As writer Terence Winter told Entertainment Weekly , "At the beginning of season 5, we realized it would happen at the end of the season. Its gonna show what you can do. Funaro saw what an opportunity it was going to be for him. Hey Bobby, do you know youre getting a wife? What I dont like is any kind of conversation that seems to be leading toward, Hes dead, end of discussion. Because that should not be the end of the discussion when youre talking about a show like this one, a show about psychology, development, morality, and all these other deep and tangled subjects. The actor had appeared in mob movies like "Goodfellas," and was also no stranger to crime himself. This accomplishment catapulted Aglieri s name to the top of the ranks. Alan: I dont know the answer to that hypothetical, because either one seems like the kind of thing The Sopranos might do. Spending long hours trying to prove Tony was shot at the diner becomes a substitute for meaningful engagement with the shows themes, which are disturbing not just because of their implications, but because Chase and the writers present them in an open-ended, mysterious, or deliberately opaque way, like a brutal reminder to us that we cant absolutely know certain things, and its delusional to insist we can. In both of those, Chase employs an unusual editing style, cutting directly from a shot of Tony looking out at the space hes just entered to a different point of view where hes already crossed most of the distance to the relative hes come to see. Only the bravest celebs will go full catboy at 2023s Met Gala. The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer. I think the most important two words in those two sentences are spiritual question. And if we fixate on anything other than that, were missing the point. Carmela repeatedly asks Tony to see if he can get the stop order lifted, but he keeps putting it off. (April 2006) Christopher orders Eugene to kill a fat man -- in this same episode, we see Tony concerned about his ballooning weight, and a slimmed-down Vito makes references to his obesity -- named Teddy Spirodakis, initials TS. He, along with Vito Spatafore and Donny K., found Gigi Cestone dead on the toilet in the Aprile Crew hangout after suffering a constipation-induced heart attack. With that out of the way, we can focus on a more interesting question: Who ordered the hit on Tony Soprano when his time finally came? Because nothing in that scene says, Somebody just killed him and thats what the cut to black is about. The only objectively true statement that can be made about that ending is that its ambiguous. When the Soprano family meet at Holsten's diner for a meal, this man enters the diner ahead of Anthony Soprano Jr. and sits at the counter. Also wouldn't shooting yourself be a less painful way of dying compared to hanging, he definitely had guns. But at the same time it could mean a boost for an actors career, as it was for Vincent Pastore. He knew someone in his family would find him, but why would he want them to. I felt then, and now, afraid for Tony Soprano, and painfully aware of both his fragile mortality and my own, more keenly than any other piece of art has made me feel. Kind of like SAMCRO. I think you could make a better case for Tony Dies if you assume hes dead before this scene even starts. He was pretty crazy. Tony said, This is good. No. You might know this fact even if you havent watched the show thats just how maddening it was for many Sopranos fans. Alan: I hear what youre saying. A New York mobster would most likely order Tony Soprano's murder at the conclusion of 'The Sopranos'. Eugene then tells the juror not to bother paying, as he then pays for the man's small purchase. Excerpt from the new book The Sopranos Sessions by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall published by Abrams Press; 2019 Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall. Eugene killed himself, after all. It's Pontecorvo, "crow bridge." Matt: You mean does it matter if Chase knows what happened? Also because he was trapped in two powerful institutions in violent opposition. Images of death or a Hell frozen over from overcrowding and neglect by management abound throughout the series finale, as the shows usual fascination with the extremes of weather in the Garden State gets amped up to an almost supernatural degree. Richard "Richie" Aprile is played by David Proval.Richie is the older brother of acting DiMeo crime family boss Jackie Aprile Sr., and was a capo in the DiMeo crime family before being sent to prison for ten years. There are other clues in "Members Only" that Eugene will be responsible for Tony's death. He is either an enormous success or a pitiful failure. Janice is raising a new daughter with Bobby Baccalieri, who has taken up model railroading as a hobby. In a single close-up, we can see that the man strongly physically resembles Eugene. Yeah, I was thinking that, too that despite the hours weve spent talking to Chase about the ending, I dont think its necessarily been explained in any meaningful sense, in terms of what happened next, and I get the impression that Chase cant really explain it either. I ask this not to spoil the details of the many pieces of Sopranos fanfic I have saved to the cloud, but to consider the larger question: Which ending is more interesting? Tony had antagonized the Lupertazzi