Recap / The Sopranos S 6 E 21 Made In America

Don't stop believin'...

A.J.: Right, focus on the good times.
Tony: Don't be sarcastic.
A.J.: Isn't that what you said one time... "Try to remember the times that were good"?
Tony: I did?
A.J.: Yeah.
Tony: Well, it's true, I guess.

Tony and his men continue to hide out in their safe houses. Phil expresses frustration at Butchie for not having taken out the most important target, Tony himself. Butchie tries to vaguely suggest that maybe it is time to call off the war for the sake of resuming their business, but Phil will hear none of it. He promises Butchie that once everything is over they'll have a sitdown in the future, heavily implying he intends to punish him for this lapse in faith, and hangs up, leaving the latter with a worried expression on his face.

Tony and Paulie meet up with Agent Harris and give him information on a bank account owned by Ahmed and Muhammad. Agent Harris suspects Tony of holding back the information until a more opportune time arose. Tony requests information on where to locate Phil, but Agent Harris initially refuses. But Harris, while having an affair with another FBI agent, remembers that Phil years ago tried to set up a female agent for a rape and beating. He calls Tony back to let him know that Phil has been making phone calls from payphones near gas stations in Oyster Bay.

Tony reaches out to the retired boss of a different New York family, George Paglieri. George sets up a meeting that includes Tony, Paulie, Little Carmine, Butchie, and Albert. Butchie is fearful of losing favor with Phil and gives Tony the green light to take out Phil. But he either refuses to divulge Phil's precise location or he doesn't know it to begin with. Butchie also agrees to provide for Janice, who has become a widow in the wake of Bobby's death.

A.J. is still an angry young man trying to sort himself out and lashing out at those around him. The one positive in his life is a budding friendship with Rhiannon, which soon turns overtly romantic. But even that leads to a disaster when they try to become intimate in his SUV. The hot catalytic converter ignites a pile of leaves underneath the SUV, which A.J. and Rhiannon barely escape as it goes up in flames and explodes.

A.J.'s growing obsession with American military interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq has him wanting to join the army. Tony and Carmela are scared of the idea while the conflicts are still in progress, and they manage to talk him into joining Little Carmine's movie production company instead.

Meadow and Patrick announce they are engaged and that Meadow may land a job at a law firm. Meadow tells Tony she wants to defend those unfairly persecuted by the government, particularly immigrants; she considers her father a victim of FBI prejudice against Italian-Americans.

Paulie calls up Tony after Carlo missed a meeting with them. They correctly deduce that Carlo has turned government witness in order to get his son, Jason Gervasi, out of a lengthy prison term for dealing Ecstasy. Tony meets with his lawyer, Neil Mink, who confirms that Carlo is likely going to testify and warns Tony that he is probably going to get indicted at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Tony visits the comatose Silvio in the hospital. His grieving wife, Gabriella, leaves the room as Tony arrives. Tony, for his part, remains silent during the visit and holds Silvio's hand for a moment, clearly broken up about his old friend's fate.

The Sopranos and the Parisis meet to celebrate the pending marriage between Meadow and Patrick. Tony tries to question Patsy as to what is going on with the two Jasons, but Patsy is not forthcoming.

Paulie also resents the presence of the cat that Tony has brought to Satriale's from the safe house. He gets spooked out by the cat's habit of staring at an old picture of Chris but is afraid to actually harm it for fear of provoking Tony. Paulie is also hesitant to accept the charge of the Aprile crew, believing that the position is cursed on account of the long string of fatalities among the predecessors. Tony finally convinces him to accept by indicating a willingness to let Patsy have it instead.

The Jersey mob gets a break when Little Paulie (while pretending to be a cop with a fake badge) learns that Oyster Bay only has two gas stations with payphones next to them. That allows them to narrow their search for Phil considerably. Benny and Walden Belfiore finally track him at one of the gas stations. Phil doesn't notice them, as he is saying goodbye to Patty and his two infant grandchildren, allowing Walden to walk up close and shoot Phil in the head, and another time in the chest to make sure he stays dead. Patty panics and leaves the car with the grandchildren still inside. The van rolls forward, with the wheel coming over Phil's head and crushing it.

