Watch: Eugene Pontecorvo: The Tragedy of 'Members Only'

Eugene Pontecorvo inherits two million dollars and a way out of the life, and discovers in one devastating episode that there is no way out of the life. Watch the video above, then read the tragedy of "Members Only."

The final season opens on Eugene, a background soldier suddenly centered: the inheritance, the Florida dream house brochures, the FBI squeezing him as an informant from the other side. Both of his masters refuse his exit, Tony with a reminder of the blood oath, the Bureau with a reminder of his file. Robert Funaro plays the closing scenes, the Members Only jacket, the garage, with a quiet that makes the episode one of the series' most brutal hours. Eugene is the show's thesis stated plainly at the start of its final movement: membership is for life, and life is the sentence.

Quick answer: Eugene couldn't leave: the mob's oath and the FBI's leverage both forbade it, and his suicide opens the final season as its thesis statement.

Keep reading: Why Eugene Pontecorvo Couldn’t Retire in The Sopranos · Watch: Meadow Soprano: The Only One Who Got Out Clean

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