when the Sopranos series finale aired in
2007 the abrupt cut to black left many
viewers wondering if their cable had
gone out until after 10 seconds of a
silent black screen the credits began to
roll some people think the ending of
made in America is one big cop-out while
others believe it's absolutely brilliant
what matters this we're still talking
about it more than a decade later
arguing over whether Tony Soprano was
wacked or simply finished his onion
rings and went home with his family so
let's make some sense of that final
scene and decipher what the ultimate
takeaway was in The Sopranos
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show creator David Chase has insisted
there's no definitive answer to whether
Tony lives or dies in the series finale
but Chase has also said that quote if
you look at the final episode really
carefully it's all there
so what evidence does made-in-america
give us as to Tony's fate first there's
the man in the Members Only jacket many
people think this is Tony's killer from
his seat at the counter the man seems to
look over at Tony twice this immediately
makes us hyper aware of his presence and
raises our suspicions about his motives
later in the scene the man goes to the
bathroom that puts him in a position to
get a clear shot at Tony and it's
reminiscent of the scene in The
Godfather when Michael Corleone goes
into the restaurant bathroom to get the
gun hidden behind the toilet this
happens to be Tony's favorite movie
scene ever because every time we watch
Godfather when Michael Corleone shoots
those guys at the restaurant those
[ __ ] just tried to kill his dad you
sit there with your [ __ ] bowl ice
cream and you stay at your favourite
seat of all time so it would be dramatic
irony if Tony met his end this way
the man's outfit could be a reference to
Eugene Pontecorvo who also wears a
Members Only jacket in the first episode
of season six which is titled Members
Only remembers only don't even wearing
that in this episode Eugene shoots
someone in a fast-food restaurant on
Christopher's orders so the implication
is that something similar could happen
to Tony here the other thing is that
Tony ruins Eugene's life by refusing to
let him retire to Florida like he wants
to the Florida thing oh yes I speak to
you that's a no-go so Eugene eventually
kills himself
in other words the man and the Members
Only jacket automatically reminds us of
how badly Tony treated Eugene and more
generally how many terrible things
Tony's done to all kinds of people which
could come back to bite him
finally the Members Only episode ends
with Tony being shot by his uncle jr. so
it could be fitting for the series
finale to also end with Tony being shot
in the finale scene there's a close-up
on Tony's face as he stands at the
entrance of the diner then the camera
cuts to him in a booth in a way that
makes it seem like he's imagining
himself there before he sits down or
like we fast-forwarded in time without
seeing Tony move it feels a little
disorienting and surreal Chase was
actually trying to recreate the
ambiguous feeling of 2001 a Space
Odyssey in this finale and he said that
this shot is a reference to the ending
of 2001 when Bowman sees an older aging
version of himself sitting down to eat
in 2001 the shot makes us reflect on the
future of humanity here it makes us
think about the future of Tony could
there be a more evolved new version of
Tony Soprano in some future time the
moment also sets up the use of point of
view shots in the scene we get a POV
shot each time the bell at the diner
entrance rings we see Tony's face look
up at the door and then we see his
perspective as someone enters the diner
this happens four times the fifth time
we only hear the bell as meadow enters
and see Tony looking up then it cuts to
black so based on the previous point of
view shots the implication is that we
are seeing what Tony is seeing and
that's black nothingness which suggests
he's dead something about the pacing
here makes us picture meadow arriving
just in time to see her father get shot
Tony dying just before he gets to see
her walk through that door the full
screen of black is also the opposite of
the visual we get when Tony wakes up
from his coma earlier in season six
there the screen goes completely white
symbolizing light and life the sudden
silence that cuts off the journey song
is another clue
it's in line with something Bobby bacala
says earlier in the season about what he
imagines it's like to be assassinated
you probably don't even hear it when it
happens
Tony flashes back to this moment in the
episode before made in America I
probably don't even hear it when it
happens right so that puts even more
emphasis on it the silence also reminds
us of sylvio's experience when Jerry is
shot across the table from him in this
moment the sound lowers and Silvio
doesn't even seem to hear the gunshot or
understand what's happened until he sees
Jerry's blood sprayed all over him so
this idea of not hearing it when it
happens
seems really significant when we look at
the final moment of the series made in
America is also full of death symbolism
the episode opens with a shot of tony
from above as he lies sleeping so it
looks like he's in a casket he's woken
up by organ music that sounds like it
would be played at a funeral a few
minutes in we see him peeling an orange
which could be a reference to the
Godfather using oranges as a bad omen
