The show was ending. They even said Sil wasn’t going to wake up. Why leave him alive?
It's too bad Chase never showed the deleted scene where Butch visits Sil in ICU to finish him and Sil asks for "a clean death, a soldier's death". Butch aims but the gun misfires! Suddenly Sil grabs the gun and says "The antiseptic. Sometimes it makes the trigger stick." He proceeds to blow away Butch and make his escape with a mission to reunite the five families.
"My name is Silvio Decimus Dante...Underboss of the Jersey Legions and loyal servant to the true Godfather, Jackie Aprile...Husband to a piece of ass, at least she was when I married her. And I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."
He has come to reclaim Jersey for his people
His hair is suddenly loose and under a bandana, his clothes are loud and bombastic, he suddenly has a guitar in hand…
As if Sil’s clothes aren’t already loud and bombastic?
Not as loud as Stevie’s.
And singing Glory Days
Or, hear me out, Badlands.
They didn't have amazing hair on bald people in ancient Rome!
Scotch…..bam…and soda!
He's gonna find that jarlsberg wedge
Fuck everybody my son. Continue the lithium
THEY DIDN'T HAVE CREW CUTS IN ANCIENT JERRRRSEEEYYYYY!!!
To the victor, goes the spoils.
Always with the scenarios
Scorsese-this-is-cinema.jpg
They say no.
They had us in the first half, not gonna lie.
Again - with the scenarios.
A hit is a hit
And that, my friend, was not a hit.
Meow 🐱💅🏻
🤮
cringe scene
this actually made me laugh hysterically
He was the strong, silent type.
Like Gaaaaryyy Coopa!
He was gay, Gary Coopa?
The real "boss" was Springsteen all along
A boss you can respect.
"They blew up the chicken man in Philly last night...blew up his house too."
Ye olde Phil Testa kaboom!
No. They blew away Philly man last night. Popped his head like a grape too.
My favorite Springsteen song.
We’re not making a western here
One True Thing, just out on DVD.
You Schnorrer! You know I’m not fond of Rene Zellweger
I hear there's not as many titles available as on laser.
I used ta be an Instawwwlluh
True. We're making a comatose dream like drama comedy in Lilyhammer.
I knew THAT was comin’!
Ambiguity, pretty much the whole point of the finale.
"it's all there, for anybody that wants to watch it, it's all there"
Also to show how no one gets out unscathed. TBH I'm surprised they didn't kill Sil off in like season 4 as they really don't use him much later on.
I think he was just too popular, his death would have had to mean something, and the only reason anyone would want to kill sil would be if they’re planning to move against Tony. Otherwise, sil doesn’t cause problems, doesn’t run a crew, pretty much keeps to the bing. NY wouldn’t have reason to mess with him.
As for the creative choice to go with coma over execution? Lot of people had died at that point, so just killing him isn’t interesting. This is when you say goodbye and this was memorable. On some levels this seems more merciful, and yet, not. Is he better off dead?
Great show.
Sil is my favorite member of Tony's crew (him and Tony are 1A, 1B) and it absolutely hurt more seeing him that way, knowing that never waking up is probably the best possible outcome for him knowing what he'd wake up to. My two favorite members of the Soprano crew never got actual closure on screen and that's absolutely bitter to swallow
Tony Uncle Al or Tony Uncle Johnny?
That fuckin' animal Blundetto
I can't even say his name.
Hey Sil runs a crew. The ladies at the Bing. I'm pretty sure it's one of their consistent money makers and i feel Sil manages it to a tee.
This feels like sarcasm
Paulie gets out unscathed. Just like the ‘70s when the Columbos were goin’ at it
i think him starting to become critical of tony but still being a soldier was the point
No one gets out unscathed? What about Paulie?
He had that cancer scare! He hurts, too!
What kind of tv show is that to show college students!?
Around here we call that stinkin’ thinkin
Precisely the same as an alcoholic. No one puts that drink to his lips but himself
you know the wine makes you emotional
This chit chat comment has me freaking giggling
Will you take it easy over there, fuckin Judge Roy Bean?!
That sounds pre-programmed
So he could go to Norway
His coma dream.
I know it's controversial around here, but Lillehammer was great.
I enjoyed it. Not written as well as Deadwood, but nothing is.
I've not seen deadwood.
Cock. Suckah!!! San Francisco!!!
Give it a whirl. Gotta pay attention to it though.
“Umm the baking class just made fresh bread”
It was great, until it completely jumped the shark
It was a fun show for sure
it was a really nice show that didn't take itself too seriously, definitely a shift in tone from the sopranos but still good tv
Username brothers 💪
Extra points for ITYSL reference
I just outlined for you a blue print for total self discipline that will take you through your entire life and that's your only question?
Mind if I smoke?
Loved that little (but obvious) detail of him needing to smoke while talking about self discipline and alcoholics doing it to themselves.
You and loyle are at the same episode it seems
Who said Sil did or did-ent die???
