Truthfully, the episode was well made. The ending however left more to the imagination with little tidbits of suspense-building like AJ walking in with a guy who may or may not be the one to off Tony Soprano or when Meadow was having a hard time parking and then running across the street. From the suspense part, it was a great episode. Tony looked as if he was nearing the end of his career as a mob boss given how precisuos life seemed to become to everyone else around him. Almost as if he was becoming insiginificant with Bobby's death and thenear death of his right arm.

I give the episode an 8 and will need to wait for the DVD with an alternate ending or the special moving event that will most likely come out in the next couple of years.

I feel that this episode was a micro-chasm of the entire series. Big anticipation, Big Let-Down!

I'm not one of those guys who things there's gotta be a whacking for it to be good. But to me, Chase gave us all a big f-you. Rather than simply ending the story, he used the vehicle of the final 5 minutes, knowing that everyone was watching the clock, to build this tension around all the things at the diner making it look like a potential "hit." It was like him saying, "wanna see something...........ha, ha..fooled you!" It was a stupid and insulting way to go.

But that's been the whole show from Day 1. Interesting main characters with a great subject matter in cool local locations....that he turned into allot of self indulgent crap

the ending was terrible the last two seasons went right down the hole hbo should be embarressed to even released the last episode i am a huge fan but cant get over the disapointment

You are all wrong. Tony WAS killed in the last episode. If you follow the metaphors closely, and watch for the tips, you will know that Tony was shot! He walked in to see his final good time with his family and the reason it goes to black immediately? That is when he dies!

I'd give the ending a 5 at best. I found myself wanting to fast forward to get the end, only to wait for a disappointment. When Tony was sweeping around the pool, I thought maybe the ducks were going to fly in again, which would have been a better ending than what we got.

My fantasy ending had Tony getting whacked and Carmela having to take over as head of the NJ family in order to care for her kids and wives of all the slain made men. Plus, what better way to put all her newly found business savvy to good use. Alas, a missed opportunity.

At the end in the last scene it appeard that they are just a regular middle class blue collar family in a diner. Although they have never met as a family in a diner before, and AJ only goes when forced. It was almost as if the whole Mob series was a dream and their real lives were the family in Tony's coma dream when he was shot.

Yes Tony was killed in the episode. If you remember back to when Tony and Bobby were out on the boat to start the season, they were talking about what it was like to be shot. Bobby says "I bet you don't even hear it". That is exactly what happened last night. Tony was taken out in front of his whole family.

Personally, I think the ending was perfect. You can believe it ended the way you wanted it to. If you think Tony got whacked, then he got whacked. If you want to think things are continuing "business as usual" then you can have that too. In other words I think Chase gave us our own ending instead of doing the work for us. It falls along the same lines as song meaning. What a particular song means to me, you might get something of an entirely different meaning.

Inititally, I hated the ending. I was so completely disappointed with the "not knowing"!!! But after reading the other comments, I feel that we've been given an opportunity to imagine the "ending" for ourselves! Not bad, but still, not the best!

it was brilliant..I hated it last night..love it now..he had
us all thinking like Tony..worrying about every person
in that restaurant..

After wondering if my cable had gone out, I was left staring at my TV like that cat glaring at Christopher's picture.

This was a novel with the last page ripped out. Promised me something special and gave me an onion ring.

If Chase wants to be defiant and flip his middle finger at the audience, that is his right. It is also my right to never buy a DVD, watch another David Chase show, or go to the inevitable Sopranos movie.

Its was JUNK
A total scam perpetrated on a loyal audience.

I have cancelled my HBO subscription

Hope others do too

This is a classic example of overthinking an ending. People didn't want to have to follow the "metaphors" to closely. They just wanted to see if he was going to get whacked or not. I mean really, black screen, real creative!

I honestly thought something happened to DirecTV. All of a sudden, as the suspense is buildig, it cuts to black? Are you kidding? And if it's really true what was posted earlier, about a conversation from a previous episode on a boat with Bobby, then the producers are giving too much credit for viewers to be able to follow along. I love the show, but the ending was very disappointing.