later in the episode there is a spooky
orange cat who's staring at a photo of
Christopher whom Tony killed a few
episodes before and in the diner scene
there's an image of a tiger on the wall
behind Tony that reminds us of that cat
so all of this haunting imagery
represents that Tony can never escape
the many murders he's committed and the
death that will come for him sooner or
later
then there's the context of what's
happening in the plot we have to
consider how likely it would be that
Tony would be assassinated at this point
in time the second last episode of the
series is a bloodbath as Tony's crew
basically goes to war with the
lupertazzi family ultimately the
conflict is resolved when the lupertazzi
turn on their boss Phil meet with Tony
and his crew and all but give permission
for the soprano crew to take Phil out
will you do what you gotta do
so it would seem that Tony's out of the
woods but it's also possible that the
lupertazzi family got Tony's guard down
so they could eliminate him as well
especially now that he's been weakened
by losing some of his men
if Tony does die without us seeing it
happen this isn't keeping with how the
Sopranos defies the form of the
traditional mafia story on screen in one
of those classic mob movies the hit
would be a surprise but then we'd get
the satisfaction of seeing what's
happening from the outside understanding
the plot against the character played
with my sister do you think that could
fool the Corleone but since the show is
putting us in Tony's head we experience
it as he would
[Music]
if Tony were taken out he'd have to not
know it's coming he'd never understand
the why or the who or the how his life
would just be over without warning so
based on chases statement that it's all
there in this episode the evidence does
make it seem like Tony was killed in the
final scene but it's not certain and
Chase has repeatedly refused to confirm
that Tony dies at this moment so this
very intentional ambiguity is an
artistic choice to force the viewer to
decide for themselves even if Tony isn't
killed and made in America it's pretty
clear that ultimately things won't end
well for him and he knows it the
weddings for a guy like me high-profile
guy dead or in a game washed him it
historically 80% of the time it ends up
in the can like Johnny Shaq or on the
embalming table of course your ally all
through the series we see the tragedy
that strikes people connected to the mob
characters go to prison become
informants despair over how the Mafia
has wrecked their dreams or get killed
by people they thought were friends we
know that even if Tony isn't whacked
he's likely going to be indicted 80 to
90 percent chance you'll be indicted
gunshot I get sick when I think of it
plus interstate fraud and if Carlos
that's talking homicide the FBI team
trying to build a case against him
really racing against time
trying to put Tony behind bars before he
gets himself killed
so either way Tony won't escape the
inevitable end of mob life regardless of
what happens after the cut to black
Tony will live his remaining moments on
earth in the shadow of dread he seems
relatively relaxed in the diner scene
but we as viewers are holding our breath
even though there's no concrete reason
to feel afraid it's sort of amazing how
Chase gets us so invested in Meadows
attempts at parallel parking this is
such a memorable aspect of the scene and
it's a perfect example of the mundane
tension we feel throughout the Sopranos
on one level drawing out Meadows parking
is chases way of playing with us he knew
millions of people would be watching the
finale waiting for something big and
terrible to happen
as we watch we find ourselves worried
that each member of the family is in
danger until they arrive at the diner so
part of our anxiety is that we want to
see them all together one last time and
we never get to meanwhile the tension we
feel is also a testament to how
successful the show has been in putting
us in Tony's shoes we eat and you play
you pretend like there's not a giant
piano hanging by a rope just over the
top of your head every minute of every
day she's not worried we feel on his
behalf is what he lives with every day
when you're Tony Soprano even going out
for ice cream with your family is
fraught with looking over your shoulder
this is his own personal hell that he
was with and who knows it could have
been that knowing maybe not there's
another theory that the cutting to black
doesn't represent Tony's death but the
viewers the moment cuts us off from the
protagonist we've spent so much time
with and just leaves us hanging but I
think what David was saying on the 1
here is there's no more TV TV's over
goodbye chase has said that many viewers
went from getting a catharsis from
Tony's bad behavior to having a perverse
desire to see him brutally murdered in
his words they wanted to see his brain
splattered on the wall I thought that
was disgusting frankly so part of the
rationale for the ending was to deny us
that feeling of being somehow better
than Tony even though we've been
identifying with him all this time not
letting us derive some twisted
satisfaction from seeing his end the
final scene includes the viewer in an
experience of death to remind us that
this final mysterious moment is the same
for everyone
Tony's uncle jr. is the outlier the
exception to the rule that mob life has
to end in jail or early death jr.
