Sopranos Ending Explained

[Ducky Momo]

I recently finished the Sopranos and went around look for an explanation of the end. This one was by far the best and the one I ended up agreeing with. It's insanely long, but it's so worth reading.

I decided to copy it over, since it got to hard for me to read on the white background.

masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/

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Now revised and expanded including a very revealing radio interview with David Chase in April of 2008!
INTRODUCTION:

“If you look at the final episode really carefully, it’s all there.”* These are David Chase’s words regarding the finale of the Sopranos. He is right, it is “all there”. This is the definitive explanation of why Tony died in Holsten’s in the final scene of The Sopranos. The following is based on a thorough analysis of the final season of the show and will clear up one of the most misunderstood endings in film or television history. Chase took almost 2 years to construct the final season of the show after the fifth season ended in June of 2004. The ending was orchestrated years in advance and is the culmination of an artist in complete control of his vision. Part 1 will show how Chase directed, edited and scored the final scene of the Sopranos to lead to the interpretation that Tony was shot in the head in Holsten’s and how this ties into the “never hear it happen” concept that Chase hammered into the viewer before the show’s final scene. This explanation will be supported by words from David Chase himself, including a very revealing, largely unknown, radio interview of Chase in April of 2008. Part I will also discuss (and debunk) the other theories about the end including the “Tony always looking over his shoulder” interpretation. Part II will concentrate on what Tony’s death means and how his death was thematically constructed throughout the final season. Part III will focus on the use of symbolism in Holsten’s. Part IV will focus on The Godfather influence on the final season and Tony’s death. Part V will focus on how the final episode and final scene are linked to America’s war on terrorism. Part VI will concentrate on the “fun stuff” created by Chase and his creative team to foreshadow Tony’s death. Part VII will discuss the possible inspiration of two films on the ending of “The Sopranos”. Part VIII will speculate as to who may have killed Tony. Part IX will discuss Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 influence on the POV pattern and the final scene. Some of these topics will overlap but the ultimate conclusion is the same, Tony’s death is the only ending that makes sense.

*Note: Chase’s original quote to the NJ Star Ledger the day after the finale aired is “Anybody who wants to watch it, it’s all there”. Chase’s subsequent quote regarding the finale “If you look at the final episode really carefully, it’s all there” was published in a UK newspaper on September 9, 2007 as the final episodes were set to air in the UK. The modified quote strongly suggests Tony’s death since there is essentially no reason to look at the final scene “really carefully” if Tony lived as he is clearly alive the last time we see him.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

Part I: How David Chase killed Tony Soprano: A look at the directing and editing in the final scene and the “Never hear it Happen” concept laid out by David Chase. Plus a closer look at why the other theories about the end just don’t hold up.

Part II: What does Tony’s death mean? How the themes of the final season and all 86 hours of the show lead to a family dinner in a small diner in New Jersey.

Part III: The Symbology of Holsten’s.
Part IV: The final season and “The Godfather”.

Part V: How 9/11, terrorism and the U.S. war in Iraq unlock the keys to the final scene in Holsten’s.

Part VI: Miscellaneous “Fun Stuff” that could only be created by David Chase.

Part VII: “The Public Enemy” and “Goodfellas” influence on the end of The Sopranos.

Part VIII: Who Killed Tony?

Part IX: Kubrick’s 2001 influence on the POV pattern and the final scene.

PART I: How David Chase killed Tony Soprano: A look at the directing and editing in the final scene and the “Never hear it Happen” concept laid out by David Chase. Plus a closer look at why the other theories about the end just don’t hold up.

I. THE FINAL SCENE IN HOLSTEN’S IN “MADE IN AMERICA”:

Mr. Chase, through the use of certain shots and edits creates a pattern to show us when we are seeing things from Tony’s perspective. Here is a basic definition (from Wikipedia) of establishing a Point of View shot (POV):
“A point of view shot (also known as POV shot or a subjective camera) is a short film scene that shows what a character (the subject) is looking at (represented through the camera). It is usually established by being positioned between a shot of a character looking at something, and a shot showing the character’s reaction (see shot reverse shot)”

Chase uses this exact traditional way of establishing a POV shot to create the pattern as discussed above (Character looking at something/cut to a shot of what the character is looking at from the character’s POV/cut back to a shot of the character, usually for the reaction). According to this pattern, the last “shot” of the series (10 seconds of black and silence) is from Tony’s POV. The implication being that Tony sees “blackness” and “nothingness”. Tony is dead. So how exactly does Chase do it?

A: Tony walks into Holsten’s. We hear a bell ring. The door of Holsten’s has a bell that rings every time someone enters the restaurant. We start with a straight-ahead full shot of Tony looking at something in the diner. We then cut to a clear Tony point-of-view shot (hereafter Tony’s POV) establishing the geography of Holsten’s. Tony sees the whole diner which consists of mostly booths and a counter to his left with stools. We then cut back to the prior angle but Tony’s face is shown in close up (still looking straight ahead). We then cut to the Tony POV shot of the inside of the diner as we just saw previously except Tony is now sitting down at one of the tables in the middle of the frame. This awkward series of edits and cuts ties our POV with Tony’s because the viewer now gets the same POV shot that Tony just had previously. We now see exactly what Tony sees. This readies the viewer that they will be seeing certain things from Tony’s POV. It also shows us that Tony’s POV will be straight to the door (this will be critical).






B:THE PATTERN THEN BEGINS:

(1) Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 1-2 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV. It is a tall woman with dark hair who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

Tony hears the bell, looks up and sees…

(2) Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 2-3 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV (same shot as (1)) It is an older man wearing a “USA” cap who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

Tony hears the bell ring, looks up and sees…

(3) Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 1-2 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV (same shot as (1) and (2)) It is Carmela who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

Tony hears the bell, looks up and sees…

(4) Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 1-2 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV (same shot as (1), (2) and (3)). It is “Man in Member‘s Only Jacket” (hereafter “MOG”) followed by AJ who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

Tony hears the bell, looks up and sees…

(5) Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 2 seconds). According to the pattern, we should then see who is coming into the diner from Tony’s POV (this should be Meadow as we see her about to enter the diner a few seconds before the bell rings). Instead, the screen cuts abruptly to black mid-scene (at the exact spot where we should see Meadow from Tony’s POV) and the audio cuts off. All the viewer sees is “blackness” where Tony’s POV should be. This is Tony’s POV because he is dead. We no longer hear Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” because Tony no longer hears it. If this was a normal ending we would see a fade to black followed immediately by the credits and we would probably still hear the music. Instead, the blackness and silence lingers for 10 seconds before we see the credits. This emphasizes the blackness, nothingness and eternal nature of death. The 10 seconds of silent darkness is a scene unto itself-as significant as any image or line of dialogue. Chase originally wanted no credits at all and the blackness to last all the way to the HBO logo (this was revealed by David Chase in the Ultimate Sopranos HBO book released in October of 2007). This would further emphasize the eternal nature of death. Tony is dead. He was shot from behind in the right side of his head. How do we know this?

Tony hears the bell, looks up and sees…

…Nothing, as Tony is killed in an instant

He was shot by MOG (Members Only Guy) as he exited the bathroom. Just before (5), MOG gets up and walks past Tony’s table. Tony gives him two looks and MOG eventually enters the bathroom. Chase uses a tracking shot to follow MOG and to make sure that we see MOG enter the bathroom. To further emphasize the shot’s importance, Chase continues the movement of the camera even after the bathroom is clearly seen (the bathroom moves from the corner of the frame to the left and consequently is more noticeable when the camera finally stops). This is only one of two tracking shots in the final scene (the other is when Tony enters Holsten’s) as all the other shots in the diner are static. Chase’s direction is clearly meant to convey the importance of MOG entering the bathroom. The purpose of the shot is to show that MOG will have a clear shot at Tony once he exits the bathroom. More importantly, the bathroom is behind Tony. Tony will not have a chance to react.

MOG is deliberately framed as a threat to Tony once he enters the diner and Chase goes out of his way to indicate that MOG is different from any of the other patrons in the diner. MOG is the only patron ever seen outside of the door of Holsten’s before the bell rings (we see him opening the door just before we cut to Tony and hear the bell ring). However, the pattern set out above in (1)-(5) is never disrupted because once the bell rings we then cut to Tony looking up and then the pattern continues accordingly. Chase also has MOG and AJ enter at almost exactly the same time (they almost touch). This may imply that MOG followed AJ to Holsten’s. Once MOG enters he seems to be looking straight to the back of Holsten’s (looking for Tony?). This seems strange in light of the fact that he immediately sits down at the counter to his left (which we would think he would have seen right away when he walked in). Once AJ sits down we then see MOG in the background sitting down at the counter. MOG is seen in “soft focus” in the background between AJ and Carmela. We then get a full shot of MOG apparently looking in the direction of Tony’s table. This is confirmed when we cut back to the shot of AJ and Carmela and we see MOG looking in their direction in the “soft focus” background shot between them. Later in the scene, we get a second full shot of MOG looking over at Tony’s table. Finally, we get a full shot of MOG getting up to go the bathroom. MOG is looking down as he gets up from the counter to avoid eye contact with Tony. He also walks awkwardly as his head looks to the left while his body seems to stay straight. He seems to be going out of his way to avoid eye contact with Tony. He is clearly not oblivious to the presence of Tony Soprano. Also note that none of the other patrons (including the man in the USA cap) are ever shown looking at Tony (more on this later). Chase makes it clear that we should be paying special attention to MOG over any of the other patrons. As discussed earlier, Chase has set up Tony’s easy kill from behind; furthermore, the shots establishing the geography of Holsten’s and the tracking shot of MOG walking towards the bathroom, logistically establish that MOG has an easy, unobstructed passage to exit Holsten’s after he shoots Tony.

Meadow’s problems parallel parking and being late for dinner also confirm MOG’s actions and Tony’s subsequent death. Practically, it creates suspense in the scene. However, it has much more meaning than we might initially think. If Meadow was on time then she would be sitting next to Tony in the aisle seat. In other words she would be obstructing MOG’s clear shot at Tony from outside the bathroom (Chase clearly shows this when MOG walks to the bathroom). Secondly, her lateness gives the excuse for Tony to look up at the door one last time which Chase needs to make the last shot of blackness from Tony’s POV(as explained earlier). It also serves the purpose of distracting Tony to give MOG an easier shot.








Mr. Chase covers all the angles and his POV pattern and Tony’s murder hold up under close scrutiny. There are other Tony POV shots in the scene. We see Tony POV shots of the songs on the jukebox, Tony POV shots over his shoulder when AJ talks in the frame (the point-of-view taken over the shoulder of a character (third person), who remains visible on the screen is another traditional POV shot in film).

Chase reinforces that we are seeing things from Tony’s POV by using separate POV shots of Carmela and AJ walking towards Tony’s table. Tony’s eyes follow them as they come toward him. Carmela walks screen left as she enters from the front door and, in Tony’s second POV shot of Carmela, is shot at an angle illustrating Tony looking at her slightly to his left as she walks past the desserts. The second Tony POV shot of AJ has him already much closer to Tony’s table at an angle illustrating Tony looking at him to his right. Since we know Tony’s straight ahead view is to the door, (established by the early “jump cut” when Tony walks into Holsten’s and the subsequent close up’s of Tony looking straight ahead when Tony hears the bell ring) the camera must move at an angle to illustrate that Tony continues to follow them as they approach him (Carmela and AJ can’t continue to walk straight towards Tony to reach him as they would have to walk directly through the tables in front of Tony). These shots occur after (4) and (5) respectively. However, they never disrupt the pattern set out above. What matters is that when Tony hears the bell ring, Chase always uses the traditional technique to establish the Tony POV shot. After Tony looks up at the door, we always cut to the same shot of someone entering in a clearly subjective “tunnel vision” (from a character’s eyes) shot. Also, POV shots are usually not 100% subjective (as clearly we would see some of the tables block Tony’s vision if they were). Here is another important point about POV shots (once again from Wikipedia):
“A POV shot need not be the strict point-of-view of an actual single character in a film. It makes little sense to say that a shot is “inherently” POV; it is the editing of the POV shot within a sequence of shots that determines POV”.

Chase also deliberately differentiates when we are not seeing things from Tony’s POV to reinforce when we are seeing things from Tony’s POV. The scene of the young black guys is not from Tony’s POV (and the door opening behind them is somebody exiting the diner) as Tony is shown looking down at his menu just before and just after the shot of the two black men looking at the desserts (the black men are also shown at a different angle than the normal Tony POV shot that we saw earlier). Chase also uses sound to tie our POV to Tony. Tony gives MOG two looks as he walks past Tony’s table. However, Tony returns his attention to his menu. The next scene is the black men looking at the desserts as it appears they just entered Holsten’s. They seem to have entered as MOG was walking past Tony’s table. This explains why Tony (nor we) did not hear the bell ring when they entered the diner as Tony had turned his attention to MOG. Also, Chase has a second shot of the teenaged couple. During this shot Chase pumps up the audio so we hear them laughing. At the exact moment they laugh, a muffled sound of what appears be a bell is heard. The very next shot is the second close up of MOG staring in Tony’s direction with the door closing in the background (which could confirm that the bell did ring). The next shot cuts to Tony looking down. Apparently, if the couple did not laugh, Tony (and us) would have heard the bell and looked up. Had Tony looked up at that moment, he would have seen MOG staring right at him, a delicious irony that could only be orchestrated by David Chase. It also illustrates how Tony is able to get hit. We only clearly hear the bell ring during the Tony POV pattern (besides when Tony walks into the diner himself). We do see two background shots of the door opening. However, they are never shown from Tony’s POV and only show patrons exiting Holsten’s. The first is when we see the door opening behind MOG as he stares at Tony for the second time (clearly not the standard Tony POV shot and, as explained previously, follows a second or two after the young couple laugh). The second shot is a patron, only slightly opening the door, (which may explain why the bell isn’t heard) exiting Holsten’s seen behind the black men (not a Tony POV shot as explained earlier in the paragraph). Also, we see Carmela and AJ looking down at their menus just before Tony looks up for the last time. This is Chase telling us that they had no chance to warn Tony when MOG comes out of the bathroom.
The very last shot of Carm and AJ, they’re looking down. No chance to warn Tony:

We then cut to Tony looking up (the bell is heard) for the last time:

[[[Wu: Had to change image, pretty much this however. ]]]
The closer look of the scene shows exactly how Tony is able to get hit and dispels the other most popular theory about the ending, that the scene represents Tony’s paranoia and how he will have to live the rest of his life. The scene actually suggests the exact opposite, that Tony is too relaxed and too comfortable. First, Tony takes a table in the middle of the restaurant, leaving his back exposed (which sets up “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” easy kill from behind). Tony looks up when the bell rings because he is expecting his family.Tony goes right back to the jukebox after the first women enters and the trucker in “USA” cap enters. In fact, trucker in “USA” cap lingers by the door (perhaps checking the desserts) and we cut back to Tony going back to the jukebox. The direction and editing clearly establish that most of the other full shots of the patrons are third-person shots and not meant to be seen by Tony. We get one full shot of “USA cap guy” stirring his coffee and reading his paper (he doesn’t exactly look dangerous or interested in Tony or anybody else in the diner). He is never shown looking in Tony’s direction and is never seen again after this shot. More importantly, Tony is never shown looking at him. The shot of “USA Cap Guy” stirring his coffee is directly in between shots of Tony looking down. Thus Tony cannot be “eyeing” him (further refuting the “Tony’s paranoid” theory). Tony is not “eyeing” the grey haired man with the boy scouts because they’re seen behind Tony’s left shoulder. Tony is never shown turning around to see them. The laughing teenage couple are in front of Tony to his left as they’re seen behind Carmela’s right shoulder. They’re never shown looking at Tony or vice versa. Besides, the grey haired man with the boy scouts and teenage couple in love can’t be seriously considered threats to Tony. Tony isn’t exactly “looking over his shoulder” as many fans believe.