It was made for the cast and their agents and possible future negotiations.
BIG FAT F

It was great run!

A cop-out ending. "Leave it to the imagination" could apply to cutting off any ending to any story. Chase was being way too cute with us.

I like Magildegard and Tony's explanations. They're plausible -- the "transition to black" might very well be Tony's departure. However, I think the ending was a cop out. This final season took a long time to get going and given the accelerated story pacing in the last few episodes, we should have known a "cliffhanger" ending was coming -- how else do you wrap up all the plotlines? Simple -- you don't. "Charles Dickens," David Chase is not. What's worse is that most of the TV critics are trying to tell us that it was a great episode, blah, blah, blah -- they're all as culpable as Agent Harris!!

All of you saying Tony was killed are on drugs and are reading things in that aren't there, just as Chase intended.

You could just as easily say that everything went blank because the guys Tony and the FBI were worried about set off a 50 megaton nuclear blast in New York City and things went blank because the EMP instantly killed all power and lights.

You get out of the finale whatever YOU want to see.

It was terrific.

The ending was heart-pounding and was not a let down. If you were a real fan of the show and followed it since it began, you would know that it didn't need a tidy ending.

Did he get whacked in front of his family? My sense is that he did. Remember what Bobby said to him in the boat.

Terrible, just terrible and extremely disappointing. It is all too obvious that a movie or some other form of follow up will be coming. Money talks - again.

I loved it. The suspense was brillant. We can either create our own ending or hope for a movie continuation of the story. I'll opt for a movie continuation. After having a night to sleep on it,I don't think Tony getting whacked was a possible ending at this juncture. Once Phil was whacked (and that was a great scene), Tony was no longer in danger. Phil's family only gave token approval for going after Tony in the first place and I don't believe any of them have the stomach to continue along those lines. The only disappointment for me was that Paulie (or Wings as I prefer to call him for the white hair on the sides of his head) wasn't whacked.

Tony was not the one whacked. The audience was. No one saw that end coming. David Chase is a genius

When the episode ended, I was very upset, and actually thought that something was wrong with my set.

After "sleeping" on it, and do some investigating, I am AMAZED at that final scene. Here is a list of what I heard/learned (please excuse my spelling):

1) The guy going into the bathroom was Phil Letardo's brother.

2) The 2 African American men that came into the diner had previously carjacked Tony in the second season of the show.

3) The guy in the ballcap at the back booth was I believe Robert Patrick, who played the owner of a sporting goods store in the second or third season (on a side note, my cousin played his wife in that part of the story line).

4) The boy scout that was at one of the tables was in the train store when Bobby was shot and killed.

I am now going to have to watch it again, and look at more of the people in the diner.

A lot of fans think that they left it open for a movie, or more episodes, but I think that the cast is DONE. They want to move on to other things so that they aren't pigeon holed (if it is possible at this point). Leave it to David Chase to leave people talking for a long time to come...

Justin
Rochester, NY

Frankly, I liked it. Whatever we want to think happened at fade to black, we can. The entire eight years was great and I'll miss the series.

It would only make sense to follow up with a big screen continuation. David Chase is very experienced at producing films and The Sopranos would be a hit.

For those wanting a definative ending, come on, the series has never been that cut and dried. To have killed off Tony would have been too simple, too predictable. Way to go David Chase. You're a genius.

Here's the way I thought it would end based on last week's episode....
Tony is upstairs in his safe house with others downstairs on guard. He's there was a very large weapon which he thinks he'll be using when Phil's men arrive. He falls asleep and dreams the "life before your eyes" dream including flashbacks (from early episodes) of his mother, the ducks, Dr. Melfi (sex with her?), the Russian girl with the false leg, the seaside villa he and Carm had, various deaths he caused or did, him being shot. As he sleeps, all his "family" (wife and kids, The family and even the FBI guys) who are close to him are separated from him in one way or another and he is left by himself in parallel in real life and his dream. He is awakend by gunfire and after some bloody shots, he realizes his life is ending and he takes his weapon while sitting on the bed and does not get up. His face is cold as he realizes the only way his wife and kids are safe is with him dead. The camera looks up from outside to the window of the room where Tony is hold up and a white flash is seen with a loud bang. Take to black and credits with Uncle Junior singing one of his Italian songs.

