Someone above demurred about life goes on. But it does. We move through life from event to event. What was supposed to happen to Tony and his family? Well, keep in mind that this was a fictional story based on life. Life is full of variables. Not all those variables are dramatic and conclusive.

On one hand, I get what Chase was trying to do: not spell everything out, leave it open to the audience's interpretation, doing it his way, not being confined by boundaries.

On the other hand, a LITTLE closure would've been nice.

Hey, I'm not a watcher who needs everything tied up in a nice little bow. Where did Furio go? I don't mind not knowing. What happened to the Russian in the Pine Barrens? It's fine to leave that a mystery. In real life, you seldom get total closure and have resolutions to everything. In real life, you have loose ends. In that regard, I totally get what Chase was doing.

HOWEVER, this show is ultimately about one guy: Tony Soprano. He is the focal point. Without him, there is no show. He is the main character, the one all the other characters revolve around. At the very least, just a little closure about the MAIN CHARACTER would have been nice.

But since it is open to interpretation, here is mine: I think Tony got killed right at the end, probably by the guy who was eyeing him in a funny way from across the restaurant and stepped into the bathroom. Recall the first episode on this season, where Tony and Bobby were talking about getting shot to death: "You probably don't even hear or see a thing when it happens."
I think the blank screen before the silent roll of the credits was Tony's death.

Thanks for that!!!!

And yet Chase is being crucified for that.

Chris -

Your commentary on the show was sorely missed this past year. Hope all is well with you and the family.

They showed it again last week as a reminder and a clue to us for the end.

I think we saw the death of Tony Soprano the only way that it could have been shown.

I think that we saw the LIFE of Tony Soprano the only way that it could have been shown.

Ah what a life it was...

Hi, SC. The wife and daughter are doing incredibly well! Thank you for asking.
In addition to a busy family life, work (two jobs with a total of 70 hours a week) has been horrendous, leaving me precious little time for any leisure activity, such as having fun on this board! I am in search of a better job as we type, so hopefully I'll have a single 40 hour a week job and a semblance of normalcy.

As for "The Sopranos", I do applaud Chase's guts for ending the show like he did. I also understand his motivation to do things his way. I understand his not having the need to wrap up every loose end and tie everything up in a neat little package for everyone's consumption.

My examples of Furio and the Russian are what I mean. So many people keep on complaining about the loose ends throughout the tenure of the show, but that's life! Life is full of loose ends.

Leaving the fates of the other characters in a shroud of mystery is absolutely cool. I just think Chase went a LITTLE too far in leaving the fate of THE MAIN CHARACTER completely unknown.

I think a click and a bang out of nowhere and a total blank screen for a few seconds while seeing things from Tony's perspective would have perfectly conveyed the fact that Tony is dead, while still leaving the WHO? WHAT? WHY? HOW? open to interpretation. I think that would have been a better way to end the series. It would have given us SOME closure while still leaving things unresolved, mysterious, and controversial.

Based on Chase's many references to GF during the series, one might make an argument that Tony got whacked in Holsten's.

(Who can ever forget the undertaker's words to Tony after Livia's death?)

Two things that stand out in my mind are the man going to the bathroom (we never see him come out, do we?) and Tony's line about the onion rings being "the best in the state" - both bits certainly echo the Michael/Sollozzo sitdown.

But the ambiguous ending will always annoy me, particularly because I felt the rest of the episode was very well-written and things were moving along at a nice clip. To hear Chase say (regarding the end scene) that "it's all there" seems almost like a slap in the face. In other words, if we can't immediately read his mind and see things as he saw them, then - what? We're idiots? Chase certainly knew people would be arguing over the end scene, so he goes off to France and conveniently refuses to discuss what the ending means (and implying that we should have already figured it out).

Gimme a break...

Signor V.

I agree with DC on this point.

Those last paranoid, frenzied moments in the ice cream shop showed us life from Tony's point of view. Always looking always his shoulder, never at peace, not knowing exactly when it's gonna all come crumbling down but being unfortunate enough to know that it inevitably will.

