History Recap / TheSopranosS5E1TwoTonys

A year after the Sopranos' separation, Carmela lives alone with a largely hostile AJ while Tony has moved into his mother's old house. Meanwhile, a number of mobsters nicknamed the "Class of '04" are due to be released from prison, among them Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto. Watching a news report about the Class of '04, Tony is excited to see his cousin again, though trouble brews as the report suggest the numerous incoming New York mobsters, among them vicious hitman Phil Leotardo and consigliere Angelo Garepe, may cause discord among the ranks of the larger family.

Angelo Garepe, another of the Class of '04, is released and joins a meeting with Tony, Johnny Sack, and Carmine Lupertazzi. During the meeting (taking place at a golf club), Carmine seems distant, commenting that he smells burning hair, and suddenly suffers a stroke, collapsing. As Carmine falls into a coma, Johnny makes a call to his son Little Carmine, who urgently comes up from Florida to care for his father. Tony and Johnny find themselves alone together in the hospital, and Johnny reminds Tony of his refusal to follow through with a hit on Carmine a year before, something Johnny still resents.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Paulie and Christopher's escalating enmity in this episode makes it clear their old camaraderie has decayed, and things get more heated between them than they ever did before. They do bury the hatchet once again

* UncertainDoom: It's never confirmed all the way to the end of the series whether Furio survives by going OffTheGrid and [[PutOnABus putting himself on the bus]] or whether Tony's connections in Italy catch up to him. Though it seems unlikely Furio is in real danger. Given Furio's far greater ties and connections to the Italian Mafia than Tony has, it is unrealistic that they would permit him to be whacked over a nonexistent affair. If Tony is even telling the truth about the threat, and not just saying it out of vindictiveness to scare Carmela.

* LivingLegend: Feech La Manna and he lives up to it too, at least the parts about having a HairTriggerTemper.

* DumbMuscle: Jason, even Lorraine flat out lampshades it.

At another goomah dinner, Paulie deliberately overspends out of spite for Christopher, ordering multiple courses which he doesn't finish, then sending an expensive bottle of champagne to a table of unattractive women across the restaurant. Chris, resentful, picks up the check. He and Paulie argue outside, and their confrontation nearly gets violent when they are interrupted by the restaurant's waiter, who is disappointed by the meager tip Christopher left him. When the waiter refuses to back off and eventually insults the mobsters, Chris loses his temper and throws a rock at the back of the man's head, causing a seizure. Paulie then shoots the man dead and they both flee. The next morning they reconcile over the phone, both unsettled by the incident.

Angelo Garepe, another of the Class of '04, is released and joins a meeting with Tony, Johnny Sack, and Carmine Lupertazzi. During the meeting (taking place at a golf club), Carmine seems distant, commenting that he smells burning hair, and suddenly suffers a stroke, collapsing. As Carmine falls into a coma, Johnny makes a call to his son Little Carmine, who urgently comes down from Florida to care for his father. Tony and Johnny find themselves alone together in the hospital, and Johnny reminds Tony of his refusal to follow through with a hit on Carmine a year before, something Johnny still resents.

Angelo Garepe, another of the Class of '04, is released and joins a meeting with Tony, Johnny Sack, and Carmine Lupertazzi. During the meeting Carmine seems distant, commenting that he smells burning hair, and suddenly suffers a stroke, collapsing. As Carmine falls into a coma, Johnny makes a call to his son Little Carmine, who urgently comes down from Florida to care for his father. Tony and Johnny find themselves alone together in the hospital, and Johnny reminds Tony of his refusal to follow through with a hit on Carmine a year before, something Johnny still resents.

* LivingLegend: Feech [=LaManna=] and he lives up to it too, at least the parts about having a HairTriggerTemper.

* LivingLegend: Feech LaManna and he lives up to it too, at least the parts about having a HairTriggerTemper.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Paulie and Christopher's escalating enmity in this episode makes it clear their old camaraderie has decayed, and things get more heated between them than they ever did before. They do bury the hatchet once again, but worse is yet to come.

