You know, given the trends in this show over the last few seasons, I should've correctly predicted that the show would end with a thundering anti-climax, but dammit if they didn't suck me in with the hype one last pitiful time. David Chase can take his naked contempt for the show's fanbase and shove it up his ass.
They had me sitting there on the edge of my seat thinking the worst was coming. It just kept building and building...and then nothing. Thanks for going out with a whimper rather than a bang, Sopranos.
I watched the whole episode expecting SOMETHING big to happen. At the very end, I said to my wife that I just bet NOTHING will happen. Man, what a let down. Count me among the disappointed with the ending. Just blah. Not the way the show should have gone out.
Fry crack corn and I don't care Leela crack corn I still don't care Bender crack corn and he is great Take that you stupid corn!
"just because you ARE a character does not mean you HAVE character.."
Talk about foreshadowing, when Phil was talking to his grandchildren going, "Say goodbye! Say goodbye!" A moment later his car is rolling over his skull.
The sudden black screen was a reference to the conversation Bobby and Tony had. In it he asked what it would be like to get whacked, he replied that there would be nothing, no sound, just black or something to that effect.
I've just been to 4-5 different message boards and read hundreds of posts...people are so furious. Half of them think the signal went out on their cable or dish, the other half are calling for a boycott of HBO.
Snoop around the net, you'll see how angry everyone is.
My first reaction was, "What the F!" But looking back now, I think it was a good ending. It could've meant any number of different things. I think Tony probably got whacked, but would it have changed things if we had seen it definitively happen? Probably not. It would have left a bitter taste in a lot of fans' mouths and we would have been upset to see the show end so abruptly.
Captain Cuba has it right. The ending scene cutting to black was the ending. Earlier this season Sil had told Tony that he didn't even know what was going on when that guy got whacked at the restaurant. And while on the boat, Bobby told Tony that you don't even hear it coming. The final scene showed us everything we needed to know. We saw people come in from Tony's point of view. The cut to black (without the music) was the end of Tony Soprano.
In reality there were only two possible endings. Tony gets killed and that's your predictable tragic ending or Tony lives and you are left guessing what happens next which you will never get an answer to. Chase just let you take your pick.
To each their own. But the ending perfectly references what others have mentioned - what happens when someone gets whacked.
Tony is shot and killed.
There's a flashback in the second last episode involving Tony and Bobby on the lake - Bobby wonders, "I wonder if you hear the one that gets you..."
Tony didn't hear the one that got him. That's why it cuts to black.
Someone (ie. Paulie, someone from New York, etc) decided to turn and do Tony the same way he did Phil. That's clear from the setup of the final scene vis-à-vis the hit on Phil, which was done in front of his family (very much against mob principals, a behavior pattern which many in the New York families despised about Tony).
I don't know why so many are declaring that nothing was tied up. Like American Beauty said: look closer. It does make sense, but unfortunately, it isn't clear immediately. Or maybe I should say fortunately... because I appreciate the ending now, the more I think about it.
And as for how it was done, the show has always been about Tony and his point of view. Once he's dead, there is no more show. Cut to black. Over. No nice fade-to-black so we can wonder how things turned out.
Maybe those of you who started to like this show so much because of the gunfire, strippers, cash, goomars, and escalades should come to grips with the fact that this show is about intense drama instead.
I hated the ending at first, but now I have come to understand it. You just had to really store away little things like all the conversations in past seasons about "what happens when you get whacked."
Originally posted by chillTony is shot and killed.
There's a flashback in the second last episode involving Tony and Bobby on the lake - Bobby wonders, "I wonder if you hear the one that gets you..."
Tony didn't hear the one that got him. That's why it cuts to black.
It can certainly be inferred that he was killed. But people seem to be saying for sure that he was, and what I'm saying is that I don't think they intended to make it seem like Tony died. I think they pretty clearly left it open to many interpretations. Perhaps I'm misinterpreting what has been said.
Incidentally, your point about the series coming from Tony's point of view is exactly why I don't think he died. Several times in the final scene, they shot it from Tony's point of view and showed us what Tony saw as people came into the diner. But the final shot was of his face as he looked up. If the cut to black was supposed to indicate his death, it would have made a lot more sense for the final shot to again come from Tony's POV (which obviously would have ceased when he died) rather than from in front of him.
