darkside

I'm glad I finally got to read that. It makes a ton of sense now and I always did think Tony died at the end, but I never put everything together with the Member's Only jacket guy. Very cool.

mcnabb

I have to say that I was one of those people totally annoyed by the ending in 2007, but after reading this, it makes alot of sense. If Chase wasn't such a douce about it days after talking bad about the fans, and atleast coming clean other then 'its all there', I don't think there would have been as much anger.

Dr. DVD

Interesting read, but dang that's long! I still don't see it providing any definitive answers as much as delving deep into one theory.

spainlinx0

I don't know. I already believed he died, but after that I can't see how you can argue against it.

Dr. DVD

I read most of the article, but it seems to me more like an overdone analysis by a fanboy with a lot of time on their hands. A good argument is made, but it seems to rely on connections to other material (like Godfather) to make its point. Tony dying makes sense, but I also think the whole "audience was whacked" makes just as much sense. Is there one particular section of the article that sums up everything neatly without having to wade through everything else? Thanks!

spainlinx0

The Godfather section was very tiny. The discussion of the type of shots used alone is enough to seal it.

AnonomusBob15

though I didn't finish, I enjoyed the analysis. Though a fanboy, he seems to at least know what he's talking about and his theory sounds completely plausible.

I wasn't sure what to think when the episode aired. Later reading what the cast and Chase thought happened, I just accepted that.

coli

If any TV show has to be dissected that much to understand the ending, then I think Chase has failed in that respect.

I loved the Sopranos because it was more then a mob show, I loved the drama, the symbolism, the music. But you shouldn't need to look THIS much into an episode or a season to get the answer for what happened to Tony.

I will always say the ending was a cop-out, Chase didn't know what to do and was afraid if he killed Tony people would be pissed off, and vice versa. So he created a grey ending (the black screen) so it is left up in the air and everyone can guess what it means. Lame.

JasonF

Why not? I far prefer the ambiguity of the Sopranos ending than the trite "Let's tie everything up in a nice neat bow" that so many shows take.

spainlinx0

It didn't require "that much dissection." There were 4,000 points made, and you only needed to pick up on two. He just decided to look for EVERY piece of symbolism.

Buttmunker

Has it been considered that the last scene at Holsten's might have been one of Tony's dreams? I thought the place itself - a glorified diner - was out of the realm of Tony's universe of eateries. AJ was amazingly "normal," something we've never seen him as in all the years we've known him; And why was Tony there first? Wouldn't he and Carmela go together? And the fact that Meadow was having trouble parking - wouldn't that be more AJ's forte? The whole final scene seemed surreal to me.

I'm a believer that Tony was whacked, don't get me wrong - but the dream angle seeped into my thoughts.

PopcornTreeCt

So, I just finished watching the entire series on DVD. I had only heard rumors about the ending, that it cut short, etc. I really have to disagree on the whole about it being disappointing. I thought it was fantastic.

There were a lot of loose ends that were cleaned up. It looked like Tony and Janice sort of patched it up for good. Janice could move on with her life and start a family free from mob ties. Tony's scene with Uncle Junior was pretty touching and provided much needed closure. Everyone else was dead except for Paulie. When the camera lingered on him and the cat outside of Satriali's I knew that was his final shot. The only major character that didn't get a major send off was Artie Bucco but I wasn't too disappointed as he had a great scene where he finally blew up. Also, the show made a strong effort to show Meadow and AJ's future plans.

All in all, the series provided a lot of closure.

I can understand why everyone was pissed at the finale though, back in 2007 nobody had yet witnessed the "Lost" finale. :P

Jack Straw

Gotta love the Onion!

http://www.theonion.com/articles/jam...king-fan,2230/

PopcornTreeCt

Buttmunker

It seems to me that, not Tony Soprano was shot by Mr. Member's Only, but Meadow Soprano was. You see, Meadow was the last one to arrive (she was late, and had a hard time parking her car). Member's Only went into the Men's room, and a few minutes later, Meadow comes into the restaurant. By the time she reaches her family's table, Member's Only comes out of the bathroom. He has a gun - and Meadow, still standing, sees it and yells, "Dad!" Member's Only is distracted by this, shoots the distraction, then panics and runs out of the place.

It's Meadow who dies.

whotony

Why?

Larry C.

The Troll force is strong with you.

Buttmunker

I'm not trolling, I'm serious! It makes perfect sense to me that it's Meadow who becomes the victim here. She's late, they make a point of displaying this to us. She comes in while the assassin (if he even is one) is in the bathroom. It makes sense that Meadow's approach to the table and the assassin's exit from the bathroom coincide, and that Meadow sees the man, maybe with his gun at the ready, and she screams or yells. The gunman would be startled by this, and will shoot the screamer or the yeller out of impulse or whatever. If you remember, Meadow's seat would have been next to her father, as AJ and Carmela were on the opposite side of Tony.

This is just how I see it. No need to call me a troll.

majorjoe23

I think if Meadow died it wouldn't be the end on Tony's story. Her death in such a manner would be a launching point for new Tony stories, not the end of the series.

Larry C.

The series is through Tony's eyes. When you die everything goes black. Or a different thought is that in that life you always have to be looking over your shoulder and that everyone is a "Member's Only" jacket and that's the life he chose to live.

mzupeman2

That's pretty much the answer right there. Chase has always made very specific choices for the music in the series... for him to choose to cut the finale 'short' like that and have NO music or sounds after the screen goes black, makes it fairly obvious what his intention was. In fact, Chase wanted the silent black to go on a lot longer than it did.

Buttmunker

Then tell me what Chase's point was in Meadow's difficulties in arriving on time, the whole parking fiascio, being the last one inside the restaurant?

Seems pretty pointless to me. Chase isn't perfect - he left a lot of loose ends in the show, and you know what I'm talking about. Unresolved storylines.

majorjoe23

I'm not sure a Jersey girl not being on time or being a bad parker counts as an unresolved storyline.

mzupeman2

Pretty much just for tension building, really. A lot of what we saw in that scene was 'pointless', but on the other hand, there were a lot of things that happened throughout the series that had been pointless as well. There were a lot of unresolved minor plot points because The Sopranos was supposed to be as close to a depiction of real life as possible. Not everything happens for a reason and culminates in some grand finale.

Shannon Nutt

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,304516,00.html