Janice meets Uncle Junior in the state-run asylum, hoping to lay her claim to what's left of his money. Uncle Pat is there and reports his suspicions to Tony. Tony still wants nothing to do with Junior. But Tony decides he needs to make sure that Bobby's children get the money in trust, so he also pays a visit to Uncle Junior. But Junior does not recognize Tony, and barely remembers anything of his past life. In fact, the only faint glimmer of recognition the old man shows, is when Tony drops a hint about their connection through the mafia. Tony leaves the state-run institution on the verge of tears.

Tony later that evening meets up with his family at a diner named Holsten's. A man in a Members Only jacket enters but does not order anything and continuously eyeballs Tony before entering the washroom. Meadow makes a late arrival at the diner, and the finale cuts to black just as Tony notices her. The black screen lingers for a few moments before the ending credits begin and plays out in silence.

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Tropes:

• Aesop Amnesia: In-universe, when AJ brings it up, Tony doesn't remember his own advice "focus on the good times", showcasing his diminishing wisdom and overall degradation.
• Age-Appropriate Angst: A.J. spends much of the episode being a snappy Jerkass to those around him as he still struggles immensely with his own issues.
• Alas, Poor Villain: Junior is hardly a good person but seeing him completely succumb to his dementia, no longer able to remember any of his friends or family can evoke some pity.
• All for Nothing: Junior's fate in the end: all of his years of murder, violence, and ambition to run the family are rendered meaningless when he can't recall that any of it even happened. He does perk up at the phrase "this thing of ours," but doesn't remember having been involved with it, and his response to Tony telling him that he and Johnny Boy used to run North Jersey is just "huh, that's nice."
• Ambiguous Ending: After disposing of his arch-nemesis Phil Leotardo, Tony is seen taking his wife Carmela and son AJ to a diner, later to be joined by their daughter Meadow. It's seemingly an upbeat scene, with the exception of Tony discussing potential legal troubles on the horizon. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" starts playing in the background, and you begin to see curious shots of seemingly random persons in the diner mixed in with shots of Tony and his family happily chomping down on onion rings. Arguably the most curious is a man wearing a Members Only jacket sitting at the bar. The music swells, an unseen person enters the restaurant, Tony looks up, and suddenly—cut to black, series over. Was Tony suddenly shot as the screen cut to black (perhaps by the man in the Members Only jacket?), or not?
• Ambiguous Situation: When Tony, Carmela, and Meadow meet with Patsy, Patrick, and his wife in anticipation of the coming marriage. Tony tries to question Patsy about what is going on with Jason Parisi, as well as Jason Gervasi. Patsy refuses to divulge anything so that it has shades of I'll Never Tell You What I'm Telling You!, and with a Smug Smirk on his face. Is Patsy also joining Witness Protection? Is he becoming The Starscream?
• Amoral Attorney: Meadow is about to join a law firm, alongside Patrick Parisi, that specializes in defending prosecuted mobsters. Patrick even lampshades it by mentioning a high profile case involving corruption charges.
• Artistic License – Cars: Phil's death scene is definitely an instance where accurately conveying the operation of automobiles gives way in-universe to the Rule of Funny.
  • The scene makes a point of showing that the vehicle is still in drive.
  • If the vehicle was still in drive, it would have started going in motion the instant Patty started to ease her foot off the brakes. In fact, many people avoid accidents like this because they can feel the car going forward the moment they ease even partway off the brakes and realize they haven't put the vehicle into park yet.
  • If it had been in drive and Patty had completely left the vehicle, it would definitely have gone faster than what is shown in the scene. In fact, the only way that the vehicle could have gone at the turtle-like speed shown in the scene is if it had been in neutral and somebody was either pushing it or if it was going down a slight decline.
• Asshole Victim: Outside of possibly Richie Aprile and Ralph Cifaretto, Phil is probably the least sympathetic murder victim in the entire show.
• Awful Wedded Life: A phone call between Agent Harris and his wife in front of Tony implies that he is in one, and his being Married to the Job is a key factor.
• Back for the Finale: Hunter makes an appearance for the first time since the Season 3 premiere, revealing not only that she and Meadow have kept in touch but that she's in medical school.
