| "Johnny Cakes" | |
|---|---|
| The Sopranos episode | |
| Episode no. | Season 6 Episode 8 |
| Directed by | Tim Van Patten |
| Written by | Diane Frolov Andrew Schneider |
| Cinematography by | Alik Sakharov |
| Production code | 608 |
| Original air date | April 30, 2006 |
| Running time | 54 minutes |
"Johnny Cakes" is the 73rd episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the eighth of the show's sixth season. Written by Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, and directed by Tim Van Patten, it originally aired on April 30, 2006.
* = credit only
A.J. spends most of his time hanging out in New York nightclubs. To finance this lifestyle, A.J. sells the drum kit Tony gave him. The money is used to pay a huge tab he racks up trying to seduce a girl, at a club owned by an associate of his father's. AJ asks his parents to provide him with a nightclub to manage, a suggestion they scoff at as he is still below the legal drinking age. Carmela wants him to study event planning and Tony offers to get him a place at Beansie's pizzeria. In a session with Dr. Melfi, Tony says that A.J.'s presence is "like a bad smell in the house. It's always hanging there".
One evening, after slumping at home all day, A.J. takes a knife and goes to see Junior in the mental hospital. When Junior sees him, he begs him to take him home. Unnerved, A.J. drops the knife before even attempting to use it against Junior, and is tackled by orderlies as he tries to flee. Using his influence with Assemblyman Zellman, Tony gets his son released from custody without charge. Tony is furious, but A.J. tearfully tells him that he was trying to avenge Tony like Michael Corleone in The Godfather. During A.J.'s next night out clubbing, an acquaintance asks him to get Tony to help him in a dispute with his landlord. A.J. retreats to the restroom, where he has a panic attack.
Vito steals the cell phone of a fellow guest at his bed-and-breakfast in New Hampshire, and uses it to call his wife Marie. She begs him to come home and tells him that Phil wishes to put him through "treatment" for his homosexuality. He tells her not to trust Phil (who is pressuring Tony to find Vito and kill him). Vito tells Marie where to find $30,000 cash in the house.
Pretending to be a writer, Vito spends more time at Jim's diner. Jim is revealed to also be a father. One evening, Vito sees Jim, a volunteer firefighter, heroically rescuing a young child. He spends an evening with the firefighters at a local roadhouse; in the parking lot, Vito and Jim appear to kiss, but Vito then shoves him off. They throw punches and Jim leaves Vito beaten. Days later, Vito goes back to the diner. "Sometimes you tell a lie so long, you don't know when to stop," he says. They take a motorcycle ride together. In a field, under the falling leaves, they have sex.
Tony manages to have sex with Carmela for the first time since his injury, But he later finds himself attracted to another woman: Julianna Skiff, a real estate agent who approaches him with an offer from Jamba Juice to buy a building he owns, rented to a long-established company, Caputo's Poultry. Tony rejects the deal, stating that the poultry store is part of its neighborhood. He rejects a second offer but accepts the third – nearly half a million dollars – and she agrees that they should meet in her apartment to complete the paperwork. While Tony is dressing for the encounter, Carmela helps pick out a shirt for him and helps him to button it up. At Julianna's, after Tony signs the paperwork, they start kissing passionately, and Julianna starts unbuttoning his shirt. Tony makes her stop and abruptly departs. At home with Carmela he lashes out, claiming he's angry because there's no smoked turkey in the fridge.
Burt and Patsy make collections in the neighborhood of Tony's property. They fail to extort money from the newly opened branch of a major coffee chain. Caputo furiously tells them Tony has sold his store premises. "What the fuck is happening to this neighborhood?" Patsy says.
