Rainet

One thing I still don't understand, which I wrote briefly in the Blue Comet thread. NY was suppose to hit within 24 hours. They hit Sil and Bobby first. Once that happen Tony took cover and went hiding making it almost impossible for NY to finish the job. You think Tony would of been hit first, and the rest would be scrambling. Not only that but I figured we would at least see an attempt on Tony if not in Blue Comet then at least in the finale.
It feels like just horrible planning on NY part. This isn't a game, it's life and death. You just think NY would of struck Tony first. So because of this botched plan, Phil gets it in the end.

Jason

Maybe in terms of episodic dramas, but I think they had at least a little bit going for them prior to this show.

As for cancellers, people add and drop premium channels all the time. While I'm sure they'll see a spike in cancellations, people will eventually be back.

GreenVulture

You're correct; that's why Phil yelled at Butchie during their phone conversation that they should've hit Tony first.

Dr. DVD

The problem for Chase now is that if he makes a movie, his pretty much screwed all around. The people who feel that the ending was a copout for the purpose of making a movie and generating more money will be mandated, and the few who feel this was a fitting end with Tony "dying" will feel like they have been pissed on.

slacker6

True, I thought Phil mentioned they should cut off the head (Tony) and then deal with the pieces.

SexualPudding

Either way, most of them will still all go see it if and when it comes out.

bunkaroo

Probably because of the HBO synopsis:

"Customers come and go - a shady looking guy who's been sitting at the counter enters the restroom. Finally parking the car, Meadow runs inside to join her family, just in time for dinner."

I don't knwo if Chase and Co. approve these HBO snippets or not, but if so it would seem we're meant to think he is "shady".

Dr. DVD

Maybe Tony had one of his panic attacks at the end.

Personally, I would have felt more pissed on as a fan if Chase had chosen to kill off all of the characters we have grown to like/hate in the last ep. That would have reaked of "okay, got to wrap things up now. Kill everyone!" While it would have been appropriate to end it like the Godfather or Goodfellas stories with Tony all alone, that would have been deemed unoriginal. Chase actually did something original IMO by not really giving resolution. He has assured that the show's finale will go down in TV history, whether it's good or bad.

Rainet

Maybe it's lazy writing but Phil just basically saying oops we should of hit Tony first doesn't sit well with me. I mean i would assume you don't become head of a family unless you were sharp as a whip to begin with at least streetsmart wise. I mean wouldn't it be the most common sense decision? Something like this would of been well thought out and planned.

ASAPadam

I agree Tony's dead. This show followed him into his thoughts, his dreams and even into limbo (for multiple episodes as he lay in a coma after Junior shot him). The abrupt blackness at the end has to mean HIS end. I can't see it any other way anymore.

Supermallet

The whole season suffered from lazy writing.

Michael Ballack

Ok, my mood has changed a little bit, now I'm leaning towards the pissed off camp. I don't have a problem with things going on like they always have, but don't give us a scene that builds up tension and just end it so ambiguously. If Chase wanted to show life goes on, he could have given us Tony just getting the paper or the Sopranos sitting down for Sunday dinner. I wouldn't have had a problem with that. Instead, a great many of us thought our cable/satellite feed went out. Fuck you David Chase!

I might go back to the "it was a good ending camp", but my mood right now is that of anger.

Mustanger

Just heard an interesting thing on a sports radio show. They said that in the Diner, the guy who got up from the counter and entered the bathroom was a cousin of Phil's that was seen in a much earlier episode; the truck driver guy was the partner of another driver killed by Christopher a few years ago or so when they were highjacking trucks; the two black guys who came in were the two who almost killed Tony several years ago; and the Cub Scouts were the same ones in the train store where Bobby got whacked. Is this true? Anyone pick up on this?

GreenVulture

The Sopranos has shown time and time again that NY and NJ have smart leaders but incompetent soldiers.

Phil's mistake was not being specific during his conversation in "The Blue Comet" about whom to hit. I think he just assumed that Butchie would have enough common sense to take out the leader first, and then pick off the soldiers. But like I said, the crews of both NJ and NY are mostly made up of pretty stupid people.

