Funeral home. We get a close-up of the picture of Livia, and she does look good. It's her wedding shot, and while no one in the forums seems to agree with me, I do think she resembles Buffy's Joyce just a little bit. It's in the cheekbones, I think. Anyway, the service hasn't started yet, and we get a montage of all the characters getting ready. Silvio is pissed he's missing the Jets game, and Furio, Christopher, and Adriana are consuming about fourteen different varieties of drugs. "Every little bit helps," says Adriana. Meanwhile, back at the funeral home, Tony gets flowers and a sympathy card from the Newark FBI office. Heh. Joey Pants arrives and flirts with Carmela, and then we get our first Junior sighting of the new season. He and Tony chat stiffly for a moment, and there doesn't seem to be much love lost between those two. Bobbie Bacala gives Tony a warm hug, and Tony actually seems moved by the sentiment. Then Peter "Boon" Riegert shows up, playing a local politician. He calls Livia a "proud Newark-er," and then they're joined by the Reverend Harold James Jr., the black preacher Tony dealt with in season two. The Reverend references the conversation they had in that episode about the impending death of their mothers, and while they chat, Meadow looks over and sees them together.

Later, Tony catches Junior staring forlornly at Livia's picture. "They're dropping like flies," he moans. "It's all that charcoal-broiled meat you people ate," jokes Tony, but Junior doesn't get it, and sincerely replies, "Nobody told us until the eighties!" Junior goes over and offers to bury the hatchet with Carmela, and then pinches AJ's cheeks to within an inch of their life. Bacala sends him out into the hall to meet with Tony. Junior wants Joey Pants made a captain, and tells Tony not to forget that he's the boss of the family. "I forget nothing," replies Tony, and it's a sure sign that I spend too much time on this site when I equate that sentiment with Pacey, and I don't even watch Dawson's Creek. They argue about who's in charge, and Junior cracks my shit up by saying, "This economy is so robust, you're getting credit for shit you had nothing to do with." Tony shuts him down and stalks off, and we see Ray Curto arriving.