• Bad Boss: Phil verbally eviscerates Butchie for not having taken out Tony, and for even suggesting making peace with the New Jersey mob. He then promises a subsequent "sit down" with Butchie. The implications of the "sit down" are what ultimately lead Butchie to betray Phil.
• Batman Gambit: How Tony comes out on top over Phil.
  • He astutely guesses that Agent Harris' disdain for Phil is enough to get the information he needs on Phil's location.
  • He also shrewdly assesses that Butchie is open to turning on Phil once the war has dragged on long enough.
• Birth-Death Juxtaposition: Implied. When Tony asks Carmela where AJ and Meadow art, Carmela says that Meadow was at the hospital to "switch birth control" - minutes before Tony is supposedly killed.
• Black Screen of Death: Debatably used, as Tony Soprano may have been killed just after a quick cut to the credits. Among the suspects: a character identified in the credits as "Members Only", plausibly, a Call-Back to the episode of the same name.
• Blame Game: Tony and Butchie start off pointing fingers at each other for letting the Mob War get as far it's gone, although they soon reach an understanding.
• Bloody Hilarious: After watching everything Phil has pulled since season 5, if you can't get a good laugh or two over how he goes out then you truly have no sense of humor.
• Book Ends:
  • Uncle Junior in a sense provides them for the series. In the Pilot he angrily mentioned to Tony that they had to play catch together as though it was a burden. When Tony sees him in the state-run institution, it's the one thing that the now far gone Junior remembers about each other. And it brings a slight smile to his face.
  • Tony and Uncle Junior's final conversation provides one for Season 6 as a whole, as it marks the first time they've interacted since the premiere of Season 6A. In "Members Only", Tony arrived at Junior's house under the pretense of helping him out only for a confused Junior to shoot Tony and leave him for dead. Here, Tony arrives reluctantly to angrily demand Junior help provide for Bobby's kids only for Junior to not remember anything but his and Tony's time together playing catch and Tony, realizing how truly lost Junior's mind is at this stage, walks out on the verge of tears.
  • The gun charge provides one for Season 6B. At the top of the premiere episode, Tony gets arrested for it only for the case to be briefly dropped after the FBI absorbed it into their RICO case. Here, it comes up again, as Mink lets Tony know about how it will contribute to his likely indictment.
  • The Many Saints of Newark retroactively makes one for Tony's career in the Mafia: it effectively begins when Dickie Moltisanti's death prevents his meeting with Tony at Holsten's Diner to dissuade him from becoming a criminal, and it may have possibly ended there if he is indeed killed in the finale.
• Boom, Headshot!:
  • Walden gives Phil a fatal one.
  • The instant Smash to Black followed by silence implies that if Tony was indeed killed in the end, it happened this way.
• Bolivian Army Ending: The famous ending uses this somewhat. Fans have long debated whether the cut-to-black means somebody shot Tony, or if a deeper symbolism is in play.
• Brick Joke: The very first time we meet Phil Leotardo, someone describes him as "a pimple." Lampshaded by his death in this episode being described as his having been "popped."
• Broken Pedestal: Tony has clearly started to lose the respect of the remaining men, as shown when Benny openly criticizes him when he refuses to visit Silvio at the hospital with them.
• The Bus Came Back: Meadow's friend from season 1, Hunter, comes back for the finale.
• Call-Back: A.J. reminds Tony that he told his family to "remember the good times" during the season 1 finale. It helps punctuate the Book Ends provided by Uncle Junior described above. When Scatterbrained Senior Junior sees Tony, he doesn't remember their power struggles and pettiness against each other. The one thing he remembers is that he and Tony used to play catch with each other, and it brings a slight smile to his face.
• Cannot Tell a Joke: Patsy's wife struggles with the "horse with the long face joke".
• Cat Scare: Paulie really gets freaked out when the cat is first brought into Satriale's. That much more when the cat develops the obsessive habit of staring at Chris' photo.
• Chekhov's Gun: The gun that Tony threw away while fleeing Johnny Sack's house rears its head. The feds have held onto it as a RICO predicate so that in addition to Carlo's likely testimony, a federal grand jury indictment against Tony is now on the horizon.
• Chekhov's Gunman: May or may not be subverted by the "Man in Members Only Jacket". Apparently, Steve Perry only let the show use "Don't Stop Believing" if no one died so in a way, Word of God says Tony survived. Unless Perry specifically meant if no one died on-screen...
