Don't know if you all caught the music clue but Chase tipped his hand from the first scene.

The song that's playing when Tony wakes up is the Vanilla Fudge version of "You Keep Me Hanging On." And they go back to it at least twice more in the ep. (Other music: the original version of "Denise" rather than the Blondie cover, Bob Dylan and the Funky Moose.)

Anyway, he did keep us hanging on.

I liked it. I watched the first four seasons then drifted away. Came back for these last ones, starting with Christopher's death.

The agent that tipped Tony is another corrupted character. Did you see the look he got from the female FBI agent when she figured he'd given the tip that would get Phil whacked? So many great looks.

My favorite was the look on Carm's face when Tony started to turn the session with A.J.'s therapist into "I never could please my mother."

But the look on both of the Soprano parents while A.J. kept up one whackaloon career path after another was priceless. Oh and the scene with Uncle Jun had some Looks Of Merit too.

Lot of people seem to think the fade to black indicates the bullet entering Tony's head. I don't think so. I think the story just goes on, and he probably goes to jail and A.J. stays a spoiled rich kid, and Meadow conveniently compartmentalizes her life as she learned from Carm and so on.

eta: Back to musical clues. I think "Don't Stop Believing" refers to the way all the characters live in denial and rationalization. They believe they're (somehow) good people. But they're not. Meadow's do-goodism is just as bad as Carmela's bad faith.

The ending was, however, a perfect representation of everything I've come to loathe about this show that I once adored.

Trying to hard to live up to "the greatest show of all time" or something else?

Hey, and another idea: bringing the disappearing Russian back to whack Tony/Tony's family/combinations thereof - better or worse?

Which I guess a lot of people wanted. @@

Lot of people seem to think the fade to black indicates the bullet entering Tony's head.

Well, yeah, but it was a cut to black, not a fade, so some people wondered if their cable went out (not me, but I heard a LOT of outrage, among other things, at work).

(full disclosure - I liked the unresolved ending, but it did make me wonder if Chase has been watching ANGEL during his down time).

Right. Cut to black. Definitely more abrupt and bullety.

Still, I think the book ending songs both tip Chase's hand that it doesn't stop, that it keeps going on.

Interesting. Ganked this from Tim Goodman's blog, which was taking it from the HBO boards:

From the HBO message boards:

So here is what I found out. The guy at the bar is also credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito... Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Absolutely Genius!!!! David Chase is truly rewarding the true fans who pay attention to detail.

So the point would have been that life continues and we may never know the end of the Sopranos. But if you pay attention to the history, you will find that all the answers lie in the characters in the restaurant. The trucker was the brother of the guy who was robbed by Christopher in Season 2. Remember the DVD players? The trucker had to identify the body. The boy scouts were in the train store and the black guys at the end were the ones who tried to kill Tony and only clipped him in the ear (was that season 2 or 3?).

I think of it like a schroedinger's tony ending-- all and none of the things that are suggested happen. (I also think the similar ending of Angel as a fade to black is just coincidence.) My favorite is the idea that nothing happens; that this scene describes the rest of this life of paranoia-- a fate he truly deserves.

Another tidbit ganked:

PLEASE NOTE -- just before the end, the TV was playing the classically annoying informercial for the "Magic Bullet."

that this scene describes the rest of this life of paranoia-- a fate he truly deserves.

This. You've managed to articulate what I was only feeling. But it did ping me for Angel, only because I remember how a lot of fans (generally not here, though) went off on how unresolved it was.

So here is what I found out. The guy at the bar is also credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito... Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Absolutely Genius!!!! David Chase is truly rewarding the true fans who pay attention to detail.

This has been reposted everywhere, but has been debunked, I believe-- the members only jacket guy is a nonactor. Can't find the link anymore, though.

I suppose people already noticed that Patsy's wife was played by Donna Pescow - John Travolta's love interest in Saturday Night Fever. (Not relevant to the ending - just an observation)