1. You Probably Dont Even Hear It When It Happens, Right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjohsyoJjao If David Chase can be credited for anything, its how every detail in his programming matters. There was a specific line that was referred to three times in the final season. It was uttered by Bobby Bacala to Tony in the episode Sopranos Home Movies. When Tony talks about how most mob bosses either end up dead or in jail, Bobby says,
You probably dont even hear it when it happens, right? referring to being killed. This theme of not hearing it when it happens resurfaces twice throughout the final season. In the episode Stage 5, Silvio Dante is having dinner with Gerry Torciano when
Gerry is murdered at the table. The gunshot happens while the camera is focused on Silvio, and Silvio doesnt even notice theres a gunshot until blood is splattered on his face. The sound cuts off, and only a low-volume ringing is heard (like you were wearing headphones and listening to music too loud). Its a good two seconds before Silvio even realizes what is going on. Silvio tells Tony later, scary thing was I didnt know what happened until
after the shot was fired. Finally, the dont even hear it when it happens, line comes up one more time in The Blue Comet as Tony reminisces about Bobby after Bobby was murdered. David Chase brought this theme of not hearing death coming up three times during the season to prepare the viewer for not hearing death coming for Tony in the final scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnT7nYbCSvM Those five pieces of evidence should be definitive enough to convince anybody that Tony Soprano was shot and killed by the Man in the Members Only Jacket in Holsteins. If anybody chooses to accept any other scenario, it renders the final scene nonsensical and open for ridicule. David Chases big mistake was overestimating the ability of the viewing audience to think beyond what's in front of their face, as well as underestimating their bloodlust and desire to see Tonys brains splattered all over Holsteins. Chase, as he was wont to do over the course of the series, decided to go cerebral with the ending of his series by wanting the viewers to
feel Tonys death rather than see it. And because the ending required people to think rather than to take what was in front of them at face value, hes been forced to have to answer questions about the final scene for seven years now. Unfortunately for us, Chase refuses to compromise his artistic integrity by explaining the scene himself. Thats why it seems that his comment in the Vox article was sarcastic and made out of frustration, but the author of the article chose to take it literally, and now a wonderful website like Master of Sopranos is being bombarded with emails requesting that the site be taken down. No matter what David Chase says in the media, these pieces of evidence put together are convincing enough that Tony Soprano is dead.