Doesn't it seem strange that Eugene was there? Now? Vito is thinner and is now a spokesperson for a weight loss company; he is Tony's best earner and is ambitious. Page 4 | The Sopranos: Definitive Explanation of "The END" I couldn't find much of anything. Pete Liebengood, longtime Bay Area sportscaster, dies at 73 15 years later: Did Tony die in 'The Sopranos' finale? - New York Post And, flipping that, what if hed whispered, Guys, Tonys alive? Blow-Up is one of his favorite films, and it has a famously non-definitive ending that invites the viewer to project their own meanings. This leads me to believe that a relative of Eugenes, The Man In The Members Only Jacket is the one who killed Tony out of an act of revenge for Eugenes suicide. Shazam! Matt: The point is, The Sopranos resisted all the usual gangster movie reflexes for seven seasons. And I would argue that, if the main takeaway from that scene is, Oh, they shot him, then either the show has failed and suddenly decided to give up and be a typical gangster story in its final four minutes, or theres something else happening here. But I also think its fair to say that he lived beyond that moment, even to a ripe old age, because ultimately this scene is making us ask, What have we learned? or Where have we been? and Where is Tony, right now, as a person? These are reckoning questions, and they can occur at many different points in a persons life. Man in Members Only jacket | The Sopranos Wiki | Fandom Tony said, This is good. You'd expect the family to be long gone, living their lives in Florida, trying to forget Jersey. Alan: Back in the day, I felt like death was an easier sentence for Tony to take, because so much of his life thanks to genetics, mental health, and the monstrous business he has chosen brings him so much misery. Death is what happens, end of story, right? Chase was right about Funaro going out on a strong note, of course. We can all go home now. I ask this not to spoil the details of the many pieces of Sopranos fanfic I have saved to the cloud, but to consider the larger question: Which ending is more interesting? Meadow continues her relationship with Finn. Patsy himself almost took out Tony in the season 3 premiere, so you know his resentment ran deep. But now I'm getting into speculation, and Eugene's brother killing Tony isn't speculation. Im not saying Holstens is Heaven! or anything like that. And, other than a couple of ugly fights, he has been getting along much better with Carmela since she took him back than he ever did during the first six seasons of the show. Explore the world of Jaguar cars and learn more about models And the last we see them together, Tony was still acting like a jerk toward Patsy. Translation: He's not an actor. This week, Tom and Shiv get it on. In Brooklyn, Hesh Rabkin and his son-in-law Eli Kaplan are assaulted by Lupertazzi associates. Are you gonna be like him?. While Tony "thinks on it," Chris has Eugene kill a man, implying it will give him a better chance of having Tony let him go. While he is the only son of the Tony, it becomes obvious he lacks potential for a career in his father's organization, though . Scan this QR code to download the app now. Obviously I'm very very far from the first person to have noticed this connection, which is why I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk of a direct, rather than just a symbolic, connection to Eugene. Not much character development is given to Lorenzo, making him the average informant. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. And the possibility that Tony won't be around for much longer is raised multiple times by and to Eugene. Raymond is also an FBI informant throughout almost the entire series. Was Jimmy A Rat In The Sopranos? - AnswersAll Crows are a symbol of death, and have appeared as such on the show, during the ceremony when Christopher and Eugene are made. The Sopranos: Explaining the Final Scene | Den of Geek Now, Off the Back of a Truck takes you one step further into the world of Tony Soprano and his families, offering an Italian potluck of fresh and fun takes that any true fan can get lost in for hours. But all that stuff exists outside the text, not in it. How do we choose to live it? Tony reminds Eugene that he took an oath. Maybe he left a note warning the wife about what he did, I hope so. I think Tony died at that moment is a valid interpretation. Theodore "Teddy" Spirodakis (died 2006) was a Greek-American compulsive gambler from Boston who was murdered by the DiMeo crime family in 2006. Thats all I wanted to say.. Carmela's construction of her spec house is