The Sopranos (TV Series) University (2001) User Reviews

Ralphie gets raw

[MaxBorg89 · 10/10 · 27 April 2008]

From the moment he showed his nasty face in the second episode of the season, it was clear Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) would cause a truckload of trouble. His bouts of madness reach their peak in University, one of the most truly disturbing eps of the series.

The story focuses on two relationships becoming what Woody Allen wittily described as "a dead shark" - a fitting moniker, given death is heavily involved in one break-up. On the one hand, we have Meadow and her boyfriend Noah (yep, the African-American one) drifting apart after a third person starts getting in the way. Nothing too dramatic, though, as opposed to Ralphie's affair with Tracee, a 20-year old stripper who works at the Bing: she is young, naive and optimistic about her future, not to mention pregnant with the man's child; he is arrogant, kinky, easily irritable, hung up on drugs and tends to get violent with random people for random reasons (at the start of the show he hits a guy just because the latter wasn't familiar with Ralph's favorite movie, Gladiator) - not the ideal father for the unborn kid. Tracee desperately asks Tony for help, but he doesn't respond to her pleas, claiming he can't be friendly with employees. Eventually, he has a change of heart, though not in time to stop an unwarranted explosion of brutality.

For the first and only time in the program's history, more focus is granted to the women who work for Tony and Silvio: most of the time, they're just a nice bunch of tits and ass, but through Tracee the previously labeled "stripper" emerges as a more complex, lovable person, and credit is due to the writers for not indulging in predictable "hooker with a heart" characterizations: this is a real human being we're talking about, and it's this unseen humanity that makes it damn near impossible for everyone involved, both in the show and outside of it, to stomach the bloody outcome of Tracee's attempt to lead a better life.

The whole episode is so brutal even fans of the show could find themselves surprised by Ralph's manic acts. Such is the profound insanity of the character, accompanied by the courage of the actor: a subtle bad guy in The Matrix and Memento, Pantoliano reaches levels he's never approached before, not even in Midnight Run, where he played a sort of proto-Ralph; and yet it never feels like he's going over the top, perhaps because with guys like these there is no top. It's an incredible performance, so strong it makes you wonder how come he won an Emmy for Season Four, but wasn't even nominated for Series Three: based on this episode alone, he would have won as easily as his character kills.

Problem Solvers

[rjones611 · 10/10 · 14 April 2020]

In this episode "University" the cocky made man, Ralph has an affair with a stripper who he accidentally knocks up and is forced to deal with the consequences of. Rather harshly. Meadow's dorm roommate goes berserk due to Meadow and Noah's close bond.

The contrast in this episode is between Tracee the stripper and Caitlin, Meadow's roommate. Tony and Meadow are put in positions that mirror one another. They are forced to confront a similar situation about a woman they barely know. In this episode Tracee and Caitlin are seen as symbols of conflict in which our main characters are put to the moral test by. Ralph and Noah are unlike each other but what the writers do brilliantly is have these two characters share a common trait. Ralph's explosive confidence and Noah's timid, selfishness leads them to believe that some circumstances need to be dealt with quickly and without taking up too much consideration. What works best for both of them will be what ultimately defines their conclusion of a situation. Ralph slaughters the stripper and Noah breaks up with Meadow. This causes an array of distress for both Tony and Meadow. Tracee seeks deliverence from her problem by addressing it too Tony and Tony is too late to comply with. Meadow is left feeling heartbroken due to a problem that wasn't even in her power to address.

Another very dark moment for the show

[julienlegiletier · 10/10 · 23 June 2020]

After episode four, which featured a disturbing topic and one scene in particular that is hard to watch, this is another very dark moment. It is incredible - and something The Sopranos does best - when the writers construct these mini arcs within one single episode, and Tracey's demise is a prime example. Paralleling Meadow's story of university romance and breakup - a youthful folly - is the tale of a similarly-aged stripper, a mother to a neglected child and herself completely immature and taken advantage of. Another tough one to watch at certain moments, but incredibly insightful.

This episode is all the things Sopranos is good about

[AlexanderVsSupertramp · 10/10 · 19 November 2020]

This episode could make a movie in itself. It has everything : Good Music (one of the best most fitting intro and ending song in the series) Aptly named "University", the episode focuses mostly on the lives of 4 characters i.e. Meadow, Caitlin Noah and Tracee. While the story mainly is about how each of them is facing some kind of issues as an adolescent, it also shows how much effect a child's upbringing and surroundings can have on how they react to these issues.

This episode hits different

[muel-13206 · 10/10 · 5 January 2023]

I'm not sure what else to say about this episode that hasn't already been echoed by the others who posted but this episode actually gave me an uneasy feeling after viewing.

The uneasy feeling it gives, to me atleast, is due to the young 20 year old stripper. Her performance is what really makes this episode hard to watch but at the same time hard not to. She's grounded and real. You see her flaws but you also see her hope.

