Vito tips Paulie off on where some Colombian gangsters keep their cash. Paulie and one of his henchmen kill off the Colombians, although Paulie gets a hard knee to the groin. They initially tear up the apartment in frustration trying to find the money. But then his henchman kicks the dishwashing machine out of frustration, revealing the cash haul they were looking for.
Silvio confides in Gabriela that he passed up on an opportunity to become the Boss because he preferred being the Consigliere. His asthma worsens as he struggles as Acting Boss to make numerous decisions that won't make anyone happy, such as a dispute between Bobby and Vito over collection routes, and divvying up the spoils of the hit on the Colombians' cash. The pressure of being Acting Boss becomes too much for him, and he gets hospitalized with a severe asthma attack.
Vito and Paulie try and sort out whether or not Tony is going to die for purely selfish reasons. Both would prefer not to kick money up to Carmela should Tony die, likening it to throwing money down the drain. But they're also fearful that Tony may recover and come to know that they held back on Carmela. Vito begins to bank on Tony not recovering and begins trying to shore support for his own bid to become the Boss.
Tony continues to struggle through his dreams. He attempts to dissuade the monks from suing him on the basis that he actually isn't Kevin Finnerty. But they remain adamant. He then tries to find his way to Kevin Finnerty's residence to get his life back, with the help of his wife.
Chris has Benny drag J.T. Dolan out of his writing class. Dolan finds himself forced to help write Chris' movie script as a way out of his gambling debts. Little Carmine agrees to sponsor the project as a producer. But the other Jersey mobsters are immediately skeptical of the artistic merits of Chris' and Dolan's ideas for the movie.
Paulie attempts to talk to Tony to try and help with his recovery, but it quickly amounts to incoherent gibberish. Tony in his dream world can vaguely hear Paulie as an annoying voice on the other side of a hotel room wall. His angry reactions send his body's vital signs into critical states. The hospital staff begin emergency procedures, including applying defibrillators to his chest.
In the dream, Tony finds a flier for the Finnerty family reunion in his briefcase. When Tony arrive at the address indicated in the flier, he is greeted outside the venue by a man who looks like his cousin, Tony Blundetto. Tony B tells him that "everyone's here" and are waiting for him inside and that he will be "going home"; but he also insists that he cannot allow Tony S to enter the house before he lets go of his "business", indicating his briefcase, a symbolic representation of his earthly life. It is heavily implied that passing through the door would mean an acceptance of death and damnation for Tony S. Tony S replies that he has already given away a briefcase which had "his whole life inside" and is therefore very reluctant to do the same with the one he has now. He hesitates for a long time as he stands in front of the house with Tony B reaching for his briefcase, during which he spots a shadowy figure looking like his mother Livia standing by the doorway and hears the faint voice of a little girl coming from the trees behind him pleading with him not to go (in the real world, Meadow is calling to her father). Tony S then finally decides to keep the briefcase and refuses to enter the house, leading to his waking from his coma in the hospital. His first words, after beckoning Carmela to come closer, are "I'm dead, right?"
Vito is now nervous about the realization that he made a premature play for becoming Boss. It is with great reluctance that he and Paulie now provide the cash to Carmela, dressing it up as to help with medical costs. Carmela is at first grateful and glad, however, she then catches a glimpse of their facial expressions while they leave in the hospital elevator and realizes it was only very reluctantly that they ever gave her the cash.
Chris tries to leverage having given up Adriana as a rat in exchange for Tony's support for the movie project. Tony and Chris both notice a sticky on a billboard with an Ojibwe saying that reads: "Sometimes I go about in pity for myself, and all the while, a great wind carries me across the sky".
Tropes:
- Absurdly Bright Light: The screen fills with it to mark Tony coming out of his coma and back in the waking world among the living.
- Actor Allusion:
- In a rare session with Dr. Melfi, Carmela recalls her second date with Tony, in which he brought her father a $200 power drill as a gift. She says she knew there was "probably some guy with a broken arm" behind it and reflects on whether this made her like Tony less or more. This mimics Lorraine Bracco's own character's reaction in Goodfellas when she realized what Henry Hill really was early in their relationship.
- Paulie refers to Carmela as the "Princess of Little Italy". This is an homage to Steven Van Zandt and his band Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul, who recorded a song by the same name.
