Kennedy and Heidi

Infobox Television episode
Title = Kennedy and Heidi
Series = The Sopranos


Caption = Tony and Christopher meeting with Phil Leotardo and Butchie
Season = 6
Episode = 18
Airdate = Start date|2007|5|13
Production =
Writer = Matthew Weiner and
David Chase
Director = Alan Taylor
Photographer =
Guests = "see below"
Episode list = List of "The Sopranos" episodes
Season list = Infobox The Sopranos season six
Prev =
Next ="Kennedy and Heidi" is the eighty-third episode of the HBO television series "The Sopranos". It is the sixth episode of the second half of the show's sixth season (the broadcast of which was split into two parts) and is the eighteenth episode of the season overall. It was written by executive producer Matthew Weiner and series creator/executive producer David Chase and was directed by longtime series director Alan Taylor. It originally aired in the United States on May 13, 2007.

Episode recap

The episode begins with a meeting between the New York and New Jersey families. They're discussing asbestos removal and how Phil Leotardo was unaware that Tony was dumping asbestos. Phil asks for a 25% cut of what they get for dumping but Tony rejects his offer. After the unsuccessful meeting Tony and Christopher drive home along a winding road in the middle of the night. Tony talks with Christopher about the events of the past year, including his shooting at the hands of Uncle Junior. Christopher, appearing noticeably high and distracted, maintains the conversation on a subsistence level, while his driving becomes increasingly erratic. While fumbling with the car's radio buttons, Christopher swerves into the opposite lane, nearly hitting a sedan (containing two teenage girls named Kennedy and Heidi, who flee the accident for fear of arrest and revocation of learner's permit). Christopher's Cadillac Escalade EXT avoids the oncoming vehicle, only to veer off the road, flipping over many times and finally coming to rest at the bottom of a hill. Tony suffers minor injuries while Christopher, not having worn his seatbelt, is suffering from a crushed rib cage. Christopher asks Tony for help, telling him that he will never pass a drug test and will lose his driver's license. Tony, shaken and distraught, exits the car, making his way to Christopher's side, and begins to dial 9-1-1 on his cell phone. However, he notices the impaled baby seat where Chris' daughter, Caitlin, could have been. After a brief second of eye contact between the two, Tony closes his phone and kills Christopher by holding his nostrils shut, causing him to choke on his own blood. Afterward, Tony dials 9-1-1.

Tony is rushed to the emergency room of Saint Clare's Hospital in Denville, where he calls Carmela to tell her about the accident. Largely unscathed, Tony is home the next morning, and is visited by the members of his crime family who all lament the death of Christopher. Tony is ambivalent towards Christopher's passing, and has a dream in which he admits to Dr. Melfi that he killed Big Pussy Bonpensiero, his cousin Tony Blundetto, and Christopher. In reality, Tony finds himself unable to discuss his true feelings about Christopher's death with anyone, only hinting to Carmela that he feels relieved.

During the preparations for Christopher's wake, Tony hears that Paulie Walnuts' adoptive mother Nucci Gualtieri has died of a stroke. (In an earlier episode Paulie's true mother, who was dying, revealed that Nucci was actually Paulie's aunt and had adopted him on account of Paulie's real mother being unwed and subsequently became a nun.) The Soprano family and associates attend Christopher's wake in morbid celebrity fashion, with Tony appearing noticeably disgusted by the ostentatious display of Mafia grief. Meanwhile, Nucci's wake is poorly attended, deeply upsetting Paulie, which he admits to Tony during Tony's brief appearance at the ceremony.

Fed up with the outpouring of grief over Christopher, Tony makes arrangements to fly to Las Vegas on a private plane to get away from the sadness back home. In Vegas, Tony meets up with Sonya, a beautiful exotic dancer with whom Christopher used to spend time. He tells her that Christopher has died, and she begins to accompany him during his Vegas trip. The two have sex, smoke marijuana and take peyote together, with an inebriated Tony winning a large amount of money on roulette while high on mescaline. Believing his recent bad luck has ended, he mumbles happily, "he's dead," and subsequently collapses in a laughing fit on the casino floor. While in Vegas, Tony receives a phone call from Phil Leotardo in New York, insincerely offering condolences for Christopher's passing, while providing no relief for the original asbestos impasse. Somewhat later, a truck is shown dumping asbestos into the Meadowlands, while the sound of ducks can be heard in the distance. The episode concludes with Tony and Sonya looking out on the Nevada desert. Tony sees the sun flicker in the distance. He stands up to walk towards it. Both crying and laughing, he yells out at the sun, "I get it. I get it!"

In a side story, A.J. Soprano is spending time at the college with Jason Parisi, Jason Gervasi, and Mark Iscaro. The boy that they tortured last episode for not paying his gambling debts is revealed to have had some toes amputated due to damage from the sulfuric acid that they used. Gervasi carelessly opens his car door causing a Somalian college student to crash his bicycle. A.J.'s friends pick a fight with the bicyclist, call him a "nigger," and then beat him up. One of the boys throws the bike in the path of an oncoming vehicle and it is crushed. A.J. does not participate in the bullying apart from shoving the youth away from him when he stumbles. The incident visibly disturbs him and he later laments to his therapist.