I thought it was a great ending. Nobody in the media gets that there was a long term resolution to the series. Tony had been at odds first with Johnny Sack and later with Phil Leotardo, both from the same Brooklyn family. This was kill or be killed and Tony pulled it off.

The actual ending reminded everyone that even though their lives look like yours and mine, they aren't. Tony,at peace in his victory, kept looking up wondering if that guy at the counter was the FBI or the fellow in the booth was a hit man to avenge some prior loss. Or maybe someone was waiting to gun Meadow down as she ran across the street.

So Tony won, but his life will remain the same as when we first met him and he was fighting an indictment with the same lawyer.

Dan

Perfect. Now we know what's it like to live the life of a mobster. Always suspicious, looking over your shoulder at every stranger, wondering if this is your last breath. Ambivalence was in the nature of the show from the first episode. It had to end the same way. All of you giving it an "F"...what would you have preferred?
That was no cop out. Chase took a definitive stand!

I thought my cable went out. I had to tape the HBO replay to make sure what had acutally happened.

I'll give Chase credit for cutting to black just as the lyric of the song got to "don't stop..." But the preceding 5 minutes, with him cutting back and forth across the restaurant, was a bit jarring. He's let us know over time that ANYONE can be a hitter. So, just as we're putting that lesson to use and bracing ourselves for the worst -- things just stop.

Untraditional, yes. Creative, yes. Satisfying, not really.

Horrible. As a loyal and dedicated SOpranos fan I am very disapointed at the ending. I did not watch the show for all these years to come to my own conclusion of what happens. I WANT to know what David Chase's vision was for Sopranos. This leads me to believe that he did not have a vision of how to end it and was simply milking the fans base for their HBO subscription fees...

This was a terrific ending to a great show. I think that David Chase showed alot of respect for us...all the suspense then (...black...) you decide what happened---superb! I thought the scene in the warehouse was very telling, coupled with Tony's visit to Phil in the hospital where he whispered something to the effect that, 'Hey, there's enough for everyone.' In this scene Phil is written off by his underboss and it shows that no matter what, no matter who gets whacked, this thing goes ever on. It's all about money, after all!
Thanks to David Chase and HBO for all those years of real viewing enjoyment...and some great tunes.

Whatever the ending was supposed to either suggest or leave to the imagination, it was disappointingly flat and should have had us on the edge of our seats. Seems as though the writers ran out of time before they could come up with a more effective and dramatic execution of the ending for a great series. Someone should be whacked!

As a Montclair resident I know that Holsten's (the final restaurant scene) is actually an ice cream place in real life located in Bloomfield, just down the road from Montclair. However, the ending was entirely appropriate IF there is going to be a movie followup at some point. Remember, Silvio, Paulie and some others still exist in the Soprano world.
All in all, I think a pretty good ending to a fantastic series.

Fantastic, just like the rest of the 85 episodes.

I think that the "Tony got whacked" theory is incorrect. The callback to the conversation with Bobby in the season opener is applicable, though. The audience was the one that got whacked. We didn't even see it coming, and we went out fast.

In terms of the characterization of Tony Soprano, Chase did right by Tony every step of the way. There's a lot of focus on Tony being a sociopath, etc.; but what it comes down to is this:

Tony Soprano grew up with a father who dealt with things violently, and he was also a revered leader. Tony naturally wanted to emulate his dad, and did when he pushed Junior out of the running. And ever since then, he's held on like a cowboy on a bucking bronco.

