Tony Soprano… is dead.
Why? Because…
i) First episode of this season Bobby says you don’t hear it when you’re shot.
ii) Second to last episode of this season, Tony flashes to Bobby saying you don’t hear it when you’re shot.
iii) The entire story arc was about Tony - when Tony’s gone, the arc is done.
iv) In the diner, every time someone walked through the door, the perspective changed to Tony’s as he looked up
v) After the last bell jingle, just as the perspective changed to Tony’s everything went black and silent - as though the person whose perspective we were to shift to was no longer alive
vi) The cat was a reminder that Tony killed Chris, and had Adriana killed. The cat was a reminder that Tony’s a bad guy - who has it coming.
vii) There was so much symmetry between Phil’s execution in front of his family and Tony’s last moments
viii) We all know how much Godfather III ruined the Godfather movies. I think the focus on Meadow was a reference to the Godfather. David Chase didn’t end it the way Godfather III ended. This time the boss gets killed.
ix) Every other episode ended in music during the credits. This one had no music because Tony’s dead.
x) Episode titles have always meant something. This episode’s title referred to Bobby’s gift of the gun to Tony. When he gave it to him he made the comment about how everything would just go silent when you were shot.
xi) The ending was so incredibly brilliant. We all felt what it was like to be Tony in those final five minutes. We all felt nervous, anxious, just as he must have felt. After being absorbed into Tony’s experience, we were left with silence and blackness like death because…
Tony Soprano… is dead.
Tony DID get whacked. The only question is by who. Remember first Tony’s comments earlier this season about getting whacked (which were also replayed either last week or the week before). Tony said something to the effect of “you don’t see it coming, you don’t feel nothing, everything just fades to black”. That was your ending.
As for the who, take note of the credits for the folks in the restaurant at the end. The guy at the counter that goes to the bathroom is Nikki Leotardo, phil’s nephew. The black men are the same ones that shot Tony in season two, but only clipped his ear. Oddly, the boyscouts were in the store last week when Bobby got it, so they are going to have some issues, but my money says it wasn’t the boy scouts.
My money says that based on the title, “Made in America”, it was the trucker with the hat that read “USA”. The same trucker who was the brother of the trucker that Christopher robbed and killed in season two…he was the guy that had to identify the body. It’s all in the credits.
Meadow gets shot.
First, there is the conversation between Meadow and Tony being about this being their last dinner for a while.
Also, their last conversation was angry, Tony yelled at her and she called him “Fat Mouth”
At the diner, Meadows lack of parking skills made her late. (She is also “late” on her period, because she is pregnant. This is the characters explanation for being too nervous to park; when she calls the doctor to switch birth control, as Carmella explained, the doctor tells her, theres no reason, since she is pregnant. All the more reason for Tony to go supernova.)
Because she is late, she is rushing, running. As Meadow crosses the street a white Ford Expedition drives behind her. This is same SUV Phil was in before he was shot. It is the getaway car, for the shooter who was sitting at the counter wearing a *Members Only* jacket. (Note the irony of *Members Only*, as in Mafia members only, and yet this shooter does the exact opposite by killing a non-member.)
Tony is seated at the most vulnerable spot in the entire restaurant. AJ, Carmella, and Tony each eat one onion ring whole, not unlike a communion wafer at church. Meadow, late, does not partake.
Tony looks to the door for her, and the scene goes black before we see Meadow. Note that Tony has seen Carmella walk in, and then AJ walk in, but right before Meadow walks in, everything goes black.
As the scene will play out, she sees him, and she starts to rush to the table.
As this happens, the *Members Only* shooter from the counter, who went into the bathroom, comes out, gun drawn.
As he aims and pulls the trigger, Meadow comes into the scene and heads directly to the empty seat, which is not coincidentally directly between Tony and the killer.
He shoots and hits Meadow.
Tony, his crew, and AJ begin an all-out war of vengeance. (AJ was becoming the new Christopher by the end. Driving the new BMW fast up to the school, running and Tony starting singing Rocky, AJ was getting groomed to the Sopranos lifestyle, getting in shape to be part of it all).
In Mafia movies, the third act is always the gang-war.
The third act of The Sopranos is the movie.
We all know what Tony did when the guy insulted Meadow, (curb job) what do you think he’s going to do when they shoot her?
Sopranos, The Movie, coming in 2009.
Note this scene involves at least one homage to The Godfather movies.
In the first, everything is reversed: the killer going into the bathroom, then coming out to kill. In The Godfather, this was Michaels initiation into the family. In The Sopranos, this killing is AJ’s initiation into the family.
The second homage is also reverse: Meadow getting in the way of gunfire is the birth of the Sopranos movie and the war, while in Godfather 3, the accidental death of Michaels daughter is the climax, the end of violence.
