| "The Blue Comet" | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| The Sopranos episode | |||
| Episodeno. | Season 6 Episode 20 | ||
| Directed by | Alan Taylor | ||
| Written by | |||
| Featured music |
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| Cinematography by | Phil Abraham | ||
| Editing by | William B. Stich | ||
| Production code | S620 | ||
| Original air date | June 3, 2007 (2007-06-03) | ||
| Running time | 50 minutes | ||
| Episode chronology | |||
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| The Sopranosseason 6 | |||
| List of episodes | |||
"The Blue Comet" is the 20th episode of thesixth season of the American television seriesThe Sopranos. Written by series creator andshowrunnerDavid Chase andMatthew Weiner, and directed byAlan Taylor, it originally aired in theUnited States onHBO on June 3, 2007, two weeks afterthe preceding episode.
* = credit only
A.J. recognizes another patient:Rhiannon Flammer,Hernan O'Brien's old girlfriend, who has had "food issues" and depression. After discharge, they continue seeing each other.
Jennifer Melfi is at a dinner party with colleagues, includingElliot Kupferberg. The conversation turns to a recent study claiming criminalsociopaths take advantage oftalk therapy. Kupferberg angers and shocks her by revealing that Tony Soprano is her patient. However, she reads the study at home and is convinced of its findings. At his next session, Tony wavers between contempt for A.J.'s depression and gratitude for his in-patient care. Her responses become sarcastic and aggressive. When she says she intends to cease treating him, he is taken aback and hurt: "We're making progress! It's been seven years!" She says, "Since you are in crisis, I don't want to waste your time." She waits for him to go, then closes the door on him.
Janice tells Tony that, as far as they can tell,Junior's money has run out, and she asks him to contribute, together with her andBobby, so that he does not have to go into a state institution. Tony scornfully refuses.
SilviogarrotesSopranosoldierBurt Gervasi, who has been negotiating with the New York family.Phil speaks contemptuously toAlbie andButchie about "this pygmy thing over in Jersey." "We decapitate, and do business with whatever's left," he says. "Make it happen." Butchie and Albie meet with their own subordinates and order the murders of Tony, Silvio, and Bobby to be done swiftly in one 24-hour period. The police learn that something is going on, and AgentHarris warns Tony that his life may be in danger.
Tony decides to act first and kill Phil, using the "cousins," theItalian hitmen whoperformed the hit on Rusty Millio. The order is eventually passed down toCorky Caporale, who makes contact with them. But Phil is in hiding, and they kill the wrong man, the father of Phil'scomare — and kill his comare, too.
Tony realizes the urgent danger, and orders Silvio to tell everyone in the family to go to their safe house, but it is too late. Almost simultaneously, Bobby is killed in a model railway store and, leaving the Bada Bing together, Silvio and Patsy are intercepted by two Lupertazzi hit men. Silvio is shot several times and severely wounded; the doctors say he may never regain consciousness. Patsy escapes unhurt.
Tony goes home and breaks the news to Carmela. He is going to a safe house; she must go to some other safe place. He goes upstairs to A.J.'s bedroom, where he now spends most of his time. Rhiannon is there and Tony sends her away. A.J. is in bed. Tony tries to explain things gently. When A.J. starts whimpering, he pulls him out of bed and throws him onto the floor.
At night, Tony, Paulie, Carlo,Walden Belfiore andDante Greco drive to an old suburbansafe house. Tony goes upstairs and lies down fully clothed, holding theAR-10rifle that Bobby gave him for his birthday.
