Meanwhile, Tony and Carmela are stepping out themselves. They've gone to the stables to visit Pie-O-My -- or, as Tony likes to call her, "our royal highness." At first I thought Carmela might be concerned that Lois was the owner of last week's wayward fingernail, but, much like some of our forum posters, the only thing she really cares about is the goat. "Uh, yeah. That's her friend," explains Tony. Oh, and props to the early-morning emailer who pointed out that the goat's mouth doesn't move while the sound guys pipe in a few "baaa"s on the soundtrack. You know what I like about Lois, by the way? She totally knows who Tony is and what he does, but she doesn't care because he so clearly loves the horse. That's a nice bit of characterization, and it helps to make the exposition about the big upcoming race go down a lot smoother. Carmela wanders over to Pie's stall and nervously introduces herself. It's a good thing horses are supposedly color-blind, because otherwise the hot-pink jacket Carmela's wearing could set off a stampede. Tony comes over to join her, and Pie immediately approaches him to get some of Tony's good old-fashioned horse-loving. "She likes it when you rub her muzzle right here," he explains. Carmela is captivated by Pie's largely instinctual response to nose-rubbing. "You see that?" she asks. "The second she saw you she came right over." I can't tell whether Carmela is more excited to see Tony as the object of someone's affection, or by seeing Tony himself acting so passionate about the animal. Either way, she loves it. Tony promises to bring her to a race someday, and then we slowly push in on Pie's eye…

…which dissolves into Uncle Junior's eye, as the Ironic Segue Fairy gets his kicks by playing with the Avid machine in the editing bay. Junior is in the hospital, being examined for neurological damage as the result of his fall. Bobby and Melvoin stand by watching, until Mel announces that he has to leave because his daughter is addressing the Irish parliament. Heh. Always with the ethnic mélange on this show. And would that be the Dail Eireann, or the Seanad Eireann? I'm just curious. Out in the hallway, Tony is getting details from a young doctor. "A man his age," the kid says, "he could've been working on a dementia for quite a while and a blow to the head tipped him over." Tony responds by loudly threatening to sue the Justice Department, and then Janice rushes in to overreact as usual. Heh. If you look closely, you can see where they've taped her shirt to her chest to cover the fact that her Rolling Stones tattoo isn't on in this scene. Everyone looks at her with reproach, and…scene.