suspended, due to a "stop order" issued by a building inspector because improper lumber has been used. With Tony and the Feds both hindering Eugene's chance to escape the mafia life and his stress caused by his unstable home life, Eugene sees no way out and hangs himself in his basement. A.J. Maybe he wanted to haunt the house or the decision was impulsive and he didn't care who found him. Trying to escape, Eli is knocked down by a hit-and-run driver and seriously injured. The Austrian physicist Erwin Schrdinger famously theorized that if you place a cat into a box with some kind of hazardous material, the cat may live or die, but until you actually open the box to check, the cat is simultaneously dead and alive. And get this: The actor who plays MIMOJ, Paolo Colandrea, is an Italian-born pizza-shop owner from Pennsylvania who appears to have no pre-Sopranos acting credits and just one after The Sopranos, as "BBQ Guest" in an "over-the-top comedy" called Hooking Up starring Corey Feldman where I'm guessing he's just doing a winking reference to his infamous Sopranos role. As for Patsy Parisi (Dan Grimaldi) ordering the hit, that theory does have some validity. Photos from The Best Sopranos Deaths - E! Online In the episode Eugene and his wife have an unexpected financial windfall when a beloved aunt, the wife of a successful Hollywood agent, leaves him $2 million in her will. Funaro, who has worked more in theater than on the screen, really saw on opportunity with his big episode, Members Only. While hed felt more satisfied with theater work to that point, the chance to complete his characters arc appealed to him. To combat leaked storylines, the writers and Chase used to devise fake scenes to confuse the set. By 2000, he is made captain of the Aprile Crew. Eugene Porter (TV Series) | Walking Dead Wiki | Fandom And they weren't. 18 comments 88% Upvoted This thread is archived Eugene killed himself, after all. Tony's decision is relayed through Silvio: "Your Florida thing. He is a prototypical underachiever and a constant source of stress and anxiety for his parents. walker hayes daughter. I've also seen it suggested that Eugene's wife ordered Tony's murder. "Members Only" is the 66th episode of the HBO series The Sopranos, and the first of the show's sixth season. He loved his family, the only way they could get the inheritance money and go to Florida is if he was dead, he ended his life for their benefit. This was presented rather confusingly because of the constant flashes to Vincent going to space. Directed by David F. Sandberg, produced by Peter Safran, and written by Henry Gayden and Chris . Eugene Hermann Porter is a main character and a former antagonist, as well as a survivor of the outbreak in AMC's The Walking Dead. Cookie Notice Eugene then tells the juror not to bother paying, as he then pays for the man's small purchase. Eugene Pontecorvo also appears in a flashback to 1995 in the episode "To Save Us All From Satan's Power" as a bodyguard of Junior Soprano's, along with Gigi Cestone. Let's just remind ourselves how - to use street parlance - the final scene of The Sopranos 'went down': Tony arrives at the diner, and selects Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" from the juke-box console at his table. In fact, his debut is the same episode where Livia dies, and if I wanted to get really conspiratorial, I might suggest that he was introduced specifically because Nancy Marchand had died in real life between Seasons 2 and 3, and the original plan was for Livia to have been instrumental in Tony's death somehow. Murders committed by Pontecorvo Teddy Spirodakis: Killed at a diner by Eugene on orders from Christopher Moltisanti for failing to pay his debts. Bits of time are elapsing in terms of the physical motion of Tony in that space, but thats not indicated by the music, which never stops. In real life, when it was found out that John D'Amato, the Jersey boss of the DeCavalcante family, was bisexual, he was killed for it. A celebration of life will be held in Redwood City on Wednesday for Pete Liebengood, a longtime Bay Area sportscaster, anchor and author who died in Redwood City on Dec. 22. Because it wouldve meant that he did the most obvious thing and then tried to hide it by making it seem as if he was creating an ambiguous or art-house type of ending. As the boss, Tony also ordered the deaths of 11 other people during the events of the series. Christopher Moltisanti assigns Eugene the task of taking out a guy named Teddy Spirodakis in Boston who owed Christopher money and failed to pay him. With a despondent wife, a drug-addicted son, a