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"**Down Neck**"
"Down Neck"
The Sopranos episode
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
Running time	51 minutes
Episode chronology
← Previous; "Pax Soprana"	Next →; "The Legend of Tennessee Moltisanti"
	The Sopranos season 1
	List of episodes

"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.^[1]

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

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 isn't like Jackie, whom he calls a "complicated man."

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. doesn't 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 ADD. Learning from his experiences and therapy over the last few days, Tony resolves to spend more time with his son and prove that he doesn't have to be like his own father.

First appearances

Johnny Soprano: Tony's deceased father who appears in flashbacks to his childhood. He was the long-time capo of the original Soprano crew (which later became known as the Gualtieri crew) until his death from emphysema in 1986.
Janice Soprano: Tony's older sister who appears as a child in flashbacks.
Barbara Soprano: Tony's younger sister who appears as an infant in flashbacks.

Title reference

"Down Neck" refers to the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey where Tony grew up.

Cultural references

While being tested for ADD, A.J. mentions the animated series South Park, specifically the first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe."
Dr. Melfi slightly misquotes George Santayana's words: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
With Melfi, Tony mentions the murderers Leopold and Loeb.
Johnny Boy inaccurately references Samuel Taylor Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner when he describes a certain something as "an albacore around my neck" (instead of an albatross).

References to past episodes

When Carmela mentions Meadow's suspicions about Tony's true occupation, flashbacks from "College" appear briefly.

Music

The song played on the television during Tony's flashback to 1967 was a live performance of "I've Been Lonely Too Long" by The Rascals on The Ed Sullivan Show. During the scene, Tony's mother implies her husband was arrested because he's Italian. "They're always picking on Italians," she says. The irony in the scene is, three of the four members of the Rascals—Dino Danelli, Felix Cavaliere, and Eddie Brigati—were Italian Americans.
The song played while Tony takes his Prozac and remembers his childhood is "White Rabbit" by Jefferson Airplane. It is also played when he makes ice-cream sundaes with A.J. and into the end credits.
The song played when young Tony misses the bus and sees Johnny and Junior beating up a man is "Don't Bring Me Down" by The Animals.
The song played when young Tony plays catch with Junior while Janice leaves with Johnny for the carnival is "Carrie Anne" by The Hollies.
The song played when young Tony hides in the trunk of Johnny's car and follows him and Janice to the carnival is "Mystic Eyes" by Them.
The song played when young Tony sees Junior, Johnny, and friends arrested at the carnival is "The Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss II.

Filming locations

Listed in order of first appearance:^[2]

Long Island City, Queens
Newark, New Jersey
West Caldwell, New Jersey
Satin Dolls in Lodi, New Jersey
West Orange, New Jersey
Below the Pulaski Skyway in Jersey City, New Jersey
Staten Island

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."^[3] 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."^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b Wallace, Marc. "The Sopranos (TV Series) Down Neck (1999) Trivia". IMDB.com, Inc. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved August 13, 2013.
^ Ugoku. "The Sopranos location guide - Filming locations for". www.sopranos-locations.com. Archived from the original on January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2020.
^ St. James, Emily (June 23, 2010). "The Sopranos: "Pax Soprana"/"Down Neck"". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
^ Sepinwall, Alan (July 15, 2015). "'The Sopranos' Rewind: Season 1, Episode 7: 'Down Neck'". Uproxx. Archived from the original on April 18, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.