I am surprised to see that more people didn't come to the same conclusion I came to watching the final episode of The Sopranos -- Tony is dead. That's why there was a sharp cut at the end. There wasn't a fade to black, the music stopped, the pictures stopped, there was an instant sharp exit. That's how you die when you get shot in the back of the head.
Most people are claiming that the creator and writer of the show, David Chase wanted to leave an ambiguous ending because life doesn't have clear resolutions and endings (actually, most people don't even care about Chase's intentions, they're just pissed because they wanted a resolution). While I agree that Chase has been pushing that theme throughout the eight year run of the show, I think Chase gave you a very definitive ending here, though apparently not a clear one (at least not clear to a lot of the audience).
The Sopranos has been told from the perspective of Tony Soprano throughout. So, when he dies, the show ends. And his perspective didn't fade out, it ended very abruptly with a bullet to the back of the head. That's why the show ended so abruptly with a sharp cut to black.
There is no other explanation for why there was no fade out. Every other episode of The Sopranos has ended with music and a fade out. Chase could have easily achieved the ambiguity he wanted by fading out in a similar way to end this episode. He specifically did not make that choice.
Also, there is no other reason why they would have made such a big deal out of Meadow being late and having trouble parking. The implication is she is just about to miss or witness some very large event. Writers like Chase don't add elements like that to a script for no reason. Obviously, it had a purpose.
You could say that it was just to add tension to that scene and a lot of scenes with tension don't end in dramatic action on The Sopranos. That would be a fair point if the scene had ended like all others on the show. But it didn't. It ended abruptly. Chase isn't making a mistake there, he's sending what I thought was a clear signal. Lights out on Tony Soprano.
Steve Van Zandt had also said in the past that he couldn't see how a movie could be made given how things ended on the show. I put less stock in this because it is hearsay from one of the actors on the show, not the writer. And he might have been referring to something else, like his role in the movie since his character was incapacitated at the end.
If I am right and Tony is dead, then I think it was a brilliant ending. I would say it was the second best ending of a series and the second best perspective on death I've seen on television (the Six Feet Under finale took first prize honors on both those counts).
Death often doesn't come to you in a haze as a bed of soft music plays underneath. Sometimes, it comes suddenly and without warning. You don't get a chance to respond. You don't get a shot at an epilogue or analysis. You're done. Lights out. Blank screen.
I think Chase made a unique, interesting and ultimately brilliant choice. I think Tony Soprano is dead, and I am not full of remorse. It happened in exactly the way it would in real life -- in a way you wouldn't expect and in the blink of an eye.
Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 2)
1. Chase didn't kill Tony, then. You did. Which is exactly what he wanted, an open-ended, choose your own ending. He certainly had to cut to black, otherwise you wouldn't have been guessing, and he wanted you guessing. He left the door open because he's like most of us, didn't want to let go of the Sopranos, and if he needs to, he can go back and start where he left off. I think it's pointless to look at it in any other way than an ambiguous ending to an ambiguous character. I'd like to think Tony had an anxiety attack. Opening scene of next episode is Meadow running in the diner to see her Dad passed out on the floor and screaming, because she thinks he's been whacked. Anyway, chase certainly left us something to talk about
younggun at 9:59PM on Jun 24th 2007
2. Tony didn't get whacked, you did. It was your vision that blacked out. This show has never been in the first person, Tony's view.
Mel at 1:50PM on Jun 11th 2007
3. Tony is in fact dead. If you watch the episode, in which Tony and Bobby are fishing there is a conversation. Bobby asks Tony "What he thinks it might be like to get hit". Tony responds, "The lights go out and the music stops". Exactly what happened at the end of the finale.
Mike Mattivi at 3:36PM on Jun 11th 2007
4. +1
s4awd at 4:22PM on Jun 11th 2007
5. I thought it was a great ending,because they can always bring it back. Big bucks talk. I'm all for it.
jaynell meszaros at 12:17AM on Jun 14th 2007
6. Tony lives. David Chase is a brilliant writer and director. He gave you exactly what you needed by giving you a blank screen - your imagination. True fans get it. Chase is a better writer than you could ever hope to be, it would seem. For not being able to figure out the ending, and trying to capitalize on his genius by writing the exact opposite headline from the truth, is just pathetic. Shame on you.
streamingviolet at 8:51PM on Jun 11th 2007
7. I would pick option 3B in your 4 question poll.
Yes, Chase kept the ending deliberately ambigious and open ended... not since that's his theme, but because a year or two down the line, James Gandolfini might reconsider the role of Tony Soprano, or someone will throw more money at him than he can refuse. If Chase had ended it with Tony's death - no future possibilties.
I guarentee, if they're willing to match a number Gandolfini comes up with, it was all misdirection and Tony's fine.
Piss weak, all in all.
UMCorian at 10:29PM on Jun 11th 2007
8. well the thing with the show is WHO really knows.. till next week ? And that is not going to happen. So ONLY Chase knows, and only he is entitled to know, its his show. I cannot believe these so called Fans of this show. We had SIX seasons of the best television ever !!! EIGHTY episodes !!! focus on that. I thought the episode itself was great, I was on pins and needles, I was riveted to the TV... ...kept glancing at the clock...phones were all turned off..NOBODY was permitted to speak !!! , I think my house could have blown up and you would have had to drag me kicking and screaming and pulling my TV behind me. And why would anyone expect the loose ends to be all tied up for a big exit? Life is never like that and this show managed to capture that element in every other way..why not with this particular show? The first season ended very similar to this one.. Tony, Carmella, Meadow and AJ, were at Artie's restaurant eating, EXACTLY the same thing... everyone was expecting something to happen, but it didn't. I too remember Bobby and Tony having the conversation about getting whacked.. and it very well could be that Tony was killed. AND that leads me to wonder WHO ? Who was the last person that walked in ?? MEADOW...OMG I really don't want to think about that one..could you imagine ? So to those fans who didn't think they got their surprise ending, at approximately 9:50 p.m., June 10, 2007, millions of Americans thought their cable had went out... that's good stuff !!! Hats off to Chase.. From a devoted and forever grateful Soprano fan.
