Not sure how that works as far as Sal admitting his own guilt to a murder and the feds slapping him on the wrist since he is giving them Tony Soprano. Sal would have to serve more than a year and change in Lewisburg if murder gets added to his rap sheet, for sure.
I just finished watching Sopranos for the first time... and I loved the ending. I think it's pretty obvious Tony gets whacked and seeing Meadow walk into the restaurant is his last thought. Random whacking thoughts: Was Christopher a whacking or a mercy killing? I wasn't sure what Tony had to gain by whacking him, especially since he was family. I found it unrealistic that many Richie's and Sal's whackings were just explained way to other characters as they went into witness protection. Who's buying this? If they went into witness protection, how come nobody is in jail or even on trial?
"Went into witness protection" seemed to be code for "he's gone, don't ask why." With the exception of Adrianna, everyone seemed to know it wasn't true whenever they said it. And even in the case when she said it, she was talking to the FBI so may have been pretending to believe it. And you're right, Christopher wasn't "whacked" technically - Tony seemed to be thinking he had to do something before Christopher accidentally killed his own child.
Oh and one of the more enjoyable parts of the show is realizing Carmela is just as evil as Tony. Her choosing to turn a blind eye to Ade's disappearance, allowing Tone to whore around over and over again, her glee at being lavished with gifts knowing full well where they came from, sleeping with AJ's academic advisor, all with that false sense of piety. She was a piece of work. Having to witness Tony being whacked right in front of her face is kind of just.
That scene where the Jewish therapist calls her on her complicity was one of the most powerful moments of the entire series.
Tony initially had high hopes for Christopher but time after time he was let down because , family or not , Christopher was nothing more than an abusive drug addict.
Family meant little to the Sopranos. Earlier in the series Livia and Junior were plotting to kill Tony. Janice and Richie Aprile were making a move to get rid Tony but Larry Boy Barese was neutral and Junior ultimately decided he was better off with Tony. Janice killed Richie before Tony was able to because he hit her over an argument over was it a problem if Richie’s son was gay. Part of the reason for Tony promoting Chris was to use him as a shield for protection like having Junior as nominal boss. A druggie like Chris is suspectible to being turned; especially since hisblongtime girlfriend was a snitch who couldn’t even do five years in jail for Chris.
It was a whacking. Their relationship had completely collapsed, and Chris being on drugs again was the last straw for Tony, who seized the moment to get rid of him and did it in a way that made it look like not what it was.
Yep, Christopher was a liability to the entire organization. The episode prior to his death, he had almost revealed the truth about Adriana's and Ralphie's deaths to his AA buddy. But actually, in the moment, what triggered Tony as much as his eroding relationship with Chris was to see the tree branch that had come through the window into the baby seat during the car crash. Tony was triggered by the mere specter of harming babies or animals--even the hint of it could make him act on his impulses. Throughout the episode he would tell anyone who'd listen that if Chris' baby had been in the car she would have died.
Well, I think Tony used that as a justification, almost like he was trying to convince himself that Chris had become a danger to others not just himself (since he didn't need to justify it to others since no one knew he killed Chrissy). By repeating it out loud to others several times, he was trying to make himself believe his own words.
As written, Tony really believed that people who didn't properly care for innocent babies and animals deserved death. That was elicited throughout the series and the sessions with Melfi, the murder of Ralphie and Tony's anger with Christopher not only the night Tony killed him, but over the killing of Cozette. The way the scene was filmed, with Tony repeatedly looking at Chris, who appeared high while driving, and repeatedly looking at the baby seat after the accident, there is no way to avoid that this observation triggered him. In fact the wrecked baby seat is shown a moment before Tony asphyxiates Christopher.
Chase went non-committal on the ending. I am convinced we'd have had a Sopranos movie by now, with Tony alive, had James not died. The only thing I found obvious about the ending was that Chase was keeping all options on the table with it. When Chris revealed he was still on drugs, Tony knew he was forever a major liability and so he took his chance to get rid of that liability. Tony wished he didn't have to do it, but he knew it was exactly what he needed to do. He was definitely not doing it for Chris' sake. It was a purely selfish act. Nearly every act on the Sopranos was.
