| Series: | The Sopranos |
| Season: | 2 |
| Episode: | 8 |
| Length: | 43 minutes |
| Production: | 208 |
| Director: | Allen Coulter |
| Photographer: | Phil Abraham |
| Episode List: | List of The Sopranos episodes |
| Season Article: | The Sopranos season 2 |
| Prev: | D-Girl |
| Next: | From Where to Eternity |
"Full Leather Jacket" is the 21st episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the eighth of the show's second season. It was written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, directed by Allen Coulter, and originally aired on March 5, 2000.
Meadow hopes to go to Berkeley; her parents Tony and Carmela want to prevent it. Their neighbor, Jean Cusamano, has a sister, Joan O'Connell, who is a prestigious alumna of Georgetown University. Carmela cajoles Jean into asking Joan to write a letter of recommendation for Meadow. Joan declines, but Carmela visits her, presents her with a ricotta pie and insists, "I want you to write that letter." Jean reports to Carmela that the letter has been written, and Carmela asks for a copy.
Silvio and Paulie pressure Richie to build Beansie a wheelchair ramp for his house, as partial reparation for crippling him. Richie scornfully refuses, but when he learns that these instructions come from Tony, he sends his nephew Vito Spatafore and his construction workers to fully adapt Beansie's house.
Richie has a leather jacket which he obtained years ago from the feared mobster Rocco DiMeo. He gives it to Tony, who accepts it reluctantly but politely. Richie attaches great importance to the jacket, and to the act of giving it to Tony. He later sees it being worn by the husband of the Sopranos' maid and is deeply offended.
Adriana, embarrassed in a restaurant by Christopher, has left him and gone back to her mother's. Christopher goes to her, proposes marriage and presents her with a ring. She says she loves him, and the ring. In bed, he tells her, "I'm back on track, rededicating myself"—to her and to Tony.
Matt and Sean continue to work with Christopher, breaking into safes. Having been subjected to various slights and snubs by members of the DiMeo family, they feel they are getting nowhere and must do something drastic. They ambush Christopher as he is leaving a diner, imagining that this will gain them favor with Richie. Christopher is shot three times and left unconscious; Sean is killed. Matt flees and asks for Richie's protection; Richie, furious, chases him away. As Christopher lies comatose in the hospital, Tony asks, "How could this happen?"
The episode's title is a play on the 1987 film Full Metal Jacket, whose title refers to full metal jacket bullets. Here, it alludes to the leather jacket that Richie gave to Tony. Also, after Christopher is shot, the camera pans the sidewalk showing the metal cartridge casings that have been expelled from the weapons.
On a thematic level, Matt and Sean ambushing Christopher as a way to prove themselves to Richie reflects the killing of the Vietnamese sniper by Joker in the film Full Metal Jacket, which - at least on one level - can also be understood as a reluctant way act by Joker to prove himself in the eyes of Animal Mother and the others. Richie is shown as being abusive of others around him in a similar way as Animal Mother is abusive of other Lusthog Squad marines, who still in a way rely on him for their safety. More generally, this episode is linked to the film referenced in its title through the theme of "loss of innocence".
Listed in order of first appearance:[1]
Additionally, Turtle Back Zoo, Willowbrook Mall, and Short Hills are mentioned.