Full Leather Jacket opens up with a great tune, Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. Suddenly we’re having dinner with The Soprano family. Usually the family dinner scenes take place anyplace in an episode besides the first scene, which feels a little bit out of place. Speaking out ‘out of place’, the leather jacket that Richie Aprile gives to Tony Soprano, looks so out of place on Tony, it’s not even funny. Okay, maybe it’s funny to us, but definitely not to Tony and Richie. The episode title references the jacket, Full Leather Jacket, which is a play on words from the 1987 Stanley Kubrick film, Full Metal Jacket.

Just when we thought Christopher Moltisanti was done with Hollywood, they pull him back in; Christopher & Adriana join Chris’s cousin Gregory Moltisanti and his fiancée Amy Safir for some drinks in the city. Amy works for Jon Favreau (who plays himself in this episode) and they are both interested in reading Christopher’s movie script. A few episodes prior, the writers had us thinking that Christopher was through with big screen distractions, however he now wants to dive back in. The Sopranos writers were always great at delivering diversions like that.

“So remember, get all of your academic and extracurricular ducks in a row. Leave nothing to chance.” The college recruiter speaks this line, just as David Scatino (played by Robert Patrick) steps up and walks out of the classroom in the opening scene, the key words being, “Leave nothing to chance.” Again, we’re slapped in the face with foreshadowing, as Scatino will fall into deep debt not only with Tony Soprano in this episode, but with Richie Aprile as well. David leaves everything up to chance.

Less than one episode after spending 95% of his time comatose on heroin in Itlay, Christopher Moltisanti barges into a brothel and declares that the owner is a ‘drug addict’. The writing on this show never lets me down. Christopher came to collect money due to Tony Soprano and he leaves with nothing. Maybe it’s the drugs that are making him too soft?

FBI Warning! I find a lot of symbolism in the opening scene, as Tony and the gang attempt to watch a bootlegged copy of The Godfather Part II on DVD and the disc is stuck on the FBI Warning title. The symbolism here is not for danger of making illegal copies of Hollywood movies, but for the lives that these made men lead. It could also reference Big Pussy’s current status, as he’s a rat who’s working with the feds.

Dr. Jennifer Melfi returns back to Sopranoland this episode, after being absent in the previous. Her return makes for an interesting dream sequence, an amusing encounter with Tony Soprano’s crew, as well as a closer look at her own mental issues. Before we get to all of that, I’m going to talk about one of the main characters of season 2, who makes his first appearance in this episode.