A.J. recalls being deeply affected by Livia's comments that life is a "big nothing" and, "in the end . . . you die in your own arms" when he visited her in the Season 2 episode "D-Girl". A.J. also recalls Carmela calling him an "animal" for smoking marijuana at his confirmation, which occurred in the same episode. It is notable that in the season finale of Season 2, Tony, after waking up from the dream that he burns himself alive, says "It's all a big nothing... Life." to Carmela.
Dr. Melfi had previously quoted from Yeats' The Second Coming in "Cold Cuts", reciting two lines of the poem not heard in this episode: "The center cannot hold" and "The falcon cannot hear the falconer".
25th and final episode written by executive producer and long time Sopranos writer Terence Winter. He would go on to create Boardwalk Empire (2010) for HBO less than three years later.
The book Silvio reads is "How to Clean Practically Anything" from Consumer Reports Books.