In his statement about the final scene, David Chase responded “Anybody who wants to watch it, it’s all there,” as in there is ONE answer that can be gleaned by careful study of clues. The supporting facts of this scene, the character location, timing, motivation leads to that one answer, the conclusion David Chase wants you to figure out but did not want to show you; the shooting of the guilty fathers innocent daughter.
For those who think the end cut to black means Tony died, David Chase himself again corrects you: “people who watched the first episode will understand why this episode ended the way it did.” The cut to black did not imply Tony’s death, it was the simply the same abruptness with which we were introduced to Tony in the first place. Season 1 Episode 1, after the intro sequence, we start with a black screen then “Blink” we see Tony in Melfi’s office. The end scene was simply “blinking” out of Tony’s world in the same quick manner we “blinked” in.
Also, Tony was not killed since Chase has left open the chance for a movie, stating “I never say never. An idea could pop into my head where I would go, ‘Wow, that would make a great movie,’…If something appeared that really made a good ‘Sopranos’ movie and you could invest in it and everybody else wanted to do it, I would do it.”
What I liked:
*Paulie–most everything he said & did had me laughing, I’m really going to miss him
*the cat–”snake with fur” *LMAO*! Although I don’t think it was meant that the cat was Ade or Chris reincarnated, that would be too much like “Lisa the dog” from SFU
*Holsten’s!–I live like 4 blocks away. One of the crew members petted my dog when we were stopped at the red light at the corner right where the parlor is
What I disliked:
*the sudden black screen ending, because I too thought the cable went out, and I thought it was placed at such an odd moment, *maybe* if they blacked out after Meadow sat down or something, but not just as she walks in
*Meadow’s parking problems–just a minor quibble, but all she had to do was drive down a few feet and pull into the parking lot there. If you are going to use a Bloomfield location, do it right! ;p
the final episode was titled “Made In America” because that was the original name of the show when it was pitched to Fox in 1998.
I understand people want to look for a deeper meaning or some hidden label within last nights episode, but there’s nothing more to it.
David Chase titled the last episode, the episode where Tony finally seems to have some peace with his immediate family in the final scene, “Made In America” because it brings the show full circle. The show was based on a mobster whose life at home, with his wife, mother, kids and relationships were all in shambles, while he seemingly had better control of his mob life, despite all the mayhem involved. He finally had that peace, closure with Uncle Jun, Janice, AJ’s depression, Meadow’s life path, and Carmella, so the show had come full circle.
And the debate continues over at Digg, with the majority of diggers agreeing it’s an open-ended ending and prefer it that way.
It definitely is an ‘open-ended’ ending. I think that is what David Chase was trying to achieve all along. But I am enjoying reading about people’s various interpretations of what has possibly happened to Tony.
Who knows, there may be a Sopranos movie in the pipeline or better yet a prequel when Tony’s dad and the young Uncle Junior ruled the roost. (I loved those flashbacks in prior episodes of the Sopranos).
I’m now looking forward to going back to Season 1 and watching it all from the beginning.
Pretty much only maggie is being logical. I would suggest, most of you are just jumping to conclusions.
* oranges / godfather references
Oranges play a prominent role in the Godfather trilogy as omens of
danger/death. Vito Corleone is getting oranges at a fruit stand when he is first gunned down. Later he dies after trying to scare his grandchild by putting an orange wedge in his mouth. In season 1 of the sopranos junior puts a hit on tony and two black guys shoot at him after Tony is seen picking up orange juice. In the final episode at Carmela’s safe house, Tony is seen eating an orange.
* seven souls
The first episode of this season, “Members Only”, starts with this
weird narration about the seven souls of a person that leave your body when you die. Of note, AJ is shown as “the double” in this narration, Meadow is the “guardian angel” and Carmela is “the remains”. The first person we see after the narration ends is Tony. The narration is talking about Tony and his death.
* the pool
In the previous episode Tony drains his pool after the AJ suicide
attempt. In the pilot, the pool was where the ducks raised a family, and in turn the pool was a symbol of tony’s family. With Tony shot in front of his own family, his family is pretty much shattered, drained. Also to mention, with Tony out, Junior senile, Chrissy dead, Bobby dead and Syl in coma, there’s not much left of the Soprano family.
* the cat
another godfather reference, the cat is a pet of the Don. earlier in the season after Junior gets beat up, we see him stroking a cat as the episode ends (remember Junior was once Boss at least in name). In the final episode Tony feeds and watches after the cat. There’s also a bit where Tony tells Paulie he shouldn’t hurt the cat since it catches mice for them. But the cat likes to stare at Christopher, a person that Tony hurt (killed) even though he caught a rat for them (Adrianna). This doesn’t bode well for Tony on not taking his own advice.
