They are on the right, god-awful track with Cwisstohfah killing J.T. Everybody needs to end up in hell. Zero sympathetic characters allowed, except maybe Meadow.

They are making a point of showing how stupid all of the characters are, how unable to be happy.

Two big questions:

1. Will the cold Russian Special Forces Guy return?

2. Will Tony find out about Dr. Melfi's rape?

Finally: The Sulfuric Acid seemed preposterous. Was that ripped from today's headlines, or was it just a dumb script idea?

I'm pretty sure A.J.'s name is "Iler," not "Itler."

Drunk, Christopher rants about how he could take the Soprano family down by turning rat. Will he have the same idea sober?

As if we didn't already know she'd't succumbed to self-deception and delusion, she's shown reading Bush apologist Fred Barnes's hagiographic "Rebel in Chief." Nice touch!

like mr. t's forecast for his fight with rocky: pain.

it'll be a race to see who can take tony down first. the brother in law, pauli, chris, his son, the arabs, the russians, all racing to bring tony to his knees before he self destructs and takes himself out! the soundtrack for the last episodes may as well feature opera music. they may as well have a final scene like hamlet, they all kill each other in the same room and each make a final speach.

I don't see A.J. going into the family business - that would be too big of a u-turn in his to-date shallow, pampered life. It would be too easy to pass things on to him - and easy isn't really the hallmark of The Sopranos. I wouldn't be surprised to see either Christopher or Paulie turn state's witness, but only one of them will - the other will wind up dead. Tony won't meet a happy end when the show closes, but he won't necessarily be dead. Again, not everything on the show will be all tied up in the end, which may anger some viewers - but that's the way it goes...

I think the series is going to end in a bloody shootout a la the last episode of Dynasty (minus the camp factor). Tony, Christopher and Paulie all have reason to kill each other and I think they're going to. That would be a fitting end, as well as retribution for their own killings.

I hope the author of the article is right. I want it all to go down. It seems like it’s been on this precipice for ages and every time I think the next episode is going to bust it open, it doesn't. So, hopefully, this is the turned corner.

What was the general impression about A.J. and the acid? Did he enjoy being part of the muscle enforcers, or did it disgust him? I couldn't really decide either way, and I think that whichever way he turns could be crucial to the final 4 episodes. Thoughts?

The center of the The Sopranos universe is Tony Soprano, enforcing whatever laws of gravity there were in this skewed Americana that kept the players and their agendas in something resembling order. Sheer force of personality, brutality, dry-bone ruthlessness were what it took to maintain this crime empire and to maintain a social hierarchy in which everyone--Christopher, Paulie, Silvio, Carmella-- has an agenda they would pursue to disaster had the wrath of Tony not been their shared constraint. Uneasy , wobbly and self-doubting is the head of this fiefdom ,as all the self knowledge and revelation Tony has learned through therapy has

decentered his mojo. Where he'd been able to compartmentalize his criminal career, the infidelities, the murders, and family life in square and sealed boxes whose contents and consequences never met, the barriers have collapsed, the actions and the pathologies behind have become irretrievably twined and knotted together, a perfect tangle. Tony is witnessing the world he's been the center of break apart, and he can no longer hold it together. My suspicion his rhetorical question to Dr. Melfi regarding what therapeutic results, "IS THIS ALL THERE IS?",will be enlarged in the final four episodes. Tony Soprano, demanding love and loyality while he exerted his will, is soon to have his King Lear scene, alone in the rain, stripping himself of the literal and symbolic vestments depicting an idea of omnipotence he never had. All the lies told to him and the lies he told himself are laid bare, and all that awaits is the last brick to fall from the last wall from this shoddily bolstered construction of self delusion. What producer David Chase and his writers come up with by the series is one of the few things to look forward to in this season of dim news and dimmer celebrity hi jinks.

AJ's been on a road to nowhere the entire series. Now that he's of age, has allowed his father's name to be used to aggrandize himself and intimidate others, has participated in his first act of brutality, how far is he from taking that next big step? My bet is that in order to prove himself worthy of his family name, he's gonna pull the trigger on someone. And because he's the feckless, born loser that he is, he won't be able to survive in his little jungle. He's going down first.

JT's murder surely cannot be covered up a la Ralphie or Pussy or a dozen others. In the clear light of day, when he realizes he killed someone who was actually on his side, he will be relentless in his willingness to tie this around the neck of his enablers - Tony, Paulie, et al. I don't think Chase is going to end it like Scorcese with Henry Hill in the 'burbs while everyone else does time.

I like Bobby with his relatively clean hit record (only Tony knows about the one he did in Montreal) to be the last man standing.

I got the strong feeling that AJ was getting off on the torture of the welsher. Tony is right about his genetic gift.

I think the most depressing thing we will see before the end is AJ whacking someone with the encouragement of the Next Generation.

But hey, as Carm says, at least he's off the couch.