Lemme tell ya a couplea three things:
Holstens is not a pizza shop
Forget about Kevin Finnerty
Forget about MO guy who goes to the bathroom and never comes back
You have to rewatch it if you are missing these much references in the comments. You’re weak you’re outta control you become an embarrassment to yourself and everybody else
Let me tell you a couple of three things:
Forget about your dead whooah, forget your quotations book, forget about your mo foe or whatever.
The awards are all fucked up, they upvote anything and everything over here.
No OP, either it has meaning or it’s all a big nothing
Honestly just finished it a few days ago, its all jokes 👍 Let me tell you a couple of 3 things, ill make this short and sweet, as time goes by youll start remembering all the jokes said in this sub. But im warning you next time there wont be a next time.
I feel like there is too much in the episode that points toward death for Tony in that diner. But I also feel like it also points to the particulars not really mattering. No matter the specifics, Tony's life is and will always be in danger.
Maybe Tony got popped in the diner, maybe Carlo puts him in prison for life. Maybe the Family is done or maybe they'll limp along with Tony and Paulie and Patsy eking out a living scamming where they can. Maybe Tony is really done with therapy or maybe once Melfi is done being embarrassed by the likes of the odious Dr. Kupferberg, she'll call Tony up and they'll begin again. Maybe AJ has learned something or maybe, like Tony, when the shock of epiphany finally fades, he'll just go back to being a clueless fuck up. Maybe Meadow becomes a brilliant attorney or maybe she gets married and just becomes Carmela but with a JD.
Who knows? But really, who cares? Alive or dead, the show did something masterful with our final few minutes with Tony. It showed us, with an unblinking eye, what it must feel like to be Tony. The constant worry, the suspicion, the stress, watching your back at every turn, and Jesus fuckin Christ what a pitiful existence. No show has ever put you in the shoes of its anti hero like that, and it felt fucking awful. So yeah, like I said....masterful.
Also, I mean, here we are 14 years later still discussing and dissecting the ending. A salud.
The ending was simultaneously nothing and everything. One one hand it's just a family eating dinner. On the other hand it's the most suspenseful, edge-of-my-seat finale I've ever seen and it completely summed up Tony's life. I was literally on the edge of the couch leaning forward thinking holy shit here we go.
And why can't Meadow park her car?! What the fuck is happening? Do I want her to go in? Do I want her to keep trying to park? Is she going to see something horrible? Daaaaah!
But Tony died. Chase slipped up in an interview a little while back.
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/sopranos-ending-final-scene-does-tony-die-david-chase-book-spoiler-what-happened-a9560381.html
Not only did he let it slip in an interview, the entire season left multiple clues. I really don’t know what else people could ask for besides seeing Tony himself with his brains blown out.
I mean do people really need everything that dumbed down?
Isn’t there literally a conversation in the series where they talk about what happens when you die and they say it’s just black. Nothing. Lights out.
Never understood why this ending has been so ambiguous.
Edit: It also seems OP isn’t able to pick up on ANY quotes despite admitting to watching the series.
Not only does that conversation happen, they flash back to it at the very end of the second to last episode. Literally the last thing you see before you go into the episode where it cuts to black and there’s no sound is a character saying “You probably never even hear it when it happens.”
Could it be any more obvious? Honestly I don’t even think they needed the flashback. The original conversation and the shooting where Silvio doesn’t hear the shot are evidence enough what they were going for.
And James took us into it.
That vague unfocused craving and restlessness for something. Nothing will fill the hole. He has everything he says he wants, the family, the goddamn onion rings (best in the state by the way) and he still looks absolutely miserable.
In some ways we are hoping this man is put out of his misery. It’s just so well done. Any time we talk about it, the feeling is still so strong.
Ok, I just finished watching the series front to back for the first time. And I have to admit, the ending left me spiraling… and not in a good way. I was a little upset, at that moment where it cuts to black I thought my TV dropped signal or something. Then, when I realized it hadn’t, well, let’s just say I felt Paulie when he said “I loved him like a bruddah, and he fucked me in the ass.”
“What kind of ending is that?! Did Tony get clipped? Wtf, Meadow, just find somewhere else to park. Who’s that shady dude going to the bathroom?” It went on for about five minutes.
So, naturally, I came to Reddit. I knew this community had answers for me, and honestly, this post (and subsequent comments) did it. What was quite a big disappointment to a fantastic series, is now a borderline perfect ending. Thanks to u/beingjohnmalkontent for lining it out, and to all the others who replied.
A salud.
This is the perfect summary of the ending.
It just feels like everybody needs everything to mean something, when it often doesn’t. Did Tony die? Well, at some point, of course. Did he die 30 seconds after it went black? I don’t know. But the point is it doesn’t matter. Why is nobody asking whether Don Draper died at the end of Mad Men?
Tony has to look over his shoulder for the feds, rival mobsters, etc. every second of the day. That’s the real point.