The final scene where we see Paulie, the cat enters and sits near him (even after Paulie has been mean to it). Paulie is next in line to be boss if Tony gets killed. He’d be wise to keep the cat.
Great list.
For more discussion, I put a shot by shot analysis on my site.
I one to believe the whole family was massacered.
I say prequel or movie - (I liked the flashbacks to Tony’s pop first season too - when T was trying to work out his anxieties and anger). Though, the discussions are very enjoyable - both the T is dead (all goes black) and thought of larger war (blinks in like first episode and blinks out in the same way). We shall see.
http://www.PrimeViste.com
Tony’s Dead, Baby. Tony’s Dead. Shot by the Members Only jacket guy. Episode 1 of this season was titled “Members Only”, a dead giveaway, so to speak. Bobby spoke of everything going black when you get hit. Meadow, the “Guardian Angel”, arrives too late to save Tony due to her parking problems. All of these things happen for a reason. They’re not random. Chase is too smart to put these things in there without a purpose. And HBO’s spokesman has practically confirmed it. With Tony dead, it all makes sense. With Tony not dead, it becomes an open-ended cop out.
One last thing: When Chase spoke of doing a movie, he talked about it preceding the events of the last episode. He then mentioned the difficulty of portraying AJ and Meadow because the actors are growing up. So, even though a movie might happen, Tony’s still dead. Dogmatic nailed it, and it will go down as a classic moment in TV history.
Tony’s dead. Bada bing.
I see what you’re saying about all the POV shots and the oranges and other symbolism. BUT–how do we know they’re not red herrings, David Chase playing with us. And we–who are reading too much into every detail–are like Paulie seeing dark omens everywhere.
In fact, it doesn’t matter whether or not Tony is shot. I think the whole question is there to distract from Chase’s other messages (which I go into on my own site).
I noticed that when Tony walks into the restaurant in the end, he is looking at himself. The shirt he is wearing while seated is different than the gray shirt. The song titles all imply that he is going to flip. Here is the list of songs he is reading:
Somewhere in the Night
Those were the Days
Turn Turn Turn
Only the Strong Survive
Just Because I love You
He then flips the page, and
I’ve Gotta Be Me
A Lonely Place
This Magic Moment
Since I don’t Have You
Crystal Blue Persuasion
I’m Alive
June Night
He flips again, and:
Whow Will you run too
Then he plays Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing.
The symbolism all around is normalcy. The couple in the booth, the cub scouts, onion rings. The guy n the hat is an FBI agent, and I think he is flipping, and they are going to make it appear he was killed. Hence the last song he reads before Jourey is Magic Man.
Then he again reads I’ve gotta be Me, and A Lonely Place.
He decides after the lawyer tells him he will be indicted, and face murder charges to flip.
My opinion, but the songs are arranged in a specifio order.
the fact that chase would only consider a movie taking place in 2006 is very very strong evidence that there could be no furher movies with tony in it. i.e. tony was whacked.
Ok here is my out there theory. Tony did die, in the hospital from the gunshot wound he received from Jr. The last 2 years were never part of Chase plan. When he came up with the idea for the Sopranos it was the ending he came up with first and he build the story around the ending. Then it was so popular HBO threw a lot of money at him to keep it going. It was supposed to end with Jr. shooting Tony. After he was shot he was called back by Meadow. What if he wasn’t called back into reality, but just in to another form of coma induced reality?
I think if you have been watching since day one you might be able to see this logic.
There are the obvious clues of Tony’s demise. The orange, the cat, etc. The wearing of black. The open scene which resembles a casket viewing. But there were also clues to the true cause of death. When you saw the scene where Tony visits Sil, didn’t it seem very familiar? As they fist pan into the hospital room it could have easily been a scene from Join the Club, when we saw Tony with the exact same set of of tubes and machines. Not a word is spoken.
When Tony was visiting Jr. he had on a shirt with a tan collar, very much like the one he was wearing when Jr shot him. He walks into the diner as the line “It was all just a dream” is play on the jukebox. He then looks over and see’s himself sitting down. The shirt is almost the same but the collar is now black instead of tan. Everyone of the Sopranos had some form of black on while sitting at that table. You then have the most important enemies represented. No they were not the same people but they were implied. The 2 black guys, the trucker, and of course the most important the guy in the Members Only jacket, which is how he was listed in the credits. The episode where Jr, shot Tony was title Members Only. You see him go into the bathroom for his gun, a tip of the hat to the Godfather movies, but as Meadow who had almost pulled him back into the world walks in. everything goes black. He never really made it back to her.
