Funhouse (The Sopranos)

"Funhouse" is the twenty-sixth episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos. It is the thirteenth and final episode of the show's second season. It was co-written by series creator/executive producer David Chase and co-producer Todd A. Kessler, and was directed by frequent The Sopranos director John Patterson. It originally aired in the United States on April 9, 2000, attracting about 9 million viewers.^[1]

It was nominated for an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.

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
• and Nancy Marchand as Livia Soprano

Guest starring

• Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
• John Ventimiglia as Artie Bucco

Also guest starring

Episode recap

Shortly after Janice's departure, Tony and younger sister Barbara arrive at Livia's home to discuss her permanent living arrangements. When Barbara says her husband won't allow her to live with them, Tony hands Livia two stolen airline tickets to Arizona (one for herself and for her sister Quintina) and warns her to leave for good.

Later, Tony discusses a calling card credit scheme with Silvio Dante and Big Pussy Bonpensiero at Artie Bucco's restaurant, immediately after eating at an Indian restaurant. During the night, Tony dreams that he is walking on the boardwalk in Asbury Park and meets up with Paulie Walnuts, Silvio Dante, Christopher Moltisanti, Philly "Spoons" Parisi, Hesh and an oddly silent, stoic, Big Pussy. In the dream narrative Tony has just received word that he has a terminal disease and six months to live and accepts the information as if he had already known this and come to accept it. He further informs his friends that he is going to kill himself instead; his friends commend his bravery and appreciate the favor he will be doing them, sparing them multiple visits to the hospital and the grieving. Tony douses himself with a plastic container of gasoline and Paulie ignites a Zippo lighter. Christopher suddenly asks, "What if these doctors are wrong?" everyone stares at him and Tony only gets a split second to process this information before the gasoline explodes in a fireball. Tony awakes with a start and tells Carmela that he's never been so depressed and that life is "a big nothing" he then runs to the bathroom with intense diarrhea and vomiting.

Tony also has a minor fever dream about Uncle Junior wandering on a factory site. Furthermore, he sees himself through a coin-operated tower viewer at a distance playing cards with Paulie, inside the vast empty through-hall of the old Convention Center on the Asbury Park boardwalk. When Paulie says something, Tony shoots Paulie in the chest, killing him.

The following morning, Artie Bucco comes over to review with Carmela and Tony the menu for Meadow's graduation party only to learn that Tony has severe food poisoning. He and Tony argue about the quality of his food and Artie quickly learns that Tony ate at an Indian restaurant, which he believes is the culprit. Eventually, when Artie calls up Big Pussy to see if he is sick as well, the latter says he says that he's alright and Artie leaves. Tony then becomes delirious after receiving a house call from his next-door neighbor Dr. Cusamano but eventually manages to fall asleep, and begins to dream about having sex with Dr. Melfi during a therapy session.

The dreams lead Tony to confront his suspicions that Big Pussy is a government informant. In the dream, Tony speaks to Big Pussy, who has taken the form of a dead fish and says, "You know I'm working with the government, right Ton?" and makes a tongue-in-cheek reference to "sleeping with the fishes". Against Carmela's wishes, Tony and Silvio go to Pussy's house and invite him to go check out a new boat with them. Feigning diarrhea, Tony searches Pussy's bedroom and finds Pussy's wire hidden in a false bottom of a cigar box.

Silvio, Tony, and Pussy meet Paulie Walnuts at the docks. During the journey Tony has his final "fever dream" in which Meadow announces over dinner she is planning to attend Columbia University and Tony tells his family he has bought a new boat. After setting out for a ride on a yacht, Tony confronts Pussy below decks, and asks how long it has been since he "flipped". Pussy initially denies the accusation, but quickly confesses under pressure. He claims not to have given any major information to the Feds and in fact to have supplied them with disinformation, but Tony does not believe him. Silvio excuses himself, claiming to be seasick.

To break the mood, Pussy asks for some tequila, and Paulie pours for Tony, Pussy and himself, clinking glasses. As Silvio returns, Pussy further lightens the mood by bragging about the girl he used to have sex with at the clinic in Puerto Rico. The others laugh but then Tony asks if she even existed, and Pussy retreats to a corner, resigned to his fate. He asks not to be shot in the face, to "keep [his] eyes." Paulie says "you were like a brother to me," then Tony adds: "To all of us." Tony, Silvio, and Paulie pull out their guns, at which point Pussy becomes lightheaded and asks to sit. Tony does not reply and instead takes the first shot; Paulie and Silvio follow suit and shoot Pussy to death, honoring his wishes to not be shot in the face. Paulie removes his identifying jewelry, and together they bind his body in chains and weights, throw him off the back of the boat, and watch his body slowly sink into the ocean.

