Okay, it has been over a week since The Sopranos finale aired, and I still can’t get that song (“Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey) out of my head. What is worse is that I’ve been hearing it on commercial radio when I’m surfing stations, and even Hillary Clinton has jumped on the bandwagon, using the song as part of a slick advertisement featuring her husband Bill. Ironically, Hillary is in the Tony Soprano role and Bill is playing Carmela’s part. Strange but effective little commercial that it is, it reinforces the power of The Sopranos finale and its hold on our collective imagination.
I still find myself evaluating the ending, debating as it were the “fade to black” as a metaphor for death. I know that Bobby and Tony were talking about death as they sat in the boat on the lake (a couple of episodes before the finale), a surreal moment of peace between the brothers-in-law that was a calm before a big storm (later that day when Tony and Bobby duke it out over a tempestuous game of Monopoly). During the boat scene Bobby thinks about what death might be like and wonders if everything goes silent and fades to black. Tony says nothing but we know that he has been doing everything but facing the inevitable: people in his line of work tend to die violently or in jail.
If we look at the clip again there are obvious manipulations at work. Since the title of the episode is “Made in America,” Mr. Chase employs all sorts of connections to Americana for the viewer: a guy in a USA cap, boy scouts, a happy young couple laughing about something, and two black men checking out the food behind the counter. He even throws in a guy getting up and going to the bathroom, reminiscent of The Godfather scene when Michael went to get a gun in the bathroom of the Italian restaurant.
All of this seems to work on a visceral level, and the key to all these elements coming together is the people at the center of it all — the Sopranos themselves. Tony is descended from immigrants, the backbone of America to be sure in its last century, yet he (just as his father and uncle before him) has not chosen to be a part of the legitimate rise of Italian Americans to all levels of society; no, Tony is a gangster and has blood on his hands. No matter how much we either accept or reject this fact, invariably Tony and people like him are part of the fabric of the country. “Made” in America indeed!
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
Interesting piece, but it wasn't a "fade to black" it was a "cut to black." There's a difference.
Since Tony is in charge exactly who would he be giving evidence about?
2 - Victor Lana
Tony knows where all the skeletons are and then some. He could bring down lots of guys and, as Agent Harris noted, still end up "winning this" thing. The battle isn't staying alive; it's getting to really live.
3 - Josh Lasser "TV and Film Guy"
Congratulations! This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States.
4 - Victor Lana
Thank you, Josh. As always, I do appreciate the recognition of my work.
5 - Stratbat
You're on to something with your observation about "point of view." The only nagging ambiguity to the interpretation that Tony was whacked (as suggested by the cut to black and silence) was that the point of view didn't shift to T's perspective. We saw T's POV when both Carmella and AJ walked into the diner. For Meadow, we heard a bell, and saw Tony looking frontward, and that's all.
I think you're mistaken, however, in extrapolating this POV problem by thinking it was Meadow who was whacked. If that was the case, wouldn't we see Meadow's POV -- i.e., her Dad looking directly at her?
It seems clear to me that the final shot of Tony looking at the diner entrance upon hearing the door chime is AJ's POV. Watch the scene again, and I think you'll agree. This opens up an interesting question ... since AJ and the "Members Only" guy entered the diner together--only a couple feet apart--was it AJ who was whacked?
Stratbat
6 - Victor Lana
I don't know about AJ's POV here, Strat. I watched it again and it's a bit confounding. Chase is really playing with us here. At the beginning of the scene we get Tony's POV all the way until he, Carmela, and AJ are all seated.
We then get a shift to omniscient POV with an all-seeing eye view of the three of them from the side. Right before Meadow come sin we get that omniscient view again as Tony reaches for the jukebox, but as the bell rings it seems that it is Meadow coming in and looking at her father before it goes black. At least that's how I'm seeing it.
There is no consistency here and maybe that's the whole point.