Tony is a survivor. He doesn't let anything or anyone get in the way of his health and prosperity. After all, he's got a family to protect.

Speaking of which, by the time Tony had that family, and got into therapy, he realized that the way he knew things to be was not necessarily how they HAD to be. Hence, the 7-year-long relationship with Malfi. She thought she couldn't help him, but it's obvious to me that she did actually expose him to some philosophies he would never have espoused himself without her help.

This is why he was slowly becoming a weirdo to his own crew. His musings--right up to the peyote discussion--made a lot of eyes roll privately. But Tony always kept his head in the game, as he showed when he kicked the living hell out of his bodyguard, after he'd sensed his crew thought he was going soft.

At the end of the day, Tony learned as he went, and he saw that there was more to life than guns, girls and money. And he wanted his family to be shielded from it. Not an easy cross to bear, and the allusion is quite fitting (though I wouldn't go so far as to say Chase was making a Christ-figure out of Soprano). But he did the best he could.

Tony is just another schmoe, Made in America. And he may likely get hit when his time comes; or he gets too old; etc.

But David Chase has succeeded in his experiment. At its best, The Sopranos is a stinging indictment of our American culture and its waning influence on the world; and at worst it's a brilliantly executed dissertation on the life and times of a real person who happens to be the head of a crime family.

Two HUGE questions were answered. Can Meadow parallel park? No. Did David Chase have writer's block? Yes.

Most of the media is talking about the non-ending ending and what will come next... Maybe Theatrical?
Well, I think they got it wrong. I beleive Tony caught two shots to the back of the head just when he looked up to see Meadow walk throught the door. It did not fade to black with a closing credit (In Law & Order fashion)... The viewer was looking at the scene through Tony's eyes as AJ walked in, and when every other surly character walked in the door... The closing shot was Tony looking into Meadow's face when she walked into the door and then BAM! Nothing but black, and it intentionally stayed black until the credits did role.. Hence, Tony did not even see it coming.. He's gone, and there ain't nothing we can do about it... He is gone! And, I think AJ and Carm are gone too. Only Meadow is left thanks to her inability to parallel park.
Will the Soprano's saga continue with a theatrical that will begin with the end? Will we get to see how the Soprano family contiues on after Tony, well, I would pay to go see it, would you? Will Meadow's marriage to Patsey's son form a new generation of Soprano's? A new family with Meadow running the family behind the scenes?... The Series ended as it began, fantastic, and much too highbrow to suit everyone.

The cat was Adriana!

Loved it! Fab! Would it be more acceptable if it were a predictable ending where everyone gets whacked? I prefer this surprise ending any day. Life goes on. Brilliant. Scammed all of us!

I think David Chase should get whacked. Horrible ending.

Even though I thought my DVR crappped out at the end of the show I am somewhat happy with the ending only because they have left the door open for movies. With this year being the 35 year anniversary of the Godfather Trilogy it is time that a mafia family to return to the big screen. IF they do not make the movies I thought the ending sucked! Despite the fact that the Sopranos has always been about Tony's immediate family and not the crime fam they should have at least made the final battle a lot bigger and a lot less about the kids.

You don't kill a commodity.
A writer and producer always leave options open.
We could come back as a feature film where
Tony meets his maker or, Tony rises again.

The ending was smart.

Stay Tuned

A big red "F."

The two previous seasons truly sucked (why is anyone nominating this series for an Emmy every year??? Do any of you people watch The Shield?), and the finale was no different. I wish I had TIVO-ed it so I could've fast forwarded through all of the booooring stuff...which was most of the show. Some finale! Writers (and I am one) have to make decisions through the writing process...what's true to me, what's good for the story, what's good for the viewer? In this final episode, what we thought was Chase raising his finger saying "the number one show on TV," was actually the wrong finger, as he flipped us all off and said, "It's all about me." Booooooo!

Does anyone think the people gathering in the diner were cops getting ready to arrest Tony?

