my thought is that if vito is gone, finn will no longer need protection, and will dump meadow. for some reason, i just do not see chemistry between the two.

if all he wanted was to be rid of vito, he would have already dumped meadow and forever stayed in California.

awesome episode, the vito scene took the cake

I see Meadow with the new muscle head guy--after he heals. He was hot! Also, I could have done without Tony's vomiting episode as well, but I think it was necessary to symbolize the colliding of his worlds--he has been thinking about changing his life, to some degree, but falls back into the old mafia ways. Light and dark cannot live together. It's just more spirituality mixed into the plot.

Real life fights last longer than 10 seconds...since both guys are big I cant see either one dominating the other, and Tony would run out of wind WAY before the young dude

I think the bolded part of your quote is way off base. I saw nothing that would lead me to think that he was a puss (except maybe for the fact that the only fight we see him in he is getting his ass kicked). Someone who gets their ass kicked all the time is not starting fights against 2 guys on the street. What does he gain by fighting the two guys in front of Tony only to get his ass beat. On top of that, Tony hired him to protect him. Obviously this guy has a reputation of being a tough guy or the mob boss wouldn't use him as a body guard. I think Tony is in fact a bad ass and on top of that he caught him off guard and/or he knew to beat the shit out of Tony would put him 6 feet under.

yeah for anyone who said the fight was a setup....did you not see Tony looking at everyone for a few seconds deciding on who he should start a fight with??? If it was a setup, why would he even bother doing that?
I also think the muscle dude tried to beat the shit out of Tony because he did take a big swing at him and Tony blocked it or dodged it (not sure)

he blocked it with his left arm...which he is holding afterwards because it hurt.

Six weeks later and no backlash from the ass-shooting incident?

If the beating Tony gave his bodygaurd was set-up he wouldn't have lost his lunch afterwards. His conscience got the better of him, everyday is a gift after all and it's hard to enjoy it if you go around beating up guy that's only hangin around to protect you. I wonder if maybe he killed the guy, according to imdb he's MIA for the next 4 episodes.

i doubt he got sick because of his conscience. I think he got sick because he's still recovering from being shot and fighting made him ill.

It seemed pretty straightforward that the fight wasn't a setup. Tony pulled it off by knowing exactly what he was going to do. I've seen several fights where someone took down a person who's a much bigger 'badass' than they were, simply by being smart and landing a couple good punches. I didn't think the length was unrealistic either. If you take a solid, undeflected blow to the gut, you're probably going to be on the ground gasping for air.

Wow. He had about 90 seconds of screen time, and you're completely making up a reason why he goes to the gym? If it's not on screen, it's not in the script. If it's not in the script, it's not important to the show.

I'm with you. The delivery was excellent:

Paulie: Allegra means "love" in Italian.
Chris: (pause) What the f*ck's that got to do with cold medicine?

EXCELLENT!!!

no way the best part was when Johnny Sacks wife fainted and there was like 10 people behind her and they still couldnt hold her... and the thump on the floor....

I thought the same thing.. They should have played that music you heard there. It was always the same song.

Super excellent when you realize that Allegra does not mean "love" in Italian (it means joyous).

Actually, from seeing just one post by johnnysd, I think I have him figured out. Most people that put guys down that go to the gym are in fact fat toads that had their girlfriends stolen from them by buff dudes. I bet he thinks women in fact like a "real man" who has a beer gut and a hairy back. He wouldn't step foot in a gym b/c the only guys there are limp-wristed gay pussy’s that try to compensate for their small dicks by building up their biceps.

johnnysd: How did I do?

I knew that place looked familiar! My parents got married there, and my brother had his bar-mitzvah there.

Ok, you are all missing the point as to why Tony picked Mussels Marinara to fight with.

It was NOT because he was the youngest, buffest, and toughest. It was because Tony figured out he was a pussy. Remember how he scanned the room and focused on everyone's tatoos? Well, tatoos mean you are the real deal, one tough MF'er. Mussels had no tatoos, so he was just a strong guy, not a fighter. The other guys would have just pounded Tony in the stomach where his wound was. Mussels, the inexperienced fighter, mostly went for head shots. Again, focus on Tony focusing on the tatoos.

I gotta say the part I enjoyed most was Bobby Bacala going up for the dunk like he was Billy Hoyle in White Men Can't Jump or something. He was strugglin'.

Why is it that all mob guys seem to have super human strength? Seriously, Could you see Tony fighting that guy in real life.

He probably has the reflexes of a turtle...........

These days your average female Kindergarten teacher even has a tatoo.

Tony is a boss, the guy knew in the back of his head that he could easily be killed, hence his fear helped him to get his ass handed to him.

Tony is way too out of shape to be able to beat up anyone like Muscles, especially if he didn't get the first shot in. I am starting to be convinced that it wasn't a setup, just a desperate man who saw his lifestyle starting to slip away from him that has to react drastically. I hope the guy comes back - I liked him.