I do think the entire rapper angle was stupid to involve Bobby in merely for the fact that he is interested in outside projects against the family. However, shooting that guy in the ass was hilarious! The one aspect I did find interesting was when the rapper came in and said, "Tony Soprano, Original G." And Tony was like, yah, whatever or something. That was cool.

Reasons why this episode was necessary for what happened with Paulie, with the Barone kid (I don't see how there could be anything b/w this guy and meadow, Meadow is too strong a woman), and Tony conceding to Sacrimoni is because these were Tony's last hours in the hospital. He was still morphine dependant and yakked when getting angry. Dvd Part 1 is over, the next chapter begins in season 6. The episode was great for 3 reasons:

1) Hostility towards Junior from Tony, and how this will effect Junior's investigation and the entire Soprano name.
2) Tension between Jersey and NYC. Frankly, I despise Phil, however, if I were him, we would be doing the same considering his younger brother and all.
3) T's out, and everything that entails.

only 6 more nights.