"The Blue Comet" marks the final appearances inThe Sopranos of these main or longtime recurring characters:
The episode's general plot outline was developed collectively by the writing staff ofThe Sopranos, which for the second part of the sixth season consisted ofshowrunner andhead writerDavid Chase, executive producer and co-showrunner[5][6]Terence Winter, executive producerMatthew Weiner and supervising producers and writing teamDiane Frolov andAndrew Schneider.[7]After the main story had been outlined, thescript for "The Blue Comet" was written by Chase and Weiner.[7] It is Chase's 29th writing credit for the series (includingstory credits) and Weiner's 12th and final. The penultimate episode marks the fifth time Chase and Weiner have collaborated on aThe Sopranos script, following "The Test Dream" of season five and "Kaisha" (also with Winter), "Soprano Home Movies" (also with Frolov and Schneider) and "Kennedy and Heidi" of season six.[8]
The research study that Elliot Kupferberg introduces to Jennifer Melfi, which she later carefully reads and which makes her decide to finally drop Tony Soprano as her patient, is an actual three-volume study calledThe Criminal Personality, written by Dr. Samuel Yochelson and Dr.Stanton Samenow, published between 1977 and 1986.[9][10] David Chase discovered the study when he and someSopranos writers attended a psychiatric conference. Chase further asked forensic psychologist Nancy Duggan to analyze Tony Soprano's mental state and the progress of his psychotherapy with Melfi; Duggan also opined that talk therapy was enabling Melfi's patient to commit crimes and justify his actions for himself.The Criminal Personality greatly impressed Chase after he read it and he decided that its introduction in the show would spell the end of Tony and Melfi's psychotherapy story arc in the series.[10] After the airing of the episode, psychotherapists reported an outpouring of questions and concern from their clientele about the ethics of dropping patients unilaterally.[10] Chase also commented about the seeming lack of finality in Tony Soprano's therapy, stating that its depiction was most realistic as psychotherapy most often is marked with moments of progress but is essentially an endless process until one party decides he or she has had enough of it.[11]Lorraine Bracco said she was "upset" at the way her character was written off the show. She said, "I just felt like he wanted me to get rid of Tony. I felt that he did it in a very abrupt way. I don't think that she should have done it that way. I would have liked for it to have been more meaningful. I think she cared for Tony. Even though he was a fuck-up and he was never going to really straighten out. But I think she really cared for him. You don't spend seven years with someone and then discard them. I felt bad about that."[12]
Chase called upSteve Schirripa in January 2007 to inform him about the inclusion of his character Bobby Baccalieri's death in the episode. Schirripa found surprising Chase's way to tell him, as Chase usually took the actors of the show aside at readthrough and told them how their characters would die once it was decided to kill off their characters. Once Chase arrived, Schirripa deduced that his visit was to discuss his character's death, leading Chase to tell him how Bobby would be killed in a train store. After that, Schirripa told Chase about his hopes of having impressed him with his work in the show; Chase assured him he was happy with the work Schirripa did forThe Sopranos.[13]
The cardboard cutout of the character Silvio Dante that appears near the end of the episode in the safehouse was added by the writers as a way to give the character some sort of presence in the scene. The writers created the safehouse as an unoccupied house kept for emergencies and storage of various items, such as the promotional cutout of Silvio for the Bada Bing!.[14]
Peter Bucossi, the stunt coordinator for the show for all six seasons, plays the role ofPetey B. in this episode (a character also named after him), one of the Lupertazzi crime family hoodlums. Petey is the driver of "Ray Ray" D'Abaldo's car that attacks Silvio and Patsy when they attempt to flee the Bada Bing!.
"The Blue Comet" was directed byAlan Taylor andphotographed byPhil Abraham. Both had worked intermittently on the show in the same capacities since the first season. The penultimate episode marks Taylor's ninth credit as director and Abraham's 47th credit asdirector of photography; it is the final credit of the series for both. Before filming commenced, David Chase and Taylor held a pre-production director's meeting—called a "tone meeting" by the crew—in which Chase explained how he envisioned the filming of the episode's scenes in great detail and provided directions for Taylor to follow duringprincipal photography.[15][16]
"The Blue Comet" wasfilmed in January and February 2007, primarily atthe show's usual filming locations: exterior and some interior scenes were filmed on location inNew Jersey andNew York while the majority of the interior scenes were shot atSilvercup Studios,New York City.[17][18]The Soprano residence, meat market Satriale's, strip club Bada Bing! and Italian restaurant Nuovo Vesuvio—four of the most frequently recurring and recognizable backdrops of the series—are all featured prominently in the episode.[1][2] Bobby Baccalieri's death scene was filmed on February 14 at a train store inLong Island. Despite this, Steven Schirripa still returned for somepick-ups after filming his character's death.[13]
Some scenes were set in environments not typically featured in the series. The gunfire scene that takes place in amodel railroading store was filmed on location at a store called Trainland inLynbrook, New York.[19]Scenes set at the Averna Social Club, a meeting place for the Lupertazzi family in the context of the series, were filmed at a bar onManhattan'sMulberry Street, New York City.[20]Janice and Bobby's residence, formerly owned byJohnny Sack, appears briefly in the episode; the scene was shot on location inNorth Caldwell, New Jersey.[21][12]
Theediting of "The Blue Comet" was done by William B. Stich in close consultation with Chase. During post-production, Chase selectedthe music for the episode, using previously recorded and released songs he saw fit for particular scenes and rearranged the filmed scenes into their final order.[22]Some filmed scenes were cut during editing. One involved the character Burt Gervasi telling Silvio Dante that Gervasi has begun cooperating with the Lupertazzi family, a scene that was meant as a setup for the murder that ended up as the episode's opening.[17]
According toNielsen ratings, "The Blue Comet" attracted an average of eight million American viewers when first broadcast in theUnited States onHBO on Sunday June 3, 2007. This was the show's second best ratings for the second part of the sixth season. Only the following week'sseries finale, which drew 11.9 million viewers, received higher numbers.[23][24]
"The Blue Comet" received universal acclaim following its original broadcast and has since then frequently been named by critics as one of the best episodes of the series.[14][25][26][27][28]Much praise was directed at the episode's pacing and efficient build-up of suspense as well as the execution of the gunfire scenes toward the end of the episode. The episode was also praised for story elements concerning the escalation of the conflict between the rivalingMafia families of the show and for the conclusion that it brought to the professional and personal relationship between the charactersTony Soprano andJennifer Melfi.
