The Sopranos final episode: "Made in America"

[chefmike]

Let the countdown begin!

It sucks that the final episode is only gonna be 61 minutes. There's a lot of loose ends to be tied up, after all...

Who will be the last man standing, Tony or Phil? Or will they both buy it? Maybe Tony will get busted, perhaps even flip and do a "Sammy the Bull"... Will Paulie Walnuts get snuffed? What's up with AJ's fascination with terrorism, and could that be thrown into the final mix?

But the most important question is whether Meadow will finally get buck naked, preferably on stage at the Bada Bing! Now that's a finale!

[chefmike]

NYC Mob War Unlikely Despite Recent Hits

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070609/mob-mayhem/

[PatrickFromNYC]

Let the countdown begin!

It sucks that the final episode is only gonna be 61 minutes. There's a lot of loose ends to be tied up, after all...

Who will be the last man standing, Tony or Phil? Or will they both buy it? Maybe Tony will get busted, perhaps even flip and do a "Sammy the Bull"... Will Paulie Walnuts get snuffed? What's up with AJ's fascination with terrorism, and could that be thrown into the final mix?

But the most important question is whether Meadow will finally get buck naked, preferably on stage at the Bada Bing! Now that's a finale!


I think Tony will win the war with Phil but someone close to him (not Pauly) will kill him in the end.

[2754tim]

I agree .Also, Adrianna pops up in the final. Paulie screwed that one up

[Quinn]

Personally, I'm betting -- literally $50 with a friend -- that Tony gets iced in the finale. Given how hard the writers have worked to make him as unsympathetic a character as possible, I feel the odds are in my favor. Right or wrong, I can't wait to see what happens.

-Quinn

P.S. I Also hope something really bad happens to Carmella as well.

[hwbs]

i didnt want to post this earlier....basically a caller called in the show on 103.5 many months back...they were filming the final episode in front of his house..he spilled the beans.....i wont spoil it 4 you guys...

[PatrickFromNYC]

i didnt want to post this earlier....basically a caller called in the show on 103.5 many months back...they were filming the final episode in front of his house..he spilled the beans.....i wont spoil it 4 you guys...


Thanks for not telling.....I`m looking forward to tomorrow

[hwbs]

i havent seen any of this season...my friend is gonna mail me a copy of the season via DVR

[themaster]

He won't get wacked for sure, though I don't watch the show I have my money on some sort of cliffhanger in which for years we will ask if he died or not.

[PatrickFromNYC]

i havent seen any of this season...my friend is gonna mail me a copy of the season via DVR


Thats too bad Hollywoodbuckstrap.....Its the BEST season in 5 years

[hwbs]

i have seen all of the other seasons...just dont have hbo any more

[specialk]

i didnt want to post this earlier....basically a caller called in the show on 103.5 many months back...they were filming the final episode in front of his house..he spilled the beans.....i wont spoil it 4 you guys...

You mean he spilled the beans on one of several endings filmed like they do sometimes so the cast won't give it away.

My guess is Tony will see bad shit happen to his family, like when Michael Corleone did when his daughter was shot on the steps of the church at the end of GF3.....We'll see.

[chefmike]

I agree .Also, Adrianna pops up in the final. Paulie screwed that one up

Sil did the hit on Adrianna, not Paulie.

[smart]

carmen goes boom in front of aj and meadow. meadow and janice go to safe house. aj joins pop. phil gets get killed. I wont tell ending just watch but tony lives.

[chefmike]

Odds are on Phil getting killed, as far as the bookies online go.

[chefmike]

As far as my informal polling amongst friends and co-workers has gone, AJ is second only to Phil as the character who is in need of a dirt nap ASAP...

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

Hollywood is a mess because they redid the whole final episode, lol

anyway

I can't wait til it's over to log on and here from a bunch of HA critics how bad it was....................

[chefmike]

Hollywood is a mess because they redid the whole final episode, lol

anyway

I can't wait til it's over to log on and here from a bunch of HA critics how bad it was....................

You first..................

[Quinn]

What a chicken shit ending that was. I hope Chase gets run over by a fucking bus. Worst ending to a series ever!! Still, at least it was consistent with the lack of spine shown during the writing of the series as a whole.

-Quinn

[tonkatoy]

that was a pretty lame ending

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

that ending RULED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shit was true to form, everyone had Tony getting killed and guess what, the muhfucka ended the series eating onion rings with his fam, brilliant..............

[PatrickFromNYC]

???? No ending at all???

[tonkatoy]

that ending RULED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

shit was true to form, everyone had Tony getting killed and guess what, the muhfucka ended the series eating onion rings with his fam, brilliant..............

He ended series with a potential hit man 20' away.

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

what potential hit man 20 feet away?

[Dkg]

the ending was weak but it does leave the show open ended in case they do make the movie. Still though how can it just end so abruptly??

I know a LOT of people let out a collective "WTF??" at the end. still, awesome series.

[Dkg]

what potential hit man 20 feet away?

the suspicous guy who TOny kept looking at and then got up and went to the bathroom.

