This is literature…there are plenty of reasonable interpretations. You’re welcome to yours and I think it’s an interesting one, but not necessarily the only one.
I couldn’t disagree more.
The title of the ep is “Made in the USA.” People were saying that the trucker wearing the US cap was Tony’s killer, and the ep title was proof of that. It’s not. The alleged killer was not the trucker and was not wearing a cap, just a grey Members Only jacket. This invalidates the supposed connection to the title of the ep with the killer.
There is another, very reasonable interpretation of the ending aside from the speculation (which is all it is) that Tony was shot. That other possibility is that we just don’t know, that it ended without a resolution. In fact, there is no solid evidence that he was shot, just inference, speculation, and filling in the blank. There’s no proof, so you can’t just say by fiat that your interpretation is the only reasonable one. It’s not.
Around Wednesday there was a short bit on HBO about the music chosen for the episodes. I wasn’t paying too close attention but I remember the musical director going on about how the title and lyrics fit into a scene he was discussing. I was surprised that the lyrics of the music chosen was also considered and not just the music.
This morning I had “Don’t Stop Believin’” stuck in my head and thought this song was a pretty good choice for the final scene of the series. The final verse that begins “Working hard to get my thrill…” seems a very good wrap up of the series, especially Ton’y life (if he was shot).
I think Tony was shot and that it was a good ending.
Not necessarily, though.
What we saw would support the death theory. There’s certainly nothing working against it.
But there’s also no undeniable proof. It’s equally possible that Members Only* was just another patron, and the family finished their onion rings, paid and left. It could very well be that the point was, this is Tony’s life every day, an endless cycle of tension and minute relief, and that’s never going to change until he is dead, which time is not now. We just. don’t. know. And I for one, don’t want to know.
This is a wonderfully stylized ending. It’s entirely consistent with the format of the show, all the way through. Nothing really ends. One crisis is resolved, and another loses steam at the same time another is building. The only time Tony will be able to fully relax is when he’s dead. Is he dead? Or will he live indefinitely like this? He doesn’t even get to know. So why should we?
*And please note that I’m using that as a generic term. I’m not getting all TWoPpy and saying, “It’s a Members Only jacket, which is a shoutout to the episode Members Only, and that means this this and this.” He’s not the trucker, who was wearing a leather vest, is my point.
ETA: Knead, you mean Meadow told Patrick, right? And what did she tell him? (Oh, okay.)
D’oh! Yes, Patrick, not Jason. All she would have had to tell him was “I’m meeting my folks at Holsten’s for dinner tonight, you wanna come?”
Looks like even the official HBO Sopranos website has him pegged as dead, to me at least. Here is the last paragraph regarding the end of the episode:
Tony is the first to arrive at Holsten’s for a family dinner. He sits in a booth and plays a song on the jukebox, watching the door. Carmela enters and joins him, asking about his meeting with Mink. He tells her Carlo’s gonna testify and she takes the news with a sigh. AJ arrives next, complaining about the more mundane tasks of his job but quotes old advice from his father: “Try to remember the times that were good.” Meanwhile, Meadow struggles to parallel park outside. Customers come and go - a shady looking guy who’s been sitting at the counter enters the restroom. Finally parking the car, Meadow runs inside to join her family, just in time for…
I agree that there is no undeniable proof. And I’m sure Chase will end up saying “Interpret it however you want,” but if he wanted to leave us wondering what was gonna happen, there would have been no need to cut so abruptly. You could have had a VERY suspicious character walk into the bathroom and then just end normally with everyone at the table. You would still have everyone wondered what happened and not used typically poor editing to do so.
Re: HBO’s Soprano’s site – They’re gonna have to give the people something — if the threats being made last night have come to pass, cable operators all over the country are getting calls this morning to cancel HBO.
The masses were pissed!
Too bad they didn’t have access to the conversation here - y’all are brilliant! I had to go look up Wiki and find out about Schroedinger’s cat. Fascinating!
I dont think Tony is dead, it just doesn’t make sense. The families agreed it was over, and Phil needed to go. It’s not like they didn’t know what Tony was going to do to Phil, so revenge is out. And if they wanted to kill him they could have done it a dozen times after he moved back into his house, makes no sense to wait. Not to mention they had a brokered peace agreement. You know what kinda war that would start if after that, they went ahead and killed a boss? I just dont see it happening.
I think the show ended kinda how it started, people just doing their everyday things. Eating, parking, what have you. It started with Tony watching some ducks, like hes just an everyday joe, not a mob leader with dozens of kills under his belt. The show ended the same way. A mob family just sitting around eating, like normal every day people.
Not a happy or sad ending, but in the average normal day-to-day lifes of most people, whose day ends like that?
How does that peg him as dead any more than what the show did?
Because it says there is Something in all that Nothing.
I thiink this is a terrific interpretation. You might be giving Chase too much credit, but an excellent interpretation nonetheless. It’s the one I’ll choose to adopt.
If you weren’t left with that feeling when the screen went black, I don’t know what you were watching.
The line, “Just in time for…” says it all doesn’t it? And whatever she was just in time for was hacked off, i.e our bearing witness. If there were nothing, then the line would have read, “Meadow runs inside to join her family.” And that would have been the end of it.
“…the last onion ring.” 
If good art is supposed to involve the audience and spur discussion, “Made in America” was a success, whether or not it was a good ending.
Minor-but-very-meaningful thing that I just loved: while Phil is badgering Butch via cell phone, Butch is in Little Italy. A tour bus goes by, and the guide says something like “Little Italy once spanned 40 blocks, but is now down to a single row of stores…” Butch wanders about a block while he’s on the phone, then looks up to see he’s in Chinatown.
Actually I wasn’t watching at all (no HBO here).
But from everyone’s descriptions it seems very clear to me that it was intended to portray his death without being clear about what else happened (did the rest of his family die as well?) (what were their reactions to his being shot?).
If the point was just “life goes on”, then why not a pan of the scene? Or if it’s just that he’s doomed to vigilance, why not a scan of the various threats? Why 5 minutes of blank, if it’s not to indicate that something huge happened?
Reminds me of the end of All That Jazz.
There is no certainty Tony died or did not die. There is only the unanswered question ,Could that mean Tony died?". They made it so both interpretations could work. They have an option of making more Sopranos or a movie. Killing Tony would have removed that option.
Here’s a recent thread where you can do some research on that question: Fictional Series that ended with the most disrespect to the fans or network/publisher (My vote was for Quantum Leap.)
I don’t know if you’re pulling our leg or not, but right now the HBO site clearly says:
There’s no dramatic trailing off.
Certainly, that tied together with the end of Junior. . .also a symbol of the good old days. . .now just a crazy old coot with no power, doesn’t know where the money is. Chase has been tearing down the mythology all season long. What you pointed out was definitely another jab at it.
Also, anyone get the joke when Tony told Junior that Bobby was dead and Junior goes, “The Ambassador Hotel”? (sorry if that’s been mentioned)
kennedy joke, btw