The Sopranos: Final Scene Analysis

the controversial conclusion to the soprano series finale made in america may be more grim than people realize the final scene that takes place in holston's restaurant stands almost entirely on its own as a short film clocking in at just over four and a half minutes it is a dense and masterful work in which everything is suggested but nothing appears to happen this dramatic strategy has led to 15 years of speculation over the now infamous cut to black ending the debate remains largely confined to the following either tony soprano died of violent death or show creator david chase resorted to a bold gimmick to produce a purposefully ambiguous ending weighing in on the debate chase himself confirmed to the hollywood reporter during a november 2021 interview that tony dies in the end at any rate that was chase's thought when he formed an opinion about where to shoot the final scene while the director's own perspective is interesting authorial intent is irrelevant to an analysis of any creative work what matters is the content and how it fits together the analysis presented here proposes that the final scene resolves the dramatic premise of the series itself there are two soprano families the kindred family and the crime family what we witness in the final moments of the series preludes of familicide the crime family destroys the kindred family tony soprano is assassinated by two gunmen and carmela and anthony junior are killed in the process meadow alone survives we will start at the end of the scene when we see a subtle but significant rendition of the eucharist this is the ritual commemoration of the last supper of christ instead of hymns wine and wafers we have journey coca-cola and onion rings let's take them one at a time the famous song for this scene don't stop believing portrays the human experience as an eternal search for meaning according to journey meaning is obtained through our emotional connection to others the final chorus implores the listener to transcend this movie that never ends to discover a kind of secular salvation through shared experience the lyrical sentiment easily converts to a religious context insofar as the listener is told that our lives are meaningful beyond the unhappy hardscrabble world we see around us faith however is required to discover and preserve that meaning while the song plays in the background we see a single camera shot dedicated to a waitress delivering three cokes to the soprano booth notice that when the waitress bends over the table top to set them down the three cokes are framed under the crook of her left arm to the exclusion of everything else on the screen this is like a keyhole shot from the silent film air designed to focus our attention onto a single subject this is the blood of christ these cokes are the sacramental wine the basket of onion rings arrives at the soprano booth when journey finally ascends to the song's eponymous chorus this is the only point in the song where the lyrics explicitly call on the listener to keep their faith notice that after the onion rings are placed on the table the soprano family is again entirely eclipsed by the waitress as she passes before the camera in addition to prefiguring the cut to black ending the total negation of the main characters underscores the fact that something important just took place something more important than the characters themselves this is the body of christ these onion rings are the sacramental wafers the scene next dedicates a single camera shot to carmela then to anthony jr and then to tony each respectively placing an onion ring flat on their tongue this is the ritual of holy communion the sacramental wine and wafers are unmistakably present and the act of taking communion is cued to a song about faith while subtle and masked by pop cultural substitutions the scene features a liturgical ceremony itself created to recall the last supper two additional comments to cement the last supper motif before we move on first anthony jr quotes his father concerning the importance of remembering the good times in life quote focus on the good times end quote when his father cannot recall having said so anthony jr reminds him quote isn't that what you said one time trying to remember the times that were good end quote in addition to echoing the sentiment from the soundtrack quote hold on to that feeling end quote anthony's comments also sound like a variation on the quote attributed to christ when establishing the eucharist as liturgy quote do this in remembrance of me end quote i.e hold on to this feeling second tony indicates to carmela that soprano family captain carlo gervasi has been conclusively identified as an fbi informant in this way we discover that tony is contemplating a traitor who he now knows will testify against him this presents an interesting parallel to the original last supper where christ dispatches judas from the gathering and orders him to fulfill his own traitorous destiny we will next identify the assassins lurking in holston's and describe their plan of attack there are two killers members only is the primary shooter and the outdoorsman is the secondary shooter the former wears a members only jacket the latter dons a flannel shirt vest and baseball cap that reads usa on the front panel the scene provides multiple clues to indicate the true purpose of these two men and even tells us what caliber gun each will use to start there is a telling pattern associated with the entrance of both shooters specifically each one enters directly ahead of a soprano the outdoorsman arrives first followed thereafter by carmela