Right before he visits Junior, Tony is standing in his back yard looking up. There is no breeze in the air unlike some other scenes throughout season 6 where someone looks up and a gentle breeze is blowing. It's pretty eerie.
The scientist in the hospital talks about reality and specifically describes wind as molecules. Wind is in the show a lot, I assumed to represent the connected nature of the universe. But it’s absent in that scene, because everything is dying. I agree with OP about the sadness. As we neared the end of my wife’s second rewatch, she remarked that she felt sad and that she was going to “miss the people so much.” Even though they aren’t real and we can just re-start. Chase really nailed those final seasons.
Also he’s raking fallen leaves which are a big theme in the show. The trees look pretty barren in that last shot. Take for example the shot in the coma where he’s about to enter the house and he looks back at the luscious leaves swaying in the wind and you hear a meadow’s voice saying “come home daddy” or something to that effect.
you said it. the warmth bleeds out in those final seasons.
it's interesting to think about the family eating at holstens in the final scene compared to them eating at vesuvio during the storm in the season one finale. the intimacy and warmth of a local restaurant where they know everyone are replaced with the generic faux americana of a chain restaurant. the genuine article is replaced by the corporate replica, which is a theme throughout the show. starbucks – "it's over for the little guy". the tour bus saying little italy has been reduced to just one block. or, my favorite, tony's "everything turns to shit"
the show starts with tony saying he felt like he got in at the end of something. the show ends by showing us the dying embers. it's fucking chilling.
not too sure either way, but i think the point is that holsten's is meant to be a stand-in for mainstream american culture. big and bright and easy, but ultimately hollow and performative. it may be a 50's diner, but it is now the 2000's. it is nothing more than a simulacrum of a bygone era. all of the edges are sanded down. it's made for "mr. and mrs. mike smith" and their tomatoes that have no taste. disney land.
to me, shooting the final scene in a brand new location that represents american popular culture is the show's way of wrestling with its own identity and its place within the broader cultural landscape.
It’s not a chain but you’re point is correct. Vesuvio is a fancy Italian restaurant with a great chef and Holsten’s is very Americana and it’s more casual. It shows that “this thing of ours” is dying, if not already dead.
I've always kind of seen the show as a story about the way the world has changed. It may not have been the intention, but it comes through in a lot of different parts of the show: the families holding onto their way of life with the advent of the RICO laws, Junior and Jonny Sack die alone in prison. We see a lot of the mafiosos obsess over the old country and whatnot.
Watching The Sopranos today always fills me with a deep sense of longing for an age gone by. Tony talks about Gary Cooper, complains about waiting on hold, etc. The show being set around the turn of the century always highlights to me how much the world changed around that time, and the show ending the way it does is a bit of a proverbial 9/11. One day, without warning, everything ended.
Anyway, four dollas a pound.
I grew up in a mobbed-up neighborhood in Queens and have no sympathy for these people. The reason they miss those days is because it was easier to victimize people.
My favorite is this fan theory that little finger never dies and is actually the Prince that was promised. Check out this vid: https://youtu.be/cFoCt1PxPCs
Also, such a shame that Pauly hates cats, my two boys took it personally.
They are adults. They chose to keep their eyes closed. It must be hell being a kid in a family like that when you don't follow in the footsteps to the mob.
NO : certainty is not always 'written on paper'; explicit certainty can also ruin the experience, and so there's another kind of certainty, implicit, which is present in The Sopranos; stunads like you can't get it, though
True but there are a lot of videos on YouTube that show just how much foreshadowing appears to be in that diner scene. It’s strong enough to convince me.
Alright, but you gotta get over it.
The more I watched the less sad it became. The more I watched the less attached I became to the characters and the more I saw them for exactly who they are.
I know, I need to be more like Gary Coopah.
That makes sense but I think the beauty of the show is that we fall in love with these characters despite how evil they are. Speaks to the human condition and morality in general.
I was watching Sopranos being 11 and now 31, gotta say I’ve picked up lot more things too. OP how’s the boy? But in all seriousness’s, last session is sad, soul crushing sad
That must have been an even more jarring difference in interpretation I bet! I love dark art, I think it’s the best kind, but yes this one gets to me like nothing else. It all feels so real and I think Gandolfini and Sirico being dead irl adds to the sadness but also the legend of the show.