The song he picked was perfect, because in the end it doesn’t matter if Tony is dead, and Jr. has no memory of the power he used to hold, it will still go on and on. AJ will become a mobster just like his forefathers, Carm will become Livia and Meadow will become another Janice. For those who saw Meadow somehow escaped the mob life. The dinner with Tony debunks that. When she tells him if it wasn’t for what she had seen growing up she would have been a “boring suburban doctor” The the scene where we revisit her friend who is now living Meadows dream without her. It just goes on and on and on. But the story of Tony Soprano is over.
Yes, but here’s the true kicker. Chase gave us 2 endings at once. This is the genius of the last episode and it’s exactly what he wanted. The references to blacking out when death comes is one ending and you’ve certainly got that one well documented. The other ending, Tony living, is supported not only by the fact that we did not see him die, but for example, the final two sentences of the final verse of the Journey song “Don’t stop Believing”:
Oh, the movie never ends,It just goes on and on and on…
Hmmmmm?
We do have 2 endings, you can end it the way you want to.
My ending would be;
Tony goes into the bathroom after Meadow arrives to wash his hands
From the side a gun is pointed at his head and fires then finishes him. Camera pans to the shooter, Its…Robert De Niro camera pans to
his partner Joe Pesci who says “And thats that!” Credits Roll.
Actually I think Pauli Killed Tony.
I think the “Tony is dead guess” is right on the money. Not for the Members Only title (which was simply a joke made by Vito of Gene Pontecorvo’s jacket), and not for the Godfather omens either. If the show has done one thing from day one, is has made tongue-in-cheek jokes about The Godfather, Goodfellas, etc…we remember Christopher (Spider) shooting the kid in the foot in season one, and digging up the dead guy under Route 23 because he was afraid they would build condos there. There are so many examples that I can’t even attempt to list them all here. These ficiontal HBO Mafia guys are always emulating the movies because real-life Mafia guys do it as well. The whole “boss-capo-soldier” system didn’t exist in the real New York Mafia until after 1972 when The Godfather was released, which finally brings me to my point: these guys mimic the movies about them, so the members only guy was doing just the same. He felt like a big bad dramatic wise guy and walked into the bathroom and came out blasting…don’t take any chances, two shots in the head. Take that, couple it with what someone else here said about Tony’s perspective when the bell rings, and instead of Meadow, we see black, because Tony sees black. You don’t hear anything when it happens. All of this symbolism talk is crap; within the show, only Tony’s dreams have been symbolic. The rest of the show was always cut and dry and to the point. I half agree with the idea that Tony survives and his miserable life goes on the way it always did, but there has to be a reason for the black-out. If Chase really meant for it to end that way, he would have done the usual Sopranos fade-out with them eating onion rings and Journey playing while the credits roled. There was a reason he blacked the ending out, and I believe it was the members only guy pulling the old Michael Corleone act on Tony.
The actor who played the guy in the jacket is Paolo Colandrea who has no previous acting experience. He pwns Paul’s Pendel Pizza in Pennsylvania. See article in Buck’s County Courier Times dated 6/9/07. He is not the actor who played Phil Leotardo’s nephew.
The black men were new characters too. Du Kelly plays one of them. He’s a rapper named Doitall and he’s never been in any Sopranos episode either. The other black guy is Sharrief Pugh who has some acting credits but has never appeared on the Sopranos. So that means these are not the guys who tried to shoot Tony or Chris or anyone. (TV.com)
The guy in the USA hat is Patrick Joseph Connoly who also has no other Sopranos credits. So he isn’t the gambling guy or his brother. (TV.com)
I think the reason people react to the end is because it was put together from a marketing standpoint rather than a narrative standpoint. The final episode opened new storylines (AJs relationship, Tony’s driver’s flip, Paulies new position) not to Mention meadow is not married but may soon get a job as a lawyer. I think it is obvious a movie is in the offing. Too many loose ends for a final episode. And remember the “hey it’s not really the last season” last season? We all thought it would be over before this season.
The story will continue. It seems to make the most sense given the evidence.
