Just watched it and i loved it. Im guessing the dream trip was limbo (the wildfires = hell nearby, eheh). Tony said "Who am I? Where am I going?" at one point. He realizes he is dying now and realizing that his previous actions are now going to come to front. He even tried living the life of a normal person (who i assume is the person going to heaven) and he still wanted to cheat on his wife and the irony of having to steal someone elses ID (and committing a sin) just to live a perfect life.

^ the whole family speech from tony to AJ last week makes so much sense and AJ realizes it when he was talking to meadow about not caring about what his friends thought.

3/21/2006 12:42:11 AM

I thought that exact same thing about his wife. It just goes to show that even though tony is supposedly living a different life in his dream, he can't escape who he really is. and by that, I don't mean a mobster, but an adulturer and a good, caring dad, as crazy as that sounds. his family and pretty women seem to be his two biggest soft spots. oh, and animals of course.

3/21/2006 8:41:15 AM

what i thought was a neat touch was that every phone conversation Tony had in his dream was someone from the real world talking to him. Carm telling him "you know, this is partially your fault" and all those other things. Also, everything Meadow was saying over the phone was real, but it was from a little girl's voice... which signifies how Tony sees Meadow and AJ still as the little ones. AJ wasn't on the phone because his "tummy hurt," or IRL, he was faking the stomach virus.

3/21/2006 8:48:56 AM

So I am thinking Tony's dream is somehow connected to his coma

that helicopter seemed to be the hospital lights

3/21/2006 8:53:45 AM

^^ooh you are right...i didnt completely get that when i was watching it


but i did notice that the telephone seemed to be his connection to the living/awake world

3/21/2006 8:54:58 AM

^^yeah, you could see the doctor flashing the light in his eyes in one of the first helicopter shots.

3/21/2006 8:56:48 AM

heh i dont do the deep analysis like you guys so I thought I would re-iterate the painfully obvious

3/21/2006 9:00:44 AM

but i think that's what makes it such a good show... the fact that you can enjoy it taking it at face value, or analyzing the hell out of it.

3/21/2006 9:09:01 AM

was it just me or was the person he was talking to on the phone (supposedly his wife), not carmella?

3/21/2006 9:22:13 AM

I thought so too at first but it seemed to sound more and more like her as he talked to her.

3/21/2006 9:22:49 AM

but it didn't sound like her voice at all

3/21/2006 9:23:32 AM

it sounded kind of like that valentina chick

3/21/2006 9:29:30 AM

I thought it might have been artie's wife, you know they were high school sweet-hearts or something

3/21/2006 9:30:04 AM

my friend thought that too... maybe it was

3/21/2006 9:35:17 AM

i guess thats a possibility. I thought it sounded familiar.

I do agree with an earlier poster. An episode without paulie isnt a good episode. He steals every scene he is in.

3/21/2006 9:37:49 AM

I kept asking myself if that was Carmella, but I have not decided.


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3/21/2006 9:51:12 AM

i think the fact that so many people can't tell if it's carmella proves that it isn't her. too many people are questioning it.

3/21/2006 10:03:39 AM

that was definatly not Carmella on the phone

3/21/2006 10:16:42 AM

It sounded like Gloria to me

3/21/2006 10:46:33 AM

i wonder if his flashbacks are really different iterations his life could've followed

3/21/2006 11:34:03 AM

^I think so. but at the same time, I believe that it shows that tony is still the same basic person regardless of his chosen career path. His basic character flaws are all still there. it's basically tony without all the machismo that he feels he needs to exert on a day to day basis.


and that was definitely not carmela on the phone.

3/21/2006 11:38:23 AM

If Tony does die, he will most likely be on alot this season in flashbacks and such.

3/21/2006 11:51:37 AM

http://www.nj.com/sopranos/ledger/index.ssf?/sopranos/stories/seasonsix_3.html

Excellent Article Breaking Down the dream sequence, not really a spoiler unless you haven't seen Sundays episode.

3/21/2006 11:59:33 AM

^ word

3/21/2006 12:40:00 PM

Quote :

" wonder if his flashbacks are really different iterations his life could've followed"

i thought that was pretty obvious that's what it was. i mean he was having a formal business meeting discussing some technical shit or whatever.

