Members Only (The Sopranos)

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"Members Only"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 1
Directed byTim Van Patten
Written byTerence Winter
Cinematography byPhil Abraham
Production code601
Original air dateMarch 12, 2006 (2006-03-12)
Running time52 minutes
Episode chronology
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"Join the Club"
The Sopranos season 6
List of episodes

"Members Only" is the 66th episode of the HBO series The Sopranos, and the first of the show's sixth season. Written by Terence Winter and directed by Tim Van Patten, it aired originally on March 12, 2006.

Starring

Guest starring

  • Hesh Rabkin

Also guest starring

Synopsis

Nearly two years have passed.

Johnny Sack
.

In

Gerry "The Hairdo" Torciano
. Disputes between Tony and Phil are resolved, and it is explained that the New York associates were protecting Gerry's area and did not know Eli was associated with the Sopranos; they agree to pay Eli $50,000 compensation.

Carmela's construction of her

Hugh De Angelis
, thinks an inspector he used to know would waive the requirement, but his contact has retired. Carmela repeatedly asks Tony to see if he can get the stop order lifted, but he keeps putting it off.

Ray Curto; they, too, will not allow him to leave New Jersey. With his wife bitter and his son using heroin, Eugene hangs
himself.

911
before passing out.

First appearances

The episode marks the first appearances of:

Deceased

  • Raymond Curto
    : stroke
  • Teddy Spirodakis: shot by Eugene in a diner
  • Eugene Pontecorvo
    : suicide by hanging
  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
    (Lou Gehrig's disease).

Title reference

Production

  • To combat leaked storylines, the writers and Chase used fake scenes to confuse the set. The scene in which Uncle Junior shoots Tony was also shot with Phil Leotardo in a window shooting at Tony instead.[1]
  • The "traditional" season premiere sequence involving
    Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request
    ."
  • Angie Bonpensiero
    ) are promoted to starring cast and are now billed in the opening credits but only for the episodes in which they appear. Of the four, only Frank Vincent is billed in an individual credit; the others are paired (although Dan Grimaldi would be credited individually in the second part of Season 6).
  • Jamie-Lynn Sigler is again billed by her original last name in the opening credits, following her separation from her agent and husband, A.J. DiScala, after Season 5 ended.
  • Despite the episode's focus on his character,
    Eugene Pontecorvo
    ) does not appear in the opening credits. Season 3 is the only season in which he does.
  • In the original broadcast of this episode (March 12, 2006), no previews for the next episode were shown in order to keep the aftermath of Tony's shooting a mystery.[citation needed]

References to prior episodes

  • Pussy Malanga, the man Uncle Junior was convinced is after him and whom he eventually mistakes Tony for is the same mobster Uncle Junior wanted to kill in Artie Bucco's first restaurant in
    the pilot episode
    .
  • Dr. Melfi recalls that Tony grabbed a pillow in order to smother his mother in "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano," but Tony denies this, saying he only grabbed the pillow to occupy his hands.
  • Dr. Melfi calls the home that Tony put his mother in a "retirement community" and Tony corrects her and calls it a nursing home. Before this, whenever somebody called it a nursing home, Tony always corrected them and called it a retirement community.
  • Johhny Sack considers selling the Maserati he bought in "Marco Polo."

Other cultural references

  • Junior tries to retrieve money from a robbery of a Bohack's in the 1970s.
  • Tony refers to his forgetful Uncle Junior as "Knucklehead Smiff."
  • Vito asks Agent Harris if he had lost weight due to the Atkins diet.
  • When Eugene proposes retiring, he cites the precedent set by "
    Joe Bananas
    " (Joseph Bonanno).
  • When Eugene's conversation with his wife is interrupted by a call on his cellphone, she says he is responding to "His Master's Voice".
  • The movie Junior watches is Paths of Glory, a 1957 war movie directed by Stanley Kubrick.
  • When Junior says Pussy Malanga is prank calling his house Tony says they will get FBI director J. Edgar Hoover to investigate.
  • Tony jokes that it's the Year of the Rat, although that would not come until 2008–09.
  • Tony calls AJ "Joe College."

Music

Awards

References

  1. ^ "7 Surprises From The Sopranos 20th Anniversary Celebration". hbo.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2019.
  2. ISBN 978-1-933821-18-4
    .

External links
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