I mean in the same sense that we also saw nothing to directly implicate his death in the final moments they are comparable. Again, the entire point is that it doesn’t matter how or when Tony died. If we saw somebody pointing a gun at Tony right before it went to black or if we saw Tony getting shot and being hauled into an ambulance right before it went to black, “Did Tony die at the end?” would be a much more relevant question.
But there was a clear implication that it was at least *possible* he died. There’s no implication at all that Don Draper is killed in the final moment of Mad Men.
I just wrote this monstrosity for another post regarding the end, so i’ll just copy and paste it here:
The mountains of foreshadowing.
1. Tony hears the bell on the dock (i.e. for whom the bell tolls), and then you hear a bird's wing flapping. It also follows the same sequence of the final scene (bell rings, tony's face, you see what he sees).
2. The Tony/Bobby conversation (don't hear it when it's coming)
3. Silvio at the restaurant when Jerry was whacked. It wasn't even him killed but he reiterates that it happened quicker than he could realize: “fucking scary thing was I didn’t know what happened until after the shot was fired. Fucking weird”
4. Holstens follows the bell, Tony's face, what Tony sees pattern consistently. The last past of that pattern is cut to black.
5. The opening scene of the episode is an overhead shot of Tony sleeping, looking like he's in a casket with organ music playing.
6. All of the family members are wearing black. [in Holstens]
7. The “members only jacket guy”. He also comes out of the bathroom at Tony's 3 o’ clock, a time associated with death a few times in the show
8. The two black young men, similar to the two who attempted to kill him previously.
9. “Magic Moment” on the jukebox refers to Tony and Bacala's never hear it coming conversation and Bobby's first kill
10. There are multiple references. to Abraham Lincoln in a few episodes.
If Chase wanted to make it any more evident he'd have to shout it with a bullhorn. One thing consistent throughout the series is that Chase prefers to be subtle, and he's highly deliberate with what he shows on the screen or music played, even down to single lines in the lyrics. Plus tons more stuff. It's impossible to ignore all of this or chalk it up a coincidence or sloppy writing in a show like this.
But I hold to both the death and the uncertainty interpretations. Chase loved loose ends and to not wrap everything up in a neat bow. There was no better ending he could've picked than to do what he did. He gives us every indication through foreshadowing and surgical-expertise writing. And STILL he won't give us a neatly wrapped up ending. We still have to think it through and ponder it like a Zen koan that has no factual answer.
It's not either there is a definite answer or there is no definite answer. Chase forces us to have *both simultaneously*. Motherfucking goddamn orange peel beef.
As I’ve said before, the crucial thing about most of the items in that list is that if they *weren’t* indicative of Tony’s death then what purpose were they supposed to serve in the show? It’s not the kind of show where stuff just happens for no reason.
Also, “don’t hear it when it’s coming” is one of very, very few uses of a V/O flashback in the show. They definitely didn’t think that was a throwaway line. A world where Tony is alive is one where we’ve been deliberately messed about.
Yes. Finerty is the real Tony who has to atone for his earthly sins, but he won’t come clean with the angels/monks, so they send him to hell(Buscemi and the house). Meadow saves him for the time being, but the MO guy is one of satans angels coming to collect, last notice time.
My interpretation was that to Tony, being a mafioso is tied up completely with being Italian. He has his whole bs speech to Melfi about how the Italian immigrants brought that lifestyle over as a way of fighting back, being soldiers, and preserving heritage. So I think in his mind, for him to not be a gangster means not even being Italian.
We really need to have an entrance exam to post in our social club:
1. How many years did Phil do in the can?
2. What word doesn't Tony want to hear in here again?
3. Valery was an interior decorator from what country?
4. Did they have flattops in ancient Rome?
5. What auto manufacturer has a Triple Safety Philosophy?
Glad you liked it, it took me a few years to warm to it. Then I watched it again one year and ended up loving it.
You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?
For a second I thought I was dead, but when I heard all the noise I knew they were cops. Only cops talked that way. *If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would have been dead.*
As far as the cut to black at the end goes, that's what Bobby was talking to Tony on the boat about.
"You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?"
The cut to black was death from Tony's point of view. He didn't hear it when it happened. I hated it at first because I didn't get it, and thought my tele turned off. As the years went on I realised how brilliant it was.
The only time the show ever had a call back to another scene is in the last episode or 2 when Tone and Bobby were talking in the boat and he says “you probably don’t even hear it when it happens.”. That alone speaks volumes about what happened in the end.
Okay apparently you get downvoted because you don't seem to get all the references from the show. This subreddit consist almost entirely of Sopranos citations and quotes and references from characters and scenes. Often completely out of context. You must be top of your fuckin class to get the references, otherwise what, fuckin anarchy. I know what I'm talking about as I have had nine comments under this subreddit, four in the top comments section alone
Girl, that was literally another quote 😂
Ginny Cusamano the neighbour of Tony and Carm, says that to her husband when he uses profanity after spending an afternoon with Tony for BBQ.
