You said: "Lots of good posts on this thread (far better than any other Sopranos discussion board)"

No way. The discussion on Televisionwithoutpity.com is like an honors graduate course compared to Salon's remedial freshman summer school. The people are very respectful to each other and the discussions are insightful and thought-provoking. Now granted, the TWoP site was made for the express purpose of discussing tv shows, and the Sopranos section attracts mostly big-time Sopranos fans. But if you want an intelligent conversation on what it all means, without a trace of "trolls" or trouble makers, then go straight there. I leave Salon for the political talk and Cary.

A dream sequence would explain the strange editing which seems to show Tony "seeing himself" when he walks into the diner.You I KNOW it's a jump cut, but you still get that impression. You see Tony sitting at the table from Tony's exact perspective at the door. There is a reason for everything Chase does, and this odd tableau was no accident. It represents Tony "observing" a happy life second hand, a dream.

Not to throw a monkey wrench into anyones theory, but follow this link and you will have a clearcut answer to what really happened in the diner.

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1562298/20070612/index.jhtml

more things to support the dream theory.

Carmela says something totally nonsensical, as people are wont to do in dreams, when she and Tony are blessing out AJ for allowing the SUV to blow up. "If there were children playing in those leaves, you would have run over them". Huh? But it does fit in with Tony's preoccupation with children dying.

Tony and children again-Phils grandbabies "bump off" Phil. Poetic justice in Tony's mind.

Did you notice the sound of the *oncoming train* that can be heard during the sit-down with NY suddenly ceased when things get settled? Only in a dream.

I'm sure there is more, but I promise to keep it to myself.;)

You asked us what you thought of your theory. I have to say that I really do not think any part of the finale was a dream sequence. And Paulie never got whacked.

Everything the characters did - all their actions and words are charcteristic of the characters. I am not sure if you have seen all the episodes or even all the episodes from season 6, but it should answer any questions.

Meadow having a hard time parallel parking, that could just be a quirk of Meadow, or it could be symbolic of something. I see it as more of a tension builder for the scene, nothing more. But that is just my opinion.

I noticed how different the room Tony woke up in was from the room we last saw him in ... but there was a LOT of odd cutting and backing-and-forthing ... and the time-dimension got lost ... I have no idea how many days were between the moments/scenes we saw ...

however, you point out a number of the "continuity" issues I found so annoying/confusing about the episode (having nothing to do with the last 5 minutes).

I found myself wondering this morning if now-toothless Coco was behind the hit ... mostly because of the "the last thing this mofo will ever see his is beautiful daughter" ... I certainly got the impression that everyone was waiting until Meadow arrived (and fwiw, I still wonder if the whole Soprano family was hit or just Tony ... it was awfully crowded in there) ...

The "dream" theory also makes better sense out of the offer to AJ (and his accepting it) and the recent purchase of OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive cars for both kids ...

I'm afraid I still want to know about the asbestos and the Esplanade project and Janice's son and .... if Silvio will recover.

whatever! fugeddabotit.

I hadn't heard the dream theory yet. It's interesting, and there are some good observations there - yet, I don't think I buy it. For one, do people dream scenes in which they do not appear? I don't know if I ever have, but maybe it's possible. And true, many things appear to work out to Tony's advantage, perhaps unrealistically, but then wouldn't Sil regain consciousness, and the indictment fizzle out?

Plus, it's just too cute, if you know what I mean. A little like cheating. And, it doesn't resemble any of the other dream sequences featured in the series. Maybe, though, the episode was a comment on the Soprano's (and our) dream-like existence.

Didn't it look like Tony was in a coffin in the openning shot, especially with that funereal cell-phone ring? I suppose that could fit into the theory somehow, but I thought it was a suggestion about how the episode was going to end. Turned out to be a head-fake.

Of course not. I apologize for a badly constructed sentence.

but there was a LOT of odd cutting and backing-and-forthing ... and the time-dimension got lost

Very indicative of a dream.

Too cute? Well then the Kevin Finnerty and talking fish eps were as well.

I am not a big beliver in the Dream Sequence theory for two basic reasons.

1) the Previous Dream episodes made their dream state clearly obvious.

2) what's the point of a dream you don't wake up from?

However there are a couple scenes that when you watch it you realize that there is something odd about the perspective. The scene with Uncle Junior springs to mind, where you see Tony upclose, and then the next scene is from what would have been Tony's perspective except now we see Tony walking into the frame. That was confusing the first time I watched it, and reminded me of some ultra low budget productions I've been on where you realize after the fact that you never shot a certain camera angle and have to splice two things that don't go together together.

I highly doubt that was the case for Mr. Chase. No to me, the "we ran out of tape" idea strikes me as the most probable option, as if you were watching a soprano's 8mm home movie and that was just where they ran out of film.

In fact, wasn't the first episode of the half season called "Soprano's Home Movies"? maybe I'm wrong on that point, but still you get the idea.

If David Chase was going to pull a "St. Elswhere" I think he would show us the snowglobe. I mean if you don't see the snow globe, any show could be a dream sequence.