[Wolfcap]

The guy that went into the bathroom. What effect did his daughter have on the situation by coming in late? Does that mean Tony definitely got killed?

[tonkatoy]

the guy that came in and sat at the counter and eyeballed tony a couple of times then went into bathroom. If they hadn't lost the final few minutes of the show, which is apparently what happened, Tony would have looked up to see meadow come in just as the guy came out of the bathroom blazing away...

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

Tony never looked at him, LMAO thank GOD for on demand and DVR boxes, I watched that final segment 3 times in the last 10 mins, Tony looked at whoever came in the door, no one else even mattered. The dude in the members only jacket that kept looking around at the bar was a brilliant write in because it had every simp in America saying "this is it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Anyone who thought the Black kids were gonna pop Tony were sadly mistaken, it's just not done. That was a great ending because it allows folks like us to fucking ponder all night long about the "what if's" which is just what HBO wanted...........

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

btw, i'm wishing silklove was in that restaurant and that guy in the member's only jacket was a hitman and took him out so we wouldn't have those fucking ridiculous questions as new threads....................

[tonkatoy]

I didn't think the black guys were connected, but I do think there MIGHT have been a connection with the guy at the counter. Course, I'm a little simple.......

[PatrickFromNYC]

When the screen went black I thought my cable went out...it took about 10 seconds before the credits rolled.

[kukm4]

well seinfeld will finally be knocked down from
#1 spot of worst show finally.

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

well seinfeld will finally be knocked down from
#1 spot of worst show finally.

why was that a bad ending kukm4?, I wanna hear you tell us why you think it was worse than the Seinfeld finale

[tonkatoy]

Tony never looked at him, LMAO thank GOD for on demand and DVR boxes, I watched that final segment 3 times in the last 10 mins, Tony looked at whoever came in the door, no one else even mattered. The dude in the members only jacket that kept looking around at the bar was a brilliant write in because it had every simp in America saying "this is it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Anyone who thought the Black kids were gonna pop Tony were sadly mistaken, it's just not done. That was a great ending because it allows folks like us to fucking ponder all night long about the "what if's" which is just what HBO wanted...........

or its like the ending to 2001, a space odyssey , where for years afterward people have to drop acid to try and make sense of it.

[Wolfcap]

The first time they put a hit on Tony they sent black guys, that was just another hitman option they wrote in I think. I personally think he got killed just for the fact of where he was sitting, with his daughter not there for a hitman to make a mistake and take a family memeber out, which is a no no.

[dc_guy_75]

I call shenanigans!

Fucking bullshit!

The final Journy song was good though...

[tonkatoy]

John from Cincinnati looks pretty retarded so far.....

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

The first time they put a hit on Tony they sent black guys, that was just another hitman option they wrote in I think. I personally think he got killed just for the fact of where he was sitting, with his daughter not there for a hitman to make a mistake and take a family memeber out, which is a no no.

you misunderstood me when I said "it's just not done.............." I meant there was no way any producer for any network would pull out a caucasian male getting killed by a couple of Black males as a season finale, that's just not done, not if that producer ever wants to produce again, lol

2001 sucked also, but the author did write 3001 in which he revived the main character who was kicked out into space by Hal......... but anyway back to Jersey

this is all great about all these assumptions of what happened to Tony, bottom line is no one will ever know, LMAO

for months folks will bug other folks about what they think took place after the screen went black................

[Turtle]

I saw two shady characters in the diner. There was a redneck looking guy in the corner the camera showed twice and the guy at the bar stool that went to the bathroom. I thought Meadow was going to walk in right as her family was being shot up but I guess I will never know. Lame ending but it does leave room for another season or movie which would be cool.

[PatrickFromNYC]

the ending was weak but it does leave the show open ended in case they do make the movie. Still though how can it just end so abruptly??

I know a LOT of people let out a collective "WTF??" at the end. still, awesome series.

I wonder if they are planning on marketing the DVD series with the three alternative endings that Chase supposedly filmed???

[Wolfcap]

The first time they put a hit on Tony they sent black guys, that was just another hitman option they wrote in I think. I personally think he got killed just for the fact of where he was sitting, with his daughter not there for a hitman to make a mistake and take a family memeber out, which is a no no.

you misunderstood me when I said "it's just not done.............." I meant there was no way any producer for any network would pull out a caucasian male getting killed by a couple of Black males as a season finale, that's just not done, not if that producer ever wants to produce again, lol

2001 sucked also, but the author did write 3001 in which he revived the main character who was kicked out into space by Hal......... but anyway back to Jersey

this is all great about all these assumptions of what happened to Tony, bottom line is no one will ever know, LMAO

for months folks will bug other folks about what they think took place after the screen went black................

true, Im just hoping there's a way by putting clues together you can come to a conclusion. These lady or the Tiger things piss me off sometimes.

Just though of something, tony and bobby talked about how you never hear and see it coming...no screen or music = dead tony

[the Adrienne Barbeaubot]

I had a feeling Tony was going to survive. I'm still confused about the ending though. I think the guy at the counter was actually a fed,not a hitman. After all, Carlo flipped and T's lawyer was talking about indictments. I believe Tony is under govt. surveillence,which would keep the possibility open for a movie in the future. That's my point of view anyway for what it's worth.I was just happy to see Phil get it. I never liked him.

