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What I am left with after this final episode is the question as to where to look for answers. Do we discuss the ambiguous, abrupt non-ending ending (which made me think the Tivo ran out of disk space)? No, that's all a red herring, as is pretty much everything else in this episode.
No, the key to this whole deal is the cat. What does the cat represent? Why does the cat stare at the photo of Chrissy (listening to his iPod), and why does that creep out Paulie, the last man standing in Tony's original crew?
The cat represents conscience, the reminder of past misdeeds, the worst of which is Tony's murder of someone who was the closest thing Tony had to a son. Moreover, Tony then goes to Vegas and seduces Chrissy's last sweetheart. This after having Ade killed.
Tony is the keeper of the cat, and the keeper of conscience. Chrissy is Christ fallen, hanging on the wall like a Crucifix. The cat stares at him almost angrily. "You gave your life for this man, and look what it got you." It is as if to say to Christ himself, "You sacrificed yourself for these humans, and for this angry, jealous, vindictive God, and look what it got us."
Tony is the ruler of this world. He keeps the game going, never falling too far unto evil or near redemption. Phil was evil, and therefore he had to die. But Tony must live on, for the game that is this life that we Americans are playing must go on. We must all submit to Tony if we want to survive and be safe, though that itself is no guarantee of survival or safety.
Who is the more fiendish - Phil or Tony? Tony is by far the more manipulative and intelligent of the two men, and also the more sympathetic, more complex. The Tonys will usually outlast the Phils because Tony keeps things in balance, never letting things slip too far in any one direction, whereas Phil is at the extreme. Tony allows us to be comfortable with the evil that men do, and with the evil that we do, and that is why we will ultimately tolerate him. We can live with Tony, but not with Phil (look at the reaction of the FBI man to Phil's execution). Moreover, we can live at Tony's will and at his disposal without it troubling us too much.
