Sopranos Ending Explained - SPOILER WARNING

This just a theory... The creators of the show have never given an explanation or agreed with a theory... So that's all it is... A theory...


So I'm sure you've heard of the show, and if you have... I'm very sure you've heard about the very controversial ending; the screen simply goes black.

The screen stays black so long before rolling the credits, that when it first aired, many people thought their TVs had fucked up... And that alone should be enough to know that blackness has a meaning.


Let's look at the last scene of the final episode.

Tony Soprano and his wife are at a diner. Every time the bell on the door rings, the camera changes to Tony's view (you are seeing exactly what Tony's seeing, nothing more, nothing less). Different people come in and out of the small diner, each time, the door opens, the bell rings, Tony looks up and we see what he sees.

After a bit, a man shows up wearing a members only jacket(can't remember if it's before or after Tony's son, but that doesn't really matter). We are made aware that this man has something special to do with him, as the camera focuses on him many times, and you can see him more than once, looking at Tony; possibly watching him.

-NOTE throughout the series, there's multiple people shown wearing a members only jacket, if you rewatch the series, watch for them. None of them is the man in the diner, but they ARE all mob related-

The man in the M.O. jacket gets up, and walks past Tony to the bathroom behind him and shortly after we see Tony's daughter about to enter the diner. The bell rings, Tony looks up, but where we should see what he's seeing... We only see blackness.

My theory about all of this?

He didn't see it. He didn't hear it. It's just over.

In other words, we ARE seeing/hearing what Tony is... Nothing. Because he's dead. The man in the members only jacket, from the bathroom door behind him, put a bullet in the back of his head right in front of his entire family... His wife and son sitting there with him, his daughter watching it all from the diner door.


Now let's look at the final season a little closer...

"You don't hear it, you don't see it, it's just over." This is said multiple times throughout the final season, explaining death. And it's "backed up" when Silvio, another person (can't remember who) and their girlfriends are eating at a restaurant. Suddenly the sound cuts out and blood sprays Silvio's face. He's surprised. He reaches up, touches the blood on his face and looks over to find the other man he was eating with has been shot in the head. Though in real life, he probably would have heard the gun shot and known immediately what had happened and tried to take cover; so that's further reason to believe the event is meant to mean something - Backing up the ending.

I didn't really notice many clues in any of the other seasons, but the final season seems to be full of clues, such as the "hear, see, over" quote that's said many times and even visualized in the scene with Silvio... I remember there being other things that make me believe my theory, but it's been so long, I don't remember what they were, but that I just noticed the small things.

The one thing I did notice throughout the entire series, was mob affiliated people wearing members only jackets once and awhile (not main characters, just random people that'd be meeting with the mobsters, or in background shots with them, etc etc)



So what do you guys think? Anyone have any theories of their own they'd like to tell?