3/21/2006 12:43:40 PM

Quote :

"IT'S NOT a dream. It's Purgatory. When I had my annual summit with "Sopranos" creator David Chase a few weeks ago, I complimented him on having the onions to put a major dream sequence like this so early in the season, considering how many fans complain about the dreams. "I, frankly, would not call those (episode two scenes) dreams," he said, which sent me scurrying back to watch my DVD over and over again, until (with some help from my wife) I got it. Here Tony's stuck in Orange County, quite possibly the most personality-free corner of the world, with no way to leave (a k a Purgatory). On one end of town is a shining beacon (Heaven), on the other, a raging forest fire (Hell). Over and over, he stops to assess the worth of his own life, asking, "Who am I? Where am I going?" Then he steals the identity (sin) of Kevin Finnerty -- a heating salesman who lives in one of the hottest states of the union (Arizona) -- checks into another hotel, and falls down a red staircase, at which point he learns he has Alzheimer's (eternal damnation). And while Carmela's busy in the real world telling him he's not going to Hell, Tony's in Purgatory debating whether to tell his wife this is exactly the fate he has in store. It may be hair-splitting to call this something other than a dream, but Tony's misadventures in Costa Mesa were much more linear and coherent than his regular dreams have ever been. There were important details scribbled in the margins (the bartender joking, "Around here, it's dead," or the "Are sin, disease and death real?" commercial on the TV), but there was an actual story here instead of Tony bouncing from one surreal tableau to another. Still, Chase followed last week's watercooler cliffhanger with an 11-minute opening sequence set in a world that's not our own, with a Tony who wasn't quite right (it's startling to hear James Gandolfini's natural speaking voice), and only one split-second nod to the shooting (the brief flash of the doctor shining a light in Tony's eye mixed in with the chopper spotlight). For years, most of "Sopranos" fandom has been divided into two intersecting sets: those who watch for the whacking and crude humor, and those who watch for the psychiatry and art-house storytelling. By putting the shooting right next to Tony's afterlife business trip, Chase is pushing his chips to the center of the table and telling the audience they had better go all in -- murder and therapy, flatulence jokes and metaphysics -- if they intend to stay at the table for this final season. So will Tony ever get to check out of this hotel, and, if so, where will he end up? Again, I can't say, but if this season is going to be about a moral accounting for all of Tony's sins, then there's no better place to start. Back in the physical world, give Edie Falco the Emmy right now. Just give it to her. Seriously. Do not pass Go, do not collect other nominations, just ship the statuette to her apartment today. There is no way any other actress on television is going to have two better scenes this year than Carmela's hallway breakdown and her monologue to Tony, scored perfectly to Tom Petty's "American Girl." And is there an Emmy category for Best Silent Hug? Because Michael Imperioli was pretty great when he put his arm around Carmela in the hallway. I know scenes where characters sob or give long speeches are stock award-show bait, but these performances went so far past showing off that I actually had to look away a few times out of a feeling I was spying on a private moment between real people. Some other random notes: The song played at the end was Moby's "When It's Cold I'd Like To Die," with vocals by Mimi Goese. The voice of Purgatory Tony's wife wasn't played by Annabella Sciorra, or any other actress who's been on the show before; she's just a generic non-Carmela female voice. Boy, Janice's gift for making every moment of every day be all about her survives even her brother's shooting, huh? She shows up at the hospital, pretending she's there to help comfort Carmela, then immediately spazzes out so she's the center of attention. If I didn't know Janice so well from the last four seasons, I might have found her freak-out genuine, but this is Livia Soprano's daughter, people. And speaking of which... Did you catch AJ throwing Livia's "Poor you!" at Meadow during their hybrid car argument? That's at least three other characters who've now used the old bat's pet insult (Tony and Gloria were the others), and it shows just how rotten and contagious the Soprano genes are. Meanwhile, you have AJ trying to have his Michael Corleone moment with his plan to murder Junior, but the kid's still too dumb and weak to even pass for Fredo. Loved that he chose to waste all the good will from Carmela by telling her he flunked out of school. (If those other two scenes don't get Falco a drama actress Emmy, maybe she can win the comedy award for her delivery of "With your father in a coma!" The overall mood was grim, but Vito had the line of the night, if not the season, when he speculated about Eugene's suicide, "Maybe he was a homo, felt there was no one he could talk to about it. That happens, too." Oh, Vito, project much? In the days after the premiere, many people floated the theory that it was really the finale and the rest of the series would be flashbacks leading up to Tony's shooting. Obviously, that's not the way things are going, and it wouldn't have worked, since not enough of interest had happened to the characters since we saw them last. Yes, Janice and Bacala have spawned, and AJ's hair is longer, but it's not like we came back from hiatus with Silvio missing and Chris wearing an eyepatch. The premiere established that Tony's life had been profitable but uneventful since his jog through the woods. Now, is Agent Harris really that in love with Satriale's veal parm, or he is baiting a hook to turn Christopher into a cooperator? Nothing on this show is a coincidence, and a few scenes after Harris mentioned Matush, the terrorist-supporting drug dealer, we saw a couple of Middle Eastern men chatting up Chrissie at the Bing. Hmm... "

3/21/2006 12:51:22 PM

^really interesting article

3/21/2006 1:03:13 PM

Quote :

"Now, is Agent Harris really that in love with Satriale's veal parm, or he is baiting a hook to turn Christopher into a cooperator? Nothing on this show is a coincidence, and a few scenes after Harris mentioned Matush, the terrorist-supporting drug dealer, we saw a couple of Middle Eastern men chatting up Chrissie at the Bing. Hmm..."

exactly...i actually thought something was gonna go down that night he saw them at the club, because one of them was like "Oh, here he comes..." to his buddy, but it was actually just to inquire about Tony.

