Don't stop...

I must admit, at first I was a little shocked by the ending of the Sopranos. Was that it? This is how it ends...cut to black. I am sure I am not the only one who thought the cable went out. In fact I bet there was a collective "what the fuck?" at 10:04 last night.
But after I let it sink in for a few minutes I came to the conclusion that overall it was a pretty good ending. Maybe I am going out on a limb here but I whole-heatedly think that Tony dies in the end. If you remember back to the start of season 6 when Tony and Bobby are on the lake talking about getting whacked, Bobby says, "I bet you don't even hear it."
So in the end Tony sat in a diner with his family and just as he looked up to see Meadow walking in the door.....blackness. He didn't hear or feel anything. And the buildup was intense...all the shady characters in the diner, Meadow unable to parallel park, the fact that there was only 2 more minutes until the end. I personally found it to be brilliant and even a little sad. With death being an inevitable part of life, the fact that it ends in pure silence and blackness is a little scary for some, comforting to others. But it is the truth and it is real. If anything Tony was as real as a character on television can get. And even if he didn't die, the TV show did, and what a way to go. It was as if we, the audience, got whacked...and we didn't even see it coming.