| Series: | The Sopranos |
| Season: | 3 |
| Episode: | 11 |
| Director: | Steve Buscemi |
| Teleplay: | Terence Winter |
| Photographer: | Phil Abraham |
| Production: | 311 |
| Length: | 60 minutes |
| Prev: | ...To Save Us All from Satan's Power |
| Next: | Amour Fou |
| Season Article: | The Sopranos season 3 |
| Episode List: | List of The Sopranos episodes |
"Pine Barrens" is an episode of the HBO series The Sopranos; it is the 11th of the show's third season and the 37th overall. The teleplay was written by Terence Winter from a story idea by Winter and Tim Van Patten. It was the first of four episodes for the series directed by Steve Buscemi and originally aired on May 6, 2001. The episode has been widely praised.
Following a change in Jackie Jr.'s behavior, Meadow begins to suspect he is cheating on her. Her suspicions are confirmed when she catches him with another girl. Heartbroken, she tells him they are finished.
Gloria and Tony's relationship is growing increasingly unstable and the two frequently argue, though they always reconcile. Tony tells Dr. Melfi that he is seeing Gloria. In the first session, he speaks of how happy they are together; in the second he complains of her changing moods. Melfi says Gloria is depressive, unstable, and impossible to please, asking Tony if that reminds him of anyone (implying his mother). Tony shakes his head.
Tony instructs Paulie to make a collection from Valery, a Russian, on behalf of Silvio, who is ill. He goes with Christopher to Valery's apartment. Paulie provokes Valery and starts a fight. Following a struggle Paulie and Christopher manage to subdue Valery and believe they have killed him. Panicked, Paulie suggests that they dump him in the Pine Barrens.
In the snow-covered woods, Paulie and Chris prepare to dump the body but find that Valery, who is revealed to be a trained commando, is still alive. They give him a shovel and instruct him to dig his own grave. While both are distracted, Valery hits them with the shovel and flees. They chase him, shooting wildly, with Paulie believing that he has hit him. They follow his track, but it ends: Valery has vanished.
After wandering in the woods trying to find their car, Paulie and Chris realize they are lost. Long after nightfall, faint with cold and hunger, they find an abandoned van where they take refuge. They blame each other for what has happened and the two fight before agreeing to stay together. In the middle of the night, Paulie manages to call Tony despite poor cell service and pleads for help. Tony drives out with Bobby, an amateur outdoorsman. They reach the parking spot but Paulie's car, containing the money from Valery, has vanished. They wait until dawn to look for Paulie and Chris and eventually find them.
Paulie gives a false version of what caused the fight with Valery, and Chris backs him up. Tony stresses to Paulie that if Valery ever turns up again, Paulie will have to take care of it. They head back to north Jersey in silence.
Shortly after Valery escapes into the Pine Barrens, Paulie shoots him, apparently in the head, but he still vanishes. At one point, the camera shifts away from Paulie and Christopher to an aerial viewpoint, suggesting that Valery was watching them from a tree. In addition, Paulie's car is missing when they return. Valery was never seen again. Series creator David Chase has said that he never intended to have Valery return and that the story is richer and more realistic with some mystery to the plot. HBO listed Valery as "Deceased?" in promotional materials.
On the fate of Valery, Terence Winter said:
David Chase said:
In 2008 Chase said in an interview at the Actors Guild:
In an interview with Sam Roberts, Chase said:
Discussing the episode in a June 10, 2007 New York Times article titled "One Final Whack at That HBO Mob", Imperioli depicted the lack of closure regarding Valery as an example of the series' overall subversiveness, saying, "This show was never what people expected."[1]
In the same article, Sirico said that Chase wrote a sixth-season scene where Christopher and Paulie chanced upon Valery outside a bar and promptly shot him to death but it was removed from the script, possibly by Chase: "I think David didn't like it. He wanted the audience just to suffer."
The Pine Barrens is a protected wilderness area managed by the New Jersey Pinelands Commission in Southern New Jersey. This is where Christopher and Paulie try to "dispose" of what they assume is Valery's body.