I never got the controversy. My first thought was "Oh, homie came out of the bathroom and capped Tony from behind." I mean... "It won't be cinematic," was literally a line in the show. Perfect ending.

Bobby had the most important line in the entire show and there lies the actual key. “You never hear it when it happens.”

is the most minimalistic and classy way to show the fatal end of the main character; I love it. Bobby's and Patsy's lines "you probably don't even hear it happens" and "it won't be cinematic" are the best way to explain the show's ending

It's sad to think that Bobby's last thought was that his son didn't want to hang out with him anymore.

If it ended in a bloody mess that scene would have overshadowed the whole series. The show was about Tony and when he ended, the show ended.

Its probably worth to mention how Meadow is described as a guardian angel. This could somehow relate to the theory of Tony dying at the end because the Guardian Angel being Meadow was late to the diner making them unable to stop Tony’s death.

The cut to black was a master stroke. For years the show pulls you into Tony's world, and into his mind, who he is as a person, his strengths and failings and the vicarious power trip you get from watching him throw his literal and metaphorical weight around in the mob scene. It's all deliberate, to make you identify with Tony, view him as a kind of role model and forget, underplay, excuse and ignore the fact that he really is a vicious, selfish, amoral monster that you would never want to be within 100 yards of. And after you've been fully immersed, you get hit with smack-dab in the face with a dose of reality. The end for you was exactly the same as it was for Tony. Banal, meaningless, empty, unsatisfying, hollow. As he was as a person, and ultimately his time on this Earth was too, and your own fake admiration and misplaced envy too is hollow & nihilistic.

What really made me sad and gave me chills is realizing that Junior outlived so many people and probably doesn’t even remember them….being all alone and probably doesn’t realize it.

Damn this is so well done. You definitely have the makings of a varsity athlete

I don’t even think the ending matters to be honest. Tony’s fate is basically shown to us constantly. He’s been given the chances to turn back, the visions of his fate, feeling the heat of hell, he is Tony Soprano. The shows end really starts from the beginning, the mob in general is kind of coming to an end. It’s largely a shadow of what it was and with advancing laws and technology the game is changing too fast for anyone to be ahead of the curve. Tony starts realizing that this shit is all shit and although he makes some attempts to change, it never is enough to really break down what he is at his core. To me this absolves the ending of needing resolution because we’ve been shown for 6 seasons what mob life will bring. We’ve been shown that it doesn’t matter who, everyone’s bad when built off the back of things like murder robbery and taking advantage of people. Whatever happens to Tony it won’t be good, but at the same time there’s not much that can be done to Tony that would or could change him. He’s too deeply Tony Soprano. It makes you look at what happened during instead of what the climax was, because the during already told us the climax. Like really what could’ve happened to Tony, he either goes to jail, or dies. He wasn’t a man who lived a long life, he essentially decended so far into darkeness that every moment in his life was just getting over the next hill, and the next hill always had the possibility of someone being there ready to gun him down. If it wasn’t today it’s tomorrow. He’s fucked. He’s aleady a dead man walking. He has no room to grow because Tony Soprano is not a man that grows, not because he can’t but because it’s not in his nature to do so.

I like the detail that the actual Holstein’s Diner has different decorations on the inside than what we see in the last episode. The show specifically chose all the set details including the mural behind Tony. Two football players wearing 38 and 22 which are both calibers of bullets. An orange tiger mascot which reminds us of Adriana who frequently wore cat prints and was murdered at Tony’s order, and the big school in the middle which has an eerie resemblance to Green Grove and the Inn at the Oaks.

When Tony walks into the diner from outside two red lights briefly appear on him (one at his temple, one on his chest). There's no source for these red lights and they don't appear again when everyone else walks into the diner. I believe Chase is letting the audience know that not only does Tony die in this diner but he will get one bullet in the temple (with his guardian angel Meadow not there sitting on his right to protect him - that's why her inability to parallel park the car gets so much attention) and one in the chest. As Chase has said, what happens to Tony is all there in the scene.

