Aside from Steve Buscemi, the key player of the fifth season is Drea de Matteo, her scarred turn as Adriana La Cerva having become meatier from the beginning of the previous series. She deservedly won the Emmy as Oustanding Supporting Actress, and this episode, along with the penultimate show of the season, explains why.
With the Feech problem solved, Tony starts hanging out at Adriana's club. There the two get to know each other better, and soon she is confessing her worries to him and even offering him drugs. The downside of their friendship is that everyone else thinks they're having an affair, an idea that is reinforced when they have a car accident in Tony's SUV and rumors begin to spread about what they were doing when it happened. Naturally, the hot-tempered Chris takes the news very badly, hitting Ade and threatening Tony with a gun while drunk. In the end, the only thing that can save him from getting whacked for his excessive behavior is Cousin Tony, who uses his medical knowledge (he is planning to open a massage parlor) to prove nothing of what has been said could have taken place.
Irregular Around the Margins is arguably the best episode of the fifth series, except for the upcoming Long Term Parking, and it's all in the careful writing and soulful acting: in Gandolfini and de Matteo's hands, the complex bond that forms between Tony and Adriana becomes one of the most endearing relationships depicted on the show, and Imperioli (another Emmy-winner, and justly so) delivers some of his best scenes with his traditional yet gripping take on the "jealous lover" type, ably supported by Buscemi's final solution.
And for those who like the show's occasionally sick sense of humor (and who doesn't?), this episode contains a moment of foul-mouthed comedy genius: a montage where Paulie, Silvio and the rest of the gang exchange phone calls on what they think was going on in Tony's car. It's so good it could have been used in a Kevin Smith film, and that's a genuine compliment.
With the Feech problem solved, Tony starts hanging out at Adriana's club. There the two get to know each other better, and soon she is confessing her worries to him and even offering him drugs. The downside of their friendship is that everyone else thinks they're having an affair, an idea that is reinforced when they have a car accident in Tony's SUV and rumors begin to spread about what they were doing when it happened. Naturally, the hot-tempered Chris takes the news very badly, hitting Ade and threatening Tony with a gun while drunk. In the end, the only thing that can save him from getting whacked for his excessive behavior is Cousin Tony, who uses his medical knowledge (he is planning to open a massage parlor) to prove nothing of what has been said could have taken place.
Irregular Around the Margins is arguably the best episode of the fifth series, except for the upcoming Long Term Parking, and it's all in the careful writing and soulful acting: in Gandolfini and de Matteo's hands, the complex bond that forms between Tony and Adriana becomes one of the most endearing relationships depicted on the show, and Imperioli (another Emmy-winner, and justly so) delivers some of his best scenes with his traditional yet gripping take on the "jealous lover" type, ably supported by Buscemi's final solution.
And for those who like the show's occasionally sick sense of humor (and who doesn't?), this episode contains a moment of foul-mouthed comedy genius: a montage where Paulie, Silvio and the rest of the gang exchange phone calls on what they think was going on in Tony's car. It's so good it could have been used in a Kevin Smith film, and that's a genuine compliment.