Stage 5 (The Sopranos) Information & Stage 5 (The Sopranos) Links at HealthHaven.com

"Stage 5"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.	Season 6; Episode 14
Written by	Terence Winter
Directed by	Alan Taylor
Production no.	614
Original airdate	April 15, 2007 (HBO)
Guest stars
	see below
Season 6 episodes
	Part 1: March 12, 2006 – June 4, 2006
	"Members Only"; "Join the Club"; "Mayham"; "The Fleshy Part of the Thigh"; "Mr. & Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request"; "Live Free or Die"; "Luxury Lounge"; "Johnny Cakes"; "The Ride"; "Moe N' Joe"; "Cold Stones"; "Kaisha";
	Part 2: April 8, 2007 – June 10, 2007
	"Soprano Home Movies"; "Stage 5"; "Remember When"; "Chasing It"; "Walk Like a Man"; "Kennedy and Heidi"; "The Second Coming"; "The Blue Comet"; "Made in America";
	List of The Sopranos episodes

"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.

[edit] Episode recap

Christopher's Mafia-oriented slasher film Cleaver is completed, with Daniel Baldwin starring as the mob boss. At the Soprano 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 Humanitas Prize trophy. 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, which J.T. claimed resulted from a "bump". 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 has been 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.

[edit] Guest starring

Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
Daniel Baldwin as Himself/Sally Boy
John Bianco as Gerry Torciano
Denise Borino as Ginny Sacramoni
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
Matthew Weiner as Manny Safier
John Wu as Morgan Yam

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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 Kübler-Ross model Stage 5 is "acceptance."

Also, Stage 5 can be a reference to Christopher's film.

[edit] Production

HBO released a mockumentary "Behind the Scenes" look at Cleaver the week before the episode was released[1]. It featured in-character interviews with Christopher, Little Carmine, and director Morgan Yam.

Series writer Matthew Weiner appears for the second time in the series as mafia expert/author Manny Safier, this time on Geraldo Rivera's show.

[edit] Music

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.

[edit] 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 mistakenly explains to his daughter Alexandra that it represents "the sacred and the propane".
In Cleaver before he is 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.

[edit] External links

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