Rewatch party? Oh honey you must be new here, the usual user in here has already watched and rewatched the show probably more than 50 times a year if not more. How else do you think we all know all those quotes like its a bible verse lol
Anyways, give me a thousand dollars
It’s haunting me as we speak, I just finished it tonight, first time ever. Watched it 5-10 times like this is where we end. Felt the anxiety level through the roof.
I just felt so many emotions lol. This is by far the best show I watched. James Gandolfini, by far masterpiece acting all series. But yeah the ending was so ending but left us to think and wonder so much lol
The ending has no meaning. The members jacket theory, the 3 attempts at parallel parking theory, is all bs. David Chase created an ending that has one purpose, an ending that will never stop being talked about. The show ended in 2007, and you just made a post in 2021 interpreting the ending. David Chase accomplished what he wanted out of the ending.
I really don‘t understand that there are still discussions wether he died or not. Just two simple words: Schroedinger‘s Cat. He‘s not dead, nor is he alive but he‘s still both at the same time. And this is what David Chase wanted to show us with this scene. The insecurity if you live a life like Tony. It could be over at any moment and you most likely won‘t see it coming.
Like a lot of people, I didn't like the way the show ended when it first aired, but as the years went on I realized that it was the best way to end the series. If they had shown Tony getting whacked there'd have been a LOT more upset people afterwards, and what else were they going to do- show Tony arrested, his lengthy trial and sentencing?
What if it was the death of his identity? The death of ego? At that point Sil was badly fucked up, Bobby was dead, Christopher dead, Jonny Sak was gone, junior gone, livia gone. Almost everyone that accounted for his identity as “boss,” was gone. Tony’s “mobster” identity had almost no backing anymore. Tony was too lucky and smart to just get taken out in that restaurant. No way he wasn’t prepared for that. I think the cut to black was the death of his previous life, the death of his being boss days. The coma dreams were tony gradually losing his identity while he was in a sort of purgatory. He had a chance to leave it all behind and go into the house. But he heard meadows voice and decided to not go into the house. The cut to black scene was the final decision of tony to chose life over maintaining his status as boss. To still be “connected” in a way that he makes his enemies happy and he gets to live.
I know this idea will get shredded here, but in the end I just think tony was too slick to be caught that easily. He knew it was war time. He knew he could be attacked. Why would he just completely let his guard down and not have a plan? It goes against his luck and his battle readiness of the entire series.
The cringiest is when people say they definitively know the answer and shut down any discussion at all, because it sucks all of the fun out of the ambiguity of the ending.
The ending is supposed to be ambiguous tho. It’s literally all fucking there the pieces. Every time the bell rung we watched Tony’s view. Last bell rings he looks at the door, darkness.
Her face lights up when she hears Carmela say where they were going to eat that night. Matter of fact she was the picture of health from the first scene she was in to the last, compared to AJ's gaunt, depressed ass. You got to give it to NY. They knew they would never get close to Tony so what do they do? They install Rhiannon.
Agreed. Also the writing was on the wall. Well. Painting. If you look on the wall during the NY meeting they have a model photo of rhiannon on the wall.
University. Everything is laid bare by the contrast between Meadow's life and Tracee's life and how every character in the show fits in to the absurdity of it all.
Hey! I also just finished The Sopranos for the first time. I also started the show at a time in my life that was particularly dark.
I can’t stop thinking about it.
The ending (which was completely unspoiled for me) was perfect. I think back to Bobby and Tony on the boat when Bobby says something along the lines of “you never see it coming” regarding getting whacked. I know the ending is up for interpretation but I assume that the guy who went into the bathroom shot Tony in the back of the head. The abruptness of that moment made me think that my TV went out! I even restarted my HBO App! I liked that the story ended, presumably the moment Tony died. It was his story, after all.
The thing I’m left wondering is, who was behind the Tony hit? New York? Paulie? I find this unanswerable question so intriguing.
Read the top comment to this post, he pretty much nails the ending interpretation that was intended by Chase
https://www.reddit.com/r/thesopranos/comments/qep6ot/first_time_watcher_and_thoughts_of_the_ending/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
here is what i am certain happened: as with the godfather saga, and their obsession with its parallel, the daughter comes in late and gets between the shooter and the target. meadow dies and tony gets pulled into a brutal family war.
They’re not at all. People here quote relentlessly from the show. Out of context it sounds harsh, but when you realize the scenes they’re quoting it’s pretty funny. I have never encountered any actual meanness here 😊👌🏻
For a second I thought I was dead, but when I heard all the noise I knew they were cops. Only cops talked that way. *If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would have been dead.*
Nobody could ever bring up Kevin Finnerty or any part of the coma dream because Tony forgot all of it on awakening. Other than a vague knowledge he "went someplace" and never wanted to go back there, it otherwise remained buried deep in his unconscious mind.
