Posted on 03/11/2019 11:40:39 AM PDT by Coleus
On June 10, 2007, less than five minutes remained in the final episode of “The Sopranos.”
After eight years with Tony Soprano, his family and the Family, viewers of the landmark series sat keenly alert to the final action as Tony waited for his family at Holsten’s in Bloomfield: The bell that sounds each time someone walks through the door. Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin'” playing on the jukebox. The onion rings that Tony, Carmela and A.J. pop in their mouths as Meadow attempts her maddening parallel parking job outside.
Then, nothing. Cut to black.
Those final seconds hit Tony’s native New Jersey — and the entire viewing audience — like the Big Bang, especially when everyone realized the black screen was not, in fact, a cable outage. As the waves of shock expanded outward, “The Sopranos” was never really over. Since that Sunday night more than 11 years ago, fans and TV critics, including former Star-Ledger writers Alan Sepinwall and Matt Zoller Seitz, have debated whether the abrupt end was an indication of Tony’s demise or something else entirely.
So when they sat down recently with series creator David Chase for a series of interviews about the show, they did not expect any monumental clarification. And yet, behold this sentence in their new book:
“I think I had that death scene around two years before the end,” Chase told them.
Yes. “Death scene.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nj.com ...
Well I think Chase wanted just enough ambiguity so that people would argue about it. But I think he was almost too clever about it, because in real time, most people wouldn't pick up on the subtle clues he left.
If you see how they eat the onion rings (?), they put them on their tongues like communion wafers and in a studied, religious manner. It was the last supper for them.
“Then, nothing. Cut to black.”
If that was not the greatest series ending ever - it is in the top 3.
Having said this - I know some people hated it. Why? Because some people wanted a tried and true, solid, dependable ending. (yawn)
Genius ending to a genius show.
"Sopranos" basically opened the door to 20 years of great TV. I'm still binge-watching shows from that era that I stream on Netflix and Amazon Prime. And that's how I take my TV. It's been at least a decade since I watched regular TV with commercials. As soon as I checked out "on demand" streaming TV, I knew it was the future and went all in.
As a side-note, that finale got me back into Journey in a big way. I remember them growing up but was never that big of a fan. I ended up checking out all the Journey albums, including the early ones before Steve Perry joined the band. I've definitely heard "Don't Stop Believing" more times since 2007 than before 2007!
https://themobmuseum.org/nickname-generator/
Chase had made it clear in numerous interviews after the end of the show that Tony did not die.
In more recent interviews it’s clear he is sick and tired of being asked.
The greatest final episode ever, because people are still talking about it.
He’s Schrodinger’s Mob Boss. The cat is both alive and dead because the box is closed and will remain closed until Chase decides to cash in with a Sopranos reunion show.
...
True. It’s all fiction. He can be alive and dead.
I wouldn’t even have cut to black, I would have just gone to the next HBO show, because if you’re dead, you don’t even see black.
But I would imagine people would have been even angrier if they did it that way.
The eating the orange at breakfast (think Godfather). The meeting with Uncle Junior that was a farewell. And then the last line at dinner to remember the good times.
Also several episodes ago talking about getting wacked, that you never see it, just goes black.
What the hell? Is was just a damn TV show.
I don’t see how anyone would have wanted to be in the mob from watching the Sopranos. It looked like a depressing way of life to me.
And the Members Only Guy went into the bathroom, like Michael Corleone, before coming out and shooting Tony, so perhaps the gun was planted in the toilet, just as it was in The Godfather.
Tony got tired of the viewers knowing all so had the viewer whacked. Go directly to black, do not fade.
The show is unique in my opinion as having no one worthy of sympathy.
Having said this - I know some people hated it. Why? Because some people wanted a tried and true, solid, dependable ending. (yawn)
Not sure what that song has to do with this thread but thank you for linking it! That was one of my favorite songs during the fall of 1979. It was my senior year in high school and I had a job washing dishes at a restaurant and that song played often on the radio station that the cooks were playing. Randy Crawford (a woman) delivered an excellent vocal performance.
Street Life - The Crusaders
Actually I remember that song more from “Sharkey’s Machine”.
I’ve been whacked in a diner plenty of times...usually around 2:00am in the morning, right after the bars close.
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