An uncomfortable party leads Tony and Carmela to a partial reconciliation, while cousin Tony gets an offer he decides not to refuse.
Plot
The Soprano house hosts a combined birthday party for Tony and Hugh DeAngelis, Carmela's father. It is a large backyard gathering with the pool open, a catered spread, many guests. Tony and Carmela are technically separated but both present as a family unit for the occasion. The party creates a kind of false normal: everyone eating and talking and keeping to the surface.
Tony and Carmela end up sleeping together during the party weekend. The reconciliation is tentative and physical rather than substantive. Both are operating from habit, attraction, and loneliness rather than any resolution of their actual problems. The morning after carries the specific awkwardness of two people who know they have complicated something that was already complicated.
Christopher is at the party with Adriana. Both are still together, still engaged. Christopher's sobriety is fragile. He and Tony have a genuine warm moment by the pool playing Marco Polo with AJ -- which is where the episode takes its title. The scene is earnest rather than ironic: two men in the middle of their complicated lives finding a moment that is simply fun. AJ calling out 'Marco' while his father and his cousin splash back 'Polo' is one of the series' small, perfect images of what Tony is trying to hold onto.
Credits
Written by: Michael Caleo
Directed by: John Patterson