• Close to Home: Carmela is visibly struck when she learns that Hunter is in her second year of med school, the very thing she wanted for Meadow. And Meadow is instead on her way to becoming a mob lawyer.
• Conspiracy Theorist: A.J. has an obsession with The War on Terror going on.
• Continuity Nod: Tony and Janice remember the joke about Janice blowing guys underneath "Boardwalk".
• The Corrupter: Tony has effectively become one for Agent Harris, who in the first few seasons was a By-the-Book Cop. His offer of aid to Tony for information on The War on Terror had previously been limited to writing a letter recommending leniency in sentencing should Tony ever get convicted. But Harris' hatred for Phil clouds his judgment, and he ends up becoming a party to Phil's murder.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: Phil is executed in front of his wife and grandchildren, and then gets his head crushed with his own van, offscreen. It's left unsaid if Tony gets retribution for this gory method/outcome, as killing any mobster in front of his family is a big no-no among members of the Mafia.
• Curse: Paulie being Paulie, he's prone to see one in just about anything.
  • He believes the cat staring at Chris' picture is a manifestation of one.
  • He's also reluctant to accept running the Aprile crew. He does have a point that everyone seen in-series being in charge of the crew before him has met a gruesome fate.
• Daddy's Little Villain: Meadow's transformation into an Amoral Attorney for the mob is complete by the end of the episode. And Tony is wearing a Cheshire Cat Grin on his face when he learns of it.
• Deadly Closing Credits: The series might have ended with this. Maybe. We don't really know for sure.
• Death by Irony: The ends with an infamous Ambiguous Ending, but it's very strongly implied that Tony suffered this in the final scene of the series. In "Johnny Cakes", A.J. mentions that Tony's favorite movie scene of all time is the famous scene in The Godfather where Michael Corleone shoots Sollozzo and Captain McCluskey in a restaurant after retrieving a hidden gun from the bathroom. It's very possible that Tony is murdered in exactly the same way; while having dinner with his family in a diner, he gets several suspicious glances from a mysterious fellow in a Members Only jacket, who is last seen walking into the bathroom. Of course, the screen abruptly cuts to black before we actually learn whether he lives or dies.
• Death by Recognition: One (of several) fan theories about the ending is that it's Tony having a heart attack as he sees who's entering the restaurant.
• Deceased Fall-Guy Gambit: While Tony and Butchie initially share tension during their meeting as they debate about who is responsible for escalating the New York-New Jersey war, Tony is able to calm things down by shifting blame from Phil to the late Johnny Sack, claiming that his insecurities created tension within the New York family which spilled over.
• Dirty Old Man: Paulie, checking out Bobby's niece Tara, who is around Meadow's age.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Mink is enjoying watching the stripper girls on the security camera while he's meeting with Tony.
• Downer Ending: Even though Phil Leotardo is killed and the New Jersey and New York crews have called a truce, everybody loses by the end:
  • The future of the DiMeo crime family is looking pretty grim; many of Tony's key guys are either dead or otherwise incapacitated, while most of the remaining members have lost faith in Tony's leadership, Carlo (one of the DiMeos' last trusted members) has elected to testify against the family, and it's implied that Patsy plans to either do the same or overthrow Tony.
  • While A.J. finally gets his life back on track, Meadow has completely embraced the Mafia Princess lifestyle, with prospects of becoming an Amoral Attorney (to the dismay of Carmela).
  • Uncle Junior completely loses himself and is left to die in a mental hospital.
  • Bobby's kids are stuck with Janice, who essentially becomes her and Tony's late mother Livia.
  • The final scene implies Tony might have just been murdered in front of his family; even if he wasn't, he's likely to be imprisoned on RICO charges due to Carlo's testimony. As he said all those years ago, the only endings for a guy like him are "dead or in the can."
  • Paulie and Patsy are the only main characters who don't have anything bad happen to them right away, so make of that what you will.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Butchie's actions might seem like those of The Starscream. But he's previously been loyal to Phil. His immediate motivation for his Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal of Phil is saving his own skin, to avoid the implied repercussions of a future "sit down" with Phil.
