10 TV Deaths We All Saw Coming (That Still Left Us Stunned)
4. Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero - The Sopranos
The Sopranos was a series about gangsters with the police portrayed as the antagonists of the show. So when one of Tony Soprano's crew, Sal, starts reluctantly working as an informant for the FBI, I don't think anyone expected things to end happily for him. Tony would find out and Tony would exact revenge. Yet the final confrontation definitely left a mark on the series as one of it's most iconic moments.
It occurred in the second season of the show and the execution of the long-time member of Tony's crew was used as a plot to emphasize the seriousness of the "gangster's code". The Sopranos had a way of making their death scenes feel unnervingly real. No soundtrack or score. No dramatic final words. No statement on morality, bad guys vs good guys. The reality of how clumsy and unpredictable death truly is. That's why Sal's death, despite seeing it from a mile off, was haunting. Silent except for the mumblings of a doomed man and the ambience of a rocking boat.