Dr. DVD

Maybe this happened: Adriana was an animagus from the Harry Potter series. She always had the ability to transform into a cat but it was never revealed until last night. Remember how she was crawling on all fours when Sil was about to shoot her? Well, she morphed right at the time Sil fired the first shot. Sil, knowing Tony would not believe what he just saw, said the job was finished. However, she lay in wait, watching from a distance. Then she followed them to the safe house and acted all cute. Tony and co. bring her back and only Paulie can make the eerie connection. After Paulie takes the job, Ade returns as the cat, and then morphs back in to the woman we know. She whacks Paulie, then goes to the diner and whacks Tony. Also, Christopher returns with a cleaver for a hand and the ghost of Jackie Jr. abducts Meadow. Furio also returns and runs off with Carmella while A.J. watches one of his company's stag movies on and ipod and jerks off. The end.

DVD Josh

They are quoting some moron's blog, who made everything up. It's not backed up by the facts.

GreenVulture

Yeah, right. Just how stupid do you think we are? Like you could fit a whole porn movie onto an iPod and have it in decent enough quality to jerk off to. Talk about unrealistic.

lotsofdvds

None of the actors credited as playing those characters in the finale even appear in the IMDB.

Dignam

You're not alone! I wonder how many other people said that?

The only thing that could have made this worse was if David Caruso was standing on the roof of the restaurant putting on his shades and saying something ridiculous.

"Looks like someone is... Wait, what? Looks like nothing. I'm not putting my sunglasses on yet, this can't be it."

mdc3000

I can't understand why people are making this big argument for the cut to black meaning that Tony was killed...it was just a dramatic way to end the series...did it mean that Tony had been whacked? I don't buy that for a second. It is a pretty big leap to make from what we're presented IMO. Yeah it's ambiguous, but I thought the ambiguity was more in the 'what happens next' re: the family, inditements etc. rather than 'did Tony die or not' because if you ask me, he clearly did not die...

tikigod

I've read every post in this thread (started last night) and I think the theories are all fascinating. After letting it soak in, and re-watching the episode, I'm in the camp that believes Tony didn't die. Throughout this series, the storytelling has been very consistent. Just when everyone thinks things will zig to the left, things zag (well not even to the right most times) but in a completely unusual direction. I think wrapping everything up in a nice little bow would have been insulting to the fans. I tend to agree with those who think the show ended before the restaurant scene. Most of the major problems for Tony were addressed in one way or another. This part is total theory on my part, but I almost see that last scene as Chase giving the audience "that Goodfellas or Godfather" sequence that has been anticipated the whole season. He gave that edge of your seat supsense, but not at the cost of sacrificing the way the stories have been told since the series began. I think they simply had dinner and went on with their miserable lives. Chase, Gandolfini, heck most everytime I see any of these people in interviews, they show open disdain for the characters. They are not good people, but they find ways convince themselves they have morality, only until the next time they do something awful. I don't know for sure, but I'd tune in to hear any of the shows creative people or cast reflect.

Doc MacGyver

Now if Paulie was eating an orange as well....


He was shady because he was ACTING SHADY. I didn't know he was Italian. and I didn't automatically figure he was mafia... he looked nervous, he was looking around uncomfortably, then he abruptly got up to go to the bathroom and threw Tony a look... he was acting shady. I'm as bleeding heart PC as pretty much anyone, and when I saw that cat acting shady at the bar, I thought, "That motherfucker's up to no good," not, "That Italian's up to no good."



Doc

Nefarious

ARGH! Why did I have to read this #$@$@%$ post before Jadzia fixed it w/ the spoiler tag! Thanks a million Patrick!!!!

indiephantom

I loved it. And man do I love the choice of Journey!!
When you think about it, anything else would have been too obvious and too mainstream. The lyrics "don't stop..." it's like none of us really want this show to end and when it does it is abrupt and unexpected.

I've rewatched the final scene a few times and feel differently each time (which is another reason this ending will remain fascinating forever). I found it really uplifting the second time. The first time I realize it is our paranoia that largely creates the tension (along with David Chase's careful attention to cutting and Tony's eyeline). When I watched it again, I felt like they probably weren't in that much danger. There are rumors that the dude headed to the restroom was Phil's cousin (seen in another episode) and the dialogue about "what's good here?" is straight out of the infamous Godfather restaurant hit. And of course, there are many more theories to come.

Face it, if this ending was more cut and dry we wouldn't be having as many conversations about it and the show would have been compromised somewhat. Final episodes have a tendency to disappoint, but I would have only been let down if one of the dozen or so expected endings involving a shootout and/or Tony's death had occured onscreen.

Chase gave us great television.
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PacMan2006

This is a really good point. But this falls on Chase as well. Like someone else put it...he's done nothing but stereotype classes of people throughout this entire series. I think blacks, for example, have pretty much always been either gang bangers or some rapper.