Yes Eric, all true. Not to mention the fact that one of the black dudes that shot at Tony in the first season is DEAD! Remember…he was shot by the other black dude because neither of them could hit a paper bag if they were inside of one! Some of you people really need to review before you take the exam…
I’ve watched the episode a couple more times, and you know what? I know exactly what happened. NOTHING! It went black. Millions of people watched their TV’s go black. NOTHINH HAPPENED! It was a cruel and unusual way to play with an audience. Tony didn’t live or die or join a boy-band. NOTHING HAPPENED because it is a TV show, not some cerebral interactive game. The story stopped before anything happened. David Chase might as well have cut it black, and then taped himself swimming in money and saying, “uh, I didn’t know how to end it”. We were watching it, we were waiting, and nothing happened. There is no question, because there is no answer. Tony is not real, he was a character that kept our attention, now the character is gone. Nothing happened to him or his family because we didn’t see it happen. It is TV…and I don’t care how pompous David Chase is with his writing, the bottom line is, when something happens on TV, it is seen by viewers. If it is not seen, it means it doesn’t happen. Chase basically said “here, use your imagination…talk about it at the water cooler tomorrow!”. F you Chase. It is television, get over yourself. And we can all blog here and talk all this crap about theories…but the camera shut off. That is what happened. NOTHING happened.
First of all, anyone who says Tony Soprano didn’t die, didn’t WATCH the final episode. Everything is there.
1. We are left clueless about the fate of Silvio because Tony doesn’t know.
2. The large leather bag that Silvio carried out of the Bing before he was shot would have contained enough info for at least a few arrests under RICO. The family, or “Glorified Crew”, as Phil called it, is screwed. All the witnesses saw the gunmen, no one grabbed the leather bag to keep it safe and there would be enough ballistic info at the scene to send more than a few of the men up the river or to death row. The Bing would be shut down or taken over by new owners.
3. Why show the motorcycle rider getting run over and possibly killed if it would have no impact on the story. Everyone was linked to the crime scene outside of the Bing. The FBI got a free gift from the mob.
4. Paulie, always the oppurtunist, as well as sociopath, would rather sell Tony out than give over his fear of early death. Superstitions are the only truth Paulie has EVER known.
5. One mystery above all remains at the very end: Who would possibly know where Tony would be during that time. Paulie is the realistic possibility, and the only possibility.
6. Let us not forget what David Chase has shown us throughout the Final Season. We’ve seen first hand the boring life of prison through Johnny Sack; we see the horror of one violent hit after another; we’ve already seen a trial (Junior’s, in Season 4); Tony’s over the top sociopathic behavior would prevent him from joining the feds; we see suicide by hanging as a way out; we’ve seen almost everything. EXCEPT FOR ONE THING…
7. A hit from the victims point of view.
8. Don’t for one second think that Phil’s murder had no plot building in it. One second he’s talking about a doctor’s visit (like Tony listening to the sounds of everyday life at the restaurant) and the next second he’s gone. He never saw the gun, heard the shot, or felt a thing. Lights out. Yet the world still spins and the sun still rises and sets as normal, only Phil’s not around anymore.
9. Phil’s murder in the final episode, as opposed to the next to last, also points to foreshadowing. Chase may have added the car over the head trick to distract us long enough so we didn’t get ahead of the story or the natural progression of the multi-layered plot lines.
10. We are left, in the buildup to the final five minutes of the series, with an old man who can’t remember a thing. (And NO Junior couldn’t have killed Tony, earlier episodes prove his condition is legit and that he rather enjoys his futile existence). We are also left with the news that Tony is sure to be indicted, after the FBI took over the gun charges. We are given so much closure information that the hit almost seems unlikely… Until, that is, it happens. We are left on pins and needles about who in fact would be testifying and what would happen to our favorite crime family. Besides all that, the DirecTV episode description read: “The final chapter of the Soprano family.” Which family? The crime family. The real family goes on, minus one member. Like the Leotardo’s.
11. And if that stuff isn’t enough to turn you to the “Tony is dead” camp, maybe this will:
What sense would it have made to close out the show with Meadow walking in and seeing her father blown away as he watched her. What purpose could be served by showing Carmella and AJ and Meadow crying and clinging and screaming for it not to be true. We would want more.
The black out was the only way to end it for good. We know his fate; and like the rest of the blood family, we are left wondering “why”. We are as shocked and saddened and outraged as any of the three surviving family members.
And for those who say the show was never from the first person point of view, go back and watch the entire series from the start. Once he becomes self aware and once the therapy begins to work in reverse, due to his “condition” (sociopath), he sees himself even more as the center of the universe.
And, lastly, let none of us forget that EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER on the show is little more than a lying, black souled, selfish person.
Yes, it’s all there. Chase explains the fate of everyone in subtle clues that a high school graduate could figure out.
- Silvio (DEAD)
- Soprano Family (ABSORBED INTO NEW YORK FAMILY)
- Paulie (TURNCOAT WHO SELLS TONY OUT TO “SAVE” HIS OWN HIDE)
- AJ (SUICIDE, ONE WAY OR ANOTHER)
- Meadow (BECOMES CARMELLA Jr.)
- Janice (ENDS AS SHE BEGAN)
We see the funeral of Christopher in such deep, rich detail that it could be nothing more than a primer for what “T’s” funeral will be like. Bobby’s funeral, with the feds all around, also foreshadows what we’ll never see.
