I rewatched season 6A recently as well, and I noticed something that I didn't before. At the latter end of the season Tony begins to phase out Paulie and Christopher from his inner circle. He views Paulie as incompetent and Chris seems to care about his movie career.

This is where Carlo and Bobby take their places to Tony. They make their way into his inner circle. Remember when he likes shitting on Bobby in previous seasons? Giving Carlo Vito's Esplanade construction site? This is an underlining plot for the season almost in the same way the battle for Michael's 2nd in command in Godfather, Part II.


PS. Have you gotten a chance to read episode 10 yet?


Regards,
BDuff