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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 (2002-09-15)
Running time58 minutes
Episode chronology
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"Army of One" 		Next →
"No Show"
The Sopranos season 4
List of episodes

Starring

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Guest starring

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Synopsis

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Junior, worried about money, meets with Tony at his doctor's office, and asks for more help for his medical and legal expenses; Tony, however, has his own expenses and angrily tells him to manage his affairs better. Junior later promotes Bobby Baccalieri. Assemblyman Ron Zellman tells Tony that Junior owns a property in a special development district in Newark which is going to rise in value, and Tony buys the property, pretending that he is doing his uncle a favor. He also calls a meeting with the family's capos in which he criticizes the lack of growth in their businesses.

Carmela begins to worry about money, having seen the widowed Angie Bonpensiero working at a supermarket. Tony insists that she and the children will be provided for if anything happens to him; he also claims he is no longer hiding money in their house, though he later hides packets of money in a tub of duck feed. Carmela happens to pass by just after he closes the tub.

Paulie is arrested in Youngstown, Ohio, on a gun charge, and resents Tony's apparent indifference. In prison, he calls Johnny Sack, who cultivates his dissatisfaction.

Ralphie and Janice are growing closer. Ralphie comes to a Sunday dinner at Tony and Carmela's home with Rosalie Aprile, but Janice later joins him in the bathroom for cocaine and sex.

Christopher, believing that Tony is treating him harshly because he questioned his action against Jackie Aprile, Jr., begins using heroin again. He complains about the constant presence of Adriana's close friend Danielle, unaware she is actually undercover FBI Agent Ciccerone. Adriana takes her to Tony's home and introduces her to him. Junior learns that there was an undercover agent in his doctor's office; he believes it was 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 discusses his plans to use Christopher as a proxy in order to avoid jail time or death. Although he knows that Christopher is taking heroin again, he now, in an attempt to bond with him, gives him the name and home address of a recently retired policeman who Tony claims killed his father. Christopher breaks into the man's house and kills him.

First appearances

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Deceased

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Title reference

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  • 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

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  • This episode was the first to be produced and aired after the September 11 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 James Gandolfini 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.[1]
  • "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

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  • The September 11 attacks were referenced twice. First when Bobby Baccala mentions the attacks as a factor of his 69-year-old mother's deteriorating mental health. Tony expresses his fears of deteriorating loyalty when overlooking Junior's legal expenses, referencing the attacks to Dr. Melfi as "That Terrorism shit".
  • Bobby subsequently claims that "Quasimodo predicted all this", mistaking The Hunchback of Notre-Dame's main protagonist for Nostradamus, whose supporters believe accurately predicted many major world events.
  • 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."
  • Junior comments that Murf Lupo should "go on Joe Franklin [and] tell the whole tri-state area" about Junior feeling better after passing gas, referring to Joe Franklin's The Joe Franklin Show, the first television talk show.
  • Tony sarcastically compares Junior to the Amazing Kreskin.

Music

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References

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  1. ^ Torres, Libby. "James Gandolfini once got a 'disturbing' anonymous phone call in the middle of the night that eventually inspired an iconic 'Sopranos' line". Insider. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
  2. ^ "The Sopranos - 4x01 - for All Debts Public and Private.PDF".
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