You might think that after five and a half seasons of bloody violence that The Sopranos’ ability to shock would have dimmed. You would be very wrong, with last night’s episode proof positive that when it comes to leaving your jaw flapping in the wind, the New Jersey mobsters do it best.

The episode started innocently enough, Tony and Chris met with Phil discussing the business of dumping asbestos. So far, so normal. On the journey home from the conference, Tony raged his annoyance with Phil, though Chris tried to encourage Tony’s former “smelling the roses” positive outlook. The two drove on, though Chris, driving, was noticeably high on drugs and distracted by the music on his car stereo. Okay – maybe slightly curious, but still far from earth-shattering. And then it all changed.

Swerving into the other lane of traffic, their car nearly collided with an oncoming vehicle only to veer off the road and flip many times until coming to a dramatic stop. Tony crawled from the battered SUV with only minor injuries and made his way over to Chris. His young nephew had not been wearing his seatbelt and he was visibly in pain, with his ribcage crushed by the impact. Spurting blood from his mouth, Chris was still conscious and asked for Tony’s help, as high on drugs he knew he wouldn’t pass a drugs test and would lose his license. Tony flipped open his mobile phone and began entering the 911 call for help only to be momentarily distracted by the impaled baby seat in the back. If Chris’ baby girl Caitlin had been seated there at the time of the crash, she would evidently have died. Inexplicably this vision had a huge effect on Tony, and he cancelled the 911 call. Instead, he reached for Chris, and held his mouth and nostrils shut until he choked on his own blood and died. Once dead, Tony made the phone call.

At these scenes I was aghast. I had inadvertently found out that Tony would kill Chris in this season, but had no idea as to how the dastardly deed would be executed. This death seemed so out of the blue. I know that tensions had been evolving between the two, but Tony’s relationship with everyone had deteriorated in recent episodes and it seemed like such a bizarre death for The Sopranos. No guns, no build-up – just ‘now you’re here, now you’re not.’

The death of Chris left me in a state of shock. I made it through the rest of the episode, desperate for answers, needing some insight into Tony’s twisted logic. Had he seen that Chris was in pain, about to die and it was nothing more than a mercy killing? But no, as much as I might want to absolve Tony from some of the shame of the crime, Chris could have survived the accident if attended to in time and the look of resolution and focussed determination on Tony’s face was not one of pained compassion. For a mercy killing, there were no words of comfort for pleasant distraction.

Some clues were provided as Tony expressed relief at losing a confidante that he had considered an easy target for the Feds. He also talked of the emotional drain of having Chris in his life, though whether Chris’ honesty about his frailties provided Tony of an unwelcome reminder of his own was left unexplained. One thing that was clear was Tony’s lack of regret, guilt or pain at the death. While Carmela, Chris’ wife Kelli and mother all mourned, Tony seemed removed and distanced from the grief. He seemed determined to undermine Chris in the eyes of the rest of the crew, noting his drugged up state and struggled to accept or understand the sadness of others.

And with that, he was off. Tony boarded a jet to Las Vegas and indulged in some sex, drugs and gambling in sin city with one-time friend of Chris, Sonya. This vacation from reality saw Tony become more like his deceased nephew, with Sonja commenting that Tony reminded her of Chris.

Elsewhere, Paulie’s mother Nucci (actually his aunt, but still the woman that raised him) died and received a wake more poorly attended than that of Chris’, much to the disgust of Paulie. While A.J.’s relationship with his new college pals was thrown off course by an incident of racial violence. Upset at his gang’s nastiness and intolerance, AJ revisited his shrink and visibly distressed, repeated the words of Rodney King “why can’t we all just get along?”

And with that, a chapter in The Sopranos came to a close. Though I find it hard to explain why, Chris had always been my favourite (maybe due to his sensitive, creative nature) and his exit will leave a massive hole in the remaining episodes. Will we better understanding why Tony felt the need to kill him and why was the child’s car seat the deciding factor? And will Tony come to experience any feelings of remorse and sadness, or is he set on a new path of self-destruction and delusion? RIP Christopher Moltisanti.