Tom Biro oftelevisionwebblogTV Squad was impressed with the episode because of "the way we're beginning to close the door on the lives of some people and get an idea on who will be around at the end and who won't" and because "we're treated to something thrilling not only in story, but visually as well." Biro awarded "The Blue Comet" the site's highest score of 7.[29]Geoffrey Dunn ofMetro Silicon Valley stated that "Chase orchestrated the tension to a full crescendo."[30]Tim Goodman of theSan Francisco Chronicle wrote "In this penultimate episode (whichDavid Chase co-wrote), you can see the veil of surprise, of artistic feints, red herrings, theory-bating and any other cool narrative device totally vanish. It's as if things snuck up on us. Time is not just running out, it's almost all gone. Action needed to step forth and be counted. And so, true to form historically, the second to last episode had more than it's [sic] fair share of Big Moments." Goodman also called Bobby's death scene "priceless" and "Really well done."[31]Heather Havrilesky ofSalon wrote "No sad music, no slow motion, no teary funeral, no time for condolences. When the blood-dimmed tide finally rolled in during last night's penultimateSopranos episode, an eerie quiet settled in."[32]Matt Roush ofTV Guide gave the episode a favorable review, writing "TV's landmark family crime drama went on a bloody rampage this week, just as we expected might happen in the next-to-last episode. [...] It was a sensational way to get us primed for Sunday's series finale."[33]
Maureen Ryan of theChicago Tribune wrote that "[The] second-to-last episode was certainly a classic" and praised it for its suspenseful storytelling.[34]Lisa Schwarzbaum ofEntertainment Weekly offered "The Blue Comet" a favorable estimation, writing "Every moment in this bloody, bullet-riddled penultimate episode is about regular, familiar old ways that have now gone terribly, irreversibly awry. [...] In the last hours of this epic drama, every detail glitters with bitter meaning."[35]Matt Zoller Seitz ofSlant Magazine described the episode as "the most atypically typicalwhack-fest the show has served up in quite some time" and "an orgy of Mafia mayhem." Zoller Seitz also praised the final therapy scene between Tony Soprano and Jennifer Melfi for its depth.[36]Alan Sepinwall ofThe Star Ledger called the penultimate episode "one of the best—and certainly one of the busiest—episodes in the history ofThe Sopranos," further describing it as "a superb, scary, thrilling episode." He also characterized Bobby's death scene as "a little masterpiece of editing."[37][38]Brian Tallerico ofUGO called the episode "mind-blowing" and "intense," wrote that "[he] really didn't expect David Chase to take his show out with this much gunfire" and gave it an "A," the site's second-highest score.[39]Brian Zoromski ofIGN awarded the episode a score of 9.1 out of 10, writing "Overall, 'Blue Comet' was a very well done, sometimes shocking, build-up to next week's series finale."[40]
In 2007,Lorraine Bracco was nominated for anEmmy Award in the category ofOutstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her performance in "The Blue Comet" but lost toGrey's Anatomy'sKatherine Heigl at the59th Primetime Emmy Awards. Bracco had previously been nominated three times in the category ofOutstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for playing Jennifer Melfi.[41]In 2008, sound mixers Mathew Price, Kevin Burns and Todd Orr were nominated for aCinema Audio Society Award in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing – Television.[42]