• Drugs Are Bad: One of the constant themes in Tony's business empire is to make money through illegal activities other than dealing drugs that receive less police scrutiny. He wants to stay out of drugs completely to avoid having subordinates turn on the family to avoid long prison terms. A classic example from season 2 having been Big Pussy. And sure enough, Jason Gervasi gets busted for dealing ecstasy, and that leads to Carlo, who's been privy to almost all of the family secrets, joining Witness Protection.
• Enemy Mine: Agent Harris initially declines Tony's request for information on Phil's whereabouts. But Harris, while carrying on with another FBI agent, remembers that Phil years ago tried to set up a female agent for a rape and beating. He calls Tony back to let him know that Phil has been making phone calls from payphones near gas stations in Oyster Bay.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
  • Tony suffers all kinds of hangups and mixed feelings over his children's career choices, even as he's pretty sure he's going to win against Phil.
  • Phil, in his last scene, is shown to be a Doting Grandparent to his two infant grandchildren.
  • Tony is on the verge of tears when he sees what's become of Uncle Junior, and as he's leaving.
• Freudian Slip: Agent Harris, once he hears that Phil has been taken out, enthusiastically declares, "Damn! We're gonna win this thing!" It amounts to admitting in front of another FBI agent that he got into bed with Tony and became a party to murder. The other agent gives him a look that screams What the Hell, Hero?
• Gainax Ending: A subtler example than most but the smash to black lends itself to this. This may or may not have signified Tony's death.
• Gory Discretion Shot: We definitely know Phil suffers a Head A-Splode as the wheel of his van drives over his head. But the camera focuses on his two grandkids in the backseat as we hear the accompanying Sickening "Crunch!".
• Hated by All: Any doubts that Phil has cemented himself into this status get removed during this episode. No one in the Jersey mob could stand to be near him. And now even his own New York family keeps him Locked Out of the Loop, and leaves him to his fate as the Jersey mob hunts him down.
• Head Crushing: Phil by his own van, after he's already been shot in the head.
• The Hero Dies: If Tony did die in the final scene, for the loosest definition of "hero" of course.
• Hope Spot: Phil is dead, peace has been negotiated with New York, and Tony finally gets to enjoy a normal dinner with his family again. Until a guy in a Members Only jacket walks into the diner...
  • Even if he isn't killed in the restaurant, Tony is likely facing indictment on some serious RICO charges that are hard to beat and carry long prison sentences. So Tony's life as he knows it is probably over regardless.
• Hypocrite: Throughout the series, Tony ridicules the stereotypical psychiatric patient whining about his mother. In the series finale, Tony delivers a self-pitying monologue about his hard childhood to A.J.'s therapist.
• Impersonating an Officer: Little Paulie questions a gas station attendant while flashing a fake badge. It's how the Jersey mob is able to narrow down their search for Phil to just two gas stations in Oyster Bay that have payphones.
• Interrupted by the End: The series infamously ended with the middle of the lyrics of "Don't Stop Believing" as part of its Gainax Ending.
  Don't stop—
• Interrupted Intimacy: A.J. and Rhiannon are getting it on inside their car. But they have to stop when they notice smoke coming up from beneath the car, and then have to flee the car altogether before it explodes in flames.
• It's All About Me: Uncle Pat correctly guesses that Janice is trying to get her hands on what's left of Uncle Junior's money for herself.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • After several episodes of getting away with beatings, murder and several other crimes, Phil finally meets his end courtesy of a headshot from Walden.
  • Regardless of how one interprets the ending, one way or another Tony's luck appears to be running out. Even if he wasn't killed when the cut to black happened, there's still the FBI's indictment hanging over his head due to Carlo choosing to testify against him. He could very well spend the rest of his life in prison depending on how the charges against him turn out.
• Killer Finale:
  • Phil, the Big Bad of seasons 5 and 6, is shot dead by Walden.
  • A very frequent interpretation of the cut to black is that Tony, the protagonist, is also murdered.
• Kind Hearted Cat Lover: Tony takes a liking to the cat at the safe house and brings it back to Satriale's. He even establishes a Protectorate over it against Paulie. It's pretty telling when Paulie makes as though to hit the cat with a broom but becomes visibly afraid when Tony walks in.
• Last Disrespects: Bobby's funeral party seems like a rather upbeat affair with the attendants caring more about the food than the man himself, Paulie flirting with Bobby's niece Tara (at least until he finds out she is his niece), Paulie unzipping his pants, the two Jasons cracking jokes, and so on.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal:
