The Test Dream

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"The Test Dream"
The Sopranos episode
Tony in his dream
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 63
Written by	David Chase Matthew Weiner
Directed by	Allen Coulter
Production no.	511
Original airdate	May 16, 2004 (2004-05-16)
Guest stars
see below
Episode chronology ← Previous Next → "Cold Cuts" "Long Term Parking"

"The Test Dream" is the sixty-third episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos. It is the eleventh episode of the show's fifth season. It was written by series creator/executive producer David Chase, and supervising producer Matthew Weiner, and was directed by longtime series director Allen Coulter. It originally aired in the United States on May 16, 2004. This episode is unique in that it features a twenty minute dream sequence, alluded to in the title.

Guest starring roles

Plot synopsis

Tony's girlfriend Valentina catches the sleeve of her kimono on fire while making some eggs for Tony. After Tony spends time with her in the hospital (with a delirious Valentina thinking he was a surgeon), he drops in on Tony B. Although Tony senses something is wrong with his cousin, he does not know that Tony B. had just learned about the murder of his jailhouse friend, Angelo Garepe.

Angelo had picked up a toy at Costco for his grandchild and was returning home with it when Phil and Billy Leotardo stopped him, threw him in the trunk of Phil's car, wrapped him in plastic and shot him in the head. After Tony checks himself into the Plaza Hotel in New York City, he hears about the murder from Silvio and tries to call Tony B. His cousin does not answer his phone and appears to be on the way to avenge the murder of his friend.

That evening Tony calls Charmaine Bucco in the mistaken belief that she would be interested in having sex with him. However, he has second thoughts as soon as she answers and she hangs up after asking the anonymous caller to stop calling suggesting that Tony has been lusting after and calling her more than once. After ordering a call girl instead, Tony goes to sleep and has a dream lasting roughly a third of the episode involving people who have made an impact on his life. This dream is the most vivid and detailed dream yet, full of ideas and imagery, with characters both living and dead. In the beginning of the dream, he is waking up next to the recently deceased Carmine Lupertazzi who tells Tony how lonely he is; Tony then receives a phone call and is told by the voice that he needs to whack somebody (the voice is the show's creator/writer David Chase.) ^[1]. Next, Tony is sitting in Dr. Melfi's office, but instead of Dr. Melfi, he was counseled by his ex-comàre Gloria Trillo, who committed suicide by hanging when Tony broke up with her. She then points to a television screen and says, "Are you ready for what you have to do?" Tony then finds himself riding in the backseat of his father's old Cadillac, being driven by his deceased father Johnny Boy Soprano; also in the car were several deceased characters who have either died by his hand or on his orders, including Big Pussy Bonpensiero, Ralph Cifaretto, and Mikey Palmice. Johnny Boy asks Tony if he wants to ride upfront, to which Tony replies, "No thanks, dad; I'm fine." Johnny turns to Big Pussy, who is sitting next to him, and says, "Kid gets carsick in the backseat." Pussy then turns and briefly looks at Tony. When Tony looks at Mikey and tells him he knows he's dreaming, Mikey replies, "I got no opinion. One way or the other." This is an ironic response because in life Mikey always had an opinion on something. Mikey briefly turns into Artie Bucco who simply looks at Tony and asks, "What?". When Tony asks where they are going, Pussy has now turned into Ralphie who turns around and says, "We're driving you to the job", as they pull up to Tony's house.

The next segment of his dream involves him and Carmela having dinner with Finn's parents at Nuovo Vesuvio. Finn's father is actually Detective Vin Makazian, who committed suicide in season 1, but seems to be posing as Finn's father in the dream. Annette Bening plays herself in the dream but is obviously supposed to be Finn's mother. Tony even points out the fact that she is Annette Bening. Vin, mentioning that he was in a glee club, then sung Three Times a Lady to his "wife". During the course of the dinner, Tony's teeth fell out spontaneously. Afterwards, Tony and Vin go to the restroom. When Tony enters the bathroom stall he reaches behind the vintage style toilet (looking for a gun), referencing the scene in the film The Godfather when Michael does a hit on Sollozzo and McCluskey. Vin asks Tony "Are you gonna be able to come through on the thing?," meaning taking out his cousin, Tony Blundetto. Tony replies "I've done my homework," reaches into his pocket, and takes out a copy of The Valachi Papers. Then, Tony hears shots firing outside and sees Tony B. shooting down Phil Leotardo. Civilian bystanders shout "Why didn't you stop him?" Tony begins running from a mob of angry people, including Annette Bening (who was blatantly identified by Gloria Trillo, now apparently a reporter) and Carmela; some of the mob carrying torches, a la "Frankenstein". Tony begins running away, and a man resembling Lee Harvey Oswald can be seen shooting at him - referencing Tony's immense interest in history and admiration for JFK. Tony runs in an alley where Artie Bucco shows up, and he and Tony escape together in a car. Tony looks in the backseat and sees the deceased Richie Aprile and Gigi Cestone, two former Aprile Crew capos who had met their demise shortly after taking control of the "cursed" crew, sitting side by side. Tony is then having wild sex with Artie's wife Charmaine Bucco, who is dressed in heels, black silk stockings and lingerie, while Artie oddly coaches him along; it is another ironic symbol in the dream because she and Tony slept together in real life back in high school while Tony was still dating Carmela. Tony then appears in his living room mounted on top of Pie-O-My the ill-fated racehorse possibly killed by Ralphie. He asks Carmela if he can move back in. Carmela replies by repeating her line from when A.J. asked to move back home: "First, there are some non-negotiable conditions." In this case, the horse can no longer stay in the house since Tony never cleans up after it.

