Is Tony Soprano Dead or Alive, II

I like this post by Patterico:

As I mentioned the other day, everything made sense to me the second that a commenter at Captain’s Quarters reminded me of a line from an earlier episode this season, in which Bobby and Tony talk about what death must be like: You wouldn’t even know it had happened; everything would just go black. [UPDATE: This article says the line is: “You probably don’t even hear it when it happens.” h/t Patricia.] Under this interpretation, Tony is whacked by someone in the restaurant — probably that creepy guy who went into the bathroom to retrieve a piece, like Michael Corleone. But he doesn’t even know what was happening, and neither do we. Everything just goes black.

I think the interpretation based on the “everything would just go black” line has to be the right one. That line explains perfectly why the screen goes black for several seconds at the end of the show before the credits roll. If this episode were intended to express something about Tony’s life being mundane, or simply full of paranoia, then it would end with a meaningless scene followed simply by the credits. That’s not what happened. There are several seconds of “everything . . . just go[ing] black” — why is that?

To me, that’s an obvious and clear reference back to the conversation between Bobby and Tony. It has the added irony that, indeed, you don’t know what happened. In a sense, the viewer got “whacked” along with Tony.

I think he bought the farm, too. Good piece. I didn’t realize how angry the ending had left some folks.

Related: Is Tony Soprano Dead or Alive?