The Blue Comet

Written by series creator and showrunner David Chase and Matthew Weiner, and directed by Alan Taylor, it originally aired in the United States on HBO on June 3, 2007, two weeks after the preceding episode.

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.

Tony decides to act first and kill Phil, using the "cousins," the Italian hitmen who performed the hit on Rusty Millio.

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.

At night, Tony, Paulie, Carlo, Walden Belfiore and Dante Greco drive to an old suburban safe house.

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.

"[12] Chase called up Steve Schirripa in January 2007 to inform him about the inclusion of his character Bobby Baccalieri's death in the episode.

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 of Petey B. in this episode (a character also named after him), one of the Lupertazzi crime family hoodlums.

[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 on Manhattan's Mulberry Street, New York City.

[20] Janice and Bobby's residence, formerly owned by Johnny Sack, appears briefly in the episode; the scene was shot on location in North Caldwell, New Jersey.

[17] According to Nielsen ratings, "The Blue Comet" attracted an average of eight million American viewers when first broadcast in the United States on HBO on Sunday June 3, 2007.

[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.

The episode was also praised for story elements concerning the escalation of the conflict between the rivaling Mafia families of the show and for the conclusion that it brought to the professional and personal relationship between the characters Tony Soprano and Jennifer Melfi.

Tom Biro of television webblog TV 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."

"[30] Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote "In this penultimate episode (which David 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.

"[31] Heather Havrilesky of Salon wrote "No sad music, no slow motion, no teary funeral, no time for condolences.

[34] Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment 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.

"[35] Matt Zoller Seitz of Slant Magazine described the episode as "the most atypically typical whack-fest the show has served up in quite some time" and "an orgy of Mafia mayhem."

"[37][38] Brian Tallerico of UGO 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 of IGN 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.

Bracco had previously been nominated three times in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for playing Jennifer Melfi.