<p>The black screen at the end had remote control holding spouses around the country unjustly accused - “Agghh, what did you do to the remote?!” - including in my household ,LOL.</p>
<p>Anyway, I know this is the minority view , but I loved the ending. I also thought the episode also provided a dramatic counterpoint to last weeks action packed shoot em up episode. This one had you expecting something was going to happen around every corner… such dramatic tension, but with no resolution.</p>
<p>I think the episode was intentionally written to leave all possibilities open. Can anyone say Sopranos - The Movie? No doubt that Chase intended the black screen (and the comment made a few episodes ago that you’d never hear or see anything coming) to represent the <em>possibility</em> that Tony had been shot by one of the suspicious looking people in the ice cream store. After all, the way they killed Phil went against the mob code of conduct - never to involve family members. The look on Paulie’s face at the end (kind of like - NOW you do right by me) also leaves us wondering if he hadn’t already turned against Tony after all.</p>
<p>On the other hand, who knows, maybe the suspicious looking guys were FBI protection - and Tony’s about to turn state’s evidence. </p>
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<p>And this makes a lot of sense, too - the reality of their life, expecting the worst to happen at any moment! Stay tuned - money talks and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a Sopranos movie in the next year or two.</p>