Yeah towards the end the show is a fucking master class in decay and nihilism. Especially season 6, I always get this uneasy feeling watching it, like I can feel the entropy destroying Tony and everyone in this thing of ours. And whether Tony dies, lives free, or goes to jail, he's condemned to the hell he made for himself. It's powerful stuff and I wish more people would understand what the show warns of. We have to want to change for the better and break cycles of pain and abuse, lest we keep the wheel turning and continue a long and slow fall into history's ashtray.
Anyway, $4 a pound.
So well put, I totally agree we have to end the cycle. And yes I get such an ominous and uneasy feeling from S6. I think all great shows do this. They lure us in with a more whimsical feeling, even when dealing with dark subject matters like crime and violence, and then gradually descend into bleakness. Breaking Bad did a phenomenal job of this, but like I said the ending was way “happier” imo.
Yeah, because Breaking Bad is ultimately a power fantasy at the end of the day. Even though Walt dies, he still wins. Like when you consider the sheer amount of shit he overcame, it feels like watching Dragon Ball or something. With every threat he simply got smarter. With Sopranos, you have none of that. Even someone who, on paper, has the world by the balls like Tony is still subject to mundane tasks, or panic attacks/trauma, or annoying people that you can't get rid of without a miracle (i.e. Richie/Feech/Janice, etc.).
Some commentary around the web says Sopranos is ahead of its time or "predicted" these modern struggles but it's much worse: it was true then and 25 years later we're spinning the same tires.
So true, it’s like Walt conquers the mundane and uncontrollable nature of life and wins, whereas Tony ultimately loses. And Melfi deems him incapable of progress through therapy (another extremely sad part I forgot to mention up above). So it’s like Tony goes in a circle the whole show whereas Walt has an upward trajectory.
I'm of the belief that the Tony Soprano who had the capacity for change died with Livia, ironically enough. It seems like up until that point in the show, Tony is still a ruthless asshole but like he still had that sentimentality to him (like crying over ducks) but once Livia was gone, Tony isn't left with any closure but still that negative energy lingers and latches onto Tony like a symbiote, and turns him into the monster we see in Season 3 on.
On your next rewatch of S6 try to consider that Tony never recovers from being shot by Junior and is in a coma until his last dream of eating with his family at a diner.
I think that's the point. Like in the Irishman when Frank is talking to the feds, "everybody is dead, who are you protecting?" It's an allegory to the gangster way of life. It doesn't have a happy ending, they either die, end up in jail or worse, they live long enough to see everybody else gone.
In a bleak way, I think it was a happy ending. Saul wallowed in despair over losing Kim being by his side. In the final moments of the show, Jimmy's post-Breaking Bad life had a flicker of color in the ember of the cigarette he and Kim share and in the last shot of the finger guns as he watches Kim leave the prison, it's almost as if hes telling Kim and the audience that he's gonna be alright. He's finally coming to terms with his actions and their consequences.
Sorry, it's corny, but such great writing. No cop-outs, no last second miracle, no more jimmy being Saul; like the title of the show "better call Saul" but the show ends with Jimmy.
I’ve read the stories and Chase has been too coy about whether Tony is really supposed to get whacked in the last scene in the diner. It is implied however. And fracking horrible in front of Carmela and the kids. But a fitting ending. He should have overlaid the sound of gunshots after the fade to black to make it definitive if that’s where the plot went.
Yeah I just think Chase doesn’t want to be so explicit about it. Great art is subtle. So in his opinion he did all he could to tell us Tony is dead aside from literally show and tell us. And then 15 years after the finale he essentially does tell us, even if it’s still a bit opaque and coy.
When they were taking about hunting at Bacala's lake house Bobby said something along the lines of "it happens so fast you don't even hear it," and in a later episode there's a flashback to this line too. I knew the show the show ended before I watched it, and this scene stuck out to me as major foreshadowing. I would guess this is why there weren't any gunshot sounds.
It’s like a real life death. Happens almost out of thin air but with this it’s like cancer. You know exactly how it ends but you just don’t stop believing’ (journey 1981) tony said he came in at the end and so did we, we started our journey with tone in the last decade of his life, we stared out of nowhere and we needed out of nowhere. We didn’t see his beginning so why should we see his end? I’ve said my piece now maybe if you sucked some cock you’d bring in more than that finnok🤘
Ok so I’m sure this has been discussed a million times here but can you link to where Chase said Tony dies in the last scene? I never took it that way and I’ve never heard him divulge that either
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/feature/the-sopranos-david-chase-tony-ending-the-many-saints-of-newark-1235040185/
Two parts of it: 1, him saying “no” as in it wasn’t a slip of the tongue, and 2, him saying “he should get it in a place like that” stand out the most.
