I practiced strong will power and avoided all these spoiler threads and the ending etc...

I had heard the ending was a disappointment,but WTF!!!???
I'm sure you have all gone through this already,but what was that??Was that guy staring at Tony there to kill him??Why does it end as Meadow runs in???

I've put in hours and hours of time watching this great show and I feel like I've been robbed.

What happened guys???

Simple, life for Tony moved on as usual. If that guy wanted to kill Tony he could not make anymore obvious and would have avoided eye contact with him. I personally liked the ending, it was microcosm of Tony's life: Always cautious of his surroundings, anytime for him could be the end.

The Junior and Phil storylines both ending appropriatley. AJ and Meadow are now becoming adults. Paulie finds himself back in Tony's circle and Patsy has joined him. The Lupertazzi's again look for a new leader.

Life moves on, as it does for everyone, Tony Soprano is not the exception.

For an epic series about the conflict between a family and another Family, it ended with the two coming together nicely.

I think it's positively one of the best scenes ever.

It is one of the most well-done series endings ever. I was angry at first, but after a while, I realized no other ending could have suited this show better.

At the least, it ends with the viewers seeing Tony and hearing, "Dont stop!"

It's very amusing to browse the internet and see all the different conspiracy theories. There's a website, tonyisdead.com and another, something like tonyisNOTdead.com. haha Fun stuff.

Personally, to each his own. I say, take it as you wish.

What sort of attitude is that? I say, disagree with me and I'll take your kneecaps off.

LOL!

"I've put in hours and hours of time watching this great show and I feel like I've been robbed."

That about sums it up for some of us Whisper. It's ok to be disappointed in the ending. Perhaps its our fault as viewers for expecting "something" to happen. All the possibilities of how Tony and his family would end up kept us all talking. Maybe Tony wouldn't die, but maybe some kind of punishment for his crimes. Or, maybe one of his children would somehow get into the family, or perhaps it would have been Carm taking a turn in a tense storyline; or a betrayal by Silvio or Paulie. Nah, that's no good. If something happened in any of those areas, and "THEN" it ended with a life goes on type theme, that would have good, but they assumed a big buildup and then a "nothing" ending was better.

I've now watched the ending 3 times and am disappointed each time. Chase blew it IMHO. Can't see watching it anymore will make me feel any differently.

However, even with all that being said, This is one of my all time favorite shows, in spite of the season finale. It was always fun discussing each episode.

TIS

haha TIS, I've seen the ending (in part, thanks to DVR) at least 20 times, in an attempt to find out "something" I missed before.

I still feel so robbed!!!

I'm with TIS on this one.Perhaps I'll change my opinion after time has passed and the wounds have healed.It's funny,i know the show ended before i had the cash to buy the last season,but because I've only just seen the ending,it's all new to me.I loved this show and you don't know how hard it was to not spoil the ending by reading your posts.I'm still getting over the death of Chris.After he died,i kept thinking about the time Chris and Tony stole that wine off the back of the truck and that get in that little shoot out with the "Grizzly Adams" lookalike.

With BDuff's reply about how the assassin wouldn't have made eye contact with Tony,do you think that maybe the eye contact is made obvious for the viewers??To make you think that perhaps after the dinner he was killed??

I guess we will never 100% know.

I found this on the net,it's an interesting theory:

I am surprised to see that more people didn't come to the same conclusion I came to watching the final episode of The Sopranos -- Tony is dead. That's why there was a sharp cut at the end. There wasn't a fade to black, the music stopped, the pictures stopped, there was an instant sharp exit. That's how you die when you get shot in the back of the head.

Most people are claiming that the creator and writer of the show, David Chase wanted to leave an ambiguous ending because life doesn't have clear resolutions and endings (actually, most people don't even care about Chase's intentions, they're just pissed because they wanted a resolution). While I agree that Chase has been pushing that theme throughout the eight year run of the show, I think Chase gave you a very definitive ending here, though apparently not a clear one (at least not clear to a lot of the audience).

The Sopranos has been told from the perspective of Tony Soprano throughout. So, when he dies, the show ends. And his perspective didn't fade out, it ended very abruptly with a bullet to the back of the head. That's why the show ended so abruptly with a sharp cut to black.



There is no other explanation for why there was no fade out. Every other episode of The Sopranos has ended with music and a fade out. Chase could have easily achieved the ambiguity he wanted by fading out in a similar way to end this episode. He specifically did not make that choice.









