After the veritable tour-de-force that was last week’s “Eloise,” the stage was set for the much-anticipated 75-minute season finale of “The Sopranos” Sunday night. The show was going to redeem itself for the previous 12 weeks of meandering plotlines and throwaway characters.

Someone was gonna get whacked. New York and New Jersey were gonna go to war. The greatest show on television was gonna go out with a bang! bang! bang!, not a whimper. Sadly, the whimpers are still resonating nationwide.

Bobby Baccala and company’s hard work in coercing the juror pays off, as Uncle Junior’s RICO trial ends in a hung jury. Christopher gets out of rehab as good as new, but you know what that means for Adriana — renewed harassment from the feds digging for information.

These plotlines were but brief respites from the finale’s (and the season’s) central conflict — the deterioration of Tony and Carmela’s marriage. “Whitecaps” begins with Tony offering to buy the titular waterfront property, a move that fills Carmela with befuddled joy. “Tony Soprano,” she remarks at one point, “you are full of surprises.”

Carmela’s prescient statement rings painfully true when she receives a drunken phone call from Tony’s ex-goomar Irina. Bitter over Tony’s beating of her latest beau, Assemblyman Zellman, she rants to Carmela about the long list of her husband’s infidelities, with her disabled cousin being the latest entry.

Several powerhouse vignettes ensue, in which Carmela and Tony lay everything on the table — Tony’s philandering right under Carmela’s nose, her heisting of $40,000 from T’s private stash, and, most shockingly to Tony, Carmela’s near-affair with Furio. The two butt heads but make no progress, and the season ends with the Sopranos headed for divorce court.

Thankfully, things are looking up on the financial side for the big man. Carmine finally settles on a palatable 15 percent cut of the HUD-scam, and the Esplanade resumes business. But Tony still remains perplexed over Johnny Sack’s insistence to take out Carmine, even after they reached a compromise. T backs out of New York’s affairs, though, and concentrates on ridding himself of a contractual obligation to buy the waterfront house.

This season finale, while light on the much-hoped-for body count, provides just as much of a visceral impact sans the violence. Tony and Carmela’s confrontations are gritty, offer no easy answers and provide Edie Falco (as Carmela) with some of the best moments she’s had in the series’ history.

Producer David Chase’s handling of the prospective “war of the families” conflict leaves much to be desired, however. Carmine’s decision to settle the HUD-scam comes out of nowhere and does little in the way of offering any rationalization. Equally perplexing is Chase’s choice to devote so much of the episode to what seems like a subplot — the purchase of “Whitecaps.”

There are far more compelling ways to leave our collective breath bated for Season Five — What about making Paulie pay for his insubordination, and Tony for killing Ralph? Of course, asking questions like these now is sure to create the same false hope generated by nearly every disappointing Family Hour of Season Four. Until next September …

“More is lost by indecision than by the wrong decision.” (Carmela to Tony regarding the possible purchase of a summer-home, then Tony to Johnny Sack about the planned attempt on Carmine’s life).