You know, I still think about it. Every once in a while I'll revisit the final diner scene from The Sopranos finale in my head. As I wrote when it first aired, at first the episode angered me, then I accepted it and quickly saw its beauty.
I had to watch it a few times to be sure, but I believe Tony Soprano is dead. He was killed by the man in the Member‘s Only Jacket. Coming to this conclusion gave me closure and this definitive explanation of "the end" validates my theory. I highly recommend fellow Sopranos fans give that page a glance.
Bell rings, We cut to a shot of Tony’s face looking up to see who is coming through the door (this shot is about 2 seconds). According to the pattern, we should then see who is coming into the diner from Tony’s POV (this should be Meadow as we see her about to enter the diner a few seconds before the bell rings). Instead, the screen cuts abruptly to black mid-scene (at the exact spot where we should see Meadow from Tony’s POV) and the audio cuts off. All the viewer sees is “blackness” where Tony’s POV should be. This isTony’s POV because he is dead. We no longer hear Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” because Tony no longer hears it. If this was a normal ending we would see a fade to black followed immediately by the credits and we would probably still hear the music. Instead, the blackness and silence lingers for 10 seconds before we see the credits. This emphasizes the blackness, nothingness and eternal nature of death. Chase originally wanted no credits at all and the blackness to last all the way to the HBO logo (this was revealed by David Chase in the Ultimate Sopranos HBO book released in October of 2007). This would further emphasize the eternal nature of death. Tony is dead. He was shot from behind in the right side of his head. How do we know this?
You'll have to read that entry for more. If you want to read more of what I've written about The Sopranos over the years, visit my Sopranos category page.