[canihavu]

BULLSHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PatrickFromNYC]

According to the HBO boards Tony Soprano is DEAD!! the theory is:

"When Meadow walks through the doors, we are watching her through Tony's eyes. Then the screen goes Black and the music stops at the exact same time! What else could it be but a pop to the head?"


I`m not sure

[gummi baer]

Opening with the Vanilla Fudge version of "Keep Me Hangin On" to the finale of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" kinda sets the whole thing up. :roll: Let's not forget that the whole clan was nibbling on onion rings. ONION RINGS, people! 8)

[dc_guy_75]

I thought about it more and its that Tony did not get killed, but he can never "sleep".

Episode 1 from the 7th season had that guy kill himself, showing that you can never get "out" of the mob.

So, the final scene showed that he'll be forever paranoid.

[dc_guy_75]

According to the HBO boards Tony Soprano is DEAD!! the theory is:

"When Meadow walks through the doors, we are watching her through Tony's eyes. Then the screen goes Black and the music stops at the exact same time! What else could it be but a pop to the head?"


I`m not sure

God damn!

With more thought, the ending is getting better and better.

At the time, it didn't occur to me the blank screen could be Tony dead.

[guyone]

So, the final scene showed that he'll be paranoid forever.


Bingo!

[NYCe]

Fantastic

Its the final minutes of the final ep
You''re waiting for something to happen
You know somethings gonna happen
music's playing (One of the Greatest Songs of All Time btw)
You're eyeing everyone in the spot thinking someone's a hitman
Meadow is having trouble parking her car



But the truth?

Meadow is just horrible parallel parker, the guy in the restaurant was just a customer,
and the same with every sopranos episode - the family goes on with their lives

David chase got us all and I couldn't ask for a better ending for a fantastic series.

:)

[chefmike]

What a chicken shit ending that was. I hope Chase gets run over by a fucking bus. Worst ending to a series ever!! Still, at least it was consistent with the lack of spine shown during the writing of the series as a whole.

-Quinn


Sweet fancy fucking Moses! Why didn't they just have Tony wake up in bed and realize that he had only dreamed of being a wise guy, it couldn't have been any lamer than this ending. Shit, the thing with Paulie and the cat was the best part of the whole fucking episode!

I ordered osso buco, and they brought me more antipasto...

[chefmike]

btw, i'm wishing silklove was in that restaurant and that guy in the member's only jacket was a hitman and took him out so we wouldn't have those fucking ridiculous questions as new threads....................

You and me both.

[chefmike]

Opening with the Vanilla Fudge version of "Keep Me Hangin On" to the finale of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" kinda sets the whole thing up. :roll: Let's not forget that the whole clan was nibbling on onion rings. ONION RINGS, people! 8)

I love that cover by Vanilla Fudge. The "radio rock" soundtrack was another one of the few good things about this episode. Who gives a flying fuck if AJ wants to go to Iraq? We all have our opinions about the neocon fiasco in Iraq. Bush has sent 3.500 soldiers to die for his lie there already...they should have just shipped AJ off to Iraq the first episode and spared us all of the banal drama surrounding him this season...the only contribution the little shit made to the entire season was getting that little hotties bra off before his SUV exploded!

[Dkg]

the ending was weak but it does leave the show open ended in case they do make the movie. Still though how can it just end so abruptly??

I know a LOT of people let out a collective "WTF??" at the end. still, awesome series.

I wonder if they are planning on marketing the DVD series with the three alternative endings that Chase supposedly filmed???

No idea but I'd love to see an alternate ending to that.
Like Johny said, it ended on so many what if's .

[Perverted Monk]

I understand the element of mystery, but I can't help but feel that this is what Chase thinks of his fans:

[stillies77]

it was like someone jerked us off then right before we were gonna cum they went NAH! and left the room.

or to be more family freindly...

Like someone told us a joke then right before the punchline they left the room.

[chefmike]

I thought that Paulie Walnuts performance was top-notch, he has proven himself to be a talented and comedic character actor..and he's the only bona fide wiseguy in the cast! You can find part of his "jacket" in thesmokinggun.com's archives, BTW.

I

[mad4you]

He was killed....

in fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all

the ending was simple, he got killed, but let me explain in detail... There was 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill tony.....

the two black guys, they were paid before to kill tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons,

also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down....

Heres where the genius comes in....

When tonys walking in the diner,you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking @ the booth hes gonna sit at...

then the camera switches back to tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking @ the door and looking @ the people come in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, Chimes, AJ walks in Chimes, this when Meadows parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant....

at this point the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the bathroom......

Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running in the diner....

the doors about to open, Tony looks up....

and No Chimes......................

No Music............

Everything just goes black...............

In one of the early episodes of the sopranos, tonys talking with bobby about what it must feel like to die..

Bobby says "at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just goes black"

part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when tonys about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black"

So in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed tony...

its the reason you don't hear, or see shit when he died.... it was from his perspective.... and everything went black, then the credits rolled.