It was pretty obvious--about as obvious as it gets without showing a blood bath of one of the most beloved TV families. We should all be thankful Chase opted not to show that. The lead-up to the sound going dead and the screen going black is very carefully choreographed. The dude in the "members only" jacket scopes out the Sopranos. He walks into the restroom and the scene times him to come out with direct line-of-sight to Tony's table...also at the exact moment Meadow bursts through the front door of Holsten's to witness whatever is happening when the screen goes black. It's obviously a hit. Chase is not going to comment on the meaning of it any more than Dylan or Fagen will comment on the meaning of their lyrics. Everything they say is guaranteed to be misleading, but that shouldn't obfuscate the meaning itself.
Good post...but what enemies does Tony have at this point in the show? I've always liked the "the audience was whacked" take.
He killed Patsy Patsy’s twin brother early in the series although a possible marriage between their children would boost Patsy’s standing as it did Bobby Baccalieri. The Barese cousins were always in the shadows, non-committal when Richie Aprile wanted to whack Tony in season 2. I always wonder if Butch DeConcini was so willing to come up with a figure to pay off Janice for her widowhood (I am sure Tony would get his taste first) was stalling to finish eliminating the Soprano crew….unless the Little Guy has the wisdom that Little Carmine has: a pint of blood costs more than a gallon of gold and he genuinely wants piece. He was scared Phil would come after him for being unable to find Tony.
There are plenty of clues and hints in season six to convince me he was killed. But even if he wasn't, Chase already set a precedent of not finishing a storyline the way viewers want when Melfi's rapist was let go and we never know if the Russian was killed in the Pine Barrens.
There was literally no ending so it left the possibility for a movie. Regardless of what anyone decides they think happened after the screen went black, it leaves everything open to come back at some point. That's what not showing anything did achieve. Here they are doing a Sopranos prequel with James' son. We'd have had a Sopranos movie by now with James had he lived. Maybe they show someone take a shot at Tony and he survives it or maybe they just have him eat a meal and leave the restaurant. It's fiction and the story was left hanging. I think specifically for this purpose. It works to keep it open but then also works if it never comes back because people still talk about it and argue about what happened after a TV ending with nothing. In the actual show, nothing happened. In fan fiction, Tony got whacked or he didn't or he won a gun battle or whatever.
What enemies didn't he have? He was hated in New York, Patsy always hated him for ordering the murder of his twin brother (Patsy's son would have learned from Meadow where the family was eating). Carlo was a wildcard at this time. Paulie by the end became thoroughly spooked when Tony made it clear he knew Paulie told Johnny about Ralphie's Ginny joke, and Tony actually flirted with killing Paulie in Florida. Tony also bullied Paulie into taking over Carlo's crew over Paulie's objections and superstitions. Then if you want to go further back, Furio had wanted to kill Tony. And Tony's offshore account connection, Slava, would have wanted Tony killed if he blamed him for the assassination attempt on Valery in Pine Barrens. No, there were references in the show as to what happens when you die: "don't even hear it when it happens" and lots of other clues that set it up. I certainly understand your point that we are free to speculate since we don't see it definitively, but this ending was set up painstakingly as a bloodbath hit on Tony. It wasn't "no ending" and it most certainly showed everything required to come to a conclusion about exactly what happened. No compelling case for anything else. Chase set it up to perfection and then shut off the sound and picture after making references throughout the show that such a thing symbolizes death. People who don't want to face the way the ending was set up have all sorts of theories that make no sense.
David Chase could have made it very clear what happened without explicitly showing the family being gunned down. He didn't make it clear because he didn't want it to be conclusive.
He did make it clear and conclusive! Members only guy comes in right after AJ so that Tony is distracted by his son and doesn't register the threat. The family then has a final communion before death when they are each shown eating the onion ring as a sort of Viaticum ritual. Members only guy is shown sitting at the counter and repeatedly glancing at Tony's table. Member's only guy walks to the bathroom and Chase takes great pains to show how exiting the bathroom would give Members only line-of-sight directly to Tony. When the screen goes black is when members only guy would exit the bathroom. You really can't get more clear and conclusive than that without showing the bloodbath that we really don't need to see. Haha. Melfi would never let herself go there, but she certainly fired Tony and realized he was never going to change.
