Why The Sopranos Ending is Perfect...For the Sopranos | Sopranos Video Essay
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- The Sopranos is perhaps the most critically acclaimed show of all time, and undoubtedly one of the most revolutionary. The Sopranos had the entire nation tuning in to see what would happen to these goofball mobsters, so it made sense that the abrupt cut to black in the final episode had its fair share of controversy. However, I don't think this ending is bad. In fact, I think it's quite the opposite. The Sopranos ending is perfect for more reasons than Tony can count, so about six, and it's not because it's conventional. My advice if you're writing a show: Don't end it like the Sopranos does, because it's not a conventionally great ending, which is why it works for such an unconventional show. So, take a ride with me as I drive Tony to the deli and take a look at why the Sopranos ending is absolutely stellar, specifically for the Sopranos.
Sources:
Flower Garden from Super Mario Bros
Lon Lon Ranch from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Mafia 3 Extended Score from Mafia 3
Mystery of the Forest from Chrono Trigger
Red Dead Redemption Main Theme from Red Dead Redemption
The New Godfather from The Godfather
Sicilian Pasoralle from The Godfather
"It doesn't matter because he's already dead." This is one of my favorite takes on Tony's downfall. His undoing was long before the very end, and you really hit the nail on the head here. Great analysis
Thanks a lot!
@@nicklyskawa3504 this was the best analysis of the ending I've ever seen. People are are always just revealing their own ignorance...
but the cut to black could be symbolising his change aswell i think..... mayby at that point when he sees meadow and it cuts to black he finaly made the decision and sticked to it..... a big moment for me was the 5. episode "Collge" where he starts getting more open towards meadow and finaly kills the snitch, after wich the ducks flew off / and he couldnt be open to her anymore at that point. mayby the ducks returned in the final scene.
@@bod9556 I guess it can symbolize change.. But all the imagery prior to that scene shows that Tony is incapable of changing... all the episodes that came before it tried to have Tony change his ways.. and in some ways he tried to change his ways like him being attracted to Adrianna and not acting on it because it would destroy his relationship to Christopher... but it didn't give him any rewards so ultimately he ended up being the loser in the scenario.. contrary to that situation, he killed Christopher and his luck did a 180... He is basically rewarded or punished randomly like daily life where the concept of Karma is not always applicable coz many good people are punished for the good things that they do in life... so it's all random... death is inevitable so it will come to him but at that point, he will be the same man that he always was...either by choice or by circumstance...
@@bod9556 It symbolizes my ass. Dumb ending.
Half irrelevant, but I love how Big Puss is still kind of a main character throughout the series despite him not even making the third season.
Even up until the middle/end of season 6, with Paulie on the boat.
@@274pacific That was a chilling, but brilliant scene.
Great Synopsis, I watched this show LIVE every Sunday night when I was in my 20’s and just recently re-watched them! It is the best show ever and it has so much depth. I remember watching the last episode LIVE and all I kept thinking was this is it…he’s gonna get it… when it went to black I then realized, every time he looked up, that was the type of stress he had to live with almost every moment of his life. He’s wronged so many ppl that his killer could have been anyone, at any time. All that type of life provides is stress…and happiness at the expense of others pain. It’s not worth that in the end. You could go either way with the ending as Nick explained so we’ll; he could have been shot ‘ Cut to Black’ or , the version I felt was that life went on for the Sopranos and eventually Tony went to Jail, got killed , or continued his destructive ways. Open to the interpretation. Now that James is unfortunately dead.. you can certainly argue that he was shot
*Two mistakes* almost every reviewer makes: 1) *Assume* Tony wants to change 2) *Assume* the audience wants Tony to change. In his position, killing Christopher was not a terrible thing to do, but a mob thing to do. In fact, he waited for longer than he should have. The mob could not afford sniveling, emotional wreck, heroin addicts in their *families* as they were very easy targets for the F.B.I. Chris's addictions are what kept him from figuring out Adriana's friend was F.B.I. I certainly agreed w Tony that Chris pooped on whatever pity Tony had for his Adriana loss. Remember too, Chris always thought he was entitled for some reason, even before he was made. And Tony (like the rest of us) never liked needless neglect or harm or death to come to children and Christopher's addiction and violent streak did put his child in harms way. The only time I remember thinking he did Christopher wrong was when he didn't back him ASAP when Paulie and Paulie Jr robbed his father-in-law as if Chris's 'family' was not as important as Tony saw his own. Most recovering addicts take responsibility for every aspect of their lives and they do not go around telling others to make it easier for them not to drink or use which Chris was a little baby about. But that is only because he went into recovery for others and not for himself. He had not hit bottom yet. His killings did not even count toward that, because they were a byproduct of his entitlement perception and because he was never caught. As for Tony wanting to change? No. He wanted others to conform to his ways. Period.
