What a WASTE of time. I think Chase is a sellout.
The cat thing and the whole bit about whether or not Paulie would take over the construction jobs were all just big distractions. I wish they’d have used that time to clean house on a few of the threads that have been left open over the years. Whereas Tony won the little turf war with Phil, I would have had him “clean house” on some of the unfinished business from seasons past. I was really wondering whether Tony would kill Dr. Melfi.
The ending, rather than saying anything meaningful, lets folks believe whatever ending they want. That whole dinner scene ending with the blank screen allows you to determine any of three different scenarios:
1 – Tony will have to live the rest of his life looking over his shoulder. (ie: the ominous guys coming and going from the diner, each a potential threat).
2 – Tony will live happily ever after and the whole family is back together and getting along fine. (ie: all the guys coming and going from the diner were nothing after all).
3 – Tony gets hit and is killed instantly as he looks up, and is distracted by Meadow entering, the guy leaving the mens room puts a bullet in his head. This would explain all the recent metaphors about never hearing the one that gets you, and the sudden fade to black and silence.
That was the type of ending that makes dimestore psychologists and overeducated imbecile film critic types swoon.
When the screen went black, most of us wondered whether we’d paid our cable bill. Then, when the credits finally started rolling, we cursed, and questioned why we’d been loyal fans of the series for the last eight years.
In any case, it leaves everything open for sequel film(s), which was about the only valid point I think Chase made here... the point being that he’s a businessman first, and a writer second.
It’s not like we haven’t been subjected to this before. Every season, the final few episodes get tense, and a few guys get offed, but every year, they leave a LOT of unfinished business and a LOT of unanswered questions. I guess most folks thought this would be different, and that they would finally tie a bunch of loose ends into some form of cohenrent ending one way or the other... WRONG.
Well... I’m thinking I’ll probably cancel HBO today.
Be careful what you ask for. After Godfather II a lot of people wanted to know what happened to Michael.
The end result was Godfather III.