[stillies77]

the guy in the members only jacket went into the bathroom the hillbilly trucker stayed in his booth.

[chefmike]

He was killed....

in fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all

the ending was simple, he got killed, but let me explain in detail... There was 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill tony.....

the two black guys, they were paid before to kill tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons,

also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down....

Heres where the genius comes in....

When tonys walking in the diner,you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking @ the booth hes gonna sit at...

then the camera switches back to tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking @ the door and looking @ the people come in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, Chimes, AJ walks in Chimes, this when Meadows parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant....

at this point the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the bathroom......

Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running in the diner....

the doors about to open, Tony looks up....

and No Chimes......................

No Music............

Everything just goes black...............

In one of the early episodes of the sopranos, tonys talking with bobby about what it must feel like to die..

Bobby says "at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just goes black"

part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when tonys about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black"

So in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed tony...

its the reason you don't hear, or see shit when he died.... it was from his perspective.... and everything went black, then the credits rolled.

Or Chase took the easy way out, and he may now be negotiating in regards to a movie sequel. :roll:

[mad4you]

True about the movie.... However it will be an HBO movie which is slated to begin filming in December

[whatislove]

two words...

intentional ambiguity.

[Quinn]

He was killed....

in fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all

the ending was simple, he got killed, but let me explain in detail... There was 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill tony.....

the two black guys, they were paid before to kill tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons,

also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down....

Heres where the genius comes in....

When tonys walking in the diner,you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking @ the booth hes gonna sit at...

then the camera switches back to tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking @ the door and looking @ the people come in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, Chimes, AJ walks in Chimes, this when Meadows parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant....

at this point the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the bathroom......

Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running in the diner....

the doors about to open, Tony looks up....

and No Chimes......................

No Music............

Everything just goes black...............

In one of the early episodes of the sopranos, tonys talking with bobby about what it must feel like to die..

Bobby says "at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just goes black"

part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when tonys about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black"

So in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed tony...

its the reason you don't hear, or see shit when he died.... it was from his perspective.... and everything went black, then the credits rolled.

Interesting argument. I think you've got it right. If so, this changes my perspective considerably. Well done.

-Quinn

[stillies77]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x1QwMzYU8w


watch it again

[chefmike]

A great op-ed:

Woke Up This Morning, and Didn't Get Myself A Gun. Day One.
Marvin Kitman

What, you didn't see the final scene last night? You thought your TV set was broken? You didn't pay your cable bill, or HBO lost the satellite connection? Maybe they ran out of time? The hour was up, and HBO had to start its new Johnny Rotten from Cincinnati show?

This is what you actually missed in the final scene, according to my usually reliably informed sources:

The family is eating. What else? The Sopranos should have been on the Food Channel, if you ask me.

A guy gets up from his stool at the counter in Hoesten's Luncheonette on Broad Street in Bloomfield, having finished his delicious Wet Walnut sundae. He starts to walk towards the Soprano family table. And hands Tony a subpoena.

The FBI has uncovered evidence that Tony was involved in a long cold case, the shooting of JR. In exchange for his cooperation, Tony enters the Witness Protection Program, and comes back as Paris Hilton where he will get to do his aria, "Mommy, it's not right." It is an offer Tony couldn't refuse.

Did you really think that after six seasons, a great creative genius like David Chase would end with a blackout? Silly you.

The ending Sunday night was considered great art in Los Angeles. It's technically known as "Sopranos interruptus."

While I was glad Tone, as we devotees of Da Sopranos called him, didn't get killed, what most of the TV Nation was expecting, and I was happy that T's loved ones survived, I thought the last episode was terrible. Not since Geraldo opened Al Capone's Vault in the 1980's reality TV classic had I been so disappointed. An example of promising them everything and giving them nothing, the final episode made me feels snookered and artistically betrayed.

There could have been all kinds of classical endings. Forget Roman mythology. Shakespeare. I'm talking about Twin Peaks. Even Dallas, Dynasty, Knots Landing. Chase chose instead "Hello Seinfeld," a finale about nothing.

They say he had nine endings in the can. Woke up yesterday morning and got himself an ending. I don't believe it. That was hype. I think what we saw is what we got.

At least it wasn't a reunion show like the two hour M*A*S*H. Bringing back a Big Pussy from the bottom of Raritan Bay and all those other corpses with missing body parts might have been hard to take.

This was supposed to be the season that would tie up all the loose strings from the five previous seasons. Instead it left even more wild cards. What was that business with the cat staring at the picture? Was it a reincarnation of Christopher or was she Adriana? And what was that nonsense about Meadow having trouble double-parking her car?

There are two ways to look at what we didn't see from David Chase Sunday night. The man is a genius, the greatest storyteller since Aaron Spelling. Or he is a hoaxter?

Count me in the latter group. This ending was his idea of a joke. He was making fun of the audience who had gotten so hooked on a story that we treated the characters as real people. We were members of the family, even though we weren't Italian-Americans. It showed his contempt for the folks at home. He was casting pearls before the swine.

I'm of two minds about his motives.

