Sara had a theory, which she had vouchsafed for weeks now, that Adriana was alive. That Silvio hadn't really killed her. Why? Because -- and my wife has her reasons -- Adriana's murder was never shown on screen. All we saw was Silvio firing bullets into Adriana from Adriana's point of view. We never saw the Sam Peckinpah twitch of bullet riddled death to confirm the kill. "Everyone else who got murdered on the Soparnos, you saw them get whacked," said Sara.

Could my wife possibly be right about this? If Hesh's black girlfriend's mysterious death was, in fact, a hit, we didn't see that on screen. There must have been others we never actually saw "taken care of." I can't think of any, but there must have been. That's my position.

Anyway, under Sara's theory, Adriana is alive because Sil never killed her because Sil has been flipped by the feds. Which means that Silvio has a license to kill by the government, based on his most recent on-screen murder just a week ago.

I'm thinking all this as we creep into the second half hour of the final episode of the Sopranos. If Sara's right, a whole lot of shit has got to come down in a very short time. Where is Silvio? We know he's alive. Why hasn't Tony visited him in the hospital? By the time Tony actually does visit the comatose Sil, he has already reached out to Uncle June, who I expected to pull out an AK-47 from behind his wheelchair when Tony asks him, "You don't know who I am, do you." Uncle June's face is a rock mafioso. Maybe he's in on it, along with Adriana and Sil.

It's ten of ten. I'm getting nervous. After six seasons the countdown to resolution is mark, T-Minus, nine, eight, seven. . . Oh, God, he's in a restaurant. Every time the door opens or a coin drops, there's menace in ever image. No, not the Boy Scouts, but maybe their leader. No, not the giggling couple, unless it's the busboy. How 'bout that guy at the counter who looks like an Italian assassin. Oh wait, this guy has to walk past Tony on his way to the men's room directly across from where Tony is sitting. Wouldn't you know that two jitterbuggy-looking black males choose that moment to walk in the front door of the restaurant. The triangulation is complete.

At the table eating onion rings and discussing the future is Tony, Carmela and A.J. They're waiting on Meadow, who is parallel parking like a Jersey girl, unsuccessfully, right outside. On a tinny diner jukebox, Journey is singing "Don't Stop Believing", a hair band power ballad from Tony amd Carmela's high school years. Every word in the lyrics applied to the scene unfolding before us. As Carmella walks through the door, a high tenor voice sings, "Just a small town girl. Livin' in a lonely world. She took the midnight train. Goin' anywhere." The camera turns to Tony watching her approach, "Just a city boy. Born and raised in South Detroit. He took the midnight train. Goin' anywhere." And if you know Journey, you that the word "anywhere" takes forever to sing.

But that is the soundtrack to the last minutes of the last Sopranos. Meadow can't park worth shit. You know everyone is going to die. It's her bad parking that will save her. Journey sings, "Strangers waiting. Up and down the boulevard .Their shadows searching. In the night. Streetlights, people. Livin' just to find emotion. Hidin', somewhere in the night."
Meadow finally parks , runs across traffic to reach her family in time. We don't see the bathroom door open. We don't see the cannolis fly. All we see is the look on Tony's face as his daughter opens the diner door, which makes an old-fashioned "ding" sound as Journey shouts, "Don't stop. . ." And then the cable went out.
I knew it was too cruel to be true, but that doesn't mean it wasn't my first thought. My uttered words at the moment were more like, "No! You Di'int!" aimed at Urban Cable rather than David Chase. The blackout lasted long enough to get most broadcast engineers fired, but the silence continued all through the credits. The first time in Sopranos history when the credits rolled without sound.

Once I got over hating the ending, I loved it. Perfect. Don't have a clue what it all meant or means, but it was perfect. Because it proved everyone wrong. Except my wife, of course. Sil is still alive. Can Adriana be far behind?