History Recap / TheSopranosS6E2JoinTheClub

Tony, back in his dreamscape, decides to use Kevin Finnerty's credit card to check himself into the hotel. He gets accosted by two Buddhist Monks, who are angry with him on the basis that Mr. Finnerty sold a defective heating system for their monastery, resulting in them having to suffer through a horrible winter. Tony keeps insisting that he is not Finnerty, angering the monks and matters escalate into violence asTony gets slapped by one of the monks before the hotel staff breaks it up. Tony tries to leave the next morning, but a toy bear announces with a sign that the elevator is out of order and that he'll have to "bear" it. Tony makes his way down the stairs, but slips and tumbles.

->'''Tony:''' I’m 46 years old. I mean, who am I? Where am I going?\\

Tony starts making out with the saleswoman in a parking lot when a helicopter with flood lights closes in on him. The woman tells him the chopper is looking for a "perp", fueling Tony's fears in the physical world of getting arrested and imprisoned. He wakes from his coma with a staff, forcing the hospital staff to put him back into the coma while Carmela and Meadow look on in horror.

Tony, back in his dreamscape, decides to use Kevin Finnerty's credit card to check himself into the hotel. He gets accosted by two Buddhist Monks, who are angry with him on the basis that Mr. Finnerty sold a defective heating system for their monastery. Matters escalate into violence and Tony gets slapped by one of the monks before the hotel staff breaks it up. Tony tries to leave the next morning, but a toy bear announces with a sign that the elevator is out of order and that he'll have to "bear" it. Tony makes his way down the stairs, but tumbles.

In the dream, Tony is brought to an emergency room, where he is told by the doctor that aside from having a minor concussion, his CT scan shows some dark spots on his brain, caused by lack of oxygen. The doctor states that this indicates early stages of Alzheimer's disease. When the doctor leaves him, Tony says "I'm lost" to himself. After he returns to his hotel room, he picks up the phone, but hangs up before dialing, and sits on the bed, looking pensive. Tony then notices a beacon of light flashing on the city's horizon.

* InstantDramaJustAddTracheotomy: Tony's CatapultNightmare, along with the hospital staff's subsequent efforts to put him back under sedation and fix his tubing, all serve to convey the gravity of his medical situation.

* DreamLand: Tony's dreams of himself as "Kevin Finnerty" are set in Costa Mesa, California.

Tony is in a medically induced coma, most of which he spends in a prolonged series of dreams. The dreams are themselves set in Costa Mesa, California, and his alter ego is a precision optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty from Arizona. He frequently speaks to his wife whom he names as Carmela, although the voice is that of another woman. He still thinks of himself as Tony Soprano but finds himself stranded when his identification is that of his alter ego. He enjoys a free dinner with other salesmen at the same conference he wanted to go to, and he is regarded as a legend in their business. He asks questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing?", which suggest that he was undergoing a midlife crisis even before he got shot. A saleswoman in the group tells him, "Join the club." Tony then sees a commercial asking if death, disease, and sin are real, along with an image of a cross.

* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Vito to Bobby: "Why was the skipper babysitting Junior?" Bobby's reply: [[BlatantLies "I had other family obligations."]] Followed by: [[HalfTruth "Tony volunteered."]]

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Chris, regarding the UsefulNotes/WarOnTerror "I heard Fieldcrest reported a truckload of ''towels'' missing."

* [[ReferencedBy/WilliamShakespeare Referenced by...: William Shakespeare]]: When Christopher meets the FBI agents at the store, he says, "Oh, Sheriff of Nottingham, my kingdom for a mortadell." This is a reference, first to Myth/RobinHood, then to ''Theatre/RichardIII'', when, after Richard is unhorsed in the midst of battle, he desperately cries out, "A horse, a horse! My kingdom for a horse!"

** The toy bear that says: "Out of order. Please "bear" with us." Also doubles as a ContinuityNod to when the [[Recap/TheSopranosS5E1TwoTonys Sopranos had a live bear in their backyard]].

* WhamLine: The bartender to Tony: "Around here? It's dead."