members only arrives second immediately ahead of anthony jr as the pair passes through the doorway in tandem both shooters sit alone and both shooters order coffee coffee at night no less indicates that both men are alert and purposeful neither man looks at a menu because neither man is there to have a meal for all of their common behaviors there is one notable point of contrast between them one continues to look around and the other never looks up members only stare straight ahead when he enters holston's and then twice steals furtive glances over his shoulder at the soprano family booth meanwhile the outdoorsman neither surveys the dining room when he walks in nor looks up when a waitress delivers his coffee we never see his eyes their contrasting behaviors align to their respective roles the primary shooter leads the operation and so must risk assessing the target the secondary shooter takes his cues from the primary shooter and otherwise remains invisible until the shooting starts ultimately the treatment of these two men distinguishes them from everyone else in the restaurant and binds them together in a common plot these are our shooters based on where the key players are situated in the restaurant we can surmise how the assassination will unfold members only is in position inside the men's room the outdoorsman is seated in the front right corner of the restaurant as we look into the dining room from the entrance tony is in the booth facing 12 o'clock relative to tony we know that members only will come out of the men's room at tony's three o'clock and shoot him up close on his right side meanwhile the outdoorsman will walk up behind carmela to face tony at his 10 o'clock shooting him on his front left side firing at an angle over the column of two tops to tony's left at this point we can consult the mison sen for another clue the jersey numbers on the two football player murals painted on the back wall behind tony read 38 and 22 respectively 38 is on the left panel and 22 is on the right panel if we read the symbolism literally members only will fire a 38 caliber pistol and the outdoorsman will fire a 22 caliber pistol coincidentally the two football players converge on the booth where tony is seated in a way that anticipates the route each shooter will take when the time comes in addition to all three sopranos participating in the eucharist there are two other indications that tony's assassination will result in a triple homicide the first involves the arrangement of lights throughout the scene it may go without saying but light is a common storytelling metaphor for ghosts or spirits here light pretends the transition of three souls to the afterlife we can start by looking at the interior of the restaurant there are three lights framed along the far wall across from the soprano booth as we look from tony's right profile we see these lights multiple times throughout the scene when anthony jr is finally seated we see all three lights and all three characters together in a wide shot for the first time we see one light behind carmela when she speaks in a one-shot this occurs multiple times in one instance we see two lights along the same far wall when carmela and anthony jr share a two shot we also see a single light behind tony in a one shot three separate times next there are three lights along the opposite wall as we look from tony's left profile these come into view for the first and only time as we watch members only walk to the men's room to get into position the soprano family is also framed in that shot the same arrangement of lights occurs outside the restaurant when meadow pulls into the scene and makes her first attempt to parallel park there are three lights visible in the restaurant window behind her the lights are tightly framed in her driver's side window as she starts to back up there is another arrangement of three lights on the building to the right of holston's these come into focus as we see meadow first start to cross the street toward the restaurant the last triplet of lights are not lights at all heading back inside notice that the outdoorsman our secondary shooter has three creamers on his coffee cup saucer these three creamers like three bullets are as white as the lights that appear in the restaurant window outside the second indication that suggests a triple homicide takes place involves how each soprano enters holston's here it may be useful to do a thought experiment imagine that the restaurant is a kind of religious space or an alternate dimension situated between the real world and the catholic afterlife the symbolism under discussion may make more sense in this context generally we're looking at how the sin attributable to each soprano is depicted as they step through the door tony enters first standing in the entryway he undergoes a metaphysical transformation upon walking into the restaurant tony surveys the dining room in a medium shot we cut to the dining room and then cut back to show tony now in a full face close-up as he continues to scan the main room the shot flips back again to show him now seated in a booth facing us from a distance in the last two shots we are first shown a solitary larger-than-life figure whose face overtakes the screen next he is shown to us as a diminutive and vulnerable being anonymous among the clutch of diners in that instant tony is drained of sin and stripped of guile and pretense to prepare him to pass into the afterlife as an aside notice how little of tony remains left over after his transformation carmella arrives next she enters wearing a full-length red coat over white pants and the black zipper