what does a soprano do, but sing?

if you watch "the sopranos" but haven't seen the series finale, read no further.
if you don't watch "the sopranos," YOU SHOULD, but feel free to skip this post.

oh, david chase. how i love thee, but also despise thee. i had been looking forward to last night's episode for weeks now, certainly not because i wanted the show to end, but because i wanted to know how it would end. i mean, how do you end the best show on pay-tv, and arguably the best show on tv, period?

as frustrated as i am not to have a nicely wrapped up conclusion, i am satisfied that the show didn't go out like so many others do, which is to say quickly and hurriedly. as the end of the series drew closer, i had so many questions (ade never came back, will sil live, will meadow be a victim of a terrorist attack, etc.) that i wondered if it would even be possible to wrap them up conclusively.

the truth is that i was so focused on my thoughts of "what's going to happen?," particularly in the final scene at the diner, that i didn't notice so many of the things other viewers are pointing out. ("the suspense is killing me...i hope it'll last," anyone?)

the Boy Scouts at the diner -- were they the same ones in the penultimate episode?

i thought Tony was looking in on himself in the diner, but perhaps it was just the bizarre editing that cut from Tony outside, in his leather jacket, looking in to Tony inside, jacket off and sitting in a booth, in mere nanoseconds.
speaking of seconds, the cut to black scene felt so much longer than its 4 or so seconds.

but again, this is just television, and above all, a welcome escape from reality.