The Sopranos, "Guy Walks Into a Psychiatrist's Office...": We'll make a family reunion out of it

My review/recap of the January 16, 2000, second season premiere episode after I exercise more impulse control.

So the first episode of Season 2 is all about reunions. Pussy comes back to town, Tony's sister Janice, or Parvati (Aida Turturro) comes home from Seattle after hearing about her mother, and most importantly the show comes back to the audience.

This episode wasn't a particularly good episode of The Sopranos, but it did set up new characters and possible storylines for the season.

The episode opens with a montage of what all the major characters have been up to since the end of Season 1. Tony begins self-medicated because he has stopped seeing Dr. Melfi (who is working out of a motel), Christopher has someone take his stockbroker's licensing exam, Uncle Junior is in prison, Carmela is still playing the part of a housewife, Livia is receiving physical therapy, and money keeps rolling in to Tony from his crew.

After a night out, Tony sneaks into bed with Carmela. The next morning while getting the newspaper, Pussy gets out of a car to talk with Tony. They go to Tony's basement where Pussy explains his absence. He says that he was in Puerto Rico for therapy on his back. He also tells Tony that he didn't feel safe in New Jersey because of the vibes he was getting from the rest of Tony's crew (they thought he was an informant). Tony doesn't completely trust Pussy, and pats him down while they hug. At the Bada Bing, the crew welcomes Pussy back and tell him that they made his pickups for him. Paulie tells Tony that Pussy's story checks out.

Tony has Gigi Cestone (John Fiore) kill Philly "Spoons" Parisi (Dan Grimaldi), a soldier in Junior's crew, because he was spreading rumors about Tony and his mother. After Tony hears that Philly is dead, he calls Melfi and tells her that it is safe for her to return.

Christopher is made the SEC compliance officer at an investment firm, where he is pressuring people to push the worthless stock Webistics. Christopher leaves early to go down the Shore with Adriana and leaves Matt Bevilaqua and Sean Gismonte (Lillo Brancato, Jr. and Chris Tardio) in charge. While walking around, they hear one broker not pushing Webistics. They end up beating him up. Tony finds out and tells Christopher that he needs to be careful and do his job.

Tony then gets a call from Carmela telling him that his sister, Janice has just showed up at their house. Tony tells her that she can stay in the house and that they should have a big family reunion and invite their younger sister, Barbara (Nicole Burdette). While driving home Tony has a panic attack and crashes his car on the side of the road. He meets with another psychiatrist under an alias. The psychiatrist says he recognizes Tony from the news and has seen Analyze This and isn't taking new patients.

At home, Tony tells Janice that he doesn't want Livia ever spoken about in his house again. Janice wants to move into Livia's house, but Tony tells her that he plans on selling it.

At the reunion/party, everyone is happy except Tony. Carmela tells him to go have fun with his friends. Tony does so, but also meanly jokes with Pussy. Janice and Barbara talk about Tony's handling of their mother's situation. Janice doesn't think that Livia is being treated fairly and that she won't get her share, but Barbara tells her that Tony is the one handling the situation and that he will give them their share.

The next day, Tony finds Melfi in a diner and tries to apologize to her. Melfi is upset because one of her patients committed suicide because she couldn't help her and blames Tony for this. Tony asks for a referral if she won't see him again. She refuses and tells him to get out of her life. Tony returns home early and has a quiet lunch with Carmela.

Other notes:

• When Silvio is doing his Godfather impressions, he says "Our true enemy has yet to reveal himself," the camera cuts to Pussy. Perhaps some foreshadowing?
• Philly Parisi's death is another reference to The Godfather. When Philly leaves his house, his wife yells, "Don't forget the pastries," just like Clemenza's wife tells him "Don't forget the cannoli" before he kills Paulie.

Not a great episode but it sets up the new season. Tony now has problems within his family with Janice moving back to Jersey, and we still don't know what's going to happen with Junior in jail. Also, Matt and Sean seem like they are going to be a problem for Christopher as they keep trying to move up the ladder. Should be another explosive season of The Sopranos.