Most of the ground has already been covered here (well done, as usual) but I'd just to chime in and say that the brilliance of the scene where Tony snuffs out Chris is that, at the time, you don't really know if it's a mercy killing or if Tony is riding himself of a major problem in his life. And like Zeke said, they're not mutually exclusive. I think as the episode goes on, you see that Tony really did kill Chris because he saw an opportunity to move on and finally end his love/hate relationship with him. I've written this before, and I'm not breaking any new ground obviously, but it's fascinating to me how David Chase has Tony do something that reminds viewers that Tony isn't a loveable character. Convensional television wisdom says you shouldn't be rooting for him. He's a muderous, selfish, lying, adulterous psychopath incapable of love, and yet we're drawn to him. Deep down, he's not good. He's evil. Maybe the whole point of the show is that Tony is his mother's boy, just like David Chase feels that he's always going to be his mother's boy. And it begs the question: Why do we, as viewers, feel empathy for someone who on the surface is so dislikeable and full of despair? And someone who is so "comfortably numb" to the evil deeds he's done and forced others to do? One minute Chris is telling Tony to smell the roses, and they're smiling together, and the next, Tony is putting his hand on Chris' face, quietly killling him.
Cape_Fear said:
I loved the fact of the lyrics of Comfortably Numb that they didn't talk over right before the crash.
"The child is grown, the dream is gone."
You could see in Tony's face that there was no possible way that Chris was going to take over someday.
Honestly, the more I think about it, those Pink Floyd lyrics were about Tony, not Chris. I think you can see how Tony's story is in some ways being echoed with what A.J. is going through this year. (Otherwise why have the A.J. story, since Robert Iller is such a mediocore actor.)
Think of these lyrics in the context of Tony, who dreamed earlier this season (and the season before last in "Test Dream") about what his life would have been like with different choices. When we reach adulthood, we're fully formed. We can't become different people, no matter what bullshirt therapy we attend/endure.
When I was a child
I caught a fleeting glimpse
Out of the corner of my eye.
I turned to look but it was gone
I cannot put my finger on it now
The child is grown,
The dream is gone.
I have become comfortably numb.
