"The Second Coming" is the 84th episode of the HBO television series The Sopranos, the seventh episode of the second half of the show's sixth season, and the 19th episode of the season overall. Written by Terence Winter and directed by Tim Van Patten, it originally aired in the United States on May 20, 2007.

Starring

• = credit only ** = photo only

Guest starring

• Peter Bogdanovich as Dr. Elliot Kupferberg • Gregory Antonacci as Butch DeConcini • Matt Servitto as Agent Dwight Harris • Cara Buono as Kelli Lombardo Moltisanti • Armen Garo as Salvatore "Coco" Cogliano • Michael Countryman as Dr. Richard Vogel • Daniel Sauli as Patrick Parisi • Frank John Hughes as Walden Belfiore • John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia as Albie Cianflone • John Cenatiempo as Anthony Maffei • Felix Solis as Edgar Ramirez • Michael Kelly as Agent Ron Goddard • Lindsay Campbell as Professor Kline • Dominic Chianese, Jr. as Dominic • Joey Perillo as John Stefano • Edward Furs as Driver • Taleb Adlah as Ahmed (photo only) • Donnie Keshawarz as Muhammad (photo only)

Synopsis

Tony goes with Silvio and Bobby to a sitdown with Phil in New York. He offers a compromise about the asbestos removal, but Phil rejects it out of hand. In response, Tony takes Phil's men Coco and Butchie off the payroll from another construction project. When they hear of this from the foreman, they viciously beat him up and steal the cash in his wallet. A drunken Coco notices Meadow in a restaurant. He touches her cheek and makes some lewd comments. She reluctantly tells her father. Enraged, Tony finds Coco and pistol-whips and curb stomps him. This assault opens a deep rift between the Soprano and Lupertazzi families. Little Carmine tells Tony that he will once again broker a truce meeting with Phil, who has shut down one of their joint construction projects. Tony admits, "I lost it, timing couldn't have been worse." But Phil refuses to meet with them when they arrive at his home; from behind a second-floor window, he spews profanities as they walk away. FBI Agents Harris and Goddard visit Satriale's and ask Tony to look at some photos. Tony identifies Ahmed and Muhammad. When Dr. Melfi sees Dr. Kupferberg, he shares with her the results of a recent study which has shown that sociopaths are not helped by talk therapy but rather only further enabled by it, perhaps even "sharpening their skills as con men" in the process. Meadow reveals that her new boyfriend is Patrick Parisi, Patsy's eldest son, and that, inspired by him, she has decided to enter law school. A.J. remains depressed. Moved by W. B. Yeats' apocalyptic poem "The Second Coming", he tries to kill himself in the family pool. With one foot tied by a rope to a cinder block, and with a plastic bag over his head, he jumps in. But the rope is too long to keep him submerged. He struggles: he can neither drown nor save himself. Tony happens to come home. Hearing shouts, he goes out. He runs and jumps, wearing a suit and tie, into the pool. He saves A.J. and hauls up the cinder block. At first, he is shocked and furious, but A.J. is sobbing; he cradles his son in his lap, saying "Come on, baby, you're all right, baby." A.J. is put on Valium and admitted to a psychiatric ward. At a session with his therapist and his parents, he speaks of resentments going back to 2nd grade, and quotes his grandmother at the end of her life: "It's all a big nothing." This session occurs just after Tony's assault on Coco; as he listens, he notices one of Coco's bloody teeth in the cuff of his pant leg. Tony and Carmela both feel guilty about the attempted suicide, and each blames the other. Tony scornfully rejects Dr. Melfi's suggestion that A.J. was calling for help and, at some level, knew the rope was too long. "He could just be a fucking idiot. Historically, that's been the case." He tells her about his insight on peyote: "I saw … that this and everything we experience is not all there is – there's something else."

Final appearances

Title reference

Production

References to prior episodes

Other cultural and historical references

Music

Awards