Edie Kept the Moaning to a Minimum

Thank God he's awake. Although it made little medical sense, it's nice to have the Boss back. I think it's safe to say that my view on his dreamland representing purgatory rather than the popular online sentiment of the hotel as hell, was correct. I have no problems with the inclusion of Tony B. and Meadow crying in the background during the dream sequence. That makes sense! And it deals with the Sopranos universe instead of a boring Buddhist lawsuit.

I was glad that they pushed Vito's greed and discontent with the power vacuum. The fact that he was Phil Leotardo's cousin was just too much for me to ignore when coming up with my list of potential baddies for this season. I'm expecting a Vito/Phil vs. Bobby/Chris showdown eventually. Paulie's short fuse may cause some other external fallout.

I have mixed feelings about Silvio's ineptitude as acting boss. On the one hand, it builds up Tony's respect and power as the "man." However, it does seem puzzling that a consigliere (often admired/promoted due to their levelheadedness and intelligence) would be so deficient as a temporary boss. I'm ok with it as long as Sil gets another push (e.g. the badass capping of Adriana last season). Although Episode 3 was still tame compared to the ***** finale of The Shield, it was a nice recovery that should allow the show to head in several entertaining directions for the remainder of the season.