Join the Club
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| The Sopranos episode | |
|---|---|
| “Join the Club” | |
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| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 67 |
| Guest star(s) | see below |
| Writer(s) | David Chase |
| Director | David Nutter |
| Production no. | 602 |
| Original airdate | March 19, 2006 (HBO) |
| Episode chronology | |
| ← Previous | Next → |
| "Members Only" | "Mayham" |
"Join the Club" is the 67th episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. It was the second episode for the show's sixth season. The episode was written by David Chase and was directed by David Nutter. It originally aired on Sunday March 19, 2006.
Contents |
[edit] Guest starring
- Sheila Kelley as Lee
- Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
- Tony Darrow as "Larry Boy" Barese
- Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile
- Maureen Van Zandt as Gabriella Dante
- Will Janowitz as Finn DeTrolio
- Robert Funaro as Eugene Pontecorvo
- Matt Servitto as Agent Harris
- Danielle Di Vecchio as Barbara Soprano Giglione
- Arthur Nascarella as Carlo Gervasi
[edit] Episode recap
Tony is in critical condition two days after the shooting. The attendant physicians in the ICU sedate Tony into an induced coma after he wakes from a prolonged dream and rips out his breathing tube. Several doctors comment on the complications of Tony's gunshot wound, the most dangerous of which is blood poisoning, and they encourage Carmela and others to talk to him and play him music in the hopes of a recovery. However, they also warn his family members of the "obviously negative outcome," as well as the prospects of brain damage. Carmela asks the doctor if Tony is "aware that he's dying."
A vigil of Tony's family members and business associates have assembled in the ICU. A distraught Carmela, Christopher, and Meadow sleep in the hospital.
Uncle Junior is being held in custody and is questioned about the shooting. He is confused about the situation and hostile towards his interrogator and does not remember that he has a new lawyer. He denies that he shot his nephew and insists that Tony's wound must have been self-inflicted, because he is "a depression case."
Christopher, Paulie, and Vito vie for small opportunities to assist Tony's family during the crisis, such as sending presents to Tony's room and bickering over giving a ride home to A.J.
During the wake of the late soldier Eugene Pontecorvo, an impromptu meeting of associates is held, and Silvio assumes Tony's responsibilities as family boss. The meeting also reveals that, while the group is deeply loyal to the incapacitated Tony, some are unsympathetically furious at Junior, and others are suspicious of why Bobby—traditionally Junior's de facto caretaker—was not in the house that night. Also, Vito makes a bid to take over Eugene's sportsbook responsibilities, and later, seemingly takes a risk by suggesting to Janice that perhaps Eugene had been a homosexual who had no one to talk to.
Meanwhile, A.J. acts curiously aloof, avoiding Tony's room, shirking his familial and school responsibilities. He talks to a reporter at the hospital, but curses the ones camped outside the Soprano home; he forgets to bring requested items to the hospital to assist in Tony's recovery, a questionable stomach flu (which may have been faked or psychosomatic) excuses him from a night shift at the hospital, and he is flippantly preoccupied with hybrid cars. A.J.'s unforthcoming behavior to his father's condition worries Carmela, who voices her concerns to Rosalie Aprile. With the death of her own wayward son Jackie Aprile, Jr. fresh in both their minds, Rosalie advises Carmela to engage in stricter parenting with A.J.; in addition to the normal worries for her son, however, Carmela fears that A.J.'s deep esteem for his father is the source of his aloofness.
A.J. admits to Meadow that he is embarrassed and angry by the actions of his family, especially Uncle Junior, whom he calls a "mummy." A.J. finally concedes to his family's wishes to talk to his comatose father. Once the two are alone (and after talking about hybrid cars), A.J. vows to avenge what he believes to be his father's imminent death by killing Uncle Junior. Immediately afterwards, he admits to Carmela that he failed out of junior college.
Tony has a long dream-like experience while he is in a coma. He is a precision optical salesman on a business trip, without his trademark New Jersey accent. The experience depicted in the episode begins with Tony at a bar one evening. The next morning he goes to a convention, and as he is asked for ID to get in he realizes that he has someone else's wallet and briefcase. He thinks back and assumes that he must have unintentionally swapped them with someone else's the previous evening at the bar. After speaking with his wife (whose voice is not Carmela's), he realizes that he looks quite similar to "Kevin Finnerty", the man whose wallet he now possesses. Tony checks into a different hotel under Finnerty's name. The next morning he goes out to take the elevator down, waits for a while, but decides to take the stairs. As he is going down the stairs, he slips and falls. In the emergency room, the doctor tells him that aside from having a minor concussion, his CT scan shows some dark spots on his brain, which indicate lack of oxygen. Tony asks what that means, and the doctor states that he has the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. When the doctor leaves him at his bed, Tony is seen saying "I'm lost" to himself. After he gets back to his hotel, Tony picks up the phone, but hangs up before even dialing. Although described as a dream by many viewers, the show's creator and writer of the episode has suggested that the experience is not a dream, at least not in the same sense as prior dreams depicted in other episodes of the series. [1]
[edit] Title reference
- Lee tells Tony to "join the club", an expression commonly used when someone is undergoing stress or pain.
[edit] Trivia
- The exterior of the hosptial is actually Fenster Hall of NJIT
- Lee, the woman at the bar, is curious how Tony made the jump from selling patio furniture to precision optics. Tony mentioned selling patio furniture as an alternative life during one of his sessions with Dr. Melfi in season one.
- The credits do not mention the actress (or actresses) supplying the voice of Tony's wife in his dream, though the writers have stated the voice is of a generic New Jersey actress and not intended to be Charmaine Bucco, Gloria Trillo, or anyone else previously featured on the series.
- In the hotel Tony checks in to, under Finnerty's name, he is given a room on the 7th floor. This may be a reference to the seven terraces of Purgatory in Dante's Purgatorio. When Tony falls in the stairwell he lands on the 5th floor. This may correspond with the Fifth Terrace, Avarice or Greed.