Chase’s direction of “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” further proves this point. “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” enters with AJ directly behind him. Chase does this so Tony’s eyes will naturally go to AJ. This is confirmed by the cut back to Tony who smiles when he sees his son. “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” hasn’t registered with Tony. However, he’s registered with us because he is the only patron seen outside of the door before the bell rings. The first full shot of “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” looking at Tony comes immediately after Tony is looking down while he grabs AJ’s hand. Just after MOG’s first look at Tony, Chase does not cut to Tony seeing him. Instead, we see a medium shot over Tony’s shoulder (suggesting Tony’s POV) of AJ checking out the menu while “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” is seen out of focus in the middle of the frame. This exact same shot is repeated several times when AJ speaks and MOG always lingers at his stool directly in Tony’s point of view, but he apparently never registers to Tony as he talks to A.J. “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” looks over again, and Chase cuts to Tony looking down at his menu. Again, “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” does not register with Tony. Chase has at least 6 shots of Tony (with only his face in the frame) looking down at his menu (you would think Tony was studying scripture!!). This does not include multiple shots of Tony looking down at his menu in shots that also include Carmela and AJ. The directing screams that Tony is not paying enough attention. There are multiple shots of Tony smiling and his expressions are of happiness, not paranoia. Finally, we get a full shot of “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” getting up from his stool. He walks towards Tony’s table and Tonyfinally looks up at him. Tony then looks back down to his menu as “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” heads towards the bathroom behind Tony. Tony then gives a quick glance at MOG behind him as he is about to enter the bathroom but then goes right back to looking down at his menu. The very next shot is the 2 young African American men looking at some desserts. The shot then cuts to Tony looking down at his menu. Tony never sees them, once again dispelling the myth that Tony is eyeing everybody and is paranoid. The editing suggests the exact opposite. Chase has given the audience more information than Tony has. Tony is not aware MOG looked twice in Tony’s direction before he got up to go to the bathroom. If Tony knew this, would he so easily go back down to his menu after MOG enters the bathroom? The scene suggests exactly how a normally wary Tony is able to get hit. The “Tony’s paranoid” theory is a fallacy, it is actually the viewer who is paranoid because of all third person shots of the other patrons and MOG staring at Tony (not to mention that this is the final scene ever, but Tony doesn’t know that). Also, the giggling teenage couple and the grey haired man with the boy scouts cannot seriously be considered threats to Tony (both of whom are given a couple of full shots although they are never shown looking at Tony or vice versa). Even Chase’s words seem to rebut the theory. Chase in the HBO Ultimate edition Sopranos book says he had the idea for the ending for years and also says:
“As I recall [the end], it was just that Tony and his family would be in a diner having dinner and a guy would come in. Pretty much what you saw.”

Chase’s words suggest one threat, not numerous threats symbolizing Tony’s paranoia.
These boy scouts and young couple in love don’t exactly seem threatening:


“USA Cap Guy” is minding his own business:

Young black guys checking out the treats. Not the classic Tony POV shot and between two shots of Tony looking down. Tony isn’t exactly paranoid:

Chase gives us a multitude of shots of Tony just looking down. Tony is content as he grabs A.J.’s hand:


Furthermore, from a storytelling standpoint it doesn’t make much sense for Chase to make “this is how Tony will have to live the rest of his life” point at this moment. The viewers know Tony will always have to look over his shoulder. The viewers have known this since the beginning (Tony is mafia boss!). Chase could have created a Tony POV sequence to convey this message in any of the other 86 episodes. It makes much more sense that the Tony POV sequence was created to put the viewer in the eyes of Tony at the exact moment of his death. Remember, Tony Soprano is the main character the viewer has followed all of these years. We have been inside his head in multiple dream sequences and have intimate knowledge of his personality and fears through his visits to Dr. Melfi. It makes sense to put the viewer in Tony’s POV at the time of his death. Once Tony is dead, there is no show. If Tony was to die it had to be the last moment of the series. The show ends where Tony’s consciousness ends.

So the last shot is from Tony’s POV. Tony may not hear the bullet if it is shot from close range (the bullet traveled faster than sound). Tony never heard it coming. No chance to reflect or react. The bullet shattered his brain and there was instantaneous death. Just a void of blackness and nothingness. Worse, his family was there to be bear witness to his murder. The viewer experienced death through Tony’s eyes and it was jarring. Upon further inspection we see that Chase set up this moment by deliberately planting the “never hear it concept” into the viewer throughout the final 9 episodes.

*One last note on the POV sequence/Blackout. Just after the finale aired, blogs on the internet contained numerous posts from viewers swearing they saw Meadow walk through the door just before the abrupt cut to black. The question arose whether Chase had two different versions of the final scene shown across the country. One with Tony’s face as the last thing we see before the blackout and the other being Meadow walking into Holsten’s before the famous cut to black. We now know that there was only one version shown. Surely someone would have recorded this alternative version if it existed. There is actually a simple explanation for this misconception and it all has to do with the POV sequence explained above. The POV pattern caused the viewer to expect to see who was coming through the door from Tony’s POV. When the bell rang, Tony looked up. Our brains were conditioned by Chase to think that we were going to see Meadow . In a sense this was a Pavlovian type response. The fact that so many thought the last shot was Meadow is a tribute to David Chase and how effective his POV pattern really was.

By putting us in Tony’s eyes in the last shot we know that Tony never heard the bullet. However, Chase has already told us what to expect from first-person death. Most significantly from a scene originally shown in “Sopranos Home Movies” and repeated via flashback in the penultimate episode “The Blue Comet.” In “Sopranos Home Movies,” Tony talks about how most mob bosses either end up dead or in jail. Bacala asks Tony “You probably don’t even hear it when it happens, right?” At the closing scene of “The Blue Comet” Tony has a flashback to that moment. The show rarely uses flashback so this seems to have major significance. Chase sets up the end of “Made in America” with this flashback. Bacala asked a question that Tony can now answer. Tony never heard it coming. Bacala’s words corroborate Tony’s experience at the moment of his death.

The final season episode “Stage 5” also foreshadows Tony’s death and furthers the “never hear it concept” with the murder of Gerry Torciano. Gerry is having a sit-down with Silvio at a restaurant. Both characters have their “goomar’s” at the table with them. At one point, we see a shot of Silvio talking to his goomar at the table. The shot is an over the shoulder “goomar” POV shot of Silvio talking to her. Torciano cannot be seen at all in the shot as Silvio fills the frame. Suddenly, we see blood on Silvio and the sound cuts off and we hear a low ringing while Silvio continues to talk to the goomar. The scene also seems to slow down. Silvio looks down and sees blood on himself and seems suprised, disoriented and confused. Finally, Silvio looks up and we cut to a hitman blasting Gerry in the side of the head. Both goomar’s are holding there ears as the guns blast (the sound cutting off and the low ringing may be the experience of someone being so close to the gun blasts). We seem to be getting the POV of a witness at the dinner table (Silvio’s goomar). Silvio never heard or saw it coming. This scene sets up (1) Tony’s POV in Holsten’s and (2) another unexpected murder in a restaurant in which the victim nor anybody else “heard coming.” Later, Silvio tells Tony about the Torciano murder and says “f***ing scary thing was I didn’t know what happened until after the shot was fired. f***ing weird.” His words echo Bacala’s “never hear it when it happens.” The follow up scene where Silvio relays his experience to Tony has no practical significance. We know Silvio didn’t know what happened until after the shot was fired, we saw the scene. Chase’s purpose for Silvio’s explanation to Tony (just like Bacala told Tony) is to hammer home the “never hear it concept” into the viewer because it will pay off in the final scene. Also note that Silvio’s words correctly predict the viewer’s reaction to the final scene. The fans of the show would not know what happened until after the shot was fired at Holsten’s. Chase was setting us up the whole time. David Chase is an interview for the HBO Sopranos final edition book confirmed the significance of the Torciano scene.

“Are they wasting their time? Is there a puzzle to be solved? [to the end]”

“Chase: There are no esoteric clues in there. No Da Vinci Code. Everything that pertains to that episode was in that episode. And it was in the episode before that and the one before that and seasons before this one and so on. There had been indications of what the end is like. Remember when Jerry Torciano was killed? Silvio was not aware that the gun had been fired until after Jerry was on his way down to the floor. That’s the way things happen: It’s already going on by the time you even notice it.”

Also, from as “Air America” radio interview of David Chase conducted by Richard Belzer on April 14, 2008:

Richard Belzer: “I was working with Steve Schirripa recently, we were judging “Last Coming Standing” for NBC and we were talking about a lot of things and he was saying he heard all of these theories for the show that had nothing to do with your intention and wasn’t anything the actors thought, like little hints along the way, like a word, like when Tony and Steve are on the boat at the lake and they say “‘you never know its gonna happen” or “you never know its gonna hit you”

David Chase: “That was part of the ending.”

Richard Belzer: “Oh, it was? see, what do I know? Were there other things in previous episodes that were hints towards it?”

David Chase: “There was that and there was a shooting in which Silvio was a witness, well he wasn’t a witness, he was eating dinner with a couple of hookers and with some other guy who got hit and there was some visual stuff that went on there which sort of amplified Tony’s remark to Baccala about you know “you don’t know its happened” or “you won’t know it happened when it hits you”. That’s about it.”

The “never hear it concept” is expressed by Chase throughout the final episode. Phil is killed in almost the exact same way as Tony. Phil is shot in the side of the head and presumably “never heard it coming.”

Tony’s vulnerability from behind (MOG shoots Tony from behind) to set up Tony “never hearing it happen” is consistently foreshadowed in “Made in America.” Chase does this in 2 separate scenes. The first scene is the sit-down with NY where NY Boss “George ” is the mediator. George asks Tony if he wants water which is behind Tony. Tony then does a fast “spin around” to see what is behind him as if he is vulnerable. In the very beginning of the Tony-Junior scene, Tony is staring at Junior. An orderly behind Tony (behind his right shoulder, where MOG would be) asks Tony twice to move out of his way and raises his voice (Tony “never heard” him). Finally, Tony looks behind him and seems to be surprised to see the orderly. At the family’s safe house, Carmela asks Tony if he’s being careful. Tony looks away and never gives Carmela an answer. In the previous episode “Blue Comet,” Tony tells Silvio to have “eyes behind the back of your heads” when he is referring to Phil’s possible retaliation against Tony’s crew.

Chase also makes explicitly showing Tony’s murder superfluous through the use of POV in the previous murders of Phil Leotardo and Gerry Torciano. In the Torciano murder Chase shows us the POV of a witness at the table (see above). This suggests what the experience may have been like for AJ and Carmela in the final scene. A few seconds before Phil is shot, the camera is placed behind Phil just like the killer would be. Walden’s (the killer) arm and gun then enter from the side of the frame and shoot Phil in the head. The shot suggests the POV of the killer. This suggests what the experience may have been like for ”Man in Member’s Only Jacket” in the final scene. Also notice that Phil’s wife has a delayed reaction to Phil’s shooting (she doesn’t start screaming until a second or two after Phil is already on the floor even though she should clearly see the gun pointed at Phil’s head), this echo’s Silvio’s delayed response to the Torciano murder and our delayed response to Tony’s murder. Finally, the last scene puts us in the ultimate POV, the POV of the victim, Tony Soprano. In a sense though we have already seen everything. We already know what Tony’s murder would look like for MOG, Carmela and AJ.

So why did Chase illustrate Tony’s death in this way? Here is a key quote from Chase that may provide the most insight:
“There was so much more to say than could have been conveyed by an image of Tony face down in a bowl of onion rings with a bullet in his head. Or, on the other side, taking over the New York mob. The way I see it is that Tony Soprano had been people’s alter ego. They had gleefully watched him rob, kill, pillage, lie, and cheat. They had cheered him on. And then, all of a sudden, they wanted to see him punished for all that. They wanted “justice.” They wanted to see his brains splattered on the wall. I thought that was disgusting, frankly. But these people have always wanted blood. Maybe they would have been happy if Tony had killed twelve other people. Or twenty-five people. Or, who knows, if he had blown up Penn Station. The pathetic thing- to me- was how much they wanted his blood, after cheering him on for eight years”.

The quote suggests that Chase directly objects to the image of Tony’s death(not the idea of his death). This may explain the genesis of the POV pattern and the idea that we would experience death through Tony’s eyes. Chase is disgusted by the inherent contradiction that the same people who cheer on Tony also want to see his brains splattered all over the place. He rails against fans for cheering on Tony and just wanting to see blood. By using Tony’s POV, he denies the fans of the thrill of watching his bloody murder. More importantly, by putting “us,” the viewer, the same people he calls pathetic for cheering on Tony, in Tony’s eyes at the moment of death, he is indicting all of us. Most telling in the quote is that he calls the fans Tony’s “alter ego.” Chase doesn’t allow us to be removed from Tony’s death (by seeing him shot and bloody) but gives us the same abrupt, disorienting feeling of sudden death and nothingness. We are Tony at that exact moment and it is jarring and more importantly, we deserve it for rooting for this guy. Chase was making a statement about us as well.

Some believe David Chase was just playing with the audience and nothing happened. The argument being that Chase ratchets up the suspense in the scene just to “play” with the audience but in the end there is no payoff. This is David Chase’s way of “messing” with the audience. This argument is not consistent with the way Chase has done things on this show. Chase seems to dispute this theory himself in his earliest post-finale interview.

“No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God. 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. Anybody who wants to watch it, it’s all there”.

To believe that “nothing happened” or “Life goes on” is in direct contrast to the structure of all six seasons. The show was, while complex in the amount of detail and depth of character, pretty classic story-telling. When Chase did wallow in ambiguity, it was only for peripheral matters or the ending was there but the audience just failed to see it. Take the famous Russian Valery in the “Pine Barrens,” the episode wasn’t really about him or his ultimate fate, it was about Paulie and Christopher’s deteriorating relationship. Interestingly enough, after that episode, Chase cites the missing Russian three times after that episode throughout the rest of the series. All three scenes imply that the Russian never surfaced. Chris mentions the missing Russian during his intervention which causes an angry Paulie to angrily shut him up. Paulie and Chris relay the Pine Barrens story to other crew members in the Season 5 opener. When Patsy asks what happened to the Russian, Chris replies “Who the f*** knows?” In one of the final episodes, “Chasing It,” Tony relays to Bobby, Paulie, and Chris that he has to go see Slava to get some money. Logic tells us that if Valery survived there would’ve been major consequences given Valery’s close relationship to the Russian Boss Slava. However, those three scenes imply that Valery never surfaced and Tony has continued doing business with Slava. If Chase was so invested in narrative ambiguity he would have no reason to include these three follow up scenes. Many also cite there was no follow up regarding Dr. Melfi’s rapist as an example of Chase’s perverse pleasure in leaving storylines dangling. Once again the ending is there, if you want to see it. Once Dr. Melfi took her moral stand not to tell Tony to avenge her rapist, the story was over. That’s what that episode was about. The answers have always been there on this show. Chase always liked to hammer a point home, always artful but never clear until the end. Each episode of each season was like 13 separate pieces, each with its own storyline and themes that ultimately coalesced into the season’s ultimate themes, that all become clear by the finale. Only in retrospect can the viewer see that the arrows were always pointing the way toward the end (in part 2 of this essay, you will see, with the benefit of hindsight, why Tony dying is the only ending that makes sense). It makes no sense that Chase would abandon this style in the final season-all just to say “Life goes on” or to leave the viewer hanging. Whether or not Tony died would not be a peripheral matter to the show, it is something Chase would not leave hanging. Chase just decided to show Tony’s final fate in an artful way that required the audience to work a little bit, but the answer is there. The true identity of Tony’s murderer, and the motive, is really the ambiguous part of the finale and probably only a peripheral concern to Chase. Below is an illustration of how the first 5 seasons have a clear narrative drive that ends conclusively. Each season has its major themes and storylines that pay off by the end

Season 1: The major thrust of the season is Tony’s struggle for control of the “family” with Uncle Junior and Tony’s relationship with his Mother. The season ends with Tony defeating Junior to become boss of the family. Junior’s crew is wiped out. Tony comes to the realization that Livia is not the loving Mom he thought she was and attempts to kill her at the hospital.
Season 2: The 2 major plotlinesare 2 separate threats to Tony Soprano. Big Pussy, Tony’s best friend has flipped to the FBI and may bring Tony down. Richie April returns from prison to challenge Tony and rekindles his old romance with Tony’s sister Janice. These storylines are resolved neatly. Richie is killed by Janice and Pussy is killed when Tony discovers he is a traitor.

Season 3: The 2 major plotlines involve Jackie Aprile Jr. and his attempt to break into the Mafia (and Tony’s attempt to keep him out) and the introduction of Ralph Ciffaretto, a new thorn in Tony’s side. By the end of the season, Jackie Jr. is killed on Tony’s orders and Tony resolves (at least temporarily) a season long feud with Ralphie.

Season 4: This is probably the least “clean” of all the season’s endings. Tony and Carmela separate in the finale (although the separation was a natural conclusion to their relationship during this season). Junior’s trial ends with a hung jury and Junior avoids prison.

Season 5: A season long Civil War in the NY Lupertazzi family is the thrust of this season. Tony’s cousin Tony Blundetto is also introduced and gets involved in the NY war. By the end of the season the NY war is resolved when Little Carmine surrenders to Johnny Sack and Tony kills his cousin Tony Blundetto(to avoid Tony’s family having it’s own war with NY). Also, Tony and Carmela are back together by the season’s end.

Consequently, for Chase to have this big buildup in the final scene of Season 6 and to end with “nothing happening” or “Life goes on” violates the shows basic structure. Why would Chase and his team of writers leave the viewer to “choose their own ending”? Why would Chase introduce the prospect of Tony’s trial in the final few moments of the final episode? Would Chase not consider this major event in Tony’s life worth seeing? The answer is simple, Carlo’s flipping and Tony inevitable trial become a moot point once Tony is killed. That’s why Tony’s impending indictment is mentioned again in Holsten’s. It’s meant to distract us from what’s really coming.

