Stage 5 (The Sopranos)

Template:Television episode short description Template:Template other "Stage 5" is the 79th episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos, the second episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, and the 14th episode of the season overall. The main plot is about Christopher Moltisanti's horror movie premiering in New York City, with a subplot about Johnny Sack learning that he is terminally ill.

Written by Terence Winter and directed by Alan Taylor, the episode originally aired on April 15, 2007, and it led the Nielsen cable television ratings for the week ending April 15. Critical reviews were generally positive, especially regarding the use of tragic humor.

Starring

• 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. *
• Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
• Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri
• Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr.
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano
• Aida Turturro as Janice Soprano Baccalieri
• Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
• Vincent Curatola as Johnny "Sack" Sacrimoni
• Frank Vincent as Phil Leotardo
• Ray Abruzzo as Little Carmine Lupertazzi
• Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile
• Dan Grimaldi as Patsy Parisi

* = credit only

Guest starring

• Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin

Synopsis

Johnny Sack is transferred to a prison hospital after being diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer. He dies with his wife and two daughters at his bedside. In New York, Phil forgoes leadership of the Lupertazzi family in favor of his protégé, Gerry Torciano. However, at dinner in a restaurant with Silvio, Gerry is killed on the orders of Faustino "Doc" Santoro. Tony, furious that Sil was put in danger, urges Little Carmine to vie again for control of the Lupertazzis. Carmine declines; his wife has said, "I don't want to be the wealthiest widow on Long Island."

On what would have been Billy's 47th birthday, Phil bitterly speaks to Butch about his "weakness", in particular after Billy was killed; he says there will be no more compromise.

Meadow has broken up with Finn, while Blanca is getting fed up with A.J. Tony is approached by FBI agents Harris and Goddard, who ask him to pass on anything he notices at the Newark docks that might concern terrorism. Tony turns his back on them.

Christopher finishes his Mafia-themed slasher film, Cleaver. Following the film's premiere in New York City, Tony congratulates Christopher and mingles with the Lupertazzis and the cast at the after-party. Tony does not see it at first, but Carmela notes a similarity between the film's love triangle and Christopher's suspicion that Tony had an affair with Adriana; Carmela sees the violent murder of the antagonist as Christopher's "revenge fantasy" against Tony. She confronts Christopher; she is doubtful about his depiction of Tony (and also about Adriana's whereabouts). He denies any similarities but is worried about what Tony might think.

Christopher asks his screenwriter, J.T. Dolan, to tell Tony that the character was his idea. When J.T. refuses, Christopher hits him over the head with a Humanitas Prize trophy. J.T. then visits the Bada Bing and tells Tony that he stole the characters and plot from the film Born Yesterday. Noticing a bruise on J.T.'s head, Tony seems to doubt his account, but watches Born Yesterday at home. Later, he painfully admits to Dr. Melfi that he believes Christopher despises him, and that Cleaver illustrates his hatred. He recalls being a father figure to Christopher. Melfi asks Tony to cautiously evaluate if he is not "reading into things," but he replies that his sessions with her have taught him enough about the human subconscious.

At the baptism of Christopher's daughter, Tony and Chris embrace closely, but their eyes belie the closeness.

Deceased

• Gerardo "Gerry" Torciano: Shot multiple times to death while having dinner with Silvio Dante by a hitman on orders from Faustino "Doc" Santoro, to remove him from contention to the Lupertazzi family boss' position.
• John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni: Dies of lung cancer in prison.

Final appearance

• "Stage 5" marks the final appearance of the character Lawrence "Larry Boy" Barese, a DiMeo/Soprano family capo. Larry is only mentioned in future episodes.

Title reference

• After being told that his cancer has advanced to stage IV, Johnny Sack correctly guesses there is no stage V.
• The title could also refer to the fifth stage of grief (acceptance), as Johnny Sack accepts his fate after the doctor gives him his diagnosis and prognosis.

Production

• Series writer and executive producer Matthew Weiner appears for the second time in the series as Mafia expert/author Manny Safier, this time on Geraldo Rivera's show.
• HBO released a mockumentary "Behind the Scenes" look at Cleaver titled Making Cleaver the week before the episode was released. It featured in-character interviews with Christopher, Little Carmine, director Morgan Yam, and actors Daniel Baldwin and Jonathan La Paglia, and the head make-up specialist. The mockumentary is included in The Sopranos Season 6 Part 2 DVD set and the Complete Series DVD collection.

