After reading Caitlin Mullen’s new thriller Heather, which is set in the Pine Barrens, my son and I were inspired to re-watch the famous Sopranos episode titled “Pine Barrens,” in which Paulie and Christopher decide to dump a body in New Jersey’s desolate wilderness, and then get lost for hours in the cold—eating packets of ketchup.
About halfway through the episode, we both sat up in our chairs when we saw something odd. Wait! Why was Paulie pumping his own gas at a Jersey gas station?! We looked at the screen again—they were obviously supposed to be on a Garden State highway, so where was the gas station attendant?
We New Jerseyans pride ourselves on being the ONLY state in the country that still doesn’t require drivers to pump their own gas. Oregon gave up the ban on self-serve gas pumps in 2023, making us the last. Kids here grow up not learning how to pump their own gas.
So why would The Sopranos—arguably the most Jersey TV series of all time—make such an error?
According to one Reddit page dedicated to The Sopranos, the gas-pumping was a device to get Paulie (Tony Sirico) and Christopher (Michael Imperioli) outside of the car. In that moment, Christopher tells Paulie he wants to wait to bury the body that they needed to get rid of because it was too light outside—necessitating the outdoor, gas station conversation—and also because he’s hungry. (“They got a Roy Rogers over there, you hungry?”) Having an attendant standing right next to them would have made the private dialogue appear awkward.
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But still.
Some fans noted that impatient drivers in New Jersey sometimes take the pump themselves and get their gas, and that Paulie may have waved away the attendant to speed things up.
We doubt that.
The episode was actually shot at Harriman State Park in New York. Even so, producers could’ve hired to an actor to play a gas station attendant even if this particular scene was filmed in the Empire State.
Series creator David Chase, who grew up in North Caldwell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
