The cut-to-black ending of “The Sopranos” continues to be a topic of discussion. This was one of the ballsiest ways to end a series. It actually felt cinematic in the way it absolutely refused to give us any answers and instead opted for something that felt more arthouse than mainstream.
Last night, HBO screened a 25th anniversary documentary titled “Wiseguy: David Chase and the Sopranos,” directed by Alex Gibney, at the Tribeca Film Festival. The 160-minute film was full of revelations.
According to Roger Friedman, in the doc Chase admits his original plan was to kill off Tony Soprano in the last episode but, unlike what most people would assume, the murder wasn’t going to take place in the diner. Chase said his plan was for Tony to leave the family in the diner and drive into New York for a meeting. He would then be murdered on a bridge.
However, Chase changed his mind at the last minute, he had already decided to use the Journey song, “Don’t Stop Believin'” which had the lyrics “the movie never ends/
It goes on and on and on and on.” I find he made the right decision. The murder at the bridge would have been too obvious an end.
I was never of the mindset that the cutting to black in the finale indicated that Tony was murdered by the man in the Members Only jacket. It was just a way for Chase to tell his audience to come up with their own conclusions. Chase never intended it as a way to tell us Tony was iced.
The consensus, amongst many, is that “The Sopranos” is the greatest TV drama ever made. It quite possibly is. The closest other contenders, off the top of my head, would be “Breaking Bad,” “The Wire,” and “Mad Men.”