Hours later, Carmela receives a phone call from Livia, who is being detained in the Newark Airport security office for possessing stolen airline tickets. Within minutes, FBI agents arrive at the Soprano home with a warrant, and ask to search the residence. One agent reveals he has already searched Tony's car and found the stolen tickets. Tony is handcuffed and taken to FBI offices for questioning, right in front of Meadow, who has suddenly arrived with her friends, and is now mortally embarrassed. Tony becomes unbalanced at one point and almost falls, appearing weak in front of the FBI agents. The agent in charge, bureau chief Frank Cubitoso, notes that mob boss Tony Soprano is "weak in the knees," but instead of his usual bravado to the agents, Tony angrily responds that he's got food poisoning and is led into a holding cell. Soon after, his lawyer Neil Mink, has him released on bail, in plenty of time to attend Meadow's graduation the next day.

Later, at Dr. Melfi's, Tony goes off on a rant about Indian people, because of his food poisoning, and even more against his mother. Dr. Melfi challenges him to confront the recent sorrow which she suspects he may be harboring underneath his pose. Tony stubbornly refuses to delve into his state of mind, and continues with distractions by bluntly talking about his sexual dream with her, before finally leaving the session, smugly and tauntingly singing.

The following day at Meadow's graduation ceremony, Tony proudly watches his daughter accept her high school diploma. There he also tells Christopher that he is proposing him to get his "button" and become a made man. Tony then sees David Scatino, who tells Tony he and his wife are getting a divorce, that he will be living and working out west with a cousin in Nevada, and that his Georgetown University-bound son, Eric, could only afford to get into a state college (since his father had blown Eric's college fund gambling with Tony). Later, Tony and Carmela throw Meadow a graduation party at their house, and the episode ends with a montage of Tony's two "families" celebrating together, interspersed with the images of the various illegal enterprises through which Tony makes his living: Barone Sanitation, an adult movie theater, a person selling calling cards on the street, Teittleman's motel, the now-abandoned, empty office where the "Webistics" stock scam took place. Carmela looks for Tony among the guests, and sees him, as we do, standing by himself in a corner of the living room, slowly lighting a cigar and blowing out the smoke, with a faraway look on his face. This then fades into a shot of the ocean at sunset, the waves crashing on the shore.

First appearances

• Aunt Quintina: Younger sister of Livia Soprano and mother of Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto.
• Pasquale "Patsy" Parisi: Soldier in the Soprano/Gualtieri/Moltisanti crew and twin brother of the deceased Philly "Spoons" Parisi.

Deceased

• Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero: shot to death by Tony, Silvio and Paulie for being an FBI informant. His body was then weighted down tossed into the ocean.

Title reference

• In the scene when Tony's mother calls his home for help about the stolen airline tickets. Carmela answers the phone. When she hands the phone to Tony, she says: "Here, the fun never stops".
• In Tony's dream, he is on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, near the Palace Amusements funhouse with the famous wide-eyed clown painted on it known as "Tillie".

Production

• David Proval and Aida Turturro are no longer billed in the opening credits, although Turturro returns next season as a full-time cast member.
• Just as in the season opener, "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office...", Silvio does his The Godfather Part III Michael Corleone impersonation in the dream, only in the dream he is referring to Pussy: "Our true enemy has yet to reveal himself".
• In his dream, Tony sees Pussy as a fish who notes that two other fish on either side of him are sleeping. The reference is to death, as in "sleeps with the fishes" from The Godfather, and it foreshadows Pussy's ultimate resting place, the ocean.
• Every time Tony dreams in this episode, there is a creaking sound in the background. This is the same creaking sound the boat at sea makes when Pussy is shot.

References to past episodes

• Pussy's resting place mirrors a quote from The Godfather he corrected to Christopher that "Luca Brasi sleeps with the fishes." while helping to dispose of Emil Kolar's corpse in the pilot episode.

Music

• The song played throughout the episode, including the end credits, is "Thru and Thru" from the 1994 album, Voodoo Lounge by The Rolling Stones (and sung by Keith Richards).
• The song played on the radio of Tony's car and in his last "fever dream" is "Free Fallin'" by Tom Petty.
• The song that Pussy puts in the CD player and plays in the background while he confesses to being an informant is "Baubles, Bangles and Beads" by Frank Sinatra.
• The song Meadow listens to on the radio in her room, while she is sulking after Tony is arrested in front of her friends is "Diamonds & Rust" by Joan Baez.
• When Tony leaves Dr. Melfi's office after retaliating when he feels she insulted him, he sings "Maybe Baby" by Buddy Holly and The Crickets.
• After killing Pussy Bonpensiero, Tony watches a 1960s broadcast of The Temptations on television, performing "Ain't Too Proud to Beg".

Reception

Critical response

Entertainment Weekly placed "Funhouse" #5 on their list of the 10 greatest The Sopranos episodes;^[2] TIME placed it at #9.^[3]

Awards

• This episode was one of two viewer's choice winners on A&E, along with "Pine Barrens".

References

External links

• "Funhouse" at HBO
• "Funhouse" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Funhouse" at TV.com