This is a very interesting episode in which Julia dreams of what her life would have been like if she had never married Sean. She starts dreaming when she is put out during her surgery. She sees that she would have married Christian and went into business as a partner with him. She would be snorting coke and having threesomes. It was just bizarre because Ava was guiding Julia through what her life could have been. It was also good because they used Carly Simons' song "You're so Vain" during the episode with Julia having a breakdown when she finds out that Christian is having a child with Kimber. This is an off the wall episode for an off the wall show so that is saying something.

This episode was done live in order to attract more viewers to the series because the ratings are down. It started off like any other episode with a recap and it went to the candidates preparing. It looked live but it seemed like all the other episodes with the camera following the characters until they got to their podiums and it looked like a real debate. Alda started off by taking a long pause in the beginning and then giving a speech about a "real" debate. From that moment on, I knew that this episode was scripted. It was live but everything was scripted from the rebuttle's to the arguments to the audiences' comments as well as the moderator's. It let me down at first but then I started to respect it for what it was. The actor's had to memorize their lines and the whole debate and perform it like a play with out any chance to do a second take or do it over like one could on a regular television program. It would have been more interesting if the actor's could improvise but I understand that because they are debating politics, the actor's better know what they are talking about. They debated real issues about immigration and oil. They started talking about the real high gas prices of today along with "going to war over oil" which is real gutsy considering it is an attack on the Bush administration today. So overall, an above average episode but a change of form for the series. Can't wait for the next episode. It also showed that either candidate could win at this point.

This episode is another of the famous "Sopranos" dream episodes. Each season seems to have one and they mostly show an important plot point where Tony learns something during his dream. It is very reminiscant of season two's finale "Funhouse." In that episode Tony learned of Pussy's involvement with the FBI. In this episode written by David Chase and Matthew Weiner and directed by Allen Coulter, Tony sees his cousin asassinate Billy Leotardo and knows that he must kill his cousin because of his work that he is doing for Little Carmine. In "Funhouse" Tony knew that he was going to have to kill Pussy for what he was doing. In "Test Dream," Tony also sees people that have been murdered throughout the series such as Pussy, Richie Aprile and Ralphie. It is a very trippy and interesting episode that once again showed how edgy this series could be.

This is a very compelling episode mostly featuring Alda as Senator Vinick who hasn't been going to church much and his campaign believes that religion equals more votes. We find out more personal information about Vinick as he and Bartlet have a nice discussion over ice-cream. It is a big issue in the United States today. Whether a president goes to church or not is something the american people care about. Alda is an incredible actor because you really believe that he doesnt go to church for a reason. This is a show about the characters and this episode turns Senator Arnold Vinick into a predominate character on this show.

It seems that each season of the Sopranos has a predominate episode that has a dream sequence. For season 2, it was "Funhouse," written by Todd A. Kessler and David Chase and directed by the great John Patterson. It starts with Tony having a great day making money and having dinner with buddies but leads to him having diarhea and being sick. When he gets some sleep, he has nightmares and in the nightmare, Pussy tells him that he has been working for the feds. Tony wakes up out of the dream, takes Pussy, Silvio and Paulie out of his boat and the three turn and kill Pussy. The audience could have guessed that Pussy was gonna get whacked but the episode is so original and well done that we are shocked as well as impressed at the great season finale.