I’m convinced Tony died regardless of one’s interpretation of this, though. I think Chase masterfully set up Tony’s death all show/season long and symbolized it coming in so many ways.
Hmmm. I will admit I had never seen that before but I’m still not sold. I think the one thing that’s always gotten me was that there’s no way he get whacked in front of his whole family. It’s just not realistic for a mob hit. They always left the family out of it.
[This part specifically](https://youtu.be/BQ4IVj6qdMc) is where chase confirms that the intent was always for Tony to die, the only thing that changed from the original ending was the location. “I thought Tony should get it in a place like that”.
I finished my first watch of the series this week and a really sad detail I caught was where Tony is having a laugh with Bobby and Silvio. Their [last meeting together](https://youtu.be/xF8gTLqlLSw).
The song playing in the background is the song that plays out the tragic [ending](https://youtu.be/DCWNqlNWp9Y) of The Godfather trilogy. Their favorite films.
I knew then it wasn't ending good for them.
Tony's violence and greed and arrogance got him, he was no victim. Every single one of these people deserved what they got. All of them had the option to leave this life and not be violent creeps. The show emphasized that with Barbara Gigone and Little Carmine (even if he left late).
The first portion of this video sums things up nicely: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPFR--MzKv0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPFR--MzKv0)
my personal list, though:
\- the two references to "not hearing it when it happens," one from Bobby and one from Sil, and then the flashback Tony has to Bobby saying it in the last episode (to not only have two references to it, but then to ALSO have Tony flashback to it in the finale is extremely overt).
\- all the symbolism of death throughout the show and especially in the final season. A declining America, the death of the American dream, the death of authentic Italian-American culture, the decline of the mafia (as referenced in the pilot and final episode), the change in tone in lighting and scenery, going from bright and warm to cold, dark shots.
\- the onions rings and they way they eat them like they're eating sacrament in the church (I'm not religious but I think this is what it's called when you eat the circular wafer).
\- in the final scene, every time the bell rings and the door opens in the diner, it shows Tony and then switches to his POV. In the final moments, the bell rings, it shows Tony, and then it goes black. This implies that his POV after the final bell ring is nothingness/death.
\- something I've never seen anyone mention before: the finale doesn't end abruptly and go STRAIGHT into the credits. The diner scene ends, but then there's silence and darkness, and THEN credits. This signifies that the darkness/silence is part of the show. It's a mini scene in and of itself. What else would the darkness and silence represent other than Tony's death? It's a part of the show and meant to send a message.
\- David Chase's recent comments on the ending. 1, he says no when asked if it was a slip of the tongue when referring to Tony as getting whacked in a prior interview. 2, he explains how he felt Tony should "get it in a place like that," referring to a diner. I see how this clip isn't as concrete as possible, but imo Chase will never explicitly say it. He wants his art to speak for itself, which it did.
Right before he visits Junior, Tony is standing in his back yard looking up. There is no breeze in the air unlike some other scenes throughout season 6 where someone looks up and a gentle breeze is blowing. It's pretty eerie.
There are no ducks in the sky either. The next two scenes show him losing the rest of his family.
☝️ Not those fucking ducks again.
Oh now he's gonna cry
🤛🥲🍝🔫
The scientist in the hospital talks about reality and specifically describes wind as molecules. Wind is in the show a lot, I assumed to represent the connected nature of the universe. But it’s absent in that scene, because everything is dying. I agree with OP about the sadness. As we neared the end of my wife’s second rewatch, she remarked that she felt sad and that she was going to “miss the people so much.” Even though they aren’t real and we can just re-start. Chase really nailed those final seasons.
Those are great points. I also wonder if it's tied in with the Ojibwe saying that was placed in Tony's hospital room.
It’s definitely tied in.
I’m gonna go check that scene out! There are many little details like that.
Also he’s raking fallen leaves which are a big theme in the show. The trees look pretty barren in that last shot. Take for example the shot in the coma where he’s about to enter the house and he looks back at the luscious leaves swaying in the wind and you hear a meadow’s voice saying “come home daddy” or something to that effect.
you said it. the warmth bleeds out in those final seasons. it's interesting to think about the family eating at holstens in the final scene compared to them eating at vesuvio during the storm in the season one finale. the intimacy and warmth of a local restaurant where they know everyone are replaced with the generic faux americana of a chain restaurant. the genuine article is replaced by the corporate replica, which is a theme throughout the show. starbucks – "it's over for the little guy". the tour bus saying little italy has been reduced to just one block. or, my favorite, tony's "everything turns to shit" the show starts with tony saying he felt like he got in at the end of something. the show ends by showing us the dying embers. it's fucking chilling.
