That whole episode with Agent Harris and the other guy in the driveway continues to intrigue me.

As others have mentioned, Agent Harris has always come across as somewhat sympathetic toward Tony, even warning him that there might be an attack coming from NY. This puts him in a perfect position to set him up.

They must be aware of the rift between Tony and Christopher. They know from Ade that Christopher had his problems with Tony.

Could the purpose of the driveway visit not be terrorism, but to let Tony know that they made the same request to Chris. "He may have told you or may not," Harris says. He has to know how Tony would react if Chris hadn't talked to him about this. He'd see it as more evidence that Chris is going off on his own (while the truth is that the coversation with Christopher occurred while Tony was still in a coma. He couldn't have told Tony if he wanted to, and probably forgot anyway. Although, now that I think about it, there was a scene later in the year when Tony asked Chris about the Middle Eastern guys. Chris could have told him about the FBI visit then.)

And this leads me to my next bit of speculation -- would it be in the Feds' best interest to somehow let Carmella know that Ade was an informant? Then she'd have to know that Ade was killed, not that she ran off with someone else.

Why would a widening split between Tony and Chris benefit the feds? I guess it might make it easier to flip one of them, wouldn't it?

I would think it all depends if Harris is telling the truth about being involved in Terrorism now. If it's true, then he's probably looking for sources of information. His partner seems less experienced and proably just not wise enough to find a good way to approach Tony. Talking to him about Meadow was just not a good way to elicit his co-operation.

On the other hand, if Harris is lying about having been transferred, then anything is possible.

One thing that I suggest you consider is that DC has never been the kind of guy to tease us with tiny things that lead into big things. Consider how he spent most of last season dealing with Vito. He didn't lead into that with some vague 30 second prelude. There were lots of preludes with Vince - the oral sex on the job site, the threatening of Finn, the conversations between Meadow and Finn, etc.

If Harris is setting up Tony, it would mean that one or two 30 second events will lead into the major story line of the final season. I just don't think it's consistent with DC's track record.

There are several things about this that are interesting. I agree that the Feds have something to gain by widening the rift between Tony and Chris in order to try and flip one of them. If they knew of Carmela's angst about Ade, they would surely "interview" her and let it slip that Ade was a collaborator.

The thing I found interesting about their meeting was the timing and place. Why did they accost him on his driveway rather than meet with him briefly at the Pork Store? Tony is less receptive to them when they bring business to his home turf. Is there a reason they had to do this meeting now? Or was this just to get under Tony's skin?

Is there a possibility that the "terror angle" will figure prominently in the final episodes?

I'm still wary of Agent Harris. Seems to me he has been playing the good cop throughout the entire series -- toward what end, I don't know. Maybe he thinks Tony is flippable.....it just struck me as unusual for him to mention Christopher in the driveway, and in that manner. Why did they have to wait until he picked up the newspaper? They could have had the conversation anywhere else....even knocked on his door, for that matter.

tomahawk wrote: Why did they accost him on his driveway rather than meet with him briefly at the Pork Store? Tony is less receptive to them when they bring business to his home turf. Is there a reason they had to do this meeting now?

You beat me to it. I think, just like they knew what NY was talking about, they know what NJ is talking about, too. And there probably is a lot of talk about the relationship between Tony and Chris, esp. when you factor in the real estate lady.

Why did they accost him on his driveway rather than meet with him briefly at the Pork Store? Tony is less receptive to them when they bring business to his home turf.

You both beat me to it. Harris has come to see Tony at his home at least once that I can recall but I have the feeling we've actually seen him come to the house more than once. And he's approached Tony at the store several times. Tony acts like a bear when he comes to the home but acts kind of friendly when he comes to the pork store.

So, Harris should be able to figure out that if he wants something from Tony, it's obviously better to go see him at the store.

There are many reasons why Tony would get real pissed about them coming to his home and I think they are all sufficiently obvious that I don't have to even mention them.

So, either Harris is a lot more stupid than we give him credit for, or there is indeed something going on with these feds. As far as the two foreigners who hang around the bar, my sense is they are most likely junior G-men more than terrorists.

There was once a Rockford Files epiode in Season 5 (The Battle-ax and the Exploding Cigar) where the ATF and CIA were both running a sting operation and they wound up trapping and busting each other. I can't remember if DC produced or wrote that one (he produced or wrote about half of all Rockford episodes), but how hilarious would it be if the two foreigners were ATF and the FBI wound up busting them for terrorist activities?

http://www.thesandbox.net/arm/rockford/ ... son5.shtml