Sopranos - Was: First Couple-Three...

[David Morris]

OK, I'll concede it is purposely ambiguous, because of the cut to
black.  What happens after the cut cannot be certain.  And like you
say just after this post it was a "manipulation of the viewer and was
built of violating a long history
of film and story-telling conventions."  But the convention signals in
the short scene cuts just before the cut to black are CLEARLY ominous,
thus the implication of the black screen is "pretty clear."  And the
abruptness of the black silent screen only makes it more so, IMHO.

"What was a seemingly benign family outing was shot and cut as the
preamble to a tragedy, with Tony suspiciously eyeing one patron after
another, the camera dwelling a little too long on Meadow's parallel
parking and a man in a Members Only jacket's walk to the men's room.
Just as the tension had been ratcheted up to unbearable levels, the
series cut to black in mid-scene (and mid song) with no resolution."

http://blog.nj.com/alltv/2007/06/david_chase_speaks.html

On 6/13/07, MalignD at aol.com <MalignD at aol.com> wrote:
>>And unlike so many reviewers who wrote that the ending had nothing
happen, I think it is pretty clear that the three family members in
the restaurant got whacked.

You can make a case for that, but it isn't
> "pretty clear." The ending is pretty clearly--and, pretty obviously, intentionally--ambiguous.

>One of my first thoughts was of the ending of COL49.