3/21/2006 1:03:56 PM

^ that is a lame approach tho. Chris didnt turn when his fiance who he loved was a cooperator. Some Arabs are gonna turn him? The FBI isnt gonna say hey give us this info on these terrorists and you can go on about your business of being in the mafia.

3/21/2006 1:20:09 PM

harris doesnt care about the mafia anymore.

3/21/2006 1:21:30 PM

Article really made alot of sense and connected a bunch of dots for me...man I really want to watch every episode multiple times now...I can't wait for Sunday nights...


III
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3/21/2006 1:46:03 PM

^^ I know, but that doesnt mean that there is a new policy in the fbi where the mafia's dealings are ok as long as we get some info on terror.

3/21/2006 2:08:51 PM

http://www.ifilm.com/player/?ifilmId=1388896&pg=default&skin=default&refsite=default&mediaSize=default&context=product&launchVal=1&data

3/21/2006 2:14:25 PM

Quote :

"^^ I know, but that doesnt mean that there is a new policy in the fbi where the mafia's dealings are ok as long as we get some info on terror."

i bet the opposite.

3/21/2006 3:08:21 PM

What about that disease you got over in Diarheahstan or wherever

3/21/2006 3:11:52 PM

WHOA, Sherriff of Nottingham, don't shortchange Chris on the explitives

Quote :

"What about that disease you got over in Diarheahstan or whatever the fuck they call it"

[Edited on March 21, 2006 at 3:47 PM. Reason : d]

3/21/2006 3:45:53 PM

He drives a Lexus...it's a joke...Inifiniti...Lexus

haha before he said it was a joke I thought that dude was gonna be Tony's guardian angel in getting back to the real world haha

3/21/2006 4:56:20 PM

how bout Chris driving a Mazaratti (sp?)

3/21/2006 5:25:22 PM

yeah it was Johnny Sack's car...in the season opener johnny sack and his fat wife were talking about some liquidation for the feds' searching the house, mentioned that Moltissanti had offered cash for his car

3/21/2006 5:52:30 PM

Am I the only person that didn't get Tony's dream last season right before he had to kill Bushemi's character? This one seems a lot more straight forward after reading that link.

Also, what exactly is Chris' relationship with the feds? Does he know they're feds but he just thinks that they are after terrorists or does he know they are trying to get close to him?

3/21/2006 7:23:58 PM

They need to change that "woke up this morning" part of the theme now that Tony is in a coma.

3/21/2006 7:29:41 PM

yes he knows they are feds

no they arent trying to get close to him. they've been close to him but were reassigned to terrorism. so far, they're just hanging around for the good food

3/21/2006 7:31:02 PM

^^^^yeah yeah yeah, forgot 'bout that

3/21/2006 8:34:40 PM

so is tony's phone the way to come out of his coma? did the normally peaceful buddhist slap tony because tony had been violent with people in his life? anybody notice all the number 3's in the episode?

3/22/2006 12:34:04 AM

3's? please elaborate...

3/22/2006 1:12:47 AM

the buddhist was probably just representative of tony's stance towards that type of spirituality. You'll remember that both janice and gloria were once buddhists and tony definitely didn't approve. Gloria got him to accept a bit more, but tony has always been weary of such religions. that was my take anyways.

3/22/2006 8:46:55 AM

I totally was lost with that and could not figure out where they were going with that...


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3/22/2006 8:55:16 AM

probably meant to imply buddists are going to hell

3/22/2006 8:58:12 AM

those buddhists freaked me out!

3/22/2006 9:03:44 AM

my boy pointed out the number 3 to me...dunno if its like the holy trinity or something...but theres a few things...like the the ties he wears have patterns of three stripes...his headboard on his bed in the hotel has thatches in groups of 3's...kevin finnerty's credit card starts with 0305 0308 i think and 5 from 8 is three also...dunno

and then its like when he is running down the stairs cause the elevator is out of order, the stairs are white and red and he's going down the red staircase, ie to hell...but then he falls and gets knocked out and ends up in a hospital...does that mean hes not going to hell?

i dunno man i've watched this episode a bunch of times with people who missed it sunday, maybe i'm reading too much into things

3/22/2006 10:30:27 AM