and Noah are embracing on her bed in her room at Columbia when her unhappy roommate Caitlin comes back in. Meadow and Noah go to his room instead and she gives him her virginity. They then try to help Caitlin; Meadow admires Noah's sensitivity. They take her out on her birthday, but an encounter with a deranged homeless woman upsets her again. When Meadow is away, Caitlin persuades Noah to let her hang out in his room. She distracts him while he is working and he is furious and ashamed at the grade he gets: "C-fucking-minus and it's all her fault!" Meadow nervously meets Noah's father; she tells him her father is in waste management. She is taken aback when Noah tells her his father has taken out a restraining order against Caitlin. Then, when they are together working in the library, Noah looks up and quietly tells Meadow he is breaking up with her because of her cynical, negative attitude. At the Bada Bing, Tony is approached by one of the pole dancers, Tracee. She reminds him that he gave her advice about her sick son, and to thank him gives him some date nut bread she has made. Tony explains that this is out of place; also, she is Ralphie's girl. When she has gone, he pushes the bread off the bar into a trash bin. Tracee later approaches him again, telling him she is pregnant by Ralphie and asking for advice; Tony says that for the sake of future generations, she should not have Ralphie's child. Ralphie's manic jokes offend the other mobsters. He is obsessed with the film Gladiator, and roughhouses with Georgie. Things become tense when he finds a length of chain and swings it at Georgie, injuring his eye. Tracee misses work for three days, claiming to be sick, and stays at home with Ralphie. Silvio goes there, drags her out, and throws her into his car while Ralphie watches through a window, laughing. She next sees Ralphie three days later at the club; he hasn't been in touch and she insults him in front of the other men. Out in the parking lot, he soothes her and she tells him she loves him. They begin to argue, and she slaps him. He knocks her down to the ground, then bashes her head against a metal guardrail until she is dead. Tony is furious and, in violation of Mafia code, assaults Ralphie, a made man. He speaks obliquely about the event to Dr. Melfi. "Sad when they go so young," he says.
Deceased
Tracee: Bada Bing stripper murdered by Ralphie in the parking lot.
Title reference
Much of the episode revolves around Meadow's university experiences.
Tracee suffers through the proverbial 'school of hard knocks'.
Other cultural references
In the first scene, Silvio points to "Yo Yo Ma" as evidence that the Chinese, like his fellow Italians, also have "nicknames."
After being introduced to Meadow, Noah's father says he sat next to a talkative Tim Daly of Wings fame on his flight from Los Angeles. Noah also mentions that his father did Daly's deal for the short-lived TV series remake of The Fugitive. Daly would later play the role of television writer J.T. Dolan on The Sopranos, beginning with the episode "In Camelot."
Caitlin references the Lindbergh kidnapping while expressing to Meadow how she was worried about her missing.
After dining out with Noah's father, Noah and Meadow see the Francis Ford Coppola film Dementia 13.
Ralph watches Stanley Kubrick'sSpartacus, starring Kirk Douglas, which Christopher recommended as a good gladiator film.
Music
The song played during Tracee's introduction and during the end credits is "Living on a Thin Line", from The Kinks 1984 album, Word of Mouth.
The song playing in the background during the first scene between Noah and Meadow is "The Dolphin's Cry" by Live.
When the stripper is trying to get into the VIP room of the Bada Bing, "You Shook Me All Night Long" by AC/DC is playing in the background.
The song playing when Tracee shows Tony her new braces is Minnie Riperton's "Inside My Love".
The song playing when Silvio is informed that Tracee had missed three days of work is "Takin' Care of Business" by Bachman–Turner Overdrive.
The song playing in the background when Meadow and Noah have dinner with Noah's father is "Everybody's Jumpin" by The Dave Brubeck Quartet.
"Powder Your Face with Sunshine" by Dean Martin is used in a scene at the Bada Bing, where Ralph is telling the Custer joke.
Aftermath
According to actress Ariel Kiley, who portrays Tracee, the stripper murdered by Ralph Cifaretto, a lot of subscribers canceled their HBO service because of the episode.
