Stage 5 (The Sopranos episode)

Infobox Television episode | Title = Stage 5
Series = The Sopranos
Season = 6
Episode = 14
Guests= "see below"
Airdate = April 15, 2007 (HBO)
Production = 614
Writer = Terence Winter
Director = Alan Taylor
Episode list = Episode chronology


Episode list = List of "The Sopranos" episodes
Season list = Infobox The Sopranos season six
Prev = Soprano Home Movies
Next = Remember When"Stage 5" is the seventy-ninth episode of the HBO television series "The Sopranos". It is the second episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, the fourteenth episode of the season overall. It was written by Terence Winter, directed by Alan Taylor and originally aired on Sunday April 15, 2007.

Episode recap

Christopher's Mafia-oriented slasher film "Cleaver" is completed, with Daniel Baldwin starring as the mob boss. At the Sopranos dinner table, Carmela states that the film's premiere and subsequent after-party will take place in the fashionable Meatpacking District of Manhattan. Meadow mentions her breakup with her fiancé Finn, but no details are mentioned. Meanwhile there is tension between A.J. and his new girlfriend Blanca but no further details are given about that either.

Tony is alarmed when Agents Harris and Goddard surprise him while he is getting the morning paper in his driveway, but they simply indicate that Tony's work may expose him to information relating to terrorists and ask that he relate this information to them, as they now work on the Terrorism Task Force for the FBI. Tony tersely refuses and retreats back indoors.

In the film "Cleaver", the mob boss meets his crew in his basement wearing a white robe and a vulgar attitude, much like Tony. At the after party, Tony congratulates Christopher on his film while playfully noting the similarities to himself. The tension between A.J. and Blanca continues and Larry Boy Barese is arrested by federal marshals for violating his house arrest.

Carmela sees other similarities between Baldwin's character and Tony. Carmela is upset because the mob boss makes romantic advances on his subordinate's fiancée, which Carmela equates to Adriana La Cerva (as suspected in the episode "Irregular Around the Margins"). The film ends with the boss dying at the hands of his subordinate, leading Carmela to believe it is Christopher's "revenge fantasy". Christopher speaks to his latest Alcoholics Anonymous sponsor, Eddie Dunne, and says that he no longer feels comfortable at the Bada Bing because Tony and his friends are too dismissive of his substance abuse problems.

Carmela confronts Christopher about the film and states her disappointment in him. Christopher is worried so he asks "Cleaver"'s writer J.T. Dolan to claim that was his idea, despite the fact that Dolan was not listed in the credits to the movie. When J.T. refuses, Christopher hits him over the head with a writing award. J.T. then visits the Bada Bing and claims to Tony that he stole the boss character, and the love triangle, from the film "Born Yesterday". Tony notices the bruise on J.T.'s head. Tony then watches the film but remains unconvinced of Dolan's claims. Tony confesses to Dr. Melfi that he wonders if Christopher wants him to die. He tearfully recalls being a father figure to Christopher just as Christopher's late father, Dickie was to Tony. Tony emotionally admits that he loves Christopher as if he were his own son.

Johnny Sack was transferred to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri, where he is dying of lung cancer, and befriends a doctor, Warren Feldman (played by Sydney Pollack), who is a convicted murderer and is serving as a prison orderly. John eventually dies with his family at his bedside. It appears that none of the New York associates desire to be his successor; Phil Leotardo is now weary of remaining boss after his heart attack. Gerry Torciano, Phil's protégé, was willing to take over as boss until he is killed while having dinner with Silvio. Tony believes the killing was ordered by Faustino "Doc" Santoro, New York's aspiring boss. On the day that would have been his late brother Billy's 47th birthday, Phil expresses bitterness over having never taking vengeance for past injuries —- although it is not yet clear whether he seeks payback for the deaths of Billy, Gerry, or both. Phil is seen to have hung up framed pictures of the late Billy Leotardo, Johnny Sack, and Carmine Lupertazzi in the New York family's bar hangout.

The tension between Tony and Christopher remains unspoken even as they embrace after Tony becomes godfather to Chris's child, Caitlin, at her baptism.