** The CoincidentalBroadcast announcing the release of the "Class of '04" suggests that a period of violent struggle may follow their releases. Talk about {{Understatement}} ...
** Tony doesn't mind letting Feech have a piece of the action, as long as he doesn't step on anyone else's toes. Feech immediately says he'll be on his best behavior. [[BlatantLies However ...]]
* FootDraggingDivorcee: Carmela suspects that Tony is being a cheapskate with her to encourage her to remain dependent on him and avert the [[TemporaryDivorce pending divorce]]. Tony [[AtLeastIAdmitIt pretty much admits it]].

* ReplacementGoldfish: Tony has his sights set on Dr. Melfi, following his TemporaryDivorce from Carmela.

** The bear itself comes for the duck feed in the bin, thereby also prompting a CallBack to how the [[Recap/TheSopranosS4E8MergersAndAcquisitions duck feed bin]] itself, along with Carmela's StealingFromTheTill and the resultant [[ImplausibleDeniability mutual recriminations]], contributed to the TemporaryDivorce.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Paulie and Christophe's escalating enmity in this episode makes it clear their old camaraderie has decayed, and things get more heated between them than they ever did before. They do bury the hatchet once again, but worse is yet to come.

* AbhorrentAdmirer: A complex example in Tony's relentless pursuit of Melfi. She once was attracted him, and may still be, but this infatuation fizzled out over their years of therapy together and the ugliness she saw in his behaviour. Morally, a romantic relationship is also off the table, as she couldn't look the other way with his crimes in such a context and finds his values -- or lack thereof -- incompatible with her own. And of course, the professional ethics concerning sexual contact between doctor and patient is also on her mind to a degree, despite Tony's attempts to downplay or circumvent this one.

* AmbitionIsEvil: Johnny Sack takes distinct steps towards this trope by making a ruthless claim for the boss position, with the help of [[TheDragon Phil]].

* BrutalHonesty: Dr. Kupferberg pulls no punches in spelling it out to Dr. Melfi that Tony is [[SubvertedTrope not]] somebody she should touch with a 10 foot pole, is NotGoodWithRejection, and she may need to go to the cops about the situation.

* EarnedStripes: The Goomah dinners serve a similar function for TheMafia, even if there aren't any visible badges to show who outranks who among the made men. The junior made men have to pay for the dinners, until they become senior and high-ranking enough to not have to pay for them anymore. Tony invokes the tradition, citing how he himself had to pay for lots of expensive dinners as a junior, to oblige Chris to fall in line and pay for dinner till his time comes.

** Chris hits the waiter on the back on the head with a brick, resulting in ConvulsiveSeizures and maybe a MercyKill.

* HollywoodHeartAttack: Carmine Sr. suffers a stroke instead of a heart attack, but the dramatic build up and subsequent collapse follows the formula of the trope to a T.

* LivingLegend: Feech LaManna, and he lives up to it too, at least the parts about having a HairTriggerTemper.

* SpoiledBrat: Carmela feels A.J. is becoming one, and blames it on what she perceives as HandsOffParenting on Tony's part.

* UncertainDoom: It's never confirmed all the way to the end of the series whether Furio survives by going OffTheGrid and [[PutOnABus putting himself on the bus]] or whether Tony's connections in Italy catch up to him. Though it seems unlikely Furio is in real danger. Given Furio's far greater ties and connections to the Italian Mafia than Tony has, it is unrealistic that they would permit him to be whacked over a non existent affair. If Tony is even telling the truth about the threat, and not just saying it out of vindictiveness to scare Carmela.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: Paulie and Christophe's escalating enmity in this episode makes it clear their old camaraderie has decayed, and things get more heated between them than it ever did before. They do bury the hatchet once again, but worse is yet to come.

'''Season 5, Episode 01'''
!Two Tonys

A year after the Sopranos' separation, Carmela lives alone with a largely hostile AJ while Tony has moved into his mother's old house. Meanwhile, a number of mobsters nicknamed the "Class of '04" are due to be released from prison, among them Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto. Watching a news report about the Class of '04, Tony is excited to see his cousin again, though trouble brews as the report suggests the numerous incoming New York mobsters, among them vicious hitman Phil Leotardo and consigliere Angelo Garepe, may cause discord among the ranks of the larger family.

