The Supernatural / Paranormal of The Sopranos (major spoilers)

Almost finished my first rewatch. I have really been taking my time and observing everything that went over my head years ago on first watch, in particular the supernatural / paranormal aspects of the show.

Ever since Christopher’s coma dream after being shot in Season 2 is where things start. Chris tells a dream that he had in hell and that the ghost of Mikey has a message for Tony & Paulie - 3:00. From this point onwards to the end of the series both Tony & Paulie have very strange supernatural occurrences happen to them with very different results.

both Tony & Paulie receive messages and visions from the beyond. Tony constantly brushes it off, while Paulie takes it more seriously. Tony has various dreams of a shadowy figure appearing to be his mother waiting on the stairs, the ghost of Pussy in the mirror, and the entire Kevin Finnerty saga. Paulie has his moment where the psychic medium starts speaking with the ghost of Mikey and asks him about his poison ivy.

But the moment in which directly ties both Paulie & Tony’s ghost experiences is when both have an experience at an empty Banda Bing. In “Whoever Did This” in season 4 after Tony & Christopher dispose of Ralph’s body, they go to the bing before open. Tony calls for Chris but Chris has already left. Tony walks around an empty Bing looking for Chris but stops dead in his tracks and stares at the main stage behind him as if he thought he saw something. Right before he turns around you can see a blue robe in the mirror reflection behind him.

In Season 6 episode The Ride, Paulie has a falling out with his Ma and is worried about potentially having prostate cancer. He walks into an empty Bada Bing to ease his mind, but as he enters he turns to the same main stage where Tony had his experience, and sees the Virgin Mary standing before him. Even before Paulie sees her, the audience can see her reflection in the mirror, signifying that she was really there and not Paulie just seeing things.

From this point onwards Paulie reconciles with Ma, is super cautious around Tony on the boat, and at the very end is one of the few that survives everything. Tony, who ignores and brushes off the visions, is presumably shot in the head at his 3:00 in the finale. Could it be both characters who were destined for hell had multiple chances from the afterlife to change their ways, with only one heeding the warning? There are so many other details into this, but to me it’s obvious that all of these things were placed here for a reason.

LINK to side by side of Tony & Paulie’s ghost encounter