All Due Respect (The Sopranos)

"All Due Respect"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.	Season 5 Episode 65
Directed by	John Patterson
Written by	David Chase and Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess
Original air date	June 6, 2004 (2004-06-06)
Guest stars
see below
Episode chronology
← Previous "Long Term Parking" Next → "Members Only"

"All Due Respect" is the sixty-fifth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the finale of the show's fifth season. It was written by David Chase, Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, directed by John Patterson and originally aired on Sunday June 6, 2004.

Guest starring roles

• Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin
• Tom Aldredge as Hugh De Angelis
• Denise Borino as Ginny Sacrimoni
• Max Casella as Benny Fazio
• Tony Darrow as Larry Boy Barese
• Jessica Dunphy as Devin Pillsbury
• Robert Funaro as Eugene Pontecorvo

• Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore
• Marianne Leone as Joanne Moltisanti
• George Loros as Raymond Curto
• David Margulies as Neil Mink
• Arthur Nascarella as Carlo Gervasi
• Vinny Vella as Jimmy Petrille
• Frank Vincent as Phil Leotardo

Episode recap

Tony Soprano is forced to make a decision regarding his cousin Tony Blundetto. With the Lupertazzi family continuing to press violence onto Soprano soldiers, particularly Benny, and threatening Christopher, Tony knows he must reluctantly take action. At Raymond Curto's birthday dinner, Tony delivers a speech regarding the position the family currently is in. He states that "[they] must deal with this as a family and those of [them] who are not with him... will be dealt with in time". However, the soldiers are not giving up without a fight. Vito Spatafore states that he would be willing to die for a good cause, but that this situation is "bullshit". At the pork store, Larry Boy Barese and associates discuss Tony's favoritism towards his cousin Tony B. and that he probably would have surrendered anyone else.

Tony asks for the advice of his Uncle Junior, who is still homebound. Junior turns out to be no help since his attention span is impaired -— he's more concerned about sending a fruit basket to his lawyer, Harold Melvoin, who recently suffered a stroke. Tony then seeks out help from Dr. Melfi, but as he cannot go into great detail, she is unable to advise him much, despite another reminder that anything they say remains between the two. This causes Dr. Melfi to become frustrated because a majority of Tony's life is excluded from the therapy sessions. Tony visits Paulie Gualtieri and discovers the painting of the horse Pie-O-My and himself, which was supposed to be burned. He immediately takes it down and brings it to a dumpster. As he throws the portrait away in a dumpster at a vegetable market, he stares at the general's uniform and the sword, and realises that he needs to kill Tony B in order to show decisive leadership.

As Tony B. arrives back at Uncle Pat's recently vacated upstate New York farm house after buying groceries, Tony comes from around the side of the porch with a pump-action shotgun and shoots his cousin in the head, giving Tony B. a quick death. Soprano then informs Phil Leotardo where Tony B. is hiding. When Leotardo arrives later to exact his revenge, he expects Tony B. to be alive in the farm house, but is shocked to instead find his corpse lying on a wood pile. Johnny Sack later calls Tony from his doctor's appointment and tells him that "it didn't solve a thing". Tony agrees to meet Johnny the following morning at Johnny's house to settle the families' feud.

Tony finds Christopher and instructs him to retrieve Blundetto's body and bury it. They discuss Adriana's murder and involvement with the FBI. Tony asks Chris if Adriana may have mentioned anything to the FBI about Matthew Bevilaqua or Ralph Cifaretto. Christopher still feels extremely upset and betrayed about it all, but he says that he was careful not to let go of any information leading to the murders.

A.J. plans a party with a friend which turns out to be very successful. He and his friend make $300 each after expenses and drinks. When Carmela and Tony learn about his sudden business scheme, Carmela reveals that A.J. asked his guidance counselor which colleges would be suitable for studying event planning. Carmela also says that A.J. spends "all his time" watching the DVD of the movie 54 about Steve Rubell, the man who founded the famous New York disco Studio 54. The Sopranos find some solace in the fact that A.J. is "fired up about something".

The following morning, Tony and Johnny Sack meet at the latter's New Jersey home, in order to try to work out a solution to the current troubles between their families. Tony offers a percentage of the Bloomfield Avenue casino, which Tony put his now deceased cousin in charge of, as a peace offering for John to pass along to Phil. John considers the offer and Tony hopes to continue working with the New York family. As Johnny invites Tony inside for coffee, Tony sees armed men coming through the forest in the backyard and runs away. Johnny attempts to do the same, but the FBI raid the Sacrimoni home and Sacrimoni is placed under arrest. A few hours later, with Tony having made his way on foot to his own neighborhood, he calls his lawyer, Neil Mink, to ask what has happened. Mink informs him that John was brought up on charges which were built with the help of Jimmy Petrille, who had cooperated with the FBI for years. Mink advises Tony to be happy, since he was not mentioned in the indictment. Tony finally arrives home, via his back garden, and bangs on the back door for Carmela to let him in, which she does, being shocked by his look with wet shoes and a ripped coat shoulder, wondering what happened to her husband.

Deceased

• Tony Blundetto: Shot in the head with a 12 gauge shotgun by Tony Soprano in order to save him from a more painful death at the hands of Phil Leotardo after Tony B. killed Phil's brother Billy Leotardo

Title reference

• Vito prefaces his criticism with "All due respect" when discussing with the other captains, the family's problems with New York.
• Silvio does the same before criticizing Tony for having too much pride. The phrase is intended to be one of reverence, but usually precedes someone in authority being told something they don't want to hear.

Production

• This is the final episode directed by John Patterson, who died in 2005.
• At the end of the episode, Tony's emergence from the rustling bushes reaffirms the use of the bear as a symbol for Tony's dominating presence in his house. Based on the emerging location of the bear in earlier episodes, there is uncertainty as to the identity of the rustling figure.
• Drea de Matteo reveals in the DVD commentary for the previous episode, "Long Term Parking", that the character of Tony Blundetto was not initially supposed to die in the fifth season finale.
• Blooper: when Carmela confronts A.J. about his college applications, his sleeves appear alternately as rolled up and not rolled up.
• The scene in which Johnny Sack is arrested is shown again in the sixth season episode "Soprano Home Movies", but a different take is used.

Music

• The song played over the end credits is "Glad Tidings" by Van Morrison. It is also played earlier when Christopher talks to Silvio at a Roy Rogers, and later during a scene where Tony B. arrives at Uncle Pat's farm, shortly before his murder. A The Star-Ledger review of this episode explains the song's importance to the plot: "The episode's use of Van Morrison's "Glad Tidings" as a recurring motif was a classic example of the show's attention to detail. Moments before buckshot hit Blundetto, we heard the verse that opened with "And we'll send you glad tidings from New York" and closed with "Hope that you will come in right on time."
• In the scene wherein Tony is sitting on the steps of an elementary school, a version of "Mr. Tamborine Man" is heard.