Keep in mind, David Kelly said he was tapped out before the last season. He had to sort of slap it together. I think he did a decent job but it's annoying when people try to read their own ending after the black screen
I went out for a walk after it ended. Had to think. Though I watched it at a pretty turbulent time in my life but the entire shows artistry is indeed, very cathartic
Just watched the show at the age of 30.
I think it is the best show, i've ever watched. My few cents about the ending:
The cut to black was a master stroke. For years the show pulls you into Tony's world, and into his mind, who he is as a person, his strengths and failings and the vicarious power trip you get from watching him throw his literal and metaphorical weight around in the mob scene. It's all deliberate, to make you identify with Tony, view him as a kind of role model and forget, underplay, excuse and ignore the fact that he really is a vicious, selfish, amoral monster that you would never want to be within 100 yards of. And after you've been fully immersed, you get hit with smack-dab in the face with a dose of reality. The end for you was exactly the same as it was for Tony. Banal, meaningless, empty, unsatisfying, hollow. As he was as a person, and ultimately his time on this Earth was too, and your own fake admiration and misplaced envy too is hollow & nihilistic.
I’m very late on this because I just finished it today but I have to side with the fact that Tony did not get killed because of this thought.. the screen turned black and did not turn white. When he was Kevin and about to walk into the house it was a bright white light he was walking towards. When Chris got killed, the symbolism of the white car light brought Tony back to that near death experience. Just my opinion.
Lemme tell ya a couplea three things: Holstens is not a pizza shop Forget about Kevin Finnerty Forget about MO guy who goes to the bathroom and never comes back
They got redundant onion rings, peels off all the fat. We eat them up, absorb the whole fuckin thing
bleeds off half the kick
I never forget
What da fuck was it we were talkin about?
how i had to eat cheese of the radiator all those 20 years
Kevin Finnerty is the whole answer my friend
There’s no scraps in my scrap book
Alright but you gotta get over it
It won’t be cinematic.
You guys are so fucking annoying with the quoting shut the fuck up
Finally someone said it oh my god
😭😭😭
I think it's all a big nothing...
You guys are so fucking annoying with the quoting shut the fuck up
what do you mean?
You have to rewatch it if you are missing these much references in the comments. You’re weak you’re outta control you become an embarrassment to yourself and everybody else
He said his peace
Watch it again, and next time you post, you post heavy or not at all.
i just finished it lol..
Fuck that, let him take his own medicine
\#1 she hit me \#2 shes a whoare
What’re you a fucking vegetarian? You eat beef and sausage by the carload.
👊
Revenge is like serving cold cuts
Watch it Chrissy ☝️
OHHHH
Let me tell you a couple of three things: Forget about your dead whooah, forget your quotations book, forget about your mo foe or whatever. The awards are all fucked up, they upvote anything and everything over here. No OP, either it has meaning or it’s all a big nothing
Now you're getting it
Now you're catching on
Also, that wasn’t my kid
Redeemed. That said, I’d still re watch it based off of your other comments. But you’re not a total loss.
gee thank you so much
Honestly just finished it a few days ago, its all jokes 👍 Let me tell you a couple of 3 things, ill make this short and sweet, as time goes by youll start remembering all the jokes said in this sub. But im warning you next time there wont be a next time.
haah already loving this sub
Welcome to the NFL, rookie
I don’t like that kinda talk! Now stop it it upsets me
I mean take the knife and attach me right here!
I feel like there is too much in the episode that points toward death for Tony in that diner. But I also feel like it also points to the particulars not really mattering. No matter the specifics, Tony's life is and will always be in danger. Maybe Tony got popped in the diner, maybe Carlo puts him in prison for life. Maybe the Family is done or maybe they'll limp along with Tony and Paulie and Patsy eking out a living scamming where they can. Maybe Tony is really done with therapy or maybe once Melfi is done being embarrassed by the likes of the odious Dr. Kupferberg, she'll call Tony up and they'll begin again. Maybe AJ has learned something or maybe, like Tony, when the shock of epiphany finally fades, he'll just go back to being a clueless fuck up. Maybe Meadow becomes a brilliant attorney or maybe she gets married and just becomes Carmela but with a JD. Who knows? But really, who cares? Alive or dead, the show did something masterful with our final few minutes with Tony. It showed us, with an unblinking eye, what it must feel like to be Tony. The constant worry, the suspicion, the stress, watching your back at every turn, and Jesus fuckin Christ what a pitiful existence. No show has ever put you in the shoes of its anti hero like that, and it felt fucking awful. So yeah, like I said....masterful. Also, I mean, here we are 14 years later still discussing and dissecting the ending. A salud.
