Paulie didn't drown the cat. He said he *would* drown the cat.

Congratulations! This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States.

The end was brilliant. EVERY time someone walked into the diner, the bell on the door rings, Tony looks up and you see who's coming from Tonys point of view. Finally, when Meadow walks in, the bell rings, you see Tony look up and at this point, you should Meadow through his eyes, but it cuts to black and it's silent. Tony has been whacked, whether he lives or not will never be known and it won't matter. If you have it on tivo, watch it again and it makes sense. Also, theres the reference in boxing that it ain't over until the bell rings. Well, the bell rung for the last time and it was over.

Very well thought out and well-developed essay on this. Nicely done!

Great piece(again) my take on the episode is based in part on your analysis in the 7th to last paragraph. Everyone is focusing on the Journey tune. It is no stretch of the imagination to surmise that this song would indeed be a part of an American Diner's jukebox. But what I took from that last scene was the song included BEFORE 'Dont Stop Believin'-Little Feat's "All That You Dream". I think that was the song Chase really wanted included to drive home the point of the Sopranos embracing the American Dream and underscoring the reoccurring dream sequences that were so integral to the story arc these past two seasons. When Tony was perusing the juke box the camera honed in on a Tony Bennett number and thats what we were led to believe the closing song was going to be. The lack of music over the closing credits was also a brilliant way to make this episode SO final. I can't stop recalling the episode when Chase chose to use Glad Tidings to close out the season finale. He's as much a visual DJ as a dramatic director!

Tony did not get whacked.

On the west coast, Meadow walking in was not the final shot. It cut to the family, and then a close-up of Tony, before the final cut. Yet, I have seen others on the east, including a local report from NJ say that Meadow was the final shot. Makes no sense.

Tony told Bobby that "getting whacked is easy, because you don't see it coming and all you see is black." He was whacked for sure.

> I read this ending as basically saying life goes on

I would say a fade-out to rising music, as in the other seasons' quiet, family-centered endings, would say "life goes on." What the blackout said was: "life goes on -- until it doesn't."

I don't mean that it univocally signifies an unexpected hit on Tony, though it certainly raises that possibility. Just that there will be an end, the point when it comes it will likely be arbitrary and undramatic, and the lives of others will go on in similar fashion, without much fuss.

Brilliant summary. Quite brilliant.

Good review. Very interesting. It's inspired me to lookup this episode, though I haven't watched a "Sopranos" in about 3 years.

I'm all the way out here in South Africa, and won't get to the see the finale until sometime next week...but your analysis makes the wait worthwhile. Its sad that such a great show has ended...it has given me so much, from expanding my mob vocab (the words cunt hair and sit-down feature regularly in my everyday speech), to making me analyse the values in my own life and the ultimately futility that is life in general, and how we need some sort of ideology to just get by. Brilliant show. Brilliant analysis

The last scene is like something out of Antonioni, brilliantly playing on our expectations.

The awful Journey song, perfectly chosen as all the music has been on the series, is heavily ironic in context: "Don't stop believing." We, and most of the characters, have all been disillusioned by now.

Anyone who would complain about being "screwed" by this finale is perhaps not smart enough to fully enjoy and appreciate this series anyway.

Many viewers had a problem with the ending. Even though I felt as if I was cheated, I don't have a problem with the ending. I do, however, have a problem with this season. I hated the fact that the scenes were rushed and bundled into each other only because they couldn't "legally" make more than nine episodes.
I read a lot of reviews that point out the fact that we, as an audience, don't need to know what happens next to Tony, he might have died, he might have lived happily ever after, or he might have gotten arrested. But I want to know. I've been watching this show for eight years and I think I deserve to know what happens to the main character. I saw Christopher die, Sil become a vegetable, Uncle June gone mad, Bobby whacked in a toy/train shop, and the list goes on and on. I think the ending was very well made, taken from a Scorsese movie perhaps, very artistic, but I needed more. Maybe is just the kid inside me talking but this episode "Made in America" was very much "Americanized" For instance, the music; great for this particular ending, but not for a Mob story. But it's not just the ending that left me disappointed. Throughout the entire season David Chase was teasing us with interesting plot points but never delivered. When Tony's voice was heard through that tape recorder talking about the meeting that it would take place, it appeared to me that something big was about to happen. I don't know why, but I kept picturing Tony in an orange jump suit and hand cuffs. Instead, nothing came together. That conversation was another tease by Mr. Chase. Overall, I will never forget the first three seasons of The Sopranos. And oh...what happened to the Russian guy that got away from Christopher and Paulie in the snow? Here's an ending for you!

I dunno about Tony getting killed in the dinner. I heard diffirent things, Like it was apperantly phils nephew in the USA hat. But i think Tony would of picked up on that. Also the guy seemed nervous...not the kind of person that you send to kill the leader of a major crime family... Just didnt seem very professional. But it would make sense for the whole fade to black thing... If you remember they brought it up yet again, when bobby said the thing about when you die you dont see it or hear it and thats pretty much what happened in the end. But I guess we'll have to wait for dvd... I heard that they had filmed 7 diffirent endings.

"Anyone who would complain about being "screwed" by this finale is perhaps not smart enough to fully enjoy and appreciate this series anyway."