Some believe that The Blackout represents the “viewer getting whacked.” This argument also violates the basic structure of the story. When has the viewer ever become part of the show? This would make the ending a complete gimmick. It would be the “cop out” that many fans complained about after the finale. Did Chase take nearly 2 years off to come up with that?

Some believe Chase was simply making a commentary about storytelling; that Chase simply stopped the story to undermine the idea of closure. This was his bold critique of the arbitrary structures of traditional narration and a refusal to comply with expectations and norms. This would certainly be a confrontational way to the end the series and would be more in line with the “audience was whacked” theory. This view seems contrary to Chase’s own words that the ending was not a slap in the face to the audience. This theory also assumes that the ending was about the Sopranos as a television series or cultural phenomenon distinct from the Sopranos as a group of characters within a narrative. This arbitrary type ending would be nothing more than an adolescent and defiant stance by Chase and would run counter to everything that came before it. If you choose to follow Chase’s words-“it’s all there”-then we are only to look within the narrative itself to find the meaning. To think that Chase simply wanted to piss off the audience is to ignore the artistry, depth, commitment, and creativity Chase and his team has shown throughout the entire series. Chase has been on record as orchestrating the ending for several years. To think he meant the final scene to be a “f*** you” at the last moment strains credibility. This excerpt is also from the HBO Sopranos final edition book:

“I saw some items in the press that said “This was a huge “f*** you” to the audience. That we were shitting in the audience’s face. Why would we want to do that? Why would we entertain people for eight years only to give them the finger? We don’t have contempt for the audience. In fact, I think The Sopranos is the only show that actually gave the audience credit for having some intelligence and attention span. We always operated as though people don’t need to be spoon-fed every single thing- that their instincts and feelings and humanity will tell them what’s going on.”

Many believe that Tony survived because there was nobody left with a motive to kill Tony. This is certainly debatable. Tony Soprano has directly and indirectly ruined so many lives that he must have dozens of enemies. This may be reason for the “Member’s Only Guy”/Eugene Pontecorvo connection (I will get more detailed with this concept later on in the “What’s Tony’s death mean?” section). The man who kills Tony is credited as “Man in Members Only Jacket”. The first episode of the final season is titled “Members Only”. The title refers to Eugene Pontecorvo (a member of Tony’s crew) who wears the jacket in this episode. In the same episode, Eugene commits suicide after Tony will not let him and his family retire to Florida after he receives a 2 million dollar inheritance. Eugene is another life that Tony ruined. Maybe that is Chase’s point. Tony’s death was inevitable given all of the lives he has destroyed and all of the potential motives of unknown killers. Mr. Chase was not interested in the identity of the killer or his motive but in the inevitability of Tony’s pre-mature death. This argument may be supported by Alik Sakharov, ASC, the main director of photographer for The Sopranos. Mr. Sakharov has shot 39 of the 86 episodes. More importantly, he shot the final episode. Mr. Sakharov’s words seem to rebut the “nobody witha motive left to kill Tony” argument which is especially relevant because he is discussing the final scene in Holsten’s. The following quote is from an audio interview with Mr. Sakharov for American Cinematographer Magazine just two weeks after the finale. Once again, Mr. Sakharov is discussing the final scene in the context of the people in the diner who may or may not be a threat to Tony:
“Tony Soprano revolves around the people, many of whom he has hurt indirectly and directly. He is a very vulnerable character. The hit (on Tony) could come from anyplace, anytime, anywhere, and (by) anyone” .

Also note Bacala’s own words about death as a way of life in the Mafia in the now crucial scene in “Sopranos Home Movies”:

“Our line of work, it’s always out there. You probably don’t even hear it when it happens right?”

Many also believe that if Chase wanted us to interpret that Tony died, he would tell us who exactly did it and why. However, a huge part of this show has always been the surprises. How would Chase accomplish this task with scenes setting up Tony’s murder? Worse, how anti-climatic would it be if we find out the details after Tony is killed? Once Tony is dead the show is over (more on this concept in the next paragraph). More importantly, the “never hear it” concept and blind sided nature of Tony’s death would be disrupted by scenes setting the plot to kill Tony in motion.

It is also plausible that the hit could have been at the orders of Butchie. There appeared to be an agreement between Butchie and Tony but the exact way that the Phil Leotardo hit went down may have changed everything. Phil being killed right in front of his family and not being able to have an open casket (his head gets crushed by his SUV) may have crossed the line and embarrassed NY. Butchie has never been shy about killing Tony and the final season made it clear that the NY family has no respect for the NJ family. It is certainly plausible that there was a double cross. Butchie may not be able to adequately lead his men by letting Tony kill Phil without retribution. Chase even hints at the possibility that there could have been a double cross. When Paulie calls Tony to tell him Carlo is missing he suggests that perhaps Butchie took him out and the sit-down was a ruse. Later we learn Carlo flipped to the Feds but the idea of a double cross was certainly possible to Paulie. Also, it is the perfect retribution for Phil for Butchie to have Tony’s death occur right in front of his family. It’s simply a “A Boss for a Boss” and the slate is wiped clean. NY can now do business with the remnants of Jersey. In any event, Chase leaves us with an abundance of evidence that Tony is killed but only small crumbs that may suggest the identity of his murderer. Consequently, the identity of the killer and the possible motive for it are clearly not important to Chase. Chase left this point as the great mystery of the series and perhaps Chase himself has no answer. Remember the “never hear it” concept. Chase wanted us in Tony’s eyes at the moment of his death. In achieving the ultimate vicarious experience of Tony’s death, Tony himself would never know who killed him or why, so the viewers shouldn’t know either.

Some are resistant to the idea that Chase showed us Tony’s death through his eyes because the show has never been told strictly through Tony’s POV. This may be true, but it doesn’t preclude Chase from crafting the POV pattern in the final scene to express Tony’s death. Once again, this show is primarily about Tony. Through Dr. Melfi and his dreams, we have become incredibly intimate with Tony and his thoughts. Also, just about every other plotline on the show relates to Tony or informs his character on some level. Practically, it would be impossible for Chase to shoot every scene of the series from Tony’s POV and even the final scene only shows Tony’s POV in certain instances. Chase makes this point on his DVD audio commentary (with Peter Bogdonavich) of the first episode. What’s intriguing here is that Chase had thought about doing the entire show from Tony’s POV. The genesis of the POV pattern seems to have derived from his original conception of the series. Chase, while talking about the scene early in the first episode where Tony chases down a degenerate gambler with his car, explains that the scene is meant to show Tony’s POV through an over the shoulder shot. He then explains:

“I originally had thought of maybe doing the whole show-it’s ridiculous-like that, as an over [the shoulder shot], [doing the show through]Tony’s POV”

Many believe that Tony wasn’t killed because MOG’s actions don’t indicate that he was a Professional Hit-man. This is pure speculation. There could be dozens of reasons why MOG took his time in the diner. He may have needed to positively ID Tony before moving in for the kill. He may have wanted to sell to Tony that he was just a regular customer. More importantly, by going to the bathroom he is now behind Tony, a much easier shot. We are also assuming he is a professional hit-man. He may just be a man with a grudge who may have followed Tony to Holsten’s or just happened to discover Tony there and decided to kill him at that moment. Others argue that MOG could not have known that Tony and his family were at Holsten’s. This argument assumes Chase cares about relaying this information to the audience. However, Chase never explained how Bacala or Jackie Jr. were found by their killers. Mr. Chase is not primarily interested in the realism of the scene. He is interested in created the most effective and suspenseful scene that he can make. There are dozens of other whacking’s on the show that are not entirely realistic. Phil is shot dead in front of a half dozen witnesses (and most gas stations now have camera’s). Silvio is shot in daylight in front of witnesses as dozens of vehicles drive by on the highway adjacent to the Bada Bing. As far back as Season 1, Tony actually shot and killed Chucky Signore in broad daylight by pulling a gun out of a dead fish! Chase’s primary purpose is to entertain the audience. The whacking of Bacala by two hit-men is an example of this. The hit-men can just as easily kill Bacala outside the toy train shop. We can assume the shop has camera’s (Bacala’s dialogue explains how expensive some of the toy trains are) and we know the shop has many witnesses including children. Yet, if they waited to kill him when he came outside then we would not have witnessed a spellbinding sequence contrasting Bacala’s death with the derailing of a model train (not to mention the irony of Bacala dying in the context of his childlike, innocent love for toy trains).

Another argument against Tony dying in the end is that Tony “paying for his sins” isn’t David Chase’s style. However, take a look at the history of the show. The bad guys “get it” in the end. Although not in the way we would expect. We usually do not see them getting justice in the traditional way (i.e. prison). It is usually premature, violent death-Richie, Ralphie, Tony B., Mikey Palmice, Eugene, Vito, Phil Leotardo, Christopher, Big Pussy, Jackie Jr., Bacala(notice this is right after his first killing) and many others. Silvio is near death. Other characters end up abandoned (Uncle Junior) and dying alone (Livia). Some do get sent to prison (Johnny Sack and Feech LaManna). Notice Chase goes out of his way to show us Paulie is not long for this world after being made capo of the jinxed Aprile crew. Chase himself seems to have offered his own insight into this argument. Chase was asked by Entertainment Weekly how the show would resolve about three months before the final 9 episodes aired. Chase of course wouldn’t give anything away but offered this insight:
“It is in our interest (for the show) to show that there are certain ways that we all spend our lives, and that as adults, we decide our fate, we make our own bed, and we lie in it. That to me is not the same, hopefully, as saying crime doesn’t pay, or bad people are punished. Free will exists”.

Here Chase expresses a concern that his ending will be perceived as a simplistic “crime doesn’t pay” message (His key words are “hopefully” it won’t be perceived as such). The quote seems to all but give away that something very bad will happen to Tony by the end of the show. It also expresses Chase’s concern that fans will miss the big picture, that Tony’s fate will be a consequence of the choices in his life. Chase lays this out with Tony’s coma-trip and his chance of change which will be explored fully in Part II of this piece.

Chase clearly wanted the ending to be initially ambiguous and open to interpretation. However, Chase wanted us to engage the material and find the answers ourselves. The very ending itself is much more consistent with Tony dying than living. Chase could have simply ended the show with a fade to black and immediate credits if he wanted to create a “life goes on” impression. Instead, the scene cuts abruptly to black mid-scene while the audio cuts off mid-lyric to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” David Chase correctly predicts the reaction to the finale by inserting Journey’s “Anyway You Want it” in the jukebox in Holsten’s. Chase does give the viewer who wants to see Tony live some solace. Here is another excerpt from Chase from the Ultimate Edition HBO Sopranos book:
“This wasn’t really about ”leaving the door open.” There was nothing definite about what happened, but there was a clean trend on view — a definite sense of what Tony and Carmela’s future looks like. Whether it happened that night or some other night doesn’t really matter.”

Here Chase explicitly speculates that Tony could have died that night (“it happened” suggest an abrupt event, like a shooting). Chase also ties Tony and Carmela’s “future” directly to “that night”. Chase here suggests that it really doesn’t matter if Tony literally died in Holsten’s because the end also represents Tony’s symbolic end. The final scene represents what Tony’s death will look like in one form or another (i.e. a violent pre-mature death). Since Tony’s death is never explicitly shown on screen the final scene is always open to interpretation. However, Chase, later in the same interview, drops the “Gerry Torciano” reference to suggest Tony’s death(see above). He later, in the radio interview, mentions the Bacala “never hear it happen” line as “part of the ending.” Chase is suggesting that Tony’s death was orchestrated early on in the final season narrative to clear up the ambiguity of the end. Logic tells us that Tony’s literal death is Chase’s personal interpretation of the events in Holsten’s, otherwise he has undermined his own narrative.

[Ducky Momo]

Another popular argument against the idea that Tony was killed in the final scene is that Chase would have shown MOG shoot Tony if he wanted us to believe Tony died. After all, any death of a major character on the show has always been explicitly shown to the audience. However, Tony is not just any other character on the show. The viewer has been primarily following his story and has been inside Tony’s head. Tony Soprano may be the most famous gangster in television and film history. Millions of fans havewondered what his death would “look like”. For this reason Chase cannot kill him in a cliché manner. A quick bullet to the head just doesn’t work for Chase’s purposes. It’s an ending not worth the character. Besides, we have already seen Tony shot on two previous occasions. Consequently, Chase crafted a way to show Tony’s death without showing anything explicit. More importantly, he avoided any of the clichés of a gangster’s on screen death. He created something no one could have predicted, a POV sequence that puts the viewer in Tony’s eyes at the moment that he is shot. David Chase had no interest in showing Tony dead and bloody and his family screaming in horror. Besides, David Chase already showed you what that would look like just a few scenes before when Phil Leotardo is killed right in front of his family. Instead, Chase creates a jarring cut to black through Tony’s eyes that is far more satisfying intellectually and emotionally. More importantly, it has never been done before and could not be predicted by anyone upon the first viewing. It is one of the great deaths in cinematic history. It is the anti-Scarface ending. Instead of a bullet ridden corpse we get to experience death as Tony would experience it. Tony Soprano and us never saw it coming.

As Part I ends, I leave you with these words by David Chase discussing the ending from a December 2007 GQ magazine interview that encapsulates his thinking about the final scene:

“In a certain way, I think [the controversy over the ending] revealed some of the problems that we have. We’ve been fed so much ham-handed, overly explicit storytelling, particularly in television over the years-tell them what they’re going to see, show it to them, then tell them what they’ve seen. And some things are beyond words, actually.”

David Chase didn’t show us Tony getting killed. He did what great artists do, he made us feel it…..

Part Two next

[Ducky Momo]

PART II: What does Tony’s death mean? How the themes of the final season and all 86 hours of the show lead to a family dinner in a small diner in New Jersey.

Tony’s death makes perfect sense thematically in the construction of the final season as well as the entire run of the show. The final season opens with the episode titled “Member’s Only” and ends with the character credited as “Man in Member’s Only jacket” killing Tony. The title of the first episode refers to the character of Eugene Pontecorvo who wears a Member’s Only jacket. In the episode Vito Spatafore makes fun of Eugene for wearing the jacket. Near the end of the episode, Eugene commits suicide after Tony will not let him “retire” from Mob life and move his family to Florida after Eugene receives a 2 million dollar inheritance. At the very end of the episode, Tony is shot by a demented Uncle Junior. Thus begins the major theme of the final season, the possibility of change and redemption for Tony Soprano. We see Tony come to terms with his mortality after he is shot by Uncle Junior. Tony’s shooting and his subsequent near death experience as “Kevin Finnerty” was the wake-up call for Tony to change his life. This is clearly illustrated when Tony visits Costa Mesa during his coma after he is shot. David Chase is quoted as saying “I, frankly, would not call those (Tony’s coma induced trip to “Costa Mesa”) dreams.” This comment by Chase gives the scenes even greater significance as they suggest that Tony did actually visit another place. In this “other place,” Tony Soprano is a normal salesman at a convention at a Costa Mesa Hotel. He is not a mob boss but a “regular Joe.” He has a wife and two young children (a daughter and a son). He has no Jersey accent and is a former patio salesman who now sells Precision Optics. In the course of the series, Tony has often joked that if he wasn’t in the Mafia he would be selling patio furniture. This Tony Soprano may be the one he subconsciously wishes to be. His selling of “Precision Optics” suggests that this Tony may be able to see things clearly. Tony accidentally switches briefcases with a man named Kevin Finnerty whom we never see. Finnerty’s drivers license shows that he is the same age as Tony and bears a close physical resemblance. Tony/Finnerty then flirts with another woman but fails to have sex with her when she senses his love for his wife and kids. Tony/Finnerty then cannot get a room at his hotel for another night because he no longer has his identification (which was in his briefcase). This Tony is far from the real Tony Soprano who usually gets the girl he wants and is a man nobody says no to. Tony fraudulently uses Finnerty’s ID to get a room at another hotel (the real Tony Soprano seeping in). Tony/Finnerty is soon approached by some Monks from a local monastery who believe that Tony is Kevin Finnerty. Apparently, Finnerty defrauded these monks by selling them faulty solar heating equipment. The Monks were forced to freeze in the monastery during the winter. One of the monks slaps him in the face and tells him to “Lose your arrogance!” Tony/Finnerty has apparently been ignoring their calls and letters. This reflects real world Tony ignoring Eugene’s pleas in the episode before to allow him to retire to Florida (Eugene was shown in several scenes trying to convince Tony or at the very least make contact with him to see if had had come to a decision). Here, the consequences of Tony’s actions and the lives he destroys manifest themselves in the coma-trip. At this point, Tony’s Costa Mesa trip becomes a search for his true identity. Is Tony a mild mannered salesman and loving father or a corrupt charlatan who defrauds the innocent? As the episode nears its conclusion, Tony questions if he really is Kevin Finnerty and perhaps comes closer to a moral accounting of his actions. The coma-trip becomes the psychological trip that Tony never had the guts to really take with Dr. Melfi (Tony/Finnerty’s wife via phone tells him that he “Didn’t want to go to this conference” (at the hotel)). Tony/Finnerty tells his wife that he misses her and the kids but his wife replies that it’s his fault because he is “too distracted from work” and is “off in your own world.” This suggests that Tony’s loyalty to his other “Family” (the mafia) has distracted him from what’s really important (his real family).

