Finale

I'm not sure if I liked the Sopranos series finale so much because other people didn't like it, or because I genuinely enjoyed it. I think the fact that other people didn't like it just made me like it more.

They tied off some loose ends:
Tony went to see Junior for some closure. AJ became blissfully ignorant again. Phil got whacked and his head crushed under the wheel of his daughter's SUV. Pauly ultimately showed his loyalty to Tony by taking the opportunity offered him; even against his better judgement and superstitions.

Some cool things happened too:
Tony used the FBI a la Whitey Bulger to discover the whereabouts of Phil without giving them anything but some well intentioned but naive tips regarding some potential terrorists. The scene where Phil was killed was particularly grizzly. Tony's likely going to be indicted, presuming he's still alive, on gun harges stemming from the prior season's finale where he fled Johnny Sack's house just as the FBI closed in. AJ's car caught on fire while he was making out with a naughty little bunny rabbit, only to moments later explode. If only Tony were so lucky.

The theme of that last scene seemed to tentatively wrap things up. Meadow showed us once more her inability to actually grow up, as evidenced by her futile attempts to parralel park her BMW, making her continuing princess-ian dependence on her parents. despite her well-documented intelligence and potential, abundantly clear. AJ is no longer visibly depressed and is now free to continue floating through life - into and out of phases at the drop of a hat. The family remains together, despite all they've been through. And regardless of how you interpret the ending, Tony's ongoing need to look over his shoulder in any and all circumstances was present in spades.

I don't understand all the criticism. People seemed to want more closure. Well, there was too much to the show for them to neatly tie every loose end...and
to do it in a manner that didn't seem contrived. I'm not sure what show people thought they were watching Sunday night, but this was The Sopranos. With that in mind, I thought it was excellent. The previous episode was definitely the best of the season though, but this one left me thinking, quite simply, Wow.

While tempted to take credit for coming up with the following theory myself, I will not. I just received this via email. And it's a really interesting interpretation...and quite possibly the one David Chase had in mind all along.

"Tony was killed....

In fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all.

The ending was simple; he got killed. But let me tell yall why and explain in detail...

There were 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill Tony.....

The two black guys. They were paid before to kill Tony but he was only shot in the ear. This was in one of the earlier seasons.

also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down...."

I'm not sure I buy this part. I'm told the trucker and the man in the black dudes were in the credits of this episode and this episode only. This is immaterial to the crux of this theory, however. Here's where the brilliance comes in:

"When Tony's walking in the diner, you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking at the booth he's gonna sit in...

Then the camera switches back to Tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking at the door and looking at the people coming in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, chimes, AJ walks in, Chimes. Then, when Meadow is parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant.... the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the
bathroom......

Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running into the diner....

The doors about to open, Tony looks up....

and No Chimes......................

No Music............

Everything just goes black...............

In one of the early episodes of this season, an exchange that was later revisited (to emphasize its importance), Tony spoke with Bobby about what it must feel like to die..

Bobby says "at the end, you probably don't hear anything, everything just goes black".

Part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when Tony's about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and Bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black"...

So in the end, with Journey playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when Meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed Tony...

It's the reason you don't hear, or see shit when he died.... it was
from his perspective.... and everything went black.... then the credits
rolled."