I don't think the show ever went down in quality to earn the shark jumping title but it did seem to change in tone after the "Long Term Parking" episode. When they killed off Adrianna it seemed like only a matter of time before more key characters would be whacked. Eventually it did happen in "Kennedy and Heidi" and "Blue Comet". The entire coma story arc was sub-par but it was an insight as to what would happen if Tony were out of the picture. Finally I feel that the last few episodes seemed rushed with the NY war, AJs suicide attempt and redemption, Meadows engagement (?) to the Parisi kid and other subplots. They seemed to be in a hurry to get things wrapped up but with the finale it's like they never really accomplished that. I guess with the passing of James Gandolfini we'll never get any more answers.
This post basically summarizes how I feel, too. True, Chase seemed to cram multiple story lines at the end. And during the coma scene, it was interesting to see what would happen if Tony were out of the picture. To me, it didn't seem as if there was a competent leader in the group to succeed Tony.