At one point in the episode, Tony/Finnerty falls down the stairs in his motel and wakes up in the hospital after suffering a concussion. The attending Doctor tells him that an MRI reveals that he has numerous “dark spots” on his brain. The Doctor tells Tony/Finnerty that this indicates early onset of Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s diagnoses refers to Tony’s bleak future. The “dark spots” obscure his ability to see the consequences of his actions and his lack of moral accountability. The MRI that reveals Tony’s condition reflects the initial MRI that sent Tony to Dr. Melfi in the pilot episode. Because of the Alzheimer’s diagnosis, Tony/Finnerty tells the doctor that it doesn’t matter whether he actually is Kevin Finnerty because he “won’t know himself soon.” Tony/Finnerty then refers to his diagnosis as “a death sentence” (i.e. Tony’s eventual fate in Holsten’s). The “dark spots” on his brain also directly relate to the final “blackout” that ends the series. Here, death is also directly linked to loss of identity (forgetting who you are). However, the doctor tells Tony/Finnerty that there are “new treatments” and his condition is not as “bleak as it would have been a while back.” This means that Tony can recover, change and avoid his reckoning. The Doctor adds that Tony “should talk to his doctors back home.” This suggests that Tony should return to Dr. Melfi when he awakens from his coma. Through his discussions with Dr. Melfi, Tony has a second chance to reform his life and avoid his destiny or his “death sentence.” The doctor then reminds Tony of his second chance when he states that Tony is lucky because “a fall like that, you [Tony] could have broken your neck” (i.e Tony could have been killed when he was shot by Junior). Tony’s potential reckoning and possibility of change is also paralleled in his scenes with the Monks. As mentioned earlier, the Monks have sued Tony/Finnerty for failing to provide them with solar heating during the winter. This represents the suffering that Tony has caused to others in his life. Tony/Finnerty tells the bartender at his hotel that he’s “afraid of what I might have done” and asks “Is it possible I am Kevin Finnerty?” This suggests that some sense of responsibility and self-awareness has entered Tony’s mind. The Monks ask Finnerty to “take responsibility” (i.e Tony to take a moral accounting of his actions). Tony/Finnerty responds “I can’t do that.” One of the Monks replies “Then the lawsuit proceeds.” (i.e Tony is doomed to suffer his “death sentence”). Tony/Finnerty also tells his wife that the lawsuit “could cause problems later on” (once again Tony’s “death sentence,” which will come “later on” in Holsten’s). The outcome of the Monks lawsuit further reinforces the concept of Tony’s future “death sentence” that he earlier predicts to the coma-trip doctor.

Tony’s loss of identity through the Alzheimer’s diagnosis is directly tied to death throughout the sequence. The Monks tell Tony/Finnerty that “we will all die, [and] all be the same as that tree, no me, no you”. Tony/Finnerty then hopes to find the real Kevin Finnerty at the “Finnerty Family Reunion” at the “Inn at the Oaks”. Throughout the coma trip, Tony/Finnerty sees a beacon on the Costa Mesa horizon. He learns that if he follows the beacon it will lead to the “Inn at the Oaks.” Tony/Finnerty drives out to the reunion. He sees the glorious Inn and is met by the deceased Tony Blundetto (whom Tony murdered) in a tuxedo. Blundetto is credited as “Man” in the sequence. Tony/Finnerty clearly doesn’t recognize him. Man/Tony B. tells him that his “family” is waiting inside the Inn.” Tony/Finnerty is clearly scared and hesitant. Tony/Finnerty asks “Is Kevin Finnerty here?” but Man/Tony B. responds that “we don’t talk like that here” (i.e. names don’t matter, further reinforced by the notion that Tony Blundetto is now just “Man”). Death is again directly related to loss of identity and a collective unconscious. “Man” tells Tony to let go of his briefcase and go inside. However, Tony doesn’t want to let go of his briefcase (“my whole life’s in there”) and admits that he’s “scared.” Finally, Tony/Finnerty sees the image of an old woman at the door of the Oaks who is clearly meant to be Tony Soprano’s mother Livia. Tony seems close to entering and “Man” tells him “You’re going home.” At that moment, Tony hears a small girls voice from the trees yelling “Daddy, don’t go!!” and “we love you Daddy.” Tony/Finnerty continues to resist entering the Inn and his subsequent death. Finally, Tony’s view of the door of the Inn fills with bright light (a possible manifestation of the real world hospital light or symbolic of the birth of a new Tony). We hear Meadow calling out to Tony to wake up in his hospital room as real-world Tony comes close to flat-lining (Meadow’s voice was manifesting itself as the little girl’s voice that Tony hears through the trees). Tony awakens from the coma and sees Meadow.

Once Tony comes out of his coma and is released from the hospital we start to see the different Tony that is necessary for his moral restoration and his survival. He vows that he will appreciate life and that “everyday is a gift.” First, Tony declines the money from the EMT that may have stolen the money from his wallet when he was brought to the hospital. Tony is then less stubborn in his dealings with Phil Leotardo (“there’s enough garbage for everybody”). He risks losing the respect of his crew when he resists killing Vito Spatafore despite Vito’s recently revealed homosexuality. He says about Vito, “I had a second chance so why can’t he?”

More importantly, the apparent question in the final season of whether Tony can change is inextricably linked to the love of his family and the love of his criminal lifestyle, the two things he has tried to reconcile since the opening episode. Tony’s new attitude is directly related to the love of his family, especially his children which has really been the only time the viewer has sympathized with Tony on any moral level. After he leaves the hospital he tells Carmela she is the reason he survived (“its all you”). It’s Meadow’s voice that calls Tony out of the coma. Also, Carmela gives Tony his new insurance card in the early moments of “Member’s Only”. We later learn from a representative from Tony’s insurance company that Tony would have died if he didn’t have the card on him as he would have been sent to the inferior County Hospital where he surely would have died from his injuries. Dr. Plepler later tells Carmela the same thing. Tony’s family is directly linked to his survival and his second chance. He initially has some very tender moments with Carmela. He (to her surprise) unexpectedly asks her to dance to a love song at Allegra Sac’s wedding. Then he stares lovingly at Meadow later in the same episode. Tony even begins to have some self-awareness about the consequences of his actions. Carmela tells him how lucky they are (that Tony survived), Tony replies “you create your own luck.” Tony then returns to Dr. Melfi and tells her “every day’s a gift and that’s the way its gonna stay.” Tony even gives Chris his blessing to go to Hollywood with Little Carmine to develop their screenplay. In a moment of incredible restraint (for Tony at least) he resists sleeping with Julianna Skiff when he is reminded by the way Carmela cared for him in the hospital.

Tony even seems to connect with a preacher who visits Tony in the hospital and tells Tony that salvation is not just about saving yourself in the afterlife but “…about saving yourself when you’re alive.” Tony responds that “it must be nice to have something to hold on to.” Tony starts to realize he is part of bigger reality and no longer the center of the universe. Tony talks about how he felt he was being “pushed along” in his coma state and references an Ojibwe saying (on a note mysteriously left in his hospital room) about a “great wind” carrying you across the sky. He shares these thoughts with Paulie and tells him to forgive his mother (who is revealed in this episode to actually be Paulie’s Aunt) and get “past this petty bullshit.” He also expresses sympathy towards a young child in the hospital burn unit. Perhaps Tony is evolving (or attempting to evolve) from selfishness and evil deeds into a larger recognition of the universe. Tony realizes he was “pulled toward something” during his coma but he knows he “doesn’t want to go back.” His fear of “The Inn at the Oaks” is still bubbling up from his subconscious. Tony seems to embrace different existential and spiritual ideals from the Preacher and another hospital resident, John Shwinn, a former scientist with cancer. As Tony leaves the hospital, he has embraced a greater consciousness point of view.

However, the old Tony starts to seep through early on. To reestablish his dominance as boss, he brutally beats the innocent Perry in front of his crew. He then promptly vomits in the toilet. He eventually returns to his whores and betrays Carmela’s care of him during his recovery.

We soon realize that Tony misses the thrill and risk of his criminal lifestyle (“Every day is a gift but does it have to be a pair of socks?”). On a road trip, Tony and Chris senselessly risk their lives robbing a truckload of wines from a pair of members of the motorcycle gang “The Vipers” (Tony and Chris escape a shootout). As season 6B begins we soon find out Tony has a gambling problem (Tony was always disgusted by gambling during the course of the show). Tony’s downward trajectory begins to really take hold. Chase then directly links Tony’s gambling with money to gambling with his life. He ominously tells Bobby that 80% of the time guys like him either end up dead or in jail but exclaims “No risk, no reward.” Tony acknowledges that “things are going great” but he’s “waiting for the other shoe to drop.” When Tony learns that Larry Boy Barese pins Tony’s first murder on Jackie Aprile, he is filled with relief but ominously asks “ you have to wonder what’s next?” He then tells Dr. Melfi that “If you couldn’t lose, what’s the f***ing point? you need the risk.” To which Dr. Melfi responds “What are you chasing, the money or the high from winning?” The point is more prominently made in the episode “Chasing It.” Tony and Carmela have a critical conversation that foreshadows Tony’s death. Carmela senses that his gambling is not about money (“this is about money? because it doesn’t feel like that”). Carmela starts to cry and relays her worries about Tony’s future, “I worry Tony…you already got shot and now you won’t even get the paper, who is out there…?” She talks about the “million possibilities” of how it could end for Tony. This foreshadows the unforeseen and unknown “Man in Members Only Jacket” in the final scene. She says that he acts like “there is a giant piano hanging by a rope just over your [Tony's] head.” Tony then arrogantly responds in a way that mocks God and destiny and directly ties into his gambling mentality, Tony explains “I survived a gunshot wound. What are the odds on that?…Big picture wise I am up, way up.” In the very next scene, Chase undermines Tony’s sense of security, and emphasizes the fragility of life, when Hesh wakes up to find that his girlfriend had died in her sleep. Just moments before his death in Holsten’s, Tony continues to tempt fate by laughing off Paulie’s very personal revelation that he saw the Virgin Mary, which he believes is a warning that taking over the Aprile crew will lead to his premature death.

Just as Tony’s family saved him from death, his criminality endangers them. Again, Chase ties Tony’s gambling into the theme. Tony bets and loses on the horse “Meadow’s Gold.” Finally, Tony breaks his losing streak in Vegas and callously laughs that Christopher’s death is the reason. He gambles (and wins) in roulette on the numbers “24” and “20,” the ages of Meadow and AJ respectively. Tony is playing a dangerous game. The final scene brings the “The Man in the Member’s Only” jacket dangerously close to his family. We saw Phil’s wife and grand babies dangerously close to his murder. We also saw Phil’s goomar and her father accidentally murdered as a byproduct of Tony’s actions. Phil’s goomar even gets to watch her father take a bullet in the head (and then catches a few bullets herself) just as Meadow sees Tony take a shot in the head as she enters Holsten’s in the final scene.

As Season 6B progresses Tony becomes more ruthless and further away from his spiritual awakening. He has Bobby commit his first murder out of vindictive spite that Bobby beat him up at the lake house. He nearly kills Paulie and destroys his friendship with Hesh over money and his gambling addiction.

Tony’s deterioration culminates when he kills Christopher in “Kennedy and Heidi” and has no remorse for it afterward. Tony travels to Las Vegas immediately after Christopher’s death. The trip illustrates his descent into moral depravity and deterioration. Tony sleeps with Christopher’s goomar and takes peyote. His vomiting in the toilet directly links to his vomiting after he beats up Perry which began Tony’s post coma moral slide. He laughs that his luck has changed now that Chris is dead when he wins at the Roulette table. Tony and Christopher’s goomar wind up out in the Nevada desert, watching the sun come up. Tony stands up and yells “I get it!” He tells Dr. Melfi about this epiphany. However, Tony doesn’t “get” anything. Tony has been given a number of revelations, many in his sessions with Dr. Melfi, but each time, he doesn’t significantly act on the epiphanies. The most important of which is his moral awakening after his coma. However, Tony’s never going to change. He’s never going to really “get it.” Tony then says as much to Dr. Melfi when he relays his peyote experience. He tells her that “you think you know, you think you learn something, like when I got shot.” He further tells her that “you come to these thoughts, and almost grab them” but then they are gone (which Tony symbolizes with the wave of his hand under his chin). This represents Tony’s realization that he had to live a better life after he awoke from the coma. However, Tony could not “grab” and hold on to this realization and it’s quickly forgotten (i.e. Tony returned to his old ways). Tony in the end is worse than ever before.

The theme is also reflected in Tony’s parallel destiny with Phil Leotardo. Phil takes over as acting boss when Johnny Sack is incarcerated. He is not entirely sympathetic to Tony after his shooting and seems surprised when Tony gives in to him when he visits the recovering Tony at home. Phil despises Johnny Sack for crying at his daughter’s wedding after Sack is taken away by the FBI. The tension between Tony and Phil mounts in 6a over Tony’s apparent reluctance to kill Vito over his uncovered homosexuality.

Just as it appears that Phil will go to war with Tony, Phil has a serious heart attack that delays the inevitable conflict. Tony then visits Phil in the hospital and relays his near death experience to him. Tony tells him that he visited someplace and never wants to go back. Tony then ties his near shooting and wake up call to family, he tells Phil to “focus on the grandkids, the good things.” Tony takes Phil’s hand and tears flow down Phil’s cheek (Phil’s crying contrasts to his ridicule of Johnny Sack for crying at his daughter’s wedding).

As Season 6B opens, Phil has apparently taken Tony’s words to heart. He’s just returned from Florida where he rehabbed after his surgery. He quickly tells Tony he has no interest in being boss and that he is “here to enjoy his grandchildren.” Here both Tony and Phil’s near death experience lead to a new outlook on life and a concentration on family.

The theme is further reinforced by Little Carmine’s speech (who fought a violent war to be Boss in Season 5) with Tony early in 6B. Tony tries to convince Little Carmine to step up and be boss of NY. In response, Little Carmine relays a recurring dream where his deceased father (Carmine, former boss of NY) gives him a decorated box that contains a gift. Little Carmine opens the box and its empty. Little Carmine then explains “There was a time I was obsessed with being in charge.” He further talks about his ritual with his wife where he comes home from work and they both jump naked together into their pool (the pool reflecting family, just as Tony‘s pool of ducks did ). Little Carmine explains that during his “fighting with John [Sack]“ his wife Nicole told him she doesn’t “want to be the wealthiest widow on Long Island, I want you to quit.” Little Carmine explains that the “empty box is not about being boss, it’s about being happy” and he must “fill the box.” Little Carmine eventually surrendered to Johnny Sack in Season 5. Here, Little Carmine’s commitment to his family and what was important kept him alive. Inevitably, it is Carmela who is the “wealthiest widow” in New Jersey as the show closes as Tony doesn’t learn the same lesson.

Just as Tony’s awakening was short lived, Phil’s is as well. At Phil’s dead brother Billy’s 47th birthday, we learn of his long simmering anger that his family name has been disgraced for centuries (his ancestors were forced to change the family name to “Leotardo” from “Leonardo” after they arrived in America). Phil also feels he has been stepped on too long. He resents new Boss Doc Santoro and still has deep anger over Tony Blundetto’s murder of his brother. He tells Butchie “No more of this.” Phil then takes out Doc Santoro to become the new official boss of the NY Lupertazzi family.

Phil becomes more recalcitrant than ever. Phil demands 25% from Tony to allow him to continue dumping asbestos at his station. During Christopher and Tony’s last ride together, Chris tells Tony to give in to Phil and tells him “Life’s too short.” Tony responds “Life’s also too short to live it as a lackey.” The regression of Tony is clear as he subsequently kills Christopher. At a sitdown between Tony and Phil, Tony relays their moment of connection at Phil’s hospital bed, he says “we shared an understanding about life.” Phil responds coldly that “this is business” and refuses to negotiate with Tony.

Phil, through a series of events eventually declares all out war on Tony and NJ. Phil is worse than ever before. Tony murder of Chris and his subsequent lack of remorse and trip to Vegas is the nadir of his deterioration. Their parallel destinies are about to meet a violent conclusion.

