Down Neck

For the working-class neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey, see Ironbound.

"Down Neck"
The Sopranos episode
Tony Soprano during a therapy session
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 7
Directed by	Lorraine Senna Ferrara
Written by	Robin Green Mitchell Burgess
Cinematography by	Alik Sakharov
Production code	107
Original air date	February 21, 1999 (1999-02-21)
Running time	51 minutes

"Down Neck" is the seventh episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. It was written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, and directed by Lorraine Senna Ferrara. It aired on February 21, 1999.

Starring

• James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
• Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi
• Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
• Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
• Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr.
• Vincent Pastore as Pussy Bonpensiero
• Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
• Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri *
• Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr.
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano
• Nancy Marchand as Livia Soprano

* = credit only

Guest starring

• Joseph Siravo as Johnny Boy Soprano
• Laila Robbins as Young Livia Soprano
• Rocco Sisto as Young Junior Soprano
• David Beach as Dr. Peter Galani

Also guest starring

• Paul Albe as Contractor
• Shirl Bernheim as Pearl
• Madeline Blue as Janice
• Bobby Boriello as Young Tony
• Scott Owen Cumberbatch as Rideland Kid #2
• Anthony Fusco as Father Hagy
• Rob Grippa as Byron Barber
• Jason Hauser as Rideland Cop
• Michael B. Jordan as Rideland Kid
• Greg Perrelli as Jared
• Nick Raio as Wiseguy
• Tim Realbuto as Jimmy
• Steve Santosusso as Guy
• Tim Williams as Mr. Meskimmin

Synopsis

At their Catholic school, A.J. and his friends steal sacramental wine and turn up drunk at gym class. Tony, who is shaking down a foreman at a construction site, is called to the school and sees the psychologist along with Carmela. They are told that A.J. may have attention deficit disorder. Tony scornfully rejects this diagnosis and says A.J. is behaving like a normal 13-year-old. Carmela supports his opinion and they both walk out of the psychologist's office. Further misbehavior by A.J. during a dinner with Livia results in him being grounded.

Tony contemplates talking to his son about the family business. He flashes back to his own childhood, around the time of the 1967 Newark riots, when he witnessed his father Johnny Boy and uncle Junior viciously beat a man named Rocco Alatore. During a session with Dr. Melfi, Tony implies that his parents were abusive. As A.J. begins his psychological testing, Carmela tells Tony that he may have to go into special education. An argument ensues between the couple over which parent is to blame for A.J.'s problems, causing Carmela to storm off.

As part of his punishment, A.J. visits Livia at the Green Grove retirement community. Having overheard his parents talking about Tony's therapy, A.J. innocently tells his grandmother, who assumes that Tony is discussing her with the psychiatrist. She later tries to pass this information to Uncle Junior, but Tony happens to walk in before she can do so. Later, while changing a flat tire, Tony attempts to bond with A.J., who–having seen police photographers at Jackie Aprile, Sr.'s funeral–asks whether he is in the Mafia. Tony says that he is not like Jackie, whom he calls a "complicated man."

Dr. Melfi during the therapy session

During another session with Melfi, Tony expresses concern that he and A.J. inherited reckless tendencies from Johnny Boy. He recalls traumatic memories of Livia threatening to gouge out his eye with a fork, and of witnessing Johnny Boy's arrest at a mob-run fairground. Tony states that despite the arrest he is proud of being Johnny Boy's son, while acknowledging that A.J. does not have to be like him. Tony also recalls an argument between his parents when Rocco, the man Johnny Boy had beaten up, offered him a job in Reno, Nevada. Tony visits Livia at Green Grove to ask about Rocco, but she alludes to knowing about Tony's psychiatrist.

A.J.'s psychological testing confirms that he has borderline attention deficit disorder. Learning from his experiences and therapy over the last few days, Tony resolves to spend more time with his son and prove that he does not have to be like his own father.

Reception

Emily St. James of The A.V. Club retrospectively praised "Down Neck" as "an unusually focused episode. It rarely deviates from its central thesis about fathers and mothers and their sons." She considered the flashbacks to be "nicely constructed and handily paralleled with Tony's fears that his kids will find out what he does for a living." Alan Sepinwall praised Gandolfini's acting and also stated, in reference to the scene where AJ tells Livia of Tony's therapy sessions, that the episode's two plots "make a great comic combination because AJ is so oblivious [...] that he not only doesn't realize what he's telling Livia, but is invulnerable to her usual emotional manipulations. Once Livia decides that Tony goes to a psychiatrist to complain about her, she starts up the waterworks and loud self-pity, and AJ couldn't possibly be less interested in, or even aware of, this display. It's priceless."

External links

• "Jules, Janick. "The Pear in History, Literature, Popular Culture and Art."
• "The Killers in a Nutshell"

External links

• "Down Neck" Archived August 18, 2016, at the Wayback Machine at HBO
• "Down Neck" at IMDb