Also, there is no other reason why they would have made such a big deal out of Meadow being late and having trouble parking. The implication is she is just about to miss or witness some very large event. Writers like Chase don't add elements like that to a script for no reason. Obviously, it had a purpose.
You could say that it was just to add tension to that scene and a lot of scenes with tension don't end in dramatic action on The Sopranos. That would be a fair point if the scene had ended like all others on the show. But it didn't. It ended abruptly. Chase isn't making a mistake there, he's sending what I thought was a clear signal. Lights out on Tony Soprano.
Steve Van Zandt had also said in the past that he couldn't see how a movie could be made given how things ended on the show. I put less stock in this because it is hearsay from one of the actors on the show, not the writer. And he might have been referring to something else, like his role in the movie since his character was incapacitated at the end.
If I am right and Tony is dead, then I think it was a brilliant ending. I would say it was the second best ending of a series and the second best perspective on death I've seen on television (the Six Feet Under finale took first prize honors on both those counts).
Death often doesn't come to you in a haze as a bed of soft music plays underneath. Sometimes, it comes suddenly and without warning. You don't get a chance to respond. You don't get a shot at an epilogue or analysis. You're done. Lights out. Blank screen.
I think Chase made a unique, interesting and ultimately brilliant choice. I think Tony Soprano is dead, and I am not full of remorse. It happened in exactly the way it would in real life -- in a way you wouldn't expect and in the blink of an eye.

No the guy had to take a piss, if wanted to kill he had his chance...why wait?

Maybe when he walked out of bathroom..BANG!!!

It has been said that Tony's favorite scene from the Godfather is the one where Mike comes out from the toilet and kills Sollozzo and McCluskey.

That being said, 1. How would anyone know where the Sopranos were eating dinner that night? It was basically an impromptu decision and 2. Why wouldn't the guy just walk up and do it? He had to go calm his nerves? Come on. Pick up a gun Godfather style? I really doubt it.

Plus, why should Tony die? The war with the Lupertazzi's was over, and he had the blessing of other families.

I hear you.What gets me though,is the sudden black.Why the big deal of Meadow running late??
Has Chase elaborated on it??Maybe he was killed by someone behind him>>
I don't think he's dead,just there are some theories that get the mind thinking.

If you watch the episode again, just focsuing on the episode itself...it's a good episode. Certainly not great or one of their best, but quite enjoyable. Tell me you didn't enjoy Phil getting his head squashed? Some very good scenes with Tony and Paulie, and Patsy's path into Tony's inner circle.

Again, not a great episode, but still very enyjoyable...

What about in the second last episode,when Tony has a memory flash back to his conversation about death with Bobby and Bobby says"you probably don't hear anything and it just goes black..or something like that...It's just the way it cuts out to black so sharply.Chase could have ended it with a normal fade out with the music playing and that would have suited the whole life goes on as usual thing.

He knows how Bobby went, being blown away by two hitmen in a train store. Bobby never expected to see it coming, but he did and he felt those bullets too. Bobby wasn't dead when he was hit the first 4 or 5 times, he watched those two hitmen fire away at his body, he knew he was being killed, but he saw it.

Tony felt bad for Bobby, no one should have to go out that way. You're reading too much into it, Tony lives on, but we just don't get to watch.

As much as I don't think Tony dies, I can't really argue that he lives. Either way, I don't think it's reading too much into it: Chase stages everything the way he does too deliberately - everything is significant, though ultimately, the ambiguity with which he leaves us must be accepted, for that too is as significant as the pains to which he goes in order to set the whole thing up. It's all very suggestive, but in the end, as a fictional narrative, we'll never know. To be honest, it's probably best we don't (from my vantage point, anyway).

To put forth my support for the "life goes on" argument, though: keep in mind the show's explorations of existentialism. Tony's sessions with Melfi go into this most prominently, with Melfi questioning why Tony does what he does (he inherited it from his father) and Tony himself questioning what life itself is. His own mother, of course, said life was all a big nothing, which in turn affects AJ, a teen going through the typical flirtatious flings with figures such as Nietzsche and Sartre ("God is dead", he quotes to Carm and Tony in season 2, influenced by what he's reading at school).

Existentialism asks what it is to exist, "to be", and from it comes the eternal conflict between good faith and bad faith - the first is acting upon one's own impulses, beyond social, lawful obligations or questions of morality, while the latter is living under the delusion that we're not at the mercy of our own choice, but of some higher being that chooses our path for us. Throughout the show you've got Tony dealing with this, acting upon his impulses and getting in Shit Creek because of it - fucking Svetlana, murdering Ralphie, killing Christopher; and then the moments he has second thoughts and thinks better of it: when he shops the paedofile soccer coach to the cops and comes home drunk to Carmela, proudly claiming, "I didn't kill nobody".

The pivotal point in Tony's narrative arc is his coma; that's his real life-changing experience. Or is it? The life-change is probably just temporary. Nevertheless, it invokes in him a new love for life, and the "living in the moment" feel that comes in tandem with existential philosophy. Because of the nature of his business, though, that "living in the moment" is pushed to an extreme - his life is in danger, both from New York and the increasing RICO case the Feds are building against him. Quite literally, by the end of the last season, he's living in the moment, looking behind his shoulder, and that optimism that the coma sparked is only a varnished surface to the depression underneath.

In this light, I think the final scene is incredible, primarily for two reasons.