To further emphasize this inevitability Chase makes a key throwback to Tony’s coma-trip. During Tony’s coma trip, Tony Blundetto/Man told Tony that “You’re Going Home.” This symbolized him entering the “Inn at the Oaks” and his death. In the 6b episode “Chasing It,” Nancy Sinatra asks Tony and Phil “Are you two going home together?” They’ll soon be able to answer that question. Tony and Phil die in the exact same violent way. Both die instantly with shots to the head that they “never hear coming.” Both die in front of their families of three (for Tony; Carmela, AJ and Meadow coming through the door, for Phil; his wife and his 2 baby grandchildren). Both are happily distracted by their families (Phil by the babies, Tony by Meadow). Phil’s death is a cold irony to his earlier words that he wants to “concentrate on his grandkids.” To get even more specific, Phil gets shot as he tells his wife to call his doctor so he could get his pills. Tony gets shot just moments after Carmela tells Tony that Meadow will be late because she had a doctor’s appointment to switch birth control pills. Also, Vanilla Fudge’s You Keep Me Hanging on plays as Phil is shot. The opening shot of “Made in America” has an overhead casket shot of Tony sleeping. Tony’s alarm wakes him up eerily playing what sounds like organ music heard at a funeral, soon that tune ends and Tony hears the same version of You Keep me Hanging On. The song links the two scenes and the character’s shared destinies. Finally, both are killed by relative unknowns. Tony by “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” and Phil by Walden Belafore, a character we have been introduced to just a few episodes before. Also notice that the other “boss” Johnny Sack dies in front of his family (also of 3, his wife and two daughters) in the prison hospital. The prision security guard tells Johnny that he cannot hug his family (“No Physical contact please”). The 3 bosses commitment to power, wealth and criminality ultimately separates them permanently from what’s most important to them.

Tony’s bedside advice to Phil to “focus on the grandkids, the good things” takes on an even greater resonance in the final scene. It appears from several scenes in the final episode that Meadow and Patrick Parisi are engaged. Early on in the Holsten’s scene, Carmela tells Tony that Meadow will be coming from the doctor as she had to “switch birth control.” This may imply that Meadow may be pregnant as her original birth control was not working (before switching the doctor would give her a pregnancy test). Meadow rushes to the door of Holsten’s with an anxious look on her face which may indicate that she has big news to tell her parents. This moment is congruous to a scene in the 6a episode “Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request.” In that episode there is a tender moment between Tony and Meadow as they prepare to leave for Allegra Sacks wedding. Tony, having just survived the shooting of Junior talks about the importance of having grandchildren and asks Meadow about any plans of marriage to Finn. Tony, in a clear state of emotion says “what I have been through [Near death experience] changes the way you think.” Tony says “all of sudden it is very important to me” to hold his grandchild in his arms. In the final scene, Tony will soon hear the news that he‘s waited for, that he will be able to hold his grandchild in his arms. However, Tony is killed just before Meadow delivers the news. The final scene is a tragic and ironic counterpoint to the scene in “Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request.”

As Tony lets his newfound enlightenment slip, even Christopher recognizes it and asks Tony “Whatever happened to ‘smell the roses’?” just before there car accident and Tony’s murder of Chris. Since Tony cannot change, he is now ready to meet his destiny that was laid out during his coma induced trip to Costa Mesa. This is the “death sentence” that Tony talked about to the doctor in his Coma-trip, the same “death sentence” the doctor told him could be avoided. Tony couldn’t change so change (death) was thrust upon him. His death makes perfect sense thematically. The theme is also demonstrated symbolically during Tony’s Coma-trip and his Vegas trip. The two trips reflect and contrast each other. Tony’s Costa Mesa trip is Tony’s chance at moral regeneration. Tony’s Vegas trip is his complete deterioration and symbolizes the end of Tony’s second chance. Both trips find Tony initially alone. In the Costa Mesa trip, Tony doesn’t sleep with the girl. In the Vegas trip, Tony’s sleeps with Christopher’s goomar. Tony’s Costa-Mesa trip ends with a spiritual and possible moral awakening for Tony. The bright light (manifesting itself from the hospital room) is seen by Tony as he comes out of the coma. In Vegas, Tony is on the floor from vomiting from peyote and takes comfort staring at a small ceiling bathroom light which contrasts to the bright light when he comes out of the coma (Tony is perhaps subconsciously drawing on his “coming out of the coma” experience). In Vegas, Tony stares at the Pompei slots which ominously reveal a full shot of the devil. In Costa Mesa, things are more hopeful. Tony/Finnerty receives salutations from other salesman for his sales accomplishments (“We are just impressed to be in the presence of a man whose sales team snatched the brass ring for 12 consecutive quarters”, i.e .Tony always ending up on top in his Mafia world). Tony is humble and, perhaps aware of his own mortality, responds that “There is always a faster gun” (“Man in Member’s Only Jacket’s” gun?). In Vegas, Tony cannot lose. His gambling luck has changed because Chris has died. Tony falls to the casino floor laughing as the dealer looks on in disgust. Tony saw a beacon of light during his coma-trip and was told that to find the “Inn at the Oaks” that he should go “out towards the beacon.” The beacon will lead to Tony’s death. Just before the Vegas trip, Tony suffocates Chris and as he looks up at the road he sees one headlight of a vehicle shining exactly like the beacon in Tony’s Coma-trip. During Tony’s Vegas trip, Tony sees the beacon flash behind the sun when he is high on peyote. Tony is now ready to die. The theme is also reflected in the bell ringing moments. When Tony is wheeled out of the hospital after recovering from the shooting, he closes his eyes just as he is outside as church bells ring prominently nearby. Tony listens to the bells and appears to have a contemplative moment. He then holds Janice’s hand and tells her how lucky he is to be alive and how “after this every day is a gift.” In contrast, by the final scene in Holsten’s, Tony’s epiphany is just a memory and the tiny bells of Holsten’s ring for the last time at Tony’s death bringing his experience full circle.

Tony death by “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” is the ultimate consequence of Tony’s actions. “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” represents not only Tony’s mafia past coming back to destroy him, but also symbolizes the lives he has destroyed. The Monks in Tony’s coma-trip urge Tony to take responsibility. As mentioned earlier, the Monks urgent but ignored pleas to Tony/Finnerty for solar heating symbolize Tony’s indifference and eventual dismissal of Eugene Pontecorvo’s pleas to retire to Florida to escape the Mafia life. The Monks tell Tony/Finnerty that their “lawsuit proceeds” because Tony can’t take responsibility. Tony/Finnerty then correctly predicts that the “lawsuit could cause problems later on” (the karmic payback of “Man in Members Only Jacket” who symbolizes Eugene Pontecorovo, killing Tony in the final scene). To further make the point, Chase cuts from a shot of Tony in the coma to the dead Eugene lying in his casket. Tony’s indifference may also explain why Eugene’s suicide is never mentioned by Tony in the final season. Almost all of the major deaths on the show have had some resonance with Tony. Yet, there is no mention by Tony to Dr. Melfi or anyone else about his suicide. Did Eugene’s death not effect Tony? The answer is clear, Chase wanted us to forget about Eugene because Tony forgot about Eugene. Tony was arrogant and complacent and his past would catch up with him in Holsten’s. Furthermore, upon re-examination of the final season, we are reminded of Tony’s indifference to Eugene when Tony selfishly gambles away the 100K that he could’ve given to Vito’s widow, daughter and troubled son to escape New Jersey to relocate to Maine (Vito’s son’s trouble may ominously foreshadow more trouble for A.J. once Tony is killed). We also see Carmela on her laptop staring at a screen titled “top 10 cities to buy-Panama City, Florida” in the 6b episode “Kennedy and Heidi.” This eerily echo’s the scene early in “Member’s Only” where Eugene and his wife look at their prospective new home in Florida on their computer. This is the constant reminder of the suffering that Tony has caused to others and the karmic payback of the “Man in the Member’s Only Jacket.” It doesn’t matter that Tony has (apparently) defeated Phil. Tony has ruined so many lives that someone can seek retribution at any time. As Bacala eerily tells Tony in the boat at the lake house, “In our line of work, it’s always out there.” Chase also gives more detailed connections to Eugene in “Member’s Only” and the final scene in Holsten’s. Eugene, wearing a “Member’s Only Jacket” shoots a fat man named Teddy Spiradokis (initials T.S.=Tony Soprano) sitting in a diner eating. In the same episode, Eugene’s wife, angry that Tony will not let Eugene retire to Florida, ominously tells Eugene to “put a bullet in [Tony’s] f***ing head.” After Eugene’s murder of Spiradokis, Eugene listens to Blondie’s Dreaming. Tony enters Holsten’s as Little Feat’s All that you Dream plays in the diner.

Tony’s death in front of his family is not only directly linked to his near death wake up call and possibility of change but also to the show’s main themes from the very beginning. The show has always been about Tony’s struggle to reconcile his “Family” life with his family life. The shows opening episode, the “Pilot” lays out this theme. Tony has a panic attack after the “family” of ducks leave his pool. This triggers Tony’s first visit to Dr. Melfi. Tony has a breakthrough in the “Pilot” and realizes why the duck flight has caused him such fear. He exclaims to Dr. Melfi that “I’m afraid I’m gonna lose my family like I lost the ducks.” Tony then begins to cry. Tony admits he is filled with “dread” and Dr. Melfi asks “What are you so afraid is going to happen?” This fear is intertwined with Tony’s other Mafia family. We have seen Tony’s struggles as a ruthless Mob boss and a loving father. These aspects of his personality seem contradictory. Throughout the show’s history we have seen Tony’s mafia world intrude on his family as part of the moral erosion produced by a lifetime of exposure to his other “Family.” In the show’s third season, Meadow dated Mob wannabee Jackie Jr. Tony’s two families collided when Tony was forced to order the death of Jackie Jr. Meadow’s relationship with Finn is subsequently polluted when he is exposed at work (at a construction site, a job that Tony got him) to Mafia violence (Eugene’s beating of Little Paulie) and Vito’s threats after he discovers him giving a blowjob to a security guard. Finn and Meadow’s relationship quickly falls apart because of Meadow’s denial of Tony’s criminal lifestyle and after Finn realizes that Tony and his crew will kill Vito for his homosexuality. We later see A.J. on the cusp of a criminal life when he helps torture a college student in the 6b episode “Walk Like a Man.” Meadow indirectly leads to the NY-NJ war in the final season when she is harassed by Coco. Tony then nearly beats Coco to death to avenge Meadow’s honor in the 6b episode “The Second Coming.”

Chase expresses the incompatibility of the “Family” and the family within Tony’s own history. In the 6b episodes “Remember When” and “Chasing It,”Chase teases us that Tony will recognize how much his father, Johnny Boy Soprano, poisoned him. In “Remember When,” Tony recalls his first murder, a murder ordered by his father. Tony has doubts that his father believed in him. To assuage him, Paulie conveys to Tony that his father believed in him enough to assign him the task of murder. Tony says nothing in response and promptly walks away from their conversation. Tony isn’t exactly excited when Beansie gives him an old photo of his Dad with Uncle Junior. Tony rejects (and least subconsciously) Paulie’s idolization of the past (” ‘Remember When’ is the lowest form of conversation”). More importantly, Chase symbolically ties Johnny Boy’s corruption of his son to Tony’s own family by revealing that Meadow was born one week after Tony’s first murder. These two watershed events in Tony’s life are forever linked. In “Chasing It,” Tony becomes the degenerate gambler that his father warned him against. Tony is subconsciously rejecting his father. However, Tony never consciously recognizes his father’s evil and therefore can never fully reject it. It is this ”evil” that will erode his own family and eventually destroy Tony himself. It’s no coincidence that Tony’s killer- “Man in Member’s Only Jacket,” bears a striking resemblance to his own father. Tony certainly doesn’t want his own son, A.J., to be like him. However, A.J. believes he must fulfill his destiny as a son of a mafia don by avenging Tony’s shooting and killing Uncle Junior. In the 6a episode “Johnny Cakes,” A.J. is constantly given great respect at nightclubs because of his father. Later on in that episode, a young girl massages him and asks him if Tony will avenge his shooting by Uncle Junior. A.J. then attempts to kill Junior but clumsily fails, to Tony’s relief. A.J. cries to Tony and suggests that mafia revenge is the appropriate cause of action by citing Tony’s favorite scene in The Godfather- where Michael Corleone kills the men responsible for the attempted hit on his father. Tony tells him “it’s just a movie” and his actions were “wrong.” However, Tony never recognizes that his own life of criminality may be responsible for A.J.’s actions. Later on in 6b, Tony inadvertently leads A.J. into the criminal activities of the “2 Jason’s” by forcing A.J. to hang out with them to escape his depression over his broken engagement to Blanca. Subsequently, A.J. has a moral awakening with his concern about the war on terror and guilt over his participation in a beating of an African student. As the series ends, it’s unlikely that A.J. will be a killer like his father. However, a few final scenes in the closing episode leave us uncertain about his future, and perhaps indicate that he may continue in the destructive cycle caused by a lifetime of exposure to the other “Family.” Chase has A.J. wear the classic ”Tony” white undershirt and robe when Tony and Carmela convince him to work for Little Carmine’s movie production company instead of joining the military. A.J.’s new job also has echo’s of Tony’s other “son,” the deceased Christopher Moltisanti. Tony and Carm explain that the first script A.J. will help produce will be a low rent horror film, much like Christopher’s “Cleaver.”

In the final season, Tony’s love of his family still teases us with a chance of redemption for him. This chance ties into his therapy. Tony is about to quit therapy but admits to Dr. Melfi that he had to return because of his son’s depression. Tony saves AJ from his suicide attempt and cradles him (“it’s o.k. baby, its o.k.”) In therapy with Dr. Melfi, Tony seems to take responsibility for AJ suicide attempt but quickly turns it around on Carmela for “coddling him” and suggests that AJ just needs “a kick in the ass.” Dr. Melfi in her final session realizes the futility of ever reaching Tony (and his lack of accountability) and promptly dumps him as a patient. Tony rationalizes and urges her to keep him on and tells her that “missing sessions is part of my condition” to which Dr. Melfi quickly responds “You miss sessions because you don’t give a shit about commitment…” As the coma-trip doctor told Tony, his condition isn’t fatal if he “talks to his doctor’s back home.” Tony has failed to do that. Tony later tells Carmela he’s quit therapy forever (of course not telling her the truth that Dr. Melfi dumped him). Carmela responds “Except for that slight improvement around the shooting she wasn’t doing you much good anyway.” Here Chase directly ties Tony’s coma-trip to his chance at change through Dr. Melfi except Carmela (typically) fails to realize Tony’s part in his ultimate failure with therapy.

Tony’s “Family” values continue to erode his family. In the final episode, Meadow tells Tony over dinner that she is becoming a lawyer because of all the times she saw Tony being arrested. She blames his persecution on anti-Italian discrimination. This is the end of his last hope for redemption (through Meadow) as she is now as far in denial as Carmela. The death of “Uncle Bobby” (Bacala) and the comatose Silvio Dante could be the wake up call to Carmela, Meadow and AJ to question Tony’s actions. However, once the war is resolved the family is back to business as usual, blissfully ignorant of the destruction caused by Tony. The morally aware A.J. who wants to fight terrorism, and therefore fight a cause outside himself, is easily bought off with a new BMV and a cushy job in Little Carmine’s movie production company. The family will now get the ultimate in your face intervention when they witness Tony’s murder. Tony’s choice not to “take responsibility” (as the Monks asked him) for his actions will have severe consequences as his “Family” values will further poison his “family.” Tony’s pool (which became the metaphor for his hope and love for his family when the ducks visited) is emptied by the season’s end. Phil chillingly tells Tony a few episodes before about the asbestos dispute-“You have a backyard…pool, dump it [asbestos] there.” A.J. also attempts to commit suicide in the pool. Tony has squandered his second chance and quickly forgets what’s most important in life, his family. He returns to his quest for power and money at the expense of everything else and poisons his family in the process. Tony couldn’t stay away from the high of the risk of his criminal lifestyle (emphasized with Tony’s words “Every day’s a gift but does it have to be a pair of socks?” in the 6a episode “The Ride” and his destructive gambling which reflects his gambling with his own life and the life of his family). This risk finally comes to damage his family in the final scene. Tony’s instant murder in front of his family ominously echo’s Janice’s words in “The Ride” when Janice and her children are nearly seriously injured on a malfunctioning ride at St. Elzear’s fair, (a byproduct of Paulie’s indifference to the fair’s safety regulations as ”The Family” continues to erode and threaten the family) she says- “One second you’re sitting there enjoying a ride with your family the next your entire world comes crashing down.” At Holsten’s, Chase gives Tony, Carmela and A.J. each full shots of putting onion rings in their mouths without a bite beforehand. This may represent “final communion.” In the first season episode “College,” Carmela takes the communion wafer (Chase gives us a close up of Carmela’s mouth as she takes the wafer) with Father Phil. Carmela confesses to Father Phil that she fears Tony has done horrible acts and that she’s enabled him. She cries “I gotta bad feeling that it’s just a matter of time before God compensates me for outrage for my sins.” This scene cuts to Febby Petrolia, a former mobster turned rat in witness protection whom Tony spots while visiting colleges with Meadow, about to shoot Tony and Meadow outside of their motel rooms (Petrullio abandons the killing after he sees some potential witnesses walk out of a nearby motel room). This parallel’s “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” dangerously close proximity to not just Tony, but his whole family.

