Do Not Resuscitate (''The Sopranos'')

"Do Not Resuscitate"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.	Season 2 Episode 2
Directed by	Martin Bruestle
Written by	Robin Green Mitchell Burgess Frank Renzulli
Cinematography by	Phil Abraham
Production code	202
Original air date	January 23, 2000
Running time	50 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
see below

"Do Not Resuscitate" is the fifteenth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the second of the show's second season. It was written by Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess and Frank Renzulli, directed by Martin Bruestle and originally aired on January 23, 2000.

Starring

• James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
• Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi *
• Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
• Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
• Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr.
• Vincent Pastore as Pussy Bonpensiero
• Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
• Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri
• Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr.
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano
• Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cerva *
• Aida Turturro as Janice Soprano
• and Nancy Marchand as Livia Soprano

* = credit only

Guest starring

Episode recap

Tony visits Junior in jail, upset that he wasn't put on the visitors' list for three weeks. Junior tells Tony to be careful what he says, as the prison staff record inmates' conversations. He tries in vain to convince Tony that Livia had nothing to do with the hit. Tony asks to meet with Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri, Junior's now highest-ranking soldier. When Bobby meets Tony at Satriale's, Tony tells him that Junior will still hold the title of boss and "earn" on a "subsistence level" via his shylock businesses and the pipe fitters' union, but everything else he had now belongs to Tony.

The following day, Junior's lawyer, Harold Melvoin, gets Junior out of jail after convincing the judge that he has a recurring medical issue. The judge agrees to release Junior, but he must remain under house arrest with an ankle monitor and only leave the house for essential errands. During a doctor's appointment at which Tony is present, Junior says that the owner of Livia's nursing home, Freddie Capuano, has been making gossip about Tony, Livia, and himself. Tony makes sure Capuano disappears and shortly thereafter, a state trooper finds his abandoned Cadillac and toupée on the ground near the Passaic River.

After Big Pussy has surgery for his back, his "friend," FBI Agent Skip Lipari, takes him home. It is revealed that Big Pussy has been working with the Bureau for the past two years. Now that informant Jimmy Altieri has turned up dead, Skip wants Big Pussy to step up and "stop being Tony's errand boy." Big Pussy tries to convince Skip that he is over Tony and that he wants to help the government. However, Big Pussy continues to lie to Lipari and provides him with mostly false information.

When Tony learns that Jack Massarone's construction company is facing problems due to a lack of African-American workers, leading to anti-union protests, he accepts his offer to quash the dissent. Tony then sends in several mob associates to successfully break up the strike and repel the protesters. Tony later visits Reverend James, Jr., who helped Tony arrange the protest so that the Soprano crew could extort Massarone.

Janice continues to visit Livia in the hospital. When Janice asks Meadow what brings her mother joy, she replies that Livia enjoys old recordings of The DeCastro Sisters and Mario Lanza. Janice plays their music for Livia, who becomes very emotional and bonds with her daughter for the first time in years. After Livia chokes on a cookie, a nurse asks Janice whether Livia should not be resuscitated if she enters a coma. Tony advises her to do whatever she wants, believing that she and Livia deserve each other. Livia is shocked that her children are discussing this behind her back and confronts Janice. Later, Livia calls Carmela to tells her that she will leave her remaining wealth to her grandchildren. Carmela warns her never to call the house again and hangs up on her mid-sentence.

That same evening, Junior slips in the shower while shaving and believes that he has fractured something. Tony rushes over to help Bobby tend to him. When he suggests that they call an ambulance, Junior objects and begs Tony not to let him die with such guilt over him. Junior also urges him to make peace with his mother. Tony then picks up his uncle in his arms and drives him to the emergency room.

First appearances

• "Black" Jack Massarone: owner of Massarone Brothers Construction, which was once run by Uncle Junior
• Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri: member of the Junior Soprano crew who becomes Junior's chief aide
• Agent Skip Lipari: FBI agent handling Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Deceased

• Frederick 'Freddie' Capuano: Director of Green Grove Retirement Community, presumed murdered by the DiMeo crime family for talking about Mafia business and about Tony's attempt to kill his mother, though his body is never shown on screen
• Reverend Herman James, Sr.: dies of natural causes due to old age (he was 83)

Title reference

• The episode's title is a common medical clause known as Do Not Resuscitate or DNR. Janice and Tony talk about signing a DNR for Livia.

Production

• Although this was the second episode of season two to air, it was the third to be produced.

References to other media

• When Livia watches a cooking show with Emeril Lagasse on TV, her appalled reaction is: "He's not even washing his hands!" From 2000 onward, Emeril was cautious to wash his hands while cooking on Emeril Live, in hopes that "the lady from "The Sopranos" doesn't bug me".
• After Livia finds out about Janice's plans regarding the DNR (and that Janice will be moving in with her), she confronts her daughter, saying: "I've seen that movie with Richard Widmark." This is most likely a reference to the 1947 film Kiss of Death, in which Widmark's character (a gleefully psychotic killer) pushes a wheelchair-using elderly woman down a flight of stairs to her death.^[1] This is reinforced by the fact that during this scene, Janice briefly hallucinates an image of Livia falling down the stairs on an "In case of fire use stairs" sign on the hospital wall. It may alternatively be seen as a reference to the 1978 film Coma, also starring Widmark.^[2]

Music

• The song playing as Janice drives home from the hospital while smoking marijuana was "Mother and Child Reunion," by Paul Simon.
• The song playing when Janice reconciles with Livia in the hospital is "Non ti scordar di me," sung by tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
• The song played over the end credits is "Goodnight, My Love" by Ella Fitzgerald.

References

External links

• "Do Not Resuscitate" at HBO
• "Do Not Resuscitate" on IMDb
• "Do Not Resuscitate" at TV.com