front sweater while the symbolism for tony manifests as a blatant and severe transformation for carmela it is a little more complicated the difference between them involves their respective relationships to the crime family tony's relationship does not require comment carmella on the other hand has suffered pangs of conscience in the past due to her involvement with the crime family she sought religious guidance more than once on this topic she even began a marital separation at least in part to withdraw from this moral dilemma nevertheless she relented in favor of a modus vivendi as a result she accommodates her role as a mother and practicing catholic alongside a relationship to the soprano crime family we can see the underlying dichotomy encoded into her clothing her white pants and black top signify good and evil respectively innocence and guilt the white and black design pattern on the collar cuffs and along the zipper of her sweater ensures the dual symbolism remains present throughout the scene even after carmela is seated the blood-red coat she wears when she steps through the door pressages her violent physical death notice that the coat partially covers tony's face as carmella situates herself in the booth this suggests that he too will be covered in her blood anthony jr enters the restaurant last anthony jr is an innocent he is without sin we can find evidence for this characterization by comparing his entrance to that of his father recall though when tony entered he lurched instantly from a solitary powerful larger-than-life gangster to an anonymous vulnerable diminutive diner anthony junior's experience is exactly the opposite when he first steps through the door he appears small and obscured as he trails behind members only once inside however anthony jr emerges from behind the primary shooter and proceeds gradually to increase in physical size as he approaches the soprano booth when he sits down he leans over the tabletop eclipsing his mother and for a moment outsizing his father recalling our thought experiment it makes sense that an innocent should loom large over an inveterate sinner prior to passing into a catholic afterlife finally while trailing behind members only as the pair stepped through the doorway anthony jr somehow surpassed the killer before entering the dining area notice that after he sits down at the booth anthony jr is now prominent in the foreground while members only is obscured in the background the way these two swap places is a perfect metaphor for the following quote from the gospels concerning the priority placed on those departing this world for the next christ states quote the last shall be first and the first shall be last end quote moreover this quote applies directly to the comparison between tony and anthony junior the mob boss who arrived first and the innocent who arrived last meadow is the one character who is conspicuously absent from the last supper the only thing we are given to understand about her throughout the final scene is that she takes birth control we also happen to know that meadow is engaged to patrick parisi the son of a soprano family captain in any event if we contemplate her choice to take birth control on a purely symbolic level it suggests that something is wrong there is a disruption to the natural order of things meadow chooses to deny the most powerful creative aspect of her own nature in an effort to understand what might motivate her to do this we are drawn back to the dramatic premise of the series itself that is the core tension between the kindred family and the crime family what we come to find is that meadow imposes a prohibition on motherhood to protect herself and her would-be child from exactly the type of violence taking shape inside holston's through a combination of dialogue and montage we can begin to see what compels meadow to protect herself in this way there are two brief exchanges between carmella and tony carmela addresses birth control tony addresses the crime family informant the presentation of these two conversations mirrors each other in such a way that suggests they're interconnected let's take them one at a time first when carmela tells tony that meadow has a doctor's appointment he looks up from his menu and his face registers a flicker of hope that she may be pregnant as her father he has reason to think so given her engagement his expression is crucial because in that brief instant he conjures the notion of motherhood and expresses hope for a new addition to the soprano family after carmela clarifies that the purpose of his daughter's appointment is to ensure precisely the opposite outcome a look of disappointment and resignation passes across his face next carmela asks tony if he spoke to his lawyer neil mink in response tony names the crime family informant who intends to testify against him carmela is left vaguely bewildered at the news notice that each dialogue concludes with a reciprocal silence tony does not respond to the news of meadows birth control carmella does not respond to the named informant furthermore each silent response is shadowed by a shooter the scene cuts from tony silent and disappointed to a waitress delivering coffee to the outdoorsmen likewise the scene cuts from carmella silent and bewildered to members only entering the restaurant the parallel structure of these two exchanges suggests a correlation between meadow and the informant both have sought protection from the soprano crime family meadow through birth control and the informant through a plea deal with law enforcement in simpler terms both meadow and the informant reject the crime family in