:) jj
jj at 2:40AM on Jun 12th 2007
9. I agree with you 100%. It was truly 'lights out' for Tony Soprano. Ending a long running serial is difficult and usually ackward and disappointing, but I think that this final episode was absolute genius. Every second of this show was poignant in some way. From Janice manipulating Uncle Jun' (who he mistook for her mother), to idealistic AJ being bought-off with a fast car and a sexy job. From Tony holding the hand of Sil (the only character who really knew who/what Tony was, and the only character who was entirely trustworthy), to Tony's self-absorbed sidetrack with AJ's therapist (validating Dr. Melphi's final conclusions about him). I loved how Christopher's memory was brought back through the cat, and the last example of classic dark Soprano's humor, in the fate of Phil Leotardo's head. And of course there was much much more. I am interested by the observation in Comment #3, will be going back and watching that episode as soon as I can. Which is how Tony Soprano will really go on forever. After getting over horror of Tony's family as his 'lights went out,' (which I am only allowed to imagine), I can go back to the beginning of Season One, and enjoy seven years of the Sopranos all over again.
Elizabeth at 2:51PM on Jun 12th 2007
10. Tony eliminated the threat to his life with help from the FBI, the garage sit-down and whacking Phil in a pre-emptive strike. Therefore, it makes sense to believe that the three mysterious strangers who walked into the diner were FBI watching Tony's back. His FBI friend was overjoyed to learn that Phil had been "popped." This is only my personal spin on the last episode. David Chase left so many loose ends that it forced me to consider all possibilities. That was his challenge to the television audience.
AMBROSINO SAN RAMON at 4:13PM on Jun 12th 2007
11. those who say tony is dead b/c once he dies the show is over- however when he was in his coma we still saw the show from the other characters perspective- plus if he was whacked- then by whom-ny ok ed the hit on phil- any other speculation would be a weak argument w/o chase showing that person coming in then fading the scene-
us getting whacked is more likely where chase is taking us- so it's true when you die the lights and the music go out- for us-
or chase fancies himself an artist who leaves a subject somewhat unfinished
who knows - but he is smart enough not to kill a sacred cow- if he needs $$$ in the future
jacade at 11:03PM on Jun 12th 2007
12. No one had a motive to kill Tony, that doesn't make sense. Plus we are looking at Tony's face in the final moment which means its not first person which I think disproves the fact that he's been shot in the back of the head and its lights out for him cause if that were so it would be in first person.
Michelle at 12:09AM on Jun 13th 2007
13. Get over it! Tony is dead....
http://www.tonyisdead.com
Morty Shank at 12:52PM on Jun 13th 2007
14. Tony lives. "The Sopranos" has never gone in for ambiguity. Why start now?
Chase's ending is 1) a way to trick us into thinking we're MISSING the long-anticipated ending (many of us are looking at our watches, knowing the end is near) because of technical difficulties, and 2) a creative way of showing that this is indeed the end, sudden and abrupt.
The most persuasive argument for Tony being whacked is him telling Bobby that death is "the lights go out and the music stops." But that's doubtful--there must be some sensation, a red flash, something. Death isn't like flipping a switch.
Bobby, Christopher, and Phil Leotardo are dead, and Paulie soon will be if that cat that stares at Christopher's photo and is attracted to Paulie means anything. But Tony lives.
Gary Wisby at 7:38PM on Jun 13th 2007
15. I just came across this article that was given by Chase on June 12, 2007. This seems to answer many of the questions out there :)
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"(AP) Sopranos Creator: Movie No Sure Thing"
NEWARK, N.J.
"Sopranos" fans who thought the series' open-ended conclusion was a setup for a movie may be in for disappointment: creator David Chase says it isn't so.
Chase went to France before the airing of the much-debated finale of the HBO series because he wanted to avoid what he called "all the Monday morning quarterbacking." But like a true New Jersey loyalist, he granted one interview to The Star-Ledger of Newark, which posted his comment early Tuesday on its Web site.
"I don't think about (a movie) much," he told the paper. "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 added. "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."
Chase said he would leave it to fans to interpret the show's last scene for themselves. It featured the members of the Soprano family arriving for dinner as Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" plays. Others in the restaurant include a man in a Member's Only jacket who goes to the bathroom, which some fans have interpreted as a nod to the scene in "The Godfather" in which Michael Corleone retrieves a gun from thebathroom before a shooting.
As the music and tension build, the screen suddenly goes silent and dark.
"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," said Chase, 61, who grew up in North Caldwell.
"People get the impression that you're trying to (mess) with them, and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them," he said. "Anybody who wants to watch it, it's all there."
Another problem with a movie is that so many characters died in the last season. Chase said he has considered "going back to a day in 2006 that you didn't see, but then (Tony's children) would be older than they were then andyou would know that Tony doesn't get killed. It's got problems."
Chase also elaborated on how he decided to make the Journey classic the last music played on the series.
"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."
jj at 12:12AM on Jun 14th 2007