Is This What The Ending Of 'The Sopranos' Was Supposed To Mean?

The final scene of The Sopranos has become something of TV legend. After six seasons of drawn out brilliance, creator David Chase places his star family in a New Jersey diner. Journey's Don't Stop Believin' is playing on the jukebox. Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) orders some onion rings for the table as the camera moves to several suspicious people. His daughter, Meadow, is awkwardly trying to park her car outside. The tension is unbelievable because we all know this is the final scene in Sopranos history and something epic is about to take place. Every moment could be the last one. The Journey cresendos, the door of the diner opens, Tony looks up, silence and cut to black. In that instant, about twelve million people checked their cable box to see if it had malfunctioned. Then the credits rolled.

Chase's ending was controversial, legendary and is debated to this day. One Vanity Fair reader, however, has a simple, almost brilliant interpretation of the ending and you can read it below.

Just so we're all on the same page, here's the final scene of The Sopranos. Obviously, spoilers if you haven't seen it.

The following came from Vanity Fair, via Gawker, and are the words of Larry Grossman from Las Vegas, Nevada.

The last episode of The Sopranos was inspired. Here's why: One of the main themes of the show was the ongoing problems that the main character, Tony Soprano, had with panic attacks. This started with the first episode, which led to his therapy with Dr. Melfi. Tony's son, A.J., later had those same feelings. This panic-attack thread was prevalent during the entire run of the show.

The final episode had Tony, Carmela, and A.J. in a booth at the diner. Many sinister people were lurking, and the viewer feared for their safety; as Meadow tried clumsily to park her car, the suspense built. Then, right when the payoff is about to happen, the TV goes black. Everyone thought they'd missed it because they lost their cable. All viewers had a panic attack. Thus, we felt what Tony felt.

David Chase has been off since that moment until this year when his new movie, Not Fade Away, is scheduled for release.

Do you buy Grossman's interpretation?