Yeah I agree with you there. I really never felt that the writers were even trying to make that the big question of the show whether Tony wants to change or not. I think a lot of people forget he ended up in therapy because he was having panic attacks not because he was struggling with his moral compass.
Tony just didn’t want to pass out anymore because he looked at it as weak and being a high-ranking member in the mafia can be very stressful. We can clearly see in in the second half of the series that Tony is really getting three things from his therapy number one he’s really not passing out anymore. There was one time at the beginning of season three when his daughter starts dating Noah and then he almost passes out when Johnny sack is discussing the man that killed Joey peeps which Tony finds out then and there in his head that it’s his cousin. The other reasons that he’s going to therapy is to help with his family life especially AJ and the last reason is because he’s trying to learn The human psyche more to be more effective in the world of the mafia. I distinctly remember Tony asking Dr. Melfi at one point “ so how do you get people to do what want?”
So yeah I never felt like the show was asking the question if Tony can change or not. Tony was always going to be a product of the mafia . And just as a fan myself and talking to other fans of the show I don’t really feel that many people wanted him to change. There are a lot of times when I rewatch the show that I find myself turning it off before we get to the last two episodes because I don’t want to see what happens to Silvio and Bobby.
I love my gangster movies and like 50 Cent said one time “ I watch gangster movies and route for the bad guy and turn it off before the end because the bad guy dies”. That’s how I kind of feel about good fellas, Donnie Brasco, casino, and of course the Sopranos. I’m not watching this stuff because I want everyone to find God and become born again Christians. I’m watching it because I like gangster movies lol
From what I understand, the show constantly battled with doing what's right and what is the mob way... I agree that he got into therapy for his panic attacks but when they gradually started to decline, Melfi tried to change Tony to be a better person...so there is an outside element in the show which wants Tony to change... there is an ambition in Tony to change as well if you pay attention to the coma dream... In the first half of the 6th season, he did try the cooler approach to things but he is incapable of change because his life works opposite for him.. whenever he tried to do the right thing, he was punished either emotionally or physically...on the other hand, whenever he did something wrong, it ended up working out for him.. so the traditional notions of right and wrong didn't apply to him as it was all random.... so him shouting "I get it" at the end of the episode where he killed Christopher is an admission that he will never change so it's not worth it....
Well he certainly did not "want to" change but he did have a deep, subconscious desire to do away with his mob lifestyle, which had caused him so much stress and fear throughout his life.
But yeah saying the big question is whether or not he changes is kinda making it simple. The show and its characters are way far complex to simply sum it up like that.
Another thing, Tony did not kill Chris because he needed to. Christopher had significantly improved himself as well as his lifestyle, which was precisely what irked Tony. As he told in one of his therapy sessions, he hates happy wanderers. He feels like killing them. Essentially, he has this subconscious dislike ot hate for the people living the way he desires, but is unable to. The same way he gets jealous of Janice when she is working on her anger management and showing improvement.
But then a lot of these psychological or behavioral aspects arise from deep within him and it's not that he consciously decides to be dick to everyone. Which further is the result of his upbringing. Well anyone growing up around mob culture is going to have weaker sense of morality but Tony's problems are more than that and mainly result of his dysfunctional family and his borderline personality mother. Janice also shares similar traits and I will say she is in fact worser than Tony as she is being selfish and manipulative on a lot more conscious level compared to Tony.
