Sopranos, anyone?

[alteran]

Yeah, I know the Sopranos are passe these days, but is anyone else here still watching besides me?

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

SPOILERS

I am in shock that Tony whacked Christopher last night. I figured it was going to get bloody for the principals on the show this season, but I figured Christopher would be there until the end.

Looks like David Chase is clearly trying to throw so many overt reasons for Tony's downfall that we can barely keep track. Off the top of my head, Chase has explicitly lined up the following:

1) feud with Phil Leotardo and the NY mob
2) bad blood between Tony and Hesch
3) Tony's gambling debts/financial problems
4) AJ's crumbling mental state and increasing lawlessness
5) FBI guys visibly sniffing around
6) Adrianna/Christopher murders coming home to roost
7) Arab guys ratted on by Tony to FBI
8) Paulie's intra-crew bitterness and increasing instability
9) Christopher ratting out or eliminating Tony

Looks like we can eliminate number 9.

It's clearly a downward spiral here. I don't think we'll have any idea what's going to happen until it does, and I'd bet short odds that everything Chase throws at us in an obvious manner turns out to be a red herring. I've been following Slate's roundtable and one of the guys there is convinced that Janice is going to be the one that gets Tony, probably similar to the way she took out Aprile.

I'm beginning to think he might actually be right.

[Highlander]

Spoiler warning...

I thought Tony whacking Christopher was sad. I always liked Christopher's character. He seemed to always want to be like Tony, but had his personal demons with drugs and booze. When he finally gets his life back on track, his friends can't seem to handle him being straight. Just last week we saw Christopher grilling steaks with his new daughter and wife in the house, and Tony ragging him for not having a good time. Then in less than a week's time Chris is back to drinking and doing Coke, and Tony whacks him for failing to keep it under control. Talk about mixed messages.

It struck me as odd that Tony whacked a made guy from his own crew during the middle of an inter-family feud. Seems like you'd need as many hands as you can get.

The other thing I noted was that AJ's involvement with the College guys is an attempt at foreshadowing. Until he broke down in the psychologist's office, I was beginning to see the seeds of him taking up the family business. Now I'm not so sure.

I don't see anyone in Tony's family capable of stepping up to run things in Tony's absence, with the possible exception of Sal. Paulie would self destruct in a matter of weeks as a boss.

[captmojo]

I wonder if it could be art imitating life with Tony maybe going to prison and AJ taking up the family business. It would be very disappointing to watch this ending fall out like the Gotti's, with the possible exception of a reality show for Meadow.

[Raleighfan]

AJ take up the family business? Um....I don't see AJ as being capable of taking up any business, family or otherwise, while he's in his current state. I think the family business would be his absolute undoing, in short order. Why aren't we seeing more of Meadow in these last episodes? Guess it's because she's more "removed" from the family business/mindset than are the others?

[DevilAlumna]

I like the parallel between AJ and Tony, how they both are now seeing psychiatrists -- and both have bouts of depression in no small way stemming from the violence of their fathers. AJ's reaction to the violent beat-down was expected and appropriate; I was left wondering, will Tony have another panic attack/breakdown for murdering his friend/near-son?