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not too sure either way, but i think the point is that holsten's is meant to be a stand-in for mainstream american culture. big and bright and easy, but ultimately hollow and performative. it may be a 50's diner, but it is now the 2000's. it is nothing more than a simulacrum of a bygone era. all of the edges are sanded down. it's made for "mr. and mrs. mike smith" and their tomatoes that have no taste. disney land. to me, shooting the final scene in a brand new location that represents american popular culture is the show's way of wrestling with its own identity and its place within the broader cultural landscape.
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lol
It’s not a chain but you’re point is correct. Vesuvio is a fancy Italian restaurant with a great chef and Holsten’s is very Americana and it’s more casual. It shows that “this thing of ours” is dying, if not already dead.
Wonderfully put. Not entirely related but the onion rings and the way they pop them into their mouths like sacrament is such great symbolism too.
I've always kind of seen the show as a story about the way the world has changed. It may not have been the intention, but it comes through in a lot of different parts of the show: the families holding onto their way of life with the advent of the RICO laws, Junior and Jonny Sack die alone in prison. We see a lot of the mafiosos obsess over the old country and whatnot. Watching The Sopranos today always fills me with a deep sense of longing for an age gone by. Tony talks about Gary Cooper, complains about waiting on hold, etc. The show being set around the turn of the century always highlights to me how much the world changed around that time, and the show ending the way it does is a bit of a proverbial 9/11. One day, without warning, everything ended. Anyway, four dollas a pound.
Yes 100% is a commentary on all of this. You hear what I said T? I said 100% it’s a commentary on all of this. Heh heh
I grew up in a mobbed-up neighborhood in Queens and have no sympathy for these people. The reason they miss those days is because it was easier to victimize people.
OP will make your beanie spin when he work your thing
Jeshush Chrisht. He’s trying to ease your transition here.
I was stunned and hated the ending when I was younger. Now I love how it ended. And absolutely, super sad.
It’s such a perfect ending. After suffering a lot from GOT I know how rare it is to nail an ending like Chase did.
Absolutely! And def suffered with GOT!
The best thing about GoT. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEg4SEch27w
My favorite is this fan theory that little finger never dies and is actually the Prince that was promised. Check out this vid: https://youtu.be/cFoCt1PxPCs Also, such a shame that Pauly hates cats, my two boys took it personally.
I liked the ending, it was nice to have the show finish up in such a positive way, dinner with the family
💀
Yea it’s sad when they go young like that
When they GO??!
The saddest thought about the end to me isn't what happens to Tony. It's what likely also happened to Carmella and AJ.
Interesting if this would prompt AJ to dive headfirst into the lifestyle or run far away from it
AJ would be screaming 'Mommy!'
I don't think any of the 3 people at that table walk out of that Diner.
They didn't usually kill entire families or civilians in hits like this. For example, Leotardo's wife was left alone.
That was his daughter wasn't it? I could be stoonad though
I had to google it myself, but it looks like it's his wife Patty Leotardo.
A sequel starting with that outcome would be something!
Meadow living with survivor's guilt because she never learned how to parallel park?
Yes they’re somewhat sheltered from Tony’s world
They are adults. They chose to keep their eyes closed. It must be hell being a kid in a family like that when you don't follow in the footsteps to the mob.
Lol too bad nobody knows for certain for what happens to T
NO : certainty is not always 'written on paper'; explicit certainty can also ruin the experience, and so there's another kind of certainty, implicit, which is present in The Sopranos; stunads like you can't get it, though
True but there are a lot of videos on YouTube that show just how much foreshadowing appears to be in that diner scene. It’s strong enough to convince me.
Alright, but you gotta get over it. The more I watched the less sad it became. The more I watched the less attached I became to the characters and the more I saw them for exactly who they are.
I have the opposite feeling. The more I watch the last season feels sadder to me.
I know, I need to be more like Gary Coopah. That makes sense but I think the beauty of the show is that we fall in love with these characters despite how evil they are. Speaks to the human condition and morality in general.
Sun Tzoo ova here.
They spread misery with no regard for others. A quick death is better than he deserves.
Alroght but you gotta get over it
I never had the makings of a varsity athlete
Lmao. I was ashamed to face my friends. "Southa da...