Carmela orders AJ to retrieve a vacuum cleaner from the pool house one night, and he is confronted by a bear in their backyard. The bear leaves without causing any trouble beyond damage to the patio furniture, but AJ is terrified by the encounter and Carmela is shaken by her child's close encounter with the animal. The police send two officers from the Department of Fish and Game to investigate the incident, who dissuade any acts of violence against the wildlife and cite Tony's duck feed as the cause for the bear's intrusion. The bear returns the next morning, and Tony returns home as Carmela is calling the police again. Tony is slightly resentful that Carmela called the authorities instead of him, and they get into an argument about Tony spoiling AJ with gifts. As the topic turns to their separation, Tony threatens that he'll have Furio Giunta killed if he ever resurfaces in Italy.

The first mobster from the Class of '04 to emerge is Feech La Manna, a legendary old "Mustache Pete" in Jersey. He visits Junior and speaks to him and Tony, expressing eagerness to get back into business and set up a shy again. Tony and Junior seem amenable to this, though Feech briefly lets slip that he's heard about the bear in the Soprano backyard. In the interest of keeping up appearances and protecting his family, Tony sends low-level mobsters to guard the house at night, including Benny Fazio and Little Paulie Germani.

While hanging out at the Bing with the guys, Christopher and Paulie Walnuts recount their misadventure with the Russian from "Pine Barrens". Christopher offhandedly suggests the whole incident was Paulie's fault, causing tensions to flare up and rapidly accelerating the situation into a fight that has to be broken up. Paulie announces that his friendship with Christopher is over. This conflict spills over into other aspects of the life, as Christopher is expected to pay for dinner at "goomah night" with the guys, and notices Paulie deliberately ordering too much food for himself, evidently just to put financial pressure on Chris. Chris complains about this to Tony, who reminds him that his lower rank obligates him to pay. At the next dinner, however, Chris heads to the bathroom when the check arrives, forcing Paulie to pay. The next day Paulie informs Chris that he's now in debt to him, and must pay up or he'll start accruing interest.

While watching TV with Valentina after a tryst, Tony is briefly transfixed by ''Film/ThePrinceOfTides''. Inspired by the movie's depiction of romance between a psychiatrist and patient, he reconnects with Dr. Melfi, sending a gift basket to her office and flirting over the phone when she calls to thank him. Tony attempts to make romantic overtures toward Melfi, but she politely declines, taking note of Tony's separation from Carmela and suggesting that this romantic interest is suggestive of a desire to resume therapy. Melfi later has a sex dream about Tony.

Angelo Garepe, another of the Class of '04, is released and joins a meeting with Tony, Johnny Sack and Carmine Lupertazzi. During the meeting Carmine seems distant, commenting that he smells burning hair, and suddenly suffers a stroke, collapsing. As Carmine falls into a coma, Johnny makes a call to his son Little Carmine, who urgently comes down from Florida to care for his father. Tony and Johnny find themselves alone together in the hospital, and Johnny reminds Tony of his refusal to follow through with a hit on Carmine a year before, something Johnny still resents.

Tony approaches Melfi again, this time ambushing her outside her office and demanding she give him a straight answer. Melfi dances around the subject but ultimately explains that she could not abide a relationship with Tony because of his violent and immoral lifestyle. Tony loses his temper, storming out and calling her a cunt. He then drives to Carmela's house and takes over guard duty in the backyard from Benny, brandishing an automatic rifle while smoking a cigar alone in his old backyard.

* AccidentalMurder: Paulie shooting the waiter to death is not this, but Chris throwing the brick at the waiter's head is the buildup to one as he didn't mean to give him a fatal seizure.

* RememberTheNewGuy: Feech La Manna is the only member of the [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Class of '04]] who has been mentioned several times in previous episodes. Now he makes his FirstAppearance in this episode.