The Sopranos, "Isabella": Talk about a jolt to the system

My review/recap of the March 28, 1999 episode after I have some Mormons over for dinner.

We get to see the different sides of Tony Soprano this episode. We see Tony depressed, happy, fighting for his life, thoughtful, vengeful, and confused all in one episode.

At the beginning of the episode, Tony is badly depressed because Pussy has disappeared. After taking lithium pills prescribed by Melfi, Tony sees a beautiful woman (Maria Grazia Cucinotta) in the Cusamanos' backyard. Tony goes to talk to her. She tells him that her names is Isabella, and that she is foreign exchange dental student from Italy. Later, Tony takes her out to lunch, where she guesses that Tony's family is from Avellino. While she tells Tony about Avellino, he dreams that she is breast-feeding a baby named Antonio in early 1900s Italy.

Junior goes ahead with his plan on assassinating Tony. The plan is to use two African-Americans, Rasheen Ray (Touche) and William Clayborn (John Eddins) contacted through Donnie Paduana (David Wike). The two follow Tony to a store near Melfi's office. Christopher gets in there way because he is also following Tony, because he is concerned for Tony after seeing him depressed. After the failed attempt, Junior has Mikey meet with Donnie. Donnie assures Mikey that the killing will happen the next day. Junior tells Mikey to kill Donnie, which he does.

The next day, at the same spot, Clayborn approaches Tony as he is entering his car. Tony sees him in the reflection and dives into the car as Clayborn shoots at him. Tony grabs the gun through the window and wrestles with Clayborn, as Ray approaches from the passenger window. Ray shoots at Tony, who moves out of the way, and accidentally kills Clayborn. Tony then grabs the gun in Ray's hand and starts driving. Ray drops to the road, and as Tony takes his eyes away crashes into a parked car.

He is taken to a hospital where Carmela, AJ, and Meadow meet him there. Agent Harris shows up to try and convince Tony and Carmela that they should enter the Witness Protection Program because it is no longer safe for Tony in New Jersey. Tony vehemently declines and says that his attack was only a carjacking, even though he knows it was an assassination attempt. Silvio, Paulie, and Christopher help Tony back to the house, and they all suspect that Junior was behind the attack, until he shows up along with Livia to visit Tony. While there, Livia shows signs of old age and memory loss when she doesn't recognize Meadow.

When the Cusamanos return, Tony asks Bruce about Isabella. Bruce doesn't know what he is talking about, and Tony realizes that Isabella was a hallucination. He calls Melfi, who tells him to get rid of the lithium pills and that she thinks Tony made Isabella up as a maternal figure because of his own mother's recent actions. Tony tells her that he is fine now and will be even better when he finds out who orchestrated the assassination attempt.

Funny parts of the episode:

• Silvio and Paulie in the limo with AJ and his date going to the formal
• Junior storming in on Livia, with her saying, "You don't knock. I could have been in the nude."

Other notes:

• The assassination attempt on Tony, with Tony buying orange juice is similar to the assassination attempt on Don Corleone in The Godfather, with Vito buying oranges. 
• AJ's date is the same girl that he was talking to at their open house party the episode before. 
• The sound goes out every time that Tony is shot at during the assassination attempt (may be important later?)

Strange episode, but one that sets up the season finale great. Will Tony figure out that Junior was the one who wants him dead? Is Livia faking her memory loss to gain more sympathy? The only thing we do know is that the next episode will be great, as all of Tony's problems are coming for him at the same time.