Originally posted by chillMaybe those of you who started to like this show so much because of the gunfire, strippers, cash, goomars, and escalades should come to grips with the fact that this show is about intense drama instead.
Chill's post was great, and this particular sentence reminded me of the controversy over the Seinfeld finale. The Sopranos' ending reminded me of the Seinfeld finale in the sense that it was technically a good way to end things, but it didn't quite work out in the actual viewing experience. Mostly, in my opinion, because it wasn't very funny, but also because it really differed structurally and content-wise from literally every other Seinfeld episode in the series history. For instance, having the Seinfeld gang sent to prison (by all of the supporting characters) for being self-absorbed corresponded with what Seinfeld/David thought about the characters and the show's premise, but that was different than what the audience's perception and expectation of the show had become over the years.
To contrast, look at the well-received finales of Raymond, Frasier and Friends: each episode delivered more or less what the audience expected in each finale, and since that was delivered well, everyone was happy. I use sitcoms in this case since I get bored with a lot of dramas and usually switch off long before they approach their final season.
David Chase had said numerous times that he always had a particular ending in mind for the series, and I think people were just expecting something more mind-blowing, especially after the excitement of the most recent run of episodes. People wanted a definitive period at the end of the sentence, not a semi-colon.
Listening to the radio this morning, there are two strong rumors going around:
#1. You'll have to buy the Soprano's final season dvd set to see the complete ending.
#2. Tony was indeed whacked, but they ended the show that way so it would give them a loophole if they wanted to continue the series sowewhere far down the road, or if there possibly would be a Soprano's movie.
I enjoyed the Phil hit. I could have lived with the ending, as I wasn't expecting Chase to go with a clean ending just in case he can make a pot of gold in a few years with some sort of reunion show/movie. Would have preferred if Tony took Junior for ice cream instead, but that goes back to Junior's 'Can I have some ice cream' classic when his mind started to go. The annoying part was 'The Many Faces of AJ'. How many personalities can he have in 1 episode? The second most annoying character of them all and he becomes the focus of the finale? He should have been left at the bottom of the pool.
'Ric Flair wishes he was Paul Roma.' Congratulations Paul on winning the Idiotic Comment of the Decade Award.
Originally posted by Sterling GoldenWithout an onscreen death of Tony, the door is left open. Walk through that door to Sopranos...The Movie.
I don't buy that he left it that way so he could come back to it later. I think this ending fits his personality and hatred toward those that complain when they don't get to see enough violence. He lead us perfectly to what it would be like if Tony got whacked. Just black. Nothing else. Then he gave it to us, knowing that those who pay attention would get it and those that just want the gore would hate him.
I don't watch the Sopranos, but I know a lot about the show from hearing others talk about it. That ending sounds intriguing, and it's something that makes me more interested to start watching the show on DVD. Count me as an uninformed and unreliable "I like it."
Lloyd: When I met Mary, I got that old fashioned romantic feeling, where I'd do anything to bone her. Harry: That's a special feeling.
Originally posted by samoflangeI don't watch the Sopranos, but I know a lot about the show from hearing others talk about it.
I don't watch it, either, but I figured I'd catch the ending since I wouldn't have been able to NOT hear about it and still decide to watch the show later on. I flipped to it when AJ was driving the car from the school and watched the last ten or so minutes, and it was VERY tense and well-done, but then my immediate thought was "OH MANNNNNN people are going to be PISSED." I'm not sure that's a good thing.
Hasn't Chase said all along he knew exactly how he was going to end the series, though? This ending would have worked on some level no matter how many seasons they had made, right?
Holy fuck shit motherfucker shit. Read comics. Fuck shit shit fuck shit I sold out when I did my job. Fuck fuck fuck shit fuck. Sorry had to do it....
*snip*
Revenge of the Sith = one thumb up from me. Fuck shit. I want to tittie fuck your ass. -- The Guinness. to Cerebus
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Sometimes They Come Back is really one of the only "tv movies" that I have thoroughly enjoyed. Oh, and bought Potter on Blu-Ray tonight of course. I am interested to see what "opening scene" from the final movie they will give me.