Mayham (The Sopranos episode)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Mayham
Series = The Sopranos
Season = 6
Episode = 68
Guests = "see below"
Airdate = March 26, 2006 (HBO)
Production = 603
Writer = Matthew Weiner
Director = Jack Bender
Episode list = Episode chronology


Prev = Join the Club
Next = The Fleshy Part of the Thigh

"Mayham" is the sixty-eighth episode of the HBO original series "The Sopranos" and the third of the show's sixth season. It was written by Matthew Weiner, directed by Jack Bender and originally aired on Sunday March 26 2006.

Guest starring

* Tom Aldredge as Hugh De Angelis
* Elizabeth Bracco as Marie Spatafore
* Steve Buscemi as Man
* Carl Capotorto as Little Paulie Germani
* Max Casella as Benny Fazio
* Timothy Daly as J.T. Dolan
* Tony Darrow as Larry Boy Barese
* Bill Kurtis as Himself
* James Vincent Romano as Cary De Bartolo
* Suzanne Shepherd as Mary De Angelis
* Paul Schulze as Father Phil Intintola
* Maureen Van Zandt as Gabriella Dante
* Ed Vassalo as Tom Giglione
* Danielle Di Vecchio as Barbara Soprano Giglione
* Lenny Venito as Murmur

Episode recap

On a tip from Vito Spatafore, Paulie Gualtieri and a member of his crew, Cary De Bartolo, attempt to rob what they believe would be an empty apartment full of Colombian drug money. When the pair arrive, they find the apartment is not empty. After dispatching the superintendent and two drug dealers, they collect a big score after finding the money in the dishwasher. During his struggle with one of the drug dealers, Paulie is kicked hard in the groin, and later seeks medical attention to deal with the injury.

Back at the hospital, Christopher Moltisanti and Bobby Baccalieri confront A.J. about his attempt to purchase a gun. They tell him they would want to do the same thing, but that he cannot go after Junior. They assure him that Tony would not want him involved. A.J. reacts as though he feels they are talking down to him and treating him like a kid. He afterwards accuses Carmela of putting the two up to the talk, though she is unaware of what he is actually saying.

In Tony's dream, at his hotel room he receives a court summons from the Buddhist monks addressed to Kevin Finnerty, and he's beginning to question his actual identity. He seeks answers from the bartender as well as from the monks who initiated the summons, but does not get any answers.

Many are unhappy with Silvio Dante's performance as acting boss. He makes rulings on how Bobby and Vito are to split Eugene Pontecorvo's former revenue and on the cut to be given to Carmela on behalf of Tony from Paulie and Vito's score. None of the parties involved like his decisions. Paulie and Vito delay giving the money to Carmela, since they do not want to part with it in the event Tony does not recover. Vito, among others, openly questions what is to happen if Tony does not make it, and quietly starts a campaign to position himself as a potential new leader. With the pressures of being acting boss, Silvio's asthma begins to bother him (and by the end of the episode, he, too, will end up in a hospital).

Carmela later became livid when she and Tony's gang saw an A&E special hosted by Bill Kurtis which gave his own account of the Soprano shooting, including interpreting A.J.'s cursing at the media (from the previous episode) as a threat towards them. Carmela rushes home and drags A.J. out of bed, berating him for putting the entire affair on "national fucking television". Despite orders to allow only family to see Tony, Silvio and, later, Paulie are smuggled in by Carmela and Meadow. Silvio's reaction is quiet, standing at the doorway staring at his boss before walking over and clutching his hand. Paulie is more vocal in his reaction to Tony's condition, exclaiming, "he looks terrible" as he enters the room, notwithstanding Meadow's imploring him to stay positive. After being left alone with Tony as Meadow goes to meet Finn upon his arrival from California (but not before Vito attempted to seduce Finn), Paulie delivers a vulgarity-laden synopsis of his current state of affairs to his comatose leader, including the details of his injury and his big score. Tony's heart-rate escalates to the point he goes into cardiac arrest.

In Tony's dream, Paulie's voice appears as muffled sounds from an adjoining room at his hotel, which irritated Tony. Tony has found a flyer for the Finnerty family reunion in his briefcase, and on the telephone, he tries to ignore the sounds while he gets directions to the reunion, located near the beacon. When Tony arrives at the "Inn at the Oaks" for the reunion, a man who looks like his cousin Tony Blundetto is waiting for him and tells him everyone inside is expecting him. The man tries to get Tony to enter the light-festooned house, assuring him that "everyone's here" and that he is "coming home"; but he also tells Tony he must let go and leave his briefcase ("my whole life's in there", Tony replies) at the front steps of the house. With the figure of someone similar to his mother standing by the doorway in front of him, and the faint voice of a little girl coming from the trees behind him pleading with him not to go (in the hospital Meadow is calling to her father), Tony chooses not to enter the house. In the hospital, Tony wakes up from his coma to his family's tearful faces. His first words, after beckoning Carmela to come closer, are "I'm dead, right?"

Later, heavily sedated and still largely unable to talk, Tony sits in a chair at the foot of his bed and listens to Christopher tell him of his next attempt at the movie industry. Collaborating with J.T. Dolan (Christopher offers to let J.T. out of his debt if he'll help him write the script) and getting financial backing from Little Carmine and others, Christopher wants to make a low-budget digital film marrying the two genres of slasher and mob films, a cross between "Saw" and "The Godfather".

With Tony now conscious, Paulie and Vito decide they have to get their cuts to Carmela. In the hospital lobby, when they hand over the cash, Carmela is initially grateful. However, before the elevator doors close, she turns around in time to see their facial expressions turn sour. While she is perplexed for a few seconds, she eventually sees through the timing of their generosity.

First appearances

* Cary De Bartolo: An associate of Paulie Walnuts

Deceased

* Building Superintendent: shot by Colombian #1
* Colombian #1: shot by Cary De Bartolo and then shot by Paulie
* Colombian #2: shot by Cary De Bartolo and then stabbed by Paulie

Production

* Ray Abruzzo (Little Carmine) is now billed in the opening credits but only in the episodes in which he appears.

Title reference

* After Vito gave Paulie bad information about the stick-up job (saying the place was empty), Paulie does not want to give him his full cut of the money, saying that the job was "mayham", which is an apparent malapropism of the word "mayhem".
* The members of the Soprano crew jockeying for position and Silvio's ineffectual leadership results in mayhem.

Music

*The instrumental piece played over the end credits is "The Deadly Nightshade" by Daniel Lanois.
*Sheryl Crow's "The First Cut Is the Deepest" can be heard playing on Tony's stereo during his coma.
*A rendition of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is being played while Carmella is wetting Tony's lips.