re: So I just finished my first watch through of Sopranos.. and I don’t know what to think

I think a lot of people who have never watched The Sopranos do not appreciate just how fricking hilarious the show is.

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None of this is remotely true.

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As he pulls up honking his Godfather themed horn.

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Boardwalk Empire.

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So long, nuanced and great.

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The only part I never really got was the Meadow parking shite. The time it took her to park only matters if the whole family at the table got whacked, which would have been highly unusual.

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It built a lot of tension, for sure. Even the bell is a literary device in this instance.

The bell is the biggest clue as to what happened. Bell rings, Tony looks up. It happens over and over during the scene. On the last time, bell rang, fade to black.

The dual interpretation is that the audience sees Tony get hit from Tony's perspective, "You never see it coming", as well as Chase metaphorically "whacking" the audience - as we will not see what happens next.

My gut take the first time is was it was ambiguous and that Tony has to look over his shoulder and be paranoid for the rest of his time as boss (until jail or cemetery). A detailed analysis of the scene is pretty solid for Member's Only guy going to the bathroom and then returning with a hidden gun (like Michael Corleone) to whack Tony in front of his family.

One of the later episodes of Season 5 "The Test Dream" has Tony in a dream where he tries to retrieve a gun from behind a toilet tank very similar to the one from which Michael Corleone retrieved the gun to kill Sollozzo Capt. McClusky. Further echoing that hit from The Godfather - in that same dream:



The first episode of the final season was named "Members Only."

Finally the repeated instances of, "You never hear it coming" was one of the most obvious bits of foreshadowing that go back to very early episodes.

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Do y'all think Tony was whacked because of how Phil was killed (can't even have an open casket for a made man) or that Butchie was gonna whack him regardless?

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Butchie did everything but okay the hit (on Phil) at the sit down with Tony and Little Carmine.

It was regardless. He thought they shouldve killed Tony before the hit.

Altho I do agree the cut to black was Tony dying. Any ambiguity is to show it could be any moment Tony was whacked. If not at that diner then sometime else where he equally doesn't see coming

I think someone mentioned they always end up in jail or dead, and in the end Tony wasn't in jail.

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I don't know what "BCS" is

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Getting in on this thread late, but I don't know if anyone ever clarified — I would assume "BCS" is Better Call Saul, which of course is the spin-off/prequel to Breaking Bad, with Bob Odenkirk.

Great show.

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Then the final scene went to black and I don’t know what the frick to think

Part of me is pissed off. Part of me understands the idea of leaving the end result up to interpretation

But I’m still pissed off.. but I don’t regret watching it.

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You and like 8 million other people including me.

There’s probably a write up somewhere of the five stages of dealing with The Sopranos ending. My take:

1. WTF just happened?
2. Pissed.
3. Scour the internet for interpretations including cryptic statements by Chase.
4. Acceptance.
5. Rewatch the whole thing.

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After watching The Wire

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Rewatch The Wire...it gets better each time you watch it!

I've watched it 4 times...and I'm about to watch it again.

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The only part I never really got was the Meadow parking shite. The time it took her to park only matters if the whole family at the table got whacked, which would have been highly unusual.

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They shot this for hours, with half of the crew and cast not knowing what was going on, or what the last scene would be. David Chase has also said they did dummy scenes throughout the show once it got going with different plots to keep the story a real secret (would love to see those shots).

As for Tony dying, I go back and forth. It leads to that, but like Chase has said, its one of two things, either he died or that's the end of the viewers glimpse into his life. Carlo flipped, so if he didn't die he was about to go to jail most likely. I love the Pavlov theory and Holsten's scene with all the references.

Butchie absolutely pulled the double cross, that is probably the most realistic thing on that show. All 5 families, the DeCalvacante family and the Philly family have had crews in north and south Jersey and NY was constantly meddling and propping up guys to get clipped to take over rackets for themselves. (see Genovese tricking Tony Banannas into killing Angelo Bruno in Philly igniting twenty years of instability).

I sometimes think Little Carmine knew what he was doing and was the slyest of them all and sort of stirred the pot on purpose to get Tony and Phil gone and potentially work with Butchie.