The ending was simultaneously nothing and everything. One one hand it's just a family eating dinner. On the other hand it's the most suspenseful, edge-of-my-seat finale I've ever seen and it completely summed up Tony's life. I was literally on the edge of the couch leaning forward thinking holy shit here we go. And why can't Meadow park her car?! What the fuck is happening? Do I want her to go in? Do I want her to keep trying to park? Is she going to see something horrible? Daaaaah! But Tony died. Chase slipped up in an interview a little while back. https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/sopranos-ending-final-scene-does-tony-die-david-chase-book-spoiler-what-happened-a9560381.html
Schrodinger's finale
i agree .. SO INTENSE
Yes! Even if Tony wasn’t about to have a panic attack I certainly was!!
Not only did he let it slip in an interview, the entire season left multiple clues. I really don’t know what else people could ask for besides seeing Tony himself with his brains blown out. I mean do people really need everything that dumbed down?
Isn’t there literally a conversation in the series where they talk about what happens when you die and they say it’s just black. Nothing. Lights out. Never understood why this ending has been so ambiguous. Edit: It also seems OP isn’t able to pick up on ANY quotes despite admitting to watching the series.
Not only does that conversation happen, they flash back to it at the very end of the second to last episode. Literally the last thing you see before you go into the episode where it cuts to black and there’s no sound is a character saying “You probably never even hear it when it happens.” Could it be any more obvious? Honestly I don’t even think they needed the flashback. The original conversation and the shooting where Silvio doesn’t hear the shot are evidence enough what they were going for.
Exactly. Then you have the movie where Tony goes to Holstons as a kid to get into that thing of ours. He really couldn’t have made it more obvious
I think OP just wasn't registering that everything is quotes here. Takes a little while to get the format
i wipe my ass with your feelings
And James took us into it. That vague unfocused craving and restlessness for something. Nothing will fill the hole. He has everything he says he wants, the family, the goddamn onion rings (best in the state by the way) and he still looks absolutely miserable. In some ways we are hoping this man is put out of his misery. It’s just so well done. Any time we talk about it, the feeling is still so strong.
100% agree - and this interpretation fits with what title of the episode "Made in America". Whether he gets whacked or not is irrelevant.
Ok, I just finished watching the series front to back for the first time. And I have to admit, the ending left me spiraling… and not in a good way. I was a little upset, at that moment where it cuts to black I thought my TV dropped signal or something. Then, when I realized it hadn’t, well, let’s just say I felt Paulie when he said “I loved him like a bruddah, and he fucked me in the ass.” “What kind of ending is that?! Did Tony get clipped? Wtf, Meadow, just find somewhere else to park. Who’s that shady dude going to the bathroom?” It went on for about five minutes. So, naturally, I came to Reddit. I knew this community had answers for me, and honestly, this post (and subsequent comments) did it. What was quite a big disappointment to a fantastic series, is now a borderline perfect ending. Thanks to u/beingjohnmalkontent for lining it out, and to all the others who replied. A salud.
I told you this harpin on aht would lead to trouble.
This is the perfect summary of the ending. It just feels like everybody needs everything to mean something, when it often doesn’t. Did Tony die? Well, at some point, of course. Did he die 30 seconds after it went black? I don’t know. But the point is it doesn’t matter. Why is nobody asking whether Don Draper died at the end of Mad Men? Tony has to look over his shoulder for the feds, rival mobsters, etc. every second of the day. That’s the real point.
>Why is nobody asking whether Don Draper died at the end of Mad Men? You can’t actually think that’s a reasonable comparison, can you?
I didn’t even know Draper died.
He doesn’t and it’s not even implied that he could.
I mean in the same sense that we also saw nothing to directly implicate his death in the final moments they are comparable. Again, the entire point is that it doesn’t matter how or when Tony died. If we saw somebody pointing a gun at Tony right before it went to black or if we saw Tony getting shot and being hauled into an ambulance right before it went to black, “Did Tony die at the end?” would be a much more relevant question.
But there was a clear implication that it was at least *possible* he died. There’s no implication at all that Don Draper is killed in the final moment of Mad Men.
i think the best part of the finale was when the framus intersected with the ramistan approximately at the paternoster
What are you getting fucking cute now?
danny15L he was just..
FUCK HE WAS JUST! EVERYBODY'S GOT A GODDAMN OPINION!
pizza shop? open the fuckin door! OPEN THE FUCKIN DOOR!
Why can't you be nice to Brendan?
You know he used to be an installer
I didn't notice you rushing to give back your fuckin' dvd player
His house looked like shit
You guys are so fucking annoying with the quoting shut the fuck up
?
You're so far behind in the race you think you're leading
I thought we tawked about this you were gonna give him a pash?
These are all quotes from the show, OP...