- All Girls Want Bad Boys: Carmela possesses enough self-awareness to realize that even as a teenager, the fact that Tony was already on his way to the mob life was a turn-on for her.
- Always a Child to Parent: In Tony's near-death moment, he hears Meadow's voice crying out to him. Not as the grown woman she is in the present, but as the little girl he remembers.
- As You Know: The doctors continue to provide information about factors that get in the way of Tony's recovery, such as his blood pressure and his fever.
- Big "SHUT UP!": Tony, multiple times, when he can vaguely hear Paulie as an annoying voice on the other side of a hotel room wall in his dreams.
- Butt-Monkey: J.T. Dolan gets hit over the head with a laptop by Benny, and then dragged out by Benny and the other Mafia thug in front of his own class. And there's not a thing he can do about it. He then gets roped into working off his gambling debts by helping Chris make his movie.
- Bystander Syndrome: J.T. Dolan is pretty angry with his class for just standing by, not even calling anybody, while Benny and the other mobster dragged him out.
- Call-Back: Vito gets touchy and feely with Finn to remind him not to blab about Vito going down on a security guard at the construction site.
- The Chains of Commanding:
- Silvio relates to Gabriela that he passed on an opportunity to become boss because he was more in his comfort zone with being The Consigliere.
- His asthma gradually worsens as it's put on his plate to make numerous decisions where he can't make everyone happy, like a dispute between Bobby and Vito over collection routes, and dividing the spoils of the hit on the Colombians' cash.
- Then as the pressure mounts he gets hospitalized with a severe asthma attack.
- Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Anybody who's been watching the show all along couldn't possibly have any delusions about the mobsters feeling any real loyalty towards each other. But Tony's life hanging in the balance has them dialing it up to eleven in this episode.
- Paulie and Vito are at each other's throats over the Colombian cash haul, and constantly try to get Silvio to take sides.
- Both of them also fully embrace Professional Butt-Kisser mode when it comes to publicly hoping that Tony recovers, and visiting him in the hospital. But both privately resent having to kick up shares of the Colombian cash to Carmela and search for assurances and ways they can avoid it. Paulie even calls Tony a "vegetable" and Carmela the "Princess of Little Italy" respectively, in their absences.
- Vito starts to bank on Tony not recovering and begins courting support for his own ascension as the Boss. He takes more definite steps towards becoming The Starscream.
- Comatose Canary:
- Tony becomes one this episode. Paulie takes a turn at trying to aid the Orphean Rescue. But his stream of consciousness Deteriorates Into Gibberish. Tony experiences it in his dreams as a hotel patron in an adjoining room who he would like nothing more than to shut the hell up. Tony's vital signs go critical after a rinse and repeat.
- He also hears Meadow's voice faintly pleading in the wind just outside the Finnerty house, "Please don't go Daddy".
- Convenient Coma: Tony is in it for most of the episode, prompting concerns in his immediate family, and new levels of Chronic Backstabbing Disorder in the other mobsters. It ends with Tony more or less ready to be the Boss again, albeit with a few bumps along the way.
- Cool Old Guy: Paulie, even in his advanced age, manages to hold his own against Colombian thugs young enough to be his sons.
- The Creon: Silvio was content with being the Number Two, even before Tony's brush with death. Taking his own turn with The Chains of Commanding only erases any possible doubts about not wanting to become the Boss.
- Cutting Corners: Paulie is shown cutting out coupons, just to lampshade that opportunity (or lack thereof) is literally the only limitation on his Greed.
- Deadpan Snarker: Paulie to Vito: "I gotta piss first, you want half of that too?"
- Double-Meaning Title:
- The title is a malapropism; after Vito gives Paulie bad information about the stick-up job (saying the place was empty), Paulie does not want to give him his full cut of the money, saying that the job was "mayham".
- Disorder is within the ranks of the DiMeo/Soprano crime family, as there are disagreements between some members, dissent is growing, and, at one point, both its boss and substitute acting boss are hospitalized.
- Tony Soprano violently fights to stay alive.
- Dream People:
- Tony still interacts with the Buddhist Monks, the bartender, and his wife.
- Even Tony B shows up outside the Finnerty home in a Psychopomp kind of role in Tony's dreams.
- An old woman whose face can't be seen, clearly Livia, awaits at the door of the Finnerty residence.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Bobby and Chris do their utmost to try and talk A.J. out of ruining his life by trying to get Revenge against Uncle Junior.
