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I'm definitely enjoying the more tense dynamic in the therapy sessions, but my favorite part of the episode was that look A.J. had on his face when they were holding that kid down. It was just like Tony right before he administers a beating, the "I'm busting some heads and I love it" sort of look. Unless something goes wrong, I definitely see him joining the family business. It's the payoff of that scene forever ago where he was getting ready for... something... and put on a suit and slicked his hair back.

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I think the scene at the dinner table definitely told a great deal about whether AJ enjoyed the incident or not...and it's pretty clear he did.

Great acting by Michael Imperioli, I read somewhere that this is the episode he submitted for Emmy consideration. I love how Tony used to berate him so much about his coke abuse but then when he gets straight he berates him for that too.

Nice shout out to Law and Order, which Imperioli guest starred on last year.

The only weak episode for me has been last week's episode...I think the rest have been brilliant (especially the premiere and the Junior episode). Chase definitely knows what he's doing.

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I believe this week's episode was a vivid reminder of how violent members of organized crime are as seen through AJ and Christopher. Christopher once again proved the value of human life when money and power are involved regardless of the nature of the friendship or family connection.

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I don't know if I see such good things for AJ. He's way too emotional to join the family biz and I don't know if Tony would want it. Carmella would go nuts.

I wonder if AJ, who is ready to go off like a rocket, will have something to do with what happens to Tony. There is so much tension there.

It seems that everyone is watching Chris. Almost like they want Paulie to taunt him to see what he does. Tony seemed pretty unconcerned about what Paulie did to his lawn. Even Bobby was giving him funny looks. Something's going to explode there.

I hope loose ends get tied up this time since there are no more seasons. And, yes, I'd like an Artie Bucco appearance.

This show makes me nuts but I can't help tuning in - Chase & Co, have always has that gift of luring you in to see what happens next.

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For being drunk off his ass, Christopher's got pretty good aim. Paulie doing the donuts on his lawn had me in hysterics with how they edited that together with Chris getting chewed out for tossing the guy out a window. Refreshing my memory with regards to Artie from Wikipedia, it doesn't sound like he and Tony were getting along too well last we saw him. Also the actor was arrested for DWI and cocaine possession about a year ago, so that might also be a factor in why we're not seeing Artie around.

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The parallel is pretty clear: like Tony, AJ is on meds and he's in therapy; he also seems to enjoy the same degenerate carousing that Tony does. He seems to fit into the Soprano family so well at the end of the episode, and he's beginning to show that he can fit into the mob family. To paraphrase Phil's statement from last week's show, "The turd doesn't fall far from the [Boss's] ass." // But while Tony seems satisfied with how AJ's character has developed recently, Chris is going off the deep end about the prospect his daughter's future but resentful that he himself is being squeezed out of the mob family affairs. He's, uhm . . . "conflicted." Will Chris kill Tony before Phil does, or before the feds nab Tony? Will Tony orchestrate enough friction between Paulie and Chris to have them take one another out? Will Tony get busted before he gets whacked, and will his collaboration with the feds get him enough of a reduced sentence that we'll see The Sopranos return in the future, after Tony has been released from prison? Do too many rhetorical questions get the person asking the questions whacked?

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Is it possible that the guy Christopher was speaking to at the AA meeting is an FBI plant? Christopher basically told him about Adrianna in not so many words. Only a matter of time before he lets it out.

I really thought Christopher was going to blow Paulie away in that scene. But this show always goes against what you think will happen!!!!

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I personally think it has been self-evident that AJ would end up in the family business for several seasons given his temperament and lack of motivation for much else. Unless something very dramatic to the contrary happens, it wouldn't surprise me if he doesn't "make his bones" before the end of the season.

Predictions.

Uncle Junior dies of natural causes.

Given his increasing feelings about his new family, Michael rebounds and takes over as boss eventually. AJ becomes part of the crew.

Tony is headed for jail and hard time soon.

The thing with New York is going to get very bloody. It is already very tense. Maybe more than one main character Tony's family is going to be clipped. Come to think of it, if AJ could be vulnerable during this period.

I don't know if Paulie meets his maker, but he will no doubt be reduced to nothing soon.

Final scene:

We seen Tony being being hauled off to prison on murder and RICO charges. Michael is surrounded by the what is left of the gang including AJ and they close the doors to the "office" a la the Godfather when Al Pacino's Michael consolidates his power in the first movie. I know it won't happen, too much of a cliche', but an interesting visual none the less.

I can't wait for the end.

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I think the AA guy was an FBI agent too. I'm glad someone else picked up on that.

Lots of things going on in this episode and I really have no idea "where this train will stop" either.

