'Sopranos': Gone Fishing

By Stephen M. Silverman

10/02/1998 at 12:00 AM EDT

The second season of "The Sopranos" ended last night with a bang -- and a barf: Tony got food poisoning. (SPOILER'S ALERT: Do not continue reading if you have not seen the episode.) In Tony's fever-induced state, he deduces that Big Pussy is squealing to the feds, a premonition proved right when Tony searches Puss's house. Big Pussy now sleeps with the fishes. In news of the immediate family, Meadow graduates, Carmela gets a sable coat, and Tony gives his mother a hot airline ticket, which leads to his arrest. (Cliffhanger, ba-da-bing.) Meanwhile, "Falcone," the new mob drama on CBS that began airing on consecutive nights last week, is a big ratings disappointment. The New York Times suggests that the network's core audience of older females may just be turned off by the violence.