is an insulation matterial

that was found to be toxic.

Just thinking out loud here,

Gordon

Someone asked who's "been working both sides of the fence"? I'm pretty sure it's Patsy Parisi -- he turned several seasons back probably because Toni had his twin brother killed plus he was passed over for promotion by Christopher. In fact, I believe there was a scene in the opening episode of this season with him talking to FBI agents shortly after Eugene's suicide. It's a nice set-up/contrast what with Phil's anguish over losing his brothers and Meadow's blossoming romance with Patsy's son.

Is the downfall of Tony a long-planned event, or is it just the writers trying to put some good spin on a series that trivialized violence and brutality?

When Seinfeld ended, the last few espisodes put the four main characters in jail for doing essentially what they'd done for the whole series. The talk at the time was that the writers were punishing the characters for all of their past sins, literally putting them on trial for all of the horrible things they'd done and laughed about. My impression of the Seinfeld ending is that this was not planned from the beginning, but rather tacked on at the end of the series to give it a better or more substantial legacy.

Are the writers of the Sopranos doing the same? Does it matter?

"We're Italian. You're their son. You will always be more important."

Another clue to why AJ is a target? Phil's crew will screw around w/ Tony via Meadow, but to really get back at him, they have to get AJ. They wanted Chrissy(after Tony B. was murdered by Tony) because they knew he was like a son to T.

AJ has a bullseye on him.

Here's a far out idea. What if AJ, who has recently had his eyes opened to the evils of the world, decides that his father is the source of the evil? What is AJ just 'loses it' further and whacks his own father? Tony's family seems to have an inherent trend of killing, or attempting to kill, one another.

Just an idea.

I just don't see AJ dying. In a sense he already did die in the pool. AJ is going to be the future of the Sopranos. That scene with him running in the next episode, it could be anyhting...

The next episode synopsis says that "A case of mistaken identity will have grave consequences". In yesterday's episode, Charm said Meadow's car was rear-ended - perfect foreshadowing. Maybe Phil's goons will see Tony's SUV and shoot it up only to have it be Meadow inside, dead.

That would be terrible, but it would make sense. Tony would go apesh*t for sure, it would be all out war..

I think back to the Cleaver movie where the un-dead character - the Cleaver guy - says to his boss "You can't kill me twice..."

I think we will see more of Christopher - dream sequence, who knows. I think he isn't done with Tony..

Savvy in NYC has a good idea going with Tony giving himself up - a last act to save the rest of his family, his son. A self sacrifice maybe.

Is it possible that Tony is subconsciously preparing to leave "the life" and take his family with him? Could that be the real reason he killed Christopher? Christopher knew too much, and was possibly headed in the same direction, so Tony needed to head him off at the pass. Now Tony is seeing how much his lifestyle is destroying his family. He hates Phil Leotardo, who, disembodied in this last episode, speaks only from above, like God. What if Tony decides to sing (he is a Soprano after all)? What if he makes a deal with the feds to go into witness protection and turn em all in so that he can at least save his family?

I think Chase is carefully inserting messages to viewers to get everyone to wake the fuck up to what our government is doing in the world. Throughout the series each episode has had some small reference to the Bush administration, whether a photo or remark, and finally this season the references are becoming more blatent. Carmella was reading a book in bed a couple episodes ago about American Leadership (Title anyone??) She is a selfish republican in denial. Pehaps a whole segment of viewers are too... Last night A.J. spells it out to Meadow "we are going to bomb Iran", he makes a very brief Bush comment and Meadow (we know is politically aware and sharp) blows A.J. off and tells him he has to "shut things out"

I think A.J. will take over, Meadow will marry the new connected boyfriend and hence a new world order will be born. How about a spin-off Alto...

"Has he (AJ) inherited a curse of chemistry, or just a bad habit of feeling sorry for himself?"

The Soprano "curse" AJ has inherited is the mob. Tony has bitched to Melfi about having been born into a family like his, a mob family. Tony felt he was more sensitive than his father was, that he (Tony) shouldn't have been "forced" into mob life. But Melfi has called Tony on his bullshit countless times during the series. She has told him he had choices along the way and he took the wrong ones. It was easier for him to whack people, to take part in graft, corruption and bone-breaking than to break away from his family and its legacy. Tony's parents gave him few choices, but he did have his own free will and he could have chosen to get away.

AJ's parents have given him choices. Now, AJ is choosing to engage in the type of casual violence that Tony fell into. It seems inevitable but, says Melfi (and Chase), it's not inevitable. You can get away, but it's hard. Sometimes, (maybe all the time, who knows?) we have to choose to do the harder thing to save ourselves and the ones we love.

Is it too late now for Tony to get away? The FBI is always around; now they warn of terrorism. Tony is a terrorist. What if Tony wanted to go into the Witness Protection program and take his family with him, getting them away from the mob for good? Would the FBI take him?

Tony has said all along he could never go into the Witness Protection program, because it is the worst kind of betrayal. But it really is the only hope for his family. Otherwise it is jail or death for Tony - either way, his family will be left to fend without his protection. He has seen the result of that when Johnny Sack was imprisoned; he even took advantage of it, taking Johnny's house and giving it to his no-good sister Janice.

And what if our definition of "sociopath" is wrong? It makes us feel good to think that sociopaths don't have a conscience. That makes them unlike us. We wonder how sociopaths can they continually do horrible things and not have it bother their conscience. We decide they must not have a conscience at all!

But Tony does have a conscience. He has compartmentalized it, but it popped out of its compartment in the beginning of the series, in the form of panic attacks. Tony only went to a psychiatrist because his panic attacks were interfering with his chosen lifestyle, not because he was consciously anguished about how he made his living. Tony wanted some medication to make the attacks go away, so he could carry on as if nothing was wrong. But Melfi wouldn't let him.

Melfi warned him to get away in order to save his children. It would have been a very hard thig to do, but his kids may have been saved. Now, his kids are heading down the same path as their parents. AJ is commiting himself to violence. His conscience is bothering him. Will he be stronger than Tony? Will he resist and do the right, harder thing by getting away? Will he decide the only way to get away from the blood and death is to kill himself, or will he compartmentalize his conscience, like Tony did, and follow the family path?

Meadow has had choices - easier choices than AJ and Tony. She was given a good education among a diversity of people in the Ivy League. She rose above her mob family for a few years. She contemplated becoming a pediatrician, which would have counteracted some of the evil her family is responsible for. She wouldn't be able to use the practice of pediatric medicine to further her family's influence on the world. But now she is thinking of going into law, which can be used to further the influence of the mob. It can protect mobsters, it can "erase" mob murders by using technicalities, it can be used to legitimize graft and corruption.

Meadow was engaged to Jackie Jr, the son of a mobster. When Jackie was killed, Meadow was free to date other types of men and she did. She had the opportunity to pick a husbad who was mob-free. But now she is dating Patrick Parisi, the son of a mobster. Another bad choice on her part. And, when you look at it with the cold eye of logic, Meadow is downright immoral. She knows her family are mobsters. She knows she's been given the chance to get away and live a "civilian" lifestyle. She is choosing to re-join the mob all over again.

The Sopranos is about people who are given a chance to save themselves, but don't. Tony Tony made his choices. Now Meadow seems to be on a path of freely choosing to be a mob wife and mouthpiece. AJ's crisis of conscience may lead to his death at his own hands. Or he may just give up and fall into the mob life of Jason Parisi.

Will they be like their parents, and choose the easy way? Will either one of them stand up and walk away from it, hard as it may be?

To me, this is what the series has always been about. Will you do the right thing and save yourself, save your family? Or will you allow the cycle to continue?