Lots of stories in Sopranos never wrapped up like Furio or the Russian. I remember hearing an interview with Chase earlier in the series saying not everything in life has a definitive ending. The cut to black was the end of the viewers part of story and that’s fine by me.

All these years later and the ending of The Sopranos is still being is still being debated, discussed, and analyzed. Suffice it to say the showrunners made the, exact, right call. My two cents of course. Good stuff regardless.

I loved the ending. It was pure art on screen. But my favourite thing about the ending was how it highlighted how people can feel anger at, or feel let down by not getting what they want. The feeling of entitlement that somehow they are owed something. It was masterful.

David Chase is a true genius. How do you write something like that with that much complexity and that level of dialog?

We keep watching these essays on The Sopranos because the truth is, we just can't let it go.

Hahahahaha. Literally laughed out loud. The ending got me man. Well done. Great video.

Seeing the way people reacted to the ending is baffling to me. I was so overwhelmed by it the first time that I started crying. I don't remember ever thinking "what happened", because a) it always seemed obvious given the sheer weight of clues the show gives you, and b) it doesn't matter. The point isn't that he dies, it's that he hasn't changed. They're all trapped in limbo, going on and on and on and on. Until they aren't.

22:56 The positioning of it looks like he’s in a coffin too, definitely intentional - this whole last season basically can repeat itself at the ending, so I totally agree with you about him dying and coming back basically like he’s been dead the whole time and we’ve already seen what happens to the remaining characters - is exactly what would happen after the diner; like the hospital, the power grabs, the money hold out, etc. so regardless if people hated it, we had already seen what happened after Tony dies. It’s brilliant. Great video man, this was definitely the most thought out analysis I’ve seen on the ending. Also sidebar I feel like AJ being Tony’s devil is another portion, juxtaposed to Meadow being his guardian angel. Meadow always saves him from danger and AJ usually puts him in danger (unintentionally by him but just a bad omen). AJ coming into the diner is bringing his death, Carmella is the remains, and Meadow getting there late is his guardian angel missing the window to save him. Tony’s perspective ends when it goes to black this is over aka it fades to black. Even the shot of him looking onto the final scene before it happens suggests he was dead from the beginning of the season, hence the coffin. Meadow was at the doctor, she’s pregnant and marrying into the family, and Tony’s journey is over. it’s the circle of life

The opening scene of the final episode with Tony asleep in his safe house was intended to resemble Tony in a casket

Ask yourself this question... did you really want to see Tony's brains splattered all over his family and the onion rings after watching him all those years? Chase simply spared us all the trauma. In the new movie he shows the protagonist getting shot in the head just for all you fans who needed to see Tony get whacked.

This video is just brilliant, i love how you tied everything in with the Seven Souls poem which i loved since im a big William Burroughs fan. The ending to this series is just pure perfection.

Only an amzing show can have people digging like this years later! Good job bro! Long live The Sopranos!!! I've watched the entire series at least 6 times and was one of the many who seen the series finale live and stared at the end credits in awe!

Brilliant work! Love that you referenced Burroughs' _The Western Lands_ so much in your analysis. The spoken word performance of "The ancient Egyptians postulated Seven Souls..." is used so brilliantly in the series, thematically - I always felt it was the key to understanding the final episodes. Season 5 thru 6b are the pinnacle of television, imo. A lot of "fans" of the show seemed to never understand what show they were watching, and liked least the things that made the show most meaningful and unique.

Rick Worley and the Sopranos? Maybe life ain’t so bad after all, going to enjoy this with a nice cup of tea

What struck me as interesting in the final scene is the way they ate the onion rings. They ate them in the fashion of a communion wafer, but priests give a wafer at last rites, too. I found that symbolic of death. But death of what, I don’t know. A character? Old school America? The mafia? The whole series?

