That coffinlike image isnt the first major allusion to death of the final season, nor the last of Made in America alone. Eugene killed himself because of the FBI, more so than because - Reddit Pete Liebengood, longtime Bay Area sportscaster, dies at 73 Later, Tony gets Phils location from FBI agent Harris (Matt Servitto). It could be that Chase simply likes ambiguity and confusion. For Robert Funaro, who played Eugene Pontecorvo for 24 Sopranos episodes (seasons 3-6), getting killed definitely had a silver lining. Between that, his sketchy upbringing, his junkie son who hates him, and the Florida letdown, Gene was under a bunch a heavy shit. But while it's the mob and anything can happen, this doesn't really make sense either. Hey Bobby, do you know youre getting a wife? I mean its a prompt for us to think about death and life, and what weve done with our lives. He whacked the viewer. The significance of the crow in that scene has been much discussed. Thats one more reason why this scene feels dreamlike, along with all those incidental characters, like Members Only Guy and the uniformed Boy Scouts, who feel like people youd meet in an 80s music video. did coco die in sopranos - classic-jaguar.co.uk Matt: If hed said, Yeah, I killed him, I wouldve been deeply disappointed in Chase. In the episode Eugene and his wife have an unexpected financial windfall when a beloved aunt, the wife of a successful Hollywood agent, leaves him $2 million in her will. It is revealed Eugene has been an informant for the F.B.I., though it is unclear for how long. In fact, its the most obvious interpretation, given that Tonys pissed a lot of people off over the years, and in the overwhelming majority of gangster stories, the main guy dies at the end. His wife was already miserable, his son was struggling with drugs and his daughter was still young, any of them seeing his dead body would be traumatized. While DiMeo crime family capo Paulie Walnuts had the highest kill count (9), Tony Soprano came in at a close second with 8 kills. You'd expect the family to be long gone, living their lives in Florida, trying to forget Jersey. If he didnt die that night, hes going to die very soon, Chase told USA Today in 2012. In terms of the metanarrative, Adriana had to be killed as a logical ending to her tragic story. Is this, the superstitious Paulie wonders, just a cat, or his late colleague returned to life? To quote Tony, the floor is yours, senator. ". Are you gonna be like him?. Privacy Policy and This is a show about either accepting that youre not in control of anything, or making a conscious decision to deny that. And if Tony drops dead after the bell rings, whether from a bullet or (like poor Gigi Cestone) internal distress, obviously the next few moments involve Carmela, Meadow, and AJ being horrified and grief-stricken, but what comes after? But its an enormous leap from how the series told stories in every scene, and episode, up until this one. And if, to quote Mad Men, the greatest predictor of what somebody is going to do is what they have done in the past, Tonys always going to basically be Tony, the loquacious gangster who puts himself first. And the scenes he got to do for Eugenes death helped. Sopranos' Finale: 5 Details From the Final Scene That Settle the - CBR So maybe it was the genetic legacy of depression and mental illness that Tony called "the Soprano curse." In a family therapy session after the suicide attempt, AJ cited Grandma Livia's assertion. The way Sopranos creator David Chase saw it, that wasnt the big question. Chase lingers on the parking job to raise the question of what terrible thing will happen because its taking her so long. He loved his family, the only way they could get the inheritance money and go to Florida is if he was dead, he ended his life for their benefit. There has to be something else going on here, otherwise the scene wouldnt end as it ends, in such a studied inartful way. Is it possible the man in the Members Only jacket did the job? In the episode Unidentified Black Males, while he and Little Paulie Germani are engaging in what initially began as a harmless banter at the Esplanade construction site, Little Paulie goes too far in Eugene's mind when he conveys through an innuendo that Eugene is a homosexual. Tony says he'll consider it, but he states Eugene took an oath indicating it's highly unlikely he'll approve. That is not to say that he would not get back at her in other ways, but he would never physically harm her. Every other major boss on the show, from Johnny Sack to Phil Leotardo ( Frank Vincent . I vote that theres something else happening. Alan: Its hard to play dumb about what we discussed with Chase, but the great thing or the maddening thing, depending on your point of view is that even with all he ultimately told us, theres still no definitive answer to the dead/alive question. So when he walks into the restaurant, judgment has already been passed, or maybe suspended. Chase replayed the Bacala death line and laid down so much death imagery throughout the season and this episode, so we will understand that when the scene jarringly cuts to black, its because Tony has just died, either via a bullet from Members Only Guy or a coronary from