WHY did any of you expect resolutions???? How many times must you be told this isn't cookie-cutter television with a lesson to be learned at the end? (Which is what was wrong with the Seinfeld finale which betrayed its premise of "no hugs, no learning")

Seriously, what did you expect to happen in the finale?

Ambiguity generlaly makes for lousy television but sure preserves the options for the future. Sopranos 2 can come back with--or without--any or all of the present cast members. A flashback to the restaurant can resolve it (I bet they shot more than they used). I fancy a Sopranos The Next Generation with AJ grown into the topdog spot, or fighting for the family to regain it. Meanwhile, I found the last two seasons draggy, unappealing TV with too much narrative and too little action, too much degeneration and not enough excitement. In my opinion, the series was rudderless the last couple of years and totally overrated. It wasn't as well written as many shows on TV. HBO should have faded it to black much sooner.

I think that the ending was brilliant. The final scene built the tension and anticipation well. And the ending left everyone to interpret what they want to from The Sopranos.

Whether you choose to think that Tony was killed at the black out... or everything was just routinely normal with a family from the Jersey suburbs sitting down in a diner and onion rings while other ordinary people watch (guy at the counter, trucker with the coffee, brothers looking at the glass case, the guy and the three cub scouts)... it was all a very clever ending that forces people to talk and wonder and own the ending as their own.

Why force the audience to one interpretation... this ambiguity ensures that the series will live on long after the final Don't Stop.

Your post isn't even well-written.

What shows exactly do you think are so superior?

I though my DVR stopped recording too soon, I yelled out "What the hell happened" and then the credits rolled. I sat there amazed at the way it ended and what was with Meadow and the car parking scene I thought thaty was a Red Herring. I just hope they are planning a movie!

Stanley Roberts
Peoplebehavingbadly.com

If the ending had been good, you wouldn't be asking. If the water cooler fodder for the finale' is - did you like the ending or hate it? Speaks volumes that it wasn't very good.

Sucks big time......I was expecting a better ending.

Seinfeld meets that "dream season" of Dallas. Nothing meets nothing. Nothing is edgy. Nothing is artsy. Nothing is not cookie cutter. Nothing expands your mind. Nothing helps you see the emperor's new clothes.

Ending...what ending? We don't need no stinkin' ending. It was brilliant!

I found the ending extremely disappointing. It was, in my opinion, a cop-out!

Jun 11, 2007 1:15 PM
Subject mixed feelings about the ending of The Sopranos

Many of you have send me emails about last nights episode finale. The ending is meant to leave you thinking & give you the power to decide Tony Soprano's - fate did he live? did he get arrested after leaving the restaurant that night? or did he die in that restaurant that night? You decide. It has been a great ride for me with The Sopranos & I can't say that I won't miss the family but all great things must come to it's end & I thank you for being there with me through this great run.

Sincerely,
James Gandolfini

There is no whacking, unless we are the ones who got whacked at the end and never saw it coming. That would be very Chase-like, and I'm not dismissing it as a possibility.


A couple years back I read an interview with Chase in which he said that the single most distressing thing he had learned about these people was how utterly pointless their lives were. There is no long term plan, or goals that truly vary from one relatively small and tawdry success to the next. They are just going around in ever-tightening circles. He compared them to folks who live from one welfare check to the next. The Sopranos may have more stuff, but none of it means anything.

There is a sense of dread that permeates the entire episode, and it extends beyond the viewer's knowledge that it will be the final one. Scene after scene, Chase, who also wrote and directed this one, creates an underlying tension by using the visual language that we have all learned from TV and movies that suggests something bad is about to happen--Two characters having a mundane conversation while losing track of their surroundings, A.J. talking on his cellphone as he walks through a parking lot shot in close-up so that we can't see what's going on around him, followed by a long low-angle shot of him walking toward his car, Paulie walking out of Bada Bing by himself, Paulie & Tony sitting out in the open at his restaurant. Scene after scene after scene is like this--but nothing happens. It's not heavy-handed, quite subtle in fact, and Chase plays fair all the way, he's just exploiting our expectations of what goes on in Tony's world.

