So much for AJ being depressed in the final episode.

He is in a car that is about to go up in flames and could end his life.

He jumps out. Runs away from death in the arms of a new love. Some people plan that sort of thing if they are depressed. The conversation at the beginning of the scene made it seem like AJ and Rhiannon might be thinking of fulfilling a suicide pact.

When AJ is talking to his therapist after the incident he says he feels "cleansed" by the experience of watching his car burn. Not because it is a polluter, just the excitement. We know from Tony's earlier depression, that he snapped out of it when Jr. tried to have him killed. Escaping from that "woke" Tony up and gave him a new appreciation for life.

Same with AJ. A real, near death experience, wakes him up. AJ's "controlled near death" experience didn't really do as much for him. He will still use the depression card but he is fully alert now.

Yet when Carm and Tony try to talk to AJ about the car burning, he pulls up the depression card as if it were a "Get out of Jail Free" card in monopoly.

And it appears to work.

AJ is duplicate Tony. He has had a rough, unhappy childhood. And he has learned from his father how to get around the hard parts. He just hasn't figured out how to do the stand up part as he walks into the responsibility of his life.

AJ is 21. We know from earlier in the season that Johnny Boy had Tony murder someone when he was 23. That cemented Tony into the life, following in his father's footsteps.

Maybe since/if Tony is gone, AJ will have a chance of escaping the life if no one is there to force him into the next step.

I think we see in AJ a lot of what happened in Tony's life between the early episodes where we saw his very young life, as remembered in therapy, then there is a blank filled in with a few glimpes by the episodes with his Cousin Tony, then in the beginning of 6b we see how Tony actually was nailed down into the life.

AJ probably mirrors the missing scenes of Tony's development.

the character of AJ has really declined since about season 4. he was great in the first 3 seasons. then he really started to annoy me from season 4 or 5 i think.
this season, i really hoped he would of got whacked.

this has been on my mind and since this is a thread on AJ's mental state: Did anyone else think it was notable that in 'Made in America,' when talking to Tony and Carm about the Army, AJ mentions that he couldn't go to military school b/c 'he started crying?' I wonder if this is supposed to imply that AJ either doesnt recall or has blocked out his panic attacks? Tony seemed to have blocked out his early attacks until the memory of them surfaced years later in therapy. AJ's situation is so sad. not that i want to see anyone go to Iraq or any war, fictional character or otherwise, but we see AJ once again trying to move toward a more disciplined life, only to be pulled back into his parents' world.
He also showed promising signs when he asked Blanca to marry him - and note how quickly he seemed to accept and fit into her world. It's like he's searching for some kind of identity and path other than the one he's been presented, which he's subconsiously rejected and/or refused to fully consider b/c it's too frightening. Sure he can be the happy wanderer up to a point, but when the shit really hits the fan his true self comes forth (like when the beating of the African guy on the bike sent him into breakdown mode)

bigbadbill007 wrote:the character of AJ has really declined since about season 4. he was great in the first 3 seasons. then he really started to annoy me from season 4 or 5 i think.
this season, i really hoped he would of got whacked.

There are not very many things that really got on my nerves when watching the show, but AJ playing the drums was one such thing. They should be called "drumbs" instead of "drums" when he plays them. To this day, whenever that sound byte comes on my TV, I have to hit mute or change channels or something equivalent. Listening to AJ on the drums is torture. The only other thing that comes to mind is Ralph's housekeeper in a panic when she starts to scream or whatever it can be called over the telephone. All I can say about that is thank goodness for the mute button.

I see AJ's depression as the epitome of teenage america in the 21st century. Overstimulated, underinspired, apathetic, confused, hateful, vengeful. I always felt AJ's charecter acuratley reflects the issues confronting many teenagers these days. Like the warning about leaf piles catching fire that chase gave us, so too is AJ. The example of what is happening to todays youth. Dissillusioned and lonley, deperately trying to identify as something. AJ always embodied these traits. He was chases metaphor for his whole generation, especially the angst ridden existential thinking boys. Then in the last three episodes, we see the bot die and the man emerging. The scene at the end of the episode where he ends up in the mental hospital, he looks so pale. An obvious makeup and lighting efffect cast a pale glow across him. Like death. Then by the end when tony visits with the pizza, they both appear to be covered in black shadow except their faces. And you see the manchild and the man. A rebirth. I feel the sybolism is there in the episode. It shows a transformation happening. And the reason i feel AJ's charecter bugs so many people is the same reason many menchild his age bug a lot of us too. He embodides the whole youth of today. Then by the finale we see a very confident, fit, healthy looking AJ. Like a different person. Then the car explodes and the transformation is complete. He transcended himself and "got it!' just like Tony. AJ's charecter is the most brutally honest representation of the youth today that you will ever find in any TV show or movie. Chase nails it. Its shocking and upsetting because its true. Just like all of the Sopranos from the first episode on he shows us not the happy go lucky side, but the real side. And the real can be very very ugly. AJ's charecter is acted to perfection IMHO and the writing is bitingly honest. Kudos to the Sopranos Writing team for finally nailing the depression that afflicts so many youth today and showing that in the end the depression is all a bunch of shit.