Why did Tony get whacked?
There have been several polarizing series finales, but few are as polarizing as the one for the HBO crime drama The Sopranos, where many viewers still wonder if Tony Soprano died. “Made In America” ends confusingly and ambiguously, which was divisive at the time, as it was called both “amazing” and “disappointing” by fans and critics. In The Sopranos finale, Tony sits in a restaurant with his family, and though everything seems OK and Tony is seemingly happy, the tension is building. Something significant seems like it is going to happen when a mysterious man enters and continues to stare at Tony.
However, at the very moment that something could happen, the screen cuts to black, leaving the fate of Tony Soprano a total mystery. Series creator David Chase avoided discussing the scene following the finale. Various interpretations and theories have surfaced over the years, the most popular of which is that Tony was killed, but even then, it isn’t clear how he was killed or who killed him. As Tony is played by the talented James Gandolfini, the actor’s final expression can be interpreted in many different ways. However, there are tons of clues in the critically-acclaimed series that point to Tony’s certain death.
In the final minutes of The Sopranos finale, a stranger walks into the diner wearing a jacket with a “Members Only” logo on it. Viewers might remember the events in the Season 6 premiere where Vito Spatafore mocks Eugene for wearing a jacket that also had a “Members Only” logo on it. Eugene doesn’t respond and simply gives Vito a death stare. The jacket possibly signifies his affiliation with a special gang. When Tony prevents Eugene from moving to Florida with his family, he commits suicide. The man wearing the same jacket at the diner might be someone close to Eugene, and he could be responsible for Tony’s death in The Sopranos.
The Sopranos has multiple nods to The Godfather trilogy and in TheSopranos finale, there is another Sopranos-Godfather link that holds meaning. Tony holds an orange at Carmela’s project house earlier in the episode. During another assassination attempt earlier in the series, he had just bought orange juice too. Oranges are used in The Godfather to symbolize either natural death or “getting whacked”.
When Vito Corleone gets shot in the street in The Godfather, he is buying oranges, and when he collapses and dies, he is holding an orange while making funny faces at his grandson. Oranges are also present at the meeting of the five families before the bosses get killed. The Sopranos also featuring so many oranges is a clear hint that Tony Soprano dies.
In The Sopranos Season 6, episode 20, “The Blue Comet,” there is a flashback to “Soprano Home Movies” where Bobby and Tony talk about what it’s like to get whacked. They both agree that it’s a mobster’s greatest fear. An important quote from their conversation is, “In our line of work, it’s always out there. You probably don’t even hear it when it happens.” The cut to black in the final episode could mean that Tony does die in The Sopranos, but he doesn’t even hear it when he finally gets killed, and neither does the audience.