In the last scene Tony walks in and scans the place, then we see him sitting there waiting for the rest of his family. He drops a quarter into a table-top jukebox and passes on I GOTTA BE ME by Tony Bennett in favor of DON'T STOP BELIEVING by Journey He pays close attention to every small movement within that restaurant, and takes note of the individuals who come in and many of their actions. It's one of the most tense scenes in TV history.

You know, however, that a fatal bullet could come from almost anyone in that restaurant. I think what Chase is telling us is that this is every day and every public minute of Tony Soprano's life. In truth, all you really see is a guy in a cap and a wool coat getting a cup of coffee with lots of cream packets, another one getting a cup of coffee at the bar, who then needs to relieve himself, a young couple, a group of Boy Scouts, and couple of young black kids. There is nothing here that is out of the ordinary, or that would typically draw your attention.

If you put a different character from another series in that same scene you would never have thought there was trouble brewing. But that's the life TS has made for himself. Chase builds the tension by having Meadow struggle to parallel park her car, and at this point you're thinking that she will be the one who survives by virtue of not being there when the hit goes down. But she parks and we see her run across the street. Even at that moment, you're ready for something terrible to happen to her. We don't see Meadow walk into the place, but we hear the bell that sounds whenever the door opens and Tony looks up--cut to black. The music stops right after the words "Don't stop."

But I think the key words in that song, at least for the purpose of the what Chase is doing, are, "It goes on, and on, and on, and on..." I think the point is, though Phil is dead, the sense doom which permeates Tony Soprano's life isn't going anywhere, and the source of that threat will never go away. Thus, he will always be on guard (Don't stop believing, hold on to that feeling--a perverse use of those lyrics, but very clever).

So when you think about it, does it really matter if Tony got popped yesterday, today, or next week? Chase would suggest that he's not really living anyway.

It's as though their twisted lives continue, we're just not going to able to watch them anymore.

Wouldn't waste my time watching it.

The finale did evertything it was supposed to do. The fact that it leaves so much open for debate between passionate fans of the show proves that it was a fantastic ending. Never have I ever seen ANY show's finale cause such a stir. OK, if I could change one thing about the ending it is that it focused too much on AJ...hate that kid.

Tony was not killed. He was watching the entrance all the time and knew who was coming and going. I am sure he remembers who those guys were. He is not going to have dinner with his family in such an open space and be vulnerable. He looked too relax. He knows better than that. Tony is the man. In New Jersey and in New York. He will not trust his own shadow.

The ending was entirely appropriate and brought the show full circle.
We all know that some things are better explained by action and not words.....this was why the screen went blank.
Throughout the series, we have been bombarded with brutal murders and beatings of innocent and not so innocent people, all for the sake of furthering the interests of the respective organized crime families and their members.
The last seen represented the calm before the storm.
Tony, Meadow, Carmella, and AJ, were finally finding some peace with each other by enjoying a meal out as a famiy once again. This is the full circle.....there lives started as a family together an will end together.
The upbeat music lyrics of "Don't Stop Believing" is a representation of "their end of days". The furitive movements of those that were in the diner indicate that they were preparing for something big.
As the tension built to its highest level, the screen went blank. It was the only way way to depict the unspeakable horror of what was bestowed on The Soprano family at that diner.
It was at that moment when the Soprano Family reaped what pain and horror they had caused other families to feel over the years.
I believe that all of the Sopranos died in a brilliant hail of gunfire that could only be portrayed by the image of darkness.

Very interesting end indeed. While it appears to be left to the viewers imagination, if one had been paying close attention when Bobby asked Tony what is it like to be shot, Tony answers, it just goes to black" . Based on that line alone, it would appear that there was indeed a hit man in the diner and that once Meadow came in, it was all over- the young men who were acting drunk and silly were in fact part of the plan as they kept Tony's eyes away from the bathroom where the hit man went just before Meadow came in. There are many people who think this ending was to leave the door open for more Sopranos in the future. I think not! It would be fitting for both of the fighting families to be left with no power and be over at last.

