It was double trouble last night for Tony’s offspring: He was pulled into disturbing situations regarding both Meadow and A.J.

A depressed A.J. finally attempted suicide, something we all knew was coming. He tied a plastic bag around his head, a cement block to his ankles and jumped in the family pool.

I thought it was interesting that A.J. chose a spot that was always a respite for Tony: He had a few rare peaceful moments watching the family of ducks nest there in the series’ opening episodes.

So appropriately, Tony is the one who rescues A.J. He’s then institutionalized, and forced into therapy with Tony and Carmela. Tony admits in his own therapy session with Dr. Melfi that he’s ashamed of A.J., noting that suicide is the “coward’s way out.�

Another nugget from his rap with Melfi: Tony reveals what he meant last week after tripping on peyote in Vegas and yelling “I get it.� He realized that there’s more out there in the universe that what’s going on in our own lives. Unclear if he was talking about the afterlife, or a larger existential existence here on earth.

But though Melfi called his thinking “insightful,� I thought she was crazy not to point out that even after his son tries to off himself, Tony yet again avoids thinking about how his own lifestyle may have contributed to A.J.’s mental instability.

That point was hammered home during Melfi’s meeting with her own doctor (lots of therapy going on last night!), who mentioned a study that showed talk therapy didn’t work on sociopaths. In fact, therapy only served to validate the sociopath’s actions.

He’s talking about Tony, of course. And while the effects of Tony’s “job� on A.J. might have been subtle, they were totally obvious in that brouhaha involving Meadow.

Seems that our little Mafia princess has been secretly seeing the son of Patsy Parisi – one of Tony’s captains. (Didn’t she learn from what happened with Jackie Jr.?!?)

While the two are on a date in Little Italy, she runs into Coco, one of Phil’s men, who insults her with a crude sexual innuendo.

Meadow reluctantly tells Tony, who – not surprisingly – goes ballistic. He pistol-whips Coco, and – in a horribly brutal scene – kicks Coco’s mouth into a table. Teeth fly everywhere, and one gets lodged in Tony’s pants cuff.

And when does he eventually find it? During his therapy session with A.J. and Carmela. Jeez, dude, if that doesn’t wake you up to what your line of work is doing to your kids, I don’t know what will.

But of course, that’s the point. Tony is a selfish sociopath, who professes to be “a good guy … basicallyâ€?—(HA! I laughed out loud at that comment…)—who deeply loves his family. But does he really? He won’t admit it, but the only one Tony really cares about is himself.

In the meantime, the feud between Tony and Phil is heating up. Tony beating up Coco came on the heels on Phil’s refusal to compromise in their asbestos deal. Little Carmine attempts to broker peace, but once they get to Phil’s house, he refuses to see them.

Then he yells from a second-story window for Carmine to get Tony – except he uses more colorful language to describe him – off his front stoop.

I actually wondered briefly if Phil put Coco up to insulting Meadow. Phil’s never gotten over the fact that he couldn’t avenge his brother’s murder by killing Tony’s cousin, Tony B. (Tony beat him to it because he didn’t want his cousin to be tortured by Phil. Gotta love merciful Mob killings…)

And he clearly wants Tony out of the way. So what better way to provoke a confrontation than by insulting a Mob boss’s daughter, right?

With only two episodes to go, perhaps this is all a red herring to make viewers think that this is what’s going to happen to Tony: death at the hands of Phil.

Maybe that will happen.

But somehow, I don’t think it will be that simple.

Remember, “The Sopranos� is taking a break for the Memorial Day weekend, so it won’t be back until June 3 for the penultimate episode.

And as for the final showdown on June 10: HBO isn’t giving ANYTHING away. Here’s the bare-bones description the network is giving in its press releases for that last episode:

“Series finale. The final chapter in the saga of The Soprano Family.�

Can’t wait. Can you?