Might as well dive in and stake my claim in the decades long debate that just commenced this evening about the Sopranos ending, which I thought was perfect and made a lot of sense.
Kick the break room oracle in the nuts who says....
"They're just doing it to make a movie."
"What a cop out."
"That was cool how they played Journey."
"I didn't get it."
"That guy who went into the bathroom came out and whacked him."
What's wrong with people who have watched this show for 9 years and at the end they are pissed that everything wasn't wrapped up neatly? Were they paying attention at all? Suddenly this show should throw out all it's incredibly detailed structure and tone and pacing to be like Mary Tyler Moore where everyone says a tearful goodbye at the Bing and then gets shot? What did you think of the Bible's ending? Did it suck too? I'm curious.
Tell me with a straight face that the mounting dread you felt at the end was forgettable. Tell me you didn't say "goddamn cable," and scramble for the remote at the end when the screen went blank only to stare at the credits in disbelief. You got whacked.
That's bad television? What would have been good TV? Freeze frame on each character with a title card telling what happened to them?
MEADOW ran unsuccessfully for US Senator from NJ in 2025, and is now divorced. She is the head of the North Caldwell MADD chapter after her son, Christopher, was killed by a drunk driver.
How interesting.
It's a show about mid-life crisis as much as the mob, and It goes on and on and on and on. It don't stop...until It does, and then It goes on and on and on. You know the ending. Stop pretending, start believing.
"It's all a big nothing," said Livia in Season 1. Tony IS dead. Not physically, but dead nonetheless. He's trapped in a dead end life. A life of constant dread and certainty that nothing good is coming. Eating and going through the motions of control to kill time until time kills him. It's the big nothing.
Maybe the same can be said for us all and perhaps it touched a nerve with the instant gratifiers in the audience. It's a tough concept to contemplate this demise of ours. Easier and more comforting to simply say, "Well that sucked," and pack another shit sandwich to eat at the office on Monday. Each day is a gift, you know.
John From Cincinnatti...now that blows.
So right, Lar. I saw a similar reaction to the ending of the movie "Bug". I won't spoil it, but let's just say the last 5 seconds left no doubt as to the fate of the main characters. I was bored, but I got it. So I was stunned when the audience began yelling at the screen: "That was bootleg, man, they left off the end!" "What HAPPENED NEXT?" Well, not really stunned, as these same morons jibber-jabbered all the way through the movie so could not be expected to have a working brain cell in place to deal with the fact of a logical ending, one without a gift-wrap ribbon but logical nonetheless.
Posted by: Chris | June 11, 2007 at 08:21 AM
BEST SOPRANOS COMMENTARY EVER
Wait...you said that already. Worth repeating!
Posted by: Tim Andrews | June 11, 2007 at 04:03 PM
I hope the next drama series has more gratuitous nudity!
Posted by: TinMan | June 11, 2007 at 09:07 PM
It was what it was, and what it was was the most compelling television ever. Every season Tony prevailed at a higher and higher cost. After nine years, he's left with only his family. Bobby's dead, Sil's dying, Chris is gone, Paulie is a superstitious wack job. It came down to Tony, Carm, Meadow, and AJ. Just as it should have.
Posted by: FM Fats | June 11, 2007 at 09:36 PM
Call me stupid but the Sopranos finale licked balls. I was hoping for an AJ murder scene.
Posted by: Dr. Veal | June 12, 2007 at 07:34 AM
Classic David Chase, one of the best writers around. If you ever watched Northern Exposure, you already know that.
It was a perfect ending if you remember Tony and Bobby talking in the boat about what it might be like at the end, and one of them says "everything probably just goes black and never know what hit you".
Posted by: Aldaron | June 13, 2007 at 12:55 PM