It’s impossible to know, even with computers
Log off, that cookie shit makes me nervous!
Tell that to the guys at Webistics
What I’m saying is…..
Wooooah! We lead the world in computer data collection. This comment is going on your permanent record.
Shrodinger’s Silvio
I was going to reply the same.
Fucking parakeet
Sil couldn’t go into the unknown not knowing
I was looking for this comment, I thought he lived. Wishful thinking?
In his coma Sil hallucinated the entire series of Lilyhammer
Cripes you stole my exact thought lmao
This question knocked at the door. Faith answered. There was no one there.
Have you heard the good news? He has risen
We met at Thanksgiving 😇
🦃🥪
I don't feel that way.
Whats the point of anything? God is dead, and we killed him.
It’s all a big nothing
Been reading nitch?
That's dicked up.
OP - you just reveal your own ignorance
I wat!? I revealed my WAT!?!
so you read a book and it’s bullshit
Season 7 was going to be another coma season but with Sil. Fell off the vine
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
It’s a tv show, a program.
Always with the scenarios
For a sequel. Put Jim Carey in the motherfucker
I think it has to do with ambiguity as others have said but also as a sort of reference to Jackie Aprile, intentional or otherwise. For all the things Tony has done to maintain his position he’s still back where he was at the beginning of the show, seated at the bedside of a beloved mentor and friend who he can’t save. The only differences being that he’s more miserable, in worse health, and has more money that won’t make him happy.
Seventy-five comments and none of you stunads has the right answer?
It's not anything deep, like people are suggesting. It's that Steven Van Zandt specifically asked to be kept alive so he could appear in any sequel projects. He's spoken about this.
With your consigliere in a COMA
Sils hangin on.
So that he could find Cossette
He climbed under there for warmth.
Never enough bodies for OP.
Sil can no longer function as a man
😒
I can see Sil getting whacked, Bobby, he was the wrong target, it should’ve been Paulie
Listen to this prick givin' orders, you've got some bawls my friend.
All due respect, you got no fuckin' idea what it's like to be Number Two….
He should've been but he was a valuable informant for ny for years, especially with Johnny Sack.
Ooof! 🤌🤘
Why does there have to be a point?
Sil could recover. Vito's brother Bryan recovered.
Because then he wouldn't have been able to go to Norway 🇳🇴 (Whether real or a coma dream)
The E-Street band has more gigs.
The highway was jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive.
A. It's a tv progrum, a movie. B. Nobody, I mean nobody said Sil would never wake up.
Also Sil didn't know that Tracy was pregnant with Ralphie's child she was carrying when he criticized Tony for hitting Ralphie.
So just when he thought he was out, they could pull him back in
So Lilyhammer can happen
If he dies, the viewer will always wonder “did Sil come back from the dead and reenact the plot from Cleaver???”. If he is in a come, this is OBVIOUSLY not a possible occurrence
He may well have been killed, we just weren't around to see it.
It wasn’t personal it was business
So his wife could cut his toenails.
Listen to him, he knows everything.
Just when he was out of the show they pulled him back in
The final season shows a bunch of different outcomes for people but doesn’t show what happens to Tony. Essentially you’re supposed to see that there’s no possible good end for Tony.
Junior is the only one who lives into old age but he’s all alone and starts to lose his mind. Johnny Sack goes to prison and dies there. Phil gets whacked as a part of their war. Silvio gets put in a coma which he will never come out of, remember Tony was also in a coma earlier.
Others have gone more in depth on this so I’m sure you can find someone who did a better job diving into this on here.
Why not? And to be honest it would just take away from everything else. Do we really need for the characters to get this news and mourn the loss of Sil. We already had the Bobby dying scenario and it would just be overkill.
Just like if they showed Tony getting shot and killed in the restaurant... How would you follow that up? It would be a really weird place to end it... Blood sprayes on Carmalla's and AJ's face and they're in shock and then the credits roll and if you prolong it, you're essentially turning Tony into a hero by having everyone cry and mourn over his death. If you think about it and if your ending entails Tony getting shot and killed, there was really no other way to have done it then how they did it... it was perfect.
because life doesn't have a point, it's the entire point of the show. "It's all a Big Nothing!".
I wish the lord would take me now.
Fuckin Silvio?
Watch it comrad
Aw you wanna fuck here, cocksucker?
Adding some detail rather than formulaic story telling.
It wasn't going to be cinematic
What are Quasimodo thoughts on this?
It wasn’t going to be cinematic
More is lost by indecision than the wrong decision.
Always with the scenarios...
Everyone asks that question, nobody knows the answer. Isaac Newton invented gravity because some asshole hit him in the head with an apple
No coma, no Lillehammer.