Tony, back in his dreamscape, decides to use Kevin Finnerty's credit card to check himself into the hotel. He gets accosted by two Buddhist Monks, who are angry with him on the basis that Mr. Finnerty sold a defective heating system for their monastery. Matters escalate into a brawl and Tony gets slapped by one of the monks before the hotel staff breaks it up. Tony tries to leave the next morning, but a toy bear announces with a sign that the elevator is out of order and that he'll have to "bear" it. Tony makes his way down the stairs, but tumbles.

The other mobsters meanwhile continue to jockey for power and position in anticipation of the possibility that Tony may die and leave behind a power vacuum.

Agents Harris and Goddard visit Satriale's frequently. They make a point of reminding him that Matush had been a frequent visitor of Adriana's Crazy Horse club. They hope to plant a seed whereby Chris will provide them with information on local terrorist connections.

In the dream, Tony is brought to an emergency room, where he is told by the doctor that aside from having a minor concussion, his CT scan shows some dark spots on his brain, caused by lack of oxygen. The doctor states that this indicates early stages of Alzheimer's disease. When the doctor leaves him, Tony says "I'm lost" to himself. After he returns to his hotel room, he picks up the phone, but hangs up before dialing, and sits on the bed, looking pensive. He notices a beacon of light flashing on the city's horizon.

Tony is in a medically induced coma, most of which he spends in a prolonged series of dreams. The dreams are themselves set in Costa Mesa, California, and his alter ego is a precision optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty from Arizona. He frequently speaks to his wife whom he names as Carmela, although the voice is that of another woman. He still thinks of himself as Tony Soprano but finds himself stranded when his identification is that of his alter ego. He enjoys a free dinner with other salesmen at the same conference he wanted to go to, and he is regarded as a legend in their business. He asks questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing?", which suggest that he was undergoing a midlife crisis even before he got shot. A saleswoman in the group tells him, "Join the club." He then sees a commercial asking if death, disease, and sin are real, along with an image of a cross.

He starts making out with the saleswoman in a parking lot when a helicopter with flood lights closes in on him. The woman tells him the chopper is looking for a "perp", fueling Tony's fears in the physical world of getting arrested and imprisoned. He wakes from his coma with a staff, forcing the hospital staff to put him back into the coma while Carmela and Meadow look on in horror.

Tony is in a medically induced coma, most of which he spends in a prolonged series of dreams. The dreams are themselves set in Costa Mesa, California, and his alter ego is a precision optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty from Arizona. He frequently speaks to his wife whom he names as Carmela, although the voice is that of another woman. He still thinks of himself as Tony Soprano but finds himself stranded when his identification is that of his alter ego. He enjoys a free dinner with other salesmen at the same conference he wanted to go to, and he is regarded as a legend among salesmen. He asks questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing?", which suggest that he was undergoing a midlife crisis even before he got shot. A saleswoman in the group tells him, "Join the club." He then sees a commercial asking if death, disease, and sin are real, along with an image of a cross.

Tony is in a medically induced coma, most of which he spends in a prolonged series of dreams. The dreams are themselves set in Costa Mesa, California. And his alter ego is a precision optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty from Arizona. He frequently speaks to his wife whom he names as Carmela, although the voice is that of another woman. He still thinks of himself as Tony Soprano but finds himself stranded when his identification is that of his alter ego. He enjoys a free dinner with other salesmen at the same conference he wanted to go to, and he is regarded as a legend among salesmen. He asks questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing?", which suggest that he was undergoing a midlife crisis even before he got shot. A saleswoman in the group tells him, "Join the club." He then sees a commercial asking if death, disease, and sin are real, along with an image of a cross.

Tony is in a medically induced coma, most of which he spends in a prolonged series of dreams. The dreams are themselves set in Costa Mesa, California. And his alter ego is a precision optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty from Arizona. He frequently speaks to his wife whom he names as Carmela, although the voice is that of Gloria Trillo. He still thinks of himself as Tony Soprano but finds himself stranded when his identification is that of his alter ego. He enjoys a free dinner with other salesmen at the same conference he wanted to go to, and he is regarded as a legend among salesmen. He asks questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing?", which suggest that he was undergoing a midlife crisis even before he got shot. A saleswoman in the group tells him, "Join the club." He then sees a commercial asking if death, disease, and sin are real, along with an image of a cross.