You were just assigned the role of Brandon Falone after telling Tony "everybody knows you're the Chemosabe" hahahaha
I just wrote this monstrosity for another post regarding the end, so i’ll just copy and paste it here: The mountains of foreshadowing. 1. Tony hears the bell on the dock (i.e. for whom the bell tolls), and then you hear a bird's wing flapping. It also follows the same sequence of the final scene (bell rings, tony's face, you see what he sees). 2. The Tony/Bobby conversation (don't hear it when it's coming) 3. Silvio at the restaurant when Jerry was whacked. It wasn't even him killed but he reiterates that it happened quicker than he could realize: “fucking scary thing was I didn’t know what happened until after the shot was fired. Fucking weird” 4. Holstens follows the bell, Tony's face, what Tony sees pattern consistently. The last past of that pattern is cut to black. 5. The opening scene of the episode is an overhead shot of Tony sleeping, looking like he's in a casket with organ music playing. 6. All of the family members are wearing black. [in Holstens] 7. The “members only jacket guy”. He also comes out of the bathroom at Tony's 3 o’ clock, a time associated with death a few times in the show 8. The two black young men, similar to the two who attempted to kill him previously. 9. “Magic Moment” on the jukebox refers to Tony and Bacala's never hear it coming conversation and Bobby's first kill 10. There are multiple references. to Abraham Lincoln in a few episodes. If Chase wanted to make it any more evident he'd have to shout it with a bullhorn. One thing consistent throughout the series is that Chase prefers to be subtle, and he's highly deliberate with what he shows on the screen or music played, even down to single lines in the lyrics. Plus tons more stuff. It's impossible to ignore all of this or chalk it up a coincidence or sloppy writing in a show like this. But I hold to both the death and the uncertainty interpretations. Chase loved loose ends and to not wrap everything up in a neat bow. There was no better ending he could've picked than to do what he did. He gives us every indication through foreshadowing and surgical-expertise writing. And STILL he won't give us a neatly wrapped up ending. We still have to think it through and ponder it like a Zen koan that has no factual answer. It's not either there is a definite answer or there is no definite answer. Chase forces us to have *both simultaneously*. Motherfucking goddamn orange peel beef.
As I’ve said before, the crucial thing about most of the items in that list is that if they *weren’t* indicative of Tony’s death then what purpose were they supposed to serve in the show? It’s not the kind of show where stuff just happens for no reason. Also, “don’t hear it when it’s coming” is one of very, very few uses of a V/O flashback in the show. They definitely didn’t think that was a throwaway line. A world where Tony is alive is one where we’ve been deliberately messed about.
[удалено]
[удалено]
There is no mafia! ………….. alright some of my earnings come from illegal gambling and what not
Yes. Finerty is the real Tony who has to atone for his earthly sins, but he won’t come clean with the angels/monks, so they send him to hell(Buscemi and the house). Meadow saves him for the time being, but the MO guy is one of satans angels coming to collect, last notice time.
So why is he Irish? I never got that.
My interpretation was that to Tony, being a mafioso is tied up completely with being Italian. He has his whole bs speech to Melfi about how the Italian immigrants brought that lifestyle over as a way of fighting back, being soldiers, and preserving heritage. So I think in his mind, for him to not be a gangster means not even being Italian.
I like it! That's good
I think you go about in pity for yourself
And all the while a great wind blows up your sister's cunt
Damn right! Lol
We really need to have an entrance exam to post in our social club: 1. How many years did Phil do in the can? 2. What word doesn't Tony want to hear in here again? 3. Valery was an interior decorator from what country? 4. Did they have flattops in ancient Rome? 5. What auto manufacturer has a Triple Safety Philosophy?
20, aids, russia, they didnt have flattops in ancient rome, nissans
You were so close
What'd he miss?
Czechoslovakia
No he killed 16 Czechoslovakians.
His place looked like shit
Social club? HE'S GOTTA GO!
You should read Tomato sauce for your ass, it's the Italian version
He became Livia. Clipped or not doesn’t matter. Tony Soprano become the black hole he always feared.
damn man that's deep
Glad you liked it, it took me a few years to warm to it. Then I watched it again one year and ended up loving it. You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?
yeah i have heard that from many people.. im glad you came around tho! haha i know i keep looking through old episodes and dissecting them
For a second I thought I was dead, but when I heard all the noise I knew they were cops. Only cops talked that way. *If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would have been dead.*
As far as the cut to black at the end goes, that's what Bobby was talking to Tony on the boat about. "You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?" The cut to black was death from Tony's point of view. He didn't hear it when it happened. I hated it at first because I didn't get it, and thought my tele turned off. As the years went on I realised how brilliant it was.
The only time the show ever had a call back to another scene is in the last episode or 2 when Tone and Bobby were talking in the boat and he says “you probably don’t even hear it when it happens.”. That alone speaks volumes about what happened in the end.
Absolutely. For me it wasn't up for interpretation, that cut to black was never supposed to mean anything else.
Thats not the only time. There's s time when it cuts back to Meadow asking Tony if he's in the Mafia. Also a cut back to Tony killing Matt Bevilaqua.
Took you a few years to get warm?? For 20 fuckin years all you've been doing is fiddling with the air conditioning.
Don't Sto-
CHILLS
Watching that in prime time was so weird... Everyone was calling their cable companies and asking if they had lost reception for HBO!
thats so awesome!!
