Two Sopranos To Go

I’m a little bleary-eyed from watching the Sopranos last night after the Mets got shut down by Tyler Clippard on the way to his junior prom….thoughts in the extended entry below, SPOILERS INCLUDED.

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First of all, that beat-down Tony put on the guy who harrassed Meadow climaxed with one of the most shocking acts of violence we have seen on this show, and that’s saying quite a lot. I’m still cringing from Tony fracturing the guy’s dental plate.
Is this the end of AJ’s story arc? It’s hard to top a failed suicide attempt (via a typically incompetent effort to make himself sleep with the fishes – I thought Tony would find him dead and assume Phil did it and go bonkers) except with a successful suicide or some other method of AJ killing or dying. It’s hard for him to get well in two episodes, too. I have to think it will get worse.
(I will say no more than to observe that Bush-hatred appears to be part of AJ’s downward spiral and avoidance of his own reality).
Tony was awful slow to put down that hot dog while running to rescue his son.
It really is all about Tony’s mother. His bus metaphor with Melfi shows how thoroughly he has absorbed her Freudianism. I’m guessing we will see more of Melfi, although her scene with her own shrink put a fairly appropriate ending on her storyline.
One of the quiet highlights of the episode was Carmela almost but not quite telling Meadow to avoid getting involved with a man in the mob. She just can’t admit that to herself.
The Mayor of Munchkinland is now “Nobody Sees the Wizard,” with crazy Butchie as the doorwarden. Of course, Phil tries to elevate himself above Tony by refusing an audience, but then ruins the effect by yelling out his window like a teenage girl in a snit. The man’s resentments and grudges make Johnny Sack look like Fred Rogers by comparison. The coming attractions underline the obvious: the gang war David Chase has been tantalizing us with for over a year now will finally erupt into serious blood. I have to believe that one of the pleasures Chase will deny us is seeing Phil get his comeuppance; he’s probably more of the device that brings down Tony.
Is this the first time we have seen Little Carmine introduced as “Carmine Lupertazzi” instead of “Little Carmine”? As Little Carmine would say, his statue is adding gravity.
Anybody taking bets on when Tony smashes the picture of Christopher?
Speaking of coming attractions, are we to believe that Silvio’s loyalty will be called into question? He’s really the only one left Tony can trust. And he really knows where the bodies are buried.
UPDATES: #1, I think someone other than Phil (Rusty?) was the Mayor of Munchkinland, or am I forgetting? And #2, maybe I heard wrong in the previews – was Sil saying he, Silvio, was playing both sides, or that Tony was?
#3 – Even if the Muslims are more of a target than the FBI is letting on, the fact that they showed pictures to Tony confirms what was already obvious: they are not going to ever use Tony as a witness against these guys in court.