Is this, the superstitious Paulie wonders, just a cat, or his late colleague returned to life? Matt: If hed said, Yeah, I killed him, I wouldve been deeply disappointed in Chase. 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. "Members Only" is the first episode of the last season. Paulie, long the most useless captain on the payroll, is the only major ally he has left. A.J. Also wouldn't shooting yourself be a less painful way of dying compared to hanging, he definitely had guns. The scene in which Uncle Junior shoots Tony was also shot with Phil Leotardo in a window shooting at Tony instead. Good story, right? Except the longer you and I talked about it, both on our own and with Chase, the less substantial that idea felt, too, until by the end, I wasnt entirely sure that even Chase knows if the guys dead or alive. Do the Feds show up a week later to arrest him, Carlo having finally given them the missing piece of their RICO prosecution? And get this: The actor who plays MIMOJ, Paolo Colandrea, is an Italian-born pizza-shop owner from Pennsylvania who appears to have no pre-Sopranos acting credits and just one after The Sopranos, as "BBQ Guest" in an "over-the-top comedy" called Hooking Up starring Corey Feldman where I'm guessing he's just doing a winking reference to his infamous Sopranos role. The bulk of the episode is devoted to Eugene Pontecorvo, previously a very minor character who appears infrequently and barely ever has any lines. Does Paulie freaking Walnuts somehow become boss of the Family, or does Butchie throw up his hands at this point and decide to put his own guy in charge of the gang that couldnt shoot straight? 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. Eugene is also an informant for the FBI, and has become more valuable to the Bureau since the death of Ray Curto; they, too, will not free him. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! my husband defends his sister over me anime characters born in july 31 did coco die in sopranos anime characters born in july 31 did coco die in sopranos Chase lets the tension build and build and build including Members Only Guy walking past Tony and into the mens room so that well be primed for something awful to happen as Meadow sprints across Broad Street and into the restaurant. When discussing the final scene of The Sopranos, many people rightly focus on would-be assassins in Holstens. Eugene Hermann Porter is a main character and a former antagonist, as well as a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. Tonys personal disputes halted major construction projects on several occasions. Later, Eugene gives him a cut of the inheritance. I think you could make a better case for Tony Dies if you assume hes dead before this scene even starts. The Sopranos: 10 Things About Christopher That Have Aged Poorly 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.. But the very fact that Chase devotes so much time to what seems like nothing makes the whole scene all the more nerve-racking. Why is this critical episode dominated by a character who hardly mattered before? Matt: All right, let me back up for a second and say that at no point during my now ten-plus years of arguing about the meaning of this scene have I said that Tony died is an inconceivable or unacceptable interpretation. But I also think its fair to say that he lived beyond that moment, even to a ripe old age, because ultimately this scene is making us ask, What have we learned? or Where have we been? and Where is Tony, right now, as a person? These are reckoning questions, and they can occur at many different points in a persons life. This is a show thats very interested in dream language, psychoanalysis, and the contradictory, mysterious forces that make us who we are, and its inevitable that this series, perhaps more than other works of art, would have become a Rorschach test. The way Sopranos creator David Chase saw it, that wasnt the big question. Eugene Pontecorvo has one of the most tragic arcs of all characters on The Sopranos. Eugene Pontecorvo, played by actor Robert Funaro, is a fictional character in the HBO television series The Sopranos. Funaro knew something was brewing when Gene got a family. Youre going out this way, but its gonna be good. More recently, I found myself swaying over to Team Tony Dies, not only because of the death imagery throughout the season including the way so many episodes open, as this one does, with Tony waking up from a deep slumber but because some of my initial, long-hardened impressions of the scene didnt hold up under further scrutiny. Does he sweat and strain rebuilding the Family after the damage Phil inflicted upon it? Death is the only absolute truth for everyone, and if you read that ending simply as he died, you can wash your hands and walk away from it and not have to think about anything else that might be raised in that scene. Off the Back of a Truck: Unofficial Contraband for the Sopranos Fan Theodore Spirodakis was born in Boston, Massachusetts to a family of Greek descent, and he became an untidy and obese person and a compulsive gambler. Later Eugene is revealed (to the viewers, not to the mob) to be an informant for the FBI, who also prohibit him from leaving. But what he said, specifically and he was directing it toward everybody was, Whether Tony Soprano is alive or dead is not the point. And it throws all the other things weve been discussing, here and throughout this book, into sharper relief. And the Russian. 