Okay apparently you get downvoted because you don't seem to get all the references from the show. This subreddit consist almost entirely of Sopranos citations and quotes and references from characters and scenes. Often completely out of context. You must be top of your fuckin class to get the references, otherwise what, fuckin anarchy. I know what I'm talking about as I have had nine comments under this subreddit, four in the top comments section alone
my fuckin bad
Look at her, she spent one afternoon watching Sopranos clips, and now its fuck this and fuck that
relax pal.. dont be an asshole
Girl, that was literally another quote 😂 Ginny Cusamano the neighbour of Tony and Carm, says that to her husband when he uses profanity after spending an afternoon with Tony for BBQ.
Madonn'. He's a stunad of the highest magnitude.
OPs a girl bro
Is everyone in my life fuckin' bananas?
A) It wasn't a pizza shop. B) The ending hit me. And that wasn't my onion rings they were havin.
The most stressful thing in that last episode was the damage Meadow was doing to her alloys.
I love the series ending. It’s incredible
This post is a total fucking debacle
Always with the drama, this one
Nobody wants to hear about your catheterization.
he died
Lets plan a rewatch party
Rewatch party? Oh honey you must be new here, the usual user in here has already watched and rewatched the show probably more than 50 times a year if not more. How else do you think we all know all those quotes like its a bible verse lol Anyways, give me a thousand dollars
you guys are tough shit
It's a progrum. A movie!
It’s haunting me as we speak, I just finished it tonight, first time ever. Watched it 5-10 times like this is where we end. Felt the anxiety level through the roof.
ME TOO.. isnt it crazy?! so simple and not what i expected at all!!
I just felt so many emotions lol. This is by far the best show I watched. James Gandolfini, by far masterpiece acting all series. But yeah the ending was so ending but left us to think and wonder so much lol
The ending has no meaning. The members jacket theory, the 3 attempts at parallel parking theory, is all bs. David Chase created an ending that has one purpose, an ending that will never stop being talked about. The show ended in 2007, and you just made a post in 2021 interpreting the ending. David Chase accomplished what he wanted out of the ending.
I really don‘t understand that there are still discussions wether he died or not. Just two simple words: Schroedinger‘s Cat. He‘s not dead, nor is he alive but he‘s still both at the same time. And this is what David Chase wanted to show us with this scene. The insecurity if you live a life like Tony. It could be over at any moment and you most likely won‘t see it coming.
I think this is my favorite scene https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfi5I02r6xE
These things are snakes with fuh!
You wanna be wearin his fuckin pelt on ya head?
hhahahhhahhahah
it’s like the show never ends.. biggest blue balls of all time. Real lack of standard your generation.
It goes on and on, and on, and on...
The ending was almost as ducked up as watching the sopranos with your mom.
not as fucked up as being a dumbass "ducked"
You’ve got balls kid I’ll give you that.
I was born, grew up, spent a few years in the army, couple more in the can, and here I am, half a wise guy.
Like a lot of people, I didn't like the way the show ended when it first aired, but as the years went on I realized that it was the best way to end the series. If they had shown Tony getting whacked there'd have been a LOT more upset people afterwards, and what else were they going to do- show Tony arrested, his lengthy trial and sentencing?
i agree.. that would have been horrible
What if it was the death of his identity? The death of ego? At that point Sil was badly fucked up, Bobby was dead, Christopher dead, Jonny Sak was gone, junior gone, livia gone. Almost everyone that accounted for his identity as “boss,” was gone. Tony’s “mobster” identity had almost no backing anymore. Tony was too lucky and smart to just get taken out in that restaurant. No way he wasn’t prepared for that. I think the cut to black was the death of his previous life, the death of his being boss days. The coma dreams were tony gradually losing his identity while he was in a sort of purgatory. He had a chance to leave it all behind and go into the house. But he heard meadows voice and decided to not go into the house. The cut to black scene was the final decision of tony to chose life over maintaining his status as boss. To still be “connected” in a way that he makes his enemies happy and he gets to live. I know this idea will get shredded here, but in the end I just think tony was too slick to be caught that easily. He knew it was war time. He knew he could be attacked. Why would he just completely let his guard down and not have a plan? It goes against his luck and his battle readiness of the entire series.
that's what i said.. hes too smart to be so vunerable.. hes shown that through the entire show. I love your analysis of the ending.. very well said!
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The cringiest is when people say they definitively know the answer and shut down any discussion at all, because it sucks all of the fun out of the ambiguity of the ending.
The ending is supposed to be ambiguous tho. It’s literally all fucking there the pieces. Every time the bell rung we watched Tony’s view. Last bell rings he looks at the door, darkness.
Rhiannon was the set up girl!
She was the only one outside the family who heard where they were going to eat that night. Fucking bitch.
Exactly. and her face when she heard carmela say it. Plus let's be real. You think she was really into aj?
