10 Best TV Show Twists You Never Saw Coming

Everyone and their uncle had an idea about how The Sopranos would end - typically either death, prison, or inexplicable salvation for mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), but in the show's contentious final episode, creator David Chase delivered the mesmerising troll to rule them all.

The Sopranos' closing scene is basically the Schrödinger's cat of series finales, ending on an intentionally incomplete and ambiguous note that completely denies the audience catharsis or closure.

As Tony sits in a diner with his family, someone enters the diner, we see Tony look up and then the scene (and the show) abruptly cut to black. The End.

At first, many viewers watching live assumed that their cable signal had cut out, but in fact Chase made the bold decision to deny fans the ultimate answer they were expecting.

Not a single person watching could've conceived that Tony's story would end this way, and fans continue to debate Tony's survival (or not) to this very day.

Chase himself has gone back and forth on Tony's fate over the years but mostly seems unwilling to provide a concrete answer, as is probably for the best.

Leaving things up in the air keeps Tony weirdly alive in a way - and at the same time, not. Alas, Schrödinger's cat.