A.J. tells his therapist he has begun taking college courses again and is taken in particular with one that deals with the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Displaying a show of interest, A.J. remarks that "nobody knew who started it." This, combined with (and in relation to) his experience during the morally confusing beating of the Somalian biker causes A.J. to exhibit symptoms of extreme distress. He ends by quoting Rodney King, imploring "Can't we all just get along?"

Guest starring

* Christiana Anbri as Heidi
* Gregory Antonacci as Butch DeConcini
* Daniel Baldwin as Himself
* Bambadjan Bamba as Cyclist
* Denise Borino-Quinn as Ginny Sacrimoni
* Elizabeth Bracco as Marie Spatafore
* Chris Bashinelli as Kevin
* Leah Bezozo as Kennedy
* Cara Buono as Kelli Moltisanti
* Lindsay Campbell as Professor Kline
* Max Casella as Benny Fazio
* John Cenatiempo as Anthony Maffei
* John "Cha Cha" Ciarcia as Albie Cianflone
* Michael Countryman as Dr. Richard Vogel
* Michael Drayer as Jason Parisi
* Ray DeMattis as Gerry Gaultieri
* William DeMeo as Jason Molinaro
* Elizabeth Dennis as Andrea
* Danielle Di Vecchio as Barbara Giglione
* Frances Ensemplare as Nucci Gualtieri
* Frank John Hughes as Walden Belfiore
* Phyllis Kay as Rita Lombardo
* Mark La Mura as Alan Kaplan
* Jonathan LaPaglia as Himself
* Marianne Leone as Joanne Moltisanti
* Julianna Margulies as Julianna Skiff
* Michelle Maryk as Jo Lewis
* Arthur Nascarella as Carlo Gervasi
* Vinnie Orofino as Bryan Spatafore
* Dennis Paldino as Al Lombardo
* Artie Pasquale as Burt Gervasi
* Dina Pearlman as Ellen Reinstein
* Joey Perillo as John Stefano
* Ryan Sullivan as Jason Gervasi
* Miceky Pizzo as Sal Pisano
* Joe Pucillo as Beppy Scerbo
* Anthony J. Ribustello as Dante Greco
* Sarah Shahi as Sonya Aragon
* Sejal Shah as Chandrakanta Pisano
* Zuzanna Szadkowski as Elżbieta
* Maureen Van Zandt as Gabriella Dante
* Ed Vassallo as Tom Giglione
* Marc Wolf as Mark Lewis
* John Wu as Morgan Yam

Deceased

* Christopher Moltisanti: suffocated by Tony after suffering massive trauma in a car accident
* Marianucci Gualtieri: stroke

Title reference

* Kennedy and Heidi are the names of the teenage girls driving the car that nearly collides with Christopher's vehicle. Heidi refuses to stop after the accident for fear of losing her learner's permit from the curfew violation.
* "Sonia" was the working title for this episode.

Music

The song played over the end credits is "Minos De Cobre(For Better Metal) by Calexico.

Awards

* The following actors submitted this episode as their 2007 Emmy choice: Julianna Margulies (Julianna Skiff), Cara Buono (Kelli Moltisanti), Marianne Leone Cooper (Joanne Moltisanti), Maureen Van Zandt (Gabriella Dante), John Ventimiglia (Artie Bucco) and Sarah Shahi (Sonya Aragon). Ventimiglia didn't have any lines in the episode.
* Episode director Alan Taylor won an Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards.

References to prior episodes

* In a previous episode "Mayham," Tony Soprano sees flashes of light on the horizon during his dream while in a coma. In one scene, he asks what the flashes are, but the audience does not hear the answer. In this episode "Kennedy and Heidi," Tony sees a similar flash of light from the sunset as he and Sonya are under the influence of peyote. To this, Tony shouts "I get it!"
* In the episode preceding this one, "Walk Like a Man", Tony sings lyrics from the Pink Floyd song "Comfortably Numb". The version of the song from "The Departed" soundtrack is played by Chris in the car immediately before the accident.
* In the pilot episode when Christopher is first introduced, he is seen wearing a baseball cap and driving Tony around. Right before he dies, he is wearing a baseball cap and driving Tony around. According to an article in "TV Guide", Michael Imperioli states that he does not know if this is intentional or a coincidence.
* Christopher and Tony are driving an SUV that flips. Tony and Adriana flip an SUV in "Irregular Around the Margins", a source of later tension between Christopher and Tony.
* Right after the scene when Christopher's death is confirmed to Kelli, a crow can be heard crowing off camera just prior to Sil and Paulie entering Tony's room to offer condolences. Christopher saw a crow after becoming a made man in "Fortunate Son" which he interpreted as a bad omen.
* One rumor is that Christopher's time of death was reported at 3:00 by the hospital staff. 3:00 is the time that was given to Chris by Mikey Palmice and Brendan Filone when Christopher had a near death experience and went to hell. This isn't true, however. The X-Ray attendant who preps Tony upon his arrival to the hospital wears a watch that reads 1:00. Also, when Kelli is told of Christopher's death, "Late Show with David Letterman" is on TV; that program was normally seen from 11:35PM to 12:35AM, and would've been over by the time the events unfolded.

External links

* [http://www.hbo.com/sopranos/ HBO.com — "The Sopranos" official website]
*imdb title|0141842|The Sopranos
*imdb title|0995836|"Kennedy and Heidi"