What was with the extended sleep med commercial we saw AJ watching towards the end of the show?

Also, I think the bus comment was a performance. Tony came up with something to say that would please his therapist. In my opinion, it is essentially meaningless.

I felt this episode had the greatest symbolic moments of these last few episodes.

The asbestos pile - I see this as Tony's business really starting to become a cancer in his life. Sure, its always been a dangerous profession - but now it seems that his career has taken a fatal turn - the asbestos being a carcinogen is quite perfect. Not having a safe(r) place to stash the asbestos - its becoming overwhelming for Tony, just like his business and will surely bring him down.

AJ's Suicide and rebirth. AJ killed his innocence in that pool. Tony pulling him out, much like a birth, or re-birth. Even the rope tied to his leg was like an umbilical cord. I really am suprised no one caught that. AJ cried like a new born baby, Tony was holding him, saying "My baby..." AJ has experienced (for the first time it seems) that the word is a cold, insane place. Now he has to learn to live in it, and he has a clean slate. Its a perfect time for AJ to start his life in the path of Tony.... Tony said while on peyote that "..the sun was rising." - maybe meaning his son? I think we all thought the sun was setting.

Silvio's book - "How To Clean Practically Everything" Its pretty clear that he is going to have to clean up the mess that is coming about. Why Tony cannot do it, we don't know yet. But in the trailer for next week's episode, Silvio says "He's been working both sides of the fence". Who does he mean? Will Silvio have to take out a traitor? Does Silvio solve the asbestos problem? The latter seems likely.

Who's "been working both sides of the fence"? I think if its someone in Tony's crew it would be Paulie. Definately not Bobby, not Sil, because he said it.

Bobby and the bills not in an envelope - I think the guy that handed the money - I don't remember his name - handed the cash to Bobby without the envelope because people are watching. Remember when Chris said "there are cameras all over those places", although I think they weren't at a dump.. Maybe Silvio is refering to that guy working both sides of the fence with the Feds..

Definately something is going to happen with the Feds and the 2 Arabic guys, I haven't been able to piece it together, but I don't think it will involve AJ..

Phil in the house - I think Phil is in a worse place spiritually than Tony is. Totally shut up in his dark little room. Business has polluted Phil more than anyone, in a sence - Phil doesn't exist anymore, just his work. that is why we couldn't see him perhaps.

Ultimately I think the only person that can destroy Tony is his wife. Even the watch said "You are my life". Tony has mother issues, I think if Charm left, Tony wouldn't survive. I really see this is a possibility.

Aside from Phil's total hatred of Tony, Tony's beating (or even murder) of Coco I think would be completely justified in a real life Mafia setting. Members of the Mafia don't mess with each other's families, especially a daughter. Coco was completely out of line.

..I know we all want to see Phil's side kick be taken out, I think Chase surely will feed that to us. The guy looks like he is taken from a "Lord of the Rings" movie...

Last night was a pretty calm episode, intense but calm, coming to a boil. We must wait two weeks for the next (to last) episode.

I believe that next episode will start with explosions and murders, and horror. And it will just accelerate into hell and Armaggedon. Unlike many of you, I believe almost everybody must die.

Then the last episode will be infinitely bleak, a quiet tour of the smoking ruins, a wept-out ghost of a finale.

Hector the Crow writes:

There is no closure in life, why should there be in this show?

How about: because it's a show, not life.

It's a narrative show (which, to my mind, doesn't attempt to be particularly realistic), and most narratives end with some form of closure; that is, a logical endpoint. This doesn't mean that someone has to die, or that every loose end needs to be tied up, but it's certainly not ridiculous for the audience to expect some sort of closure, the feeling that we've reached the end of a chapter in the life of Tony Soprano, as opposed to feeling like the show got cancelled in midseason. The Sopranos is a sharp, smart, genre-bending soap opera, and a cultural phenomenon, but it's not reiventing the wheel, it's not the greatest art ever, it's not even particularly iconoclastic. It's a great tv show, and part of why we watch it (I assume) is to see what happens.

Wow, some really great points here. I especially loved the comment about AJ being "born again" into his father's arms. Very interesting.

I just can't shake the nagging feeling, and that's all it is, that Tony has to die. He really does. He's going to be killed and we're going to be left sad and disturbed that we are sad. It's all a total head trip. The mastery of this show is that we can care about people who are so murderously, selfishly evil.

Wow..what a perfect poem (Yeat's The Second Coming) to sum up the inevitable end to the Sopranos themselves and to the series itself. At least this week saw a temporary reprieve from death, though the unintentional dental work done to the fella who insulted Meadow was pretty brutal. True dat, Heather, Tony et all have gotten off easy from the viewer's judgment...but it is now time to face the music. The fat lady is a'singing!