one onion ring too many. I made arguments like the one above, about how a secret assassin repping an enemy we never heard of before would clash with every narrative rule the show ever followed. Though the cut to black comes before any such execution occurs on screen, there . Tonys personal disputes halted major construction projects on several occasions. I know this is a minority reaction, but I like being baffled or challenged or frustrated by art. This is an artist sorting through contradictory impulses, in hopes of reaching audiences in a deep way. Tony had antagonized the Lupertazzi family on several occasions in the past; hed defended the indefensible (Ralph Cifaretto) and backed another banished capo (Vito Spatafore); and, last but not least, he began working with the FBI while another member of his crew became a full-fledged informant. Excerpt from The Sopranos Sessions by Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall published by Abrams Press; 2019 Matt Zoller Seitz and Alan Sepinwall. 1) Carmine Lupretazzi, Sr. Carmine Lupretazzi, Sr. ( Tony Lip) is the best boss on the show by a country mile. Follow the Clonestar's Socials Follow Ashlei on Twitter and Insta Intro music courtesy of bensounds.com I just mean that Schrdingers cat is useful if youre applying it to a story that could end either in a radical, art-house movie way, or in a traditional way, but with a fancy wrapping. Im not saying Holstens is Heaven! or anything like that. Many fans speculate that the title of this episode, and the events that take place within it, foreshadow the true nature of the. What is this ending saying? Whats more in character for The Sopranos, to kill a magically charmed character in the final scene, or to refuse to do so? Maybe he left a note warning the wife about what he did, I hope so. Morrow ultimately ended his life at the ending of the film by committing suicide in a garbage incinerator. The head of the Barese crew helps the FBI locating the body of a murder victim who was killed by Tony over 25 years ago. Eugene's basement. Did Silvio Wear A Wig In The Sopranos? - Mastery Wiki Tony is shot by Junior at the end, but that comes out of nowhere. Eugene reveals his mean streak once again in the episode "Eloise" when he and another associate engage in jury tampering, in which they are sent to intimidate a juror who is on Junior Soprano's trial. Why the ambiguity at all? Youd expect the family to be long gone, living their lives in Florida, trying to forget Jersey. RELATED: The Sopranos: The 5 Tallest (& 5 Shortest) Actors In The Cast. In 2007, he killed himself after both his boss Tony Soprano and his FBI handlers refused to let him retire to Florida. Her father, Hugh De Angelis, thinks an inspector he used to know would waive the requirement, but his contact has retired. Cuz I hear a lot of people blaming Tony which sort of makes sense, but as it turns out he wasn't gonna be able to go to Florida and get out of the mafia anyways if they didn't let him. Or it could be, as I wrote in my original recap hours after the finale aired, that the character who died there was us, the spectator. Directed by David F. Sandberg, produced by Peter Safran, and written by Henry Gayden and Chris . Death is what happens, end of story, right? Remember, too, that Tony is the Homer Simpson of crime bosses, miraculously avoiding death or prison even as it claims other characters. Let's just remind ourselves how - to use street parlance - the final scene of The Sopranos 'went down': Tony arrives at the diner, and selects Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" from the juke-box console at his table. The Sopranos ending: Did Tony Soprano die in the diner? - Metro The final scene of The Sopranos raises a spiritual question that has no right or wrong answer. I think the most important two words in those two sentences are spiritual question. And if we fixate on anything other than that, were missing the point. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. When Tonys meeting Agent Harris by the airport, or Butchie is wandering through the last remaining scrap of Little Italy while talking to Phil on the phone, or when Tony and Butchie and Little Carmine sit down to broker a peace in that cavernous truck depot, the cold and wind and snow are all so palpable that the only truly applicable phrase is, Youll catch your death.. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! We can all go home now. Frankly, Im not even sure why were still debating this. If Meadow just walks in and the family enjoys the rest of their onion rings, a nice meal, and some ice cream, what happens to Tony Soprano after? Raymond "Buffalo Ray" Curto is a recurring character portrayed by George Loros. In both of those, Chase employs an unusual editing style, cutting directly from a shot of Tony looking out at the space hes just entered to a different point of view where hes already crossed most of the distance to the relative hes come to see. Did Eugene die in Gattaca? After Eugenes death, his wife would be devastated and most likely his family would be too. Did Anton drown Gattaca? - KnowledgeBurrow.com Pontecorvo had a tendency to lose his temper, and he severely beat Paul Germani for insinuating that