The End. (Pass Out Quietly.)

The screen went black.

Unexpectedly, in the middle of a scene; Meadow's on her way into the diner, the bell jingles, Tony looks up; Steve Perry's in full cry: "Don't stop!" "--Bee-lee-vin'!" it would have been, except that it wasn't, because the screen went black. And stayed that way. Black screen, silence; and then credits rolling.

"That's it?" asked Young'un.

"What just happened?" I asked.

Unlike many viewers of this, the series finale of "The Sopranos", we never thought for a second that the cable had gone out. We knew what we were looking at was an artifact, meant to tell us something. But what?

I don't really care for write-it-yourself endings, and in this case in particular I was hoping David Chase would spell it out for me. In one of the early episodes, Tony makes the remark that in his business everybody ends up in prison or killed. Going into this final episode, I saw another possibility: the witness protection program. Tony and Agent Harris of the FBI have been getting downright chummy. When Tony met him and got into his car I thought that's what was going to happen... but no.

As the hour progressed we saw several examples of another observation Tony made early in the series: "I feel like I came in at the end; like it's all winding down." It wound down, all right. Bobby's dead, Silvio's in a coma, Uncle Junior is in his own Alzheimer's world. When Tony told him, "You and my father used to run North Jersey", he replied, "Oh. That's nice." Janice jokes that she's got to snag another husband, and declares quite seriously that she's going to keep her stepdaughter with her regardless of the girl's wishes. Paulie Walnuts, ever the dog in the manger, doesn't want to take over Bobby Baccala's crew but takes the job when Tony threatens to give it to Patsy "there's P in our OOL" Parisi. Patsy and his wife, played by 80s icon Donna Pescow of Saturday Night Fever and "Angie" fame, meet with Tony and Carmela to discuss their children's upcoming marriage. The other Soprano offspring, A.J., is all fired up to join the army (a la Michael Corleone in One?), but Tony and Carm convince him to go to work for Little Carmine in the movie business instead.

As for the war with the New York mob, a separate peace is achieved -- with the help of Little Carmine (he's turning out surprisingly useful). For Phil Leotardo, who's been out of control ever since Tony's cousin Tony Blundetto whacked his brother Billy, it ends badly. At the gas station. Under the wheels of an SUV. Amid bellows of nausea and projectile vomiting from onlookers. His vendetta against Tony Soprano dies with him.

Meanwhile Carlo, a member of Tony's crew, has flipped; he's going to testify, and subpoenas are flying. Tony's lawyer has warned him that he's probably going to be indicted. Tony and Carmela touch on this, briefly, while sitting in a booth in the diner waiting for their children to join them. Tony's jukebox selection, Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" is the soundtrack as we look around at the other customers in the diner, and with each jingle of the door chimes somebody else comes in. There's a woman who resembles Janice... a guy who looks like Johnny Boy Soprano, Tony's dad... A.J. comes in at the same time. Now they're just waiting for Meadow. A.J. bitches about his job, Carmela chides him as always. Out in front, Meadow is trying to parallel park, and having a hell of a time. The waitress brings a plate of onion rings, the family starts to eat them -- Meadow runs across the street to the diner -- chimes jingle, Tony looks up -- Steve bellows "Don't stop!" Aaaaaand the screen goes black.

So what happened? I'll tell you what I think. In the first episode of this last half-season, Tony and his brother-in-law Bobby are out in a boat fishing, and they have a conversation about what happens when you're shot. They conclude that you aren't aware of it; you don't hear it coming: it just ends. We saw that clip at the end of the penultimate episode, after Bobby was whacked and Tony had gone into hiding, and again in the "previously on The Sopranos" montage at the beginning of this one. I think this was a message that when the screen went black, we were seeing from Tony's point of view, and that he just got shot to death in front of his family. Boom boom, out go the lights. He (we) never heard it coming.

Just my opinion, of course; your mileage may vary.