While Silvio has the flu, Chris and Paulie run his collections for him, which results in the pair getting lost in the woods and nearly...
Plot
Paulie Gualtieri and Christopher Moltisanti drive a Russian man named Valery out to the Pine Barrens of South Jersey to kill him. Valery is connected to a Russian organized crime figure who had a dispute with Tony, and the job should be straightforward. Except Valery -- who Paulie later claims once killed sixteen Chechen rebels -- is not an easy target. He fights back, attacks both of them, and runs into the forest.
Paulie and Christopher chase Valery into the Barrens in winter clothing that is completely inadequate for the conditions. They lose him in the trees. Night falls. The temperature drops hard. Paulie and Christopher are lost in the Pine Barrens with no shelter, no food, and increasingly desperate phone contact with Tony, who is in Florida visiting his girlfriend Gloria Trillo. Tony tries to manage the situation by phone but cannot reach anyone with local knowledge fast enough to help. The two men spend the night huddled in an abandoned van.
The episode is directed by Steve Buscemi and is among the series' most beloved. It works as dark comedy, survival thriller, and character study simultaneously. Paulie and Christopher reveal everything about themselves under pressure -- they bicker, blame each other, and eventually just try to stay warm. They make it out. Valery is never found. What happened to him remains one of the show's deliberately unresolved questions.
Credits
Written by: Terence Winter
Directed by: Steve Buscemi