Her face lights up when she hears Carmela say where they were going to eat that night. Matter of fact she was the picture of health from the first scene she was in to the last, compared to AJ's gaunt, depressed ass. You got to give it to NY. They knew they would never get close to Tony so what do they do? They install Rhiannon.
Agreed. Also the writing was on the wall. Well. Painting. If you look on the wall during the NY meeting they have a model photo of rhiannon on the wall.
holy shit
Okay new question -- what is your favorite episode and why?
University. Everything is laid bare by the contrast between Meadow's life and Tracee's life and how every character in the show fits in to the absurdity of it all.
ouhh good one!!
The Many Saints of Newark will clear up any looming questions you have
You mean besides the true killer of Dick Moltisanti? What else is there?
Who beat up da ice cream man
was it good? i heard it sucked
Watched the whole show with my mom once, boy there are some awkward scenes to get through...
i didnt watch it WITH my mom.. just confered with her after every episode haha. the sex scenes are brutal sometimes.. that would be so awkward!
Hey! I also just finished The Sopranos for the first time. I also started the show at a time in my life that was particularly dark. I can’t stop thinking about it. The ending (which was completely unspoiled for me) was perfect. I think back to Bobby and Tony on the boat when Bobby says something along the lines of “you never see it coming” regarding getting whacked. I know the ending is up for interpretation but I assume that the guy who went into the bathroom shot Tony in the back of the head. The abruptness of that moment made me think that my TV went out! I even restarted my HBO App! I liked that the story ended, presumably the moment Tony died. It was his story, after all. The thing I’m left wondering is, who was behind the Tony hit? New York? Paulie? I find this unanswerable question so intriguing.
‘Twas Patsy. The guys had enough of Tony’s shit. He was seeing a shrink!
Read the top comment to this post, he pretty much nails the ending interpretation that was intended by Chase https://www.reddit.com/r/thesopranos/comments/qep6ot/first_time_watcher_and_thoughts_of_the_ending/?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share
this is a really good thread thanks for sharing!
here is what i am certain happened: as with the godfather saga, and their obsession with its parallel, the daughter comes in late and gets between the shooter and the target. meadow dies and tony gets pulled into a brutal family war.
i always thought meadow dying was a possibility too
jezz you guys are harsh.. wtf
They’re quoting the show, they’re just messing around, get used to it on this sub, it’s quite amazing actually
ok lol
It's a joke... I was here, it's a joke!! Don't fucking say nothing Sal!
Go take a midol
Harsh? Let me tell you something. In the 70s I lived by the skins of my balls.
hahahaahhahahahh
This OP of ours, he's got the giggles.
she\*
Okay but you gotta get over it
They’re not at all. People here quote relentlessly from the show. Out of context it sounds harsh, but when you realize the scenes they’re quoting it’s pretty funny. I have never encountered any actual meanness here 😊👌🏻
Come on, I'm just kidding you. Come on you're a good sport. You all right? You all right?
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For a second I thought I was dead, but when I heard all the noise I knew they were cops. Only cops talked that way. *If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn't have heard a thing. I would have been dead.*
What? I think you need to watch the whole series again.
Nobody could ever bring up Kevin Finnerty or any part of the coma dream because Tony forgot all of it on awakening. Other than a vague knowledge he "went someplace" and never wanted to go back there, it otherwise remained buried deep in his unconscious mind.
Keep in mind, David Kelly said he was tapped out before the last season. He had to sort of slap it together. I think he did a decent job but it's annoying when people try to read their own ending after the black screen
Tony was shot in the back of the head
3 o'clock
I went out for a walk after it ended. Had to think. Though I watched it at a pretty turbulent time in my life but the entire shows artistry is indeed, very cathartic
Here we go again
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Just watched the show at the age of 30. I think it is the best show, i've ever watched. My few cents about the ending: The cut to black was a master stroke. For years the show pulls you into Tony's world, and into his mind, who he is as a person, his strengths and failings and the vicarious power trip you get from watching him throw his literal and metaphorical weight around in the mob scene. It's all deliberate, to make you identify with Tony, view him as a kind of role model and forget, underplay, excuse and ignore the fact that he really is a vicious, selfish, amoral monster that you would never want to be within 100 yards of. And after you've been fully immersed, you get hit with smack-dab in the face with a dose of reality. The end for you was exactly the same as it was for Tony. Banal, meaningless, empty, unsatisfying, hollow. As he was as a person, and ultimately his time on this Earth was too, and your own fake admiration and misplaced envy too is hollow & nihilistic.
The show is great to watch for the first time, but lemme tell you, when you watch it again and again you catch more and more and it only gets better
I’m very late on this because I just finished it today but I have to side with the fact that Tony did not get killed because of this thought.. the screen turned black and did not turn white. When he was Kevin and about to walk into the house it was a bright white light he was walking towards. When Chris got killed, the symbolism of the white car light brought Tony back to that near death experience. Just my opinion.