To sum it up, I agree that Sopranos is THE GREATEST and the ending is also pretty fucking genius but everything is not as simple as the video describes.
Respect for using Yoshi’s island music. That game is heavily underrated and dark.
Edit: sorry but my headphones just picked up that you had Chrono trigger music as well. You sir are a man of culture.
I hear a banger, I feel the responsibility to spread the word
@@nicklyskawa3504 I agree they are all time classics. Chrono trigger especially is in my top 5 games.
I literally just finished the Show today, and I gotta say you pretty much summed up all the things I thought about the ending. Its simply Perfect. Nothing needs to be changed. The way they did it maybe isn't what everyone would have wanted to see but to me its the perfect way to end this kind of Story/Show. I can't think of another show that ended this appropriately when it comes to this way of Story telling.
I got 5 more episodes to go, but I already know pretty much everything that happens in those 5 episodes because I can't avoid spoilers.
Dude you are deserving of so much more views. Very nice production quality and you have a great voice for voiceovers
Thanks a lot! I got more videos on the way
I've been telling people since 07 that everything was a dream after his shooting... The finnerty sequence was his guilt dream about being a mobster... What we see after he "wakes up " was his reckoning dream imagining how things would be after being shot... Notice melfi.. She no longer sees her shrink... She's more cold with him... He doesn't suffer anymore attacks... Magoo never mentions AJ trying to kill him... Plus do really think he would ignore the guy wearing the members only jacket let alone not taking out magoo himself... Chase used Kubrick style methods on us.. The last scene was tony actually waking up and we can assume life went on as usual in newark but now after his dream tony will have a better outlook on his life and everyone else.. Sucks we never got to see it... Well done chase
Terrence winter did an interview interestingly in the interview he said chase initially pitched Tony being shot and then the screen goes to black. I think Chase made a good decision going with the ending the way he did
Source.
Our true enemy has yet to present themselves. Paulie and Patsy Parisi cut a deal with New York and Patsy was put in as boss. Figured it out third time I watched the series.Patsy’s look when Meadow and Patrick are announcing their engagement. Also Paulie and Patsy in the bathroom at the Bing. Both families took out their bosses to really start fresh and end the war.
Nah Butch just paid Rhiannon to give them Tony’s whereabouts so they could hit him at the end.
When Patsy and Tony talk , he says "well we are about to be grandparents" and Tony puts a confused face , Carlo walks in as "suspicious minds" by Elvis is playing...read the lyrics there's something odd there
@@deadchanneldontwatch7347 but the Rhiannon thing is actually right in the show there’s a picture of her in the place where they talk about hitting Tony and then she hears the dinner plans at Tony’s house also explains why she would waste her time with AJ
@@SuperCuttyBlackSow man poor aj 😭
Am I the only one who notices that the shirt Tony wears going into the restaurant is NOT the same shirt he is sitting down in. That HAS to be intentional. So why? And how does it contribute to the question of whether he lives or dies or is dreaming?
I never did til reading ur observation just now and it's baffling, 👍so great you said something ty!
I thought I noticed everything! I love this. I have to find out the answer.
Sometimes the simplest things mean the most! This includes words, thanks, again!
I see how you could think that but it’s the same shirt. His jacket covers the black and white part of the shirt. You only see it when he sits down and takes the jacket off but it’s the same shirt.
He also just appears in the table, maybe it's his personal hell, watching himself being killed in front of his family for all of eternity, remember the bathroom the members only jacket guy enters is at Tony's 3'o clock
Came for the Sopranos, stayed for the Red Dead music. Great video man.
Thanks!
Whenever I have encountered the question of what happened to Tony after the show, I have been confused. Tony is fictional and his universe lasted as long as the show... there is no Soprano's universe after that blackout. It just doesn't exist. He didn't live. He didn't die.
