It's the curtain call. Game over. As for the POV, if you analyze all the shots in the show, the camera will show Tony and then show his POV. So when the camera shows Tony that final time and then the screen goes black, there is a logical, strong case to be made why the blackness is Tony's POV. You know, one character I didn't mention in my previous list of those wanting Tony dead who voiced that she wanted to kill Tony was Eugene Pontecorvo's wife. As you may remember, Eugene was given his aunt's inheritance and pleaded with Tony to let him retire. When we are first intro'ed to Eugene, in the episode titled Members Only, he is the one wearing the members only jacket. So there is some sort of literal and spiritual connection to him in the final episode. Indeed, the members only guy in Holstens looks a bit like Eugene. The spiritual connection is that Eugene pleaded with Tony to be allowed to retire from the mafia using similar pleas we heard from the Buddhist monks who demanded that Tony (alter ego Finnerty in the coma) fix the solar heating equipment of their temple and pleaded with him to admit his wrongdoings. Thus, the members only guy is a spiritual sort of grim reaper that represents Tony's accumulated transgressions and his inability to be honest with himself about his crimes.
"What? I'm just doing a few alterations!" Mikey actually getting whacked was pretty good too. Paulie being mostly concerned about the poison ivy is pretty funny (as is the call back to it in a later season).
Tony’s end was pretty inevitable and I think if you watch the background players in a lot of scenes in episodes leading up to that one, there’s *something* going on that we’re not privy to. And we’re not meant to be. We’ve been living for many seasons with a boss who’s running things and is aware of things, but now he’s less aware and doesn’t see the details. Things are being kept from him now. People are whispering in the background more. Which all makes sense, when you’re a mob boss who’s going to be whacked, from your POV things generally seem okay unless you’re paying close attention, and Tony’s mind tends to wander other places by this point in the show. And now that Phil is out of the picture, his guard is down even more.
And still, Chase could've easily brought them back for a movie (if James were alive) and wouldn't have had to do anything more than not have Tony whacked in the restaurant.
Never would happen under any circumstances precisely because Tony *was* whacked in Holsten's by members only guy.
Agreed. It is plain as day if you follow the clues, IMO. Also, I remember reading that at Holsten's (which is an actual restaurant in Jersey), the men's and women's bathrooms are the opposite of what we saw in the show, but they put the men's bathroom where the women's usually is so it was more out of Tony's line of vision.
I finished watching the series for the fourth time last week and what really stuck in my mind was just how much these guys in the Soprano family complain that Tony is favoring somebody else. Maybe it is divide and rule and one shouldn’t expect ruthless criminals to be reasonable but geez. Also I remembered Johnny Sack as cold blooded ruthless but smart in applying it. No, too violent as Ginny’s brother tells him on his deathbed. But like Nicholas Fouquet, he died in prison, not his version of Chateau Vaux-le-Vicomte
To quote TV critic/Sopranos expert Matt Zoller Seitz, "The only objectively true statement that can be made about that ending is that it’s ambiguous." Does Tony Live or Die at the End of The Sopranos?
Well, Chrissy and Paulie were both huge crybabies, so they always got upset any time they thought Tony wasn't completely on their side about almost anything. On the flip side, Silvio was the perfect number 2. He got it. He always knew what to say and what to do. Always loved his move with the floor tiles. He knew it would irk Tony, but he knew that Chrissy getting that spot over Patsy when Paulie was in prison was a mistake, so he wanted to make it obvious that Christopher was in over his head, and pulled it off beautifully. Made a lot money for himself and made Chrissy look bad, and the worst thing that happened was Tony getting a little ruffled about it.
That poor Russian. Had a great future ahead as an interior decorator, and Paulie had to go and start a rumble over a Universal Remote.
He killed a lot of czechoslovakians. His house looked like sh!t. Apparently Chase said in an interview that his dead body was discovered by Boy Scouts. Slava was alerted but didn't make the connection to Tony or Paulie.
Pine Barrens was one of the best & funniest stand-alone episodes in the series, I think. Soon time for a rewatch.
The things that are best and funniest about it to me come from previous character dev, like the friction between Chris and Paulie heading into the Pine Barrens fiasco, and Tony's frustrations with both of them independently of it. The scenes with Gloria and Tony in particular had little impact as a stand-alone episode. It was only in the context of the earlier and later episodes that their interactions that night were important. Pine Barrens was hugely popular because it was mostly shot away from the usual locations and seemed fresh due to Buscemi's direction that offered a few new twists. The scene in the abandoned van in the woods was especially strong. Buscemi seems to have a thing for vans, based on Tree's Lounge. It's important to see how characters act when you take them out of their comfort zone, away from civilization and strip away everything that defines them. As Christopher so eloquently put it, "captain or no captain, out here we're just two assh0les lost in the woods." The way that Valery disappears, the snow that seems to cover everything, like in the Robert Frost poem when Meadow schools AJ, and that haunting aria used in several episodes--it all comes together in Pine Barrens. But so many episodes have that kind of magic -- more than the sum of their parts. It just gets better with repeat viewing.
The show always had a humorous side to it but I always felt it got more serious when Ralphie died. Joe Pantoliano was fantastic!
In Pine Barrens, I always thought it was great how Tony saw right through Paulie's BS story, and Paulie knew it. As soon as Paulie gave his story, Tony turned and look right at Chrissy, who gave a shrug like, "Yeah, that's what happened," but Tony didn't buy it, and Paulie could tell right away, hence him immediately admitting that he messed (or something to that effect, haha) up. That is how well they all knew each other. Tony knew Christopher's affirmative shrug was nonsense, and Paulie could read Tony's face that he wasn't buying what he was being sold.
Repeat viewings always take the edge off because you know what happens, and the humor really shines through. But I do remember on first viewing the Ralphie scene having way more intensity and tension as they danced around the Pie-o-My fire and whether it was really an accident, and who might have caused it. As I like to call it the "right, what sick f@c!?" conversation: Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Lois said the horse was still alive. It was burnt so bad, they had to put it out of its misery Ralph Cifaretto : I don't even want to think about it Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : At this point, the fire Marshall said it looks "accidental." Ralph Cifaretto : What sick f@c! would do something like that on purpose huh? Ralph Cifaretto : [while making breakfast eggs] you know I was telling Justin's mother sour cream is the secret ingredient Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : Right, what sick f@c!? Ralph Cifaretto : What? Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : It's funny about God, fate, and sh!t like that. The horse gets better and we take out two hundred grand insurance in the race coming up. Suddenly there's a fire Ralph Cifaretto : What're you saying? You think I had something to do with it? Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : I didn't Ralph Cifaretto : Anthony, what're you a horse investigator now? Come on, they said it was an accident, right? Anthony 'Tony' Soprano Sr. : You know what? Maybe I will have some eggs Ralph Cifaretto : Toast? That is just amazing dialog and when it erupts in violence it's choreographed even better than the way they dance in the conversation.