* DreamPeople: Tony interacts with numerous people in his dreams, including a recurrent bartender, several salespeople going to the same conference as him, and Buddhist monks who are suing him. He also frequently speaks to his wife named Carmela over the phone, but the voice is that of Gloria Trillo.

* VillainousFriendship: Vito and Eugene were always depicted as close friends and adjacent supporting characters, as what with belonging to the same crew, but their bond is given an explicit nod in this episode when Vito claims to have known Eugene "better than anybody" despite neither ever confiding their DarkSecret in the other. Also, in the previous episode, Vito subtly implied that ''he'' would acquiesce to Eugene's retirement in the event of [[TheStarscream his own ascension to boss]].

Tony is in a medically induced coma, most of which he spends in a prolonged series of dreams. The dreams are themselves set in Costa Mesa, California. And his alter ego is a precision optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty from Arizona. He frequently speaks to his wife whom he names as Carmela, although the voice is that of Gloria Trillo. He still thinks of himself as Tony Soprano but finds himself stranded when his identification is that of his alter ego. He enjoys a free dinner with other salesmen at the same conference he wanted to go to, and he is regarded as a legend among salesmen. He asks questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing?", which suggest that he was undergoing a midlife crisis even before he got shot. A saleswoman in the group tells him, "Join the club." He then sees a commercial asking if death, disease and sin are real, along with an image of a cross.

Tony, back in his dreamscape, decides to use Kevin Finnerty's credit card to check himself into the hotel. He gets accosted by two Buddhist Monks, who are angry with him on the basis that Mr. Finnerty sold a defective heating system for their monastery. Matters escalate into a brawl and Tony getting slapped by one of the monks before the hotel staff break it up. Tony tries to leave the next morning, but a toy bear announces with a sign that the elevator is out of order and that he'll have to "bear" it. Tony makes his way down the stairs, but tumbles.

* ArmoredClosetGay: Vito relates to Janice a hypothetical reason why Eugene may feel DrivenToSuicide, which is actually a spot on description of the struggles Vito himself faces with both being homosexual and in the [[CultureJustifiesEverything homophobic subculture]] of TheMafia.

* BodyHorror: Tony's [[AgonizingStomachWound gutshot wound]] is not for the squeamish to see. Meadow has to turn her eyes in horror while Janice is reduced to a blabbering mess.

* CatapultNightmare: Tony sees a helicopter and its flood lights approaching. The woman he's making out with informs him that they're looking for a "perp", feeding his own fears in the physical world of getting arrested and imprisoned. He wakes up thrashing and desperately trying to get out of his bed, forcing the hospital staff to sedate and tube him again while Carmela and Meadow look on in horror.

* ConvenientComa: Tony spends most of the episode in a days long medically induced coma, during which he spends a lot of time wrapped up in VisionsOfAnotherSelf. The coma itself spurs the rest of his family and the mobsters into various actions. And Tony himself will eventually wake up, almost (but not quite) ready to take up the mantle again as TheDon and the VillainProtagonist.

* EnemyMine: Agents Harris and Goddard visit Satriale's, and make a point of reminding Chris that Matush used to frequent Adriana's Crazy Horse club. They hope that he can willingly provide them information on local [[MiddleEasternTerrorists terrorist]] connections. When Chris runs into a couple of Middle Eastern men at the Bada Bing, it's obvious he's actually thinking of doing just that.

** Chris also sometimes maintains vigil over Tony's hospital bed.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Paulie is furious at the reporters for intruding on the Sopranos' privacy, and drives them off to beyond the curb line.
* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: A.J. and Meadow have always been counterparts to each other the whole series, but this episode makes a point of highlighting it emphatically. Meadow is at the point where she can have her pick of either a law career or a medical career. A.J. is still the DumbassTeenageSon, who can't be bothered with the most basic of tasks, and has flunked out of college.

