Tony sinks into a deep, dark mood. He stays at home and sleeps. Pussy has gone missing. Tony isn't as certain that Jimmy Altieri is the snitch. Tony doesn't know what to do. He only goes out to see Dr. Melfi. He hangs around the house all day in a bathrobe.
Two things bring him out of this mood. The first is a beautiful exchange student from Italy who is staying with his next door neighbors, the Cusamanos. Tony has two encounters with her. The first occurs when he sees her in the yard next door and goes over to introduce himself. Her name is Isabella. Their second encounter occurs when he is on his way back from an appointment with Dr. Melfi. He runs into Isabella in town and takes her to lunch. She tells him all about the town his family is from in Italy. Tony starts daydreaming about her holding a baby, named Tony. When Carmella catches Tony looking out their bedroom window at Isabella the next day she flips.
The other thing that brings Tony out of his dark mood is an attempt on his life. He doesn't know the two assailants but he manages to fight them off. A minute later he crashes his SUV and winds up in the hospital. The attackers were hired by Mikey Palmice who did it on orders from Uncle Junior.
Talking to Isabella helped Tony in one way. Fighting off the two hoods energized him in another way. FBI agent Harris comes to see Tony in the hospital. He offers him full immunity and a spot in the witness relocation program for him and his family in return for testimony. Tony refuses to talk. Carmella is there and feels differently but she ultimately stands by his side.
Uncle Junior doesn't know what to do when he finds out that Tony survived the hit. He was feeling sick to his stomach before he found out that Tony had survived. In the end he and Livia go to see Tony once he has returned home.
The episode ends with the reveal that Isabella was never there. She was a figment of Tony's imagination. Cusamano doesn't know what he's talking about when he asks him about the beautiful exchange student. Carmella doesn't remember seeing Isabella or any part of the conversation they had at the time. Tony doesn't know what to make of it all but he's happy to be alive and no longer in a dark mood.
One interesting thing that is finally shown is the route Tony takes to get to Dr. Melfi's office. He goes into a coffee shop, but then exits through the rear of the shop and enters the doctor's office through what looks like the rear of that building.
While Tony is in the hospital his family comes to see him. Meadow and AJ are shooed out of the room where Tony is staying and wind up sitting on a bench in a hallway. Behind the bench is an ad for the Red Cross which reads, "Safe Families. Everyone Needs One." How very appropriate considering the nature of this show.
Not perfect but this was a damn good episode. It is a very Tony-centric episode in the sense that it is really all about him and not his relationship with any of the other regulars on the show.
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