Sopranos Season Finale Discussion

[RiverFenix]

I cant believe Tony was eating an orange in the start and nothing happened to him...

[youtalkfunny]

OK, John from Cincinnati is over (and I liked it, but everybody knows I'm the David Milch fanboi around here), so now I have time to add my $0.02

--I thought it was very clear that Tony got whacked at the end. The smash cut to black--and it STAYED black for a few seconds, to make it clear that it was 100% intentional--indicated to me that Tony's lights were out for good, and the last thing he saw was his daughter walking towards him.

EDIT TO ADD: The camera's normal perspective, when shooting a person, is at eye-level. The final shot of Meadow walking toward the camera, the perspective is much lower, as if the cameraman was seated in that booth. We're looking through Tony's eyes! We see Meadow walking towards us. We are focused on her, we have almost no peripheral vision, no hint of impending danger...and suddenly, the lights go out. We're looking through Tony's eyes, and the lights go out!

At the same time, I recognize that this might just be my interpretation of what the "smash cut to black" symbolized. I further recognize that others may interpret it differently (though I can't think of any other way that makes sense).

AG suggests that it's silly to imagine that Tony is dead, countering with, "Who do you think wanted him dead?" The answer to that question is obvious: It was the Russian from the Pine Barrens!

No, I can't tell you who wanted Tony dead. But that does not violate the Chase mantra, that real life isn't always presented as a tidy package.

If pressed for an answer to "Who wanted Tony dead?", I would point out that Tony Soprano screwed up a lot of people's lives over the years, and any one of them could've served their revenge "cold".

--Every scene featuring that cat cracked me up for some reason.

--AJ found the sure-cure for depression: pussy. A different kind cheered up Tony, as well. Meow.

--These post-mortem Sopranos threads always make me sad. This is where I read posts like, "They never whack a guy in front of his family, whenever possible," written minutes after we all saw Phil take one in the head in front of his wife and baby grandkids.

Or, "How does Meadow's inability to parallel park add to the drama of the final scene?" I pity the people who don't feel the tension building, who don't wonder if being stalled outside for a second or two might impact what happens when/before she does arrive.

The entire final minutes were there to ratchet up the drama building to the end. You know that guitar/piano riff in the Journey song, starts at 0:48, climaxes at 1:02 of this link (go ahead, I'll wait). If you don't think that riff was the entire reason Chase chose that song for a scene where the tension is being driven through the roof (in a way that hasn't been seen since Hitchcock), well, I don't know what to tell you.

Meadow's slight delays outside the restaurant were as integral pieces of that puzzle as the Journey song.

--I fully expect to read quotes from Chase that mirror Tarentino's thoughts on the Pulp Fiction briefcase: "The answer to the mystery is whatever you want it to be."

[Triumph36]

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to be fair, his guys weren't thrilled with the idea of phil's hit on jersey to begin with, and they didn't like phil either . so - yeah, it didn't exactly come out of left field.

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Where did you get this impression?

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i feel like the attempted brokered peace with little carmine's intervention, the way phil went about this whole thing, his paranoia and need to dominate - i don't know.

it's not like butchie was a major character to begin with.

[P Chippa]

What was with Tony not wanting to see Sil at the hospital? He made an excuse about needing to take care of something, and one of the guys said, "yesterday it was his gout". He was making up excuses not to go. Was it just wanting to stay in hiding in a very hidden way, or was there a deeper meaning?

[4 High]

ytf knows whats up.

[guids]

--These post-mortem Sopranos threads always make me sad. This is where I read posts like, "They never whack a guy in front of his family, whenever possible," written minutes after we all saw Phil take one in the head in front of his wife and baby grandkids.


if you have ever read anything about the mafia, or have studied its history, you see why this is a mistake, and the fact taht phil was in hiding makes a big difference. the nuances of things like this cant be understood unless you know more about the culture and history of lcn.

[Jzo19]

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What was with Tony not wanting to see Sil at the hospital? He made an excuse about needing to take care of something, and one of the guys said, "yesterday it was his gout". He was making up excuses not to go. Was it just wanting to stay in hiding in a very hidden way, or was there a deeper meaning?

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i dont think he felt safe outside and just made excuses to stay at the house

[VarlosZ]

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ytf knows whats up.

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QFT. That was my post, thanks for saving me the trouble, ytf.

[youtalkfunny]

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ytf knows whats up.

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QFT. That was my post, thanks for saving me the trouble, ytf.

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Were you going to forget to mention Mrs Agent Harris, too?

Or the Twilight Zone guy pleading to the tv exec, "Please, just let me make the pilot, you'll see!"???

[Howard Treesong]

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having nothing happen is not brilliant. nothing happens when i don't even turn on the tv, there is supposed to be some improvement.

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i don't think nothing was happening in the last scene. it was really setup by his meeting with junior. made him realize, at least for a moment, that in the end all this business stuff doesn't mean anything. also i thought it was kind of cool how the restaurant had some sketchy looking characters that made us insanely paranoid, while tony was sitting there completely calm and at peace for one of the first times ever.

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Yes I get what the scene was trying to do.

Explain how Meadow's inability to park added to the brilliance of this scene.

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it just added more tension. that was probably the weakest part of the scene.

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I interpreted it differently: I thought the parking foulup would keep Meadow outside when an assassin waxed the remainder of the family inside, thus saving her. No matter what, it was part of the weird tension buildup that ultimately was of no moment.