First, Chase was afraid to tell us what he thought all of this meant. Usually, it's called a moral. Did the means justify the ends? Was Chase's moral the public likes sex and violence? Whatever. The black screen could be Chase's bid to become the Jean Paul Sartre of TV soap opera. There was nothing to it all, as existentialism argued. Life was zilch, bubkus.

To be fair, the moral highlight of the series already occurred in the penultimate episode when Tony decried the lack of morality in society when Dr. Melfi dropped him as a patient.

It could also be that he didn't know what it all meant. Going to black was his way of pleading intellectual bankruptcy. Or he didn't remember. Six years was a long time of stringing us a long.

On the positive side, there could have been an ulterior motive for ending the show with a blank screen. In Hollywood, it's called keeping your options open. By not killing Tony, it will be easier to come back for yet one more season to tie up loose ends -- like telling us whatever happened to the Russian in the Pine Barrens? -- before segueing into Da Sopranos: da Movie.

Not that death is final in TV. Many characters in TV rise from the dead.

For one thing there is the miracle cure: the dream. If Tony had the misfortune of being prematurely dead in the final episode, it could be argued it was all a bad dream, caused by Tony's finishing off the last of the lasagna in the fridge after midnight.

In the business of commercial TV, it's all about $$$$$. The curse of money makes even artistic giants do strange things in Hollywood.

Few people realize that the creator of this smash HBO series is an Italian-American who changed his name. Before he changed it to Chase, my sources tell me, he was David Banco di Napoli.

Anyway, it ain't over until the fat Soprano sings.

[Mr_Choc69]

He was killed....

in fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all

the ending was simple, he got killed, but let me explain in detail... There was 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill tony.....

the two black guys, they were paid before to kill tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons,

also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down....

Heres where the genius comes in....

When tonys walking in the diner,you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking @ the booth hes gonna sit at...

then the camera switches back to tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking @ the door and looking @ the people come in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, Chimes, AJ walks in Chimes, this when Meadows parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant....

at this point the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the bathroom......

Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running in the diner....

the doors about to open, Tony looks up....

and No Chimes......................

No Music............

Everything just goes black...............

In one of the early episodes of the sopranos, tonys talking with bobby about what it must feel like to die..

Bobby says "at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just goes black"

part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when tonys about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black"

So in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed tony...

its the reason you don't hear, or see shit when he died.... it was from his perspective.... and everything went black, then the credits rolled.

This is the best explanation of the final episode. And I must say after going back and watching a few episodes - it is most likely correct. Tony Died.

[BlackAdder]

I just watched it again and i think your right...I think meadow coming in through the front distracts him and the guy in the bathroom pops him from the side....You never hear the door open from the bathroom but theres so much background noise anyway..... Plus theres the song, the surreal feeling around the table, the focus on the trucker, the two blacks guys, and the guy who goes into the bathroom. Those arent chimes by the way...they are the foods ready bell used by the cook...Theres one for each of Tonys family members....and the black out does make sense if you recall Bobbys and Tonys conversation on the lake.

Shame...i wouldnt think he would be taken out so easily, especially since hes aware of the guy going to the bathroom...when he goes by the table he does the side glance...real quick, but you can notice it.


Sigh, no more chance of Jamie Lynne DiScala getting butt naked:( She was a chunker there for a few seasons but grew up nicely:)

[chefmike]

Even when she was a bit chubby she was still a smokin little hottie, IMO...

[chefmike]

As far as the clues in the diner go, they could still be intentionally misleading. No one will really know for sure unless Chase does in fact do a Sopranos film.

I heard something else interesting from a supposed Sopranos insider on the tube. He said that there were so many inquiries about the Pine Barrens episode(with the botched hit on the Russian) that they actually included something about it in this season, but it ended up being cut.

[NYCe]

David Chase speaks!
Posted by Alan Sepinwall June 11, 2007 10:50PM
Categories: The Sopranos

What do you do when your TV world ends? You go to dinner, then keep quiet. Sunday night, "Sopranos" creator David Chase took his wife out for dinner in France, where he's fled to avoid "all the Monday morning quarterbacking" about the show's finale. After this exclusive interview, agreed to well before the season began, he intends to go into radio silence, letting the work -- especially the controversial final scene -- speak for itself.

"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," he says of the final scene.

"No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God," he adds. "We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people's minds, or thinking, 'Wow, this'll (tick) them off.' People get the impression that you're trying to (mess) with them and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them."

In that scene, mob boss Tony Soprano waited at a Bloomfield ice cream parlor for his family to arrive, one by one. What was a seemingly benign family outing was shot and cut as the preamble to a tragedy, with Tony suspiciously eyeing one patron after another, the camera dwelling a little too long on Meadow's parallel parking and a man in a Members Only jacket's walk to the men's room. Just as the tension had been ratched up to unbearable levels, the series cut to black in mid-scene (and mid song) with no resolution.

"Anybody who wants to watch it, it's all there," says Chase, 61, who based the series in general (and Tony's relationship with mother Livia specifically) on his North Caldwell childhood.

Some fans have already assumed that the ambiguous ending was Chase setting up the oft-rumored "Sopranos" movie, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards.

