Hitchcock blew people away when he killed off Janet Leigh, the main character in "Psycho", early in the film. It left people disoriented, which is exactly what Hitchcock wanted. Killing off Tony would have the same effect.
I knew Gandolfini wanted out of the series, and this is a brilliant way to let him go.
Tonight's episode sucked. Looks to be next week as things start to get hot. I still think that it is too early to take Gandolfini's character out of the series as what does the second half of the season look like? He is the central character. Would you tune in to watch AJ, Carmella or Pauly Walnuts' characters do their thing?
Possibly, at any rate, it looks like even if Tony survives he won't be his old self. Mental retardation, amnesia, advanced alzheimer's (as implied by the dream sequence), something like that, which would turn the show on its head, maybe moreso than if he dies. It could also meet Gandolfini's wish to basically play a different character the rest of the season, ala "Kevin Fennerty".