* HiddenDepths: Ro and others believe A.J.'s less-than-supportive behaviour is a result of his laziness and apathy. It really isn't, and he's taking the first steps down a dark road to avenge what happened to his dad.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Paulie calls Vito a "fat fucking kiss ass", even though he's practically made a career out of being a ProfessionalButtKisser. And indeed, no sooner do those words come out that he announces his intentions to play music in Tony's room to facilitate an OrpheanRescue.

** Vito tries to lay claim to the now dead Eugene's sport gambling racket in Eugene's own funeral. Silvio calls him on it while the rest of the mobsters complain that Vito is already the one making the most money.

* LethalDiagnosis: Each tidbit of information that the doctors provide to Carmela and Meadow feeds into the [[RuleOfDrama need for drama]]. The factors that could result in a horrible end for Tony (e.g. fever, sepsis infection of the blood, brain being deprived of blood) were medically speaking always there the moment Tony was brought into hospital. The gradual exposition is meant to heighten the suspense and the gravity of Tony's situation for the audience.

* MistakenForSpecialGuest: Tony, while still thinking of himself as Tony Soprano, becomes willing to use his alter ego's credit card as Kevin Finnerty to secure a hotel room. So it amounts to an in dream example of fraud.

** Carmela frequently plays rock music in Tony's room, and speaks to him.

** Tony sees a commercial asking if sin, death and disease are real, along with the image of a cross. Can be suggestive of Tony having a NearDeathExperience or being in an AfterlifeAntechamber.

** His wife also telling him that it's [[ItsAllMyFault "partly your fault"]] because he's [[MarriedToTheJob "too distracted by the job"]].

'''Season 6, Episode 2'''
!Join the Club

Tony is in a medically induced coma, most of which he spends in a prolonged series of dreams. The dreams are themselves set in Costa Mesa, California. And his alter ego is a precision optics salesman named Kevin Finnerty from Arizona. He frequently speaks to his wife whom he names as Carmela, although the voice is that of Gloria Trillo. He still thinks of himself as Tony Soprano, but finds himself stranded when his identification is that of his alter ego. He enjoys a free dinner with other salesman at the same conference he wanted to go to, and he is regarded as a legend among salesmen. He asks questions like "Who am I?" and "What am I doing?", which suggest that he was undergoing a midlife crisis even before he got shot. A saleswoman in the group tells him, "Join the club." He then sees a commercial asking if death, disease and sin are real, along with an image of a cross.

He starts making out with the saleswoman in a parking lot, when a helicopter with flood lights closes in on him. The woman tells him the chopper is looking for a "perp", fueling Tony's fears in the physical world of getting arrested and imprisoned. He wakes from his coma with a staff, forcing the hospital staff to put him back into the coma while Carmela and Meadow look on in horror.

Agents Harris and Goddard visit Satriale's frequently. They make a point of reminding him that Matush had been a frequent visitor of Adriana's Crazy Horse club. They hope to plant a seed whereby Chris will provide them information on local terrorist connections.

* ArmoredClosetGay: Vito relates to Janice a hypothetical reason why Tony may feel DrivenToSuicide, which is actually a spot on description of the struggles Vito himself faces with both being homosexual and in the [[CultureJustifiesEverything homophobic subculture]] of TheMafia.

* BodyHorror: Tony's [[AgonizingStomachWound gutshot wound]] is not for the squeamish to see. Meadow has to turn her eyes in horror.

** Vito tries to lay claim to the now dead Eugene's sport gambling racket. Silvio calls him on it.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Chris, "I heard Fieldcrest reported a truckload of towels missing."

** The mobsters jockey for the privilege of driving A.J. home from the hospital. Their transparent reasons amount to trying to secure the best possible place of power for themselves within a new StandardEvilEmpireHierarchy, or even a SuccessionCrisis, should Tony die.

** Other characters frequently mistake A.J.'s apathy as yet more manifestations of being a SpoiledBrat, when he's actually struggling with his own brand of AdultFear.

* AdultFear: Tony's immediate family all struggle with it immensely.