Sopranos: The Last Episodes (spoilers)

Originally Posted by tonylumpkin

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Just to **** with us. And what was up with the cat?

The diner scene was masterfully put together though. You didn't know who was going to get it or if all of them were going to get it or if the diner was going to blow up. Talk about tension!

Yeah, I was literally on the edge of my chair.

Originally Posted by Connemara

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Some questions: What was the significance of the two black guys? The guy in the bathroom? The one with the trucker hat?

I think it's pretty clear that Tony was looking towards the bathroom in the last shot - there was also the sound of a door opening, so presumably the dude in the Members Only jacket was coming out. The question is whether he was an assassin about to shoot Tony or whether he was just some guy. I kind of liked the ambiguity of the ending, it fit in well with the rest of the series.

Originally Posted by bryce330

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I think it's pretty clear that Tony was looking towards the bathroom in the last shot - there was also the sound of a door opening, so presumably the dude in the Members Only jacket was coming out. The question is whether he was an assassin about to shoot Tony or whether he was just some guy. I kind of liked the ambiguity of the ending, it fit in well with the rest of the series.

I thought he looked towards the front door of the restaurant...remember that Meadow was just waltzing in.

Chase loves red herrings like the guy in MO jacket.

I thought it was total bullshit. "We don't know what kind of ending to come up with so let's just make the screen go blank and then everyone can talk about what they think happened." When really, nothing at all happened because it's fiction. It doesn't happen unless they write it. Total cop out in my opinion.

I thought it was total bullshit.

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Me too. Very disappointed.

"We don't know what kind of ending to come up with so let's just make the screen go blank and then everyone can talk about what they think happened."

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Bingo.

The Sopranos forums are abuzz with theories and comments on the episode...there's a lot of negativity regarding Chase's decision to end the series like this.

A lot of people are looking back to the first episode of this season, when Tony and Bobby are on the boat. Tony tells him, "You never hear it coming." Then, we're in the diner, and suddenly the screen goes black. We've been seeing the world of the Sopranos unfold through Tony's eyes, so does absolute darkness mean he's dead?

A pretty chilling ending now that I think about it.

EDIT: But the big question is...who the **** would've put a hit out on Tony? Phil's dead.

Originally Posted by odoreater

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I thought it was total bullshit. "We don't know what kind of ending to come up with so let's just make the screen go blank and then everyone can talk about what they think happened." When really, nothing at all happened because it's fiction. It doesn't happen unless they write it. Total cop out in my opinion.

+1

I've watched every episode religiously waiting for the action of the initial 3 seasons to return to the screen; instead, I was bored to death every week. They had the opportunity to make a great ending but it was a total copout.

Meadow can't drive for shyt.

MrR

I think the diner scene was just to f with us, since you're suspicious of everyone until the very end. I think the dude in the members only jacket was FBI.

I thought it was a great ending. Obviously the story of their lives continues - how else could they have ended the series? If you want to speculate, the FBI is closing in on putting Tony in the slammer - that was definitely one of the main plot lines that went from season to season, and the FBI never stopped their pursuit, although we were side tracked by Johnny Sacked getting nabbed. Tony is still a freakin' criminal and a mob boss. The FBI informant was never really Tony's "friend" and as you can tell about his excitement of another possible piece of evidence to put Tony away - Tony acting on the info in order to whack Phil.

I don't think Sopranos is a story you can end to feel like you have "closure." That's not the nature of the show. I agree there were a lot of things in the earlier seasons that never got resolved, and it was said the last season was to answer all this. I never expected that to happen, therefore I'm not too disappointed that it didn't.

No one is ever really satisfied how writers end series' anyway, and people will express disappointment. I curious, for those that didn't like the ending, generally, what would you like to have seen or have resolved?

on Carlo flipping :

I loved that cooltrucker like a brother, and ********* me **********

smiley_Paulie

I'd like a link to some of the Sopranos' discussion forums, especially about the finale.

I've never been a big Sopranos fan and found the entire series horribly overrated. Nowhere near as funny as Analyze This, nowhere near as nihilistic and gritty as Goodfellas, nowhere near as campy as Casino, and without the moral compass of The Godfather. The entire series is derivative, and Tony Soprano is so physically repulsive I've always found the series barely watchable as a result. Carmela's annoying lisp was a big turn-off.

I always found the Sopranos to be more of a Jersey/suburban hell version of The Simpsons as opposed to a gripping mafioso action thriller/soap opera.

OK, now I bag on the finale. Lame. As others have pointed out, a 'big boom' ending of the entire Soprano family is hinted at at episode's end, but all story threads point to indictment, a long trial, and a long stint in the can for Tony Soprano. The concluding scene IS tense, but only because a) Tony keeps looking to the door, and b) just about everybody else gets whacked so obviously, the possibility that TS falls too is a distinct possiblity, although few elements in the plot suggest this is a logical possibility.

Yawn.

Who the hell is Carlo again!? For someone who watched the series religiously, that escaped me, or I'm having a temporary brain fart.

2Sweet: No offense, but your opinion that the finale was a yawn, is not insightful, to say the least, especially after prefacing your "review" that you disliked the series from the start and despised the main character (or at least the guy playing him).

OK, I'll try to elaborate on what I mean. Again, this is from the viewpoint of a casual viewer of the Sopranos.

The ending is very gimmicky, in the sense that it employs cliched mannerisms and camera work to build tension: a) TS constantly looking up and towards the door b) a variety of semi/possibly shady characters walking in after TS looks, c) Meadow running in with a panicked expression, and constant camera panning towards the door every few seconds. This is about as subtle a maneuvre as hitting the viewer over the head with a frying pan.

I find this ending insults the viewer's intelligence. Logically, the story builds to indictment and a jail term for TS, but a happy ending for his "innocent"/morally virtuous family. TS principle enemy is already dead. TS has arrived at a truce in other potential feuds. Perhaps TS gets a break and makes a deal with the feds. This all makes sense.

But the writers want to have their cake and eat it too. The story makes sense, but the ending hints at explosive retribution. But from whom? It's just silly. The writers ran out of ideas, and the series was never really that good to begin with. Compare it to any of the other standards in mafioso pics, and The Sopranos barely registers.

I don't ever recall a mafioso series. You can't compare the Sopranos to the 3-4 hour movies of Godfather, Casino, and Goodfellas. It wasn't meant to be the same idea.

Could Chase have ended the series differently, and "better"? Sure. I don't know what that is, since I'm not the writer or creator of the show, he is. I'm not thoroughly happy with the ending, however. I wouldn't call it a cop-out, but I think Chase was trying too hard at the end. In fact, there is a taste of, "ha ha, so what do you think happened?" smugness.

Maybe the series did end with Tony getting whacked.


Remember the scene on the boat when Bobby and T are wondering if you hear the bullet that takes you out?

Screen goes black. T never heard the shot.

Originally Posted by Stax

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Maybe the series did end with Tony getting whacked.


Remember the scene on the boat when Bobby and T are wondering if you hear the bullet that takes you out?

Screen goes black. T never heard the shot.

Yeah, maybe.