Phil Leotardo is going to kill Tony and it's Meadow's fault.

Phil is nuts, we all know that. But the Mafia Princess knew what she was doing when she started whining to Carmella about Coco's comments at the restaurant. She knows who her father is. She knew how he would react.

Tony lost it and beat the crap out of Coco and now Phil is at the end of his rope. He's still pissed about his brother and he was just looking and hoping for an excuse. I think one was just given to him.

...and as we come to the end Chase is making the message more obvious in each episode. Meadow is so apparently well adjusted from living in denial about everything but AJ is the direct counterpoint: when he begins to see reality he spirals into a deep depression. Denial was even brought into the comic relief when Paulie goes off on a diatribe about global warming and the environment whilst conspiring to dump asbestos across half of New Jersey.

The only acceptable ending for the Sopranos is for this veil of denial to be lifted, and for all to be forced to face the consequences of their actions. I can't wait to see how Chase pulls this off.

First hint, about AJ: In the lake house episode, at the beginning of this season, Tony gives that weird monologue about some neighbor whose son drowned in a pool during a pool party. Then there's a cut to the Soprano household, with AJ and Blanca's son walking toward the pool for a pool party.

Second hint, about Christopher: When Tony's decided to have Adriana killed, he lures her out of the house by calling her and telling her that Christopher had been drinking/drugging and had gotten in a bad car accident.

Right? So what deaths to come have already been hinted in the same way?

The book Carmella is reading. Yes! Just like the Sopranos, the Bush administration are a bunch of thugs . . . what if Chase is really sticking it to us now, saying "yeah, you like Tony/Georgie? Think they're good ole family men. Boy are you stupid. Look at what they're really all about." Very interesting theme indeed.

That was the comic relief to me in this show. I've never seen a water bottle that big, and for some reason it was covered in mesh to top it off, making it even more ridiculous. I'm sure David Chase said to the props department, "Give the biggest, gawkiest water bottle you can find." And then he sipped on it twice, the second time almost smugly after telling Melfi about the study he saw about recidivism among criminals attending therapy. (I've always loved how he was so interested in hearing about Tony and how Melfi even called him on it, calling Tony "Your favorite patient," and when Elliott legitimately didn't know what she meant, she incorrectly said "I said, 'your favorite patient of mine'.")

It probably doesn't mean anything, but it was just brilliant to have something so goofy in the midst of all the wreckage that is becoming Tony's life.

On second thought, I remember the scene of Tony trying to back his huge SUV into a small spot a couple seasons ago, and it stuck out several feet beyond every other car there. Now Elliott's water bottle is ridiculously huge when he talks to Melfi. Maybe he's trying to measure up to Tony in her eyes. Nah, probably just goofy.

What was that look on Little Carmine's face after being denied entry to Phil's house? Was it out and out fear, or was it the realization that he was going to be pulled further into "this life" that he wants to be?

Someone else pointed out that the water bottle was like a baby's bottle.

Elliott is a stand-in for the audience (as, literally, he so enjoys 'the show' as relayed through Melfi and through the papers - he bemonans Tony's recent absence from the papers as we bemoan the coming end of the show!). Sure, Elliott might like to think that Tony is a sociopath and so might some of the Sopranos' audience. That is the easy way and we can all have our baby bottle.

But, as other comments have made clear, Tony is *us* and Chase makes us identify with him and even like him, even though he does horrible things. It is very comforting (i.e. baby bottle/big car) to think that Tony is so different and that he is a sociopath who cannot be helped by therapy. Far scarier and more challenging is the thought that Tony is a regular guy who has developed deep amorality, low impuslivity, uncontrolled greed, and a high tolerance for the practice of brutal violence. Sounds like us, our society and, as Chase makes increasingly clear with AJ's comments, our politics.

One can see the next president of the U.S. having to read a little tome called "How to Clean Practically Anything"!

Can Tony be saved? Can we be saved? Can our world be saved? I would like to see Tony turn himself over to witness protection to save himself, AJ and Carm. I cannot see how Meadow fits into that scenario (given her new-found relationship with the mob) unless she is killed by Phil's henchmen and that is the turning point for Tony. However, as others have rightly said, it seems clear that AJ would be the target. An attack on one of the children is presaged by Christopher's death and by Phil's comments to Tony about how he sent flowers to Kelly and how he knows how hard it is to get over the death of someone close to you.

Remember when Tony was at that Sack wedding and Johnnie Sack was led out by the police and Tony got all misty-eyed over Meadow. She is what he loves the most, despite her statement that boys are what matter. As this episode makes very clear, he is ashamed of AJ, who is not willing/able to follow him into the mob (so far) while he is proud of Meadow who, superficially, missed out on the mob but, in reality, is her father's daughter, as we see now. Tony's feelings about his children mirror his tangled relationship to the family business and his inability to stop himself from constantly trying to get back on the bus. (Again, was he a sociopath trying to impress Melfi or was this comment an honest reflection of his inner turmoil?

I agree with the comments that the children are the key to the final resolution but I cannot figure out what is going to be.

Great show. Great column. Great comments.