In Camelot - Episode Recap

Episode Recap

While at the cemetery for his Aunt Concetta's funeral, Tony sees an elderly lady at the grave site of his parents. He asks if she was a friend of his mother, but soon discovers she is Fran Felstein, his father's longtime comare. Tony spends time with her and learns a lot about his father through her stories. He also discovers that his childhood dog, Tippy, was given to Fran's family when Tony's mother made his father give it away. Fran also tells Tony about her life, including all the times she resisted Uncle Junior's advances and her one-time fling with President John F. Kennedy.

According to Fran, Phil Leotardo and Hesh Rabkin cheated her out of an investment Tony's father had left for her. Tony tries to collect the money on her behalf but when Phil avoids him, the two get involved in a car chase that results in Phil's crashing his car. Later, Tony is able to collect $150,000 for Fran.

Uncle Junior, going stir crazy while still under house arrest, begins going to every possible funeral he can, even when he knows the deceased only slightly, just to get out of the house. Later, he breaks down and is very depressed, while attending the funeral of the husband of Tony's Aunt Concetta, Uncle Zio, who died 15 days previous, the strain could perhaps be because of problems with his medication. No doubt, the strain of attending multiple funerals has worsened his physical state and magnified his depressive feelings, making him shout out ..."What's the point, I can't take this shit anymore.." while being helped away by Bobby and Janice.

Christopher begins to spend a lot of time with J.T. Dolan, a friend he met in rehab, who is a television writer. The two offer to support one another when they get the urge to use. Christopher introduces Dolan to high-stakes poker, seemingly oblivious to the potential for his friend to channel his addiction problems into gambling. After Dolan runs up $60,000 in debt and starts missing payments, Christopher and Little Paulie Germani come to his apartment, and give him a severe beating. J.T. loses some writing jobs, further escalating his problems. He eventually turns back to heroin, which causes Christopher to help direct him back toward rehab (after taking his BMW Z3 as a partial payment and making plans to collect more money after he gets out of rehab and gets better work).

Around then, Tony's friendship with Fran begins to sour, as his father was often with her when he was needed at home. An example of the latter was one night in the summer of 1976, when Tony was only 16, when his mother was hospitalized after suffering a miscarriage and Tony was forced to lie for his father, who was at Fran's apartment all night. He also learns that she did not quit smoking, even after his father contracted emphysema, something that even Tony's mother did. When Tony discusses these revelations with Dr. Melfi, she suggests he could have more sympathy for his mother. Tony remains ambivalent, remarking that she made his father give away Tippy.

As the episode closes, Tony starts regaling his buddies at the Bada Bing with exaggerated accounts of Fran's involvement with JFK.