Sopranos AI Episode Celluar Justice, Paulie stole from a 5 year old lol

Opening Scene: The Kindergarten Incident
The episode begins with Meadow Soprano sitting at the kitchen table, helping A.J. with his homework. Carmela is cooking dinner, and Tony walks in after a long day at the Bada Bing. Meadow casually mentions that her friend’s younger brother, a kindergartener named Dylan, brought his dad’s brand-new Motorola StarTAC cell phone to school. She adds that the teacher didn’t confiscate it, even though other kids aren’t allowed to bring toys or personal items like Game Boys or watches.

Tony perks up at this. “Wait a second,” he says, chewing on a slice of gabagool. “You’re tellin’ me some rich kid gets to waltz into school with a cell phone while other kids get their stuff taken away? What kinda racket is this?”

Meadow shrugs. “I don’t know, Dad. I guess his dad’s loaded or something.”

Tony mutters under his breath about favoritism and how things were different when he was a kid. Carmela tells him to let it go—it’s just kindergarten—but Tony can’t shake the idea that there’s some injustice here.

Scene 2: Tony Discusses It With His Crew
At Satriale’s Pork Store, Tony brings up the situation to Paulie Walnuts and Christopher Moltisanti while they’re eating sandwiches in the back room.

“You believe this?” Tony says, pacing around the room. “Some little punk brings a goddamn cell phone to kindergarten, and nobody says nothin’. Meanwhile, other kids are gettin’ their stuff taken away left and right.”

Paulie smirks. “What’s next? They gonna let these kids bring pagers too? Maybe start takin’ calls during nap time?”

Christopher laughs but then asks seriously, “Why do you care so much about this? It ain’t your kid.”

Tony glares at him. “It ain’t about my kid! It’s about respect! Fairness! You think I’m gonna sit here while some rich prick buys his way outta rules? That ain’t how things work.”

Paulie leans back in his chair. “So what’re you gonna do about it?”

Tony grins slyly. “We’ll see.”

Scene 3: The Heist at Recess
Tony sends Paulie and Christopher on a mission to retrieve the cell phone from Dylan during recess at the kindergarten playground. Dressed inconspicuously (as inconspicuous as Paulie can be with his silver hair and tracksuit), they park outside the school in an old van.

Inside the playground fence, Dylan is showing off his dad’s sleek Motorola StarTAC to a group of wide-eyed classmates. Paulie sneaks up behind him while Christopher distracts one of the teachers by pretending to look for his lost dog.

“Hey, kid,” Paulie whispers menacingly as he crouches down next to Dylan. “That phone? It don’t belong here.” Before Dylan can react, Paulie snatches the phone out of his hand and slips it into his pocket.

Dylan starts crying immediately, causing a commotion among the other kids and attracting attention from teachers on duty. Paulie quickly exits through a side gate where Christopher is waiting in the van.

“Smooth as silk,” Paulie says as they drive off.

Scene 4: The Fallout at Home
Later that evening, Dylan’s father—an arrogant hedge fund manager named Richard—finds out what happened when Dylan tearfully confesses that someone took his phone at school. Furious, Richard grounds Dylan for taking something so expensive without permission but also vows to get justice for what he sees as negligence on the school’s part.

Richard storms into the principal’s office the next morning and demands answers about how such an incident could happen under their watch. The principal apologizes profusely but explains that personal items like cell phones aren’t allowed in class anyway; technically speaking, Dylan shouldn’t have had it in school in the first place.

Unsatisfied with this response, Richard decides to file a lawsuit against both the school and any unknown parties involved in stealing his property.

Scene 5: Tony Confronts Carmela About Fairness
Back home, Carmela notices Tony acting smug over dinner and presses him about why he seems unusually cheerful.

“What did you do?” she asks suspiciously.

Tony shrugs innocently but eventually admits that he had Paulie take care of “a little problem” involving fairness at Meadow’s friend’s school.

Carmela is horrified when she realizes what he means. “You stole from a child?! Jesus Christ, Tony! What kind of example are you setting for our kids?”

“It wasn’t about stealin’, Carm,” Tony argues defensively. “It was about teachin’ people not to think they’re above everyone else.”

Carmela shakes her head in disbelief but doesn’t press further—she knows better than to argue when Tony gets like this.

Scene 6: The Lawsuit Fails
In court, Richard tries to argue that both the school and whoever stole his phone are liable for damages because of negligence and theft. However, since no evidence links anyone directly to taking the phone—and because Dylan wasn’t supposed to have it at school anyway—the judge dismisses the case entirely.

Outside court, Richard fumes while reporters ask him questions about why he let his five-year-old bring such an expensive item into class in the first place.

Meanwhile, Tony watches news coverage of the case from home with satisfaction written all over his face.

Closing Scene: Dr. Melfi Session
In therapy with Dr. Melfi later that week, Tony brings up what happened without revealing too many specifics (as usual). He talks about how much favoritism bothers him—how people who already have everything always seem to get more breaks than those who don’t have anything.

Dr. Melfi probes deeper into these feelings and suggests that they might stem from unresolved issues from Tony’s own childhood experiences with authority figures showing favoritism toward others over him—a theory that leaves Tony visibly uncomfortable but thoughtful as he leaves her office.