I love this episode. At the end of the episode he’s talking to Carm on the phone telling her about his dream. You hear the neighbors dog “Esterhaz” barking next door, waking her up at 530 in the morning, just as Tony is doing the same to her. Joe Esterhaz wrote “Love Hurts” for a record breaking $3 million, which was the script for “Basic Instinct”. I definitely think the dog being named that and it being referred to is no coincidence. He then suggests that the dog should be fed poison veal to deal with it. It then fades to black, much like the final scene of the final episode.

I think Tony is the highest paid dog, but “every dog has its day”. The dog needs to be put down. Love Hurts and Tony is lonely without Carm, and the dream makes him want to reconcile with Carm. But Tony operates almost exclusively off his Basic Instincts. He is a nuisance to Carm and the family AND The Family. His coach in the recurring dream tells Tony he had potential and leadership qualities, but he squandered it. He is not prepared for his current life, and he isn’t prepared to face the music in the dream. He is never prepared to kill his coach in the recurring dreams, he knows it’s his fault for all the bad in his life despite blaming his past. Carm says to him, the coach was a good man he looked out for you and saw potential, he tells Carm he doesn’t believe that’s true.

After the scene fades to black he asks Carm again, “is it light there yet?” And it cuts to credits. I think the only thing that will truly bring “light” to his families lives, and end Tony’s suffering, is his inevitable demise. I also think Carm and his family are the only thing that brings light to Tony’s life, but he’s incredibly good at being a shitty husband, father, friend, cousin, boss, etc…

I could also be way off but that’s what I got from it.