It's hard to put in words but this may be one of the best episodes of this show I've seen, it's shows so much raw emotion from start to end and per usual, perfectly edited, great score and amazing writing couple with amazing acting.

Very few episodes of any show have left me more with a pit in my stomach than this one after viewing. I'm starting to see why this is often referred to as the best tv show ever made.

University (#3.6)

[ComedyFan2010 · 8/10 · 11 March 2014]

Ralphie gets one of Tony's strippers pregnant and also ends up beating her up and killing her. Meadow has to deal with her roommate who seems to be panicking and get upset about everything around and her relationship with Noah doesn't go that well, he ever breaks up with her at the end.

A well done episode. The character of Tracy we only know for one episode but it is enough to feel for her senseless day. Ralphie is sure a sick guy, guess he won't last too long but bring more trouble.

Meadow's roommate is a great idea pretty well done. Noah was pretty annoying, makes one happy they broke up.

That too

[snoozejonc · 10/10 · 20 June 2022]

Tracee a young dancer from the Bing attempts to befriend Tony, whilst Meadow continues her college relationship with Noah.

This is a bleak episode that builds towards one horribly disturbing scene, but it is generally an excellent piece of filmmaking.

The male gender takes the brunt of the outrage coming from this particular story, with characters like Tracee, Meadow, and Caitlin suffering to varying degrees at the hands of numerous male characters. Their lives are compared and contrasted through great cinematography and brilliant editing. The scene transitions shifting between different characters in the A/B plots are exceptionally good.

Aside from being a fairly standalone narrative it also functions in the development of ongoing antagonism between Tony and Ralphie.

Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Ari Graynor, and Ariel Kiley are all excellent, especially Sigler whose facial expressions are absolutely fantastic as ever.

Brilliant, sad and profound

[joncheskin · 8/10 · 22 March 2022]

The Sopranos is a show equally at home with stark drama and hilarious black comedy. This episode is definitely on the dramatic side, telling parallel stories of Tracee, a stripper at the Bada Bing who has a very troubled relationship with Ralph, the show's newest arch-psychopath, and the charmed but also troubled relationship of Meadow and Noah at Columbia. The show does an amazing job intertwining the stories, with the creepy subtext that Meadow's education is in fact being paid for by the disturbing plight of Tracee and other strippers at the club. Meadow's college roommate plays something of a comic relief role in the episode, but her plight as a manic-depressive does not really lighten the mood much.

As this episode progressed, I got a feeling of impending doom. I won't say more because spoilers would need to follow, but suffice it to say the parallel endings are fascinating in the way that they play out. University, like many Sopranos episodes, is a profound and very thoughtful piece of art, something so unusual for TV. Watch and admire, your 50 minutes will be well spent.

Creative theme, Discrimination/Class, hence the title University!

[nlytnd_1 · 10/10 · 3 April 2014]

More of an analysis, than a review…Future spoilers as well. This episode is clever in that it's theme is discrimination/class, which is what the name University implies. Noah discriminating against Meadow because her father's profession isn't prestigious enough..."waste management". Also Tracee's life holds less value because she's "just a whore". University is one of the top 15 episodes (maybe 10) of the Soprano 86 episode series. Ralph seems like a decent guy. He just busts balls a lot and he has an element of genuineness to him, until this episode. Just one more dimension added to Ralph Cifaretto's character, whose character btw is one of the best in the Soprano series. One can only wonder in confusion, why the creators/writers would have killed him off in the 9th episode of the 4th season. When you have such a great character and actor why would you kill him off prematurely? They could have used his help in the 5th season big time (which btw is/was the worst season of the Sopranos by far, could probably be stated as a fact).

Noah and his father turn out to be quite the discriminators themselves. Waste management isn't prestigious enough for the father, who apparently has a much stronger influence over Noah's actions/beliefs as opposed to Meadow and Tony. A great angle the writers took on discrimination, demonstrating discrimination can go beyond race through Noah's hypocrisy. The restraining order part was great as well when Meadow says, "couldn't you just talk to her?" Just like, if the roommate was in the room bugging him for several hours, couldn't he have just asked her to leave?

One of the most disturbing episodes of the entire series

[galileo3 · 8/10 · 22 February 2008]

The Sopranos (1999)

University 3.6 (2001)

Contains strong brutal violence, graphic sexuality and very strong coarse language

One of the most violent and disturbing episodes of The Sopranos, it shows the unglamorous and mindless brutality and coarseness of crime and the people behind it.

Ralphie, the new partner of Rosalie Aprile is causing troubles at the Bada Bing, which finally results with the senseless beating and killing of a young prostitute.

Meanwhile Noah and Meadow's relationship is not going so well.

Series 3 is a solid continuation of the dramatically superb and acclaimed Television series.