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. 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. Tony Soprano's fate finally revealed by hit show's creator (sort of) That's a no-go." 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. When Tony prevents Eugene from moving to Florida with his family, he commits suicide. But while it's the mob and anything can happen, this doesn't really make sense either. In fact, his debut is the same episode where Livia dies, and if I wanted to get really conspiratorial, I might suggest that he was introduced specifically because Nancy Marchand had died in real life between Seasons 2 and 3, and the original plan was for Livia to have been instrumental in Tony's death somehow. The cat turns up at the safe house and gets brought back to Satriales, much to Paulies horror You cant even put them near a baby; they suck the breath right out! particularly once it starts fixating on a photo of Christopher from the set of Cleaver. I thought I saw a couple of blacks running that way." Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Before I wrote about television for New York Magazine and Vulture, I wrote about it for the Star-Ledger, New Jerseys largest daily newspaper, sharing a beat with my friend Alan Sepinwall, who is now the TV critic for Rolling Stone. That matters much more to me, ultimately, than a definitive answer. Obviously I'm very very far from the first person to have noticed this connection, which is why I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk of a direct, rather than just a symbolic, connection to Eugene. The Sopranos abruptly cut to black at the end of the series finale. Eugene responds by smashing a glass Snapple bottle over Little Paulie's head, causing a severe gash over his eye, and kicks him repeatedly in the head. Although mild-mannered, Eugene has a tendency to lose his temper, similar to Ralph Cifaretto. So maybe hed have a relatively fine old time drifting into old age. Because it wouldve meant that he did the most obvious thing and then tried to hide it by making it seem as if he was creating an ambiguous or art-house type of ending. Why the ambiguity at all? So does AJ, who luckily fails to kill himself Tony happening to come home at that moment is a Tony caliber stroke of good luck and in this very episode, the kid survives a truck explosion. Tony said, This is good. So when he walks into the restaurant, judgment has already been passed, or maybe suspended. ''The Sopranos'': AJ hits bottom | EW.com At Hesh's request, Tony tries to reach out directly to Johnny through his optometrist brother-in-law, Anthony Infante, but Johnny is only paying attention to his immediate family's financial troubles. The ultimate fate of Tony Soprano, the crime boss and protagonist of the television drama the Sopranos, has perhaps finally been revealed by the show's creator. David Chase had this all planned out since at least the beginning of Season 3, when Eugene first appeared. Matt: You mean does it matter if Chase knows what happened? When that didnt work out, creator David Chase and his writing team came up with the Gene Pontecorvo character for him to play. Kind of like SAMCRO. All rights reserved. I vote that theres something else happening. Meadow continues her relationship with Finn. By 20 March 2023 benjamin moore to behr paint conversion. Meadow runs to the door, the bell rings, Tony looks up, and nothin. But Tony needs help, and he starts getting it in a sit-down with Leotardos captain, Butch DiConcini (Greg Antonacci). Directed by David F. Sandberg, produced by Peter Safran, and written by Henry Gayden and Chris . Chase provides glimpses of all the other customers a scout troop, two unidentified black males at the jukebox, a man in a Members Only jacket like Eugene Pontecorvos at the counter because he wants us to wonder if one of them might be there to take out Tony. Tony reminds Eugene that he took an oath. But in rewatching the series and writing this book, its clear that among Tony Sopranos greatest gifts is his ability to live in the moment, shrug off the overall pain and paranoia of his life, and enjoy the many fruits that come with being the boss of New Jersey. He knew someone in his family would find him, but why would he want them to. Why did he choose that place to kill himself? Ray Curto | The Sopranos Wiki | Fandom Which is perhaps something he telegraphed by bringing that cat into it. One afternoon, Junior is particularly agitated, and Tony goes to his house because no one else is free to look after him. 