family on several occasions in the past; hed defended the indefensible (Ralph Cifaretto) and backed another banished capo (Vito Spatafore); and, last but not least, he began working with the FBI while another member of his crew became a full-fledged informant. Dye played just 10 games due to injury and saw his season end with an injury against Colorado last November. Though the cut to black comes before any such execution occurs on screen, there . The most popular theory is that Butchie had Tony killed. And the last we see them together, Tony was still acting like a jerk toward Patsy. I hate that when you ask, What happened at the end of The Sopranos? and people just shrug and say, Well, he died! A better question is, What did that ending mean?. Tonys personal disputes halted major construction projects on several occasions. At the start of "Made in America," the Sopranos series finale, Tony and his crew are . The Roys continue their downward spiral into total desperation as Matsson and their dead father loom over every decision they make. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. She tells Eugene that he should kill Tony in "Members Only." The idea of presenting the ending as a thing that can be mastered and explained is philosophically the opposite of everything that led us to that point. And if it helps to move the discussion beyond the question of whether hes dead or alive, Ill just say, Fine, hes dead. And now what? I made arguments like the one above, about how a secret assassin repping an enemy we never heard of before would clash with every narrative rule the show ever followed. Whenever the Sopranos ending is discussed, and somebody starts with the presumption that Tony is dead, I ask the same follow-up question: Why do you need for Tony to be dead? Because you have to need him to be dead to insist not only that he got shot right there in the diner, but that him being dead is in fact the entire point of the scene, and that no other approach is permissible. With Barry on the loose, all Gene, Fuches, Hank, and Sally can do is crumble as they wait to see who hes coming for first. Tony, Vito, and Christopher, now a capo in the Soprano family, meet with Phil and Gerry "The Hairdo" Torciano. Silvio informs Gene that Tony denied his request to retire from the DiMeo crime family. By telling other people what we think happened, we are revealing ourselves. But in classic Sopranos form, the war with New York ends not with a bang but. It gets harder to watch the episode everytime. Tony reminds Eugene that he took an oath. Vito is thinner and is now a spokesperson for a weight loss company; he is Tony's best earner and is ambitious. willie boy johnson wife. And by that, I dont mean he handed us the answer, because The Sopranos was never the sort of show that made you hunt for answers in that way. Though he dies himself, Eugene -- again, a very minor character -- doesn't represent death in the larger context of the show, he represents a bridge to death, with his suicide as the act that sets off the chain of events leading to Tony's murder. And, flipping that, what if hed whispered, Guys, Tonys alive? The ultimate fate of Tony Soprano, the crime boss and protagonist of the television drama the Sopranos, has perhaps finally been revealed by the show's creator. This show - that had so honestly and meticulously . Because it wouldve meant that he did the most obvious thing and then tried to hide it by making it seem as if he was creating an ambiguous or art-house type of ending. Paulie, long the most useless captain on the payroll, is the only major ally he has left. Eugene Pontecorvo The Sopranos really is about mental illness and the inherent hardships of the human condition, and Eugene Pontecorvo ( Robert Funaro) embodied the intersection between duty. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. What is this ending saying? The 76-year-old, who co-wrote, with Lawrence Konner, new film The Many Saints of Newark, a Sopranos prequel, which we had just screened for the students, continued, "See, I didn't think that . This guy lives a charmed life. It's very rarely discussed, but names are often significant, with probably the best example being Adriana La Cerva, "the doe." As for Patsy Parisi (Dan Grimaldi) ordering the hit, that theory does have some validity. Later Eugene is revealed (to the viewers, not to the mob) to be an informant for the FBI, who also prohibit him from leaving. Matt: Just like the Holstens scene. Funaro, who has worked more in theater than on the screen, really saw on opportunity with his big episode, Members Only. While hed felt more satisfied with theater work to that point, the chance to complete his characters arc appealed to him. Tony is haunted by dreams of Sal . I vote that theres something else happening. Eugene subsequently becomes a made man in the following episode "Fortunate Son" along with Christopher Moltisanti. We dont know, and will never know. But in the larger scheme of things, who cares about Eugene? But all that stuff exists outside the text, not in it. In 2007, he killed himself after both his boss Tony Soprano and his FBI handlers refused to let him retire to Florida . So when he walks into the restaurant, judgment has already been passed, or maybe suspended. The cause was lung . The bulk of the episode is devoted to Eugene Pontecorvo, previously a very