For All Debts Public and Private

"For All Debts Public and Private" is the 40th episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos and the first episode of the show's fourth season. Written by David Chase and directed by Allen Coulter, it originally aired on September 15, 2002.

"For All Debts Public and Private"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 1
Directed byAllen Coulter
Written byDavid Chase
Cinematography byPhil Abraham
Production code401
Original air dateSeptember 15, 2002
Running time58 minutes

Starring

Guest starring

Synopsis

Uncle Junior is worried about money. Meeting Tony at his doctor's office, he asks for more help for his medical and legal expenses, but Tony has his own expenses and angrily tells Junior to manage his affairs better. Junior later promotes Bobby Baccalieri.

Assemblyman Ron Zellman tells Tony about a special Newark Development District where Junior has a property which is going to rise in value; Tony buys it, pretending that he is doing his uncle a favour. He also calls a meeting with the family's capos in which he harangues them about the zero growth in business.

Carmela is worried about money, having seen the widowed Angie Bonpensiero working at a supermarket. Tony insists that, if anything happens to him, she and the children will be provided for, but will not give details. He also says money is no longer hidden in the house, but later retrieves packets of banknotes from a shed and from his car and hides them in a tub of duck feed; Carmela happens to pass by just after he closes the tub.

Paulie Walnuts has been arrested in Youngstown, Ohio, on a gun charge, and resents Tony's apparent indifference. From a jailhouse payphone, he calls Johnny Sack, who is cultivating his dissatisfaction.

Ralphie Cifaretto and Janice Soprano are growing closer. At a Sunday dinner at Tony and Carmela's home, Janice follows Ralphie to the bathroom and joins him for cocaine and sex— though Ralphie came with Rosalie Aprile.

Christopher believes that Tony is treating him harshly because he questioned his action against Jackie Aprile, Jr.. He is injecting heroin every day. Adriana is now close friends with Danielle, who is actually FBI Agent Deborah Ciccerone. Chris complains that she is always in their home. Adriana takes her to Tony's home and introduces her to him. Junior hears that there was an FBI agent in his doctor's office. He realizes it must have been the nurse he was flirting with and is mortified that he failed to suspect her.

Speaking to Dr. Melfi about business with unusual frankness, Tony says that usually, "There's two endings for a guy like me. . . Dead or in the can." But there is a third option, to rely "on blood relations": he will use his nephew Chris as a buffer between others and himself. As part of what he calls the bonding process, he gives Chris the name and home address of the man, a just-retired policeman, who, Tony says, killed Chris's father. Chris goes to the man's home and kills him.

First appearances
  • Bobby Baccalieri, III: Bobby's son
  • Karen Baccalieri: Bobby's wife
  • Sophia Baccalieri: Bobby's daughter
  • Carlo Gervasi: Soprano/DiMeo crime family capo
  • Murf Lupo: Aging former Soprano/DiMeo crime family capo and friend of Junior Soprano
  • Cosette: the dog of Adriana La Cerva

Deceased

Title reference
  • The episode's title is taken from a phrase found on American paper currency: "this note is legal tender for all debts, public and private". The episode ends with a close up of a twenty-dollar bill that Christopher takes from Lt. Barry Haydu after he kills him--the only episode in the series to not fade to a black screen.

Production
  • This episode was the first to be produced and aired after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. From this episode on, the shot of the World Trade Center towers in the opening credits is absent, replaced by additional shots of industrial scenery before reaching the toll booth.
  • Vince Curatola (Johnny Sack) is now billed in the opening credits, but only for the episodes in which he appears.
  • A comment made by Carmine Lupertazzi to Tony Soprano, "A don doesn't wear shorts", was added into the show after series creator David Chase was contacted by a supposed real-life mafia associate who praised him on the authenticity of the show, with the exception that Tony often wears shorts, which he said a real don would never do.
  • "For All Debts Public and Private" is one of only two Sopranos episodes in which the end credits roll on top of a picture (the eye of the twenty dollar bill in this case) instead of a black background (the other episode is "Cold Cuts" from Season 5) and the only episode in which they do so for the entire duration of the credits.

Other cultural references
  • Bobby Baccala mentions the September 11 attacks in 2001 as a factor of his 69-year-old mother's deteriorating mental health.
  • Junior is shown watching the movie Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison.
  • During the scene in which Carmela approaches Tony about finances, the movie playing on the television is Rio Bravo, a 1959 Western starring John Wayne, Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson. In the scene that Tony is watching, Martin and Nelson sing a duet, "My Rifle, My Pony and Me". This song is also used at the end of the future episode "Pie-O-My."
  • At Lt. Haydu's house, Chris is shown watching the Magnum P.I. episode "No More Mr. Nice Guy."
  • When Paulie is on the payphone in county jail, The Jerry Springer Show is seen on the television in the background.
  • During the scene in which Janice and Ralphie are snorting cocaine in the bathroom, Janice comments "Oh Bartleby, Oh Humanity" a reference to the drama surrounding Jackie Jr.'s death. This is the last line from Herman Melville's short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener."

Music
  • The song played at the episode's beginning and over the end credits is "World Destruction" by Time Zone (with John Lydon).
  • The song played while two women make out on a hotel bed is "Do You Wanna Get Heavy?" by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.
  • The song playing while Bobby and Tony are eating in the diner is "Theme from A Summer Place" by Percy Faith.
  • The song playing while Christopher smokes a heroin-laden cigarette with one of the Icelandic Air Flight Attendants is "Something something" (2001) by Coo Coo Cal.
  • The song played while Christopher shoots up is "My Rifle, My Pony, and Me", sung by Dean Martin in Rio Bravo (1959).
  • The song playing while Det. Lt. Haydu pulls into his driveway is "Lady Marmalade" by Labelle.
  • The song playing when Carmela sees Angie in the supermarket is "Saturday in the Park" (1972) by Chicago from their album Chicago V.
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