Join the Club

"Join the Club"

"Join the Club" is the sixty-seventh episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos. It is the second episode of the first part of the show's sixth season, the broadcast of which was split into two parts. It was written by series creator/executive producer David Chase and was directed by single-episode director David Nutter.

Following the shooting of series protagonist Tony Soprano by his uncle Corrado "Junior" Soprano in the previous episode, the plot of "Join the Club" centers on the now-comatose Tony, his family, friends, and business associates as they adjust to the possibility of Tony not coming out of his coma in various ways. Tony's wife Carmela, his son A.J., daughter Meadow, sisters Janice and Barbara, and nephew Christopher Moltisanti all handle the situation differently, with Christopher (also a member of Tony's mob crew) providing unlikely support for the broken-down Carmela. Tony's mafia associates, now without a leader, experiences a similar predicament as several of his subordinates begin vying for power, with Vito Spatafore showing particular interest in Tony's position. While comatose, Tony has a dream in which he envisions himself as a mild-mannered travelling salesman, not involved with the Mafia. This recurring dream is continued and concluded in the next episode.

"Join the Club" premiered on HBO on March 19, 2006 and was generally well-received by critics and fans. Edie Falco's performance in the episode was particularly praised by critics as one of her finest of the series. Many fans were initially confounded by the unusually realistic dream sequence; it has since become the subject of much analysis.

Episode recap

Tony is in critical condition, two days after being shot by Uncle Junior. The attending physicians in the ICU sedate Tony into an induced coma after he awakes and rips out his breathing tube. Several doctors comment on the complications of Tony's gunshot wound, the most dangerous of which is severe sepsis, and they encourage Carmela and others to talk to him and play him music he enjoys in the hopes of a recovery. However, they also warn his family members of the "obviously negative outcome," as well as the prospects of brain damage. Carmela asks the doctor if Tony is "aware that he's dying." A vigil of Tony's family members and business associates have assembled in the ICU. A distraught Carmela, Christopher Moltisanti, and Meadow sleep in the hospital.

Uncle Junior is being held in custody and is questioned about the shooting. He is confused about the situation, hostile towards his interrogator and does not remember that he has a new lawyer. He denies that he shot his nephew and insists that if Tony was shot it must have been self-inflicted, because he is "a depression case."

Christopher, Paulie Walnuts, and Vito Spatafore vie for small opportunities to assist Tony's family during the crisis, such as sending presents to Tony's room and bickering over giving a ride home to A.J.

During the funeral wake of the late soldier Eugene Pontecorvo, an impromptu meeting of associates is held, and Silvio Dante assumes Tony's responsibilities as acting Boss. The meeting also reveals that, while most of the group is loyal to the incapacitated Tony, some are unsympathetically furious at Junior, and others are suspicious of why Bobby -— traditionally Junior's de facto caretaker -— was not in the house that night. Vito makes a bid to take over Eugene's sportsbook responsibilities, and later, suggests to Janice that perhaps Eugene had been a self-loathing homosexual who had no one to talk to.

Meanwhile, A.J. acts curiously aloof, avoiding Tony's room, and shirking his familial and school responsibilities. He talks to a reporter at the hospital, but curses the ones camped outside the Soprano home; he forgets to bring requested items to the hospital to assist in Tony's recovery. A questionable stomach flu (which may have been faked or psychosomatic) excuses him from a night shift at the hospital and he is flippantly preoccupied with cars. A.J.'s unforthcoming behavior to his father's condition worries Carmela, who voices her concerns to Rosalie Aprile. With the death of her own wayward son Jackie Aprile, Jr., Rosalie advises Carmela to engage in stricter parenting with A.J.. In addition to the normal worries for her son, however, Carmela fears that A.J.'s deep esteem for his father is the source of his aloofness.

A.J. admits to Meadow that he is embarrassed and angry by the actions of his family, especially Uncle Junior, whom he calls a "mummy." A.J. finally concedes to his family's wishes to talk to his comatose father. Once the two are alone (and after talking about cars), A.J. vows to avenge what he believes to be his father's imminent death by putting a bullet in Uncle Junior's "mummy head." Immediately afterwards, he admits to Carmela that he dropped out of junior college.