meadow's case she refuses to contribute a child to the kindred family because of its relationship to the crime family given that each dialogue between tony and carmela is punctuated by the image of a contract killer we can infer that meadow understands the threat of violence posed by the crime family the nissan sen confirms our inference concerning crime family violence and focuses our attention squarely on holston's soon after tony is first seated in the dining room he begins to browse for a jukebox selection meanwhile the camera cuts away to the kitchen where we see a calendar on the wall beside the cook working the griddle the calendar features a norman rockwell painting that was published as cover art for the saturday evening post on march 21 1942 the title of the painting is secrets boy reading his sister's diary the symbolic meaning of the image registers on two levels first it forms the only direct connection between meadow and anthony junior throughout the final scene she is the diarist and he is the boy reading her secrets second it suggests that the murder plot unfolding in the restaurant dining room is itself a reading from the diary the second point is a leap in logic so let's go through it step by step to start the only information given to us concerning meadow is that she has placed a prohibition on motherhood therefore the only question to explore is why why should meadow do this next the diary in the painting is a metaphor for meadow's private thoughts we are interested to know her private thoughts on the subject in question as a result it is reasonable to assume her diary represents the answer to our question now we cannot define the contents of her diary any more than we can define the contents of meadows private thoughts this leaves us with only one other avenue of discovery to understand how the diary answers our question we have to consider where we find it we find her diary at the scene of a familicide moreover we find it there before the murders take place when we consider her diary alongside the other instances of prophetic symbolism discussed here it is not unreasonable to theorize that the answer inscribed into the pages of her diary is a projection of the scene itself in other words it is a dire depiction of meadow's worst fears as a prospective mother that is the murder of her own kindred family at the hands of the crime family as the scene plays out we can surmise that meadow replaces carmella as the mother while anthony jr becomes a substitute for meadow's own child it makes sense that he is cast in this role and so far as he is referred to explicitly in the painting remember the painting entails the first and only direct connection between the siblings furthermore as we argued earlier anthony jr enters holston's as an innocent in this way it is appropriate that he should double as meadow's own child there are two uncanny parallels between the rockwell painting in the final scene that bind the diarist and meadow together first both creative works refer to a sexually active older sister the diarist appears to have memorialized an active sex life this is evidenced mainly by the salacious glee with which the boy greedily devours her entries notice that he sits erect while the skirt around her vanity forms a diaphanous vulva between his legs meanwhile we learn from carmela that meadow is visiting a position to modify her birth control in this way the diarist and meadow hold up either end of the same sexual continuum one is sexually active while the other guards against an unwanted pregnancy second both sisters are missing from the creative works meant to feature them the diarist is absent from the rock while painting while meadow is absent from the restaurant these parallels tend to reinforce our earlier argument that the diary in the rockwell painting is a metaphoric representation of meadow's private thoughts the moral universe hosting the final scene appears to help meadow protect herself and her future family here help takes the form of divine intervention as we know meadow arrives late to the last supper in large part due to her doctor's appointment while her decision to update her birth control delays her arrival she still could have joined her family inside holston's before the shooting started based on when she pulls up outside she had time enough to do so instead she gets tangled up in a drawn-out parking process with multiple false starts and failed maneuverings throughout the sequence there is a vague sense of synchronicity surrounding events inside and outside the restaurant for example meadow successfully parks only after members only eases off his stool and heads to the men's room to get into position likewise she starts to cross the street only after the family takes communion lastly meadow steps through the door just in time for her father to see her for the last time before his death in any event given the pronounced religious ritual taking place inside it is not unreasonable to characterize the entire parking episode taking place outside as a pre-ordained effort to delay meadow an example of divine failure by design orchestrated to spare her life anthony jr enters holston's as a boy but leaves a man the sole conversation between tony carmela and anthony jr can be understood as a rite of passage the topic revolves around his entry level job working at a film production company he complains about his job citing the menial tasks he performs as a personal assistant in response both his mother and father give him perfectly reasonable benign parental advice instead of continuing to complain anthony jr takes their advice on board shakes