Tony has failed to adequately “talk to his doctor’s back home” (i.e. Dr. Melfi) to avoid his “death sentence” as the doctor in his coma-trip told him (Dr. Melfi continually reminds Tony in the final season that he’s missing appointments). In the final scene of the first season finale, Tony and his family take refuge at Vesuvios from a thunderstorm. Tony and his family have dinner and Tony tells his children “soon you will have families of your own. And if you’re lucky you’ll remember the little moments, like this, that were good.” AJ then repeats this mantra to Tony at Holsten’s . He tells Tony to “remember the good times.” However, (and this is critical) Tony forgets that he ever said it. At first, he thinks A.J. is just being sarcastic but finally acknowledges “that’s true I guess” and smiles. This reflects what Tony has forgotten from his near death experience, to live every day to the fullest and concentrate on family. This ties into the “Alzheimer’s” diagnosis (loss of memory). Tony has forgotten what’s really important and will never have any more “good times” with his family to remember as the warning of his coma-trip hasn’t been heeded. Tony’s death in front of his family is the ultimate merger of the show’s themes from the very beginning. Tony’s “family” life and “mafia” life collide in a chilling moment that was 86 episodes in the making. The impending doom (MOG’s ominous looks at Tony’s table) is contrasted with Tony’s happiness in Holsten’s. The way Tony looks at Carmela and AJ as they walk towards his booth is a clear expression of his love for them. He gently grabs AJ’s hand and seems content. This is as happy a moment as Tony Soprano will ever get. Tony just needs Meadow to sit at the booth for the perfect moment to be complete. Once Meadow joins the table, all of the “ducks” will have returned. However, Tony is murdered before all of the “ducks” return to the pool. The bad thing that Tony feared will happen to his family in the “Pilot” episode has finally arrived. This is the ultimate twist on Tony’s revelation in the “Pilot” episode, through his death, Tony has “lost” his family. The abrupt cut to black haunts the mind and illustrates Tony’s journey as an American tragedy.

**Below is a subsection to Part II that I felt was important to be included but didn’t fit in neatly into the original section:

In the opening episode of fourth season, Carmela begins to worry about the future after she sees the widow Angie Bompensiero working in a supermarket. She worries about her kids future’s if Tony is killed. A certain post 9/11 mentality sinks into the show from that point on. She ominiously tells Tony that “Everything comes to an end!” Carmela starts stealing money from Tony to invest and protect her future. She eventually gets into buying and selling real estate at the end of Season 5. Chase may be telling us that Carmela will be o.k. after Tony’s death. Tiny seeds for Tony’s death seem to be planted early on in Season 4 with all the talk of what Tony’s death would mean for the rest of the family, and Carmela’s increasing assertiveness in financially protecting her future. The early part of Season 4 has that much more resonance knowing Tony will die.
Most importantly, Tony begins to analyze his potential future with his “Two endings for a guy like me” speech to Dr. Melfi in the opening episode of Season 4. Below is the critical excerpt that will have thematic and narrative ramifications by the close of the final seconds of “Made in America”:

Tony: “[There are]Two endings for guy like me, high profile guy,
dead or in the can…big percentage of the time…”

Dr. Melfi: “Anthony, why don’t you give it [life of crime] up?”

Tony: “you didn’t let me finish, there’s a third way to wrap it up,
you rely only on family”

Dr. Melfi: “Not many men can survive without the love and
support of their wife and children…”

Tony (cutting Melfi off): “No, no, no, I’m talking about business,
you trust only blood”

Tony goes on to tell Dr. Melfi about another Mob boss who lived until he was 81, retired in Florida because he only gave orders through his son. Tony then explains that he intends to do the same with Christopher. He has already began to permanently bond Christopher to him. Earlier, we see Tony give the location of the former cop who murdered Christopher’s father. Christopher then murders the man to avenge his father’s death. Later in the season Tony relays his plan to Christopher to only give his orders through him.

After Adriana is murdered, Tony and Christopher’s relationship begins to deteriorate. In the opening episode of 6b-”Sopranos Home Movies”, Tony repeats the “Two endings for a guy like me” speech to Bobby at the lake house. He then tells him that his plan to rely on Christopher has ended due to their “divergent agendas.” Tony then insinuates that Bobby (as Tony’s brother in law) replace Christopher to perpetuate his plan to avoid the usual fate of a mob boss. That plan officially comes to end when Bobby is murdered at end of the final season. Tony’s plan on how to “wrap it up” has failed. In the opening minutes of 6b, Tony is arrested and sent to local lockup on gun possession. Here we get the glimpse of one of the two inevitable endings. The final 10 seconds of the series show us the other and final ending for Tony Soprano.

This all ties back to key dialogue between Tony and Dr. Melfi quoted above. Tony’s failure to see what is important (his real family) is expressed by Dr. Melfi when Tony relays his plan to her. Here, Tony perverse’s Melfi’s logic and misses the big picture. He cuts her off and tells her how he’s talking about “family” (i.e. Christopher) within the context of his business ”Family.” He tragically misses that only his real family will offer him any opportunity to avoid his inevitable fate. An opportunity that Dr. Melfi tries to relay to him by expressing that most men can’t survive without the love of their wife and children. This theme becomes prominent again when Tony returns to his old ways after his brief spiritual rebirth from his near death experience. His concentration on “Family” over “family” causes him to lose what was most important to him.
PART III:The Symbology of Holsten’s:

Besides the editing and directing in the final season leading to the conclusion that Tony was shot in the head in the final scene, other more abstract symbols and connections support the conclusion and give the scene greater emotional subtext. In the scene itself, black and red stand out in the color scheme. Red representing blood and black representing death. Carmela wears a bright red jacket over a black shirt. AJ and Meadow are all dressed in black. This may also suggest that Carmela, AJ, and Meadow will be attending Tony’s “funeral”. The redness of the seats in the booth stand out. The old woman seated directly in the booth in front of Tony (in Tony’s eyesight) also wears a black jacket covering a bright red shirt. Patrons in the diner recall Tony’s past and create an ominous feeling within the scene. The old woman sitting alone directly in front of Tony (clearly seen behind Carmela and AJ) represents Livia, who will bear witness to Tony’s murder. This echo’s Bob Dylan song we heard earlier It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding). The grey haired man with the boy scouts resembles Phil Leotoardo(and is wearing grey just like Phil when he is murdered) and is constantly standing and hovering over Tony’s left shoulder throughout the scene. We see this same grey haired man with the cub scouts point at two of the children. His thumb is straight up as he points making his hand resemble a gun. He is again seen standing over Tony’s shoulder just before the cut to black. Meadow almost gets struck by an SUV crossing the street to Holsten’s which recalls Phil’s SUV. The orange cat that Paulie believes is a bad omen has mutated into an orange tiger on the back wall of Holsten’s. The scene also has a feel that Tony’s life may be “flashing before his eyes” before his lights are permanently put out (i.e. “black-out”) We see a young NJ couple in love which represents a young Carmela and Tony. We see 2 young black guys that recall the first murder attempt on his life. The boy scouts may represent a pure childhood that Tony never had. MOG represents his “mafia” life (Richie Aprile and Feech LaManna wore “Member’s Only” jackets). Just an episode before, a NY hit-man in a “Members Only Jacket” shoots Silvio into a coma. The man with the USA hat may represent the FBI. The mural in the back wall (filled with High School sports memorabilia) of Holsten’s seems to recall Tony’s triumphs in High School sports. The mural on the back wall shows some type of dormitory that resembles the “Inn at the Oaks.” We see the song Magic Moment on the jukebox. This is a call back to “Sopranos Home Movies” and Bacala’s fateful question “Never hear when it happens, right?” The song closes that episode. The first patron that Tony sees enter Holsten’s is a dark haired woman who resembles Tony’s goomars(Gloria, Valentina) or perhaps Janice. Tony is seemingly happy in the final scene, but he ultimately cannot escape his past which will catch up with him in Holsten’s.

The closing scene is set to Journey’s Don’t stop Believing. This would probably be a song that Tony and Carmela listened to in their younger days. More importantly, it is Tony who chooses the song on the jukebox. Don’t Stop Believing is Tony’s rallying cry. Throughout the show’s history he has never stopped believing that he can reconcile his family life with his mafia life. We know he cannot successfully do this and his mafia life and family life converge in that final, fateful moment in Holsten’s. Tony’s “Journey” is over. The music stops and the abrupt cut to black occurs on the lyric “Don’t Stop” in Journey’s Don’t Stop Believing. However, the scene and Tony’s life do stop at that exact moment and do not “go on and on” as the songs says. The music gets louder at certain points in the scene and lyrics comment on the character’s state of mind. “Just a small town girl living in a lonely world..” may symbolize Carmela’s life after Tony is killed. Just as Tony tells Carmela that Carlo will testify against him the lyrics “..it goes on and on and on….”plays. The very next cut is to “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” approaching the door. This suggests that “MOG” (through his murder of Tony) will break the endless pattern of Tony and Carmela’s life of waiting for the other shoe to drop. The volume pumps up as MOG walks past Tony to the lyric of “…Stranger waiting in the night…”

The tiny bells of Holsten’s also contrast to the loud church bells Tony hears when he leaves the hospital after his near death experience. When Tony is wheeled out of the hospital after recovering from the shooting, he closes his eyes just as he is outside as church bells ring prominently nearby. Tony listens to the bells and appears to have a contemplative moment. He then holds Janice’s hand and tells her how lucky he is to be alive and how “after this every day is a gift.” In contrast, by the final scene in Holsten’s, Tony’s epiphany is just a memory and the tiny bells of Holsten’s ring for the last time at Tony’s death bringing his experience full circle.

Furthermore, during the same scene, Chase cuts to Tony’s face looking at something. We then cut to what Tony is looking at-a teenaged girl with long straight hair, who clearly resembles Meadow, walks through the open door of her High School. Here, in Tony’s ultimate moment of rebirth, he sees “Meadow” come through the door. By contrast, after Tony has blown his second chance, his view of Meadow is robbed by a bullet through the head as Meadow walks through the door of Holsten’s.

The editing and directing in the final scene also draws symbolic parallels to Tony’s near death sequence at “The Inn at the Oaks”. Tony/Finnerty visits the “Inn at the Oaks” while Tony has “flat lined” in his coma as the physicians at the hospital try to revive him. During the “coma-dream” sequence it is made clear that once Tony/Finnerty enters the Inn, he will die. His dead cousin Tony Blundetto(credited as “The Man”). greets him and urges him to “let go” and join his “family” inside. We also see a Livia like figure at the door of the Inn. “The Man” tells Tony that “you’re going home” (death and the other side). Tony is clearly scared. Just as it appears that he may enter the Inn (and die) we hear the voice of a young female child calling him from the trees. The voice says “Don’t go Daddy!,” “We love you Daddy!!” and “Don’t leave us!!” Tony hears the voice and appears to respond. He looks at the door one last time and the screen fills up with whiteness. This whiteness fills the screen for 9-10 seconds before it disappears. We then see a shot from Tony’s POVas he comes out of the coma and sees Meadow (with Carmela behind her). The “White-out” (which represents Tony coming back to life) is in direct contrast to the “Black-out” and Tony’s death. During the “White-Out” we hear Meadow’s voice crying “Please don’t leave us Daddy, we love you!!” Meadow saved Tony’s life by calling out to him and preventing Tony from going into the “Inn at the Oaks.” Tragically and ironically, Meadow’s lateness may have killed Tony. First, if Meadow was on time she would be sitting in the aisle seat and blocking MOG’s clear shot. Her entrance into the diner (which causes the bell to ring) also distracts Tony and MOG now has the chance to shoot Tony. Also, Meadow is the first person Tony sees when he comes out of the coma. Meadow is the last person he sees (at least fleetingly) when he dies. Chase opens the final season with the “Seven Souls” montage written by William Burroughs. Meadow is described as the “Guardian Angel” in the montage. She wasn’t there to protect Tony in the end. Also note that MOG may not have attempted to kill Tony if Meadow was sitting down next to her because he may have accidentally shot Meadow. Chase sets this up in the penultimate episode “The Blue Comet” when Tony tells Carmela that “Families don’t get touched.”

The POV pattern in Holsten’s that I set out in I.B.(1)-(5) is also strikingly similar to the POV pattern in the “Inn at the Oaks” scene. Once again:

(1) Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 1-2 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV. It is a tall woman with dark hair who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

(2) Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 2-3 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV (same shot as (1)) It is an older man wearing a “USA” cap who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

(3)Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 1-2 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV (same shot as (1) and (2)) It is Carmela who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

(4)Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 1-2 seconds). We then see who is coming through the door from Tony’s POV (same shot as (1), (2) and (3)). It is “Man in Member‘s Only Jacket” hereafter “MOG”) followed by AJ who enters Holsten’s. We then cut back to Tony’s face to see his reaction.

(5)Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 2 seconds). According to the pattern, we should then see who is coming into the diner from Tony’s POV (this should be Meadow as we see her about to enter the diner a few seconds before the bell rings). Instead, the screen cuts abruptly to black mid-scene (at the exact spot where Tony should see Meadow from Tony’s POV) and the audio cuts off. All the viewer sees is “blackness” where Tony’s POV should be. This is Tony’s POV because he is dead.

[Ducky Momo]

Now here is the breakdown of the pattern when Tony begins to look at the door of “The Inn at the Oaks.” We get 5 Tony POV shots of the door (We get 5 Tony POV shots of the door in Holsten’s). These shots are basically uninterrupted (unlike Holsten’s where we have several scenes between the bell ringing moments). However, the general pattern is the same (1-2 and 4-5 are uninterrupted shots).

(1) Tony looks towards the door of the “Inn”, we cut to Tony POV shot of the door where we see a “Livia like” figure, we then cut back to Tony’s reaction.

(2)Tony looks towards the door of the “Inn” we cut to Tony POV shot of the door where we still see a “Livia like” figure who disappears inside the “Inn”, we then cut back to Tony’s reaction.

(3)Tony looks towards the door of the “Inn” we cut to Tony POV shot of the door where the “Livia like” figure is no longer standing . We then cut back to Tony’s reaction.

(4)Tony looks towards the door of the “Inn” we cut to Tony POV shot of the door. We then cut back to Tony’s reaction.

5)Tony looks towards the door of the “Inn”, we cut to Tony POV shot of the door where we see the screen begin to fill with “whiteness” or “light”. The “White-out” is from Tony’s POV(the continuity with Holsten’s suggests that the “blackout” is from Tony’s POV). Once it disappears, we see Meadow and Carmela from Tony’s POV.

Also, Chase has another callback moment to the “Inn at the Oaks” scene. In one of the last scenes of “Made in America” (before Holstens), Tony is raking leaves in his backyard. He then looks up at the trees. We see a scanning POV shot of the trees similar to Tony’s scan of the trees at the “Inn at the Oaks” where he heard Meadow’s voice calling to him. Tony seems at peace and has a slight smile. However, these trees are dead or dying. This foreshadows death just moments later.
PART IV: The final season and “The Godfather.”

The Sopranos history is littered with references to The Godfather, a movie that was an obvious influence on the show. Even the characters themselves repeat lines from the film (most notably Silvio’s Pacino/Michael Corleone impression). In the shows fifth season episode “The Test Dream,” the films influence (as well as other films) shows it’s effect on Tony’s subconscious. In the dream, Tony goes into the bathroom to retrieve a gun just like Michael Corleone’s character in The Godfather’s most famous scene. During the same dream, Carmela tells Tony to get ready for their dinner date with Finn’s parents. However, Tony is distracted by Chinatown on a small television set. Tony exclaims “it’s just so much more interesting…” Carmela says “[more interesting] than what”? Tony replies “than life.” Carmela looks at the movie and responds “It is your life.” Tony’s life of criminality strives to be like the iconic film-heroes of gangster cinema (Tony also loves Public Enemy). As the sixth season opens, The Godfather references become more prominent, especially within the context of death in the films. Tony laments that the tomatoes were just coming in his garden when he has to lam it to Florida after the body of his first murder is uncovered. In The Godfather, Don Vito Corleone dies in his tomato garden. After Junior shoots Tony, AJ tells Chris and Bacala that it’s “difficult but not impossible” to strike back against Junior in the mental facility. This references the same line when Rocco Lampone makes the same remark to Michael Corleone concerning the assassination of Hyman Roth in The Godfather Part II. Almost all of the murders in the final season have the trigger man dropping their guns after the kill just like Michael Corleone after he shoots Mcluskey and Soluzzo after he comes out of the bathroom. Interestingly enough, Chase has not used this homage before but its used consistently throughout the final season. Bacala drops his gun after he kills the Canadian man; the Italian hitman drops his gun after he murders Rusty Millio; the NY hitmen who kill Doc Santoro drop their guns (right after another Godfather reference, the “Moe Green special” bullet to Doc Santoro’s eye); Eugene drops his gun after shooting Teddy Spiradokis; the NY hitmen drop their guns after they murder Bacala in the model train store; the Italian hitmen drop their guns after they (mistakenly) kill Phil’s goomar and her father.

