alex cutter,

I wasn't being flippant. I would say that such cuts are used when the director wants to give an impression of fragmented space and time. Maybe the most famous example of a character apparently "seeing himself" across the room would be at the end of "2001: A Space Odyssey," in the surreal bedroom with astronaut Bowman "seeing himself" rapidly age.

It's a technique of disorientation, maybe meant to create a feeling of tension or unease. I honestly don't think Tony saw himself (I've double-checked on TiVo and there's no reverse cut BACK to Tony at the doorway.) It's just a quick flash forward, a telescoping of time/space, and it shook me up too.

The entire sequence had my heart pounding in my chest.

You're right Alex, the shift in POV was jarring because the editing went like this:

Tony walks in, scans the room for tables

(POV Tony) Shot of empty table across the room

CLOSE UP Tony's face, considering options

(POV the viewer) Shot of Tony at the table

Both POV shots are the exact same angle and distance from the table, and that's the unusual editing choice. Typically the camera would not jump back in time to a previous position. A normal camera would follow Tony to the table and stay there.

Another plausible explanation might be to show Tony playing chess with his strategy to the very end, always planning one or two steps ahead. This is all part of demonstrating how no matter what his Fate, Tony will never be able to relax, not ever.

The jump cut could signify Tony's planning ahead the best vantage point to sit in the restaurant, and then *poof!* he's there, faster than the camera or viewer can keep up.

It could also signify Tony being able to foretell his own future, albeit not too effectively.

All these alternatives suggest Tony's life permanently screwed out of balance, and I think that's the ultimate point of the entire past few episodes.

On the other hand, we could all just be grasping desperately at any tiny clue of WTF this ending was meant to imply.

Personally, I'm still tripping out wondering what kind of crazy hospital plays "Little Miss Sunshine" to patients in ICU... unless that was meant to be Silvio's own personal Hell :)

ha, Alex. My brain hurts too.

Another plot thread that's so sickening I hate to even bring it up... Lots of people have mentioned previously the asbestos being dumped in the lake might come back to bite Tony in the ass. Does anyone else think the safe-house on the shore where Carmela and the kids are holed up looks creepily similar to the wetlands environment where those piles of asbestos were illegally dumped?

I think this possibility was pretty clearly confirmed when Tony stops by to see the family and Carmela asks him, "Do you smell that? Meadow smells it too. I hope it's not toxic."

I think this can mean only on thing, no matter what Tony's fate (and it seems almost certain that the abrupt cut to black was "lights out") it also means that Meadow, AJ, and Carmela have been living at "safe-house" drinking asbestos water and inhaling asbestos particles for days... If they somehow survived whatever happened at the diner, the whole family can look forward to a slow painful death by Mesothelioma.

Thanks, Dad. Nice legacy.

..what this casting might mean, the infamous "Man in Members Only Jacket" named in the end credits, Paolo Colandrea, was not an actor... he's a REAL LIFE HITMAN!...

ha, kidding. He's actually a pizzeria owner from Philadelphia, and here's a link to his story:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-06092007-1360360.html

Thanks, Heather, for helping us wrap things up emotionally, in ways Chase didn't want to.

Luv ya!

"Who is the more fiendish - Phil or Tony?"

yeesh, scaring the shit out of me.

Who is the most fiendish - Phil or Tony or Tronbrain?

:)

I'm just thankful Chase pulled the plug before we had to hear one more fucking note of fucking Journey.

When asked by late-night host Craig Ferguson what "John From Cincinnati" was about, Milch told him, "If God were trying to reach out to us, and if he felt a certain urgency about it? That's what it's about."

So God spouts cryptic platitudes to a bunch of small-town misfits? I thought God tried that, lots of times, in the Old Testament.

God should try something else if he wants to reach out so damn urgently.

Oh, and that hovering thing? David Blaine does it too.

On the other hand, Rebecca De Mornay. Hottest "grandma" like, ever. So I'm willing to endure a few more episodes to see if there's anything remotely approaching Deadwood standards. So far the only similarity seems to be the use of the word "cocksucker."

That zany God!

Pick up your guitar and sing a song to your kids after dinner (that you ate together). Go help a neighbor mend a fence.

rlwesty, where do you live? The Little House on the Prairie?

ding ding ding!

joancarol scores with a very pertinent precedent. Finnegans Wake ends mid-sentence with this line:

A way a lone a last a loved a long the