Funhouse

The second season of The Sopranos concludes with its 26th episode, "Funhouse," which first aired on HBO on April 9, 2000. David Chase, the series creator and executive producer, co-wrote the installment with co-producer Todd A. Kessler; John Patterson, a frequent director for the show, handled the directing duties. The broadcast drew roughly 9 million American viewers. The episode’s cast includes James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano, Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi, Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano, Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti, Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr., Vincent Pastore as Pussy Bonpensiero, Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante, Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri, Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr., Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano, Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cerva, and Nancy Marchand as Livia Soprano.

Guest stars include Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin and John Ventimiglia as Artie Bucco. Tony suffers from food poisoning, which triggers vivid fever dreams. In one dream, he has sex with Dr. Melfi in her office. In another, a dead fish on a slab speaks to him in Pussy’s voice, claiming he works for the government because Tony passed him over for a promotion.

Once recovered enough, Tony and Silvio go to Pussy’s home. Feigning illness, Tony rushes to the bathroom; while the others stay downstairs, he searches the bedroom and discovers Pussy’s wire. Tony tells Pussy and Silvio he wants them to see a boat he’s considering buying, and the three drive to it. Paulie is already waiting.

They take the boat out to open water. In the cabin, Tony confronts Pussy about flipping. Pussy equivocates but then admits he told the police about the crew’s current telephone calling card scam. He asks for a drink, which Tony allows; Pussy tells a smutty story, and the men laugh, though Tony questions whether it was true.

Pussy moves to the other end of the cabin and asks if he can sit down. Tony, followed by Silvio and Paulie, shoots him dead. Paulie removes Pussy’s identifying jewelry, and together they bind his bagged body in chains and weights, throw it off the back of the boat, and watch it sink. After Janice leaves, Tony and his younger sister Barbara arrive at Livia’s home to discuss her permanent living arrangements.

Barbara’s husband won’t let Livia live with them, and the retirement home refuses to take her back. Angry, Tony gives Livia two first-class airline tickets to Tucson, where another sister lives, obtained through the bust-out of Davey’s store. Livia is detained at Newark International Airport for possessing stolen tickets. FBI agents arrive at Tony’s home with a search warrant, and he is led away handcuffed in front of Meadow and her friends.

She has graduated high school, with the ceremony and party scheduled for the next day; Tony’s lawyer secures his release in time for both. At the ceremony, Tony tells Christopher he is putting him up to become a made man. Uncle Junior comes to wish Meadow well, and Tony asks him to leave before Carmela spots him. Tony also meets a haggard Davey, whose wife has left him; Davey says he is going to work on a ranch out West.

His son, accepted by Georgetown University, will attend Montclair State University instead due to a money pinch. The episode ends with Tony and his compatriots blowing cigar smoke at Meadow’s graduation party, intercut with a montage of scenes from the first two seasons. First appearances include Quintina Blundetto, Livia Soprano’s younger sister and mother of Tony’s cousin Tony Blundetto, and Pasquale “Patsy” Parisi, a soldier in the Soprano/Gualtieri crew and twin brother of the deceased Philly “Spoons” Parisi.

Salvatore “Big Pussy” Bonpensiero is murdered by Tony, Silvio, and Paulie for being an FBI informant; his body is weighted down and tossed into the ocean. The title references Tony’s dream, where he is on the Asbury Park boardwalk near the Palace Amusements funhouse, which features a famous wide-eyed clown painting known as “Tillie.” When Livia calls Tony’s home about the stolen tickets, Carmela answers and hands the phone to Tony, saying, “Fun never stops.”

David Proval and Aida Turturro are no longer billed in the opening credits, though Turturro returns next season as a full-time cast member. This is the last episode to air while Nancy Marchand was alive; her season 3 appearance used archived footage. The dream sequence with talking fishes utilized CG visual effects from Blue Sky Studios, the company that later created the Ice Age series. References to past episodes include Silvio doing his The Godfather Part III Michael Corleone impersonation in the dream, mirroring the season opener.

Tony’s dream of Pussy as a fish saying the other fishes are “asleep” echoes a quote from The Godfather that Pussy corrected Christopher about in the pilot episode while disposing of Emil Kolar’s corpse. Speaking to Neil Mink, Tony mentions “that EgyptAir thing,” referring to EgyptAir Flight 990, which crashed in October 1999 under controversial circumstances in the Atlantic Ocean near Nantucket. The song played throughout the episode, including the end credits, is “Thru and Thru” from the 1994 album Voodoo Lounge by The Rolling Stones, sung by Keith Richards. The song on Tony’s car radio and in his last fever dream is “Free Fallin’” by Tom Petty.