Do Not Resuscitate (''The Sopranos'')

"Do Not Resuscitate"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 2
Directed by Martin Bruestle
Written by Robin Green
Mitchell Burgess
Frank Renzulli
Cinematography by Phil Abraham
Production code 202
Original air date January 23, 2000
Running time 50 minutes
Guest appearance(s)

see below

"Do Not Resuscitate" is the 15th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the second of the show's second season. Written by Robin Green, Mitchell Burgess, and Frank Renzulli, and directed by Martin Bruestle, it originally aired on January 23, 2000.

Starring

* = credit only

Guest starring

Episode recap

Tony visits Junior in jail, upset that he hasn't been put on the visitors' list in three weeks. Junior tries in vain to convince Tony that Livia had nothing to do with the hit on his life. Tony meets with Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri, Junior's highest-ranking soldier, and tells him that Junior will still hold the title of boss and "earn" on a "subsistence level" via his shylock businesses and the pipe fitters' union; Tony will take everything else.

The following day, Junior's lawyer, Harold Melvoin, gets him out of jail after convincing the judge that Junior has a recurring medical issue. The judge puts Junior under house arrest with an ankle monitor, and he is only allowed leave the house for essential errands. During a doctor's appointment at which Tony is present, Junior says that the owner of Livia's nursing home, Freddie Capuano, has been gossiping about Tony, Livia, and Junior. Tony makes sure Capuano disappears, and shortly thereafter, a state trooper finds his abandoned Cadillac and toupée near the Passaic River.

It is revealed that Pussy is indeed an FBI informant, despite having been cleared of suspicion by Tony and his crew. Now that Jimmy Altieri has turned up dead, Pussy's FBI handler, Skip Lipari, wants him to step up and "stop being Tony's errand boy." Pussy tries to convince Skip that he wants to help the government, but provides Lipari with mostly false information. When Tony learns that Jack Massarone's construction company is facing a labor strike and subsequent anti-union protests, Jack accepts Tony's offer to quash the dissent. Tony later visits Reverend James, Jr., who helped him arrange the protest so that the Soprano crew could extort Massarone.

Janice continues to visit Livia in the hospital. When Janice asks Meadow what brings Livia joy, she replies that Livia enjoys old recordings of The DeCastro Sisters and Mario Lanza. Janice plays their music for Livia, who becomes very emotional and bonds with her daughter for the first time in years. After Livia chokes on a cookie, a nurse asks Janice whether Livia should be resuscitated if she enters a coma. Tony advises Janice to do whatever she wants, believing that she and Livia deserve each other. Livia is shocked that her children are discussing this behind her back and confronts Janice.

Livia calls Carmela to tell her that she will leave her remaining wealth to her grandchildren. Carmela warns her never to call the house again and hangs up on her mid-sentence. That same evening, Junior slips in the shower while shaving and believes that he has fractured something. Tony rushes over to help Bobby tend to him. When he suggests they call an ambulance, Junior objects and begs Tony not to let him die with such guilt over him. Junior also urges Tony to make peace with his mother. Tony then picks up his uncle in his arms and drives him to the emergency room.

First appearances

Deceased

  • Frederick 'Freddie' Capuano: Director of Green Grove Retirement Community, presumed murdered by the DiMeo crime family for talking about Mafia business and about Tony's attempt to kill his mother, though his body is never shown on screen
  • Reverend Herman James, Sr.: dies of natural causes due to old age (he was 83)

Title reference

  • The episode's title is a common medical clause known as Do Not Resuscitate or DNR. Janice and Tony talk about signing a DNR for Livia.

Production

  • Although this was the second episode of Season 2 to air, it was the third to be produced.

References to other media

  • When Livia watches a cooking show with Emeril Lagasse on TV, her appalled reaction is: "He's not even washing his hands!" From 2000 onward, Emeril was cautious to wash his hands while cooking on Emeril Live, in hopes, he said, "the lady from The Sopranos doesn't bug me".
  • After Livia finds out about Janice's plans regarding the DNR (and that Janice will be moving in with her), she confronts her daughter, saying: "I've seen that movie with Richard Widmark." This is most likely a reference to the film Kiss of Death (1947), in which Widmark's character (a gleefully psychotic killer) pushes a wheelchair-using elderly woman down a flight of stairs to her death.[1] This is reinforced by the fact that during this scene, Janice briefly hallucinates an image of Livia falling down the stairs on an "In case of fire use stairs" sign on the hospital wall. It may alternatively be seen as a reference to the 1978 film Coma, also starring Widmark.[2]

Music

  • The song playing as Janice drives home from the hospital while smoking marijuana was "Mother and Child Reunion," by Paul Simon.
  • The song playing when Janice reconciles with Livia in the hospital is "Non ti scordar di me," sung by tenor Luciano Pavarotti.
  • The song played over the end credits is "Goodnight, My Love" by Ella Fitzgerald.

References

  1. ↑ Zoller-Seitz, Matt (2000-01-28). "Star-Ledger Sopranos Archive: She's the devil in disguise". Star-Ledger. Newark. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  2. ↑ "Coma (1978) - Connections". IMDB. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
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