Did Tony Soprano Die?

a THEWIDESCREEN analysis.
thoughts after the jump.

Yes Tony dies. He gets shot in the last scene it’s so obvious that we don’t know why we didn’t

see it back in 2007 when the finale aired. Here is our case for why Tony dies.

The first episode of the last season is titled “Members Only” so it’s full circle that episodes later

the man in the diner in the last scene in the finale “Made In America” is wearing a members only jacket. It’s foreshadowing.

The last season literally opens with Uncle June shooting Tony. Mistakingly believing it was

someone else in his alzheimer world. But Tony almost dies in the season opener. This is more foreshadowing as he gets to live one last season before finally succumbing at the end.

The last episode “Made in America” opens with Tony Soprano in bed asleep in a very coffin like

position with funeral organ music playing in the background.

The cat. The cat that Tony finds in the safehouse that Paulie starts to think is Chrissy Moltisanti reincarnated. Paulie Tells Tony in the last episode that he moved the picture of Chrissy and the

cat just followed it where he put in and continued to stare at it. Our hypothesis is that it is Chrissy reincarnated and is avenging Tony for killing him in “Kennedy and Heidi” and the stinger is that in

the diner at the end in the last scene in the finale there is a cat/tiger on the wall illustration right behind Tony. David Chase is a master at foreshadowing so this is no coincidence.

There is also the talk about “you don’t even hear it” that Tony talks to Bobby on the lake in

“Sopranos Home Movies”. There Bobby talks about how when you get shot you don’t even hear

it. Then it’s no coincidence that when Tony gets shot in the finale the sound cuts out. The bullet traveled faster that the speed of sound.

David Chase himself mentioned in earlier interviews that he had the idea of Tony dying for two

years. Initially he wanted to kill Tony on the way to a meeting with Phil Leotardo, that he would

drive into the Lincoln tunnel and just never come out the other side.

Let’s talk about the actual last scene. The strongest argument that Tony dies is how David

Chase sets up the POV SHOTS of Tony in the diner. In a DGA talk, David Chase talks about how important those POV shots are. They are as follows he sets up a pattern early on in the diner.

The bell rings.

A shot of Tony looking up at who came in.

Then a POV shot of what Tony sees.

This pattern is repeated four times.

The bell rings.

A shot of Tony looking up at who came in.

Then a POV shot of what Tony sees.

The bell rings.

A shot of Tony looking up at who came in.

Then a POV shot of what Tony sees.

So the last time the bell rings when Meadow enters the restaurant after parking her car. 
The bell rings.

A shot of Tony looking up at who came in.

And then POV of what Tony sees, just like before, except this time what he sees in POV is BLACK. ALL

BLACK BECAUSE HE’S DEAD. shot by the side from the man entering the bathroom in the members only jacket.

Let’s talk about David Chase too. He’s a huge fan of The "Godfather" and that movie has a

seminal scene a climatic scene where Al Pacino's character, Michael, goes to eat at a restaurant

with antagoinst and the guy responsible for shooting his dad Vito Corleone and Michael he hides the gun in the batrhoom. He goes into the bathroom while Virgil “The Turk”

Sollozo is distracted by eating, like Tony with his onion rings, Michael shoots him in the restaurant. This scene is exactly what happens in “Made in America”.

Meadow parking her car. It’s important because had Meadow arrived on time she would have

blocked the shooters angle but because she’s not at the table this gives him a clear shot at Tony.

The song from Journey “Don’t Stop Believing” that plays in the last scene, when the man in the

Members Only jacket enters the lyric that plays is “Strangers waiting.... up and down the

boulevard.”

David Chase has said that the lyrics and the song are keys to the finale.

The third time is the charm. Tony is shot three times and attempted on his life three times in the

show. There is the first time in the first season when the two armed black guys try to kill him in “Isabella” episode then there is Uncle June’s attempt and the third time in the diner, three strikes and you’re out. 

Also, and lastly, David is a fan of cutting away and using off screen. Think about when Silvio

finally puts a bullet in rat Adrianna in “Long Term Parking" as she rolls on the ground pleading to

Silvio not to shoot Silvio shoots, Adrianna OFF SCREEN as the camera pans up to the trees and sky, we never actually see Adrianna get shot. Which lead some crazy people on the internet to

say that Adrianna wasn’t dead, come on.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrjGUpkht0I

Grade: DEAD AS A DOORNAIL 16:9 Widescreen series, Widescreen finale.

for more check out this great piece, 

https://masterofsopranos.wordpress.com/the-sopranos-definitive-explanation-of-the-end/