I like both of two ideas, but clearly it's open to interpretation-
Tony did say that when it comes, you don't know it's coming. It's just goes black and silent.
I also like how it really gave you an emotional involvement in the episode, waiting a looking through out the show, for someone to do something.
At the same rate- if there was no hit- life goes on. The story doesn't wrap up, the one issue was resolved (regarding the war with New York) but new ones were emerging (Carlo turning states evidence for example). The story just continues. There is no resolve. The characters continue with their lives. There is no closure at the end of any day.
Also, the final scene with dementia ridden Uncle Junior, demonstrating just how meaningless it all is. "You ran North Jersey."
"Oh really, that's nice."
What did anyone expect? It's not like MASH. The war didn't end. You can never meet expectations on a final episode. Did you want some nail bitting, action packed shoot out, totally uncharacteristic with the show? Just having Tony get shot in the last scene and watching him bleed out would have been lame.
The fact that it had such an emotional response reinforces how strong an episode it actually was. All that anxiety kept building through the whole episode. Every time Tony went into a room, or stepped out into the open, you were worried and looking out to see who was going to kill him.
Watching Meadow park (poorly) and then enter the dinner was tense. And she was just parking her car.
That guy in the Members Only jacket... those gang members walking in. Are they civilians or a threat?
Great episode, great series. David Chase created a series that defied convention, while still employing so many of the norms. It's almost hard to remember how much of an influence that The Sopranos has had on television in the past eight years.
If they had buttoned up all the story lines and resolved everything clumisly within 60 or 120 minutes,THEN I would have felt ripped off.