The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti


"The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti" is the eighth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. It was written by David Chase and Frank Renzulli, directed by Tim Van Patten and originally aired on February 28, 1999.

Starring

Synopsis

At his daughter's wedding, Larry tells members of the DiMeo crime family that, according to his source in the FBI, federal indictments will soon be handed down against the New Jersey mob. One by one the capos gather their families, say goodbye to the tearful bride, and leave early. Tony and Carmela swiftly collect cash and guns from different parts of their house; Meadow and A.J. watch. Tony hides it all in Livia's room at Green Grove. The house is searched by an FBI team led by Agent Harris.
Having dinner after the search, Tony explains to his children that Italians and Italian-Americans are not given the respect they deserve. Dr. Melfi, at a dinner with her family and her ex-husband, says a few careless words, and her ex-husband deduces that one of her patients is a mobster. He urges her to drop that patient, who he says is evil. He deplores the way a few thousand gangsters have tarnished the good name of millions of Italian-Americans.
Tony has told Dr. Melfi he might go on vacation and miss an appointment; she understands what he means. He misses one, and the next time they meet, she tells him that, as previously agreed, she will still charge him for it; angry, likening her to a call-girl, he scatters bills on the floor and leaves.
In nightmares, Christopher is haunted by Emil Kolar, the first person he killed. He enlists Georgie to help dig the body up and relocate it. He is struggling to write a Mafia movie screenplay. The characters have no arc and he feels there is no arc in his own life. He shoots a shop clerk in the foot for making him wait too long. Tony is furious, but then tries to question him about his feelings, and the conversation ends quietly. Chris is envious and resentful that he is not listed as one of those being investigated by the FBI; when his name appears in the newspaper he is thrilled.
Livia tells Junior that Tony is seeing a psychiatrist. She adds, "I don't want there to be any repercussions."

First appearances

Listed in order of first appearance:
In a retrospective review, Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club was positive. While she opined that the story with Melfi's family "has a tendency to stop the show dead in its tracks" in that "no one watching really cares what Melfi's ex-husband thinks", VanDerWerff listed Christopher's conversations with Paulie and Tony among her favorite scenes from the entirety of The Sopranos and argued that "the series shows it has a certain affection for these characters, these scumbags." Alan Sepinwall also praised the scene between Christopher and Paulie as "remarkable as it illustrates the folly of trying to model your life on your favorite movie and TV characters", but wrote that the dialogue in the scenes with Melfi's family about the popular image of Italian-Americans "grows a little didactic at times".