Posted on 06/11/2007 4:33:46 AM PDT by Mobile Vulgus
I have been perusing the message boards tonight to see the reaction to the series ending episode of The Sopranos and it seems the natives are restless. Many seem to feel it is a cop out and that all the creators of the show did was set it up for a possible feature film or a "to be continued" at some other time. They say they are disappointed with this "non-ending."
I can't disagree more.
In fact, I think it is a brilliant ending that befits the entire series.
What made this series is that there was always a sense of foreboding, a sense that violent death could occur at any time. It pervaded the series through and through. At the end of some episodes, when nothing bad happened, you never felt a sense of relief. Maybe a tad bit of disappointment, but never relief. No relief was ever in the offing because there was more to come and the violence and shock was always just around the corner. The tension never let up.
Tony seemed like the lovable rake until he snapped and strangled someone with his bare hands his friends were never safe from either his ire or the ire of those he crossed. This is one of the few series where major characters died in every season. From Big Pussy, to Chris' girlfriend Adriana, to Christopher himself, among so many others, major character's lives were never safe during the run of this show. Just like that of real gangsters who's lives dangle by a thread because of their unsettled and dangerous avocation.
(Warning, spoilers are here. If you have not seen the episode do not read further)
The whole last show was replete with warnings of death. Talismans of death and harbingers float in and out of frame. It swirls around Tony like a whirlwind. Yet, as the show progresses, we come to think he and the surviving members of his crew might be out of the woods.
We maybe even get the haunting feeling that doomed Uncle Junior is still on his game as Tony confronts him at long last in the mental ward. Joon gives a slight, sardonic smile during Tony's questioning. Is he still in there? Playing at the mental case to escape his fate? Maybe, maybe not. We never get a full answer, but doubt remains. Hope remains that he isn't lost to the mists of mental degradation.
AJ seems back on track, Meadow, Tony's daughter is doing well, Sil is not, but at least he's alive. Things might be OK at long last?
The family has all come out of hiding sure that they have made nice with the bosses in New York. It all went too far, they say. It's done. Even the Fed that has occasionally slipped Tony intel over the years accidentally let's his relief over come him in front of another agent. "We WON!", he yelps, only to become self-conscious by the outburst.
Still, as Tony sits down with his family to eat in a highly public, family styled restaurant, we aren't sure it's over. There's that tension still. Something still seems unresolved, something unsettling is still hanging over us. Tony sits with his back to the doors to the bathrooms. A goomba looking man has been staring at Tony from the counter since he entered. What is this guy's problem? Why does he keep glancing at Tony. He seems smooth, not worried. What gives him this sense of resolve? Is he not aware that Jersey and New York have made up? What is his deal?
The goomba lurches past the booth where Tony sits and disappears into the darkness of the doorway that is situated at Tony's back. We see him no more in these waning seconds of the episode.
Meadow is having trouble parallel parking, but finally gets the chore done. She runs across the street to join her family at the booth inside the restaurant. Will she get hit by a car as she hurriedly crosses the street? What seems so uncomfortable? We hear the bell of the restaurant door opening.
Tony looks up with that affable expression.
Then...
The screen goes black.
No music plays as the credits roll.
End series.
WHAT??? THAT'S IT??? Scream these disgruntled fans on the message boards. "This is ALL there is to the ending?", they carp.
Yes, that's it. And I'll tell you why it is brilliant.
This series wasn't really "The Sopranos", this series was Tony Soprano. It is and was all about him. From the therapist's office to the Bada Bing to the kitchen getting coffee to the occasional bloody murder, this show was all about Tony Soprano.
Now, remember a few episodes back when Tony and his doomed brother in Law, Bobby, were talking in that boat on the lake? Remember how they were saying that no one hears or sees the one that ends up getting you in the end? Bobby sure didn't. He turned around in a toy store and two full magazines of 9MM bullets from two New York thugs snuffed him out. He didn't even have a chance to say a word. One minute admiring a toy train the next split second cast into the great here after.
Boom, boom, boom. Over. There was no indication he even realized what was happening.
So, here we have that last scene of the series. A goomba looking man enters a black doorway behind Tony. Tony looks up to see Meadow enter the restaurant at the tingling of the door bell.
Then blackness.
You see, Tony neither heard nor saw the "one that got him".
And, since the show was all about Tony Soprano, when he ceased to be... so did the show.
Blackness.
No more music.
Into the great here after.
Brilliant.
And at long last, the tension is over. And we all get our just rewards in the end.