In The Godfather films, orange signifies death. Early on in the final episode, Tony is eating an orange as he ignores Carmela’s question, “Are you being careful?” Michael Corleone dies while he’s holding an orange. Vito Corleone dies with an orange in his mouth. An orange cat stares incessantly at the murdered Christopher’s picture. Paulie is convinced the cat is a bad omen. In the final scene in Holstens, the small orange cat has mutated into a large orange tiger on the back wall mural in Holsten’s (a back wall created by Chase and his production team). In one shot, the tiger hangs over Tony’s right shoulder, exactly where “Man in Member’s Only Jacket” will be when he comes out of the bathroom to shoot Tony. In that famous scene in The Godfather, Michael Coreleone kills 2 people after he comes out of the bathroom after retrieving a gun. The incident occurs in a restaurant. In the final season episode “Johnny Cakes,”AJ (after bungling his attempt to kill Junior at his mental facility) seems to have been inspired by The Godfather. He yells at Tony for his anger at A.J‘s attempt on Junior’s life, “You’re a f***in hypocrite because every time we watch Godfather, when Michael Corleone shoots those guys in the restaurant, those assholes who tried to kill his Dad, you sit there with your bowl of ice cream and say it’s your favorite scene of all time!!” Tony reminds him “it’s just a movie” but Tony’s lifestyle continues to imitate the dangerous lifestyle of the film’s criminal gangsters. The final scene has a very real re-enactment of the restaurant scene in The Godfather. As Carmela said, the films are Tony’s life except this time its very real and ironically Tony will never be aware of his own murder or it’s similarity to the famous scene in The Godfather. AJ, who fondly remembers watching the scene will bear witness to this very real re-enactment. To further hammer The Godfather homage home, one of the victims in the film (Soluzzo) says just before his murder that the restaurant has “the best veal in the city.” Tony says to Carmela and AJ that the onion rings are “the best in the state.” MOG then comes out of the bathroom to kill Tony.

PART V: How 9/11, terrorism and the U.S. war in Iraq unlock the keys to the final scene in Holsten’s

Terrorism, 9/11 and the United States war in Iraq are often mentioned in the final season. However, in the final few episodes and specifically in the final episode “Made in America,” the references pile up at a feverish pace. This is mainly illustrated through A.J. who begins to havea new understanding of the Middle East and becomes obsessed with Al Qaeda and the possibility that weapons of mass destruction could be unleashed in the United States. In the final episode, A.J. tells his father he wants to join the army to fight terrorism in Afghanistan. Numerous symbols of the war in Iraq, 9/11, and American’s dependence on oil crowd the episode. Tony, after seeing a jet fly eerily close overhead (echoing 9/11) talks to Agent Harris about the Arabs that Christopher did business with. Harris is already stressed as he believes terrorists may have been testing the feds response time at Newark Airport. Tony’s crew looks for Phil at several “gas stations,” including a “Gulf” station. Numerous SUV’s (symbolic of America’s reliance on foreign oil) are highlighted in the episode. Phil’s American made SUV (“Ford”) crushes his head after he’s shot as he was filling up for gas as an American flag prominently waves at the gas station. AJ’s SUV explodes as it’s parked on wet leaves. After he’s told by Tony that he won’t get a new car A.J. exclaims that he’ll take the bus as America is too dependent on foreign oil. Agent Harris is shown watching an Al Qaeda video. An angry AJ tells his friends and family at Bacala’s funeral that America is too distracted by “bling” and “American Idol” too realize what’s really going on. He rants that America let Bin Laden escape and that the great idea of America has been lost to materialism. He implies that something apocalyptic is coming as he quotes Yeats, “What rough beast slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”

The final scene in Holstens brings the theme fully together. This diner is certainly “Made in America.” The diner and it’s patrons could be located in any town in the Mid-West and is as far from Artie’s “Vesuvios” as you can get. High School sports is highlighted on the back wall of Holsten’s. All American families fill the booths. The diner’s patrons include a young, giggling teenage couple in love, group of “boy scouts” and a trucker with a “USA” cap on his head. Classic American food and drink is served (soda and onion rings). However, “MOG’s” presence and looks over at Tony’s table bring the scene a sense of impending doom. Finally, key words from David Chase from GQ magazine bring it all together:
“The theme of that episode was “Made in America.” I used that title not only because Tony’s a made guy, and all these guys are made guys, but also because it was about the extreme amount of comfort Americans have, especially people with money. And specifically, it was about the war in Iraq—it was made in America, and as you saw in the show, Tony and Carmela just didn’t want their son to go, and they could afford to see that their son didn’t go. Like some of our leaders.”

“…Not to get too didactic about it, but it was really sort of about how we are going about our amply fed, luxury-car life here, and the world is going to hell and we’re under tremendous threat. And people don’t want to see it”.

The second excerpt is key. Tony and his family represent this “comfort” that Americans have. Chase word’s also seem to put to rest the misperception that the final scene represents Tony’s paranoia or how he will have to live the rest of his life. Here, Chase is telling us that the theme is about not being aware of the threat and being too comfortable. AJ has his new BMV and Meadow attempts to park her Lexus outside of the diner (Chase’s “luxury car” life). At the same time, Tony is under tremendous threat from MOG, but never sees it or as Chase says “people don’t want to see it.” Chase (as explained in the earlier part of this piece) has MOG placed directly in Tony’s line of vision but Tony never notices him looking over. Tony is too consumed with his menu (“amply fed” as Chase says). MOG is able to kill Tony from behind as he comes out of the bathroom. Once again, Tony never sees the threat. The blind sided nature of Tony’s death by “MOG” and the abrupt cut to black represent the blind sided and disorienting nature of the September 11th attack’s on the United States.
PART VI: Miscellaneous “Fun Stuff” that could only be created by David Chase

(1) The first episode of the final season is titled “Member’s Only.” The man who may have shot Tony in Holsten’s is credited as “Man in Member’s Only Jacket.” This is an unusual description for a non-speaking part. The “Member’s Only” tag on the jacket is never identifiable in the scene. Why is he not credited as “Man at the counter”, “Man staring at Tony”, “Man who goes to the bathroom”? These are far more descriptive and appropriate. Here is the credit list of all the patrons in the diner:

Man in Members Only Jacket
Man in Diner
African American Man #1 in Diner
African American Man #2 in Diner
Truck Driver in Diner
Old Woman in Diner
Old Man in Diner
Young Woman in Diner
Young Man in Diner

They all end “in Diner” as you would think they would except MOG which clearly stands out. Not to mention the association of “Members Only” with a “made member” of the mob or the numerous mafia characters that have worn the same jacket (including the NY hit-man who shot Silvio, Richie Aprile, Feech Lamanna and Eugene Pontecorvo) and the callback to first episode of the final season “Members Only.” There is a clear effort by Chase for us to see the man as a character and consequently of importance.

The title of the first episode refers to the character of Eugene Pontecorvo who wears a Member’s Only jacket. In the episode Vito Spatafore makes fun of Eugene for wearing the jacket. Numerous clues in this episode may foreshadow Tony’s death. In this episode Eugene commits suicide after Tony will not let Eugene “retire” from Mob life and move him and his family to Florida after Eugene receives a 2 million dollar inheritance. The major clues are indicating Tony’s death in the final scene from this episode include:

(a) Tony is shot in this episode.

(b) The shirts worn by Tony when he is shot in both episodes have similar patterns.

(c) Eugene is assigned to kill a man-(1) the victim is a fat man (i.e. Tony) (2)Eugene is wearing the “Members Only Jacket” when he shoots the man (just like MOG in Holsten’s), (3) the victim is sitting and eating in a restaurant when he is shot (like Tony), (4) the victims name is Teddy Spiradokis, initials T.S. (Tony Soprano). (5)The victim was killed for owing money to the mob (this may foreshadow Tony’s gambling problem later in the season), (6) we hear the bell of the door ring when Eugene enters the diner (just like the bells of Holsten’s)

(d) Eugene’s wife, angry that Tony will not let Eugene retire to Florida tells Eugene “Tony, Tony !!…why don’t you kill him, put a bullet in his f***ing head.”

(e) Eugene tries to placate his wife “A year from now, 2 years, everything could be different, Tony could be gone.”

(f) An FBI agent tells Eugene “You are our designated hitter” (because Ray Curto has died).

(g) The final shot of the episode is an overhead shot of Tony losing consciousness after he is shot by Junior. The opening shot of the final episode is the exact same shot as Tony wakes up as organ music plays on the radio (I will go more into this later on).

(h) After Eugene’s murder of Spiradokis, Eugene listens to Blondie’s Dreaming. Tony enters Holsten’s as Little Feat’s All that you Dream plays in the diner.

(2) In the final episode, Tony’s dinner with Meadow foreshadows Tony’s death. Tony has dinner with Meadow in the City. Meadow asks why they are having dinner, Tony tells her “We used to have dinner all the time, your gonna get married and my chances are flying by me.” This would be the last time Tony has dinner with Meadow as Meadow never makes it to the booth at Holsten’s before Tony is killed.

(3) Kennedy references in “Made in America”:When Tony visits Silvio in the hospital we hear a commercial from the hospital room television for a product called “The Magic Bullet.” This is a reference to the Kennedy assassination where Kennedy was shot in the back of the head. Kennedy also did not see or hear it coming. The voice over of the commercial talks about chopping onions which foreshadows the family eating onion rings in the final scene. The voice over says “The Magic Bullet is a personal, versatile counter-top magician that does any job in 10 seconds or less.” The length of the blackout is “10 seconds” and the MOG sits at the “countertop” before he kills Tony. During the Janice-Junior scene in the finale, Janice asks Junior if he remembers Bobby (Bacala). Junior answers “Ambassador Hotel?” This is where Bobby Kennedy was shot in the head. Also note that Chase knew we would be analyzing the final scene like the “Zapruder” film.

(4) In “Sopranos Home Movies” we have another bell ringing/POVscene that foreshadows Holsten’s. Tony is sitting in a chair on a dock by himself. This is the next morning after the fight with Bacala. Tony looks in deep thought and may be contemplating his own mortality. This is confirmed by the subsequent conversation with Carmela. Tony then hears a bell. Tony then looks over as we see the bell is coming from a boat tied to the dock (probably a fog bell). The boat is shown from Tony’s POV. Tony then turns back to the water when we then hear the bell ring again. This time it is louder. Tony now clearly looks disturbed and looks over. We then cut to another POV shot of the boat. We then see a duck flying away behind Tony. Also, the beginning of the scene cuts back to Bacala flipping through the stations on the radio. At one point we hear Magic Moment playing. This song also closes the episode and is clearly shown on the jukebox in Holsten’s.

(5) Tony has his first visit back to Dr. Melfi since his shooting in “Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request.” Tony knows that he is lucky that he has survived 2 attempts at his life. He then ominously says “Three strikes and I am out right?” Tony’s murder by MOG is the third strike.
(6) The Abraham Lincoln references: The first reference is in the episode “Kaisha” as Tony watches a History Channel documentary on Lincoln. The documentary refers to Lincoln’s depression which echoes Tony’s depression. In “The Second Coming” Carmela makes AJ “Lincoln Log” sandwiches. AJ is then seen at the hospital watching a T.V. commercial for a sleeping pill in which we see an actor portraying Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln was the leader and president of the United States. Lincoln was shot in the head in front of his wife by a lone shooter after Lincoln had won the Civil War. Tony Soprano is the leader of a Mafia family. Tony was shot in the head in front of his family by a lone shooter after he won the NY/NJ Mafia war.

(7) The opening scene of the final episode is an overhead shot of Tony sleeping. Tony is shot as if he is in a casket. The alarm clock goes off and organ music (very similar to music at a funeral) starts to play to wake Tony up. The opening shot is the exact same shot of Tony losing consciousness after he is shot by Junior in the closing scene in “Member’s Only.”

(8) The Three Bells” : This song is used on 2 separate occasions in the final season. The song ties into the “bells” that we hear in Holsten’s and foreshadow Tony’s death. The song has 3 verses. Parts of the first 2 verses are used on these occasions. The first verse is used in the episode “The Fleshy Part of the Thigh.” For our purposes these are the relevant lyrics by the Browns

“All the chapel bells were ringing
In the little valley town
And the songs that they were singing
Were for baby Jimmy Brown”

This verse is played when Paulie and Patsy visit Jason Barone to threaten him not to sell his father’s garbage route. Jason Barone is an innocent born to parents who were involved withthe mafia. Once Jason’s father dies, he attempts to sell his father’s garbage disposal route without Tony’s approval. Jason is the innocent “baby Jimmy Brown”. Jason will lose his “innocence” after this meeting with Paulie and Patsy. The second verse is used in the episode “Mr. and Mrs. John Sacrimoni Request.” For our purposes these are the relevant lyrics:

“There’s a village hidden deep in the valley
Beneaththe mountains high above

And there, twenty years thereafter
Jimmy was to meet his love.

All the chapel bells were ringing,
Was a great day in his life
Cause the songs that they were singing
Were for Jimmy and his wife”

This verse plays as Vito Spatafore checks into a motel room. He goes into hiding after he has been outed as a homosexual at a nightclub in New York City. It sets up Vito falling in love with “Johnny Cakes” in the next episode “Live Free or Die.” The lyrics (“Jimmy was to meet his love”) set up Vito’s new romance.

The third verse is never played during the rest of the final season. These are the relevant lyrics of the third verse:

“From the village hidden deep in the valley
One rainy morning dark and gray
A soul winged its way to heaven
Jimmy Brown had passed away

Just a lonely bell was ringing
In the little valley town

twas farewell that it was singing
To our good old Jimmy Brown”

The third verse is about Jimmy Brown’s death. We would expect to hear the final verse during the deathof a character. The final verse is never heard but final scene in Holsten’s replaces the third verse of the song. Tony dies in Holsten’s (“Jimmy Brown had passed away”). We hear the bell ring 6 times in the final scene. One when Tony walks in, the second when the tall lady with curly hair walks in, the third when the man with the USA cap walks in, the fourth when Carmela walks in, the fifth when MOG and AJ walk in, the sixth when Meadow walks in and Tony is shot. However, only 3 of the bells ringing are relevant to Tony. These are the bell rings that indicate that his family has arrived. We hear a total of “3 bells” ringing for Carmela, AJ and Meadow.

(9) Agent Harris tells Tony that they are approaching the “End times, the Rapture is coming” in the penultimate episode “The Blue Comet.”

(10) Tony tears out pages of “Departures” Magazine in the penultimate episode “The Blue Comet.”

(11) The Doors “When the Music’s Over” plays in the BadaBing in the penultimate episode “The Blue Comet.” The song includes the lyrics “when the music’s over turn out the lights.” This foreshadows the final scene in which the music abruptly stops and the “lights” go out. Furthermore, death is a major theme of the song. Also, at the very end of the scene we see a “Men’s Room” sign in bright neon blue lights in the middle of the frame between two bing dancers after Paulie and Bacala have left the frame. This is another connection to MOG, who goes into the men’s room. In “Made in America” we also see the sign again. We see a tracking shot of Paulie in which the sign moves behind Paulie from right to left in the frame during the scene where Paulie calls Tony to relay the information that Carlo is missing.

(12) Eugene tells Tony he is “3 years from 50” in the episode “Members Only,” so Eugene is 47 when he dies. Tony dies when he is 47 years of age. Phil celebrates his dead brother’s 47th birthday in “Stage 5.”

(13) The NY hit-man that shoots Silvio in “The Blue Comet” is wearing a “Members Only” jacket.

(14) In the final episode, Paulie delivers a bag full of barber’s scissors to the crew at Satriales. The scene is a callback to “Sopranos Home Movies” and the “never hear it happen” question by Bacala to Tony at the lake house. During the same conversation, Bacala discusses how his late father (a famous Mafia hit-man) would have preferred just cutting hair in his barber shop over the stress of mafia life. Tony responds sarcastically that he would rather Bacala’s father shoot him than cut his hair.

(15) The Orange Cat: In the final episode an orange cat plays a prominent role. The cat symbolizes Adriana LaCerva, Christopher’s fiance who was ordered killed by Tony after Christopher finds out she had been cooperating with the FBI. Adriana’s murder was perhaps the most heartbraking in the series history. She was the most “innocent” of the characters (at least on this show). Her death had huge ramifications on the future of Christopher and Tony’s relationship and on the show itself. She appeared in two dream sequences after her death and it makes sense that Chase would include her in some fashion in the final episode. Throughout the show’s history, Adriana consistently wore leopard print jackets, shirts, and underwear. In an early scene in the episode where Adriana is murdered-”Long Term Parking,” she wears an orange leopard cat suit from head to toe. In the final episode, the orange cat stares incessantly at the dead Christopher’s picture, further tip-off that it’s meant to represent Christopher’s only true love. Tony, who also expressed love for Adriana to Dr. Melfi in Season 5, is also fond of the cat. Only Paulie sees the cat as a bad omen and wants to kill it. Later, Paulie admits to Tony that he saw a vision of the “Holy Mary” and initially turns down his promotion to the Aprile crew as the position has a history of pre-mature death for its leaders. Paulie also talks about the cat as a bad omen. The spiritually obsessed Paulie sees the Virgin Mary sighting and the cat, along with his recent bout with prostate cancer, as a sign that he can’t take the promotion. Tony laughs at Paulie’s concerns and finally pressures Paulie to take the job. As Tony walks away from the conversation, Paulie’s face turns to fear at the ramifications of his decision. He then goes back to sunning himself outside Satriale’s. Chase then cuts to a wide shot of the orange cat approaching him creating an ominious and somewhat comic tone to Paulie’s last scene. In Holsten’s, the orange cat has mutated into a tiger on the back wall of Holsten’s hovering over Tony’s right shoulder where MOG will kill Tony from behind. In the third season episode “Another Toothpick”, Adriana wears a dress with a face of tiger displayed across the front when she tells Artie she’s quitting as host of Vesuvio’s. Adriana’s mother also has a picture of a tiger on her black jacket in the episode where Adriana is murdered (her mother pops up in the final season and tells Carmela she believes her daughter was murdered by Christopher). Adriana’s symbolic presence in the final episode and in Holsten’s where Tony is murdered represent karmic payback for her murder.

