Second, and you put this out there, made me think about it differently, and then walked away from it, is the ending. I think Tony is dead. I think the guy in the bathroom killed him.

mattwa33186, I think you're absolutely right, and I knew that Tony was dead once someone who has a much better memory for details and minor characters than I do pointed out that the guy at the counter who was staring at them, then approached them menacingly, then went to the bathroom ... was Phil Leotardo's nephew Nikki. He was seen as a minor character in sit-down scenes with Phil in the beginning of Season 6.

All the entrances into the restaurant were shot the same way too -- we see Tony eating, then we hear the door open. Tony looks up, then we cut to Tony's POV of who's coming in. This is done several times during that astonishing final scene, perhaps the most tense and suspenseful sequence I've ever seen on television. ("The suspense is terrible. I hope it lasts." -- Willy Wonka)

The last time this happens, after Meadow's agonizingly long parallel parking/suspense-building sequence ... we see Tony eating. We hear the door open (it's Meadow this time). Tony looks up, and instead of cutting to his POV of Meadow coming in, it cuts to black, abruptly, and stays in black and silence for several seconds. That's because this IS Tony's POV, because Nikki Leotardo came out of the bathroom and shot Tony in the back of the head, in front of his family ... just like Phil was shot in front of his family. Neither of them heard or saw it coming, just as Bobby foreshadowed. (Ironically, this didn't apply to Bobby's own death.) And for Nikki, this wasn't business (he wasn't involved in the cease-fire arrangement); this was strictly personal.

Just because David Chase didn't show it explicitly doesn't mean it didn't happen, and he left just enough clues as to what DID happen for people who are truly paying attention.

That's my theory, anyway. Then again, unless Chase sings, we'll never really know, will we?

Great ending. I was almost right about one ting. I prdicted AJ was going to join the Military. However his parents derailed it.

I loved the scene where Tony & Camella are vsitng AJ's therapist who is dressed in a manner similarto Tony's former therapist, and sitting in the same position with her shapely legs crossed. A complete antithesis to how most therapist look and dress. Then Tony goes off on his own stuff about his mother as Cammela give him the "look"

The best scene was early in the hr. When the guys are sitting around the safe houese playing cards with the TV in the background playing some old TV series. The dialog on the Tv goes something like this: A "What doe you want from me." B. "Get me out of this, so I can do a new series."

Anyway my othe 3 favortes are starting Big Love, and the Wire, and Curb Your Ent".

The new series "John from Cincinatti".. Ugh.

So we think Tony doesn't know who Nick Leotardo is?

The guy in the diner at the end who walks to the bathroom is the real-life owner of the restaurant, who came from Italy 20+ years ago and it was his first acting job ever. He was NOT Phil's nephew, or anything else. It's simply not true.

Let's see, Meadow "studied" pre-med, but changes her mind because Italians are prosecuted by the police.... Seems to me that her family is pretty well-off, her friends are well-off, she goes to a great university - I don't think there's too much going on in her world that would lead to that conclusion, except that she's either very sheltered, or very stupid not to notice/question what her Dad does for a living. (If they were Black or Mexican, maybe there's some racial stuff, but not Italian these days.)

Anyway, she would need to go to some super law school first, which may or may not happen. And then, at least in the NYC area, any law firm worth it's salt would notice that last name and what that means - they would be hiring a Mafia chief's daughter, with all the peril involved in that decision. I just don't buy it (I didn't buy pre-med either. But it's TV land...)

Also, most SUV's have enough clearance not to start fires when in the woods - you need direct contact with some very dry tinder to start a fire - there would be a bunch of smoke first. (I didn't watch the show, so I don't know how close AJ was with his girlfriend, but, since AJ's lazy, it couldn't have been far.)

1. The New York mob didn't die with Phil. 4 other families, one of which is going to step into the power vacuum since Phil left no successor. Maybe one of them didn't think Tony should get away with taking out Phil, or they did it out of vengeance.

2. Tony is about to be indicted. This is apparently not a secret. His sessions with Melfi were not the world's best kept secret, and he was perceived by some as weak because of them. Taking him out means not having to worry about him flipping on NY - the real prize the FBI and AG are after.

3. Maybe Paulie is tired of having to take orders from someone he still sees as a kid - lots of foreshadowing of that on the Miami trip. Maybe being forced to take over the Bing was teh last straw.

4. Maybe Phil called in someone else when his guys weren't getting the job done. A contract is a contract, even if the guy who paid you is dead.

5. Tony has killed a lot of people in his time, or had them killed. Maybe one of them has a brother or father.

Tony getting whacked is not implausible, in fact it is probably more plausible than the fact that he lived as long as he did.