Tony's then put in the position of arranging a hit on a guy he respects in order to protect a sleazebag he doesn't respect in the least. But as a don, he has no choice but to protect his capos. He has to kill a guy who stuck up for his wife in order to spare a guy who just walked out on his best friend's widow and who's been sleeping with his sister. So, again, money trumps all the other values Tony would like to think he holds dear.

This of course brings lots of cries and calls about "the way things used to be." "Used to be a crack like that about another guy's wife would get him killed," Uncle Junior says. But the old guard isn't all it's cracked up to be, either. Let's not forget that Carmine, who ordered the hit on Johnny Sack, was himself a member of the "old guard." And Winter's takes more shots at "the way things used to be" when he sends Sil and Christopher out to Rhode Island to hire a squad of geriatric assassins to carry out Johnny Sack's hit. They come on Uncle Junior's recommendation, but they prove to be doddering old fools with bad or no eyesight.

In the end, Winters seems eager to emphasize that there's really nothing redeeming about this lifestyle. Fittingly, the episode ends with Tony coming home and throwing himself onto Carmela, the half of his life he (usually) finds rewarding.

But even that side of life is tainted by the mob side. The theme of money trumping other values again rears its ugly head. In an earlier argument with Carmela, Tony offends her when he pays no heed to her questions about the family's financial health should something happen to him. She breaks into tears when he mocks her concerns. Angry, he scolds her for "equating love with money." Of course, he's projecting. It's Tony who binds love and money, and Carmela quickly points this out to him. That's the way his Family works (it's all hugs and cheek kisses with his capos — until the spigot stops flowing — then he gets angry), so that's the really the only way he knows to run his small-"f" family as well. Just before his argument with Carmela, in fact, Tony had paid a surprise visit to Meadow while he was in New York. They too get into an argument when Tony raises his concerns over Meadow's newfound interest in a campus legal aid society. When Meadow erupts and says, "you know, the world doesn't revolve around you," Tony folds. "How 'bout we visit the bookstore," he says. "I bet you could use a new sweatshirt." Likewise, Tony precedes his amorous come-on to Carmela with the gift of a slinky new Nieman-Marcus cocktail dress.