Did you miss this when you posted? Please: NO profanity, NO personal attacks, NO racism or violence in posts
Geez man, get a grip, it's just a show, you don't like it, fine, don't like it. But there's no need to attack anyone.
"Come see the violence inherent in the system."
It’s a stupid interpretation. The last scene was looking at Tony. If he was shot we would have hear a blast, seen a flash, or seen a gun. None of it happened.
And that is part of Tony's depression. He is far more intelligent than his associates. He went to college for a while, and had plenty of smarts and ability to make a good living as a legitimate business man.
He did a little pro forma crying to Dr. Melfi about how anti-Italian discrimination caused him to turn out the way he did, but he knows deep down inside that he choose to be a gangster. He choose to associate with lowlifes like Sil, psychos like Paulie, druggies like Chris, half-wits like, well take your pick.
Tony realizes that he made a bad choice, but he doesn't see anyway out of his current life, except death or prison.
Thanks for that marvelous tidbit.
May I ask why, if you are not an Italian-American, you are so deeply solicitous on their behalf that you are offended by a perceived slight to them on a TV program you admit you have never watched?
If you cant see that society has be degraded by crap like this and people emulate it you are deaf dumb and blind.
Can you tell me what activities, specifically, people emulate in reference to The Sopranos? Can you furnish us with a single example?
I am done with you because you cant have a civil debate without resorting to accusations.
What did I accuse you of, exactly? Other than your own self-confessed ignorance of the program you're discussing, of course.
Did I make this accusation before or after you bizarrely described me as "Stalin"?
Oh and did my stupid question remark hurt you little feelings you pussy?
You are incapable of causing me any emotional distress. But you have given me unintended comic relief, for which I thank you.
You would provide me with even more hilarity if you were unintelligent enough to use that language to my face. I'm sure your instincts of self-preservation would kick in long before you went that far, however.
Well said.
“article about the two Deadwood movies”
Thanks for sharing. This is good news.
Gives us something to look forward to.
I am sure I would have no problem with you at all face to face. Those that attack others opinions tend to be cowards.
You really are all bluster, with that check-writing mouth of yours. Funny stuff.
Those that attack others opinions tend to be cowards.
More comedy.
So, in other words, people endowed with true courage just acquiesce completely in the opinions of others - even when those others openly admit that they have absolutely no clue what they are talking about (in this case, haven't even watched a single episode of a TV program they are magisterially pontificating upon).
People will still be talking about The Sopranos years from now precisely because of the ending.
It seems many have forgotten an important line Tony gave this season. Traveling to Florida with Paulie and then visiting with Beanzie at a restaurant, Paulie's stories of times gone by were starting to really irk Tony. Tony said something to the effect of:
"Remember When" is the lowest form of conversation.
If Chase had tidied up the ending, all people would be left with is "Remember When..."
you probably should just leave the thread. you’re acting like an idiot.
“Oh and did my stupid question remark hurt you little feelings you pussy?”
How ironic that you blast a show for debasing society and then use language that is perfectly fitting for the show...
'Sides, I love Sopranos and Big Pussy was one of my favorite characters. Too bad he got whacked.
Whoa. My apologies. I meant it for Long John whatever....sorry about that.
“The tension was so thick in those final moments that you could cut it with a knife.”
I thought it was just a mish-mash of scenes that served no point I did not like the ending as it was done at all. In fact I thought for a final episode of an award winning ground breaking drama it was very weak.
Way too much time was spent with AJ [who cares about his angst?] The cat made little sense except as a sort of comic relief, Silvio...poor Sil.
The episode reeked especially after last week’s pot boiler of classic Soprano’s.
Oh well. It was a damn good series and I am sorry to see it go.
Ditto. I long ago vowed never to watch a movie or program in which I was given the choice by the writers/creators to either pull for bad guys to win or to choose between two or several sets of bad guys. Listening to people discuss the cool ways in which Sopranos characters got killed or express dismay that other characters weren't killed just strengthened my resolve.
I wonder how many people who were obsessing over this show over the years and participated in the hubbub over the finale are bitching and moaning about the coverage Paris Hilton is getting. Ha! At least Paris Hilton is a real person!
I agree. As far as I'm concerned after the hideous season they subjected me to last year and this crappy ending - anything they make, movie, more series, etc., they can count me out. I've had it. No more Sopranos. Maybe I'll add that to my tag...
This writer is just one of those contrarian posers who’s pretending this was a “great” ending and that all the people who are pissed at the cop-out are just too stupid to have this guy’s intellectual insight. Bull! The ending sucked.
You are just do not have our deep intellectual insight and understanding. I pity you in your aesthetic poverty.
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