The Sopranos: 10 Greatest Ever Episodes

Like The Test Dream, the season two finale Funhouse also delves into Tony’s dreams, on this occasion coming amidst a severe case of food poisoning. One of the subplots of the second season centred on Tony’s growing suspicions about his long-time friend Pussy Bonpensiero. The audience knows that Big Pussy (that nickname never gets old) has been ratting his fellow wiseguys out to the FBI as an informant, but up to this point Tony had not followed it up. Until, that is, Pussy reveals the truth to Tony. In his dream. In the form of a dead fish.

Few other shows could get away with this as a key plot device. But in the world of The Sopranos, it works. Tony has clearly suspected the truth for a while, but doesn’t want to believe one of his closest buddies could be a rat, so he banishes the very idea to his subconscious while he deals with other business. Deep down however, he knows a man in his position cannot afford to shy away from the hard truths. Therefore he has to make a decision, leading to a wonderfully tense scene aboard Tony’s yacht, where Tony, Paulie and Silvio prepare to kill a man they’ve been through so much with.

Before Pussy is whacked, he manically tries to weasel out of what is coming to him, proposing outlandish situations to Tony where he could stay alive and everything all be OK. Eventually though, he accepts his fate - there’s a sad sense of inevitability about it all. As the fish imitating Pussy tells Tony in the dream sequence - “f**k of a way for it all to end”. Luckily for us, it wasn’t the end of the show, but Funhouse most certainly signalled the end of the good times for Tony and his crew. If the first two seasons represent the show’s first era, Funhouse was the moment where the series would take a darker turn, and the inevitability of death would become more and more clear.