"I don't think about (a movie) much," he says. "I never say never. An idea could pop into my head where I would go, 'Wow, that would make a great movie,' but I doubt it.

"I'm not being coy," he adds. "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. But I think we've kind of said it and done it."

Another problem: over the last season, Chase killed so many key characters. He's toyed with the idea of "going back to a day in 2006 that you didn't see, but then (Tony's children) would be older than they were then and you would know that Tony doesn't get killed. It's got problems."

(Earlier in the interview, he notes that his favorite part of the show was often the characters telling stories about the good ol' days of Tony's parents. Just a guess, but if Chase ever does a movie spin-off, it'll be set in Newark in the '60s.)

Since Chase is declining to offer his interpretation of the final scene, let me present two more of my own, which came to me with a good night's sleep and a lot of helpful reader e-mails:

Theory No. 1 (and the one I prefer): Chase is using the final scene to place the viewer into Tony's mindset. This is how he sees the world: every open door, every person walking past him could be coming to kill him, or arrest him, or otherwise harm him or his family. This is his life, even though the paranoia's rarely justified. We end without knowing what Tony's looking at because he never knows what's coming next.

Theory No. 2: In the scene on the boat in "Soprano Home Movies," repeated again last week, Bobby Bacala suggests that when you get killed, you don't see it coming. Certainly, our man in the Members Only jacket could have gone to the men's room to prepare for killing Tony (shades of the first "Godfather"), and the picture and sound cut out because Tony's life just did. (Or because we, as viewers, got whacked from our life with the show.)

Meanwhile, remember that 21-month hiatus between Seasons Five and Six? That was Chase thinking up the ending. HBO chairman Chris Albrecht came to him after Season Five and suggested thinking up a conclusion to the series; Chase agreed, on the condition that he get "a long break" to decide on an ending.

Originally, that ending was supposed to occur last year, but midway through production, the number of episodes was increased, and Chase stretched out certain plot elements while saving the major climaxes for this final batch of 9.

"If this had been one season, the Vito storyline would not have been so important," he says.

Much of this final season has featured Tony bullying, killing or otherwise alienating the members of his inner circle. After all those years viewing him as "the sympathetic mob boss," were we supposed to, like his therapist Dr. Melfi, finally wake up and smell the sociopath?

"From my perspective, there's nothing different about Tony in this season than there ever was," insists Chase. "To me, that's Tony."

Chase has had an ambivalent relationship with his fans, particularly the bloodthirsty whacking crowd who seemed to tune in only for the chance to see someone's head get blown off (or run over by an SUV). So was he reluctant to fill last week's penultimate episode, "The Blue Comet," with so many vivid death scenes?

"I'm the Number One fan of gangster movies," he says. "Martin Scorsese has no greater devotee than me. Like everyone else, I get off partly on the betrayals, the retributions, the swift justice. But what you come to realize when you do a series is you could be killing straw men all day long. Those murders only have any meaning when you've invested story in them. Otherwise, you might as well watch 'Cleaver.'"

One detail about the final scene that he'll discuss, however tentatively: the selection of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" as the song on the jukebox.

"It didn't take much time at all to pick it, but there was a lot of conversation after the fact. I did something I'd never done before: in the location van, with the crew, I was saying, 'What do you think?' When I said, 'Don't Stop Believin',' people went, 'What? Oh my god!' I said, 'I know, I know, just give a listen,' and little by little, people started coming around."

Whether viewers will have a similar time-delayed reaction to the finale as a whole, Chase doesn't know. ("I hear some people were very angry, and others were not, which is what I expected.") He's relaxing in France, then he'll try to make movies.

"It's been the greatest career experience of my life," he says. "There's nothing more in TV that I could say or would want to say."

Here's Chase on some other points about the finale and the season:

-After all the speculation that Agent Harris might turn Tony, instead we saw that Harris had turned, passing along info on Phil's whereabouts and cheering, "We're going to win this thing!" when learning of Phil's demise.

"This is based on an actual case of an FBI agent who got a little bit too partisan and excited during the Colombo wars of the '70s," says Chase of the story of Lindley DeVecchio, who supplied Harris' line.

-Speaking of Harris, Chase had no problem with never revealing what -- if anything -- terror suspects Muhammed and Ahmed were up to.

"This, to me, feels very real," he says. "The majority of these suspects, it's very hard for anybody to know what these people are doing. I don't even think Harris might know where they are. That was sort of the point of it: who knows if they are terrorists or if they're innocent pistachio salesmen? That's the fear that we are living with now."

Also, the apocryphal story -- repeated by me, unfortunately -- that Fox, when "Sopranos" was in development there, wanted Chase to have Tony help the FBI catch terrorists, wasn't true.

"What I said was, if I had done it at Fox, Tony would have been a gangster by day and helping the FBI by night, but we weren't there long enough for anyone to make that suggestion."

-I spent the last couple of weeks wrapping my brain around a theory supplied by reader Sam Lorber (and his daughter Emily) that the nine episodes of this season were each supposed to represent one of the nine circles of Hell from Dante's "The Divine Comedy." Told of the theory, Chase laughed and said, "No."