I’m a big Sopranos fan. I’ve watched every episode at least half a dozen times. I knew Tony died at the end because of Bobby Bs comment about not hearing the shot and everything goes black. I almost didn’t click on this but I’m glad I did. Wow. I now have a new found PhD in Soprano Science. If you’re right about half of this David Chase is a genius!! Excellent analysis!!

Look, man. I've been listening to and reading and watching analysis of The Sopranos since I was 14 - and this is by some distance the best thing I've come across. You deserve millions of views for this. Fucking hell, lad.

That was a first class job Rick....from start to finish you had me, a professional and highly intelligent breakdown of the world's greatest TV series. Love the fade to black at the end... I loved the Soprano"s because each character was so well acted and the scripts were pure gold. Thankyou David Chase for a fantastic journey (pun intended) thru the life of Antonio Soprano

100/100 video! My mom is a total Sopranos fan and we've watched the series so many times since the original airing. We've both switched stances on the fate of Tony throughout the years and watched a lot of videos about the ending. I can't wait to watch this vid with my mom because I think it is the most well done and well examined explanation. Also loved the ending of this vid~

Truly one of the best Sopranos video essays I've ever seen. Thank you!

Wow. Glad this came up for me this morning. What an analysis. I've watched many times but never put things all together like this. Amazing stuff man.

After the initial shock and confusion….the ending proved to be the most genius move ever. It took a bunch of digging, which I love, to find out that Tony was definitely whacked. Shot in the head- ordered either by the rest of Phil’s crew or Paulie and Patsy. Another wild theory is the Member’s Only guy was Eugene reincarnated and getting revenge lol. It’s also very interesting that the hot chick AJ met in rehab was a plant by Phil’s crew- evidence of her picture being in the salon owned by them. But I can’t for sure say that’s her in the photo, but she was right there when Carm said they were eating at Holsten’s that night.

I've seen many Sopranos ending explained videos, this is my favorite one. Great work!

The ending just by itself deserves a thumbs up. Great video, I really appreciate your channel

That really was a brilliant ending to the series. Legendary, even if it was initially disappointing.

This was great. This is exactly what Chase says about the ending. I see so often comments that just treat it as a given one particular interpretation (the one where he's killed) and there's no room for any other interpretation, and they go on to develop these elaborate elaborate conspiracy theories about who and why, then treat those as a given also.

Excellent, simply brilliant. Love these videos that go more in depth, other Soprano KZfaqr's simply do not go this in-depth into the subject. Enjoyed every second of it.

I had the ending spoiled years before I even watched an episode of the show and I think that actually helped a lot. When the ending finally came, I was like, “oh ya, that’s it.” It is an oddley satisfying ending.

Great breakdown and love how you ended it, To me, in the scene when Bobby told Tony when they were on the boat, " You probably dont even see it coming" is when I realized the fade to black was Tony being Killed, but your breakdown was fantastic and it explained a lot and The fade to black was classic.

Absolutely incredible video. I can’t thank you enough for this wonderful, incisive commentary.

This is an incredible video. Hands down the best video essay on the subject I've seen, and I've seen quite a few.

Rick, This was a fantastic examination, a kind of post-mortem of the series in general and the last "season" in particular. I found nearly all of your conjectures very compelling indeed. When the Burroughs 7 Souls started playing when I saw it when it first aired, I was knocked out. Not only because Uncle Bill is my favorite author, but also it FITS SO WELL. Thanks for the best thing I've seen so far on the infamous Cut to Black.

It was hilarious the way he kept bringing up the tree branch through the baby car seat to everyone in that episode. Carm saying how bad she felt that ever even considered that Chrissy could have been involved in Adarinna disappearing is a great example of the way our perceptions of a person we love change when they pass away. My father was a real piece of work and made alot of my life very difficult. However he passed away suddenly when I was 25 and even those our bad times out weighed the good ones ten fold , I didn't think about how relieved I was that i wouldn't have to deal with the bad stuff anymore. I only thought about how I was going to miss the good.

i am a sopranos superfan, proud of it. currently half-way through your video, by far the best series and finale explanation online. will comment more when done...thank you Rick for putting in so much time and thought into this project.