I thought it was very well made and what I would expect from the show. This is not the show that is going to wrap everything up in a neat package with a bow. It's a slice of life. There was also a lot of continuity if you've watched the series all along. AJ's new therapist is very reminiscent of Dr. Melfi.

The ending was excellent! The most tension filled finals minutes in history.. leave the door open for possible movie, or bonus season...you cant just end everything, then there wouldnt be any chance of something else...no they have at least that option.
The motto for anyone or anything.. "leave them wanting more".
Well done. I can watch that final scene over and over...million possibilities.. all the possible hit men in the diner, the chance meadow gets whacked parking her car...keeps you thinking and wondering.
Well done. Hope to see something more from the Sopranos in the future.

I believe in both versions I have below and they both equal lots of negotiated $$$ to ever see another first-run Soprano minute:

Knowing David Chase from a few decades ago when he was a top TV-Movie-of-the-Week writer, in Hollywood, I would not be surprised after he finally got the power to have a final say (along with Brad Grey, now the "Godfather" of Paramount Pictures) to fashion the ending the way he did -- something that his fellow members of the WGA never-ever get -- here's my musings of what I believe David was up to (something for everybody):

That last scene was the only real scene in the 86 episodes. The rest was a long T. Soprano dream. Like David, Tony S. grew-up in Jersey and they all had dreams from their younger days to get out of N.J. and try to get work in The Big Apple.

David went beyond "dream reality" and made it all the way to Hollywood (only to return back to NJ after a stellar writing career).

Tony S. NEVER made it out of N.J. Like in the 86 episodes, Tony S. loved to watch the old black & white Gangster Movies. He dreamed that he was the head of a Jersey Crime Family when all he ever became was an owner of a Waste Management Company (that, in his dreams, his wife and children always used as the answer for: "What does your father do / what does your husband do?)"

When the last scenes finally appeared in the diner cut to Meadow trying to Park cut back to the diner with the real T. Soprano, the local Waste Management owner & wannabe "TV-Movie Gangster" and his family are at their favorite Jersey eatery--not at Arties'--for their weekly Sunday dinner (with the nosh being the greasy onion rings); Tony learns that the real Phil got whacked and he is no longer the mighty boss of his NY Crew. Tony makes his move and with those men that survived these 8 years, plus some from Brooklyn that Tony brings along; he becomes the Jersey BOSS of a new crew. His dream, from all of those movies, finally comes to fruition.

NOW, FOR THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE ME, HERE'S MY ENDING FOR YOU:

TONY PURPOSELY GETS UP TO GO TO THE MEN'S ROOM...& HE GETS WACKED BY THOSE CHARACTERS DAVID TRACKED WITH HIS CAMERA inside the diner. One stands out significantly: the hood sitting at the counter was Phil Leotardo's relative (maybe his nephew). Just stop the end credits to see that I am right. And the man, in the booth behind Tony, as well as the thugs that come in with Carm & A.J.; they have all been enemies, at one time or the other, throughout the 86 episodes. (REMEMBER THE TWO FROM THE TRUCK: that Tony & Chrissy rob?; they were in the diner as well.)

FINALLY, forget David for a minute, and think of Brad Grey the real Exec Prod) & HBO / Time-Warner knowing that David's creation is HBO's franchise for year's to come; they saved Tony, his family, all of his crew's widows, Paulie, and Sil (who will wake-up and with his real "Boss" allowing him to continue on); LOOK for "MORE SOPRANO'S" to mysteriously be announced in about a 1/2-year from now...with a "tease" on the next Super Bowl & Academy Awards.

We all hope that David will return, but after reading my current Writers Guild Magazine about David & his team of writers & how they conceived each episode; with all due respect to David, HBO can replace him if need be. NOTE: See "The West Wing" & their major shakeup.