But, the most interesting piece of evidence to support the “Tony is dead” theory comes from David Chase himself.
In the only interview he gave AFTER the Final Episode aired, he confessed that he COULD go back to a day in 2006, that we didn’t see, for a movie. Problems would arise, though, he explained, because the actors would no longer look the right age “and you would know that Tony doesn’t get killed. It’s got problems.”
Why would finding out Tony wasn’t shot be a PROBLEM to the continuity of the series?
BECAUSE HE WAS SHOT, that’s why.
The very end, the hit, shouldn’t be in dispute. The dispute and discussion should be over what happened to the rest of the family AFTER Tony gets killed. With Carmella stealing money and AJ growing into his inherited sociopathic behavior, the family is damned to be destroyed, one way or the other. Forces outside of their own will drive them apart. Just go back to the look Meadow gives Carmella while she fixes oatmeal for AJ and he blares PBS Iraq War coverage.
Think, finally, back to “Soprano Home Movies”, when Carmella wakes up to ask: “Is this it?”
The end, the ultimate end, was looming. Chase never let us forget it.
And just how open ended is it when only two original characters make it to the end (Paulie and Junior; Silvio’s doomed)?
Get over it, people!!!
TONY SOPRANO IS DEAD…
Five, ten years from now, when E! does one of THS on The Sopranos, we’ll finally get the answers we crave. Until then? Well… At least we have one of the greatest television shows in history to keep us company while we wait.
I’m going to have to go ahead and agree with Christopher’s last comment…nothing happened. It is probably the most on-point thing anyone has said about the finale. Not to mention, eveything that has ever happened in the show is basically useless now. A bunch of people died or were killed. There were some laughs, some cries, some great music. Lots of great food. Other than that, a show that was probably the best show on television ended in the worst way possible. It left no conclusion, and thus no conclusions can be drawn from anything that ever happened to Tony, his family or his friends. He ate a lot. He yelled a lot. He fucked some hot women. His mother was a psycho. AJ is a pussy. Richie Aprile was sliced up at Satriale’s. Adrianna was very hot. Vito was gay. Pie O My the horse died in a fire. Gloria hung herself. We saw Carmella’s plump juicy ass one time. Ralph wore a wig. Like Tony once sarcastically said himself to Dr. Melfi about his own story, “oooooohhhh, how fuckin interesting!” I seriously feel like throwing the stack of season 1-5 DVD’s, which I have bought after every season since 2001, in the garbage. Not because I am pissed off about the show, but because I know that watching any of those great old episodes will always remind me, “oh yeah, none of what is going on in these episodes has any point to it”.
Just watched the last episode, finally in the uk tonight, and I believe that I have just witnessed the death of Tony Soprano. No Tony, no Sopranos, hence the blackout end.
I believe that the hit took place, like all mafia type hits, usually, when the target is preoccupied and/or distracted. In this case with the lateness of his daughter whom he is looking out for. ‘Ding’, the door opens and… gone! Dead! All the rest of the story that would follow would come under the heading of, ‘the bleeding obvious’, and David Chase does not do, ‘the obvious’, hence the consistently brilliant show.
However, having said all of that, I am aware that there are people out there who like so called ‘happy endings’ and clear cut resolutions to story lines, what about this. Tony has gone into the witness protection program! He was/is only answerable in loyalty to an immediate group of people, Silvio, Bobby, Chris, Uncle Junior, (who has no memory of anything). This leaves Tony and his family with the start of a new life, however, this still means that from the point of joining the witness program it is the end of the Sopranos as we know them, so end of story/series.
But I prefer to think that I experienced being shot in the head along with Tony… RIP, the final clue as to what happened. Doh!
At first I agreed with everyone who said Tony is dead. But that’s simply not true. The fact of the matter is nothing happened, it cut to black. Nothing was filmed after so nothing else exists. Anything could have happened, so he got shot, or he lived happily ever after, it’s up to you the viewer and demonstrates the brilliance of Chase. look how everyone is debating it so much and pondering what might have happened. It was open-ended. end of story. You make your own ending up….unless he makes more (say a movie). Whatever Chase shoots and puts out IS Sopranos reality. We can’t say what happened for sure.
I believe Tony was dreaming the last scene of the show..