Or perhaps not pretentious enough. People are entitled to feel let down that they didn't get enough closure with Tony without being insulted due to your need to feel superior.

The series' ending worked for the show, but it was nothing new. Life keeps going on. I wasn't surprised with the conclusion because the seasons have never had big dramatic endings, so why should the finale? I am surprised so many people think he was shot. Things were squared away with NY. Jail seems like the most likely outcome with the gun charge and the recent rat. It's also too obvious. Something Chase is not.

The tension was great, but we've always known that the paranoia, real and imagined, was happening with Tony, but it didn't come solely from Chase. The knowledge it was the final episode added to the viewer's anticipation. Chase played on that, but it won't hold up to repeat viewings.

And regardless of what is happening with people claiming to see different final shots, you can't deny the quick cut was gimmicky, reminiscent of something from Ernie Kovacs or Andy Kaufman.

Wonderful evaluation and review, Patrick. You cover it all here. I did think the cat was like raven Christopher saw outide the window when he was made. A force of nature to remind them of their mortality.

I think the blackout meant Tony changed his name to Lionel Huggins and became a karate instructor in Las Cruces, NM and, quite frankly, I don't see how anyone could argue with that conclusion.

But I want to know. I've been watching this show for eight years and I think I deserve to know what happens to the main character.

But, I think the ending tells you exactly what happens to him, the same stuff that's happened to him for the past eight years. He's still got the feds after him, there's tension with New York and within his own crew, but his family's together and things are okay.

Watching the scene, it makes no sense to me to infer that Tony got killed. For one, the war with New York is over, who would kill him? They went through all this trouble to take out Phil and move on, now, maybe Butchie was playing him, but it's not motivated. If you're going to kill Tony, show it on screen. But, beyond the narrative reasons, it makes no thematic sense for Tony to die. The entire point of this final scene is to erase Tony's connection to the mob and portray as just another guy out to dinner with his family. Chase's implicit point is that we're all part of this lie, as much hypocrites as Tony's is. But, we live on, so why should Tony die?

Having a fade out would imply that the story is over, we've reached a point of closure. But, life doesn't have those kind of moments, it just goes on, hence the sudden cut. Stuff will continue to happen in this universe, but we're not privy to it. Life goes on for them, whether or not we are there.

The two guys that came in at the end looked as though there was something under their shirts. Bombs? I think everyone in the restraunt died.

I think we were whacked. To quote Bobby again, "getting whacked is easy, because you don't see it coming and all you see is black" which is exactly what happened to every single person watching the show. That to me is brilliant.

Susan is right, we were 'whacked'. I suppose that TV drama addicts are discomfited by an ending that doesn't tie up all the loose ends and wrap everything with a bow. Too much like real life, inferior as THAT is to the fanciful lives invented by storytellers. No wonder we accept the fantasy worlds of political leaders: we have become addicted to the lies of TV and movie merchants.

Patrick,

Very thoughtful and complete interpretation of Sopranos Finale. As the actor who played Little Carmine, I appreciate the reference to the scene in Stage 5. Little Carmine is often viewed as the idiot but even with his "flair" with language, he always had a clearer view of things and a realistic take on the big picture.
Thanks,
Ray

I have to agree with miked. It seems that the both the guy in the USA hat and the guy in the Members Only jacket each had dirty bombs under their respective shirts. It's my understanding that the black guys and the members of the boy scout troop (but not the leader) were Phil's nephews (some of whom were illegitimate). Anyway, who can know for sure who saw which ending because I heard that they made 18 different endngs and shuffled them among the viewers' homes.

Ray, thanks so much for the comment. You were always fantastic on the show, one of the most entertaining characters these past few seasons, and quite interesting on a thematic level. In light of the last episode, it looks like AJ will be following Carmine's path in the future.

I have to agree with miked. It seems that the both the guy in the USA hat and the guy in the Members Only jacket each had dirty bombs under their respective shirts. It's my understanding that the black guys and the members of the boy scout troop (but not the leader) were Phil's nephews (some of whom were illegitimate). Anyway, who can know for sure who saw which ending because I heard that they made 18 different endngs and shuffled them among the viewers' homes.

Um, I'm hoping this post was a joke, poking fun at the ridiculous theories people have on the finale. If it's not, to quickly debunk, why would there be two dirty bombers at this restaurant? That makes no sense. For one, no one knew Tony would be there, and even if they did, who is left to want to kill Tony?

And why would the black guys be Phil's nephews, wouldn't Chase have included this information in the show if it was so important? And if they were Phil's nephews, why would they be at this place when two dirty bombers were there? Why would there be an entire boy scout troop of Phil's nephews? And, there was only one ending, in all viewers' homes.

Patrick, I think those boy scouts were packing heat (just kidding, of ocurse). Everyone in that restaurant looked suspicious in some way, and that was the whole point.

Also, just a follow-up on Ray's comment about Little Carmine. I think he had one of the most important lines in all the seasons when he told Tony how his wife didn't want to be a rich widow. That qualified a lot for Tony in a very pivotal scene.

Actually, you don't NEED the lie to live... it just makes it easier in the short term.
Living with the contradictions between who you want to be and how the world is, or how you want the world to work and how it really does, is possible. It's called trying to be a good person, something that no one in six seasons of the Sopranos ever did for more than 5 seconds.

Here is a detailed analysis of Made In America.