-Since Butchie was introduced as a guy who was pushing Phil to take out Tony, why did he turn on Phil and negotiate peace with Tony?

"I think Butch was an intelligent guy, he began to see that there was no need for it, that Phil's feelings were all caught up in what was esentially a convoluted personal grudge."

-Not from Chase, but I feel the need to debunk the e-mail that's making the rounds about all the Holsten's patrons being characters from earlier in the series. The actor playing Member's Only guy had never been on the show before, Tony killed at least, one if not both of his carjackers, and there are about 17 other things wrong with this popular but incorrect theory.

[chefmike]

Fascinating stuff, I'll have to pass it on to friends who are Sopranos fans.

[Kramer]

you misunderstood me when I said "it's just not done.............." I meant there was no way any producer for any network would pull out a caucasian male getting killed by a couple of Black males as a season finale, that's just not done, not if that producer ever wants to produce again, lol


Hey JWBL why do you say that cant be done?? Im confused?

[Kramer]

Also did anyone notice when T was flipping through the songs to select that the flip side of his song was titled: ANYWAY YOU WANT IT?

To me thats the message, the ending is anyway you want it. There is no proof a hitman was even in the diner, therefore no hit.

[Kramer]

Also the guy in the members only jacket IS NOT Phils nephew! He never appeared in any earlier episodes. I'll look for the link. His name is Paolo something or other.

Sorry for blowing that long winded theory.

[Boldlygonedownbefore]

The only thing I really know is that whenever I eat an onion ring, I'll hear Journey going off in my head.

[ezed]

Okay, who cares. On to Rescue Me.

[chefmike]

"I wouldn't kick her out of bed for purging cookies..."

I just watched it again...I always thought that Journey sucked(other than the 'Evolution' album), but I can't get that friggin song out of my head...

[BlackAdder]

Man, David Chase sure isnt making friends with that interview lol......hopefully hes counting his money cause the fans hate him.

[JohnnyWalkerBlackLabel]

He was killed....

in fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all

the ending was simple, he got killed, but let me explain in detail... There was 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill tony.....

the two black guys, they were paid before to kill tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons,

also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down....

Heres where the genius comes in....

When tonys walking in the diner,you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking @ the booth hes gonna sit at...

then the camera switches back to tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking @ the door and looking @ the people come in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, Chimes, AJ walks in Chimes, this when Meadows parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant....

at this point the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the bathroom......

Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running in the diner....

the doors about to open, Tony looks up....

and No Chimes......................

No Music............

Everything just goes black...............

In one of the early episodes of the sopranos, tonys talking with bobby about what it must feel like to die..

Bobby says "at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just goes black"

part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when tonys about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black"

So in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed tony...

its the reason you don't hear, or see shit when he died.... it was from his perspective.... and everything went black, then the credits rolled.

I stopped reading this thread a while ago, and I found it interesting that I walked into my car stereo shop to talk to the owner about the final episode and how he mentioned one of his workers read an article based on it, which word for word was exactly what mad wrote as a reply, so I'd like to know before I go back to the shop tomorrow and get the article info for sure, where it was originally published so I can read it for myself...........

mod note: never mind I found it

http://www.theworldsbestever.com/sopranos.jpg
So the last laugh is on the critic, after reading all the headlines about how the last episode was horrible. I just recieved this forwarded email, that explains it all.

He was killed....
in fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all the ending was simple, he got killed, but let me tell yall why and explain in detail... There was 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill tony.....

the two black guys, they were paid before to kill tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons, also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down....

heres where the genius comes in....

When tonys walking in the diner,you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking @ the booth he's gonna sit at...then the camera switches back to tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking @ the door and looking @ the people come in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, Chimes, AJ walks in Chimes, this when Meadows parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant....at this point the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the bathroom......Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running in the diner....
the doors about to open,

Tony looks up....
and No Chimes......................
No Music............
Everything just goes black...............

In one of the early episodes of the sopranos, tonys talking with bobby about what it must feel like to die..Bobby says "at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just goes black" part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when tonys about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black" so in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed tony...its the reason you aint hear, or see sh*t when he died.... it was from his perspective.... and everything went black, then the credits rolled.
:

* tv

Posted by: texas reason on June 11, 2007 5:13 PM |

responses to that post

Posted by: Gin Dinner:

Your facts are wrong. The guy at the bar stool was not wearing a trucker hat. The guy in the booth was wearing the trucker hat and he never got up during the entire scene. However, the guy in the trucker hat strikingly resembles the guy who lost his recreation store to Tony as a result of his gambling debt (son was friends with Meadow, resulting in Meadow getting the son's car). As for the man at the bar-stool, Tony gets a very good look at his face as he is walking into the bathroom and would surely notice if this was Nikki Leotardo. Yet Tony doesn't think anything of his presence, inferring that it is not. As for the two black guys, Tony was able to kill one of them during their attack against him in Season 1. Finally, when "Meadow" enters the diner, there is a chime.