I now truly believe Tony Soprano is dead. There are just too many coincidences here. In Members Only Tony gets plugged by Uncle Junior. The Members Only guy blots out AJ in the diner. He stares in Tony’s direction. Usually Tony would react but he does not notice the guy. Tony’s got a lot on his mind. He’s facing a trial and most likely a prison sentence. He doesn’t want to go like Johnny Sack did but he’s no rat either. He killed Freddie for being a rat in the classic episode College. So Tony Soprano would never flip. Then there’s that eerie statement Bobby made. “You probably never even hear it when it happens.” Yeah, poor Bobby never saw it coming did he? Ditto poor bastard Phil who was capped in front of his family. Then Tony recalls that scary quote from his deceased brother in law in The Blue Comet. He then stares at a door contemplating his fate while ominous music plays on the track. David Chase and company are setting us up for the finale. Made In America. Remember dear readers that The Blue Comet WAS the end of the series! Only after HBO balked did Chase agree to one more episode. Made in America refers to the lame ass title FOX wanted for the show back in 98. It refers to the gun given to Tony for his 47th birthday. It refers to the Ford driven by Phil’s wife. It also refers to one Tony Soprano. A family man and mobster who was yep Made In America. The Sopranos lived the American Dream to the fullest. And all dreams come to an end. Witness The Corleones and Tony Montana. In the opening frames of the finale we see Tony sleeping peacefully in his bed( a coffin?) there is silence(a wake?) followed by organ music( funeral music?) from the alarm clock. Tony has dinner with Meadow in the city. “My chances are flying by.” he tells her. His death is imminent or maybe he knows he’s going to prison for a long, long time. He visits Silvio who’s in a coma(limbo) while Little Miss Sunshine plays on the TV. A parallel to Tony’s bleak universe. He visits Janice the sister he once despised. He gives Paulie the Captain’s chair but Paulie reluctantly takes it. Then there’s that mysterious orange cat that pops up when Twilight Zone music plays in the background. Eerie huh? The cat likes to stare at Christopher’s picture. Is this cat the ghost of Chrissy? Of Ade? Is it an omen to Tony and his crew. Paulie wants to kill the cat, superstitious bastard that he is. Tony tells him to leave it alone, it catches “rats”. HMMM. Then Tony does the unthinkable. He goes to see Uncle Junior who tried to have him clipped in Season One and gutshot him in Season Six! Is Tony making amends before he dies? I believe so. Is Paulie long for this world? No way. He’ll probably die in bed at 3 o clock with that orange cat at his bedside! Now that would be funny! So now we get to the meat of the matter. That now infamous diner scene. Look at Tony’s shirt. Same godammed shirt he wore in Members Only. He grabs a booth. Checks out jukebox. Makes his selection. Don’t Stop Believing by Journey cues up as Queen Bitch(Carmela) enters the diner. Tony tells her Carlo is going to testify against him. His Judas? You bet! They wait for AJ who comes in behind Members Only Guy. Tony orders onion rings which are consumed by the three of them DRESSED IN BLACK in COMMUNION fashion. Want more? Okay! Look at the scene where Tony sits down. He is deliberately in center of the shot which resembles THE LAST SUPPER. Scary huh? And look over Tony’s shoulder on the left of your screen. You will see a poster of one big ass tiger! An orange cat stalking Paulie. A big orange tiger looming over Tony. Like Twilight Zone huh? Chase is a genius. You got to hand it to the guy. Instead of giving us a bloody shooting he gave us and Tony a Mass before that one bullet went crashing through the skull of one Tony Soprano. RIP Tony!
i think after this anthony soprano should take over and start a new series with anthony and sil and polly.
I Think, un the next season, one of the persons of that restaurant, its a FBI guy because remember the FBI man on terrosrist department we got it and all the stuff with tony´s helping because he believe if he it´s goin to jail, FBI they will goin to tell in the court and helping to the sentence of Tony.
The Next season it´s gona be to the great fall of Tony´s, he it´s goin to jail, maybe in the restaurant it´s gonna be shot, but the ironic it´s gonna be saved by the cops because they gonna to arrest Tony because in several times he was saved to jail and in the case and judgement it´s gonna to get out to the ligth all the crimes of Tony, he wack Ralph, Jackie, Pussy, Adrian and etc, and all that it´s gonna be lisening AJ, Carmela and Meadow in the court and it´s gonna be unbelived for all the cast in the sopranos.
JUST LOOK
Uncle Junior in Psicriatic Hospital
Bobby it´s Dead
Chris is Dead
Sil in the Hospital
Who it´s gonna be a charche in the outside and take control?
Paulie haha imagine that… and that´s gonna be a good and interesant season to see.
SOPRANOS SEASON 8
Dude, there is no ‘next’ season. Tony’s dead.
SEVERELY late to the party here, though I just watched through the ENTIRE series in a month.
That said — the final scene is most definitely an magnificently successful attempt to make the viewer feel as tense as Tony must feel at all times, with people after his life and his livelihood.