dangerous and stressful job he hates and can't leave, the specter of the FBI looming over him, and no hope of the new life that seemed so close, Eugene hangs himself in the basement. Though Funaro had the occasional moment on an episode, his first big scene came when he smashed Little Paulie with a bottle at the construction site. Tony Soprano's fate finally revealed by hit show's creator (sort of) Little Carmine was the rightful boss of the Lupertazzi family but was outstead by Johnny Sacromoni and then Phil Leotardo. We dont get to watch the show anymore. Butchie had antagonized Tony in the past, but at this point in time he agrees his boss Phil went too far. With Tony and the Feds both hindering Eugene's chance to escape the mafia life and his stress caused by his unstable home life, Eugene sees no way out and hangs himself in his basement. So New York had plenty of reasons to kill Tony. Did Silvio Wear A Wig In The Sopranos? - Mastery Wiki Alan: Tony's situation as he enters Holsten's is complex however you look at it. But the very fact that Chase devotes so much time to what seems like nothing makes the whole scene all the more nerve-racking. In both of those, Chase employs an unusual editing style, cutting directly from a shot of Tony looking out at the space hes just entered to a different point of view where hes already crossed most of the distance to the relative hes come to see. Does Tonys death alter the career plans of either kid? When the Soprano family meet at Holsten's diner for a meal, this man enters the diner ahead of Anthony Soprano Jr. and sits at the counter. Privacy Policy. The day James Gandolfini died in sudden, startling fashion that sadly evoked the very themes Chase was trying to convey with this scene I wrote that, as horrible a human being as Tony was, it gives me a small bit of comfort on this surprising, terrible day, to imagine Tony still alive, waddling out of his SUV and into the pork store, or calling up Dr. Melfi for one more shot at therapy.. The actor had appeared in mob movies like "Goodfellas," and was also no stranger to crime himself. To paraphrase one of the Four Questions from the Passover seder, on all other nights we dont watch Meadow attempt to parallel park even once; why on this night do we watch her attempt to parallel park over and over again? Did Eugene kill himself so his family could move to Florida? 'The Sopranos': Why Eugene Pontecorvo's Death Came With Good News for Chase lets the tension build and build and build including Members Only Guy walking past Tony and into the mens room so that well be primed for something awful to happen as Meadow sprints across Broad Street and into the restaurant. Eugene Pontecorvo (1959-2006) was a DiMeo crime family soldier and FBI informant. You might know this fact even if you havent watched the show thats just how maddening it was for many Sopranos fans. I cant imagine that it would succumb to them in its final moments, no matter how great the temptation and as our conversations with Chase confirmed, that temptation did exist. Aglieri had made a name for himself by killing Salvatore Riina, one of Italy s most notorious crime figures and a huge rival of the Corleone clan. Matt: Well, this isnt how I thought this would go. If the scenes about the fragility of life, and the omnipresent specter of death that leaves us all fumbling about for meaning in this cold, cruel world, why leave even a trace of ambiguity? Only the bravest celebs will go full catboy at 2023s Met Gala. I had thought, for instance, that the sense of paranoia instilled in the viewer by the rapid editing style Chase uses for the scene was shared by Tony himself that, perhaps, the point of it all was to finally put us in the mind-set of the main character, to make us realize, This is how miserable it is to be Tony Soprano: to spend every minute of every day worrying about who could be coming through a door to kill you.. The Sopranos has always explored various facets of its characterstheir ethnic, cultural, social/class identities, and even their meta-identities as fictional characters in a 21st century TV show. And thats even before we get to Holstens, a scene shot and edited unlike anything else in the history of this show. It is revealed Eugene has been an informant for the F.B.I., though it is unclear for how long. It seems so obvious now. One afternoon, Junior is particularly agitated, and Tony goes to his house because no one else is free to look after him. Dont stop believin you know exactly what happened at the end of, This password will be used to sign into all, when Chase wrote that article about the