The Sopranos strike back

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Episode of the series The Sopranos
title The Sopranos strike back
Original title Made in America
Country of production United States
original language English
Production
company		 Chase Films
Brad Gray Television
length approx. 58 minutes
classification Season 6, episode 21
86th episode overall ( list )
First broadcast June 10, 2007 on HBO
German-language
first broadcast		 February 6, 2008 on PREMIERE
Rod
Director David Chase
script David Chase
production David Chase
camera Alik Sakharov
cut Sidney Wolinsky
occupation
synchronization

 ►  Main article: Dubbing The Sopranos

The Sopranos Strike Back (Originally Made in America ) is the final episode of the HBO series The Sopranos , which first aired on HBO in the United States on June 10, 2007. The episode was written and directed by the creator and showrunner of the series David Chase .

action

Tony Soprano continues to hide in a safe house with some loyal followers. He is permanently heavily armed and secretly meets with FBI agent Harris. He gives him information about two Arab terror suspects. Tony asks Harris about Phil Leotardo's whereabouts and offers him a bribe, but Harris refuses.

Tony visits his family in a safe third home where they now live. He informs them that he will also be going to Bobby Baccalieri's funeral. Due to the strong FBI presence, this event is safe. Tony visits Janice, who tells him that Bobby's children react negatively to her and no longer want to live with her. Tony tells her that it is necessary to respect the children's wishes.

Phil's plan to behead the diMeo family within 24 hours has failed. Although it was underboss Bobby Bacala murdered and consigliere Silvio Dante is irretrievably in a coma, but boss Tony Soprano could escape. Phil Leotardo, who is also in hiding, calls Butch DeConcini and ventes his anger that Tony has escaped. When Butch proposes to DeConcini to start peace negotiations with Tony, Phil refuses. There would be no turning back now. Agent Harris is having an affair with a work colleague. Through them he gathered information about Leotardo. He secretly tells Tony that Leotardo was on the phone from a gas station near Oyster Bay, New York . Tony sends killers to the area and searches for Phil Leotardo.

Tony contacts George Paglieri, an old and respected mobster from one of the other Five Families , to arrange a meeting with Butch. Tony's goal is to drive a wedge between Phil Leotardo and his Lupertazzi family.

The meeting takes place: Tony and Paulie Gualtieri meet with Butchie, Albie Cianflone ​​and Little Carmine of the Luppertazzi family in a dark, cold warehouse. After initially reproaching each other, they all agree that the whole thing has gone far too far. One wants to achieve peace. Butch promises to pay compensation for Bobby Baccaliere's murder. Also for the reason that it was Tony's brother-in-law, after all. When Tony asks about Phil's whereabouts, Butch tells him that although he can't reveal this location, he'll have his back if Tony "does what he's supposed to do".

Tony feels safe enough to move back home. AJ, who continues to have an affair with Rhiannon, considers serving the United States. He would like to join the US Army so that he can fight oriental terrorists. He's also considering learning Arabic and joining the CIA. Carmela and Tony are concerned and take AJ to a psychiatrist.

Tony gets AJ a job at Little Carmine's film production company. Carmela is surprised when Meadow's old friend Hunter Scangarelo visits her. Hunter says she continues to study in medical school. Carmela can no longer listen to this and leaves the room. Meadow and Patrick Parisi are engaged and Tony invites his parents Patsy and Donna Parisi over. Both parents consent to the marriage. Patrick talks about a future career in legal counseling and Tony and Carmela talk about what their lives would have been like if Tony had lived a legal life.

Benny Fazio and Walden Belfiore track down Phil in a gas station, where he eats with his wife Patty and their two granddaughters. Walden shoots Leotardo and the SUV rolls over the corpse's head, crushing his head. When FBI agent Ron Goddard reports this to Agent Harris, he spontaneously and thoughtlessly exclaims: "We will win!"

Visibly touched, Tony visits the comatose Silvio Dante and holds his hand in silence. Janice visits Junior Soprano in the retirement home. This is observed by Pat Blundetto. Blundetto informs Tony and suspects Janice of wanting the last of Juniors' money.

Suddenly the old Capo Carlo Gervasi disappears and Tony fears that he will become a Pentito . After Paulie informs Tony that Carlos' son was arrested while trafficking in ecstasy, the suspicion is reinforced. Tony's attorney Neil Mink tells Tony that Carlo will probably testify against him and the family. Tony reacts disappointed and frustrated.

At Satriale’s , Paulie is annoyed by a stray cat that Tony found in the hidden house and which now lives in the headquarters of the Mafia family. The cat is constantly staring at the photo of the deceased Christopher. Tony offers Paulie the leadership of the Aprile troop because Carlo has gone underground. Paulie hesitates believing the crew is under a curse after their former leaders Richie Aprile, Gigi Cestone, Ralphie Cifaretto and Vito Spatafore all pass away. After Tony tells Paulie that he will then use Patsy Parisi, Paulie agrees.

Tony visits Uncle Junior in the retirement home. He talks about " this our cause " and that Junior and Tony's father once ruled North Jersey, but Junior does not remember or recognize anyone. He is already suffering from ongoing dementia and a sad Tony leaves the retirement home.

Carmela wants to talk to Tony about her speculative house and the family decides to meet at Holsten’s restaurant .

