Synopsis
Nearly two years have passed. Janice Soprano is raising a new daughter with Bobby Baccalieri, who has taken up model railroading as a hobby. Meadow Soprano continues her relationship with Finn DeTrolio. A.J. Soprano is now attending college. Adriana La Cerva is remembered by a worrying Carmela Soprano. Vito Spatafore is thinner and is now a spokesperson for a weight loss company; he is Tony Soprano's best earner and is ambitious. Phil Leotardo, now the acting boss of the Lupertazzi crime family, is taking care of business for the imprisoned Johnny Sack.
In Brooklyn, Hesh Rabkin and his son-in-law Eli Kaplan are assaulted by Lupertazzi associates. Trying to escape, Eli is knocked down by a hit-and-run driver and seriously injured. At Hesh's request, Tony tries to reach out directly to Johnny through his optometrist brother-in-law, Anthony Infante, but Johnny is only paying attention to his immediate family's financial troubles. Tony, Vito and Christopher, now a capo in the Soprano family, meet with Phil and Gerry "The Hairdo" Torciano. Disputes between Tony and Phil are resolved, and it is explained that the New York associates were protecting Gerry's area and did not know Eli was associated with the Sopranos; they agree to pay Eli $50,000 as compensation.
Carmela's construction of her spec house is suspended due to a "stop order" issued by a building inspector because improper lumber has been used. Her father, Hugh De Angelis, thinks an inspector he used to know would waive the requirement, but his contact has retired. Carmela repeatedly asks Tony to see if he can get the stop order lifted, but he keeps putting it off.
Eugene Pontecorvo inherits $2 million and desires to retire with his family to Florida. Bearing gifts, he goes to Tony to ask permission. Tony reminds Eugene that he took an oath. Later, Eugene gives him a cut of the inheritance. At Chris' behest, he then kills a debtor; in return, Chris says, "I'll put in a good word to T about the Florida thing." Tony's decision is relayed through Silvio: "Your Florida thing. That's a no-go." Eugene is also an informant for the FBI and has become more valuable to the Bureau since the death of Ray Curto; they, too, refuse to let him leave New Jersey. With his wife bitter and his son using heroin, Eugene hangs himself.
Uncle Junior's mind is deteriorating. Tony helps him look for some money he thinks he buried in his backyard thirty years previously, but they find nothing. Both Dr. Melfi and Janice suggest a retirement home or assisted living for him, but Tony forcefully refuses. One afternoon, Junior is particularly agitated, and Tony goes to his house because no one else is free to look after him. While Tony is cooking dinner, Junior, thinking he is a long-dead mobster, shoots him in the stomach. While Junior cowers in a closet upstairs, Tony manages to dial 911 before passing out.
Reception
On its premiere date, "Members Only" had about 9.5 million viewers leading all of cable television and third highest among all television programs on March 12, 2006. [3]
"Members Only" was widely praised. Television Without Pity graded the episode with an A+. [4] : 1 Its review found irony in Christopher Moltisanti mocking Phil's eyebrows. [4] : 5 For the San Francisco Chronicle, Tim Goodman called the first four episodes of season six "a magnificent bonfire of assured creativity". [5]
Entertainment Weekly had an A- grade, with Gillian Flynn praising the episode for "quick glimpses of unease and loneliness", as opposed to violent scenes that "lost their original shock value". [6] The New York Times praised the episode for sticking with themes that made the show appealing, wrote Alessandra Stanley: "Big psychological themes are seamlessly woven into banal details that are comic until they suddenly turn and explode into brutish acts of violence." [7] Los Angeles Times critic Paul Brownfield speculated that this season would focus on Tony's "inner and outer worlds" and praised this episode as "the best work from Gandolfini and the equally formidable Falco". [8] Alan Sepinwall of The Star-Ledger had a more mixed review, calling the scene of Tony being shot "stupid" and "pathetic" but adding: "...Tony's past is catching up to him in dangerous ways." [9]
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