Everything about Funhouse The Sopranos Episode totally explained
"
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 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.
James Gandolfini won an
Emmy Award for his performance in the episode and it was also nominated in the category of Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series.
Plot
Shortly after
Janice's departure,
Tony and younger sister
Barbara arrive at
Livia's home to discuss her permanent living arrangements. When Livia refuses to move in with Tony and
Carmela or Barbara, Tony becomes very angry and hands Livia two 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's walking on the boardwalk in
Asbury Park and meets up with
Paulie Walnuts, Silvio,
Christopher Moltisanti, Hesh and
Philly "Spoons" Parisi. Tony has just received word that he's six months to live from a terminal illness and accepts the information as if he'd already known this and come to accept it. His friends further inform him that he's going to kill himself instead, to which his friends commend his bravery and appreciate the favor he'll be doing them, sparing them all those doctor visits. Tony douses himself with a container of gasoline and Paulie ignites a
Zippo. Christopher asks, "What if these doctors are wrong?" Tony only gets a split second to process this information, and the gasoline explodes before Tony could even close the Zippo. Tony then quickly awakes to vicious
diarrhea and
vomiting.
The following morning, Carmela believes that her husband has received
food poisoning from Artie Bucco's restaurant and contacts its owner. When Artie arrives at the Soprano home, he and Tony argue about the quality of his food and Artie quickly learns that Tony ate at an Indian restaurant, which could have also caused sickness. Eventually, Artie calls up Big Pussy to see if he's sick as well. Tony then goes into a delirium after receiving a house call from
Dr. Cusamano and eventually falls asleep. Tony then begins to dream about having sex with
Dr. Melfi during a therapy session.
Tony also has a minor fever dream about
Uncle Junior wandering on a factory site. Furthermore he sees himself through a binoculars playing a card game with Paulie. When Paulie says something, Tony shoots Paulie to death.
Later, at Dr. Melfi's, Tony goes off on a racist rant against Indian people and also against his mother, on which Dr. Melfi challenges him. Tony stubbornly refuses to delve into his own mind, and tells her of his sexual dream with her before he storms out.
Tony has one final "fever dream", involving him speaking to Big Pussy, who has taken the form of a fish: this dream-version of Pussy hints "You know I'm working with the government, right?" and makes tongue-in-cheek reference to "sleeping with the fishes". After this point the confusion of whether or not Tony was truly awake steadily becomes clear. In the morning,
Meadow reveals she's going to
Columbia University. Tony and Silvio later go to Pussy's house, and invite him to go boating with them. Searching Pussy's room, Tony finds Pussy's
wire—proof that Pussy is indeed an
FBI informant.
Silvio, Tony and Pussy meet up with Paulie Walnuts at the dock, and they sail out together. On the boat, Tony confronts Pussy, and asks how long it has been since he "flipped." Pussy at first denies the charge of informing, but quickly confesses under pressure. He claims not to have given any major information to the Feds, but Tony doesn't believe him. Silvio excuses himself, claiming to be seasick.
Pussy asks for
tequila, and Paulie pours
Jose Cuervo for Tony and Pussy. Silvio returns, as Pussy brags about the girl he used to know at the clinic in
Puerto Rico. Tony asks if she was real and Pussy retreats to a corner, resigned to his fate. Then, as he asks to be allowed to sit (after his three consecutive shots of Tequila kick in), he claims his
inner ear balance is off. He asks several times if it's okay for him to take a seat, clearly overwhelmed and starting to panic. Tony, Paulie and Silvio shoot him to death, honoring his wishes to not be shot in the face. Paulie removes his jewelry, and together they bind his body in chains and weights, then throw him off the back of the boat.
Hours later, Carmela receives a phone call from Livia, who is being detained in
Newark Airport security for possessing stolen airline tickets. Within minutes, FBI agents arrive at the Soprano home with a search warrant and ask to search the residence and cars. An agent reveals he's already searched Tony's car and found the stolen tickets. Tony is placed in handcuffs and is taken to FBI offices for questioning. Tony becomes unbalanced at a point and almost falls, appearing weak in front of the FBI agents. One agent takes the opportunity to point out that mob boss Tony Soprano is "weak in the knees". Instead of his usual bravado to the agents, he angrily tells them he's got food poisoning, and is led into a holding cell for a brief period of time. Tony quickly contacts his lawyer,
Neil Mink, and is released on bail in time for Meadow's graduation, which will be held the next day.
The following day at Meadow's graduation ceremony, Tony proudly watches his daughter accept her diploma. At the graduation, Tony tells Christopher that he's proposing him to get his "button" and become a
made man. The episode ends with a montage of Tony's two families celebrating Meadow's graduation, interspersed with the images of the various illegal enterprises through which Tony makes his fortune. Carmela looks for Tony among the guests, finding him standing by himself in a corner of the living room, slowly lighting a cigar. The shot fades into a shot of the ocean at sunset, the waves crashing on the shore.
First appearances
The episode marks the first appearance of:
Deceased
Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero: murdered by Tony, Silvio, and Paulie for being an FBI informant. His body was tossed into the ocean.
Title reference
In Tony's dream, he's on the boardwalk in Asbury Park, near a funhouse with the famous wide-eyed clown painted on it known as "Tilley".
Also, when Livia calls Tony from airport security, Carmela hands the phone over with the phrase "the fun never stops".
Production
David Proval and Aida Turturro are no longer billed in the opening credits though Turturro returns next season as a full-time cast member.
Just as in the season opener, Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist%27s Office..., Silvio does his The Godfather impersonation ("Our true enemy hasn't yet shown his face") in Tony's dream in reference to Pussy.
In his dream, Tony sees Pussy as a fish. The reference is to death as in "sleeps with the fishes".
Every time Tony dreams in this episode, there's a creaking sound in the background. This is the same creaking sound of the boat at sea when Pussy gets shot.
Music
The song played throughout the episode is "Thru and Thru" from the 1994 album Voodoo Lounge by The Rolling Stones (and sung by Keith Richards).
Reception
Critical response
Entertainment Weekly placed "Funhouse" #5 on their list of the 10 greatest The Sopranos episodes; TIME placed it at #9.
Awards
This episode was one of two viewer's choice winners on A&E. It is widely considered to be one of the best episodes in the entire series. It is also considered to be one of the most depressing episodes in the entire series.
James Gandolfini won the Emmy for Best Actor in a Drama Series for his performance in this episode.Further Information
Get more info on 'Funhouse The Sopranos Episode'.
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