It is exactly the same as asking questions about what was before the big bang...
When this video cut to black I thought RUclips killed you
They'll never get me
The reason the ending doesn’t work for me is becau
Unlike say, Breaking Bad, The Sopranos has a great rewatch value. The evolution of Walter Walt and all his hijinks is entertaining. But by my third viewing of the series I realized that there just wasn’t much depth to the show, that the entertainment value and filmmaking style frequently made up for some sometimes creaky writing and world building, and that the characterization sometimes left something to be desired. That’s why, though I consider it one of the great shows, BB is not on the level of The Sopranos, The Wire or Deadwood for me. The Sopranos is a family drama, mob drama, a expose on conventional masculinity, a dissection of mental health and trauma, a breakdown of American hypocrisy and so forth. There’s so much there, and it really comes through more on re-watches. Never mind how frequently clever it was and sometimes conventionally entertaining it could be. I do agree that that ending is perfect for this series. When you consider the show’s themes, its nihilism and how the final season was set-up, it was a very appropriate ending.
Its like people that like lebron constantly bring up MJ 🤣.
Breaking Bad is that show I had taken for granted that this is the best show ever even without watching it(based on the internet hype). After watching, I liked but it couldn't possibly be the best thing ever. It was entertaining, it was gripping and thrilling but that was about it. The characters were mostly shallow, realism was severely lacking and it hardly had any greater themes that would stick with me.
Then I watched Game of Thrones and in its first 4 seasons, it was far better than breaking bad.
Then Sopranos and I was blown. It still blows me away for just how incredibly well written it is. I am yet to watch any other show but the bar is set too high now.
Nurse Jackie had that surrealism going on too. Only rewatched it once,it was a good enough series
I really don’t know how you don’t have more subscribers and views man ... Love everything about your videos... You have a new subscriber in me 👍👏🎖
Thanks so much!!
thankyou for bringing up Tony's final meeting with Junior. doesnt get talked about enough, it's as important as the Holsten's scene
Lost me when u said BB should be #1. SMH. BB is good, but Sopranos and The Wire are profound. One exists on a graph the other constructed.
And then went on to say breaking bad is perfect, lol.
It really took me 5 months to finish 86 episodes.
Ive watched bb and the sopranos during couple of years and i still havent watched really all episodes of sopranos episodes…but then i watched the wire in couple weeks!
@@ricardomontoya7731 The Wire only has 60 compared to the Sopranos with 86.
I disagree about what you said watching all 86 episodes of Sopranos is not the most entertaining thing to do after work Honestly this show is one of those I can watch all the episodes and never get tired and I always find something new I could just he biased because im a die hard Sopranos fan
Im also a huge breaking bad fan and I think Sopranos is better
Sopranos is by far the most entertaining show I have watched and also the one with highest repeat value. Everything is so well written it always kept me engaged despite not having some big shit plot going on. Breaking bad doesn't come close honestly. Game of thrones in early seasons is somewhat closer candidate but the later seasons are big pile of shit.
Agree 100% w/ so much of what you said. I personally absolutely loved the ending & thought it was just brilliant. And to me it's clear that he dies but I just loved how ambiguous it was and that David Chase didn't feel the need to spoon feed the audience.
What’s the song that soundtracks from about 4:10 it’s from a video game can’t figure out if it’s donkey Kong, Zelda or what.
Wow I love this! Part of me thinks Tony was waiting for an opportunity to kill Christopher. Especially after Adriana and the movie.
I don't think he felt remorse for christopher because he gave him so many chances already. He was a massive liability he had to go
This is truly excellent my friend. Truly. Well done.
Loved how you addressed that despite the show revolutionises television, alot of it is simply hard to watch and stay connected to throughout the whole 86 episodes. Your absolutely right about the mob politics and the spoilt American children, its not exactly thrilling to watch alot of the time. But it is building foundations to create links, drama and present SO many different important points. It also doesn't matter that the show isnt captivating 100% of the time, because Tony is.
