"The Sopranos" Join the Club (2006)

Director:

David Nutter

Writers:

David Chase (creator)
David Chase (written by)

TV Series:

"The Sopranos" (1999)

Original Air Date:

19 March 2006 (Season 6, Episode 2)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

The family tries to cope with Tony's hospitalization and possibly impending death, while Tony begins to hallucinate a new life parallel to his own.

Plot Keywords:

Gangster | Psychiatrist | New Jersey | Mafia | Female Nudity

US TV Schedule:

Mon. Nov. 16	8:00 AM	AETV	Join the Club	#6.2
Mon. Nov. 16	2:00 PM	AETV	Join the Club	#6.2

Cast

James Gandolfini	...	Tony Soprano
Lorraine Bracco	...	Dr. Jennifer Melfi (credit only)
Edie Falco	...	Carmela Soprano
Michael Imperioli	...	Christopher Moltisanti
Dominic Chianese	...	Junior Soprano
Steve Van Zandt	...	Silvio Dante (as Steven Van Zandt)
Tony Sirico	...	Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri
Robert Iler	...	A.J. Soprano
Jamie-Lynn Sigler	...	Meadow Soprano
Aida Turturro	...	Janice Soprano Baccalieri
Steve Schirripa	...	Bobby 'Bacala' Baccalieri (as Steven R. Schirripa)
Joseph R. Gannascoli	...	Vito Spatafore
Dan Grimaldi	...	Patsy Parisi
Jerry Adler	...	Hesh
Ron Leibman	...	Dr. Lior Plepler

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Belleville, New Jersey, USA

Company:

Brad Grey Television

Quotes:

Vito Spatafore: [regarding Eugene] I knew him better than anybody but still... Maybe he was a homo, felt there was no one he could talk to about it. That happens, too.

Movie Connections:

References Die Hard (1988)

Soundtrack:

Smoke on the Water

Kev Infinity

To call this episode brilliant feels like too little. To say it keeps up the excellent work of the season premiere is reductive too, 'cause there's never been a far-from-great Sopranos episode so far. In fact, the title might be a smug invitation for those who aren't real fans yet: Join the Club...

Picking up where Junior left off (putting a bullet in his nephew's gut after mistaking him for a crook he killed in the first season), the story begins with Tony being absolutely fine. With no recollection whatsoever of what happened to him, he's attending some kind of convention. Only he's not speaking with his normal accent, and there seems to be something wrong with his papers: apparently, he is not Tony Soprano but Kevin Finnerty, or at least that's what a group of people think, and until the mess is sorted out he can't leave his hotel.

Naturally, in pure Sopranos tradition, that turns out to be nothing but a dream: Tony is actually in a coma, with the doctors uncertain regarding his fate, his family and friends worried sick and Junior refusing to believe the whole thing actually happened. Unfortunately it did, and Anthony Jr. looks willing to avenge the attempt on his father's life.

Dreams have popped up rather frequently in the series, often as some kind of spiritual trial for the protagonists (most notably in the Season Five show The Test Dream). Join the Club, however, takes the metaphysical qualities of the program, already hinted at by the previous episode's use of a William S. Burroughs poem, and pushes the envelope in the most audacious way: Tony hallucinating about his dead friends (the first occurrence of the sort was caused by food poisoning, four seasons ago) is one thing, him actually being in what would appear to be Purgatory is radically different. The "heavenly" section of the story is crammed with allegorical significances, not least the name Tony is given (as one character points out, spelling it in a certain way will give you the word "infinity"), and none of it comes off as overblown or far-fetched: David Chase has created a piece of work that is far too intelligent to use weird set-ups just for their own sake; it all helps the narrative. Talking about "help from above" in the case of Tony Soprano might be stretching it a tad, though.