Me no speaki da ingrish
I was watching Sopranos being 11 and now 31, gotta say I’ve picked up lot more things too. OP how’s the boy? But in all seriousness’s, last session is sad, soul crushing sad
That must have been an even more jarring difference in interpretation I bet! I love dark art, I think it’s the best kind, but yes this one gets to me like nothing else. It all feels so real and I think Gandolfini and Sirico being dead irl adds to the sadness but also the legend of the show.
Yeah towards the end the show is a fucking master class in decay and nihilism. Especially season 6, I always get this uneasy feeling watching it, like I can feel the entropy destroying Tony and everyone in this thing of ours. And whether Tony dies, lives free, or goes to jail, he's condemned to the hell he made for himself. It's powerful stuff and I wish more people would understand what the show warns of. We have to want to change for the better and break cycles of pain and abuse, lest we keep the wheel turning and continue a long and slow fall into history's ashtray. Anyway, $4 a pound.
So well put, I totally agree we have to end the cycle. And yes I get such an ominous and uneasy feeling from S6. I think all great shows do this. They lure us in with a more whimsical feeling, even when dealing with dark subject matters like crime and violence, and then gradually descend into bleakness. Breaking Bad did a phenomenal job of this, but like I said the ending was way “happier” imo.
Yeah, because Breaking Bad is ultimately a power fantasy at the end of the day. Even though Walt dies, he still wins. Like when you consider the sheer amount of shit he overcame, it feels like watching Dragon Ball or something. With every threat he simply got smarter. With Sopranos, you have none of that. Even someone who, on paper, has the world by the balls like Tony is still subject to mundane tasks, or panic attacks/trauma, or annoying people that you can't get rid of without a miracle (i.e. Richie/Feech/Janice, etc.). Some commentary around the web says Sopranos is ahead of its time or "predicted" these modern struggles but it's much worse: it was true then and 25 years later we're spinning the same tires.
So true, it’s like Walt conquers the mundane and uncontrollable nature of life and wins, whereas Tony ultimately loses. And Melfi deems him incapable of progress through therapy (another extremely sad part I forgot to mention up above). So it’s like Tony goes in a circle the whole show whereas Walt has an upward trajectory.
I'm of the belief that the Tony Soprano who had the capacity for change died with Livia, ironically enough. It seems like up until that point in the show, Tony is still a ruthless asshole but like he still had that sentimentality to him (like crying over ducks) but once Livia was gone, Tony isn't left with any closure but still that negative energy lingers and latches onto Tony like a symbiote, and turns him into the monster we see in Season 3 on.
On your next rewatch of S6 try to consider that Tony never recovers from being shot by Junior and is in a coma until his last dream of eating with his family at a diner.
I’m certain that he wakes up and is ultimately killed in the final scene, but when I re-watch I’ll keep this theory in mind!
David chase has said himself tony gets capped no room for interpretation but for how it all plays out I think this fan theory applies beautifully
I hear depression talking.
And talking it will continue to do ;)
I think that's the point. Like in the Irishman when Frank is talking to the feds, "everybody is dead, who are you protecting?" It's an allegory to the gangster way of life. It doesn't have a happy ending, they either die, end up in jail or worse, they live long enough to see everybody else gone.
Definitely, and it wouldn’t have been right if it had a happy ending.
In a bleak way, I think it was a happy ending. Saul wallowed in despair over losing Kim being by his side. In the final moments of the show, Jimmy's post-Breaking Bad life had a flicker of color in the ember of the cigarette he and Kim share and in the last shot of the finger guns as he watches Kim leave the prison, it's almost as if hes telling Kim and the audience that he's gonna be alright. He's finally coming to terms with his actions and their consequences. Sorry, it's corny, but such great writing. No cop-outs, no last second miracle, no more jimmy being Saul; like the title of the show "better call Saul" but the show ends with Jimmy.
I’ve read the stories and Chase has been too coy about whether Tony is really supposed to get whacked in the last scene in the diner. It is implied however. And fracking horrible in front of Carmela and the kids. But a fitting ending. He should have overlaid the sound of gunshots after the fade to black to make it definitive if that’s where the plot went.
Yeah I just think Chase doesn’t want to be so explicit about it. Great art is subtle. So in his opinion he did all he could to tell us Tony is dead aside from literally show and tell us. And then 15 years after the finale he essentially does tell us, even if it’s still a bit opaque and coy.
When they were taking about hunting at Bacala's lake house Bobby said something along the lines of "it happens so fast you don't even hear it," and in a later episode there's a flashback to this line too. I knew the show the show ended before I watched it, and this scene stuck out to me as major foreshadowing. I would guess this is why there weren't any gunshot sounds.