Posted by: Gin Dinner | June 12, 2007 12:53 AM

Posted by: Dann:

None of those identities are accurate. First off, the guy at the counter can't be Nikki Leotardo, because he's never been on the show before:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-06092007-1360360.html

The two black guys had never been on the show before either. Same for the boy scouts and the trucker in the booth.

However, the guy at the bar who went to the bathroom was credited as "Man in Members Only Jacket." The title of the episode where Junior shot Tony is "Members Only" ...

Posted by: Dann | June 12, 2007 9:46 AM

Posted by: ScottyQ:

First - Nikki Leotardo... I don't recall the episode... and isn't Nikki the female spelling. A good italian boy would be Nicky...

And one of the two blacks was later tracked down and killed by Tony...

Next - the Members Only episode has the "Tony gets shot" scene which could be telling... However, the Members is in reference to Eugene Pontecorvo (commits suicide) who wears a "Members Only". So I think the connection, overall is weak.

Now here is another "possible" connection... The "Members Only" episode opens with a little William Boroughs - "The ancient Egyptians postulated seven souls.Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death."

Ahhh but we can look for as many connections as there are words in the scripts... only Chase knows for sure.

Posted by: ScottyQ | June 12, 2007 11:14 AM

[tonkatoy]

I read that someplace else also JWBL. I was going to say something then I thought, nah. Internet plagiarism, who would have thought.

[dc_guy_75]

Anyways, a week has gone past and I went from feeling angry about the ending to thinking it was awesome.

With more thought, it becomes obvious Tony died. Bacala's previous conversations, "Member's Only" jacket, ...and most importantly, Chase's post-commentaries in the Star-Ledger.

The final scene was based on an American "Last Supper". Tony telling Carmella Carlo's gonna testify, Pauly and the Virgin Mary, Silvio getting his feet washed, etc...

I get more impressed with the ending the more I think about it...

[PatrickFromNYC]

I watched the episode again last night and my opinion changed also. I think it was a great ending and a well done episode.

There was an obvious reason why Chase CUT to black. I don`t think a show or movie has ever used that sudden effect. Tony died !!

I actually read inaccurate reviews by newspaper reporters stating they "faded" to black. The show didn`t fade to black it CUT to black. The reason alot of people (including myself) thought their cable went out was because you NEVER see an effect like that. Chase didn't do that for no reason.

Anyway, after watching it again without the edge of your seat tension, I truely thought it was a classic end to a classic show.

[dc_guy_75]

I watched the episode again last night and my opinion changed also. I think it was a great ending and a well done episode.

There was an obvious reason why Chase CUT to black. I don`t think a show or movie has ever used that sudden effect. Tony died !!

I actually read inaccurate reviews by newspaper reporters stating they "faded" to black. The show didn`t fade to black it CUT to black. The reason alot of people (including myself) thought their cable went out was because you NEVER see an effect like that. Chase didn't do that for no reason.

Anyway, after watching it again without the edge of your seat tension, I truely thought it was a classic end to a classic show.

It also makes no sense to build up all that tension for "nothing".

Chase wrote and directed the episode, he's too smart to have it stupidly. While it could be considered an ambiguous ending, but it really wasn't.

[Tanuki]

I have it figured out..


Tony was not whacked. YOU/WE WERE WHACKED.

I have not even read this thread, because I have just been thinking about the ending.

By the way,, I am Italian, I am from Northern NJ.

If your the kind of person that needs to think Tony was taken out, then you can have that ending as well, but I DO NOT THINK THE ENDING WAS LEFT OPEN ENDED LIKE THAT FOR SUCH A SIMPLE CONCLUSION>>
Think about it.. I am right.



P.S
Is it possible to change ones username?? I think the japanese implication might have been a hasty misleading choice for me. At the time it seemed vaguely humorous to me.

[ezed]

Who gives a fuck about the ending? It's OVER. GET OVER IT! Now I can get back to doing movies, like...True Romance, and Get Shorty. And I'm sick of Carmella, and that whiny bitch AJ. And Paulie! He and his fucking premminsions! AND DOCTOR MALFEY! THAT SICK CUNT! You'd think she'd buy another suit.

Ahh, fuck ya I'm going to Hollywood. I never liked the Ba Da Bing. It smelled outside, and inside for that matter.

Tony Sopranno, (Dead and gone as far as your concerned.)

[PatrickFromNYC]

I have it figured out..


Tony was not whacked. YOU/WE WERE WHACKED.

I have not even read this thread, because I have just been thinking about the ending.

By the way,, I am Italian, I am from Northern NJ.

If your the kind of person that needs to think Tony was taken out, then you can have that ending as well, but I DO NOT THINK THE ENDING WAS LEFT OPEN ENDED LIKE THAT FOR SUCH A SIMPLE CONCLUSION>>
Think about it.. I am right.





P.S
Is it possible to change ones username?? I think the japanese implication might have been a hasty misleading choice for me. At the time it seemed vaguely humorous to me.


Your from North Jersey and Italian? I guess you know more of an expert then the thousands of critics who interupt that Tony is dead.

Thanks for your forgettable insight and enjoy living in New Jersey.

[stillies77]

who cares the show is over.