r/thesopranos • u/Less_Summer_4040 • 1d ago
As great and misunderstood as the ending is…..
I still think that it’s fairly flawed and that there were more interesting and subtle ways to end the show with ambiguity. Making the ending about whether Tony dies or not is honestly the most obvious thing they could have done and I don’t understand why people make it seem like it’s the most unique and creative thing they could of done. A far more interesting ending imo would of been for Tony to finally be arrested and was given the choice of flipping or spending the rest of his life in jail and THEN the screen turned to black before we hear his decision. It would add real ambiguity because we don't know if Tony is really dedicated to the life anymore and is willing to give up his freedom to a life he has grown to hate and is crumbling around him. Tony being killed like the other 90% of the characters just seems a bit too “conventional” for me to see at as particularly interesting. I also feel it would of done more for the underlying theme of the decline of mob, since in real life the mob was destroyed by increased law enforcement pressure rather than the mob just killing each other and wiping each other out. Tony’s ending being more mundane and realistic would of really added to the show’s identity of the mob being more mundane then media tends to portray it as.
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u/Illustrious_Bad8948 1d ago
Tony was going to prison though, the feds finally had a good case and a made man to testify. So either way his life was over.
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u/telepatheye 1d ago
A. That hasn't been established. B. You're gonna write a better ending than David Chase?
I'm a little miffled. But sure, sit with it. Pitch it to HBO. But I think you're fucked.
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u/Fluid_Leader_1370 1d ago
The ending isn't a guessing game of whether he died or not. The ending is how we, like Tony, really do know the paths he is destined to take. He went to therapy, he almost died, killed some people, had some goomars, and didn't learn a thing. He won't change. We can obsess about the ending or just accept it, like he can. Whatever it is, he's just a fat fucking crook from New Jersey. It goes on and on and on...
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u/PossessionPopular182 1d ago
Exactly. Did Tony die, is the most asinine discussion about the ending. The point is what is it about this story that makes a definitive ending wrong?. Why does it not matter to give Tony an ending, at least not as much as it does to cut off all attempt at resolution?
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u/Doctor__Bones 1d ago
This is exactly it. The point of the ending is it doesn't matter any more. Tony is going to continue being the same miserable asshole forever, and therapy hasn't helped.
The question the show is asking isnt "can Tony run New Jersey?", it's "can Tony become a better person?".
The answer to this question is a resounding no. The cut to black is actually a signal that the rest doesn't matter, the show has resolved its main question.
Anyway, 4 bucks a pound.
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u/JoeGPM 1d ago
I think the fact people are still debating it after all these years shows how original and brilliant the ending was.
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u/Numerous_Finding8203 1d ago
I mean people still debate and argue about the ending to Dexter despite it being one of the worst in television history. The impact of Sopranos as a whole means the ending would be debated whether it was bad or good no matter what.
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u/Jbyrd4444 1d ago
Yeah but is a tv show, a progrum. It is what it is. Petered out. Died on the vine. And you gotta get ovuh it.
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u/Mytongueinyourrectum 1d ago
OP couldn’t write his way out of a paper bag and all the sudden he’s the world’s FOREMOST AUTHORITY!
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u/WhatevUsayStnCldStvA 1d ago
Tony wasn’t invincible and his impending death was becoming very obvious. Cutting to black may have been controversial, but honestly, after all this time it seems perfect. What do you want to see? Tony shot in the face in front of everyone? In front of his wife and kids? It goes perfectly with what was said before that episode about everything just goes black.
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u/Batistasfashionsense 1d ago
Despite everything, and he would not have handled jail well, I never thought Tony would have flipped.
He truly seemed disgusted by the idea.
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u/IUsedToBeRasAlGhul 1d ago
Tony was disgusted by wiseguys ratting because it caused him problems. When it’s Tony’s head on the chopping block though, then all of a sudden there’ll be a lot of good reasons for why he’s doing it.
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u/telepatheye 1d ago
You misunderstand him completely. You must think he's a fuggin thug. He wouldn't kill anyone. John Q Public is easily intimidated. What, you never heard of witness tampering? Why push a button on a guy when you can just explain about putting a hole in their head here, here, and here...rather than find Tony guilty.
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u/Uncreative-name12 1d ago
He's disgusted by it when it hurts him. When it has a chance to help, wellll he may have a different opinion.
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u/Ashamed_Section8194 1d ago
I think it is far more interesting than if he dies or not. Thar very question pulls into being the whole meaning and purpose of the show I think.
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u/liarandahorsethief 1d ago
Why don't you make it so that Lardass goes home, and he shoots his father. And he runs away… and he joins the Texas Rangers. How about that?
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u/frezz 1d ago
The Sopranos is about a family man working as a criminal. The whole point of the ending is to show that by having this nice moment with his family, but this threat of darkness always hanging over his head.
The reason Chase has never told us whether Tony lives or dies is because it doesn't really matter.. that's not what the ending is about
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u/RoderickJaynes67 1d ago
and THEN the screen turned to black before we hear his decision
For the majority that believes the cut to black represents a bullet to the head, it makes no sense to use it for something completely different, which this is
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u/Numerous_Finding8203 1d ago
I sort of agree that with pretty much every other characters ending being them dying and every solution to a problem being them dying, seeing Tony face a more “unique” ending would of been more fitting for him. It would also have some parallels with the real life events of Joesph Massino, the top boss on the streets while the show was airing, having flipped a few years before in 2004/5. Massino flipping was seen as the true death knell of the mob and It being worked into Tony’s story would have been very thematically fitting.
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u/BillyBadass111 1d ago
David Chase is telling you a story. You can either like it or dislike it but you’re in NO position to dictate to David Chase how to tell HIS story.
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u/tiddertag 1d ago
I don't think the ending was intended to be ambiguous. It's pretty clear to people with three digit IQs that he died. Chase made the artistic choice to depict his death from Tony's POV as instant blackout. This was beyond the cranial capacity of many viewers, and many others have psychological issues with imaging death as a blackout which inhibits their ability to see the obvious in that final scene ("No afterlife?😭" etc).
He probably should have read the room better and provided an ending more easily comprehensible to its Johnny Lunchbox viewership.
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u/ToonMasterRace 1d ago
David Chase wanted to disappoint audiences, it's a schtick he's obsessed with and you can see it a few times in the show and most of all Many Saints.
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u/PorkyWallace 1d ago
The quick cut to black represents Tony's future. His options are Death by murder or diet, or life in prison. He would probably welcome death, since it would spare him the choice of Life or Flip and it would save him millions of dollars in legal costs. If he doesn't die/get murdered, he is going to be convicted and get life in prison, where his options are Life/Flip. Those are his only futures and all are dark options. Thus, it is up to the viewer to decide which dark future awaits him.
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u/bpexhusband 1d ago
Lazy writing. Couldnt figure out what to do so he just stopped typing.
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u/NWkingslayer2024 1d ago
He had a whole alternate ending where he goes to New York and gets killed.
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u/IUsedToBeRasAlGhul 1d ago
Anyone who genuinely believes Tony would ever willingly go to jail when he has the opportunity to flip needs to stay away from the penguin exhibit.