minor character who appears infrequently and barely ever has any lines. Taking place in the aftermath of a brutal gang war as Tony Soprano sat down with his family in a diner to enjoy a meal as he had dozens of times before in the show, the scene seemingly built up toward Tony's execution at the hands of an assassin within the diner. There has to be something else going on here, otherwise the scene wouldnt end as it ends, in such a studied inartful way. Eugene Pontecorvo (1959-2006) was a DiMeo crime family soldier and FBI informant. I thought I saw a couple of blacks running that way." Theodore Spirodakis was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a family of Greek descent, and he became an untidy and obese person and a compulsive gambler. It could refer to the Mafia code of being a member-only and never a retiree, just what Eugene Pontecorvo attempted to become. Now that Fleishman is out of trouble, Caplan can go back to catering. By 20 March 2023 benjamin moore to behr paint conversion. Matt: There was a moment a few years ago when a journalist reported that Chase told her Tony lived, and he got mad at that as mad as hes gotten at all the people who keep saying Tony died. When discussing the final scene of The Sopranos, many people rightly focus on would-be assassins in Holstens. The loved ones who lost people to witness protection or because they ran away suspect they were murdered but cant prove it, even though we viewers saw it happen. Hey Bobby, you know youre getting a son? Hey, this is f*cking great. While DiMeo crime family capo Paulie Walnuts had the highest kill count (9), Tony Soprano came in at a close second with 8 kills. In terms of the metanarrative, Adriana had to be killed as a logical ending to her tragic story. In Season Six's premiere episode "Members Only", Eugene inherited 2 million dollars from his deceased aunt. I think Tony died at that moment is a valid interpretation. I mean its a prompt for us to think about death and life, and what weve done with our lives. Between that, his sketchy upbringing, his junkie son who hates him, and the Florida letdown, Gene was under a bunch a heavy shit. David Chase, in an interview with . His eyes are closed, hes not noticeably breathing, and the camera angle makes it look like hes lying in state at the funeral parlor, waiting for his friends, family, and viewers out here in TV land to pay our respects. Mafia capo Christopher Moltisanti loaned him money as a part of his loansharking business, and he did . walker hayes daughter. In fact, its the most obvious interpretation, given that Tonys pissed a lot of people off over the years, and in the overwhelming majority of gangster stories, the main guy dies at the end. Im reminded of that moment in D-Girl where Dr. Melfi summarizes existentialism for Tony. Eugene responds by smashing a glass Snapple bottle over Little Paulie's head, causing a severe gash over his eye, and kicks him repeatedly in the head. Phil Leotardo, now the acting boss of the Lupertazzi crime family, is taking care of business for the imprisoned Johnny Sack. Tony is shot by Junior at the end, but that comes out of nowhere. To paraphrase one of the Four Questions from the Passover seder, on all other nights we dont watch Meadow attempt to parallel park even once; why on this night do we watch her attempt to parallel park over and over again? We make up stories to reassure ourselves that we have control over life, and we really dont. Frankly, Im not even sure why were still debating this. That coffinlike image isnt the first major allusion to death of the final season, nor the last of Made in America alone. The Sopranos Wiki is a FANDOM TV Community. Personally, hes on good enough terms with his immediate family that theyd all happily join him for onion rings and more at their favorite ice cream place. Though he was present and had lines in the episode He is Risen (S03E08), actor Robert Funaro is not credited at the end of the episode. The Sopranos has always explored various facets of its characterstheir ethnic, cultural, social/class identities, and even their meta-identities as fictional characters in a 21st century TV show. The Sopranos: The Al Green Song David Chase Considered Instead of Dont Stop Believin in the Finale. And the Russian. The time was certainly right. One by one, the other members of his immediate family arrive - except for Meadow - and they start to eat onion rings and indulge in small talk. Heres how to watch them host the events red carpet, together with Derek Blasberg and Emma Chamberlain. Numerous clues in this episode foreshadow Tony Soprano's death: In the episode, Eugene Pontecorvo commits suicide after Tony refuses to let him "retire" from mob life and move with his family to Florida after receiving a $2 million dollar inheritance. Its not wrong. In short, Ralph was just the worst and was killed in Season 4, Episode 9, "Whoever Did This." When one of Ralph's sons nearly killed . But I dont think he has to be dead for us to think about all that related stuff, and I dont think thats the only possible interpretation. And the possibility that Tony won't be around for much longer is raised multiple times by and to Eugene. I cant imagine that it would succumb to them in its final moments, no matter how great the temptation and as our conversations with Chase confirmed, that temptation did exist.