  • Phil chews Butchie out for failing to take out Tony. He also promises a future "sit down" with Butchie. It becomes a critical error in that the previously loyal Butchie is now fearful for his own skin and becomes open to betraying Phil to Tony.
  • Carlo's key motivation for flipping and joining Witness Protection is certainly to save his son, Jason, from a lengthy sentence for dealing Ecstasy. But one also can't help but wonder if Tony reaming his ass out for not bringing in as much as Vito, and worse still the suggestion that Carlo should start blowing men like Vito, had something to do with it as well.
• Nepotism: Tony gets A.J. a job with Little Carmine's movie production company.
• No Ending: One of the most iconic examples with the Smash to Black mid-scene, which ends the episode without a clear resolution. Either way, the DiMeo crime family's future doesn't look too bright with most of their major players out of the picture and Tony most likely about to be indicted, assuming he didn't get killed right in front of his family.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Butchie is visibly worried once his call with Phil ends.
  • Paulie is also worried once he adds two and two together and links Carlo's absence with Jason Gervasi getting busted for dealing in Ecstasy.
  • Tony has a worried look on his face once he realizes that Carlo has joined Witness Protection.
• One-Shot Character: George Paglieri, the retired boss of a different New York family, appears in only one scene and for the purpose of facilitating a critical meeting between Tony and Butchie.
• Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions: Tony is predictably irate with Paulie's paranoid behavior over perceived curses and the like.
• Papa Wolf: One of Carlo's motivations for joining Witness Protection is to save his son, Jason, from a lengthy sentence for dealing Ecstasy.
• Pet the Dog: Tony holds the hand of a comatose Silvio to comfort him.
• Promoted to Opening Titles: Maureen Van Zandt, who plays Gabriella Dante, is promoted to the main cast and billed in the opening credits but for this episode only. She is the final addition to the main cast.
• Reaction Shot: One explanation for the abrupt cut-to-black ending is that the final scene builds up a pattern of reaction shots establishing that we are seeing Tony being whacked, from Tony's point of view.
• Revenge Before Reason: Phil absolutely refuses to end the Mob War, no matter how much money everybody is losing and no matter how unlikely it is any of his minions will ever be able to locate Tony.
• Reverse Psychology: Indicating that he might give the leadership of the Aprile crew to Patsy is how Tony finally convinces Paulie to accept the offer.
• Riddle for the Ages: What happened to Tony after there was a Smash to Black? According to Paolo Colandrea, the scene was at least meant to be less ambiguous with his character coming out of the bathroom and walking towards Tony. Still doesn't explain if he was going to kill him or if he just wanted to talk to him.
• Ripped from the Headlines: Agent Harris tells another agent, "Damn! We're gonna win this thing!" It's based on a real-life FBI agent named Lindley DeVecchio saying the exact same words after learning of the murder of Mafioso Lorenzo "Larry" Lampasi. DeVecchio was subsequently charged with becoming a Mafia informer.
• Rule of Symbolism:
  • Butchie has a phone call with the abusive Phil, and he starts the call while walking down the street in the Little Italy area of NYC. Butchie finds himself in Chinatown by the time Phil hangs up on him, and he briefly looks around like a lost Fish out of Water before going back the way he came. A subtle cue that The Mafia has become the Vestigial Empire of American organized crime.
  • A.J.'s car going up in flames. Is consumerism synonymous with destruction?
  • Is the cat a representation of Adriana, with its fixation on Chris and with Adriana sometimes showing a feline Animal Motif while she was still alive?
  • Is the cat a confirmation of Dr. Melfi's conclusion from the previous episode that Tony is a true Sociopath beyond help? It is Truth in Television that sociopaths often feel more affection towards animals than human beings.
  • Neither Tony nor Mink (his Amoral Attorney) can get the ketchup out of that bottle. Is there no way out of the legal jam for Tony?
  • During dinner at Holsten's, A.J. repeats Tony's old advice about "remembering the good times". Turns out Tony has completely forgotten about that moment, showing how much things have changed since that dinner at Vesuvio's and how Tony's circumstances have changed for the worse.
