End of the Sopranos: The Mifflement Goes On and On and On ...

Yegods! Okay: David Chase is both brilliant and sadistic. And way cynical. (takes one to know one I guess!)

I've gone back and forth but in the end I think the viewer is whacked — we really don't hear it coming. The P.O.V. of that last shot looking at Tony as he looks up is ours (okay, arguably AJ or Meadow's). But for those of us who don't so much get all the symbolism and self-referential 'in-jokes' -- it always has been about us, we the viewers, being the voyeurs, projecting, identifying with, yearning to be part of 'the family', 'the action.' Thinking we know what we would do in that situation.

So in the end Chase finally allows us to transcend voyeurism to participation.

We got whacked.

I think the onion rings do represent communion. At the time there are only three at the table: Father, Son and Holy Ghost (Carm as the Holy Spirit? Interesting choice). Does Meadow represent the virgin, about to give birth?

Meanwhile, Tony and his families go on and on, the banality and venality of his children following in father's footsteps (and mom's all-too convenient self-delusion and denial) seem well on the way to fruition ... and there still exists the possibility of a Sopranos movie just in case they're ready a few years from now to make a new sh*tload of money.