The Sopranos (TV Series) Mergers and Acquisitions (2002) User Reviews

Mergers and Acquisitions (#4.8)

[ComedyFan2010 · 8/10 · 17 March 2014]

Paulie now has to bring his mother to the nursing home and has to deal with other seniors treating her badly. Tony hooks up with the woman that is with Rich now and finds out about his crazy sex life. Carmela finds her nail in his jacket and grabs herself money from him. And Furio tells his father that he has feelings for Carmela.

Well we already knew that Carmela must feels something for Furio now we know that it is mutual. Seems like a preview for something bad to happen, especially since Furio heard from his father is that he can only have her if he kills Tony.

Loved the story about Paulie dealing with his mother It was kind of sweet but also pretty funny.

Paulie's big moment

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 8 May 2008]

As a single episode, Mergers and Acquisitions isn't exactly a masterpiece. Taken in the context of the entire Season Four, though, it serves as a major tone-setter for the last shows of the season and offers some irresistible adult entertainment.

The latter comes in the form of Paulie Gualtieri, who finally gets to see his mother again after spending time behind bars. He is shocked to discover she isn't treated very well by fellow seniors and enlists some special help to take care of the mess. Meanwhile, Tony learns Ralph's new mistress shares his passion for horses, which soon turns into something more dangerous and leads to big trouble at home with Carmela.

Watching the Soprano spouses argue is always a pleasure, but this time the limelight is gleefully stolen by Tony Sirico, who obviously enjoys putting Paulie's more twisted side on display: his efforts to make Mrs. Gualtieri's stay at Grren Grove more comfortable are a great example of good grown-up comedy.

Actually, the Soprano family manages to reclaim the spotlight in one scene, but not in the way you might expect: I'll just say it involves Tony, his sister and a discussion about Ralphie's sexual quirks. Yikes.

Stop the rhetorical questions

[snoozejonc · 10/10 · 7 September 2022]

Boredom drives Tony into a new relationship, whilst Carmela takes financial matters into her own hands.

This is an excellent episode with great reflective character moments and dark humour.

There are a number of characters in focus, such as Tony, Carmela, Ralph and Valentina, who all have superbly written interactions and connected themes.

This show more than any other derives outstanding drama and humour from the most ordinary concepts. Who would think a fingernail could be so significant and cinematic? How can a glass of cold water thrown into a hot shower reveal so much underlying issues? Elderly care homes again are central to problems. The general "regularness of life" causes far more intrigue than the stories we usually associate with mafia life.

The plot associated with Carmela making certain discoveries about Tony, then reacting and taking action is brilliantly worked, plus it fits perfectly into the larger arc associated with her character. Everything connected to Ralph and his sex life weaves into it perfectly.

This couldn't be better timed considering what happens between Tony and Ralph in the next episode. When Tony asks Silvio if he thinks Ralph is "a little weird about women", Silvio's answer contains epic, dark comic timing and is a clever reminder of the episode 'University'.

The power dynamics between various characters asserting and relinquishing control of situations like Tony, Carmela, Ralph, Adriana, Paulie, Nucci (and various others who impact her well-being), are very interesting.

Paulie's scenes have some of the best humour. He is a hilarious character at times and Tony Serico embodies his toughness, sneakiness, limited intelligence to great effect and with epic comic timing. How this character caused so much trouble between the New York and Jersey families, with Tony completely oblivious, is ironically funny.

I love the Easter egg references to Joe Pantoliano with 'The Fugitive' and Lorraine Bracco as a 'Goodfellas' mob wife in Tony's discussion about Friday and Saturday nights.

All performances are strong, but the standouts for me are Serico, James Gandolfini, Edie Falco, and Frances Esemplare.

As ever the cinematography, editing and general art design is excellent and visually conveys the story.

It's a 9.5/10 for me but I round upwards.

Margetis Review: The Sopranos, Episode 47 "Mergers & Aquisitions"

[MichaelMargetis · 11 February 2006]

Although this episode was entertaining, it didn't focus on what the show is all about "the mafia". It seemed almost like a Six Feet Under episode or - a messed up Boston Public episode. It seemed almost too good to be true… or realistic. The title of this episode should have been "Ralph's Crazy Love Life", because that is main plot line in this episode. From hot candle wax on his balls, to a greasy cheese grater on his member, Tony finds this all too disturbing for words, and fears it will affect "business". And how does Tony find this out? Ralph's goomar, Valentina, who at the end of the episode becomes Tony's goomar. It was entertaining and fun to watch Paulie's mother move into Green Grove and see the son of a senior at green grove (who was not nice to Paulie mom) being chased with weapons down the hallway of the school he works at as a principal by Benny and Little Paulie. That was source for good entertainment! We also got to see Tony indirectly hint to Carmela she took his hidden money out of the bird feed, which she denied, zzzzzzzz. All in all, it was disappointing, and we should get better episodes than this in the future. I'm not saying it wasn't fun to watch, it just didn't go anywhere. The shocker of the episode was Janice revealing to Tony that Ralph made her "f*ck him the ass with a strap-on. Teleplay by Lawrence Konner ; Story by David Chase, Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess and Terence Winter ; Directed by Daniel Attias. My Rating: 7.5/10

Worst episode yet!

[jasonaldrich-87239 · 3/10 · 2 November 2023]

So this is my first time watching this, and I commented back in season 3 on an episode... well now I'm almost going to give up.

Every episode is a different random issue that seems so unimportant for what the show is supposed to be about (or so I thought).

No Meadow in this episode, the son is still an amazing dunce, how he has that gf from another episode is beyond me. Haven't heard about her since that one episode either, because that's all this show has been. They introduce characters for 1, maybe 2 to 3 sometimes, then they just disappear slowly... or fast if they die.

Either way, this episode was garbage. I don't understand the attraction to Tony by these gorgeous women. I don't care about Ralph's sexual habits, and I sure as hell don't care about retirement home problems.

I don't understand the fascination with this show. Some insane curveball needs to be thrown for me to change my mind, because if the entire series is like this... it'll be a bad show in my eyes.