actually lives long enough to waste away
in an old folks home but we see this
exchange in the series finale you're my
dad you too we're North Jersey we did
yeah that's nice
so even if you somehow make it out of
the Mafia alive no one escapes aging and
death as Chase has said whether this is
the end here or not it's going to come
at some point for the rest of us so
what's the meaning of the episode title
made in America well many classic mob
stories are really commentaries on the
American dream
America's it made my fortune and I
raised my daughter in American fashion
and The Sopranos adds its own layer of
commentary to that American Dream
question Tony fits the image of that
good all-american dad who mans the grill
at backyard get-togethers he's provided
his family with all possible material
comforts it's been $5,000 on a set of
drums SAT tutor coffee maker but he's
done that through being a cold-blooded
murderer so the version of the American
dream he's achieved is familiar and
normal on the surface but dark and
corrupted at the center AJ gets at this
truth early in the series finale when
he's upset over what he sees as the
false promise of America this is still
where people come to make it it's a
beautiful idea nor will they get bling
come on sir [ __ ] they don't need and
can't afford chase has explained that he
went with the episode title quote not
only because Tony's a made guy and all
these guys are made guys but also
because it was about the extreme amount
of comfort Americans have especially
people with money he was thinking of how
the war with Iraq was in fact made in
America and how in the episode Tony and
Carmela are able to stop AJ from signing
up for the military like he wants to
simply because they have money we don't
feel joining the Army is in your best
interest so in some ways the episode is
an indictment of America's materialism
and the darkness were willing to turn a
blind eye to in order to preserve our
comfortable way of life the diner scene
also mirrors the ending of the season 1
finale when Tony and his family have
dinner together at Artie's restaurant
this was a genuinely warm happy evening
that inspired Tony to raise a toast
someday soon you're gonna have families
of your own
and if you're lucky you remember the
little moments like this
that well good but when AJ references
this moment in made in America Tony
can't remember it focus on the good
times don't be shy - there's no what you
said one time try and remember the times
that were good I mean so the contrast
between the two scenes is really
striking it shows how far Tony's
declined spiritually over the course of
the series and while the first scene
presumably ended with the soprano family
heading home together this one may well
have ended with Tony shot to death in
front of his wife and kids still the
song that Tony chooses at the jukebox is
very significant don't stop believin
transforms these mundane moments between
him and his family into a subtly
uplifting and affirmative portrait the
hopeful song & purtz the idea that in
the end this everyday nondescript even
boring family time might be what matters
the most so even in its final moments
that show viewers away from the
traditional Mafia story which presents a
romanticized glamorous view of family by
setting the final scene in a classic
diner playing an all-american song and
making The Sopranos look like a very
regular American family the show does
end up affirming the value of family
Chase has said that for him the song
really holds the ultimate message of the
finale he says quote there are
attachments we make in life even though
it's all going to come to an end that
are worth so much and we're so lucky to
have been able to experience them life
is short
either it ends here for Tony or some
other time but in spite of that it's
really worth it so don't stop believing
in a sense what Chase is saying is
almost an extension of Tony's remember
the good times philosophy even if Tony
has forgotten his own wisdom so while
the ending of The Sopranos seems far
from optimistic the whole point is to
make us value life more by showing us
how quickly it can be ripped away if
you're always in danger like Tony is all
you can ever do is cherish the good
moments before they're gone the midst of
that we our life was it the other way
round
it's Debra and Susanna and you're
watching screen prism thank you guys so
much for watching if you like this video
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[Music]