There is a New Age faith that mixes Buddhism and Christianity in its view of the afterlife. They believe that at death, the spirit occupying the body splits in two. One half of the spirit contains the memories of this latest life, and it survives, either happy about this life or filled with regret about it. The other half, stripped of all memories, ends up in one of three places based on its latest life. It may end up in the light, merged into the greater Godhead, known to Buddhists as Nirvana or Extinguishment, and to the Christians as sainthood. Or it may end up at the Womb's Door, known to all as reincarnation. Or it may be sent to the garbage pit to be devoured and annihilated. (The lighthouse versus the fire.)
Tony says, "My whole life was in that briefcase." He has been stripped of his memories. Kevin Finnerty, courtesy of the joke from that guy in the bar, means Infinity. And a Buddhist slaps him as a karmic reward!
Tony says, "Who am I? Where do I go?" Stripped of memories, he doesn't know who he is, or why he is where he is. But he knows, courtesy of that session in the ER, that he's headed for the garbage pit.
The scenes for the next episode show an empire that is falling apart.
Chris's statement about the guy who hanged himself -- "He took the easy way out" -- will, I suspect, echo when Chris turns rat over the Middle Eastern players in the story and ends up taking the easy way out himself.
Now expelled from college, AJ is certainly going to try his hand at the family business, and he'll be no more successful at that than at anything else he's tried. He'll be the next Bevilacqua kid or Jackie Jr. He may or may not cap old Uncle Junior, but he's headed for disaster.
I don't see Tony returning from this journey. Either he dies in two weeks, or he lives as a vegatable, a mute witness to the collapse of everything he's worked for.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Chris taking a dirt nap shortly. I read somewhere that he's supposed to reprise his role as "Detective Falco" on Law & Order in the not too distant future.
Having him be a mobster in New Jersey and a cop in New York simultaneously would be just too much to take. Heck, even "24" killed off President Palmer before that idiot Haysbert moved on to become a Delta Force guy in "The Unit".
(For those that don't know what I meant about Haysbert being an idiot, check the FR site for a recent interview he did, out-doing Martin Sheen in the "I played a better President on TV than the President" department)