Funhouse (The Sopranos)

Starring

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

Deceased

Production

Music

Critical response

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

Awards