Did Vito off himself last week? Will Paulie keep crying over the revelation that his mother isn't his mother? Will Tony beat anyone else up to prove he still deserves to be feared and respected?

We'll see...

9:01 p.m., and HBO is still running a "Big Love" promo...Ugh.

The air conditioner bothers Tony...Is this another dream sequence? Yachting magazine?

Vito! He's lamming it!

Paying off his bodyguard after beating him senseless...Smart move. Looked like Tony was running out of bodyguards.

"Human frailty...makes me sick sometimes." Best line so far...

Uh oh! The word is spreading about Vito's dance moves...

"...like the guy in the Village People." Ouch.

The Sopranos goes political...

Edie Falco: "I voted for (Bush.)" (In reality, she didn't but that's another story.)

You can't even watch a good Mob show these days without running into the Danish cartoon controversy...

Uh oh. The boys are on to Vito. And Vito makes a run for it...Something says that's not the last we'll see of him, though.

And he's back, packing up for the long, long trip away. And eating like the old days.

Get the woman her bundt pan.

Silvio is all tact. Talking with Vito's soon-to-be-widow looks about as fun for Silvio as an asthma attack.

Someone should tell Tony you can catch more flies with honey...

Tony: "Don't forget. I'm a strict Catholic." (Second best line of the night.)

Meadow spills the beans on Phinn's "Vito story." Phinn looks very unhappy.

Tony appears to give Vito a reprieve...But will it be enough? Silvio puts it into financial perspective...like a consigliere should.

Phinn is definitely unhappy.

And Vito lives to see another episode...

Life isn't fun after you've been whacked on "The Sopranos."

Just ask John Fiore.

Key quote: "He's tortured."

The Sopranos

Namely: Tony recovers from a gunshot wound to the belly, and resumes giving hell to the rest of his family in his never-ending job of keeping them in line.

Episode Three was also notable because it showed us a side to Silvio Dante that we never knew existed. The Soprano's consigliere and acting boss (while Tony was comatose) was so stressed out at smoothing over rifts between capos Bobby Baccala and Vito Spadafora, and between Paulie Walnuts and Vito Spadafora, that his asthma flared up and he wound up in the hospital.

"I can't breath," Silvio muttered on his way to the ambulance. "I can't breath."

So it's clear that series boss and creator David Chase has gotten across his message; the only one capable of running the family for now is Tony Soprano, brain damage or no brain damage.

Chase also leaves us seeing a slimmed-down Vito doing nothing but making enemies inside the family, or literally reaching out and sidling up to the one man who knows about Vito's "secret life."

The path has been established. Vito is painting himself into a corner so that, eventually, he may have to blast his way out...with bullets or carrot sticks.

Petitenavir saw the episode, and came up with this suggestion - which has too much potential for network executives to ever go for it:

So most of the episode (aside from the alternate reality) took place in a hospital. I was thinking of how awesome it would be if Tony were in the Scrubs hospital. Like JD telling the family how to act around Tony and Elliot saying somthing weird around Carmella or somthing. Dr. Cox pissing off Paulie, The Janitor trying to get JD in trouble with the mob... In short, least likely yet BEST CROSSOVER EVER.

Silvio divides the spoils from Paulie's latest score, and heads off a territorial impasse between Bobby and Vito. Carmela turns to an unexpected source for help with AJ; Christopher turns to an old writing acquaintance, JT Dolan, for help in a new venture.

Silvio as acting boss certainly has potential for throwing the entire family into turmoil. It's clear that Bobba Baccala is now seeking to take over much of what Uncle Junior controlled; However, it will be interesting to see if he's held to account for not taking care of the confused boss-in-name-only on the night Junior shot Tony.

Since there's no way that the award-winning HBO series can go on for another 19 episodes if Tony croaks, we know that in the end, probably by this coming Sunday, he will be on the road to recovery, and continuing his ruthless, duplicitous, yet charming ways.

If Soprano were a real Mafia boss, and was killed, or incapacitated for any length of time - like Joe Colombo was in 1971 when he was gunned down at a Columbus Circle rally of the Italian American Civil Rights League - his spot would ultimately be taken by his most powerful and influential underling.

Capeci said that would point to Silvio Dante or, in a longshot, the now-svelt Vito Spadafora.

But, this is the Soprano crime family we're talking about. Dysfunction rules. So, the bet from this vantage point: Tony survives but is incapacitated, leading to a free-for-all between Christopher Moltisanti, Vito, and Paulie Walnuts for acting control.

Uncle Junior, consumed with dimentia, shoots Tony - who had stopped by to fix his uncle some pasta.

There were a number of disturbing scenes in last night's episode (Uncle Junior missing his upper plate wasn't exactly easy on the eyes.) But after last night, two more mob turncoats bit the dust: Raymond Curto and Eugene Pontecorvo. They followed Adreana La Cerva and Big Pussy Bonpensiero as FBI snitches who died while gathering information against Tony for the feds.

Curto keeled over while handing an FBI agent a tape, and Pontecorvo hung himself after the feds told him he'd be the new "designated hitter" replacing Curto. Until last night, viewers only saw Pontecorvo as a bit player and had no idea he was cooperating.

So, even though The Sopranos ended last night with Tony holding a bullet wound to the stomach and fading fast, he's got one thing in his favor: He's not working for the government!

MORE: Baseball Crank also catches on to the FBI's poor luck in retaining informants.

When last we saw Tony Soprano, he had just finished running through snow-covered woods and neighborhoods, trying to avoid the same fate as Johnny Sack, who got pinched by the feds.

Tonight, we see The Sopranos for the first time since 2004.

"Reviews of the first four episodes are outstanding."