Guest starring

* Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
* Daniel Baldwin as Himself/Sally Boy
* John Bianco as Gerry Torciano
* Denise Borino as Ginny Sacimoni
* Cara Buono as Kelli Moltisanti
* John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia as Albie Cianflone
* Dan Conte as Faustino "Doc" Santoro
* Miryam Coppersmith as Sophia Baccalieri
* Tim Daly as J.T. Dolan
* Tony Darrow as Lawrence "Larry Boy" Barese
* Ariana DiLorenzo as Alexandra Lupertazzi
* Allison Dunbar as Nicole Lupertazzi
* Kobi and Kadin George as Hector Selgado
* Maria Iadonisi as Larry Barese's Wife
* Michael Kelly as Agent Ron Goddard
* Jonathan LaPaglia as Cleaver
* Marianne Leone as Joanne Moltisanti
* Geraldine LiBrandi as Patty Leotardo
* Lenny Ligotti as Nicky
* Anna Mancini as Donna Parisi
* Lou Martini, Jr. as Anthony Infante
* Angelo Massagli as Bobby Baccalieri, Jr.
* Christopher McDonald as Eddie Dunne
* Christina Milion as Catherine Sacramoni
* Arthur J. Nascarella as Carlo Gervasi
* George Pogatsia as Frankie
* Sydney Pollack as Warren Feldman
* Susan Porro as J.T. Dolan's Girlfriend
* Dania Ramirez as Blanca Selgado
* Anthony J. Ribustello as Dante Greco
* Geraldo Rivera as Himself
* Sam Semenza as Carmine Lupertazzi III
* Matt Servitto as Agent Dwight Harris
* Caitlin Van Zandt as Allegra Marie Sacramoni
* Maureen Van Zandt as Gabriella Dante
* John Wu as Morgan Yam

Deceased

* John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni: Dies of cancer in prison.
* Gerardo "Gerry" Torciano: Shot dead in a restaurant on the orders of Faustino "Doc" Santoro.

Title reference

* After being told his cancer has advanced to stage 4, Johnny Sack realizes there is no stage 5.

* In a double meaning, the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Stage 5 is "acceptance." Also, Stage 5 can be a reference to Christopher's film.

Production

* HBO released a mockumentary "Behind the Scenes" look at "Cleaver" the week before the episode was released [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWZehc-K2O4] . It featured in-character interviews with Christopher, Little Carmine, and director Morgan Yam.

Music

* The song/poem played at the end of the episode and over the credits is "Evidently Chickentown" by John Cooper Clarke.

References to prior episodes

* In the climatic scene in "Cleaver," just before Sally Boy is killed by Michael, there is a detailed camera shot of a car's windshield in the garage where the murder scene takes place. Hanging on the rear-view mirror is the same key chain that Furio brought back from Italy for A.J. in the episode "The Strong, Silent Type" of Season 4. Little Carmine explains to his daughter Alexandra that it represents "the sacred and the propane".
* In "Cleaver" before he's murdered, Sally Boy sleeps with his underling's fiancee, whom Carmela thinks is based on Adriana; Sally Boy's name recalls Mustang Sally, who was sleeping with a friend of Adriana before he was murdered in "Another Toothpick", an episode also written by Terence Winter.
* Phil Leotardo honors his late brother Billy's 47th birthday; in the previous episode, "Soprano Home Movies", Tony celebrated his 47th birthday.
* Reference to the earlier episode, "Cold Stones": when Phil asks the children who Leonardo Da Vinci was, one answers "he wrote "The Da Vinci Code". This brings a rebuke from Mrs. Leotardo that it's sacrilegious. It's not clear if she's a member of Opus Dei, which is vilified in the book, but in an episode describing Carmine Sr.'s funeral, it was discovered that Ginny Sack was a member of Opus Dei.

External links

* [http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/ HBO.com — "The Sopranos" official website]
*imdb title|0141842|The Sopranos
*imdb title|0979771|"Stage 5"
* [http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/Shows/The-Sopranos?strSeason=all&strSortCoulmn=airdate_asc&ShowName=The+Sopranos&vgnextoid=4c88ef12f85b2110VgnVCM1000006dc1d240RCRD Television Without Pity — "The Sopranos" recaps]
* [http://www.the-sopranos.com/ "The Sopranos" — Family Values]