Boonton Projects. Vito shoots Jackie Jr in the back of the head, and he lands face down in the snow.
Elsewhere, the FBI regroup to come up with a new idea to get information on the DiMeo family, after the failure of the bug they left in Tony Soprano’s cellar via the lamp, which Meadow ended up taking to college with her. They suggest getting to Tony through Christopher and hatch a plan to get a female agent called Debra to pose as a woman called Danielle, who then befriends Chris’s girlfriend, Adriana La Cerva, in order to get a way in, with the hope of getting information they’ve been trying to find on Tony since The Sopranos season 1.
Rosalie, Meadow and the rest of the family are told Jackie was killed by black drug dealers from the Projects, which they readily believe instead of the brutal reality that the attack came from within. Christopher expresses his loyalty to Tony by acknowledging that he made the right decision by allowing Jackie Aprile, Jr. to be executed, since he had wanted to clip Jackie Jr.himself. Tony is visibly annoyed by the suggestion by Chris that he had Jackie Jr killed. Mourners gather at the funeral parlor for Jackie Jr’s service, and Meadow is visibly upset by the whole thing.
The episode ends with Jackie Jr’s wake, and Uncle Junior has a new lease of life after beating off the feds and cancer for now, so Tony encourages him to sing the Italian love song ‘Core n’grato’ which he does, and it reduces everyone to tears, including hardened gangster, Johnny Sack from the New York family. Meadow is disillusioned by Jackie Jr’s death, and storms out of the wake with Tony chasing after her. She avoids oncoming traffic and gets away. Tony returns to the wake to listen to Uncle Junior singing the beautiful Italian song, with Carmela and Anthony Jr either side of him.
What happens in The Sopranos Season 3?
Season 3 of The Sopranos starts with the FBI desperately trying to bug Tony’s family home to help with their growing investigation into the criminal activities of the DiMeo crime family. Tony must also deal with the death of his mother, who he had a complicated relationship with, meaning he needs his therapist, Dr Melfi, more than ever.
However, Melfi has her own trauma going on this season as she is brutally raped in the parking lot outside her office by someone who she later spots is ‘Employee of the Month’ at a fast food restaurant she visits. She grapples with the temptation of telling Tony about the incident, knowing he would sort out the problem for her, but she inevitably decides against it.
Tony and Carmela are having problems in their marriage, and they attempt a joint therapy session which ends very badly. To add to Tony’s stresses, one of his soldiers, Ralphie Cifaretto, violently murders one of the strippers outside the Bada Bing, which leads to Tony breaking the mafia code of conduct by laying his hands on a made man. Ralphie isn’t the only one in Tony’s crime family, causing him stress, as Paulie Walnuts and the newly made man, Christopher Moltisanti, (Michael Imperioli) get involved in a job gone wrong with a handy Russian guy, and gets lost in the woods with Paulie Walnuts in the classic episode ‘Pine Barrens.’ Elsewhere, Tony starts up a volatile relationship with one of Melfi’s patients, Gloria Trillo who turns out to be one of his worst mistresses in the whole series.
Meanwhile, Jackie Aprile Jr, the son of Tony’s old friend and former boss of the DiMeo crime family, is getting involved in mob activities, as well as dating Tony’s daughter, Meadow. After hearing Ralphie tell the story of when his father, Jackie Aprile, Sr. and Tony took down a card game held by legendary mobster, Feech La Manna, Jackie wants to follow in his father’s footsteps, and organizes a crew to hold up a card game run by soldier, Eugene Pontecorvo. Things go horribly wrong, when Jackie kills the dealer, Sunshine, which leads to Christopher killing one of Jackie’s stick up crew, with Jackie Jr fleeing the scene.