  • Meadow, once she pulls up across from the Holsten's diner, attempts to parallel park. She's a miss the first two times. She gets it right the third time. The first two attempts to kill Tony when somebody managed to get close enough to him with a gun didn't come off. Will the third time be a charm?
  • Tony takes a moment to appreciate the outdoors once again in the midst of raking leaves but now the trees are bare and there's no wind to speak of. Has he fully abandoned the Ojibwe saying that helped him during his recovery at the beginning of the season?
• Scatterbrained Senior: Uncle Junior, more than ever. He confuses Janice for Livia and believes his accountant to be an alien from another galaxy.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: All Tony and Carmela wanted for their kids were lives outside the Mafia. While AJ may still have that chance with Little Carmine's movie production company, Meadow is firmly on the path to becoming a mob lawyer.
• Shout-Out: The man in the gray jacket eyeballing Tony before entering the diner washroom is obviously one to that famous scene from The Godfather.
• Sickening "Crunch!": The confirmation that Phil suffers a Head A-Splode is when we hear his bones crunching in as the camera focuses on his two grandkids in the backseat instead.
• Side Bet: Agent Harris is quite pleased to hear the news about Phil's death, and implies that he and some of his fellow agents had a bet going on whether the DiMeo family or the Lupertazzi family would end up on top in the Mob War.
• Small Role, Big Impact: Walden Belfiore, arguably the least-developed member of the Soprano crew and someone who had only entered the picture in the last five episodes of the series, is the one who ultimately takes out Phil Leotardo, making him the only character to murder a boss onscreen and the character with the show's last confirmed kill.
• Smash to Black: Infamously, the series ends this way, with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" cutting off mid-line.
• The Snack Is More Interesting: Tony is annoyed that his lawyer is preoccupied with a stubborn ketchup bottle while telling him that one of his captains has flipped. Tony rips the bottle out of his hands but is also unsuccessful in unclogging it.
• Stepford Smiler: Carmela, when it sinks in that Meadow is well on her way to becoming an Amoral Attorney for The Mafia.
• Suspiciously Apropos Music:
  • "It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" by Bob Dylan is playing while A.J. and Rhiannon are getting it on. The song itself is a critique of consumerism that coincides with A.J.'s growing Conspiracy Theorist tendencies, and the Symbolism of the SUV itself going up in flames.
  • Tony selects "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey. Is he clinging to the belief that he can somehow anyhow claw his way out of his legal and other problems? Can he continue to survive despite all that's recently happened?
• Take Care of the Kids: Part of Tony's deal with Butchie is to provide for Janice, as well as Bobby's kids.
• There's No Kill like Overkill: The New Jersey/New York mob war ends when Tony discovers Phil Leotardo's location and Benny Fazio and Walden Belfiore shoot Phil in the head at point-blank range outside his Ford Expedition. By sheer happenstance, Leotardo's dead body falls under the car and the large SUV rolls forward, crushing his skull.
• Too Dumb to Live: A.J. parking his hot car over a large pile of leaves.
• Uncertain Doom: Silvio is shown in a coma, and we never know whether he ever regains consciousness or not.
• Undignified Death: Walden gives Phil a fatal Boom, Headshot!. The van's wheel rolls over Phil's head and crushes his skull in with a Sickening "Crunch!". And multiple people are there to see the whole thing.
• The Un-Reveal: The episode had all the makings of a high tension close...only to fade to black without anything being resolved. What really happened? No one knows, but David Chase later squashed many of the free-floating theories.
• Villainous Breakdown: Tony starts having one while Mink informs him of the federal indictment that's looming on the horizon.
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: One of the Black kids who witnesses Phil's head A-Splode vomits afterward.
• You Are What You Hate:
  • Janice tells Tony, "Not that I get any thanks for it." Which is something Livia would say while unloading on Tony.
  • Meadow has gone from a principled girl who loathed The Mafia during the first two-three seasons, to an Amoral Attorney who will make a six-figure salary career out of defending Mafiosi being prosecuted.
• You Do Not Want To Know: The episode opens with Agent Harris telling Tony that Tony doesn't want to know what he's been busy with lately. Tony presses and Agent Harris tells him about a plot to sneak a bomber aboard a flight to London. Tony admits he would have preferred to remain ignorant afterward.
• You're Not My Father: Tony initially has this attitude towards Uncle Junior.

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