As for the man in the Member’s Only jacket, remember the episode where Tony literally imagined meeting a hot Italian woman and eating lunch with her?
That the two black dudes who attacked Tony that one day walk into the diner (having watched the show so quickly, I’m certain it was them) is way too much of a coincidence. Tony — now OFF MEDICATION and NOT seeing his therapist — is experiencing paranoid delusions.
That we don’t get to see Meadow sit down is the director’s way of telling us that Tony’s life, his family, his happiness — his American dream — will never, ever be “complete”. And neither will ours! The repeated references to Bobby’s quote regarding how you probably don’t know you’ve been shot even after it’s all over doesn’t have to be taken at face value. Very often, literature uses innocent images as metaphors for grave things; why not use grave motifs as metaphors for the common and the obvious? The repeated referencing to Bobby’s comment can mean a thousand things.
There doesn’t need to be a movie, nor does it matter if Tony dies or not; the plethora of Godfather-isms and other amazing, skillful red herrings (the big tiger face on the wall in the diner being a reference to the cat earlier in the episode, the boy scouts from the train shop coincidentally being in the diner) are no more than masterful uses of symbolism in a show that has previously — let’s not forget — presented us with a world in which PSYCHICS and GHOSTS are REAL (remember the psychic who recites an accurate list of the names of people who Paulie had recently killed).
Whatever happens after the last cut, I don’t care!
The Sopranos is perfect, literature, et cetera. Watching the entire series in what amounts to one sitting (interrupted by a day job) was one of the most artistically fulfilling experiences I’ve ever had, and for god’s sake, I’ve read Tolstoy.
Yes!!
Brilliantly put Tim. Perfect!
i think that the ending woz fantastic!!!!! i think there will defo b a movie, its jus whether its goin 2 b a prequal or a carrynon from the series!!! i hope its a carry on where AJ becomes involved!!!! cnt wait 2 find out!!
My first reaction was that Tony is dead. It’s true that we could find endless symbolism in almost everthing that happened in the last series and indeed before hand.
But jesus christ people are reading way too far into tiny insignificant things ….theres alot of bullshit here.
dont stop believing..it goes on and on
what is that meant to be ironic????
The truth of the matter is that no one will ever know if Tony is dead. The only way we’ll find out is if Chase himself says Tony’s dead, or if they make a movie and Tony’s no longer boss. My truthful opinion is that Tony is alive. Chase as we speak is making a script for a movie, the movie will be so good that it will turn Godfather fans into Soprano fans, because there is no reason to end a series that is making you millions of dollars annually. I don’t think that this final series will be the last we hear about The Soprano Family.
I know hes dead look at all the people in the diner all of them were in previous episodes and all of them wantt tony dead so one of them had to kill tony
i would like to believe T didnt die but after rewatching an episode of season 2 i came up with a theory…
Patsy Parisi is certain Tony had his twin brother whacked and goes to kill him but instead just urinates in his pool.
Throughout the rest of the series Patsy is always around but in a minimal role as though he’s waiting for the right moment.
Then in the last season his son Patrick hooks up with Meadow and they get engaged.
The rest of the Soprano crew is slaughtered with the exception of Paulie and Patsy.
How would Paulie know where Tony is at for dinner?
Patsy on the other hand would have access to this info
due to his son’s closeness to Meadow.
Ok, after a while its time to set the last scene of the Sopranos straight. Surprise Tony is NOT dead or get shot. Its time to educate viewers as to what happened. The Pilot and the Music. In the Pilot DVD Chase’s premise of the show was America had gotten so greedy even a mob boss had to see a shrink. He adds the pilot was originally going to be released as low budget film.Chase goes on for his love for music. All the shows of the last season had indicators. What everyone is missing is Tony’s first visit with Melfi “No values, everyone turns government witness” The first thing T and C talk about at diner is meeting of latest rat trying to save son. AJ comes blowing in late. There are all these characters in the diner. What you are missing is Dr. Melphi finally dumping Tony for good.
The music references several themes throughout the show: Working hard to my fill/Phil?
Everybody wants a thrill, paying anything to roll the dice just one more time:Dr Melphi “why do you keep putting your marriage in jeopardy with all these gumas?” Melphi” You gamble and bet not to win but NOT to lose” Hence Some will win, some will lose some were born to sing the blues. Pilot- Tony depressed with panic attacks. The final piece Nothing in Tony’s life has changed over all these years.
And the movie never ends it goes on and on and on and on. All the tension in the diner, AJ’s ISSUES, Melphi ditching him- fade to black =Panic attack.The arc is nothing changed
Just like the pilot
hes dead.
why?
the end was abrupt and unexpected.
the timing wasnt perfect because its not supposed to be.
hes dead.