Long Term Parking

Did You Know?

• The body of Nieves is found by the Sea Scouts of Montclair on a beach in Long Branch.
• Christopher dumps Adriana's suitcase in the same location where Tony had almost killed him in "Irregular Around the Margins."
• The song playing when Tony enters his Bada Bing office near the end of the episode is "Super Bon Bon" by Soul Coughing.

Synopsis

Little Carmine steps back as the New York mob war heats up, and Johnny Sack takes over the Lupertazzi family. At a sit-down with Tony, both Johnny and Phil Leotardo threaten Tony’s family, with Johnny saying he wants Tony Blundetto roasted on a spit. While hiding, Tony B calls Tony to say he’s sorry. Tony tells him not to come back and promises to take care of his sons.

He also explains why he wasn’t at the hijack that landed Tony B in prison seventeen years ago, admitting he’s carried guilt ever since and that now they’re even. They end the call telling each other to take care. Tony then traces the call and finds Tony B is upstate, near their uncle’s empty house. Tony tells Johnny he knows where Tony B is and what needs to happen, but Johnny won’t let Tony handle it himself, saying Tony B will answer to Phil.

Tony refuses to give up the location, and the meeting turns hostile. Back home, Tony chews out Christopher for messing up a cigarette smuggling job. Christopher rants to Adriana about how Tony treats him and seems to favor Tony B. Under heavy stress, Adriana is diagnosed with ulcerative colitis. FBI surveillance spots her acting suspiciously with a trash bag behind her nightclub and brings her in.

She confesses she was cleaning up after a murder in her office: a drug dealer named Matush killed a customer who complained about being ripped off. Facing prison for covering up the murder, the FBI tells her she has to wear a wire. She refuses but convinces them Christopher is ready to flip. They let her go with a deadline to bring him in.

When Adriana tells Christopher she’s been talking to the FBI, he grabs her by the throat and starts choking her, then breaks down crying. They decide to run away together. The next morning, while getting gas for his Hummer H2, Christopher stares at a poor family with their belongings strapped to a beat-up car. Adriana gets a call from Tony saying Christopher tried to kill himself and that Silvio will drive her to the hospital.

Instead, Silvio takes her to a wooded area, pulls off the road, and stops. Adriana realizes Tony ordered her death and begs. Silvio drags her out of the car. As she crawls away crying, he shoots her off-screen.

Title reference

Christopher parks Adriana's car in the "Long Term Parking" section at the airport. The phrase echoes a gangster's remark that if missing, one should check airports, as cars are often left there. The title may also refer to long-term decisions or binding situations: Adriana suggesting witness protection, Carmela and Tony moving back together, Tony B's attempts to disappear, and Christopher's and Tony's guilt over Adriana's death. It could also refer to the state of Christopher's soul, possibly damned for his betrayal.

Production

To combat leaked storylines, the writers and David Chase devised fake scenes to confuse the set. Adriana's death was shot in two ways: with her getting away and with her being shot in the woods. Many fans speculated she survived because her death was not shown on-screen, but Drea de Matteo confirmed in her 2005 DVD commentary that Adriana was indeed killed. De Matteo quoted Steven Van Zandt as saying, "Do [the fans] think I was shooting squirrels?"

In a 2014 Reddit session, de Matteo stated that Van Zandt was most upset about her character's death and did not want to perform it; she had to convince him of its importance. David Chase chose not to show the bullet hitting her head, which de Matteo said was for respect for the character. De Matteo asked Chase to cut the scene where Christopher tells Tony about Adriana to keep her death a surprise; that scene later aired as a flashback in the sixth-season episode "The Ride."

References to other media

During a conversation with Carmela, Tony quotes Popeye's catchphrase "I yam what I yam!" Christopher's line "The highway's jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive" is from Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run," a reference made more apropos by Steven Van Zandt's presence as Silvio Dante; Van Zandt sings backing vocals on that track. Christopher calls Adriana "my smelly Valentine," punning on "My Funny Valentine." Johnny Sack mutters "the lone gunman theory," the official story that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating John F. Kennedy.

The crying scene between Christopher and Adriana mirrors a similar scene in the 1990 film Goodfellas. Tony sitting alone in his backyard reminiscing about his cousin resembles the ending of The Godfather Part II. Tony watches the film It's a Gift on TV after moving back in with Carmela. The film Christopher watches at the Bada Bing after admitting to snorting heroin is Three Amigos.