The first: what better way to sum up the existential theme of living in the moment that to simply cut mid-scene, mid-life, mid-song, on a random image of Meadow (significant in choice, random in relevance). The cut-aways to Meadow parking her car invoke extreme tension (I thought she was going to crash outside while Tony, Carm and AJ led the temporarily perfect family life inside), as do the cut-aways to the guy in the Members Only jacket and the two black guys who enter just before Meadow. The tension comes simply from their inclusion - why include it if it isn't necessary to the narrative? The point is, the scene could be just as innocent as it could be grave, but ultimately, it's just the extreme opposite forces within Tony's life compressed into one scene.

The second reason why I think the final scene is incredible is how the ambiguity allows not so much for the several interpretations that have popped up (as to whether or not Tony lives) as for the conflicting fates of each of the main characters: AJ finally has a job but we know fine well how prone to depression and panic attacks he is, how emotionally weak he is; Meadow is happy because she's getting married and she has a career sorted - but on the flip side, she's marrying a gangster's son and becoming a lawyer as opposed to a doctor (and we all know how Tony could do with a family lawyer he can trust); Carmela has resigned herself to be the loyal wife, as she did when first married - but we all know she'll always have to deal with goomahs; and Tony has finally got rid of Phil Leotardo, the primary threat to his life and business - but, again on the flip side, what of his depression and panic attacks? No more Melfi, his consigliere is at the very least comatosed, the two people he was grooming to be underboss are dead (one he killed himself), and his inner circle now consists of Paulie and Patsy - does Tony trust Paulie after their recent delve into "iffy" territory? Don't forget Carlo's just flipped and is working for the Feds in their building RICO case, too.

There aren't any morally satisfactory ends, here, because whatever the case may be, there'll always be something dysfunctional.

Great Post Capo.Geez you can write mate.Good work.

Also,just noticed the guy in the bar with the "Members only" jacket is credited as Nikki Leotardo!!!

WTF is he doing there?????

Hmmmmm........the debate continues

On the 6B DVD, most of the actors and even Chase himself shoot down the Nikki Leotardo theory.

It's in the credits though???

Hi all!

No, there is no Nikki Leotardo in the credits.
It's an internet spoof which someone developed after the first airing of the last episode. It's one big nonsense.

The guy playing the MOG had his fist appearance ever in these last and most discussed moments of the show as well as all the other people who came through the door of Holstens each of them symbolizing possible threats to Tony.

To summarize again Phil never had a nephew called Nikki.

4eyedprick's right. In the credits, he's "Man in Member's Only Jacket." Which could be a hint in and of itself - the episode that ended with Junior shooting Tony is entitled "Member's Only."

Welcome 4eyedprick!

if the trucker wasnt there to kill tony why would david make such a big deal about a trucker taking a bloody piss.
I have read alot about the last episode on many websites.
Most of the things said lead to tony dieing.

First of all, Welcome Aristotle!

The people that post on those websites are fans just like you and I. Unless they've actually spoken to members of the show - particularly Chase - then it's all opinions and theories. Fun stuff to read though.

Im not stating what I think happened, but Chase may have put the guy in there for a dramatic effect. For the last scene, we become Tony Soprano. We see how he takes every precaution, evaluating everyone as a potential threat, always looking over his shoulder. What a way to live - in constant fear.

If anything, I'm leaning towards that trucker who had sitting down in a booth, drinking coffee. He was dressed incognito - that hat helped to conceal his identity.

Thanx for the warm welcome.

Im good friends with david chase.


nah joking.

I never realized how well chase did the last scene till i looked on these forums and other web sites. It is very interesting.

that's where i disagree....it wasn't a show about family on family..it was a movie about a guy with anxiety and his relationship with his therapist...

he no longer needed her..so the show was over...

I'm finished! "The Blue Comet" is such an incredibly fast, tense, succinct, dense episode.

I love those weird, eerie edits in the last episode, from Tony's face, to his POV, to his face, to his POV again, but the second POV is actually an objective shot, identical to the last but now with Tony in it. It's as if he's imagining himself in the scene; very dreamlike. It happens when he visits Uncle Junior (the penultimate scene in the entire show), and it happens again in the final scene, when he's sitting at the table in the restaurant without any warning. It's very effective.

I'm also convinced he's alive. I've no reason at all to believe he gets shot; things are made up with Butch and New York, and Butch doesn't have the balls to clip Tony; nobody's listening to Phil anymore (Phil's long dead at that point), and Butch was the one who wanted to reach out to NJ in the first place. I like the Members Only jacket thing, and the two black guys (two black guys tried to kill Tony at the end of season 1, as per Junior's orders). There's also a guy with a "USA" cap in the same scene, and it's an obvious reference to the same item of clothing earlier in the show - but who wears that cap eludes me right now (anybody remember?).

Anyway, I'm taking the final scene to mean that, although things have settled down again, Tony has no reason to relax in the long term.