I have only just finished the show and did so without watching or looking at any easter eggs or cinematic links but I will be sure to rewatch it, with a much bigger focus on this side of the show.
Wow, thanks a lot! I'm glad you enjoyed both the video and the show! It really is one you have to check out twice
Sopranos is a show that somehow takes the family sitcom and breaks your kneecaps I personally thank the wire is the best show of all time not because of Traditional reasons but because that show was about 20 years ago and it’s still just as relevant today what the sopranos I understand why people call a number one great show
Thank you!!!! The wire is the best but the sopranos is a close second
No: it was his death scene. I don't subscribe to all the theories (like Ade is the cat staring at Christopher): throughout The Sopranos, we're given hints of possible afterlives (like Paulie throwing things at 'spirits' at the seance), but Tony doesn't really care as long as he doesn't see Livia again (as he had feared). He doesn't. For Tony, it really was a big nothing: no waking up with the wrong briefcase, no "Hell is hot, my friend" or Purgatory, no becoming a tree (Tibetan monks in 6A), no "colleagues" you clipped and are doomed to lose games to every night (Christopher's nightmare). We saw Tony's afterlife from his POV, and it doesn't go on and on. He's completely cut off from everything forever.
It wouldn't have been so final if there hadn't been hints of an afterlife throughout the series.
🎵Don’t Stop ...
3:43 chrono trigger music fuck yaaaaaa
Sopranos > Breaking Bad. Also, James Gandolfini's performance birthed Walter White.
Underappreciated channel. Please keep going I know it can be disheartening but your channel has a future, I'm really enjoying it and I'm something of an officianado on RUclips video essays hahaha
Thanks so much! Trust me, I’m not going anywhere. School started up so it’s been busy, but I’ve got an hour long video in the works that is refusing to export properly. If not out this week, then definitely next week. Appreciate the support, and sorry for the wait!
Sopranos is best of all because it was the first to do it. The first anti hero - the first long form - the first violent and realistic after sitcoms - great show
A drama with a crime boss anti-hero is definitely "noir", so of course it ends with a cut to black.
They showed Tony Dead/Dying way before that infamous cut to black ending. So yeah Tony is Dead.✌
Respectfully, let’s go.
Respectfully, thank you
I can't take anyone seriously who states emphatically that Tony is definitely dead or alive. I enjoy how worked up people get on the topic, but we didn't see one way or the other.
But we DO see.
Chase went to great lengths to make sure it was clear that Tony died. Literally everything about the last scene and how it was shot serves that purpose. It's the ENTIRE point of the sound and video cutting out.
Great video and I think probably the greatest video I have seen on the ending of the Sopranos series. You didn’t try to push what you thought happened when the screen went to black on us you just tried to dissect what was given. When I was watching the Sopranos on HBO the night the series ended I wasn’t happy but it wasn’t because I didn’t know what happened it’s because the show was over. There is really no wrong answer to what anyone thinks happens after word. David Chase has said dozens of times since 2007 that he never wants that question answered “ what happened to Tony?” And what ever any individual thinks what happens to Tony is fine. The only thing I find unacceptable is the people that have their opinion on what happened and then go off and call anyone else stupid for not agreeing with them. What do I think happened to Tony? Me personally I don’t think Tony died then, I think that was just the series ending. I get the camera tricks with the guy at the restaurant but I think that was David Chase just trying to get the fans to think something was getting ready to happen because it makes the black out that we got much more powerful. You could do the same camera trick and focus on12 other people in that restaurant in it have the same affect. However I don’t think that means Tony dies. I know there are some fans that keep referencing one interview where David refers to this scene as the death scene but they take that one part of the interview and run with it but don’t look at the context of it. Later on in the interview, almost immediately after in fact David little while laughing says “fuck u guys” I think that can be just taken as a slip and he’s referring to it as so many other people have referred to it over the years. But I am going to choose to take the dozens and dozens of other times he has said he is leaving it up to us over one minor slip up.
