For those looking for a little more insight into Tony's coma (dream), it was actually the creator's idea of Tony in Purgatory....caught between heaven and hell.

Tony was stuck in Orange County, the most personality free part of the country with no way of leaving, trapped. On one end of town is a shining beacon (heaven), on the other a raging forest fire (hell) as Tony keeps asking, "Who Am I?, Where am I going?"

He has the identity of Kevin Finnerty, a heating salesman from the hottest state in the US (Arizona), falls down a red staircase and is told he will get Alzheimer's (eternal damnation) all the while Carmela is telling him in the real world he will not go to hell.

The bartender jokes, "around here, it's dead" as the TV reads "Are sin, disease and death real?"

if you didn't get much out of it, watch it again with this knowledge and the picture will clear up for you.

I thought Tony was going to see all the dead people from his life in the house that Steve Buscemi was trying to lead him into.

I can tell that the dream sequences are loaded with symbolism, and you've given some excellent examples. The thing is, I don't care about that sort of thing on The Sopranos.

I watch it for the Mafia storylines and Tony's personal life.

Interesting analogy, I never thought of it that way.