scene, a journalist reported that Chase told her Tony lived, Roy Wood Jr.s Best Jokes at the 2023 White House Correspondents Dinner, Julia Fox Is the Only Celeb Taking White House Correspondents Fashion Seriously, The 11 Best Movies and TV Shows to Watch This Weekend, The Rivalry Between the Knicks and the Heat From the Guys Who Were There, The Knicks Vs. Heat Rivalry From the Guys Who Were There, Long Live the White House Correspondents Dinner. Adriana's off-screen death in The Sopranos also shuffles up the character dynamics for the rest of the series. Members Only (6.01) | Sopranos Autopsy Eugene Pontecorvo, played by actor Robert Funaro, is a fictional character in the HBO television series The Sopranos. Password must be at least 8 characters and contain: As part of your account, youll receive occasional updates and offers from New York, which you can opt out of anytime. Chase replayed the Bacala death line and laid down so much death imagery throughout the season and this episode, so we will understand that when the scene jarringly cuts to black, its because Tony has just died, either via a bullet from Members Only Guy or a coronary from one onion ring too many. Dye played just 10 games due to injury and saw his season end with an injury against Colorado last November. First, I started hearing rumors. Later, Tony gets Phils location from FBI agent Harris (Matt Servitto). Matt: I think its more interesting if he lives. Since the tension with New York boiled over to a full-blown war, both Tony's family and Family have been on the lam. Follow the Clonestar's Socials Follow Ashlei on Twitter and Insta Intro music courtesy of bensounds.com This show - that had so honestly and meticulously . I mean its a prompt for us to think about death and life, and what weve done with our lives. Thats why Members Only was really great, he said on Talking Sopranos. The cause was lung . I've been fascinated lately with the meaning of names in The Sopranos. In short, Ralph was just the worst and was killed in Season 4, Episode 9, "Whoever Did This." When one of Ralph's sons nearly killed . Yeah, I was thinking that, too that despite the hours weve spent talking to Chase about the ending, I dont think its necessarily been explained in any meaningful sense, in terms of what happened next, and I get the impression that Chase cant really explain it either. Gene Killing himself It makes it so much harder watching that after the scene where he finds out his son his using heroin. willie boy johnson wife Matt: Well, thats interesting, because it brings Chase himself into the mix, and I think we both should admit that our interpretation of the ending is affected by our conversations with him while writing this book. The man in the Members Only jacket, played by Paolo Colandrea, is a one-shot character on The Sopranos. And in the back of my mind, I said, Well, well see what happens.'. Its not wrong. The episode marks the first appearances of: "7 Surprises From The Sopranos 20th Anniversary Celebration", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Members_Only_(The_Sopranos)&oldid=1134519036. The major clues indicating Tony's death in the final scene from this episode include: (a) Tony is shot in this episode. In the original broadcast of this episode (March 12, 2006), no previews for the next episode were shown in order to keep the aftermath of Tony's shooting a mystery. His taking control of the reins of power capped an unusually fast climb to the top of Italian organized crime. I dont know why do you think he offed himself. Death is the only absolute truth for everyone, and if you read that ending simply as he died, you can wash your hands and walk away from it and not have to think about anything else that might be raised in that scene. The most popular theory is that Butchie had Tony killed. It gets harder to watch the episode everytime. (Tony had Patsys brother killed in season 2.) Why is this critical episode dominated by a character who hardly mattered before? But in classic Sopranos form, the war with New York ends not with a bang but. The way Sopranos creator David Chase saw it, that wasnt the big question. He jolts awake within moments, but we begin our final hour in Tonys company with this image of him suggesting that hes already dead, and that he just like Silvio watching the Gerry Torciano hit needs some time to catch up with the finality of the situation. The loved ones who lost people to witness protection or because they ran away suspect they were murdered but cant prove it, even though we viewers saw it happen. When discussing the final scene of The Sopranos, many people