Pontecorvo was gay. Eugene Pontecorvo (1959-2006) was a DiMeo crime family soldier and FBI informant. We know what the scene means, but we dont know what happened. Alan: Let me ask you this, then: If, during one of our many conversations with Chase, he had invited us to lean in close, and whispered, Guys, Tonys dead, how would that change your feelings about the ending? This show - that had so honestly and meticulously . Alan: Maybe we should ask the cat. He is either an enormous success or a pitiful failure. Teddy Spirodakis | Historica Wiki | Fandom 2023 Vox Media, LLC. informs Eugene they also reject his notion to move to Florida, as they need him in New Jersey to help build a case against Tony in the wake of Curto's death. Matt: Yes! The Austrian physicist Erwin Schrdinger famously theorized that if you place a cat into a box with some kind of hazardous material, the cat may live or die, but until you actually open the box to check, the cat is simultaneously dead and alive. The Roys continue their downward spiral into total desperation as Matsson and their dead father loom over every decision they make. I ask this not to spoil the details of the many pieces of Sopranos fanfic I have saved to the cloud, but to consider the larger question: Which ending is more interesting? Alan: Okay, so a hypothetical: Either way you lean, what happens after that cut to black? 86 Related Topics The Sopranos Drama series Television 55 comments Best Add a Comment [deleted] 1 yr. ago The actor had appeared in mob movies like "Goodfellas," and was also no stranger to crime himself. The War Room Episode 50 - Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut by The Clonestar Podcast The schedule includes the premiere of My Dinner With Alan, a feature-length documentary in which we sit in the famous booth at Holstens and discuss the series and the experience of covering it for the paper that Tony used to pick up at the end of his driveway. At this moment in Made in America, nobody that we know of wants Tony dead. Whos Going to the Met Gala Dressed as Karl Lagerfelds Cat? And the Russian. It's a town in Italy, but the name translates to "crow bridge." I think were supposed to be thinking about death, or the finiteness of life, during that last scene, but not necessarily that Tony died right then and there, and thats the end of the story. Richie was previously married and fathered a son, Richie Aprile Jr. Richie returned from prison to a very different family, with Tony Soprano as the boss, whom Richie . Adriana's off-screen death in The Sopranos also shuffles up the character dynamics for the rest of the series. As for the fringe theories, the idea that the Pontecorvo family set up Tonys murder doesnt quite hold water. Over the course of the next few minutes, he glances twice at the family's table before standing up, walking past the table before entering the restroom . And, as I said, it proceeds from the speakers need to have Tony die at that moment, not from any evidence in the scene itself. Eugene Pontecorvo The Sopranos really is about mental illness and the inherent hardships of the human condition, and Eugene Pontecorvo ( Robert Funaro) embodied the intersection between duty. Ashlei Sharpe Chestnut joins us for this bonus episode this week! I've also seen it suggested that Eugene's wife ordered Tony's murder. 15 35 Related Topics Since the tension with New York boiled over to a full-blown war, both Tony's family and Family have been on the lam. This week, Tom and Shiv get it on. Photos from The Best Sopranos Deaths - E! Online Also wouldn't shooting yourself be a less painful way of dying compared to hanging, he definitely had guns. Maybe the ending is saying, This guy never got it. They have the shells and pictures of the beach everywhere, and his wife was clearly dependent on it. Disputes between Tony and Phil are resolved, and it is explained that the New York associates were protecting Gerry's area and did not know Eli was associated with the Sopranos; they agree to pay Eli $50,000 compensation. The Sopranos: The Al Green Song David Chase Considered Instead of Dont Stop Believin in the Finale. The Sopranos: 10 Things About Christopher That Have Aged Poorly Because, while youre right to point out how Chase and company have very deliberately put us in a death-obsessed frame of mind during this final run, during the preceding seasons he showed us time and time again that he was never interested in doing the obvious thing. Shazam! Fury of the Gods - Wikipedia I know people generally cringe at "it was all a dream/nightmare!" scenarios, but I like the idea of Tony being in a purgatory state where he's forced to see himself die every day, and worst of all: it all goes black before he can see his daughter one last time. (For that matter, Members Only Guy could be the loved one of a Soprano victim himself.) The following is an excerpt from The Sopranos Sessions, in which Alan and I debate the still-controversial last four minutes of the show and come to different conclusions about what it meant. Matt: I think its more interesting if he lives. The bulk of the episode is devoted to Eugene Pontecorvo, previously a very minor character who appears infrequently and barely ever has any lines.