Even 17 years after the show came to an end, I’m still not over The Sopranos’ cut to black ending. I believe that The Sopranos is one of the greatest TV shows ever made, with its writing, character building, and slow pace making it a masterclass in how to make a good television drama series. This is an opinion shared by many other viewers, with many unanimously citing the show as one of the best. However, the one controversial part of The Sopranos’ historic run is its finale, with the final episode leaving many fans scratching their heads.
HBO’s The Sopranos is still one of the company’s most iconic shows nearly two decades after its release, with this being a sign of just how high the quality of the show was. The series follows Tony Soprano, a mobster who lives in New Jersey and is forced to balance his real family with his criminal family after conflicts with his mother causing him to start going to therapy. From this simple premise, a massive saga unfolds, chronicling the final days of the world of gangsters and unpacking themes of masculinity, family, legacy, and mental health.
17 years after the finale of The Sopranos was released, I believe that the ending is still worth talking about. The Sopranos’ final scene sees the titular family meet in a diner, with Tony anxiously looking at the door every time someone comes in. While Tony (and by proxy, the audience member) expects a potential gunman to come in and kill him, it never happens, with it always being another Soprano or a customer. However, the final shot sees Tony looking up at the door one last time, with the song cutting off and The Sopranos cutting to black for good.
The tense scene is the culmination of everything that we know about Tony Soprano, as it shows that no matter what, Tony will always have to look over his shoulder. Due to his past actions, Tony’s anxiety and guilt will not leave him, with this constant fear being a personal hell for the character. I believe that the ambiguous ending is the best way to contain The Sopranos, as a happy ending would never work, and simply killing Tony off would feel cheap. Instead, The Sopranos ending managed to find the perfect conclusion that still gets talked about.
How The Sopranos’ Ending Impacted Its Legacy
The ending of The Sopranos completely impacted the show’s ending, with it kicking off a never-ending conversation ever since the finale first aired on June 10, 2007. Some viewers claim that the ending completely ruined the show, with the unresolved storylines and ambiguous ending leading to an anticlimatic conclusion. Other fans, myself included, believe that the ambiguous ending is the perfect way for The Sopranos to go out for the aforementioned reasons.
However, the ambiguous ending has had the adverse effect of turning retrospective discussions on The Sopranos away from the thematic purpose of the ending and rather toward the question of whether Tony Soprano died. While this is an interesting question to think about, it doesn’t really matter, as The Sopranos creator David Chase proves that this isn’t important due to him not including it in the series. 17 years later, when The Sopranos gets brought up, the controversial finale will almost always be part of the discussion.
How The Sopranos’ Ending Ranks Among TV Series Finales
I believe that The Sopranos’ ending is the greatest TV series finale of all time, as it manages to strike an artful balance that leaves me thinking in a way that no other show has. While shows like Breaking Bad and Daredevil are close seconds in my opinion, I doubt that any show will surpass my love for The Sopranos’ finale.
However, it isn’t just my opinion that The Sopranos’ finale is one of the best. The series finale can often be found ranking high on lists of the best TV show finales of all time, with The Sopranos even being considered to be the show that kicked off the Golden Age of Television. The Sopranos is still one of HBO’s most critically acclaimed shows, and the fact that the ending of The Sopranos is still being talked about to this day proves that the TV finale’s legacy holds up as one of the best.
