It is the spring of 2007 and the series finale of the hit TV show The Sopranos has just ended. Abruptly. Like, it simply cuts to black mid-scene. People were pissed, people were upset, but mostly people were just confused. What the hell happened?
The lack of definitive answers had many fans frustrated. We love cohesive narratives after all! However, one viral TikTok perfectly explains why this ending to the show shouldn’t be considered controversial at all. In fact, it made a lot of sense.
“I’ve never understood why the ending of The Sopranos is controversial because if you were watching the show, and paying attention, then you know that Tony Soprano is dead,” says Dani of @delloliod on TikTok.
Dani goes on to explain the history of The Sopranos’ finale controversy before launching into her theory about why it’s abundantly clear that Tony was killed in the final moment of the show.
The Sopranos actually featured various instances of foreshadowing in the episodes leaving up to the finale. For example, in one scene with Tony and Bobby on a boat, Bobby comments, “You probably don’t even hear it when it happens, right?” in regards to what happens when a mobster gets killed. And in the final seconds of The Sopranos, neither Tony nor viewers heard it.
Another clue that Tony was killed in the final episode is related to his love of The Godfather. In the episode, each member of the Soprano family comes to the diner one by one, but it isn’t until AJ arrives that this other sign appears. A man enters ahead of AJ.
“The camera pans back and forth between the family, the door, that man, who keeps looking over at the Soprano family. Tony’s favorite scene in The Godfather is when Michael Corleone goes into the bathroom has hidden a “pew-pew” [gun] and comes out with it unaliving Sollozzo. If you were paying attention that is exactly what this man who came into the restaurant right before AJ does, right before it cuts to black.”
Damn. RIP Tony; you would have loved the mob wife aesthetic.
Anyway, watch the full TikTok here and prepare to have your mind blown by Dani’s theory as she goes through clip by clip of Tony’s supposed final moments:
@delloliod #greenscreenvideo #greenscreen the sopranos forever ruined Don’t Stop Believing for me. But i dont understand how so many people were confused by this ending or could even argue Tony made it? It’s blatantly obvious he met the same fate Sollozzo did in The Godfather #thesopranos #thegodfather #tonysoprano #thesopranostok