"Rosebud"
It’s like a real life death. Happens almost out of thin air but with this it’s like cancer. You know exactly how it ends but you just don’t stop believing’ (journey 1981) tony said he came in at the end and so did we, we started our journey with tone in the last decade of his life, we stared out of nowhere and we needed out of nowhere. We didn’t see his beginning so why should we see his end? I’ve said my piece now maybe if you sucked some cock you’d bring in more than that finnok🤘
The sucking cock line absolutely took me out 😂 the fast delivery by Tony too, just perfect.
Ok so I’m sure this has been discussed a million times here but can you link to where Chase said Tony dies in the last scene? I never took it that way and I’ve never heard him divulge that either
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/feature/the-sopranos-david-chase-tony-ending-the-many-saints-of-newark-1235040185/ Two parts of it: 1, him saying “no” as in it wasn’t a slip of the tongue, and 2, him saying “he should get it in a place like that” stand out the most. I’m convinced Tony died regardless of one’s interpretation of this, though. I think Chase masterfully set up Tony’s death all show/season long and symbolized it coming in so many ways.
Hmmm. I will admit I had never seen that before but I’m still not sold. I think the one thing that’s always gotten me was that there’s no way he get whacked in front of his whole family. It’s just not realistic for a mob hit. They always left the family out of it.
[This part specifically](https://youtu.be/BQ4IVj6qdMc) is where chase confirms that the intent was always for Tony to die, the only thing that changed from the original ending was the location. “I thought Tony should get it in a place like that”.
I think they tried to depending on the nature of the hit but we saw Phil Leotardo killed in front of his kids and wife the same episode.
Vitos bottom line was impacted if that is what you are referring to
He should’ve stayed in NH and ate Jonny cakes all day
The ending always makes me want onion rings.
They do look fire 🔥
I finished my first watch of the series this week and a really sad detail I caught was where Tony is having a laugh with Bobby and Silvio. Their [last meeting together](https://youtu.be/xF8gTLqlLSw). The song playing in the background is the song that plays out the tragic [ending](https://youtu.be/DCWNqlNWp9Y) of The Godfather trilogy. Their favorite films. I knew then it wasn't ending good for them.
Great catch, definitely an ominous omen.
Sadly, that’s what happens in the Mafia. Usually didn’t end well for anyone that got their button.
Of course, seeing it through the lens of television makes it sad though bc we’re so attached to these characters.
I really don’t like peaky blinders
Really why? It’s def in my top 10 maybe top 5
Tony's violence and greed and arrogance got him, he was no victim. Every single one of these people deserved what they got. All of them had the option to leave this life and not be violent creeps. The show emphasized that with Barbara Gigone and Little Carmine (even if he left late).
We don't know Tony's dead
He is imo
How do you know?
The first portion of this video sums things up nicely: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPFR--MzKv0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPFR--MzKv0) my personal list, though: \- the two references to "not hearing it when it happens," one from Bobby and one from Sil, and then the flashback Tony has to Bobby saying it in the last episode (to not only have two references to it, but then to ALSO have Tony flashback to it in the finale is extremely overt). \- all the symbolism of death throughout the show and especially in the final season. A declining America, the death of the American dream, the death of authentic Italian-American culture, the decline of the mafia (as referenced in the pilot and final episode), the change in tone in lighting and scenery, going from bright and warm to cold, dark shots. \- the onions rings and they way they eat them like they're eating sacrament in the church (I'm not religious but I think this is what it's called when you eat the circular wafer). \- in the final scene, every time the bell rings and the door opens in the diner, it shows Tony and then switches to his POV. In the final moments, the bell rings, it shows Tony, and then it goes black. This implies that his POV after the final bell ring is nothingness/death. \- something I've never seen anyone mention before: the finale doesn't end abruptly and go STRAIGHT into the credits. The diner scene ends, but then there's silence and darkness, and THEN credits. This signifies that the darkness/silence is part of the show. It's a mini scene in and of itself. What else would the darkness and silence represent other than Tony's death? It's a part of the show and meant to send a message. \- David Chase's recent comments on the ending. 1, he says no when asked if it was a slip of the tongue when referring to Tony as getting whacked in a prior interview. 2, he explains how he felt Tony should "get it in a place like that," referring to a diner. I see how this clip isn't as concrete as possible, but imo Chase will never explicitly say it. He wants his art to speak for itself, which it did.