Last night's "Sopranos" episode, "Join the Club" was somewhat out of character: no one got whacked, smacked, or died.  Still, it was a compelling hour that let the actors who portray the Tony Soprano family shine.

Tony is in a coma from the gut shot he took from "Mummy" Uncle Junior.  He dreams he is a salesman who has lost his ID at a convention.  He gets slapped by a Buddhist monk who mistakes him for "Finnerty," an apparently less than reputable businessman.  This Tony Soprano handles all the indignities of life like most of us--without violence, without volcanic anger.  In other words, not like Tony the mobster.

James Gandolfini plays the "other" Tony lightly, with enough nuances to see the "real" Tony but who a different life would have made for a different Tony.  It was subtle but difficult acting job and Gandolfini pulled it off. 

Much of the dream sequence is inter cut with Carmela Soprano at Tony's bedside, taking the doctor's advice to talk to him and play his favorite music.  (Tony's favorite music and mine seem to overlap--70s and 80s Classic Rock--scary!)  Edie Falco allows herself to be completely unattractive from sleepless nights of watching Tony, crying, being tender and being strong for Tony.  It is how I imagine my own wife would be in Carmela's shoes.  One enormously strong and loving woman.  And she still has the ability to bust slacker son A.J.'s balls for missing his rotation at Tony's side and flunking out of school.

But A.J. is not irredeemable.  He finally sits with Tony and unleashes a torrent of conversation, ranging from cool cars he'd like to own to getting "that old Mummy Uncle Junior" for shooting Tony.  Robert Iler is usually just a brooding presence on the show, but the kid also has some acting chops.  Meadow too has seemingly grown up and finally puts something--her father--ahead of her own typically selfish needs.

We see glimpses of the gaping--and I mean big enough to stick your whole fist in--hole in Tony's belly from the gun shot and subsequent infection.  It is like producer and writer David Chase has literally reached into Tony Soprano and tried to yank out his soul for all to see.  It is difficult to watch but as a metaphor for the seeping, cess pool of a hole that Tony has plunged himself, his family and world into, absolutely necessary.   

Meanwhile, the other family is starting have fissures.  Fat Vito is too swarmy and too ambitious for the situation. Chris is his usual hair-trigger self.  Silvio doesn't have the status with the boys to keep them in line.  Paulie Walnuts is seething.  It don't bode well.

The episode reminds us that the even a real mobster's family is very much like our own.  And when Carmel insists to the comatose Tony that he is  a "good man," you almost want to agree.   Oh, and just give the Emmy to Edie Falco for this episode.