rightly focus on would-be assassins in Holstens. At Hesh's request, Tony tries to reach out directly to Johnny through his optometrist brother-in-law, Anthony Infante, but Johnny is only paying attention to his immediate family's financial troubles. Why did he choose that place to kill himself? So was it in part to free them? 1) Carmine Lupretazzi, Sr. Carmine Lupretazzi, Sr. ( Tony Lip) is the best boss on the show by a country mile. Nearly two years have passed. You'd expect the family to be long gone, living their lives in Florida, trying to forget Jersey. Mafia capo Christopher Moltisanti loaned him money as a part of his loansharking business, and he did . I understand what the scene was about and, more importantly, I know how it made me feel the first time I watched it, every time since, and through all these conversations Ive had with you and the rest of the Sopranos-loving world about it over the last decade. With his wife bitter and his son using heroin, Eugene hangs himself. Youd expect the family to be long gone, living their lives in Florida, trying to forget Jersey. He resents AJ because AJ got the mother he wish he had. You knew virtually everything important that was going on, not only with Tony, but with all his enemies and allies. The time was certainly right. Its a great show, Chase told him. Later Eugene is revealed (to the viewers, not to the mob) to be an informant for the FBI, who also prohibit him from leaving. Eugene/Man In Members Only Jacket relative theory Or it could be, as I wrote in my original recap hours after the finale aired, that the character who died there was us, the spectator. Sal "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero ( Vincent Pastore) was brutally murdered on Tony's boat Stugots after the Soprano family realized Pussy was a rat for the F.B.I. Also wouldn't shooting yourself be a less painful way of dying compared to hanging, he definitely had guns. Alan: So for a while, it seemed easier to just go with the idea that he dies that the cut to black follows on Bacalas line from Soprano Home Movies, Silvios reaction to the Hairdos death in Stage 5, and all that death imagery. But again, that seems like a reach to me, especially since Members Only Guy hasnt come out of the bathroom yet. Manage all your favorite fandoms in one place! To quote Tony, the floor is yours, senator. who is kenaz in the bible; how to connect universal remote to philips tv; who helped prospero and how Christopher Moltisanti had him kill Teddy Spirodakis in Boston as a favor for him; Moltisanti promised to convince Soprano to let Pontecorvo retire as a reward. Butchie gave Tony permission to kill Phil. Travis Dye signs UDFA deal with New York Jets - Yahoo News That's a no-go." The Roys continue their downward spiral into total desperation as Matsson and their dead father loom over every decision they make. Carm protects AJ from a lot. Then right before the final scene he's looking at the family album. Alan: What I mean is, maybe that cat is Christopher reincarnated, or maybe its just a cat that wont stop hanging around Satriales and staring at a photo of Christopher. As far as who had the most to lose with Tony remaining boss, again the answer has to be New York. He is a capo in the DiMeo crime family and leads the Curto crew. But the scene can be about the idea of Tonys imminent demise without actually featuring it and, if were being stubbornly pedantic, it doesnt feature it. Images of death or a Hell frozen over from overcrowding and neglect by management abound throughout the series finale, as the shows usual fascination with the extremes of weather in the Garden State gets amped up to an almost supernatural degree. It's a town in Italy, but the name translates to "crow bridge." The bulk of the episode is devoted to Eugene Pontecorvo, previously a very minor character who appears infrequently and barely ever has any lines. Tonys personal disputes halted major construction projects on several occasions. He was never interested in the Russian, the rapist, the stable fire, or any of the other characters and threads that he left dangling over the life of the series, except as forces that test the main characters and reveal their essence. So it felt better to go with Tony died. It was An Answer, in a way that Tony lives never entirely felt like one to me, and when Chase wrote that article about the scene for DGA Quarterly, and talked about the fragility of our mortal existence, I was able to smile and say, Aha! Coachellas parent company AEG is removing any and all videos related to Oceans only performance. This is an artist sorting through