The Godmother

The real surprise in the third episode of The Sopranos was a throwaway line from Carmela Soprano, when she tells her hospitalized husband Tony she thinks one of his lieutenants has been holding back some of the vig in periodic payments.

You weren't supposed to notice this line in the tumult of the (marvelous & Oedipal) episode. But it's a giveaway on the life of the show's last season: Carmela, who has long distanced herself from her husband's business, and never gotten involved in these sorts of seamy transactions before, will take that business up with zeal now that Tony, brushed by death, is developing a spiritual life.

You heard it here first: The Sopranos will come to an end with a new boss, Mrs. Soprano, played by Edie Falco. It's inevitable, thrilling-- and yes, P.C.