They needed to send him to Lilyhammer
Chase kept Sil alive for dramatic reasons. Tony falls asleep at end of Blue Comet and has a heart attack in his sleep. Made in America is Tony’s final dream. The dream conveys what is on Tony’s mind as he is dying, but is also littered with clues about what is actually happening to his body, including attempts to resuscitate him and treat him. Tony’s visit to Sil in hospital in dream is actually Tony being subconsciously aware that HE is on life support in hospital. The scream from little miss sunshine on the tv is Carmella’s arrival in hospital. It’s all cleverly hidden but as Chase says, it’s all there.
Cause he went to Lillehammer!
It's whack this one, whack that one.
So that Tony could hold Sil's hand in an unforced, unseen gesture of love and friendship the same way Sil did for him (and not for nothin- at a time when there was no hope for Tony either)
To show that Tony was such a big piece of shit at the end that he didn't even join the others when they visited Sil.
Yesterday it was his gout...
because you know, but you don't know
Something are worse than death
it’s because of the sacred and the propane
Chances are they would all be highly culturally and religiously against removing life support.
So they could make LillyHammer.
To set up Lilyhammer
I heard on the Talking Sopranos podcast that Sil wanted to be in the movie if they ever made one, so they kept the door open for that.
Proof they wanted to keep the option for a movie before James passed away.
Because that tragic shit happens irl sometimes.
We see Sil’s wife at the hospital taking care of his nails and caring for him. It’s way more tragic to know that’s just her life now. She can’t ever move on with Sil in a perpetual coma.
Apparently SVZ wanted Sil’s fate to be left ambiguous in case there was a sequel show/movie that he could come back for (which so far there hasn’t been)
To show that those who survived ended up with a fate worse than death?
I guess to make it messy like it would probably be in real life.
I did always wonder why they spent so much screen time on a random guy sliding off a motorbike though,it must have been quite expensive and they probably had to be very decisive in what to cut/keep in the finale. It almost detracts from the scene.
It was so he could have the coma dream that is lillyhammer 🤣
I always assumed he likely died sometime after the final episode
He had to go into coma so he could dream about moving to Norway
I love the messiness. There was nothing “clean” about any of it. These guys are villainous dirt bags, the lifestyle - treachery. I do wish there was a scene where Tony gets done (onion ring in mouth) and maybe one other family member, take your pick, to show the cost. I was disappointed in the ending even though Chase wanted to leave it up to the viewers. I guess that’s my ending.
It made a point of making Tony having a fighting chance. If Sil died for real, Tony would not able to get a sitdown.
Then there is no point whether Sil is dead or alive. Tony already dead before then.
He will wake up thinking he is Ignacio Montoya, and find the killer. You killed my boss, prepare to die.
Chase plaaned to have Sil burial on a hill, overlooking a little river, with pine cones all around.
But he blew the budget on Gabagool and Stripper Glitter, so they just kept Sil on a breathing machine.
becuz if there was ever a possibility they would make a movie or part 2 series he could come back… he said it in the “talking in sopranos podcoas”
He clenched his ass cheeks before the bullets hit him.
‘Cause it won’t be cinematic
I fuhget.
I don't think killing him would serve the story emotionally or otherwise. It sounds like you're asking out of logic.
Maybe (throwing mud at the wall here) it's Sil's fate to be the last one high enough that he's expected to take over. For him that could be a fate worse than death.. his pharmacist will be filling a lot of Ventolin prescriptions though $$$
My take on it:
If you accept that Tony got whacked at the end of the finale, then every person who acted as boss of a family over the course of the series ended up dying. The manner of their death reflected the degree and quality of their leadership.
The best/most effective bosses died free and of natural causes (Carmine Lupertazzi and Jackie Aprile)
The solid second tier, Johnny Sac, died in prison of natural causes. Presumably this also would apply to Old Man DiMeo.
Phil and Tony were not great bosses. They both let their personal relationships and animosities disrupt the operations of their families. They both died violently.
Uncle Jr was never really the boss; it was always Tony pulling the strings. His end was a mindless living death triggered by a violent incident.
To me, Sils end fits into this pattern too. He was the acting boss while Tony was in a coma, but he waffled and half-assed it, and he didn’t really seized the reins on even a temporary basis. So his end is fittingly… not technically dead, but not living.
David Chase liked leaving things in motion. At least 3 times someone gets shot and keeps driving their car. Then fall onto the horn or something. Phil's head getting run over. A shadow hanging over the new don (Paulie), if Sil wakes up and puts together what happened..
Because they needed a shopping cart
Chase was clearly keeping Sil around for a potential spinoff; Tony's Kevin Finety coma dream was actually a backdoor pilot. Silvio plays a working stiff studio musician in a life that he doesn't remember with a family whose faces are unfamiliar.
Watch Playing E Street, Sundays on HBO.
Lillyhamer was better than Sopranos. Sorry but taste isn’t debatable.
Because Sil had absolutely no class and was always on the hustle
4 missing replies
Because not everyone gets a clean death, a simple ending. And maybe David Chase was worried if he killed off Sil, the whole E Street Band might put a hit out on him.