References to prior episodes

• In what seems to be an Easter egg, in the climactic scene in Cleaver, just before Sally Boy is killed by Michael, there is a detailed camera shot of a car's rear-view mirror under which, along with the crucifix necklace, hangs the same key chain that Furio Giunta brought back from Italy for A.J. as a souvenir in the season 4 episode, "The Strong, Silent Type." Little Carmine explains to his daughter Alexandra that it represents "the sacred and the propane" (mistaking the common phrase "the sacred and the profane").
• Christopher's new NA sponsor reminds Christopher of what a poor condition of drug use relapse he was at the time when he came into an NA meeting "with a woman," referring to Christopher and Julianna Skiff's affair in "Kaisha," which ended when they broke up and decided to attend an NA meeting.
• Carmela believes the character of Sally Boy had sex with the protagonist's fiancée in Cleaver because of Christopher's belief that Tony slept with Adriana behind his back, which refers to the season 5 episode "Irregular Around the Margins."
• When toasting the memory of Johnny Sack, Paulie says, "Ride the painted pony, let the spinning wheel glide," which is a misquote of a line from the Blood, Sweat & Tears song "Spinning Wheel". This song appeared earlier as Muzak in "The Happy Wanderer", when Richie Aprile collects his vig from David Scatino.

Other cultural references

• The protagonist of Cleaver addresses the boss as , "cousin."
• Christopher tells his Narcotics Anonymous sponsor he based his revenge-seeking character on Edward Scissorhands—with a cleaver replacing the scissors (although he had at one point considered a ball-peen hammer).
• Johnny Sack was given Paraplatin, Docetaxel, Ceftin and Platinol. His doctor was at an American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) conference.
• Christopher says that they might have to change the title of Cleaver as the Eldridge Cleaver estate is seeking an injunction.
• Upon seeing J. T. at the Bada Bing, Tony calls him "T. J. Hooker".
• Phil Leotardo asks children at his late brother's birthday commemoration about Leonardo da Vinci. One of the kids incorrectly guesses he was the author of The Da Vinci Code. Phil mentions Leonardo's fighting vehicle.
• Prior to Little Carmine meeting with Tony, Tony places bets on the Ravens, Rams, and the Vikings; all three teams performed poorly in the 2007 NFL season.
• Paulie misquotes a line from Blood, Sweat & Tears' "Spinning Wheel" — "Ride a painted pony / Let the spinning wheel turn."
• The FBI agents are now with the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Music

• An instrumental version of the song "Thank You" by Dido is playing in the diner when Chris is talking to Eddie Dunne.
• Paulie's ringtone, heard during the showing of Christopher's film, is the Simon and Garfunkel song "Cecilia".
• The song-poem played at the end of the episode and over the credits is "Evidently Chickentown" by John Cooper Clarke, from the album Snap, Crackle & Bop.

Reception

"Stage 5" was the highest rated program on cable TV for the week of April 9 to 15, 2007, with 7.42 million viewers.

Television Without Pity graded "Stage 5" with an A.Template:Rp Reviewer Kim Reed criticized the afterparty scene with Larry Boy: "...Larry Boy Barese and his date are regaling the others with tales of what it's like to be on a movie set, including the fact that the actors don't just make up their own lines!...Come on. No one is so dumb that they don't understand that movies have scripts."Template:Rp Reed also observed that the saga of Johnny Sack's cancer turned Tony and his crew into "old people...trying to one up each other with their ailments."Template:Rp Reed praised the scene of Ginny bleaching Johnny's shoes as an allusion to Johnny's character, specifically an image consciousness.Template:Rp

The Los Angeles Times had positive reviews of the episode. For its Show Tracker blog, Paul Brownfield praised two scenes featuring Paulie and regarded J.T. "a constant whipping boy for TV writer haughtiness." Jay A. Hernandez, in the weekly "Scriptland" feature, called the episode "both hysterical and insightful", with "brilliantly mordant humor". For Entertainment Weekly, Lisa Schwarzbaum observed: "...Tony and Phil have become the older generation, kvetching about their health, while the younger Carmine Jr. would rather not dirty his hands." However, Schwarzbaum criticized the subplot about Christopher's movie as "too easy and self-conscious".

IGN rated the episode 8.9 points out of 10, with critic Brian Zoromski commenting: "New developments were presented subtly and quietly, without getting too heavy-handed or expository."

Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger praised the episode as "dark" and "wickedly funny", while regarding the killing of Gerry Torciano to be a loss of one of the show's best characters.

External links

• "Stage 5" Template:Webarchive at HBO
• Template:Trim/ "Stage 5" at IMDbTemplate:EditAtWikidataTemplate:WikidataCheck