From Where to Eternity

"From Where to Eternity"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no. Season 2
Episode 9
Directed by Henry J. Bronchtein
Written by Michael Imperioli
Cinematography by Phil Abraham
Production code 208
Original air date March 12, 2000
Running time 55 minutes
Guest actors

see below

"From Where to Eternity" is the twenty-second episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the ninth of the show's second season. It was written by Michael Imperioli, directed by Henry J. Bronchtein and originally aired on March 12, 2000.

Starring

* = credit only

Guest starring

Also guest starring

Episode recap

With friends and family by his side, Christopher Moltisanti clings to life in a hospital ICU. During the night, his heart stops and the doctors attempt to resuscitate him. He is pronounced clinically dead for over a minute, but the doctors manage to revive him. Fearing for his life, Carmela Soprano finds an empty hospital room and admits to Jesus that the members of the family have entered their occupations with eyes open but prays that Christopher will recover and "see the light." When he is conscious, he asks to see Paulie Walnuts and Tony Soprano and tells them of a trip he made to hell, where he saw Brendan Filone and Mikey Palmice in an Irish bar playing dice and celebrating St. Patrick's Day every day and that they had a message for Tony and Paulie: "Three o'clock."

Tony dismisses Christopher's story, but Paulie becomes obsessed with the message. Eventually, Paulie consoles Christopher with the idea that what he saw was purgatory, instead of hell. Paulie is awakened nightly at 3:00 a.m. with nightmares that wake his girlfriend's children. At the suggestion of his girlfriend, he eventually seeks the help of a psychic, using the pseudonym Ted Hughes. The psychic claims to see the spirits of the men Paulie killed following him. Believing his donations to a church should have prevented him from being haunted, Paulie takes out his frustration on a chain-smoking priest, telling him he feels that the Church has forsaken him and that he won't be giving any more donations.

Meanwhile, Carmela learns from Gabriella Dante that a DiMeo crime family associate, Ralphie Rotaldo, just had an illegitimate child with his longtime Brazilian comàre. Carmela tells Tony this and asks that he have a vasectomy so that he will not bring shame to the family by potentially having an illegitimate child, since she knows that he still sees women on the side. Tony tries to shake off the accusation by saying he allegedly broke up with his girlfriend months ago. Carmela then reminds him of the shame that a "bastard-child" would do to the family. Tony does not feel like listening, which causes Carmela to take a pillow from the bed and sleep downstairs. Adding to Carmela's frustration is the fact that Tony lied to her about Christopher's trip to the afterlife, telling her that Christopher had been in heaven while Christopher admitted to her to being in hell. Another problem arises when Tony criticizes his son A.J., for overeating after A.J. accidentally breaks a dish of food on the floor. In front of A.J., Tony confronts Carmela about her wish for Tony to have a vasectomy when A.J. is his "only male heir", A.J. is very hurt by Tony's comment while Carmela says that Tony didn't mean it. Soon after, Tony apologizes to and makes amends with A.J. by sharing pizza and cokes. Tony agrees to have his vasectomy if Carmela still wants it. Carmela says she has changed her mind because she might want a third child with Meadow soon going off to college and she wants him to be faithful.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero is afraid that Tony knows he has been working with the FBI, so at the advice of his FBI contact, Pussy tries to "make Tony love him again." Pussy tries to regain his trust by hunting down Matthew Bevilaqua, who was responsible for Christopher's shooting. When he gets the information as to his whereabouts — Hacklebarney State Park in Chester Township, New Jersey near a house that George Washington purportedly slept in during the American Revolution — Pussy calls Tony and the two execute Matt after questioning him about the attack on Christopher, riddling his body with bullets after he finished drinking a diet soda.

After the killing, the two go to an Irish steakhouse, notably, in Tony's implied defiance of the Irish-bar image in Chris's near-death vision above. It's also where Pussy first took Tony after he had committed his first murder. They tell jokes and reminisce, noting how long it has been since they first started working together. Tony asks Pussy if he believes in God, to which he responds that he does, and that God has been very generous to him. Tony agrees, and the two toast.

First appearance

Deceased

Title reference

The episode's title is a play on 1953 film From Here to Eternity. It refers to Christopher's having a trip to the afterlife and not knowing whether it was purgatory or hell.

Production

Cultural references

Music

External links

References

  1. ↑ "Henry Bronctein - Awards". IMDb.com, Inc. Retrieved 3 September 2013.
  2. ↑ The Sopranos: The Complete Third Season (2002) — DVD audio commentary
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