Best sopranos video essay I’ve seen on yt. Great ideas here.

There is plenty of facile or superficial Sopranos content online, but this is excellent. Thanks very much! I really enjoyed it.

Incredibly well researched analysis. Thanks so much for putting this together.

had to watch the whole video before I made a comment. thank you for posting, excellent explanation of the integrated cohesion in the Sopranos and what it's trying to convey.

This was amazing and so thorough. Fantastic job!

The writing of this show is fucking genius I LOVE watching a show and going back and someone explaining all the symbolism, its almost like every single scene has a deeper meaning and always forcing the viewer to question things in their own way and I appreciate that more than anything on the show I could only wish to be a genius writer that these people did with this show and this now makes me appreciate the ending more than ever it tells me that everything in life is always seen differently depending on how much you question or catch the constant symbolism in life that's in our faces but us as materialistic humans we fail to see most of the time

Paulie Walnuts not dying like everyone else, he talked about being in Purgatory, not Hell, with Christopher in the hospital after his NDE. Think there's a connection there even though Paulie isn't really any more redeemable than the rest of them. He was tough and a survivor though, so makes you wonder....

I think in general the best stories' endings leave it open to imagination. For example: the matrix had captivated me because it opened a world of imagination about the simulated world being real in real life. It did not do it with the ending itself but it left that door open; in a sequential show like The Sopranos showing them totally dead would be the end of possibility and the same would be true if they showed it ending with them being happy and free from all trouble.

BRAVO! it's nice to find someone who appreciates the details and depth that this show has! Keep creating! ... I loved your ending! 🔔

Great job on the analyses! The video was edited perfectly and presented so well. Cheers!

Iconic ending. DONT STOP

This one was a beautifully elaborate analysis, well put together....

I love your channel so much. Please keep posting

the finale will be remembered for the ending . you’re a freaking genius

This is an amazing analysis! One detail I loved in the show is that along with Carmela's line about Tony walking around with a piano over his head, they create that image in the episode where Tony walks away from his visit with Hesh for the last time.

After rewatching the scene where Chris and Paulie kill the waiter I noticed that they kill him in the parking lot of a seafood restaurant. This ties in nicely with your analysis and it sounds like there are wave sounds in the background after Chris hits him with the brick. When Tony lectures Chris abt the importance of paying for dinners, he says "those guys killed me at Benihanas" which makes me the think that Chris was getting killed figuratively, before literally killing the waiter. The associations between food, the sea and death in that scene really jump out now after watching your analysis.

This had a lot of great insight and was very complete. Thanks for the deeper understanding.

Thanks to your videos for motivating me to watch The Sopranos. Couldn't stand not watching every video you've made. (Loved the series and your analysis.)

This is just exceptional. Thank you. I have been a fan of this series since it originally aired and have watched every episode at least a dozen times. I know, I know....sad, huh? But I love this show. Still, watching your evaluation taught me a number of new things. So, my compliment is completely sincere. Thank you for all the work that went into this.

I was into this review because I’ll consume anything related to The Sopranos, but the moment you made direct reference to William Burroughs I was hooked (pun intended). Great work!

this is probably the best analysis of the ending and the entire show i have watched to date. so well done, made with so much respect to the show. bravo, sir!

Fantastic video, one truly with genuine depth. To be honest, I wouldn't have put as much thought into it (which is rare). And yet it adds up wonderfully. Id like to see your screenplay!

That is the greatest analysis of soprano's ending ever. You should do a Twin Peaks analysis. I have just one thing to point out, and it's the ending of the video tho, you've could have just let it go black screen, and also, THERE IS an explanation about the eggs. I've read some interesting articles talking how the eggs as a form of "outside gestation" can relate to the fact that the

I was fully convinced that Tony was killed after the scene in Many Saints where young Tony references seeing someone shot from behind. All that being said, I HATE, HATE that Bobby Bacceleiri's "everything goes dark" theory on death was the big answer to everything. That "Calzone with legs" knew the mysteries of death???

