The Final Episode of the Sopranos – Some Ideas

With Bobby and Sil all but dead and Tony holed up in a safe house, what can we expect for the Soprano crime family going into tonight’s series-ending finale? Well, the one thing we know about The Sopranos is that nothing is certain, but here are some of the best theories that I’ve heard about tonight’s episode over the course of the last seven days…

Some people think that Tony will call his FBI friends and become a rat in exchange for his and his family’s protection. Personally, I don’t think this is the way to go – let’s not forget what happened to Adrianna when Christopher told Tony that she was talking to the feds. Also, I read online that Tony Sirico, the actor who plays Paulie Walnuts, has a clause in his contract that doesn’t allow him to be a rat in the series due to his personal history. So unless Tony plans on duping what’s left of his mob family to save his blood family, I doubt that heading to the feds will be the way to go.

There is a lot of speculation that Tony might die in the final episode. The only thing that I’ve realized about this scenario is that most of New Jersey will be up in arms if Tony gets whacked. That is to say, we would be up in arms if Tony gets whacked and Phil Leotardo gets away with being a scumbag. I look for Tony and Phil to both get put in life-threatening situations, but I’m hoping that Phil is the one who gets knocked off in the end.

Another thing that’s worth mentioning is that we know the entire Soprano family will be in tonight’s episode from last week’s preview. We also know that the final scene is in an ice cream parlor due to the heavy media discussion about it in March. Also, there were a few media reports of some shots for the final episode taking place in Long Branch, New Jersey on the shore. So what does all of that add up to?

Damned if I know!

One of the worst potential outcomes that I heard over the last week was the dream sequence outcome. The dream sequence has been used to erase large swatches of storylines from sitcoms and dramas over the course of television history. From Al Bundy waking up in the middle of one season of Married with Children only to realize that Peg ISN’T pregnant to the entire eighth season of the fabled Dallas drama, the dream sequence is a viable option for big-time shows. Except the series ender for The Sopranos!

Some has speculated that Kevin Finnerty (Tony’s dream sequence character) will wind up being the in the real world while this Tony Soprano person turns out to be just someone that Kevin wishes he could be in “real life.” Freaky, huh? However, I think the best judgment on this one is to leave the crazy dream sequences to shows that are in the middle of their run, not at the end.

So that’s what I’ve been reading about for tonight’s final episode ever of The Sopranos. What will happen exactly? We’ll just have to wait and see…