While traditional literature and folk lore may lead in the direction of some tradgic outcome for Tony and the Families, a more contemporary and believable conclusion would confirm that crime pays. The real question, is David Chase retelling old morality plays, or does he have a message more in keeping with our current social and political reality. No doubt, major long running characters will suffer wounds, death and/or imprisonment. It is just as likely that that their suffering will be incidental to Tony, who will continue life in prosperity and brutality, tinged by rare moments of mild, quickly evaporating regret. The details and dramas along the way, well, who knows?

Tony will be at the top in the end. He will control both families. He will become the number one target for the Feds. Such an ending will leave the door open for a Movie or Movies, or spinoff shows.

Pine Barrens.

Directed by Steve Buscemi.

Whatever happened to the Russian? They never did find him.

We'll hear from him again.

I think the Scottish Tragedy may be in play here. Janice as Lady MacBeth to Bobby's MacBeth.

I think the Soprano Family will come crashing down when Vito turns state's witness.

Clearly, Tony needed to kill Vito for the good of the family. Vito (being outed as a leather-wearing gay man) can't return to his crew, and most of the family wants him dead. It's obviously a huge risk to let him live--the FBI will get to him. But in a fit of reasonableness, Tony doesn't track him down very aggressively. And this is Tony's undoing.

What could be more tragic and conflicted (and totally in the spirit of the Sopranos)? Tony is undone by doing one of the more humane things he's done as mob boss. Vito betrays Tony as Tony shows him mercy. Both of them do the right thing, but neither of them can be entirely happy about it.

The final two scenes of ther last episode of the Sopranos:

Scene One: Tony is killed in a hail of bullets. His bloody, shattered body falls to the pavement. The screen goes black.

Scene Two: The screen remains black for a few more seconds. Suddenly, a light clicks on. Tony sits up in bed, wearing pajamas and reading glasses. We see the shape of a woman in bed beside him. Tony shakes the woman. "Honey," he says. "Honey, wake up." Suddenly the woman sits up in bed. It's Suzanne Pleshette. Tony says: "Honey, I just had the strangest dream..." The theme to the original "Bob Newhart Show" plays, as we fade to black. Roll credits.

What a waste of airtime. Who cares?

It's his only chance to be free and enjoy the company of Ginny and Allegra. Tony will be terrified. Johnny knows much of Tony's business. Tony will feel like he's about to suffer the worst fate he's ever imagined.

Finn is going to dump Meadow because her family is corrupt. Meadow will go running back to daddy and the Family Life and start dating an associate.

Janice is certainly going to get Bobby to do something dramatic, like maybe try to hit Tony. Bobby, as we know, can be surprisingly vicious when prompted.

AJ will be the one to kill Tony. He knows that Tony think's he a useless little nothing who will never amount to anything. AJ's going to show him that he's been watching his morally bankrupt parents very closely his whole life, and he's learned the lessons they taught him.

i think by the time it's all said and done, the series will end with Tony's death...but at the hands of Gene's teenage son. Don't forget the recurring theme of the raging son...AJ, Paulie, Tony (still not dealing with his own mother trying to kill him).

Yeah, it will be Gene's son.

A tip from Shakespeare and the Greeks: True tragedy is when the main charactor is last to die after causing the destruction of his world and eveyone he "loves". It's T's self-made Hell, his supermax. The exception: Carmela. She makes a deal with the Feds to keep her life. But due to an ironic accident he never goes to prison. Electricity -- that seems like the writers' style. Very fitting. Futzing around the pool. Alone. The only ones who give a damn are the crying ducks.

Vito would not be much good as an FBI informant. He would never be able to get within 100 feet of any of his former associates, and since audio recordings would be an integral part of the FBI's case, Vito wouldn't have much to offer. It's not like he can just go sit down with the agents and say "and this one time, Tony said..." or "and this one time, I killed Jackie Aprile Jr. because Ralphie told me to".

Guessing and predicting is fun. But David Chase has shown us quite a few times that the show is nearly immune from prediction. I can guarantee that there is not a single Sopranos fan who could have predicted that the last few seasons would feature storylines such as a gay mob captian fleeing to New Hampshire or Christopher punching Lauren Bacall in the face. It's almost as if David Chase will give us the exact opposite of what we all make it clear we want or expect.

As for me, I see Tony as being more of a Jerry Seinfeld, or at least what Jerry's friends accused him of. He always finds a way to skate by, even to the end, with little effort and no lasting damage. (Although even Jerry ended up in Jail). There is very little in life that Tony cares about, but his kids are one of them. He will NEVER allow them to become involved in the family business. He would eliminate any of his associates who attempted to make that happen or even enabled them.

PS The Russian from Pine Barrens is gone. Forget about him. What's next? Mikey Palmice's widow from Season 1 gets her revenge in the series finale?