"The fact is, nothing is separate everything's connected."-John Schwinn aka Mr. Wizard
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First off. This thread is not intended for the casual fan, but for people who are very familiar with "this thing of ours" aka "The Sopranos". If you have never watched the Entire show from start to finish, I encourage you to go back and do that before reading this. This Analysis is meant for those who have a reference for all the nuances and who have seen the whole arc of the show in its entirety. It makes a lot more sense to those with that frame of reference. 86 hours of your life, go......This thread will be my attempt to further explore the themes initially explored in my analysis of the final scene. This thread is NOT AN ATTEMPT TO FIGURE OUT WHETHER TONY LIVES OR DIES, The last scene is without a doubt in my mind, something deeper than the finite answer to that question. This analysis will cover almost exclusively content from Seasons 5 and 6a\6b. The related themes explored will be Kubrick, Lynch, 2001, 9\11, The Beatles, Osiris, Bells, Cats, Egyptian knowledge, Hunchbacks, JFK, Quantum physics, Catholicism, and general Subliminals\metadata connected to "The Sopranos". The idea for this thread came to me through the revelation that there was an entire metaphorical subplot going on in the last 2 seasons of the show, one involving dreams, quantum physics, death, life, and reincarnation. I always knew it was there but never really took the time to actually dissect it. This will be an effort to understand the messages underlying the dialogue and visuals on the show by using knowledge of spirituality, the occult or hidden knowledge, and quantum physics. By revealing this layer of the story, I believe it will forever enhance and alter the viewers experience in such a way they will want to watch the entire series over again. This is a massive 10 page analysis, so please "Bear with us".....
[Long Pause] I’ll say this: The [spiritual]question [that the final scene asks] is, to be really pretentious, what is time? How do we spend our really brief sojourn here? How do we behave, and what do we do? And the recognition that it’s over all too soon, and it very seldom happens the way we think. I think death very seldom comes to people the way they think it’s going to. And the spiritual question would be: “Is that all there is?”-Chase, in a 2014 interview with The Daily Beast
Well, geez, the hardest part, is, well..., where do we even get started here? This was a dilemma I was having at first but came up with a passable solution. We will start as the show always does. With a song. Not just any song though but the song used to start Season 6 part a as it is almost like a key if you will to much of what we will be exploring in this thread.
The Seven Souls Montage
The music, "Seven Souls" by Material, begins the opening narration, a shortened version of a spoken word essay ("The ancient Egyptians postulated seven souls...") by William S. Burroughs from his novel The Western Lands. It is very interesting to note that Chase had originally tried to use this song for the pilot episode of The Sopranos back in 1997-1998. It finally ended up being used on the show in this episode, in the opening montage of the premiere of the final season, 8 years later. This to me is very significant to where Im going with this whole analysis. This full circle\duality\life\death\reincarnation theme. Lets take a look at the lyrics and how they correlate to the series, especially season 6 itself.
The ancient Egyptians postulated Seven Souls. (The Bell at Holstens rings 7 times)
Part 1 Ren
Top soul, and the first to leave at the moment of death, is Ren, the Secret Name. This corresponds to my Director. He directs the film of your life from conception to death. The Secret Name is the title of your film. When you die, that's where Ren came in.
Lets Pause here and take a deeper look at the meaning of Ren in Egyptian mythology
Skip ahead to the next episode, "Join the Club", we see Tony having an existential crisis while in a coma involving his identity or his name being confused with the name Kevin Finnerty, to which as he says the name in the bar for the first time another patron says, "He drives a Lexus, you know, Lexus? Infinity?" Kevin Finnerty has the anagram INFINITY hidden in it. More on this later. But the point here is about the name, because Tony wasn't Finnerty therefore wasn't going to the after life as Finnerty either. Even though the show might confuse us to think this part is about Vito, Janice, and Bobby as they are the characters we see on the screen as the lyric plays. I think what these scenes imply is that Tony is THE DIRECTOR of each of their lives on some level, being the boss and all. Last thing of note here, the first time the bell rings at Holstens, its Tony who enters.....Ren - The true name, a vital part to man on his journey through life and the afterlife, a magical part that could destroy a man if his name was obliterated or could give power of the man if someone knew his Ren - naming ceremonies in Egypt were secret, and a child lived his whole life with a nickname to avoid anyone from learning his true name. Dollinger (2003) states that, "The name, (MdC transliteration rn), is the foundation of a being as an individual. Only when it has a name, when it can be addressed and related to, does it begin its proper existence ... An important part of ensuring the continued existence after death was the perpetuation of the name"(my emphasis added).