Members Only (The Sopranos)


"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.
The episode was the most watched cable program and third most popular program on cable or broadcast television on its premiere date, with about 9.5 million viewers. Critical reception was highly positive.

Starring

Guest starring

Synopsis

Nearly two years have passed. Janice Soprano is raising a new daughter with Bobby Baccalieri, who has taken up model railroading as a hobby. Meadow Soprano continues her relationship with Finn DeTrolio. A.J. Soprano is now attending college. Adriana La Cerva is remembered by a worrying Carmela Soprano. Vito Spatafore is thinner and is now a spokesperson for a weight loss company; he is Tony Soprano's best earner and is ambitious. Phil Leotardo, now the acting boss of the Lupertazzi crime family, is taking care of business for the imprisoned Johnny Sack.
In Brooklyn, Hesh Rabkin and his son-in-law Eli Kaplan are assaulted by Lupertazzi associates. Trying to escape, Eli is knocked down by a hit-and-run driver and seriously injured. At Hesh's request, Tony tries to reach out directly to Johnny through his optometrist brother-in-law, Anthony Infante, but Johnny is only paying attention to his immediate family's financial troubles. Tony, Vito and Christopher, now a capo in the Soprano family, meet with Phil and 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 as compensation.
Carmela's construction of her spec house is suspended due to a "stop order" issued by a building inspector because improper lumber has been used. Her father, 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.
Eugene Pontecorvo inherits $2 million and desires to retire with his family to Florida. Bearing gifts, he goes to Tony to ask permission. Tony reminds Eugene that he took an oath. Later, Eugene gives him a cut of the inheritance. At Chris' behest, he then kills a debtor; in return, Chris says, "I'll put in a good word to T about the Florida thing." Tony's decision is relayed through Silvio: "Your Florida thing. That's a no-go." Eugene is also an informant for the FBI and has become more valuable to the Bureau since the death of Ray Curto; they, too, refuse to let him leave New Jersey. With his wife bitter and his son using heroin, Eugene hangs himself.
Uncle Junior's mind is deteriorating. Tony helps him look for some money he thinks he buried in his backyard thirty years previously, but they find nothing. Both Dr. Melfi and Janice suggest a retirement home or assisted living for him, but Tony forcefully refuses. One afternoon, Junior is particularly agitated, and Tony goes to his house because no one else is free to look after him. While Tony is cooking dinner, Junior, thinking he is a long-dead mobster, shoots him in the stomach. While Junior cowers in a closet upstairs, Tony manages to dial 911 before passing out.

First appearances

The episode marks the first appearances of:Agent Ron Goddard: FBI Agent Harris' new partner working counter-terrorism.Anthony Infante: Ginny Sacrimoni's brother, who owns an eyewear store. Domenica "Nica" Baccalieri: Janice and Bobby's 12-month-old daughter.James "Murmur" Zancone: Christopher's associate and Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor who Christopher says is also good at forging documents.Gerry "The Hairdo" Torciano: soldier and acting capo in the Lupertazzi crime family and Phil Leotardo's protégé after his brother's death; responsible for Phil Leotardo's business in Brooklyn following his promotion to acting boss.

Deceased

Raymond Curto: strokeTeddy Spirodakis: shot by Eugene in a diner Eugene Pontecorvo: suicide by hangingDick Barone: owner of Barone Sanitation; died of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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.
  • The "traditional" season premiere sequence involving The Star-Ledger newspaper is not featured. Instead, a montage of the characters is featured showcasing what has happened in the past two years. A new version of the scene with the delivered newspaper appears in the fifth episode of the season, "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request."
  • Frank Vincent, Dan Grimaldi, Joseph Gannascoli, and Toni Kalem 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.
  • 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, Robert Funaro does not appear in the opening credits. Season 3 is the only season in which he does.
  • In the original broadcast of this episode, no previews for the next episode were shown in order to keep the aftermath of Tony's shooting a mystery.
  • Filming for this episode took place in May 2005.

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".
  • 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

  • The song featured in the opening scene and closing credits is "Seven Souls" by Bill Laswell. It features William S. Burroughs reading from his novel The Western Lands. Creator David Chase describes the song as featuring a strong foreboding tone and themes touching the concepts of death and resurrection. Chase had originally tried to use this song for the pilot episode of The Sopranos. It finally ended up being used on the show in this episode, in the opening montage of the premiere of the final season, eight years later.
  • The song featured in the scene where Tony and Carmela are dining at the sushi restaurant is "Ride a White Horse" by Goldfrapp.
  • "Dreaming" by Blondie plays on the car radio when Eugene is returning home from his murder job.
  • The song playing when Junior shoots Tony is "Comes Love" by Artie Shaw, sung by Helen Forrest.

Reception

On its premiere date, "Members Only" had about 9.5 million viewers leading all of cable television and third highest among all television programs on March 12, 2006.
"Members Only" was widely praised. Television Without Pity graded the episode with an A+. Its review found irony in Christopher Moltisanti mocking Phil's eyebrows. For the San Francisco Chronicle, Tim Goodman called the first four episodes of season six "a magnificent bonfire of assured creativity".
Entertainment Weekly had an A− grade, with Gillian Flynn praising the episode for "quick glimpses of unease and loneliness", as opposed to violent scenes that "lost their original shock value". The New York Times praised the episode for sticking with themes that made the show appealing, wrote Alessandra Stanley: "Big psychological themes are seamlessly woven into banal details that are comic until they suddenly turn and explode into brutish acts of violence." Los Angeles Times critic Paul Brownfield speculated that this season would focus on Tony's "inner and outer worlds" and praised this episode as "the best work from Gandolfini and the equally formidable Falco".
Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger highlighted the "gut-wrenching" shooting of Tony, noting that "Tony's past is catching up to him in dangerous ways." However, he also commented that the episode "traded a little too much" on the stories of minor characters.

Awards