86 Days of The Sopranos
Season 6B, Episode 9: Made in America
In our 86 Days of The Sopranos we’re up to Season 6B, Episode 9: Made in America. Below are my impressions of this iconic series. Please provide your feedback in the replies…
** The series finale, the 86th and final episode of The Sopranos, begins with Tony waking up in the safe house with the gun by his bed. We then switch to Tony and Paulie waiting at the airport for FBI agent Harris. Tony meets with Harris and tells him about where Muhammad and Ahmed have a bank account. He then asks Harris if he knows where Phil is, but Harris is not interested in helping.
** Tony, his family and his crew all attend Bobby’s wedding. A.J. is still obsessed over world events and quoting Yeats. He's also still with Rhiannon, who shares a lot of his same feelings. They start to have sex for the first time in A.J.’s SUV but it catches on fire and they make it out just in time. Tony is livid at A.J. for parking on some dry leaves, but A.J. looks at is as an opportunity to ride the bus more and lower the U.S.’s dependance on foreign oil.
** Surprisingly, Agent Harris calls Tony and tips him off to Phil’s location, which is close to a gas station in Long Island where he’s using a pay phone. Tony has a couple of guys surveil the gas station while he meets with Butchie, who tells Tony that Phil has changed and they’ll back down. Tony asks about Phil’s location. Butchie won’t reveal it but tells Tony to, “do what you’ve got to do.” Butchie also agrees to help Janice. They shake on it.
** A.J. meets with a new therapist, who gives off a lot of Dr. Melfi vibes including the same pose sitting in a chair. He says he felt cleansed watching his car burn. Later he tells Tony he wants to join the army. He wants to become a helicopter pilot and eventually pilot Trump’s chopper.
** Carlo goes missing and is suspected of flipping to the feds. Tony asks Paulie to take charge of their crew, but he wants to think about it. Paulie is more obsessed with a stray cat that’s showed up.
** Tony and Carmela meet with A.J.’s therapist. Tony starts talking about himself and Livia. Carmela rolls her eyes right out of her head. Later, Tony has lunch with Meadow who says if she hadn’t seen him dragged away by the FBI all those times, she probably would have been a boring doctor.
** Walden catches up with Phil and shoots him dead in front of his wife and with their grandchildren in the backseat. She leaves the car in drive as she jumps out and it slowly rolls over Phil’s head.
** Tony and Carmela meet with A.J. and arrange for him to work with Little Carmine’s film company out in Los Angeles as a development executive.
** Tony meets with his lawyer, who tells him Carlo has likely flipped and there’s an 80-90 percent chance he’ll be indicted on the federal gun charge.
** Tony visits Silvio in the hospital. He’s still hooked up on life support. Paulie turns down the promotion because the previous capos of that crew have all died. Paulie tells Tony he saw the Virgin Mary at Bada Bing one time, and Tony cracks a joke. Tony mentions giving Patsy the job, which convinces Paulie to take it instead. As Tony walks away, Paulie holds out a reflector to shine sun on his face and a cat strolls up.
** Time has gone by as we see A.J. in a BMW picking up Rhiannon at school. Carmela tells him they’re going out to dinner tonight because she has to meet with carpenters. Tony is raking the leaves in his backyard looking up in the trees when Carmela comes out. He tells her he’ll meet her for dinner.
** Tony goes to visit Junior. He’s worried about Janice trying to steal what’s left of his money and wants him to leave it to Bobby’s kids. Junior doesn’t remember Bobby or recognize Tony, and doesn’t recall being in the mob and running north Jersey with his brother. Tony leaves disappointed.
** Tony arrives at the restaurant first and plays Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey on the jukebox. Carmela walks in and sits down. They exchange small talk and then Tony tells her Carlo is going to testify. An Italian man in a Member’s Only jacket walks in followed by A.J. The man sits down at the bar and keeps looking back at Tony’s table. Meadow does a horrible job parallel parking. A.J. reminds Tony of when he told him to try to remember the times that were good. The man gets up and goes to the bathroom (like Michael in the Godfather?), they deliver a big plate of onion rings, Meadow starts to walk in, a bell rings and the screen goes black and the silent credits roll. THE END.
** Journey lead singer Steve Perry initially said no to David Chase about playing Don’t Stop Believin’ because he was worried it would always be associated with Tony being whacked. Chase assured him it wouldn’t and Perry finally gave approval just three days before the episode aired.
** Made in America, written by Chase, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. it was Chase’s third writing Emmy from the series. Overall, The Sopranos won 21 Emmys and five Golden Globes. It’s ranked as the best-written T.V. series of all time by the Writers Guild of America and the best T.V. series off all time by T.V. Guide and Rolling Stone.
** In 2018, New Line Cinema bought the rights to a Sopranos prequel movie called The Many Saints of Newark set in the 1960’s during the riots. It’s written by Chase and stars Michael Gandolfini, the son of James Gandolfini, as a young Tony. It’s scheduled to be released March 12, 2021.