If you pay attention to the writing of the show nothing really points to Tony being killed in my opinion. Honestly if the show where to go on for another day I think the most likely outcome would be Tony getting arrested. Carlo flipped, and his lawyer was telling him that he is hearing rumors of indictments. I don’t buy the theory that it was New York because it makes no sense for them to give the OK to take out Phil and then double cross a sit down. In the world of a mafia if you have a sit down that’s pretty much gospel going forward. I don’t think either mob family wanted to jump back into the war because if you really look at the shape of both families neither of them could afford any more blood shed and they had already called a truce .
So I think if anything bad were to happen to Tony I think more than likely it would be him getting arrested but since David Chase told us that it’s up to us what happened in my mind Tony doesn’t die or get arrested and Silvio recovers from his coma just like Tony did and a couple years later when Tony does end up finally going to trial with some help from his new buddy in the FBI he beats the case. Again man this is A great video you made and I think it really is my favorite video done about the end of Sopranos. I’ve seen so many videos that people have done about the series ending and the state as a matter of fact their opinion and you just can’t do that with the way the show ended. Great job man.
In the “members only episode” Eugene is wearing the jacket . His wife tells him all it takes is a bullet and Tony is finished . She hired the guy to kill Tony . She not only had the money to do it but also the motivation! Case closed !
Best would be Davis scansion doing Tony.!
Lol Breaking bad is practically a cartoon. Doesnt really have characters, more plot devices
What happened to Tony depends on you. If you want him to get what he *deserves,* then the blackout was another one of Tony's blackouts; he recovered and continued with his infernal life, with the deteriorating mob, and the vengeful rivals, and the Feds all over him, and the decades in jail, and the messed-up family, and hundreds more of these blackouts, each one indistinguishable from death, and it all ends with Alzheimer's. But if you want to be *nice* to Tony, if you want to do him a *favor,* then the blackout was him getting his brains blown out in front of his family.
chrono trigger and sopranos? yessss
Chrono Trigger OST? Ah salud!
That wasn't Heaven, papa.
He does cheat on his wife in the dream. He does it with the woman who asks him how he switched to optics after selling patio furniture. Dude if your going to post a video like this all these years later at least pay attention
had to click out when you called it boring sorry bruh - not a single boring second of this cinematic gold - rather a healthy pace than cramming unearned action scenes and every character being TOTALLY BAD ASS - at least imo but that's just imo lol thanks for the vid though homie I didn't actually click out but again - not a single boring second
I finished it a month or two back and I can already rewatch it. Super entertaining and engaging. But people used to the usual exaggerated, over dramatic, so called fast paced action and stuff might call it boring. It's no surprise.
Aside from mine,This Channel Deserves More Subscribers!
Thanks!
2:06 breaking bad >>>
I think the wire is the perfect show i have ever watched
agreed. but The sopranos is such a great show
Tony dies, life goes on.
Excelente
The way they ended Sopranos their would have been no easier way. We decide what happens. For me it's possibly a happy ever after for Carmela and Furio eventually. Also personally I could have used another couple of seasons. Im sure many would agree.
Fuckin A
Lon Lon Ranch ftw
yoshi music and sopranos. Lol
Tony got killed the very second Meadow entered the diner. Meadow stood at the door in horror as she watched her father get his brains blown out in front of his family. That's why the song came to an abrupt ending instead of playing all the way out as it usually does at the end of movies and tv shows. Tony's life was brought to an abrupt ending.
Sure it's stellar. It's a black hole!
The ending was crap. Everyone hated it. They thought their cable had cut out. Shitty ending to an amazing show.
You'll never persuade me, they should have shown him getting whacked
If tony didn’t see it coming, why should we?
Why is this still talked about?
Cause it's great
@@gonzaortellado1743 it’s not though… it’s a forced ending like the wire and oz and carnivale… basically the writers just said oh well onto the next cash grab
Breaking Bad is just OVERRATED show copying The Sopranos. ;)
Yeah... Tony died. Get over it.
The Wire is the only show better than The Sopranos
the ending was lazy writting
It sucked almost as bad as GOT!!!!!!!