Several of the characters in his dream eventually make it clear that Tony's job was to kill his cousin to prevent Tony B. from starting a war between Tony's family and Johnny Sack's crew. Tony's last encounter in his dream is from his former football coach, Coach Molinaro. The coach criticizes Tony, pointing out how Tony had all the prerequisites to lead men. When Tony tries to kill Molinaro his gun malfunctions and the coach continues to taunt him about not being prepared until Tony awakens.

Tony receives a visit from Christopher shortly after he wakes up, who informs him that Tony B. indeed went after the Leotardo brothers. He killed Billy and wounded Phil.

Tony calls Carmela and talks to her while waiting for the sun to rise. They joke with each other and Tony tells her he had "one of his Coach Molinaro dreams." Carmela guesses that the coach gave him his usual advice.

Deceased

• Angelo Garepe: murdered by Phil and Billy Leotardo
• Billy Leotardo: murdered by Tony Blundetto in revenge for the death of Angelo Garepe

Title reference

• David Chase explained that the title refers to the dreams where an individual turns up late for a test in school and is wearing no clothing, meaning that the person is unprepared for a test or another task they have to face.^[2]

Production

• The voice on the end of the phone in the dream sequence is that of David Chase.
• The deceased characters who appear in Tony's dream are: Carmine Lupertazzi, Johnny Boy Soprano, Big Pussy Bonpensiero, Richie Aprile, Ralph Cifaretto, Mikey Palmice, Detective Vin Makazian (posing as Finn's father), Gigi Cestone, Gloria Trillo and Pie-O-My.
• Actress Annette Bening also features in the dream as Finn's mother (but playing herself). Tony notices this and even asks her about it.
• The book that Tony finds in the men's bathroom during his dream is The Valachi Papers, written by Peter Maas; it is the famous book based on the testimony of the first major informant within the Mafia and first person to confirm the existence of Cosa Nostra. It is seen again when Tony states he's done his homework.

References to past episodes

• Tony previously dreamt about being in his father's Cadillac (including the blurry background) in a Season 4 episode, Calling All Cars.

References to other media

• Tony reaching behind the toilet and the later reference to the "piece" is a reference to a similar scene with Michael Corleone in The Godfather.
• Annette Bening speaks the line "I don't want my husband coming out of there with just his cock in his hand," referring to an almost-identical line spoken by Sonny Corleone in The Godfather.
• Lee Harvey Oswald shoots at Tony from an apartment building window when he is running from the mob. This is in keeping with his Kennedy obsession.
• Annette Bening also speaks the line "there's something Bugsy about him" in reference to Tony. This is a reference to Bugsy Siegel who was portrayed by Bening's husband Warren Beatty in the film Bugsy, in which she also co-starred.
• When Tony Blundetto shoots Phil Leotardo in Tony Soprano's dream, he exits the car in the same fashion as Sonny Corleone, during the famous shooting scene in The Godfather. He is also wearing the same sort of suit.
• Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) shoots Angelo Garepe in the trunk of a car, which is similar to his own demise as Billy Batts in Goodfellas.
• A scene from the movie Chinatown is showing on the TV in the kitchen when Carmela tells Tony they are late to meet Finn's parents. It is then replaced by the movie Scrooge.
• As Tony and Carmela enter Vesuvio to meet "Finn's parents" in Tony's dream, the climactic scene of High Noon is playing on the restaurant's TV. The film stars Gary Cooper, an actor to whom Tony repeatedly refers to as an example of the "strong, silent type" that he believes is lacking in today's psychotherapy-driven society.
• Tony's preparation for completing the "task" of killing his cousin Tony B. was reading The Valachi Papers, a novel later adapted into film about an FBI informant in the '60s. He shows John Heard's character that he's studied up on it when they're in the bathroom.

Music

• The song played over the end credits is Three Times a Lady by the Commodores. The same song was sung earlier, a cappella, by Vin, during the dinner portion of Tony's dream.

References

1. ^ NJ.com: The stuff that Tony's dreams are made of
2. ^ NJ.com: The stuff that Tony's dreams are made of