Tony fails to reason with Phil as more problems increase with Anthony when his depression worsens and he attempts suicide.
Plot
AJ Soprano attempts suicide. He is found in the family pool having tied a concrete block to himself, and Tony pulls him out before he drowns. The attempt is treated with full weight. Tony and Carmela are devastated in different ways: Tony's response is physical and volcanic, turning outward toward the world; Carmela's is internal and continuous, a mother's anguish that does not resolve. AJ is hospitalized for psychiatric evaluation and treatment.
Tony visits AJ in the psychiatric facility in a reversal of the series' opening premise -- now it is Tony sitting with his son in an institution, trying to reach a depression he cannot fix with money or violence or force of personality. Tony tells AJ he loves him in ways that Tony's own father never said to Tony. The effort is genuine and awkward, and Tony's face in these scenes is the face of someone doing something for which he has no script.
Phil Leotardo has been escalating against New Jersey operations on multiple fronts, denying Tony's crews access to New York construction sites and interfering with business arrangements that have been in place for years. Tony meets with what remains of the New York leadership structure to find resolution, but Phil is not negotiating in good faith. The end of the series is approaching from multiple directions at once.
Credits
Written by: Terence Winter
Directed by: Tim Van Patten