contradictory impulses, in hopes of reaching audiences in a deep way. Phil is gone, Butchie made peace with New Jersey, and anyone else who might wish Tony a violent end is out of the picture. I mean, if you step back and think about it, killing Tony this mysteriously does defy Sopranos modus operandi in multiple ways. I suppose you could argue that somebody snuck in from the side, out of frame, and shot Tony. And the Russian. The controversial ending has led to over a decade of theories and speculation as to whether Tony was killed by a hitman - but now we finally know what happened to the mob boss. That cannot be an accident. She tells Eugene that he should kill Tony in "Members Only." And thus, that cat is Christopher and not Christopher at the same time. I know now, and I dont have to worry about this anymore.. The explanations arent entirely satisfying. A man in Tonys business will always have enemies Eric Scatino probably still nurses a massive grudge so its not outside the realm of plot logic that some rando or long-forgotten character could have hired Members Only Guy to do the deed. Uncle Junior 's mind is deteriorating. That's exactly like Dave Bowman watching himself age while inside the alien room. He and his traveling companions Abraham Ford and Rosita Espinosa were en route to Washington, D.C., before Eugene revealed that he had been lying about being a scientist due to being scared of surviving on his own. Adriana is remembered by a worrying Carmela. I hate that when you ask, What happened at the end of The Sopranos? and people just shrug and say, Well, he died! A better question is, What did that ending mean?. Matt: Yeah, hes checking out the scene in there for self-protection, but he does that everywhere he goes. This was Christopher's scene. Silvio Dante then informed Pontecorvo that Soprano had also denied his request to leave. Sirico reportedly racked up a total of 28 arrests in his younger life, even if he was only . I just mean that Schrdingers cat is useful if youre applying it to a story that could end either in a radical, art-house movie way, or in a traditional way, but with a fancy wrapping. But in the larger scheme of things, who cares about Eugene? The jacket possibly signifies his affiliation to a special gang. And its true that, the longer the Holstens scene and the parallel parking go on and on and on and on the harder it becomes to shake the feeling that Tony, or Meadow, or maybe everybody, is about to get whacked. His wife was already miserable, his son was struggling with drugs and his daughter was still young, any of them seeing his dead body would be traumatized. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Phils murder ends the war, which had been disastrous for mob business in New York and New Jersey. The ultimate fate of Tony Soprano, the crime boss and protagonist of the television drama the Sopranos, has perhaps finally been revealed by the show's creator. The episode's title comes from Eugene's tan Members Only jacket, which an expensively dressed Vito gently ribs him for wearing. Uncle Junior's mind is deteriorating. And by that, I dont mean he handed us the answer, because The Sopranos was never the sort of show that made you hunt for answers in that way. But Meadow is marrying into the extended Family by getting engaged to Patrick Parisi and becoming a lawyer two things Tony never wanted for her and AJ recently survived a suicide and is so lacking in direction that this low-level job working for Little Carmine feels like a salvation. what does flight departure mean shein; how much is paramount network; how to make maizena vanilla; how many black millionaires in africa. Hey Bobby, you know youre getting a son? Hey, this is f*cking great. Alan: Maybe we should ask the cat. And it throws all the other things weve been discussing, here and throughout this book, into sharper relief. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Teddy Spirodakis: Killed at a diner by Eugene on orders from. He loved his family, the only way they could get the inheritance money and go to Florida is if he was dead, he ended his life for their benefit. In 2007, he killed himself after both his boss Tony Soprano and his FBI handlers refused to let him retire to Florida. They have the shells and pictures of the beach everywhere, and his wife was clearly dependent on it. Problem here is Little Carmine had always got on well with Tony and had no reason to kill him, in fact Tony was one of the . Chris assures Eugene he will put in a good word for him to Tony as a favor for doing the hit.
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