Tony's coma and Kevin Finnerty

While he is in a coma, Tony has a long dream-like experience that is woven throughout the episode. The experience begins with Tony awaking in a hotel room. He is a precision optics salesman on a business trip, without his trademark New Jersey accent. The next morning he goes to a convention and is asked for ID to gain admittance. But Tony has someone else's wallet and briefcase, a man named Kevin Finnerty, to whom he bears a resemblance. Tony says that he must have unintentionally picked up these items the previous evening at the hotel bar. He returns to the bar, where a group of business travelers overhear him telling his story to the bartender (the bartender joking, "Around here, it's dead"). The group invite Tony to join them for dinner. After dinner, outside the hotel, Tony makes a pass at a woman from the group. She responds at first but then cuts him off. She tells him she saw his face when he got off the phone with his wife (whose voice is not Carmela's). Tony then checks into a different hotel under Finnerty's name. Two Buddhist monks overhear him checking in and, thinking he is Finnerty, accost him saying they had a horrible winter at the monastery because of Finnerty's heating system. Tony tells them that he's not Finnerty, which makes the monks angry; they scuffle briefly and the monks flee. The next morning, the hotel elevator is out of order, so Tony takes the stairs. As he is walking down the stairs, he slips and falls. Later, in the emergency room, the doctor tells Tony that aside from having a minor concussion, his CT scan shows some dark spots on his brain, which indicate lack of oxygen. The doctor states that this indicates early stages of Alzheimer's disease. When the doctor leaves him at his bed, Tony is seen saying "I'm lost" to himself. After he returns to his hotel room, Tony picks up the phone, but hangs up before dialing.

Title reference

• In Tony's dream, Lee (the woman from the business group at the bar) tells Tony to "join the club", an expression commonly used when someone talks about undergoing stress or pain to someone else experiencing the same.
• The title could also be considered something of a "sequel" to the previous episode's title, "Members Only".

Production

• The exterior of the hospital is actually Fenster Hall of New Jersey Institute of Technology.
• The interior of the hospital is the same hospital from the TV show Scrubs.
• In the hotel Tony checks in to, under Finnerty's name, he is given a room on the 7th floor. This may be a reference to the seven terraces of Purgatory in Dante's Purgatorio. When Tony falls in the stairwell he lands on the 5th floor, which is where the avaricious or greedy are banished.
• The credits do not mention the actress providing the voice of Tony's wife in his dream, though the writers have stated the voice is of a generic New Jersey actress and not intended to be anyone previously featured on the series. Oddly, on the A&E syndication rebroadcast, the voice is credited on the closed captioning as 'Carmela's voice'.
• This episode was shown at the seasons premiere party, not the first episode 'Members only'.

References to prior episodes

• Carmela tells Tony that she regrets telling him that he would go to Hell when he dies. This occurred in the pilot episode
• Lee is curious how Tony made the jump from selling patio furniture to precision optics. Tony mentioned selling patio furniture as an alternative life during a conversation with Meadow in the season one episode "College", and in a therapy session with Dr. Melfi in season 1.

References to Subsequent episodes

• In the hospital lobby while discussing Eugene's suicide, the crew theorise as to his reasons for taking his own life. Vito says "maybe he was a homo and there was no one he could talk to about it, it happens too". Vito's sexual orientation becomes a significant plot driver of season 6.

Music

• The song Carmela says was playing in Tony's car an entire weekend at Long Beach Island is "American Girl" by "Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers".
• The song playing at the end of the episode, where Tony returns to his hotel room and picks up the phone but ceases dialing, is Moby's "When It's Cold I'd Like to Die" with vocals by Mimi Goese.
• The song playing in Bada Bing is "Spitfire" by "The Prodigy".
• The song Carmella plays for Tony in hospital first is "Smoke on the Water" by "Deep Purple".

External links

• HBO.com — The Sopranos official website
• The Sopranos at IMDb
• "Join the Club" at IMDb
• Television Without Pity — The Sopranos recaps
• The Sopranos — Family Values