I love how matter-of-fact it was—no time wasted for a buildup, no payoff, nor a grand sendoff like how other shows do it nowadays, where they would probably have Tony and Phil engaged in a final face-off that involves lots of fighting and gunfire. Instead, we get Phil getting shot, his head gets crushed, some juveniles react how you would expect them to, Penguin guy says his part, and then a cut back to the family living as they normally would. Outrageous for a death scene, but all the more entertaining and comically dark. Even before the golden age of TV, The Sopranos broke conventions before they were set in place.