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. Theodore "Teddy" Spirodakis (died 2006) was a Greek-American compulsive gambler from Boston who was murdered by the DiMeo crime family in 2006. Whos Going to the Met Gala Dressed as Karl Lagerfelds Cat? 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. And thats even before we get to Holstens, a scene shot and edited unlike anything else in the history of this show. Did Silvio Wear A Wig In The Sopranos? - Mastery Wiki Patsy himself almost took out Tony in the season 3 premiere, so you know his resentment ran deep. The Paulie Theory That Changes Everything On The Sopranos La La Anthony, Chloe Fineman Will Play Fashion Correspondents at Met Gala 2023. 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. This leads me to believe that a relative of Eugenes, The Man In The Members Only Jacket is the one who killed Tony out of an act of revenge for Eugenes suicide. It gets harder to watch the episode everytime. Certainly. I am now 100% sure that Eugene Pontecorvo's brother killed Tony 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 . Gianluigi ''Gigi'' Cestone portrayed by John Fiore is a member of the DiMeo crime family and former soldier in Junior's Crew, until his defection to the Soprano Crew in 1999. His bad influence helped lead Jackie Aprile Jr. to his death. Then right before the final scene he's looking at the family album. And he has Phil killed. Did Eugene kill himself so his family could move to Florida? Eugene Pontecorvo (1959-2006) was a DiMeo crime family soldier and FBI informant. Eugene subsequently becomes a made man in the following episode "Fortunate Son" along with Christopher Moltisanti. Alan: Made in America opens on Tony asleep in the safe house. Phil is gone, Butchie made peace with New Jersey, and anyone else who might wish Tony a violent end is out of the picture. Do Silvio and Paulie die in The Sopranos? - Daily Justnow Dye's lack of size and heft makes him a tough fit in the NFL, but don't underestimate his ability to find a way to stick on a roster. He is a capo in the DiMeo crime family and leads the Curto crew. Tony is shot by Junior at the end, but that comes out of nowhere. Matt: Death shows the ultimate absurdity of life. AJ Soprano. The Sopranos: 10 Clues In The Show That Prove Tony Died - Screen Rant Not much character development is given to Lorenzo, making him the average informant. The Roys continue their downward spiral into total desperation as Matsson and their dead father loom over every decision they make. Fury of the Gods is a 2023 American superhero film based on the DC Comics character Shazam.Produced by New Line Cinema, DC Studios, and the Safran Company, and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures, it is the sequel to Shazam! Theres a reason The Twilight Zone keeps coming up, whether in conversation or on the safe house TV in the finale. Members Only (6.01) | Sopranos Autopsy Matt: An important distinction. willie boy johnson wife. Where am I going?" So was it in part to free them? Numerous clues in this episode foreshadow Tony Soprano's death: In the episode, Eugene Pontecorvo commits suicide after Tony refuses to let him "retire" from mob life and move with his family to Florida after receiving a $2 million dollar inheritance. That final scene is something he felt was correct, and that came out of his desire to subvert or amend the traditions of the gangster film, while perhaps coming to terms with the fact that he was unable to escape them. We only have this one life, and precious little control over how long it lasts. 'The Sopranos': If Tony Soprano Got Whacked at the End, Who Ordered the Every other major boss on the show, from Johnny Sack to Phil Leotardo ( Frank Vincent . Also because he was trapped in two powerful institutions in violent opposition. Getting killed off on the hit mob show meant losing a well-paying job with unbeatable exposure. Carmela's construction of her spec house is suspended, due to a "stop order" issued by a building inspector because improper lumber has been used. Adriana's off-screen death in The Sopranos also shuffles up the character dynamics for the rest of the series. Though he was present and had lines in the episode He is Risen (S03E08), actor Robert Funaro is not credited at the end of the episode. Did Eugene die in Gattaca? Dont stop believin you know exactly what happened at the end of, This password will be used to sign into all, when Chase wrote that article about the scene, a journalist reported that Chase told her Tony lived, Roy Wood Jr.s Best Jokes at the 2023 White House Correspondents Dinner, Julia Fox Is the Only Celeb Taking White House Correspondents Fashion Seriously, The 11 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend, The Rivalry Between the Knicks and the Heat From the Guys Who Were There, The Knicks Vs. 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