Episode Eight -
"Eloise"
By Sopranos Blueprint
Carmela: So, how are things going with Patrick?
Meadow: Good.
Carmela: Good, huh?
Meadow: What do you want me to say, mom? You really should work on your poker face because you give it away right up front. You’re just fishing for information about the state of our marriage and trying to imply that I’m not happy with Patrick. I watched you and Grandma have this very similar conversation so many times at the dinner table all those years ago. It was pretty irritating, wasn’t it?
The Older We Get, The Less We Know
Meadow: I know I’ve mentioned this before, but when we’re younger, we think we have it all figured out. Okay, maybe I should stop saying we and assuming that the rest of the world feels like I do. Let’s try this again: When I was younger, I thought I knew how it all worked. Every year I’ll get a little bit older and a little bit wiser, or maybe a lot wiser, or something in between. What I had no idea about was just how backwards I had it in my head. Lately, whenever my mom and I come here to celebrate our little tradition, I feel like I’m more confused and less sure than ever.
Meadow's Next Therapy Appointment
Dr. Melfi: Welcome back.
it’s been quite a busy few weeks for you, huh?
Well, you know what they say. Never a dull moment, huh?
Dr. Melfi: How did your meeting in the city go?Â
Meadow: It went well.Â
(Meadow speaking to herself): Since my meeting with Carmine, I’d done a lot of digging to see what else I could find out about the lay of the land and the state of this thing of ours in the present day. With New Jersey withdrawing from the Waterfront Commission, there’ll be even less oversight.
Dr. Melfi: And what kind of—I mean, how are things going at home?
Meadow: Well, my uncle should finally be leaving now that his nephew’s back in town, so hopefully Patrick can chill out.
Dr. Melfi: Remind me, Patrick’s father used to work with your father, right?
Meadow: Yeah, it feels like forever ago.
Dr. Melfi: I knew you said your families used to be close, but they haven’t been close for many years, if I remember correctly? In any case, it seems like it was something that you and Patrick were able to put to the side?
Meadow: Yeah, I guess.
Meadow's (Not Test) Eloise Dream
Dr. Melfi: What else happened after your meeting in the city?
Meadow: I had this vivid dream that night that I checked into the Plaza Hotel. I was only like five or six years old, but people for some reason took me seriously. Well, not like, completely seriously, but they were all smiling and laughing like they were amused by me, but they also weren’t concerned that a tiny five or six-year-old was gallivanting around the Plaza Hotel.
Dr. Melfi: The Plaza, huh? I guess because you were in New York.
Meadow: Oh, that’s right, I don’t think I told you. My mom and I go have tea under Eloise’s portrait at the Plaza Hotel every year around my birthday. We’ve done it like every year since I was four and we were just there. Every year on this date since you were itty bitty, mom and Meadow get all dolled up drive into New York Plaza Hotel for tea under Eloise’s portrait.
Dr. Melfi: Well I guess that makes sense considering you were just there with your mom.
Meadow: At one point in the dream, I was watching some black and white Western film which was pretty random and then all of a sudden I was at this restaurant with my ex-boyfriend from college and his parents and we were meeting my parents. They ended up getting there late. Our parents never actually met in real life. I doubt my dad would have gotten along with Finn’s dad so it’s probably just as well that it was a dream.
Dr. Melfi: I imagine that Eloise has some significance in your life. Do you think it’s possible that the person in your dream is Eloise? In other words, in the dream you are Eloise?
Meadow: There was this one part of the dream where I was actually standing near Eloise’s portrait and it looked like she was pointing at me from the portrait. Of course, rationally speaking, you’d know that she wasn’t pointing at me. That was just the portrait. But while dreaming, I couldn’t help but feel like she was pointing me out or calling me out. And then it felt like everyone else started looking at me, too, with suspicion. it was a nice view, though.
Dr. Melfi: Now what is it about Eloise that you identify with?
Meadow: Well, Eloise is connected. Her mom knows the owner of The Plaza Hotel. She loves to ride up and down the elevators. She lives at the top floor, of course, at the end of the hall. Every morning when she wakes up she looks at the ceiling and thinks about how she can get a gift. Eloise has quite an imagination and so do I. And for what it’s worth, Eloise can hang with the guys. She can pretty much go anywhere she wants anytime she wants. No questions asked, really. Just charge it. And if there’s a fire, Eloise can fix it.
Meadow is Eloise?
Dr. Melfi: I know Elouse didn’t have much adult supervision. Is that something you could identify with as a child? What kind of relationship did you have with your parents growing up? I’m trying to get more of an idea of the family dynamic in your household and your relationship with your brother, too.
Meadow: My dad and my mom could definitely get on my ass sometimes, but in terms of school and the academic side of things, I was always very self-sufficient. School was one of the things that actually came very easy to me.
On the other hand, as for my brother? Not so much. He was more of the happy-to-get-a-C-and-pass type. But then it was after my dad got shot that things went down for him mentally. Ever since then, he’s been working to figure out the right cocktail of uppers and downers. Let’s just say he’s a work in progress, but then again, aren’t we all?.
Unfortunately, They're About To Have to Stop.
And as for my mom and dad, there was always this wall that would come up at a certain point. The younger I was, the easier it was to pretend it wasn’t there. But the older I got, the more visible and obvious the wall became. My dad and I had a pretty special relationship, though it had its ups and downs. And as for my mom and me? It would ebb and flow, just like it still does today.
Dr. Melfi: Unfortunately, we have to stop now. So, next Tuesday, three o’clock?