- Phil is still angry over Billy's death, in particular, remembering when Billy took care of Phil's own family while Phil was in the can.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Phil admonishes in-law Vito against holding back on support for Carmela while Tony is in a Convenient Coma.
- Groin Attack: Paulie gets a good hard knee where it hurts from one of the Colombian thugs.
- Half-Truth: Tony, while in his parallel dreamverse, tells his wife he only experienced a mild concussion. He doesn't mention that he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease because he's struggling with his own fears of ending up like Uncle Junior.
- Hellgate: It is heavily implied that the door to the Finnerty residence was one.
- Hilarity Sues: The Monks continue to press their lawsuit against Tony's Alternate Self, Kevin Finnerty.
- High Hopes, Zero Talent: Chris is under the delusion that his film will be guaranteed box office gold. He also comes across as utterly insane when he spells out his movie idea to J.T. Dolan. And the plot, such as it is, is obviously driven by pure Power Fantasy without any hard thinking about whether it makes sense or whether it holds up as a coherent script or anything else Hollywood moviemakers should be thinking about. And it's not like J.T. Dolan can even try to bring Chris down to earth.
- Hypocrite: Carmela admits to being one, that doing the occasional Confessional while enjoying the luxuries provided by Tony the mobster was not enough to void her own responsibility.
- I Resemble That Remark!: Silvio, while ordering Paulie to kick up to Carmela, flat out tells Paulie that the order is necessary because he's well aware that Paulie would hold back given the opportunity. Paulie is naturally offended, the reason being that Silvio is spot on in his assessment of just how greedy Paulie is.
- I Was Quite a Looker: Phil notes that Vito in his younger days used to look like John Travolta.
- Inexplicable Treasure Chests: Paulie and his henchman tear apart the Colombians' apartment in every way they can think of in search of the cash. They're almost ready to give up in frustration when the henchman kicks the dishwasher out of frustration, opening the door and revealing the huge bag of cash they're looking for.
- Injured Limb Episode: Paulie is laid up after suffering a Groin Attack from one of the Colombian thugs.
- Lady Macbeth: Gabriela shows shades of it by trying to encourage Silvio to become full-time Boss on a permanent basis.
- Living Lie Detector: Carmela can tell from the demeanor and facial expressions of both Paulie and Vito in the elevator that it was with great reluctance that they gave her the cash.
- The Load: Carmela flat out tells A.J. that she thinks A.J. is one on the rest of the family.
- Loose Lips: Carmela is furious at A.J. for saying anything to the media.
- Malaproper: Hardly surprising when this one comes from Little Carmine: "Some of you know I've had nine pictures under my subspecies". J.T. Dolan's priceless look of bewilderment screams, "Please tell me these guys aren't as stupid as this!"
- Meaningful Look: Larry Barese gives Vito one, with the implication that Vito now regrets making premature moves towards claiming the boss position.
- Mistaken Identity: Tony tries to convince the Monks that he's not really Kevin Finnerty who ripped them off with a sale of defective heating equipment. The Monks are not convinced though.
- Nervous Wreck: Vito is shown nervously munching away on baby carrots, in the realization that he moved too soon to claim the Boss position.
- An Offer You Can't Refuse: Chris to J.T. Dolan: "Don't make me come look for you".
- Plot Armor: And of course, Tony does end up emerging from his Convenient Coma.
- Plot-Induced Illness: We knew never Silvio has asthma up until this point. It now gets conveniently lampshaded just in time for his struggles with The Chains of Commanding.
- Politically Incorrect Villain:
- Paulie has no issue with murdering 'spics' for their cash.
- The Monks shouldn't get a pass either. "To a certain extent, all Caucasians look alike".
- Power Fantasy: It's obvious that Chris' movie idea is driven purely by fantasies of revenge against Tony.
- Producers: Little Carmine agrees to be one for Chris' movie project, with J.T. Dolan forcibly brought on as the scriptwriter.
- Professional Butt-Kisser: Both Paulie and Vito swing right back into this mode once Tony wakes up after both were planning to leave Carmela hanging out to dry in the event of Tony's death.
- Psychopomp: Tony B appears in Tony's dreams in this kind of role, as the one who can decide whether or not Tony is allowed to pass through the Hellgate as symbolized by the front door to the Finnerty residence.