Tony arrives first at Holsten’s . He goes to the table and selects the song on a jukebox Do not Stop Believin ' by Journey from. Carmela arrives first. Tony tells her that Carlo will probably testify against him. Shortly afterwards, Anthony junior joins them. Meadow is late because she has trouble pulling into a parking space. Meanwhile, the family is talking about Anthony junior's new job, which he is not entirely satisfied with. Anthony junior's saying that “the good times should be remembered” is what Tony thinks is sarcasm. His son reminds him that he once said this himself, whereupon he agrees with his son.

A man in a "Members Only" jacket who has entered the bar with AJ keeps staring at Tony. When the man goes to the toilet, two young African American men enter the restaurant. Meadow finally manages to park and when she enters the restaurant, Tony looks at the door.

There is a hard cut to a black screen, the music stops abruptly. After 10 seconds of silence, the credits are faded in.

Interpretation of the final scene

The unexpected ending frustrated many fans of the series and initially led to massive criticism of showrunner David Chase. Whether the end with the hard cut on a black screen symbolizes Tony's death or whether it is an open ending has since been very controversial. Chase commented on the finale in various interviews, but always avoided an exact interpretation. Instead, he asked the fans in an interview in 2007 to take a closer look at the scene (“I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there. […] Anybody who wants to watch it, it's all there. ”). In 2012 he added in another interview that it didn't matter whether Tony continued to live or not.

“There was something else I was saying that was more important than whether Tony Soprano lived or died. About the fragility of all of it. The whole show had been about time in a way, and the time allotted on this Earth. [...] Tony was dealing in mortality every day. He was dishing out life and death. And he was not happy. He was getting everything he wanted, that guy, but he wasn't happy. All I wanted to do was present the idea of ​​how short life is and how precious it is. [...] Am I supposed to do a scene and ending where it shows that crime doesn't pay? Well, we saw that crime pays. We've been seeing that for how many years? Now, in another sense, we saw that crime didn't pay because it wasn't making him happy. He was an extremely isolated, unhappy man. And then finally, once in a while he would make a connection with his family and be happy there. But in this case, whatever happened, we never got to see the result of that. It was torn away from him and from us. "

“I said something else that was more important than whether Tony Soprano lived or died. Something about the fragility of all things. The whole show was about time, the time allotted for us on this earth. […] Tony dealt with mortality every day. He divided life and death. And he wasn't happy. He got everything he wanted, the guy, but he wasn't happy. All I wanted to show was how short and precious life is. [...] Should I create a scene and an ending that show that crime is not worth it? Well, we saw that crime pays off. We have seen this for how many years? In a way, we also saw that crime isn't worth it because it doesn't make him happy. He was an extremely isolated, unhappy man. And then he could connect with his family on occasion and be happy. But in this case we never got to see the result, whatever happened. It was torn away from him and from us. "

- David Chase

Various analyzes of the final episodes and especially the last scene by fans come to the end of Tony's murder.

In particular, the final scene is cut so that a significant portion of the images are shown from Tony's perspective. Every time a person walks in, you hear a doorbell and see Tony looking at the door, followed by a cut to his perspective. This pattern is repeated five times: with a woman, a man, Carmela, AJ with a man in a “Members-Only” jacket and finally Meadow. For the first four times, the viewer sees from Tony's perspective how the respective person enters the bar. Then the man in the "Members-Only" jacket goes to the toilet and is now diagonally behind Tony so that Tony can no longer see him. When Meadow enters, Tony can be seen looking at the door again, but afterwards the audience can't see or hear anything. Tony's perspective is black and noiseless, which could imply his death. In addition, the scene could refer to a scene from The Godfather . The pistol, with which an important murder is committed, is hidden in the water tank of the toilet. The stranger's walk to the toilet could mean that he gets the pistol for the final shot.

In addition, numerous other dialogues, symbol images and actions in the last two episodes support the thesis of Tony's murder.

occupation

main actor

* = Actor is named in the opening credits, but the character does not appear in the episode

supporting cast

Awards and nominations

The Sopranos Strike Back won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series at the 59th Primetime Emmy Awards in 2007 . The episode was not nominated in any other category. It was the third award for David Chase as a writer on the series.

In 2008, editor Sidney Wolinsky won the American Cinema Editors Association's Eddie Award for the episode, while Chase, who was nominated for a Directors Guild of America Award , received nothing.

Parodies

Hillary Clinton parodied the episode's closing scene in an election commercial for her presidential run. Vincent Curatola (he played John Sacramoni on the series) starred in it.

The final scene is also parodied in the series finale by Everybody Hates Chris . The song Livin 'on a Prayer by Bon Jovi sounds out of the jukebox.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b David Chase speaks! at blog.nj.com, accessed December 18, 2013
  2. ↑ David Chase reflects on the 'Sopranos' ending at bigstory.ap.org, accessed December 18, 2013
  3. ↑ a b The Sopranos: Definitive Explanation of “The END” at masterofsopranos.wordpress.com, accessed on December 18, 2013
  4. ↑ a b The Sopranos Ending - Made In America at mikecole.org, accessed December 18, 2013
  5. ↑ a b The Sopranos Ending Properly Explained at ebaumsworld.com, accessed December 18, 2013
  6. ^ Emmy Awards Database . Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Retrieved September 30, 2012.
  7. ↑ Jose Antonio Vargas: Hillary Clinton Rides 'Sopranos' Coattails in Video Spoof of Finale , The Washington Post . June 20, 2007. Retrieved November 23, 2008.