David Chase explains Sopranos Controversial Last Scene

The finale of any show is expected to be the highest point of any show yet the creator of The Sopranos felt that it should be more befitting to the theme of the show’s tone.

Through years of watching The Sopranos, you might have expected that it would be a full on gang showdown coming after Tony and kill him in some grand stead scene. That’s what the fans and critics expected.

The creator of the show David Chase wanted to finish off the show with an all ties tied up properly. Focusing on the family in the final episode rather than the fact that Tony has the other gang after him and he couldn’t help looking over his shoulder again and again for the guy assigned to kill him. 

The final scene had to be at a place that was common and represented the start of where the journey might have started. A café with the crowd around had to be romantic couples, Cub scouts, football players, diner regulars. Supposedly the diner serves the best onion rings in the state.

It sounded weird for a last meal, onion rings but then again, what is ordinary about the Sopranos. The whole episode was set on the backset of “Don’t Stop Believin’ “

Tony being the ‘small town boy’ and Carmela being the ‘just a city girl’ and how they got on the train. Although they might have gotten on the dark train but they sit down and Tony keeps looking at the door everytime the bell tolls and it becomes symbolic like the bell tolling on his death.

In comes Tony’s next generation and the guy who would end him (or so is implied). The attention immediately goes to A.J. It is like a psychological effect of attention that we notice the guy but not really. He remains in the back ground but keeps looking at Tony and his family as the son joins his parents for their last meal together as a family. The meeting itself represents finality in the atmosphere. 

The stage is set with the song and the boulevard outside with street lights and people walking, Tony sitting their waiting, looking at the door and Carmela and AJ just waiting for him to do something. While all this happens, the guy looks at them and then he goes into the men’s room. The scene, Chase admits, is symbolic from The Godfather when Michael Corleone kills Sollozzo and McCluskey. It was indicative of what could be expected and the final piece fell into place with the arrival of Meadow.

Meadow comes in after parking her car and the pace slows. Symbolic, that little things, could cause so much tension like parking the car. She races towards the diner. 

Then Tony’s end comes. It was a blackout, leaving the viewers to speculate what might have happened. Everyone will die but how Tony dies is up to you to decide.