- Quote Mine: Played with. A.J. certainly feels he has been misquoted by the media. Problem is that the quote actually attributed to him isn't far off from how he actually feels about his family situation.
- Rescued from the Underworld: It is heavily implied that faintly hearing Meadow's voice was the critical factor that pulled Tony back from the brink of death.
- Rule of Symbolism:
- The Monks continue to symbolize that Tony's life, even if he had not become a mobster, would still be one of taking advantage of other people to fuel his Greed and Pride but through more legal avenues.
- The rotating light in the distance still symbolizes Tony's struggles to claw his way back into the waking world.
- His conversation with the bartender confirms his fears that Uncle's Junior's dementia is inherited, and that he's doomed to become a Scatterbrained Senior himself.
- He then finds his way to the Finnerty residence. It is implied that the front door is a Hellgate. Tony B appears in a role functionally equivalent to a Psychopomp. He insists that Tony must let go of his earthly life, as symbolized by the briefcase before he can go in through the front door. Tony giving up the briefcase and going through the door would amount to an acceptance of death and damnation. But he refuses to give up the briefcase, meaning that he'll hold onto his earthly life for a little while longer.
- Scylla and Charybdis:
- Vito and Paulie both struggle with what to do with their cash from the Colombians. If they give Carmela some of it but Tony never wakes up, they'll feel like it's money down the drain. If they refuse to support Carmela, but then Tony wakes up and finds out they cheapskated on his wife ...
- They hold out until the news that Tony recovers. And once that happens, they don't skip a beat in giving Carmela the money holding it out as to help with medical costs.
- Shame If Something Happened: Vito deliberately gets touchy-feely with Finn to imply that Finn will come to harm should he tell anyone else about seeing Vito blowing a security guard at the construction site.
- Shout-Out:
- When confronted over his attempted purchase of a gun and told that he cannot get to his Uncle Junior anyway because he is in police custody, AJ says it's "difficult, not impossible", the same words spoken by Rocco Lampone in The Godfather Part II in reference to assassinating Hyman Roth.
- When Benny Fazio unexpectedly speaks up at the movie pitch with a solution to the film's plot impasse, it harkens to the scene in The Godfather when Michael Corleone speaks up and calculatingly details how to assassinate Virgil Sollozzo and the corrupt police captain at a restaurant.
- The Speechless: Tony's eyes convey that his mind is still sharp after emerging from his Convenient Coma. But he has trouble speaking for some time afterward.
- Spider-Sense: Although he had a verbal heads-up, Paulie instinctively manages to parry an attempt to slit his throat from behind without even looking.
- The Starscream: Vito begins to bank on Tony not recovering. So he begins trying to court support for becoming the Boss himself.
- Tap on the Head: Benny gives J.T. Dolan one with a laptop.
- That's an Order!: Silvio flat out orders Paulie to kick up his due to Carmela.
- This Is Reality: Chris and J.T. Dolan start pitching their movie ideas to Little Carmine and several of the other Jersey mobsters. It doesn't take long for the Jersey mobsters to start punching Plot Holes in the whole thing based on their own Real Life experiences as mobsters. Prime example, if the bad guys did dismember the anti-hero of the script, they would have buried the pieces in several places instead of all in the same spot where they could conveniently assemble and bring the anti-hero Back from the Dead.
- Thought-Aversion Failure: A total subversion based on an exact mirror opposite of the trope, and played for humor. It follows after Phil works himself into Suppressed Rage over his dead brother, Billy.Vito: Don't do it to yourself, Philly.
Phil: It's hard to forget. I don't forget.
cue a lengthy moment of awkward silence)
Vito: I forget what we were talking about.
Phil: Me too. The fuck was it?
Vito: Oh yeah, Jesus. Carmela, the thing is ... - Thousand-Yard Stare: Tony has one during the immediate recovery from his coma.
- Trapped by Gambling Debts: Chris still hasn't forgotten that J.T. Dolan owes him plenty, and he decides to call it in by having Dolan help Chris make his movie.
- The Watson: Carmela and Meadow continue to glean information about Tony's condition from the doctors.
- Work Off the Debt: J.T. Dolan is allowed to make good his gambling debts by lending his writing skills to Chris' new movie project.
- You Owe Me: Chris tries to leverage his having revealed Adriana as The Mole for Tony's support for his movie project.