Murder count: One in episode, 61 in series
What were your impressions of Made in America…
Season 6B, Episode 9: Made in America
In our 86 Days of The Sopranos we’re up to Season 6B, Episode 9: Made in America. Below are my impressions of this iconic series. Please provide your feedback in the replies…
** The series finale, the 86th and final episode of The Sopranos, begins with Tony waking up in the safe house with the gun by his bed. We then switch to Tony and Paulie waiting at the airport for FBI agent Harris. Tony meets with Harris and tells him about where Muhammad and Ahmed have a bank account. He then asks Harris if he knows where Phil is, but Harris is not interested in helping.
** Tony, his family and his crew all attend Bobby’s wedding. A.J. is still obsessed over world events and quoting Yeats. He's also still with Rhiannon, who shares a lot of his same feelings. They start to have sex for the first time in A.J.’s SUV but it catches on fire and they make it out just in time. Tony is livid at A.J. for parking on some dry leaves, but A.J. looks at is as an opportunity to ride the bus more and lower the U.S.’s dependance on foreign oil.
** Surprisingly, Agent Harris calls Tony and tips him off to Phil’s location, which is close to a gas station in Long Island where he’s using a pay phone. Tony has a couple of guys surveil the gas station while he meets with Butchie, who tells Tony that Phil has changed and they’ll back down. Tony asks about Phil’s location. Butchie won’t reveal it but tells Tony to, “do what you’ve got to do.” Butchie also agrees to help Janice. They shake on it.
** A.J. meets with a new therapist, who gives off a lot of Dr. Melfi vibes including the same pose sitting in a chair. He says he felt cleansed watching his car burn. Later he tells Tony he wants to join the army. He wants to become a helicopter pilot and eventually pilot Trump’s chopper.
** Carlo goes missing and is suspected of flipping to the feds. Tony asks Paulie to take charge of their crew, but he wants to think about it. Paulie is more obsessed with a stray cat that’s showed up.
** Tony and Carmela meet with A.J.’s therapist. Tony starts talking about himself and Livia. Carmela rolls her eyes right out of her head. Later, Tony has lunch with Meadow who says if she hadn’t seen him dragged away by the FBI all those times, she probably would have been a boring doctor.
** Walden catches up with Phil and shoots him dead in front of his wife and with their grandchildren in the backseat. She leaves the car in drive as she jumps out and it slowly rolls over Phil’s head.
** Tony and Carmela meet with A.J. and arrange for him to work with Little Carmine’s film company out in Los Angeles as a development executive.
** Tony meets with his lawyer, who tells him Carlo has likely flipped and there’s an 80-90 percent chance he’ll be indicted on the federal gun charge.
** Tony visits Silvio in the hospital. He’s still hooked up on life support. Paulie turns down the promotion because the previous capos of that crew have all died. Paulie tells Tony he saw the Virgin Mary at Bada Bing one time, and Tony cracks a joke. Tony mentions giving Patsy the job, which convinces Paulie to take it instead. As Tony walks away, Paulie holds out a reflector to shine sun on his face and a cat strolls up.
** Time has gone by as we see A.J. in a BMW picking up Rhiannon at school. Carmela tells him they’re going out to dinner tonight because she has to meet with carpenters. Tony is raking the leaves in his backyard looking up in the trees when Carmela comes out. He tells her he’ll meet her for dinner.
** Tony goes to visit Junior. He’s worried about Janice trying to steal what’s left of his money and wants him to leave it to Bobby’s kids. Junior doesn’t remember Bobby or recognize Tony, and doesn’t recall being in the mob and running north Jersey with his brother. Tony leaves disappointed.
** Tony arrives at the restaurant first and plays Don’t Stop Believin’ by Journey on the jukebox. Carmela walks in and sits down. They exchange small talk and then Tony tells her Carlo is going to testify. An Italian man in a Member’s Only jacket walks in followed by A.J. The man sits down at the bar and keeps looking back at Tony’s table. Meadow does a horrible job parallel parking. A.J. reminds Tony of when he told him to try to remember the times that were good. The man gets up and goes to the bathroom (like Michael in the Godfather?), they deliver a big plate of onion rings, Meadow starts to walk in, a bell rings and the screen goes black and the silent credits roll. THE END.
** Journey lead singer Steve Perry initially said no to David Chase about playing Don’t Stop Believin’ because he was worried it would always be associated with Tony being whacked. Chase assured him it wouldn’t and Perry finally gave approval just three days before the episode aired.
** Made in America, written by Chase, won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series. it was Chase’s third writing Emmy from the series. Overall, The Sopranos won 21 Emmys and five Golden Globes. It’s ranked as the best-written T.V. series of all time by the Writers Guild of America and the best T.V. series off all time by T.V. Guide and Rolling Stone.
** In 2018, New Line Cinema bought the rights to a Sopranos prequel movie called The Many Saints of Newark set in the 1960’s during the riots. It’s written by Chase and stars Michael Gandolfini, the son of James Gandolfini, as a young Tony. It’s scheduled to be released March 12, 2021.
Murder count: One in episode, 61 in series
What were your impressions of Made in America…