(16) Throughout the run of the series, Tony survived two attempts on his life. The first is when the two black guys hired by Junior try to kill him. The second is when Junior shoots him. In the final scene, Meadow attempts to parallel park her car. She is finally successful on the third attempt. This reflects the third, and finally successful attempt on Tony’s life from “Man in Member’s Only Jacket”. (*Thanks to the reader’s for this).

(17) Christopher claims he visited hell after he’s shot into a coma in Season 2. After he awakens he relays to Tony and Paulie a warning from his visit. The deceased Mikey Palmice (murdered by Paulie and Christopher on Tony’s orders at the end of Season 1) in hell told Christopher to warn Tony and Paulie- “3 0′clock.” It is 3:00 when Paulie gets the news of his prostate cancer. MOG shoots Tony coming out of the bathroom from a 3 o’clock position. (*thanks to the readers for this)
PART VII: “The Public Enemy” and “Goodfellas” influence on the end of The Sopranos.

The 1931 William A. Wellman classic “Public Enemy” is about a gangster played by James Cagney. We learn Tony Soprano is a fan of the movie in the third season episode “Proshai, Livushka”. Tony is seen watching the movie throughout the episode and we see Tony watching the end of the movie in the show’s final scene. In an interview with David Chase by National Public Radio in 2000 Chase expressed his opinions on the film and it‘s influence on his career.

“A pretty big influence on me was the William Wellmanmovie the Public Enemy which I saw when I was probably 8 or 9… In it the gangster Tom Powers who has led a life of crime who has this sweet little old Irish mother…and after living this horrible life of crime…he gets shot…at the end of the movie he is at a hospital and the rival gangs calls his Mothers home and says “we are sending Tom home” and his brother calls upstairs and says “Mom, Mom, they are sending Tom home” and she (Mom) puts on this “I am Forever Blowing Bubbles” record and she is making the bed and she is singing and feathers are going everywhere and she is happy and the brother is all excited that he (Tom Powers) is coming home and there is a knock on the door and the brother opens the door and we see Cagney (Powers) wrapped up in a blanket withhis head all in bandages and wrapped up like a mummy and he (Cagney/Powers) is dead with these dead eyes…this is the end of the movie….This was the most frightening thing I had ever seen…I could not get that out of my mind…Those people’s (Power’s family) expectations in the house, it actually makes me kind of sad…there expectations of what was going to happen and what did happen and that they were so happy that he was coming home and how he was dead in such a horrible way and how he had wasted his life”.

Besides the obvious similarities between Powers and Tony the ending seems to share a kinship with the finale of The Sopranos. Both endings anticipate a happy “family reunion” type moment. Meadow needs to join the booth for this moment to be complete. Both scenes contrast buoyant music with a sense of impending doom (“I am Forever Blowing Bubbles” in “Public Enemy” and “Don’t Stop Believing” in Holsten’s). Furthermore, what was so frightening to Mr. Chase in “Public Enemy” is paralleled by Meadow’s entrance into Holsten’s. Meadow’s expectations are of a happy family reunion moment but instead she witnesses her father’s murder as she opens the door (the brother sees Tom’s dead body just as the door opens). Tony dies in the “horrible way” that Chase described in the interview and has clearly “wasted his life”.

David Chase is well documented fan of Martin Scorcese and his mafia film “Goodfellas”. In a scene in the film mobster Henry Hill is surprised by the police behind him telling him to “freeze”. Henry then says in a voiceover “For a second I thought I was dead, but when I heard all the noise, I knew they were cops, only cops talk that way. If they had been wiseguys, I wouldn’t have heard a thing. I would have been dead.” Just like Tony Soprano.

PART VIII: Who Killed Tony?

Ultimately, Chase left substantial evidence that Tony was killed but failed to offer anything concrete as to who was behind it. Therefore I don’t believe the issue is that important to him and shouldn’t be to us. However, it is a fun topic to speculate about especially upon rewatch of the Patsy Parisi moments in the final episode.

Patsy certainly had the motive. Tony ordered the murder of his twin brother Philly Parisi in Season 2. In the Season 3 opener a bereaved Patsy is out for revenge. At one point in the episode, he is in Tony’s backyard and points his gun at an unsuspecting Tony in his kitchen. Patsy starts to cry and puts the gun down and pisses in Tony’s pool. Tony never learns of the aborted attempt on his life. Tony eventually convinces (or threatens) Patsy to get over his brother’s death by explaining that Patsy has a family of his own to take care of.

As the final season closes, Meadow starts seriously dating Patsy’s oldest son-Patrick Parisi Jr. They eventually get engaged to the delight of Patsy. Meanwhile, Patsy’s younger son-Jason Parisi, is a college student involved in illegal activies. His partner in crime is Carlo’s college aged son-Jason Gervasi. They’re known as “The two Jason’s” and briefly influence A.J. to torture another college student who owes them money.

In the final episode, Jason Gervasi is arrested for selling drugs. We subsequently learn that his father Carlo has flipped to the Feds in order to save his son.

Before we learn of Jason Gervasi’s arrest there is a strange moment at Bacala’s funeral where we see Patsy Parisi call his son Jason away from the table where Jason Gervasi is present. Chase cuts to Jason Gervasi watching him leave the table and Patsy has a distressed look on his face when his son approaches him. This may imply Patsy’s concerns about his son hanging out with Gervasi due to his increasing illegal activities, especially considering that Patsy’s family will be so close to Tony’s once Patrick Jr. marries Meadow.

Later on, Tony and Carmela have Patsy and his wife over the house for dinner with Patrick Jr. and Meadow to celebrate their engagement. The scene is awkward. At one point Carmela asks Patsy’s wife why Jason Parisi didn’t come to the dinner. Patsy’s wife nervously states that he didn’t think he was invited. Tony then confirms the reason why she believes that by pointing out Jason Gervasi’s arrest (Tony already knows at this point that Carlo has flipped to save his son). He then refers to the two Jason’s as “pals.” Patsy’s wife continues on about Gervasi but Patsy bluntly cuts her off.

Since Jason Gervasi was arrested and his father subsequently flipped to save him, it’s reasonable to think that Jason Parisi will be next to be arrested as he was usually in on the same crimes with Jason Gervasi. This could lead Patsy to flip himself which Tony would obviously be concered about. Consequently, Patsy would be aware that he may be a dead man in Tony’s eyes. So, he takes action first. Meadow is late to Holsten’s because she was out with Patrick Sr. in the City. It’s conceivable that Patsy knew where Tony would be (through his oldest son’s relationship with Meadow) and ordered the hit. Interestingly enough, Patsy’s wife checks to find out the quality of the Sorpanos China at dinner. This may be a tip-off that Patsy, for financial reasons, may desire the throne. In one of the final scenes, Paulie accepts the promotion to run the prosperous Aprile crew but not before we learn that Tony would’ve given the position to Patsy if Paulie had turned it down. Patsy may not have been happy that he was passed over again (in Season 4 he is upset that Chris is promoted, instead of him, to run Paulie’s crew while Paulie was in lock-up). Perhaps Patsy had Tony killed with the help of Butchie and NY with the promise that Patsy will take over the remnants of the Jersey family.

And what about NY? I discussed in Part I a possible motive for a hit on Tony despite the peace arrangement. The nature of Tony’s murder so closely reflects Phil’s murder (both in front of their families) that it may suggest it was revenge for Phil. The exact nature of Phil’s death-the fact that he couldn’t have an open casket and the risk to his family, may have changed NY’s mind about the peace deal. The question also arises whether Butchie can become boss if his crew believes he let Tony walk all over him. To exercise his power and authority, he may have to kill Tony. Although Butch implies that Tony can take out Phil, he still won’t give Tony Phil’s location. At the end of Season 5, Butch pushes to have Tony whacked despite the resistance from Phil. Near the end of the final season he watches Tony nearly beat Coco to death and then Tony sticks a gun in his face. He is initially on board when Phil decides to take out Tony in “The Blue Comet.” With Tony’s Family already decimated after the events of that episode, it may not be a hard sell to take out Tony. After all, we know there isn’t much respect for the “glorified” Sopranos crew of “farmers” as one member of the NY crew calls them. In “The Blue Comet,”there is discussion by Silvio that many of the NJ gang is being solicited by NY to accept “new management” (this is when he tells Tony about Burt Gervasi). Tony’s death wipes the slate clean, it’s simply a “Boss for a Boss.” Butch, as the new Boss of the NY Lupertazi family, can now freely do business with the scraps of the Jersey family.

PART IX: Kubrick, 2001 and more on POV

Part I extensively discussed the POV pattern used by Chase to convey Tony’s death. On the “Supper with Sopranos” extra on the Sopranos complete series DVD collection, Chase talks about a huge influence on the final episode:

Chase: “Filmically, that show [Made in America] had a lot to do with our favorite scene in 2001 when the astronaut wakes up, that episode was believe it or not sort of based on that..”

Terrence Winter: “[you mean] seeing himself in the frame…”

Chase: “Projecting himself into his own future.”

In Part I, I quoted from the interview with DP Alan Sakharov about his shooting of the final episode. Sakharov talked about the “jump cut” where it appears Tony sees himself as a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 Space Odyssey where it appears the astronaut Bowman sees an older version of himself. He went on to say that there were 3 other “seeing yourself” type 2001 moments in the final show.

I found them; they are:

1) Airport scene where Tony meets Harris: Tony stares, cut to Tony POV of Harris in his car, cut back to Tony’s face staring, cut to the previous Tony POV shot and Tony walks into the frame towards the car.

2)Tony visits Janice scene: Tony stares, cut to Tony POV of Janice on lawn chair, cut back to Tony’s face staring, cut to the previous Tony POV shot and Tony walks into the frame towards Janice.

3)Tony visits Junior. Tony stares, cut to Tony POV of Junior in the corner of the room in his wheelchair, cut back to Tony’s face staring, cut to the previous Tony POV shot except now Tony is practically standing by Junior.
**This is the closest to the jarring jump cut in Holsten’s. We never actually see Tony walking towards Junior.

4) Final scene. Tony stares, cut to Tony POV of the diner, cut back to Tony’s face staring, cut to the previous Tony POV shot except Tony is now sitting down.

2001 is heralded for the way Kubrick experimented with POV in the final third of the movie (first with the Stargate sequence and then the younger Bowman “seeing” his older self). I don’t believe that the meaning of the ending of 2001 (still debated to this day) is the key to the end of the Sopranos. Chase said it was “filmically” related, not “thematically” related. But what is important is Chase was clearly playing around with subjectivity. I think it was to set us up for the buried money shot of Tony’s final “nothingness” POV.

All 4 examples put us into Tony’s immediate future. The first two take a little longer to get there (i.e. we see Tony walking into the shot). The third skips most of Tony’s walk to Junior. The final shot cuts immediately to Tony sitting down (i.e. his immediate future).

Logically, the next shot would cut even faster into his immediate future. Those final seconds could be read as Tony “seeing” his “immediate” future, which is a black screen, i.e. death.

Or time (past and future) and space all fold into nothingness at the moment of death. Tony can’t “see” his future because it’s no longer there.

Perhaps it’s way more simpler than that. The final scene does not tell us that Tony is watching himself-after the jump cut to Tony sitting at the table, the next shot is a close up of Tony looking through the jukebox selections. We don’t cut back to Tony at the door to confirm he sees himself. In contrast, in 2001, it is made clear in one shot that the younger Bowman is watching his older self. Chase ’s use of “seeing yourself in your POV” technique was simply to put us in Tony’s head. Its purpose, in the three previous scenes prior to Holsten’s, is to subliminally set us up for the final shot. The final “seeing yourself” jump cut in Holsten’s is to remind the viewer (perhaps subconsciously) that, in certain instances, we will be sharing Tony’s POV. It’s the signal to follow the POV pattern and ultimately, the final, defintive POV shot signifying death.

[Pink Lloyd]

Ummm... nothing happened. Why did nothing happen? So they could have an out in case they ever wanted to do movies. They kill Tony, they kill the future of the franchise. Now they can make another movie without having to bring anyone back from the dead.

[Ducky Momo]

Sept 22, 2009 0:23:06 GMT -5 Pink Lloyd said:

Ummm... nothing happened. Why did nothing happen? So they could have an out in case they ever wanted to do movies. They kill Tony, they kill the future of the franchise. Now they can make another movie without having to bring anyone back from the dead.

I give Chase more credit than that. From all I've seen and read about him. And I'm not just talking about this article.

[saintturgeon]

Sept 22, 2009 0:23:06 GMT -5 Pink Lloyd said:

Ummm... nothing happened. Why did nothing happen? So they could have an out in case they ever wanted to do movies. They kill Tony, they kill the future of the franchise. Now they can make another movie without having to bring anyone back from the dead.

Just like how Dallas ended

[Monster Under Your Bed]

I only read the first paragraph, but that makes sense.

[skiller]

I think reading is fundamental and all.

But there an abridged version? I read about 3/4 of the first post then kind of lost track/interest.

Nevertheless, it sounds fair.

[The Charismatic Enabeler]

Nope. Total cop out. I seem to recall there was talk of a movie so I ain't buying the Tony died story.

[thwak is T.hawk]

Sept 22, 2009 0:47:08 GMT -5 @skiller said:

I think reading is fundamental and all.

But there an abridged version? I read about 3/4 of the first post then kind of lost track/interest.

Nevertheless, it sounds fair.

yeah, I really don't want to read a college thesis statement about the ending to the sopranos lol.

[Cranjis McBasketball]

So the cops knew Internal Affairs was setting them up?

[Ducky Momo]

Sept 22, 2009 1:02:25 GMT -5 thwak is T.hawk said:

Sept 22, 2009 0:47:08 GMT -5 @skiller said:

I think reading is fundamental and all.

But there an abridged version? I read about 3/4 of the first post then kind of lost track/interest.

Nevertheless, it sounds fair.

yeah, I really don't want to read a college thesis statement about the ending to the sopranos lol.

I didn't assume it was going to be for everyone, but as you get further into it I suspect even casual fans would appreciate what the writer is analyzing. To me it goes further than just the "show" and instead into the philosophical concept of what Chase was saying, using the show as a vessel. I had a hard time getting through it, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and actually feel I learned from it, and God know I've wasted my time on a lot more worthless things.

[Pink Lloyd]

Sept 22, 2009 1:02:25 GMT -5 thwak is T.hawk said:

Sept 22, 2009 0:47:08 GMT -5 @skiller said:

I think reading is fundamental and all.

But there an abridged version? I read about 3/4 of the first post then kind of lost track/interest.

Nevertheless, it sounds fair.

yeah, I really don't want to read a college thesis statement about the ending to the sopranos lol.

Cliff Notes Version:

Man in the Members Only jacket killed Tony. Earlier in the series (or episode) there had been dialogue about, "You never see it coming." The theory is Tony was killed instantly and never saw it coming, instant death.

["Playboy" Don Douglas]

Interesting, but I'm still not buying it. Chase is an intelligent guy and a good writer, but I still think they left it open. I think people are looking for an ending , so sooner or later they find one.

There was no way they could end it that wouldn't be a let down or predictable Mob fare. Killed? Predictable, especially since "dead or in the can" was said on more than one occasion during the show's run. In prison? Fairly predictable, and really, kind of flat. Scarface style shootout? Wouldn't really fit in with the rest of the show.

I actually liked the ending. The tension builds, and you just KNOW Tony is going to be killed. Then....nothing. And they managed to avoid all the standard endings.

[Mozenrath]

I agree with this theory, but after reading Members Only Guy did it, I stopped reading. I can buy it, the case is made well, and frankly, I don't have the patience of a saint to read the rest. Sorry.

[blef]

Sept 22, 2009 1:15:11 GMT -5 Cranjis McBasketball said:

So the cops knew Internal Affairs was setting them up?

/thread.

[dsriggs]

That's... uhh.... That's a lot of words you got there!

[I Like Your Poetry]

A simple "He was actually killed" would have sufficed.

[Mozenrath]

Sept 22, 2009 9:18:02 GMT -5 I Like Your Poetry said:

A simple "He was actually killed" would have sufficed.

Maybe this was their thesis for college.