We all know David Chase used symbols and metaphors throughout the Sopranos, and I think there's more than enough of these in Made In America alone to rationally come to the conclusion that Tony is murdered at the end.
But i was also thinking that in Paulie's last scene, Chase is setting Paulie up for death.
Firstly he's inherited the Aprile/Cifaretto crew. As Paulie points out, everyone who ran that crew died early. It was effectively a 'doomed crew'.
Secondly, and more symbolically, the cat. The cat spends all its time staring at Christopher's picture and Paulie seems to believe its because the cat can sense Chris is dead. After Paulie reluctantly accepts the role of Aprile/Cifaretto crew capo he looks sad, and the camera cuts to a wide shot of him sitting alone outside Satriales. At that moment the cat enters the shot, lays down and starts staring at Paulie. The cat can sense Paulie's imminent death now too....
It was a doomed crew for sure as Richie Aprile, Gigi Cestone, Ralph Cifaretto, Vito Spatafore and Eugene Pontecorvo all suffered from leading that crew. I just can't imagine seeing our number one tough guy Paulie Gualtieri dead. Thumbs up on the cat theory, though, that seems like another Chase mystery.
Thanks guys! There is a too amount of time given over to that cat for it not to mean something - especially during such a symbolism heavy final episode
