I think this is an interesting theory and makes the most sense. Who then would want Tony dead? Phil is dead. Who would be the new boss? Or would that be a story line that we'll never know the ending to. I'm still confused. I need to watch the episode again I think.
This one is interesting, but FYI, Tony killed one of the black guys Junior and Livia sent to kill him. Even if he hadn't, they wouldn't have been coming back for a payback. That was season one for crying out loud. I also don't buy that the guy in the Member's Only jacket killed him because he loitered in the restaurant for WAY TOO LONG. Mob hits are nice and fast because they do not want people to identify the shooter. That guy came in, sat down, ordered food, etc. I like the theory, but I just don't believe that is what Chase meant to do. I think he just meant to build suspense. JMO.
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"Whatever you are, be a good one." --Abraham Lincoln
Or maybe it was the FBI in the diner. And they were about to take him in or something. Maybe they finally got something on him. Remeber early in the episode the guy in the van listening in on Soprano's phone conversation?
I think that's a good theory, but I also truly think nothing really happened. I think a lot of people are speculating because they wanted something to happen so badly. I think, like Farrah said, David Chase, wanted to build suspense, wanted you to think Tony was going to get killed, but in the end he didn't. I think that was smart on Chase's part, because let's face it, pretty much everyone expected Tony to get whacked. I think in the end, the family was just together. Just my two cents.
I think that's a good theory, but I also truly think nothing really happened. I think a lot of people are speculating because they wanted something to happen so badly. I think, like Farrah said, David Chase, wanted to build suspense, wanted you to think Tony was going to get killed, but in the end he didn't. I think that was smart on Chase's part, because let's face it, pretty much everyone expected Tony to get whacked. I think in the end, the family was just together. Just my two cents.
I agree. I really want to believe it, but it seems so improbable. I think the whole point is that nothing changes -- slimeballs like Tony often wiggle their way out of the trouble that confronts them. Also, Tony's dad wanted him to have a career outside the mob, which he considered, but didn't do. Similarly, AJ and Meadow almost took a different path, but in the end, they made choices that will possibly cause them to repeat their parents' mistakes.
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"We live in an age where unnecessary things are our only necessities." --Oscar Wilde
Here's an excerpt of what David Chase had to say about the ending in an interview he did with The Star-Ledger.
Chase said he would leave it to fans to interpret the show's last scene for themselves. It featured the members of the Soprano family arriving for dinner as Journey's "Don't Stop Believin"' plays. Others in the restaurant include a man in a Member's Only jacket who goes to the bathroom, which some fans have interpreted as a nod to the scene in "The Godfather" in which Michael Corleone retrieves a gun from the bathroom before a shooting.
As the music and tension build, the screen suddenly goes silent and dark. "I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," said Chase, 61, who grew up in North Caldwell. "People get the impression that you're trying to (mess) with them, and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them," he said. "Anybody who wants to watch it, it's all there."
That last quote leads me to believe that the theory twinkle posted may have something to it.
i absolutely agree with this theory. that is the first thing that popped into my head. well, not the first thing. at first i thought my cable went out and i was about to call up the cable company and chew them out, but then when the credits came up and i realized that is how it ended, i just knew he was dead. and yes i recognized the italian guy that went to the bathroom from another episode, i just can't place what he was doing.
the thing that makes me believe the theory the most - is the flashback where bobby says
"at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just
goes black" that is VERY deliberate and way too coincidental for them to just randomly put in the episode, i think.
i don't think the people/potential killers in the diner matter as much - that quote and then the cut to black/silence from tony's perspective says it all to me.
someone on Television Without Pity mentioned that the guy who goes into the bathroom may have been an homage to one of the Godfather movies where Corleone retrieves a gun from the bathroom before a hit.
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"We live in an age where unnecessary things are our only necessities." --Oscar Wilde
Just the Facts, Ma'am: The Truth About the Rumors Concerning the Sopranos Finale
If you've been anywhere on the Internet since Sunday night's series finale of The Sopranos, you're probably aware that the opaque ending has everyone talking. And some of those talkers are just plain full of it. I've been forwarded one particular analysis of the final scene a number of times, and since I was both fascinated and kinda confused, I asked a Home Box Officer to help solve the mystery...
Chances are, you may have received this same email in your inbox. But if not, I reproduce it here for your sleuthing pleasure:
So here is what I found out. The guy at the bar is also credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito. That wasn't that long ago. Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Phil's brother Nikki Senior was killed in 1976 in a car accident. Absolutely Genius!!!! David Chase is truly rewarding the true fans who pay attention to detail.
So the point would have been that life continues and we may never know the end of the Sopranos. But if you pay attention to the history, you will find that all the answers lie in the characters in the restaurant. The trucker was the brother of the guy who was robbed by Christopher in Season 2. Remember the DVD players? The trucker had to identify the body. The boy scouts were in the train store and the brothas at the end were the ones who tried to kill Tony and only clipped him in the ear (was that season 2 or 3?). Absolutely incredible!!!! There were three people in the restaurant who had reason to kill Tony and then it just ends. This was Chase's way of proving that he will not escape his past.
Yeesh, right? We haven't read anything that convoluted and all-encompassing since we spent an afternoon cruising conspiracy-theory Websites.
Well, not so fast. It's all lies and misinformation, according to Tobe Becker, an official licensed-and-bonded rep for the show, who tells us:
I honestly think this e-mail is some sort of a prank because it has spread so far and wide and is absolutely not founded on any factual information. There is no character named Nikki Leotardo in the finale episodethat is a factI do not understand why the person who wrote that e-mail states otherwise. The other "facts" are also incorrectthe trucker, the boy scouts, the two African-Americans who came into the diner (we KNOW that is false, because when the attempt was made on Tony Sopranos life, one of those guys was killed in the shootout) So you can dismiss the entire e-mail...
There you have it, folks. The first proof ever that there are factual inaccuracies on the Web and/or crazy people talking out of their butts. (Okay, maybe not the first proof, since I have been implicated in at least half of the first 2,323 factual inaccuracies on the Internet, but hey, I've never been convicted. At least according to Wikipedia.)
And now that you can put your minds to rest about Nikki Leotardo, you may carry on with your carryin' on! And remember, don't stop believin'... --------------------------------------