So Tony Saprano was whacked
 

In the final moments of Sunday's concluding episode, Tony, the conflicted mob boss who has just survived a round of gangland warfare, sits in a diner with his family munching on onion rings as the 1980s song by rock band Journey, "Don't Stop Believing," blares from a juke box.

Tension builds as a suspicious man wearing a "Members Only" jacket eyes Tony from a nearby counter before slipping into a restroom. Then, as Tony looks toward the restaurant's entrance, the screen abruptly goes blank in mid-scene -- with no picture or sound for 10 seconds -- until the credits roll silently.

Stunned viewers, many initially believing something had gone wrong with their cable TV reception, were left wondering whether Tony ended up "whacked" or whether his sordid life went on as usual.

The jarring, fill-in-the-blank finale, concluding a show widely hailed as America's greatest television drama, sparked a furious debate about whether Chase had conceived of an actual ending and whether he left the audience any clues.

The biggest hint, according to a consensus taking shape on the Web, is a scene from an earlier episode in which Tony and his brother-in-law, Bobby Bacala, muse about what it feels like to die.

"You probably don't even hear it when it happens," Bobby says while they sit fishing in a small boat on a lake.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/...sopranos.reut/

interesting

It's plausible..

that was my assumption with the 'go to black' analogy too

I specifically remember Bobby saying that you hear "Spandau Ballet" when you are whacked. This makes me wonder what the ending really was trying to say.

That's what I thought ...

It's foreshadowing from the past about the future, which is the past too.

:eyecrazy

Thanks for fucking it up for those of us who have not watched it yet.

I thought this was already known.

yes because this is the first thread on the Sopranos ending you've seen.

Its friday not monday morning

LOL

Yes, it is.

I've been busy working, not reading GFY much and obviously not watching my DVR'ed Sopranos.

Excuse me but you CHOSE to read the thread. No one made you.

sounds ok, I would have liked to see him dead, or know for sure that he made it out alive.

I have a nasty habit of reading thread titles to see if I want to read the threads. I still have not read anything in this thread other than the replies to me.

Most people have the courtesy to put things in the thread title like "Spoiler" or something instead of actually fucking things up for others.

Again, thank you for being so considerate.

I still think its possible they left it open for a movie. Those fuckers better have.

I can feel your pain, Uno. I'm still in shock myself.

:Oh crap

excuse me but ther were about 20+ "spoiler" threads already.

Sorry I assumed everyone either watched the show or heard about it. Next time I watch a show I'll wait 20 years to post about it so I know not to spoil it for anyone. I was going to post about The Crying Game and The Sixth Sense but you may not have seen them yet so I'll refrain.

I agree with this train of thought. If the boat scene with Tony and Bobby wasn't significant, they would not have shown it again in the final episode.

They spared us gore by not actually showing Phil's head popping open like a melon onto the gas station cement. But what they did not show us in the final scene was much more intense.

In the last shot we see Tony reaching for his gun as he hears someone enter the restaurant. Tony, focused on the front door, never sees the guy behind him in the Member's Only jacket blowing his brains out.

So now Carmella and Anthony Jr. are covered in Tony's blood and brains. And hopefully the bullet doesn't leave Tony's skull and hit Meadow as she's coming into the restaurant.

I like they way they left it.

Regards,

Mike

:eek7

There's a first for everything.

Food for thought. I'll have to watch it again more carefully.

Another theory that is floating around on the web is that WE (the viewers) got wacked.

*shudder*

Damn, we could be dead and not even know it.

CNN's analysis sucks :)

David Chase did say he was leaving it open to the viewer. Personally I think the build up at the end was to show us the viewers what it was like to be Tony Soprano, always on the edge.

I posted this same theory the night of the episode. I want a cookie now.