Obviously its already in the can, but I'm still torn about having the series finale a real shot 'em out or something deeper about Tony and his life.

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yeah, there was a woman checking chris out in AA that I thought might be a fed, and then the scene in the stairwell after... it certainly seemed like the guy was F.B.I. to me. It's gotta be fairly common knowledge that the producers of Cleaver have mob ties (at the very least the feds know about it), and then the screenwriter is hit execution-style? He was also Chris' old sponsor. This is gonna get him nabbed, and then maybe he start talking?

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I mentioned last week that I think this show will end in a way that surprises us all. For example, I don't think it will end simply with Tony being arrested b/c Christoper ratted him out or by Phil killing Tony. If he does get arrested or killed, I think it will be the doing of someone we are not expecting. Here are some thoughts:

A. Melfi hears too much and reveals what she hears from Tony to her therapist, Elliot. Elliot then speaks to FBI leading to Tony's arrest. It would be ironic that the therapy, the thing that has helped Tony all along, does him in.

B. Vito's son from a few week's back discovers that both Phil and Tony are essentially responsible for Vito's death and he kills them both. I could see the final episode starting with Tony and Phil arguing and then they both get shot by him. The show would then show us what occurred leading up to that scene.

C. Tony killed in a terrorist bombing by the guys he knows from the Bing.

D. Final thought: One person who has had extremly little face time this season is Silvio. Why? He would be the unlikely, yet ironic, player to do Tony in. Maybe he is working with Feds? He knows the most of all the guys.

Just some thoughts.

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Has anyone thought AJ's (ex) girlfriend might be working for FBI? Why was she always so nervous and then broke up with him so fast?

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I think when Tony was talking to the Feds and phoned Christopher that "some people" is their standard euphemism for the Feds (like "this thing of ours" means Mafia). I'll give David Chase a lot of credit for some fine tension created in the last few episodes...I did expect Christopher to explode after the crack about his daughter, but not at all when he shot J.T.

I think the ending is definitely going to involve A.J. in some way, but don't know if Chase has decided to continue the Soprano family dynasty by having him sucked into the family business, or end it by having him killed.

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A. J.'s look at the torture was priceless. Ted Danson had something like that in Body Heat where it signaled a story shift. The killing of the Daly character took Christopher out of the even vaguely sympathetic column. No more rooting for him. But the Law and Order reference made the scene doubly tragic. When we first meet Daly, Christopher got him back into gambling, and he was hoping to get money from writing work on Law and Order that never materialized. FYI, there was a reference to a Dr. Rapke a season or two ago. He would be Jack Rapke who is a major Hollywood agent.

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Thought this was a disappointing episode. The storylines and character arcs all seemed rushed: like they were trying to squeeze in too much too soon on the way to the finale. A.J. seemed to go from suicidal to frat boy jerk overnight. I know people will say it was the meds and the booze but he was awfully rationale talking to the shrink before he got the Lexipro. Christopher's behavior seemed all amped up, too. Because we've seen so little of him this season his inner turmoil has been short changed and not well developed. My finale prediction: Paulie kills Tony.

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I think that AJ is definitely going to get killed. He doesn't have the street smarts to make it with his dad's crew. He's too much of a follower and not enough of a thug.

Is Christopher going to take Tony out?

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I liked the beginning with Tony singing Pink Floyd - Confotambly Numb. Classic!

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If Tony is killed, here are how I rank the liklihood of who will do it (out of 100%):

"New York" 35%
Christopher: 15%
Paulie: 15%
A.J. 10%
Carmella: 5%
Silvio: 3%
Bobby: 3%
FBI: 2%
Terrorists: 2%
Adrianna's mother: 1%
Melfi: 1%
Other: 8%

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I think this episode reminded us of two very important themes that have run through this show from the beginning and I think that foreshadow the final ending:

1. The sins of the fathers are constantly relived in the sons. Christopher reminds Tony that his own father (and Tony's mentor) Dickie Moltisante was drug addict and alcoholic, much like Chris is. Tony on the other hand exhibits his own fathers traits of unhappiness, volcanic temper and panic attacks, and it is now becoming increasingly apparent that A.J. shares these traits and they may just doom him to his father's fate.

2. Once you enter the "family", there is no getting out. We've seen over and over again that the only way out of the family (whether you turn informant and get relocated to Maine or inherit millions of dollars or get cancer while in jail) is death. Tony's known it all along... Christopher is starting to fully realize it... and, now, A.J. is flirting with it. Will he decide to join the family and seal his own fate?? Has the decision already been made for him on a cosmic level??

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