I followed UFC casually for about 3 years, but since Lesnar joined, I've seen almost every PPV and am hooked, even though it looks like Brock is a loss away from irrelevance.

Ralph killed the horse.

He died in the woods and was never found.

As far as the motives go, there's nothing in the finale itself that suggests that Tony is in danger.

I agree. Knowing what's going to happen is fun in its own way, just because you get to pay attention to how everything lead up to the big moments of the series. It's one of the more rewatchable shows out there.

Christopher's Hollywood excursions are a reminder that these characters do have dreams and ambitions beyond their current situation, but they eventually falling back into the same routines and patterns because that's what they're used to and it's a lot easier to live that way.

Bobby begins to run Junior's crew in the Season 4 premiere, but never officially becomes captain. He still reports to Junior.

Tony was still technically the captain of his crew in Season 1, even though he was really running things. Paulie and Silvio were a soldier in Tony's crew, and got bumped up to Captain when Tony took over as boss and Silvio got bumped up to Consigliere.

The Third Soprano Brother
This one is actually easy to tie in with the themes of the show.

Season 4 is the bridge season. The first three seasons were mostly about building these characters up, and the final three seasons (5,6A and 6B) were about tearing these characters down. The fourth season is the season that ties both parts together. A lot of the story lines that drive the series in the final…

And the great HBO Comedy was created by Larry David.

The First Season as The Beginning of The End
One of the things I loved about the first season is that, by the end, it feels like we've been with these characters for a bunch of seasons, even though it's only been 13 episodes. By the time Tony and his family sit down for a candlelight dinner at Vesuvio, an entire…