It’s been almost three years since the finale aired, and that’s plenty of time to think things over. The poll is about what you think the finale meant.
Also, have you changed your mind about the finale since it aired or has your opinion stayed the same since you finished watching it?
At first I thought Chase did the “life goes on” ending, but now I firmly believe that Tony dies at the end.
I’d say there isn’t enough information to answer the question.
At the time I thought it was supposed to be open to viewer interpretation. Now I’m sure Tony was killed. If you look at Chase’s comments about the episode on Wikipedia, he doesn’t come out and say what happened, but he compares the ending to two other discussions about death - Bobby’s comment to Tony that you probably never hear the one that gets you, and the shooting of Gerry Torciano, which Silvio didn’t see coming even though he was having dinner with the victim. At the time I think everybody picked up on the way the finale echoed that conversation between Tony and Bobby, but the fact that Chase explains his decision in light of a second murder cements it as far as I’m concerned.
Yes there is. In order to interpret a work of art, all you need is the work of art.
And this particular work of art cuts off before Tony either is shot or not shot. So there’s no objective way to answer the question, absent Chase telling us.
The Sopranos finale was basically Chase’s big “fuck you” to all the fans of the show.
Frankly, I admire the audacity of it.
Geez, I’d hate to see you at MOMA.
It’s not a math problem. Plus, Chase has said in interviews that everything you need to understand the finale is in the finale.
He insists it wasn’t, and I believe him.
I’m going to go with “Chase didn’t feel like coming up with anything” just because most of the final season felt that way to me.
This:
seems to suggest otherwise. I don’t know why Chase didn’t seem to understand that Tony started off and remained a compelling, interesting and occasionally charismatic figure. But, over the years as the bodies, lies, and gradually more disgusting things that Tony did piled up, he became more clearly despicable and a villain than he was initially.
Not really, no: he’s saying people who wanted to see Tony punished were hypocrites. If you’re saying he got revenge on them by killing Tony but not letting them see him die, maybe you have a point. But that’s not the whole audience. I think this comment is just as telling:
It doesn’t need to be objective. The way Chase ended it leaves it up to each viewer’s interpretation. If you believe he died, and you’re satisfied that’s what happened, then that’s what happened. The same if you believe he lived. Also, it means people are still talking about it, much in the same way they still talk about “American Pie” (the Don McLean song).
I voted #2 - Life goes on, but Tony’s life will always be in danger. I believe Tony lives, but he’ll always have to keep looking over his shoulder. I personally believe that what happened at the end, the blackout, was Tony having one of his panic attacks. Dr. Melfi may have dismissed Tony as a patient, but he still has very real issues with anxiety and will always be subject to the stresses of the life that he has embraced.
Which would, to me, mean that he does not believe you need to understand whether Tony was dead. One thing you learn about TV is that, if you don’t see a body, you can’t assume someone is dead.
The difference between television and modern art is that, when you see a piece of modern art, you’re flat out told it has meaning. And, even then, a lot of people will disagree on what that meaning is. That’s what you get for not being 100% clear and objective.
I think it’s intentionally ambiguous, and I’m perfectly happy with that. I don’t know if he dies or not, and I don’t need to know.
Maybe this is reading too much into his comments, but when talking about the audience, he doesn’t seem to differentiate a segment of the audience as hypocrites. He seems to paint them all as hypocrites. Yet he also says that the job of the episode and the series is to entertain the audience. If he has disgust and disdain for the audience as a whole, specifically when it comes to Tony’s fate, why wouldn’t he decide to fuck with them/us?
Previous thread, incl. a link to yet another previous thread: Sopranos Finale - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
I always thought this until just last week, when I finally got around to watching one of the round table discussions with him and some of the cast members and writers. He states up front that that’s the opinion of a whole lot of people, and then pretty much shoots the theory down.
But I’ll tell you what really sticks in my craw: they never answered the question of if the Russian lived or not!
(Joke.)
In light of the dialouge about “never hearing the one that gets you”, its pretty clear that Tony is killed. It’s pretty hard to think of any other significance to the guy in the restaurant giving him the stink-eye and then the screen cutting to black.
I don’t see a reasonable interpretation other than ‘Tony Was Killed’. You have a guy sitting at the bar, clearly watching Tony very carefully. Then he gets up, and walks off to the bathroom. A period of time passes, and the lights go out - instantly. The clear message is that the guy approached him from behind and shot him in the head. I imagine being shot that way would be just like that - one minute you’re living a life, watching your daughter come towards you, thinking happy thoughts, then <snap> and you’re gone. And you never get to find out anything ever again. Chase made the audience actually feel that.
I thought it was a brilliant ending. One of the best ever on television. Maybe THE best.