Being a Kennedy assassination buff, I'm quite used to all things grassy knoll.

We're talking Umbrella Man, Badge Man, David Ferry, secretaries named Kennedy and cars that are Lincolns and all manner of other ways for the public to refuse to accept the inevitable: that Lee Harvey Oswald killed JFK all by his sordid lonesome.

So, is it any surprise that the latest, greatest shared cultural experience is the subject of all kinds of off the wall theories?

We're talking "Sopranos" here.

A week since the hit HBO drama abruptly faded to black with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" chopped in mid-verse, people are still sifting clues, looking at the final scene the way one looks at the Zapruder film--frame by frame--hoping for some sort of clue from creator David Chase as to what happened to Tony and his family.

Why is it that we can't take it for what it is?

"Entertainment Weekly" lists seven theories as to what happened in the final scene, and discounts them all.

One has it that the troubling strangers who walk into the diner as the Sopranos go face-first into the onion rings are all people from past episodes, including the Cub scouts who supposedly are the same kids who witnessed Bobby's train store derailment the week before. Turns out NONE had ever been on the show before. This theory is unique in that it creates a new character, "Nicky Leotardo", who never existed.

Number two: the bells on the restaurant door ring every time someone walks in, except Meadow, meaning Tony's dead by the time she arrives. Repeat viewings prove this take wrong, too.

The third: Bobby talking in a past episode about what it's like getting whacked: "You never even hear it--everything just goes to black." Close, but no cigar: he actually says "You probably don't even hear it when it happens", with no mention of things going to black.

Theory number four: this is the only episode that ends without music (what that means, I don't know), supposedly a harbinger of death. Nice, but not so: Season two featured an episode that trailed out to the sound of Christopher breathing on a ventilator.

We're almost done, so hang with me.

Theory the Fifth: Chase shot another ending that makes it clear Tony dies. EW quotes the actor who played FBI agent Harris who says the finale was originally intended to be clearer about Tony's end, that it "went a little further. The gentleman sitting at the counter was much more mysterious, almost like he's walking to the table to shoot Tony, and then the end of the script." Fueling the fire: photos of James Gandolfini in the same scene, wearing a different shirt. A network rep says the picture was taken during rehearsals, with Gandolfini in his own clothes. And, HBO denies that Chase filmed dramatically different endings.

Number six ties into the fifth...something about Tony wearing a different shirt. Also bogus.

The seventh is too dumb to elaborate on: that Tony had a heart attack because of the onion rings.

What's interesting about the finale a week after it aired is that a lot of people who originally didn't like it are coming around. I needed a night's sleep to process it, but came to the conclusion that Chase was true to himself, didn't lapse into neat, episodic conclusions and wrap the series up with a neat little bow. Noting about "The Sopranos" was little, or neat. The ending had to be bigger than life, and more controversial than it's 85 predecessors. Chase succeeds, beyond all expectations.

The theories? The blossom like mushrooms seemingly every time something in this nation appears to be too obvious to accept at face value. JFK. RFK. Pearl Harbor. Even 9/11.

Add to that list a pop culture entry: "The Sopranos". An ending too obvious to be believed. Or accepted, by some.