off his self-pity and spontaneously quotes his father back to him quote right focus on the good times end quote in this moment anthony jr grows up the scene confirms this transformation when anthony jr responds in earnest to a challenging comment from his father failing to realize that his son has matured in this moment tony states quote don't be sarcastic end quote in response anthony junior reminds his father of his own advice quote isn't that what you said one time try and remember the times that were good end quote it seems appropriate that anthony jr should remember taking this advice from his father when his father cannot recall it himself in this moment we see anthony jr converse with tony like an equal finally father and son share a mutually affirming look and acknowledgement of the transformation that has taken place in this way anthony jr obtains a modest but meaningful insight into this life before passing to the next the last shot before the cut to black ending features tony looking up to see meadow enter the restaurant while his last look does not inform the notion of a familial side directly it does support the underlying assertion that tony himself dies in that moment we can arrive at proof of this ironically throughout the scene the following pattern repeats four times we hear the door chime ring we see tony look up we see what he sees i.e who is walking through the door while this sequence is partially altered when members only enters tony still does look up and we see what he sees when meadow finally arrives to sound the chime for the fifth and final time the scene subverts our pavlovian expectation we hear the door chime ring we see tony look up but we do not see what he sees that is because tony is dead he is no longer available to us instead we are at once abandoned and compelled to form our own mental picture of meadow walking through the door it seems appropriate that meadow should constitute our last thought that after we look at a man condemned to death along with his family we should contemplate his one surviving child recall that during our examination of the eucharist there were two instances when a waitress blocked the entire soprano family from view this occurred first when the waitress delivered three cokes to the booth and then again when she dropped off the onion rings in addition to drawing our attention to the sacramental elements of the eucharist each total eclipse prefigures the cut to black ending the proposed significance of these two events supports our thesis that everyone at the table is murdered let's go to the end of the scene immediately prior to the actual cut to black ending the last figure we see is tony if we accept the final cut to black as a metaphor for death we are naturally inclined to associate this metaphor with tony alone it is his death tony was here and then he was gone now let's go back to the eucharist in those two instances that prefigure the ending the blackouts extend to everyone at the booth all three characters are obscured from view each time the waitress delivered one of the sacraments this tends to indicate that the metaphor for death applies to everyone seated at the booth furthermore if we count the two instances prefiguring the ending alongside the ending itself we have three blackouts total one for each of the soprano family members seated at the booth these blackouts are the antithesis of the three lights that otherwise pretend the transition of three souls to the afterlife contrary to claims that the ending is ambiguous the final scene of the sopranos series finale provides a great deal of information to suggest that we are watching an assassination plot unfold furthermore the scene is layered with symbolism indicating that the plot winds up killing everyone seated at the soprano family booth tony carmella and anthony jr take holy communion in the presence of two contract killers the scene is illuminated by ominous recurring arrangements of lights that account for three deaths each character enters holston's in a manner that alludes in some way to their own mortality the dread prospect of motherhood haunting meadow foretells the murder of her entire family through a prophetic diary entry concealed in holston's kitchen even the existential cut to black ending is prefigured in a way that applies to everyone seated at the booth all of the symbolism and major themes trace back to the dramatic premise of the series itself that is the antithetical relationship between the kindred family and the crime family the tension is to be resolved when the kindred family is finally annihilated by the crime family we can apply tony's last words as a final piece of evidence to make this point when the waitress delivers the onion rings tony states quote i went ahead and ordered something for the table end quote we can take his statement to have a dual meaning as the head of the kindred family he refers to the sacramental wafers delivered for the eucharist as the head of the crime family however his statement refers to the assassination plot itself the something tony orders for the table is death after all his involvement in organized crime is the cause of prima for everything that leads to three murders on this night you

Channel: Scenic Media

Views: 78,754

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Id: ZCb6OL6RGyk

Length: 27min 26sec (1646 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 17 2022

Reddit Comments

[u/Mastiffdad75]

Even if he’s wrong I’m choosing to believe this is the ending they intended, it brought me closure I didn’t know I needed.

[u/Mojni]

pretty fresh take with impressive depth