8/10

Heartbraking

[futboliatico · 10/10 · 27 February 2024]

Is a heartbraking episode. The whole Tracee thing, she's young, has a kid and another on way, and seems like a really hopeful character, but unfortunately she's not in the right place, and definitely not with the right people. The worst thing is to see her at the begginning of the episode praying for help to Tony and then to see how it all ends. It's sad how a man like Ralphie can do things like that and an feel literally nothing, absolutely horrible. Other things happen throughout the episode like Meadow and her boyfriend (he was an absolute prick) but are overshadowed by the Tracee thing. I think it's a way to graphically show the kind of things that happen in the Mafia, but I really suffer when I see it.

Is any of this leading anywhere!?

[jasonaldrich-87239 · 4/10 · 26 October 2023]

This is my first time watching The Sopranos, ever. I started from the beginning maybe 2 months ago, but have charged thru season 2 and as slow as season 1 was... I'm asking myself if something is ever going to really happen? These episodes jump around from random topic to random topic, nothing to really gain from them, and it doesn't feel like I'm watching anything that has to do with the mob.

This episode specifically is probly the worst so far. Yet again they introduce a new character only to have them die by the end of the episode. Where are the storylines, WHERE IS THIS GOING!? I swear, if I finish this series, and nothing really happens, I'm going to get in a lot if fights over this show!

Noah was truly one of the most unlikeable characters

[Neptune165 · 9/10 · 11 July 2022]

A pregnant girl in her mid-twenties being brutally beaten to death does come across as a bit disturbing, I'd say. The contrast between Meadow and Tracey makes sense as they're both the same age. I didn't realize the story is also parallel between Meadow and Tony, whereby both facing similar issues in relation to providing support for a vulnerable person. Moreover, the behavioral difference of the mobsters in separate environments, i.e., the criminal and family life is so well reflected. It's subtle yet confrontational and provocative. I completely agree it's one of the best written episodes of the show. Thanks Kino, despite having seen the Sorpanos several times over. I always found it interesting and disturbing, how it cuts from the scene of Ralphie laughing whilst his girl is being hit by Silvio and then transitions to him at Tony's dinner table with the exact same laugh. The episode comes at a point in the series when it's drawing huge, new audience numbers and beginning to have an impact on viewers' lives. The character of Tracey contrasted with that of Meadow reminds young females that working as a stripper is even less fun than college. I disagree on one thing with this video. Tony and Meadow had two different reactions to seeing someone in need. Meadow tried to help her roommate and she went crazy and clingy to her.. Tony refused to help Tracie and she turned out to be abusing her child and clingy to Ralph which got her killed. If Tony tried to help her she would have probably come to his house or ended in a big fight at the club. Tony felt guilt because he knows if he helped she would still be alive, but it would have hurt him.

One of the lowlights in the Meadow & Noah Show. David Chase should be ashamed.

[davidhiggins-89756 · 2/10 · 18 February 2021]

It just went on & on & on & on, all about Meadow & Noah. No one was remotely interested in either of them. Meadow being a peripheral character. A tiresome uninteresting one at that.

You just don't spend so much time on peripheral characters. Just spend it on the core ones and their interactions with core characters or on occasion their interactions with peripheral ones. ........... Not spend time on peripheral characters and their interactions with even more peripheral characters.

Followed by that peripheral peripheral characters interactions with an even more peripheral character. .......... You end up with a scene of some guy down the street shown waxing his car for 20 mins cause Carmela's hairdresser's tax accountant passed by down that street once on the way to a shopping mall.

This is where David Chase should have tidied things up. It was sloppy & boring, wanting to attract a then growing wider audience but instead alienating the core audience. Nobody was interested in Meadow Soprano from START to FINISH, or her dozy brother, especially with the Meadow & teen gang SINGING fiasco. Cringefest.

Anymore than anyone was interested in the Chris Moltisanti acting & Hollywood movie script malarkey later on. That story line was totally scraping the barrel, we already had that earlier on, which went on & on & on. More POOR script writing by David Chase, he didn't get it right all the time. No hero of mine.

Yes this episode also has Ralph Cifaretto killing his girlfriend in the Badda Bing car park. It was a shame for her, it brought out the fact these organised crime characters were absolute scumbags, that we should not warm to any of these nasty criminals or their enablers, total mismanagement by Tony S that it ever got that far.

No CCTV though you notice. You would have thought the whole place would be surrounded by them & constantly watched in case the Feds & Cops showed up in great numbers or even a rival mass hit. So Tony S was paranoid about being heard in his house but not paranoid enough to have CCTV cameras around the Badda Bing. Very inconsistent & also very unlikely.

So even with the Ralphy Badda Bing murder it can't be worth more than 2 stars for this episode of The Meadow & Noah show. That almost totally spoilt it. At least we found a use for the Fast Forward button.

Later on in the later dragged out seasons we certainly need it. There are memorable moments and also quite a bit of dross as well. An entertaining series over all though I bet Chase wished he'd have cut some of the scenes out. Someone needs to sit down cutting out all the rubbish, don't matter who they are. As much as 5 or so mins an episode if needed. It'd be interesting to view. We may enjoy the series even more then.