It’s like how the classic saying goes

              “𝐋𝐨𝐮𝐢𝐬 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐢 𝐬𝐥𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐬.”


 After some distasteful seafood, Tony, gets food poisoning. In a haze of bass and shitting out the ass, Tony has cryptic dreams of a boardwalk on a snowy morning. 

  𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝟏:
  Tony spots his “family” sitting on a bench over-looking the shore. Chris, Paulie, Silvio, Hesh, Spoons and who could forget Big Puss who’s silently gazing at the sea. Over the sound of squeaky wood panels they discuss the mysterious arrival of an unknown guest. There’s also mentions of a secret diagnoses that has put Tony’s life on the clock. Ticking down day after day, but instead he’s gonna cut to the chase and light himself ablaze. Spoons turns his head, blood gushing out his brain. Tony douses himself in gasoline and ignites the flame.

 A sudden gasp for air, he wakes up. We expect his eyes to slowly shut once more but instead he blurts out testimony of death. Wishing a suicidal path, he’s never felt this much pain. Or maybe he’s just recognizing it for the first time. “𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐚 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠.” He says. These words have echoed through the empty chambers of the Soprano households for years now. Livia repeats these same words to AJ in 𝐃-𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 [2x7]. Almost awakened to an existential crisis but before that he realizes his stomach is distraught and runs to the toilet. Throwing up last nights dinner and hopefully those bad thoughts as well.

 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝟐:
 Tony drifts off onto the splintered floorboards once more. Still squeaking and clicking as usual. He spots Junior eyeing him down in an abandoned building, it’s old and deteriorating just like him. He’s got a menacing scowl frozen on his face. Switching directions from that we are suddenly transported outside a Fortune tellers shack. Tony’s moving but going nowhere. Silvio pans into frame. Dressed like Michael Corleone in 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐝𝐟𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝟑. He cautions him “𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐲𝐞𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟.” He tells Tony. He laughs this off, it’s the funny line Silvio always repeats to the crew, nothing more… Across from him is a old fashioned Nickelodeon (yes that’s what they’re called) he peeps inside to see a complete change of scenery. A large liminal space with just a table and 2 chairs. Occupying those chairs are Paulie and himself. They’re playing cards having a good ol’ time. The game abruptly ends though when Tony pulls out a gun and shoots Paulie off his seat. Now personally I find this sequence to be massively overlooked in the grand scheme of the show.

 *𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐞* We just saw Silvio give Tony and warning of a potential hidden danger. A rat. You’d think we’d Segway into a scene of Pussy, yet we get one with Paulie instead? Now I can’t say it all here but whenever we get to the series finale I have many theories on Paulie possibly being the final perpetrator that killed Tony. Or at least had a big hand in the assassination, but I digress. *𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫*

  𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝟑:
  Tony briefly wakes up just to fall back asleep. In this fever dream we see a different setting, Melfi’s office. At first it’s disguised as reality. He’s discussing the previous dream about killing Paulie. Tony describes having extreme anger in that moment of firing the gun with no explanation. But before we can find the truth of that action we hear the creaking of the floorboards. He still dreaming. It’s at this moment Melfi morphs into Annalisa from Italy. The woman he never slept with. Melfi’s voice remains trapped in her body. She tells him he’s his own biggest issue. The combination of Melfi and Annalisa represents that built up lust Tony has never fulfilled. Although he craves it like a dog. Immediately, he wakes up and vomits some more. 

  𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝟒:
  Not much to say about this one. It’s played for shits and giggles. Tony sits in a clown car with Ade and Chrissy. He asks where Pussy is but gets no response. Then Furio pops up because he’s the GOAT.

Artie checks in on Tony after hearing about the illness. Pretending to be their out of concern when he’s actually only there to confirm his perfect cooking wasn’t the cause.

 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝟓:
 Falling asleep on the toilet, Tony, has a rather exotic dream that carries on the previous Melfi fantasy. He walks into the office with a big ass erection. Funnily enough, Tony recognizes he’s dreaming this time and takes advantage of his control. He dreams that Melfi is attracted to him and they have sex. Yeah that’s about it.

 𝐃𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝟔:
 The 6th and final dream is the most prevalent. Tony finds himself wandering the desolate boardwalk again. Stumbling upon a concession stand of big fish. One of the fish in question starts to talk to him. He had the voice of Pussy. Tony acknowledges Pussy existence in the fish and denies its claims of having been working with the government. It’s his subconscious calling out. These dreams have brought him through a twisted and nauseating road. Only to leave off here. With the fishes. Tony will have dreams later on in the series that bring him to different conclusions as well.

 Putting an end to all the feverish commotion swimming around in his head, Tony immediately gets up and calls Sil and Paulie for backup. It doesn’t matter that he’s sick. He can stomach (literally) the thought of that rat fuck walking free anymore. So he heads out. They stop at Puss’s house to pick him up. Telling Puss he needs him to head out and give his opinion on a new boat he just bought. Hesitantly he agrees. Tony asks to use the restroom and while he up there he check his room for information. Finally discovering a cigar box with a hidden compartment. It holds a wire. Now his dark twisted fantasy has been proven.

 Already waiting, Paulie, sits on the boat as the men arrive. They set off into the coast. Pussy never left the ocean after this. They head down to the lounge room below. It’s rocking back and forth. Pussy acts innocent, turning on the radio and grabbing a drink. Tony’s dead eyes rest on him. Now he sees the true intentions of their odyssey out to sea. He starts to stutter. Tony asks when the FBI flipped him. It’s genuinely hard to watch as he fumbles his sentences and tries to keep a straight face. Finally Pussy admits in an attempt to backtrack and play a different route. Selling the proposal that he was spewing fake information to the FBI the whole time. Now all Tony can think about is how long has this been occurring. Since 1995 when him and Puss walked down that boardwalk he so vividly visited in his dreams? How long has their friendship been a ploy? It’s tough for all of them. Sil, Paulie, Tony. They’ve known him since childhood. Well maybe not Paulie cuz he’s old asf. Regardless, it’s tragic to see a friendship wasted like this. Pussy excepts his fate. The image of a swaying boat and pussy’s confession. It’s like a visual representation of what was going on in Tony’s stomach earlier. A sloshing mess of bad feelings. They all take a final drink together and Puss tells them a story of a broad he met in Puerto Rico. They all share a laugh. It seems genuine. Then, reality sets back into place. Tony asks if she ever really exists. His final moments with a childhood friend spent doubting all that has led them to this point. Pussy asks if he can sit down as it all becomes to real but before he can he hits the floor. His body’s dumped into the ocean. Destined to sink to rock bottom.

 On returning home he already takes out his anger on Carmela. Then he visits Melfi. Luckily for the audience we don’t have to see them fuck again. She tells him that his mother has inflicted serious trauma upon him. All he can do is act like a little schoolgirl. Switching the topic to his wet dreams in hopes of turning her on. It’s much easier to cower from his mother than to face her.

 The last scene shows Meadows high school graduation party. Everyone is spreading love and hanging out. It’s a parallel to the family get-together in 𝐃-𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥. Except this time Pussy sleeps with the fishes. In the midst of his families Tony smokes his cigar like Gary Cooper and blows smoke into our faces. Cross fading into an image of the waves crashing against the shoreline rocks. Where Pussy remains.

Specials

Season 1