It's quite possible that those were the last moments of Tony's life, it's also just as possible that they weren't. What's certain and what Chase conveyed is that every moment of Tony's life is like that. There's no peace when you live that life. Crime, while undeniably quite profitable from a financial point of view, just doesn't pay.

Bravo David.

This will put the Phil's Nephew rumor to rest as the guy at the counter was a pizza shop owner.

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/111-06092007-1360360.html

He's a pizza shop owner in real life. His persona in the show is still in question. Although it appears, and I agree that he's a "nobody". This also seems to back-up the reports that no violence was ever filmed at Holstens. So those looking for a bloody ending on the DVD when it comes out, might be out of luck.

Can you imagine the business he will be getting now at his pizza shop? Har far is it from New Brunswick

Yeah. ...And I wonder how many onion rings Holsten's is selling?

Someone made a point in regards to the cat in an earlier post ( can't recall who it was).

So I went back and re-watched the episode. The more I think about it the more I am convinced that the cat was symbollically supposed to be Christopher re-incarnated. He stares at Christopher's picture, and one can easily make an argument that it could be Adrianna because of this. However he could be staring at himself, remembering when. But what really makes me lean towards it being Chris is the fact that the Cat totally annoyed Paulie. Just like Chris used to. The Cat got under Paulie's skin. Just like Chris used to. Tony loved the Cat. Just as he loved Chris. And when Paulie is sitting all alone outside of Satriale's, there's the Cat sitting right there also. Just like Chris and Paulie used to do.

I'm convinced that the Cat was symbolic of Christopher.

Everyone of the series' episodes ended with the screen going to black. All the episodes ended with viewers wondering what would happen to those in the episode and what would happen next episode. So, why all the lamentations about the finale? It's fiction. You can make up your own ending. Tony dies. Good. That's a good ending. Try that one. It'll live in your memory forever. If you get tired of it, change it. There's a million possibilities.

Wow! In all this mass confusion of posts going up every 30 seconds for the last couple of days, I just realized that you are posting again! Great to see you back. I've always remembered you for the excellent Sopranos posts that you've made in this thread.

Welcome home.

36 miles

Right idea, wrong person. The cat was symbolic of Big Pussy.

You really think so? If it was Big Pussy then why was Paulie so miffed with it? Paulie never really had any run ins with Big Pussy outside of the time that he wanted him to strip down to see if he was wearing a wire.

Christopher, on the other hand, always seemed to annoy Paulie. They were always at odds.

If it was supposed to be symbolic of Big Pussy, than why did they make the cat stare at Christopher's picture?

Duhhhhh..... pussy = cat.

Keyword: pussy

Then why was he staring at Christopher's picture?

*cough*It'sAJoke*cough*

Vince Curatola (Johnny Sack) was on TV a few minutes ago, and he said that he thinks Tony died. "Most likely" was his words. Then again, it is open to interpretation, as we all know.



The guy wearing a Members' Only jacket.....Members' Only was the name of the first episode of season 6, part 1, when Tony got shot.....

I was talking to your consigliere, not you.

IT WAS A JOKE!!

(Great, now he's doing a Greek Sicilan Mafia Don imitation).

A Joke.

Are you trying to amuse me? Are you trying to make me laugh? Are you a clown?

Oh, sorry, wrong thread.

one thing that hit me while watching the episode but i kinda looked over was sil in the hospital bed.

this whole seris every episode with sil we have seen his hair in that frozen slicked back, whether he be at his breakfast table or at the bing

in the last scene we saw with tony & sil, silvio hair was just like a regular joes (uncombed) which is the first thing i looked at when i saw sil in the bed. outside of the junior scene i liked this scence the best. it was two best friends meeting and no words were utterted and tony holds his hand, just as sil did when tony was in the hospital. classic

and earlier b4 the season started van zandt in one of the hbos specials mentionted the only constant in the show has been silvios hair

At least Steve Van Zandt liked the ending. I didn't know that was his real life wife who played his wife on the show.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=I6ShHJcQ9Kk