Loved the video and explanations. Nice touch on the fade to black ending. Well played.

Hey man, this was such a great video! More videos on the Sopranos or other great tv/movies would definitely have me tuning in. 👍 🔥

Rick has a duty: to attain a PhD and remind people what legitimate criticism is

Finally another vid from you, I love your content

It's called " leave em guessing" " go out on top" we were all whacked, our lights went out.... It was perfect

I love this show! I just finished rewatching it the other day and I could see why people were upset at the time but in hindsight it's a perfect ending. I personally liked the ending the first time through and had so many arguments about it.

My mom saw dead relatives as she was passing on. They nailed the Johnny Sac death scene perfectly.

I Think that the ending has a dual meaning. One of the main themes of the show is the therapy. We hope that Tony could get better and evolve as a character in some way through this process; We even have sympathy towards Tony thanks to this desperate trial of psychological( and maybe even spiritual) rebirth . But in the end the therapy is helpless. After 6 season he didn’t get any better. The ending could hint that life as a journey for self discovery is ended for him. It represents a spiritual ( and maybe a physical death) as he isn’t even aware of the ending of thisspiritual journey of character developement . as his friend bobby said to him previously: “when it happens you don’t even hear that”

This is absolutely superb well done mate great work ❤

This is one of the greatest videos I have ever seen on KZfaq. Magnificent! Thank you!

Oh shit, I never picked up on the Carm’s spec house thing. That’s wild!! Man, this show was something else. Never ending stuff to discover

Superb analysis. Thank you. I always felt that Tony lived and continued to live off others. In part cunnilingus and Psychiatry brought us to this.

This is an excellent analysis; really profound insights and well put together. Nice work. And love the ending, lol.

Great analysis and synthesis; great relational discoveries; thank you for this great presentation

Great Job, I love the analysis of The Western Lands and how the shows characters map to it. Top tier Sopranos content? OVA HEEEA

Has anybody considered the fact that the ending isn't shown because it was a way of killing Tony but not showing it so if they want to reboot later they theoretically can? Gandolfini has now passed on, but really as of that episode they could recreate that scene where he DOESN'T die and the show continues on at some point in the future.

This is beautiful. Thank you for this video

Great analysis, Rick. This was utterly, utterly excellent. The tree shots also relate to the monk's comment about turning to trees after we die. When Tony lies back to look at the trees, he's also seeing all the people he's killed. As viewers, we see trees as peaceful things of beauty: together, this shows us that Tony's life is not only surrounded by death, but it is also incompatible with the peace that we seek in our daily lives.

You are all missing the most obvious answer. He was killed by a couple of black guys. That has been the ongoing line all through the show to explain everything and now the irony bites Tony right in the ass.

I was off work sick and watched it all back to back in about a week. Terrific show from start to finish

You got me at the end. Well done. Thank you for making this video.

Great video I love what you did at the end.

Very well done video. Thought I had seen everything in terms of the symbolism of the last season(s).

The ending was only disappointing to the people that didn’t understand the true meanings in the show but you could interpret things differently but this video is pure perfection love it

HEY! Great Exposition!! Very well done... You contrasted the Sacred and the Propane like No one else I've ever seen! Bravo! 👏 👏 👏 👏

Really enjoyable ideas. Thanks for creating this!

I don’t get what all the fuss is about, his daughter came in the diner then they sat down and ate dinner.

Very introspective rick...different than the other million Sopranos vids I’ve seen in the YT universe...U definitely give some real insight on this groundbreaking show about the American experiment. 100 people can watch this series and they can all walk away with something completely different yet deep. Chase left the ending open to interpretation which may have just have been the most honest way to end it .... even if the ending was hurtful to fans it was still BRUTALLY honest.

Absolutely excellent. Thanks for the vid, Rick Worley.

this is easily the best interpretation video about Sopranos I've ever seen, by far.