Sopranos Season Finale (Spoilers)

[defrocked]

OK, who saw it and what are your thoughts?

Myself, I thought it was total bullshit. I would have been fine with an open ending, as in they all sat at the table and it faded to black, allowing us to go where we wanted with it, be it Tony going down in the Carlo flip or everything staying status quo and they live happily ever after. But to end it like they did, abrupt as shit with no resolution whatsoever, seemed uninspired. A total copout. A series highlighted with amazing writing went out on an entirely uncreative note for me.

[b-diddy]

i liked it. i dont know how you can call it uncreative. NO ONE saw it coming, and it definitly got people talking. p

plus it is totally ambiguous. at first i thought he lived, then him dieing made a ton of sense, now im thinking he lived again.

basically, its all up to you, until they decide to make the movie... which could be a prequel. anyway, i love it. i think the copout would have been showing tony die or in jail. that would be too easy.

[Big Swami]

You clearly haven't been paying attention.

The message at the end of the show is that after everything that's happened this last season, Tony is flying off the rails. His life is a disaster waiting to happen now. It no longer matters who pulls the trigger - the FBI, the Lupertazzi family, some disaster brought on by his incredibly incompetent children, one of his own people (Paulie, for example)...Tony is fucked. He's pissed away everything important to him, anything that could protect him, and now he's a sitting duck for whatever happens.

Let's look at that last scene. Who was that guy in the restaurant? How did A.J., being as stupid as he is, manage to survive his car fire or anything else? Why can't Meadow park a car? Why is Carmela just sitting there and smiling, knowing what her husband is and what he'll continue to do? Tony has set himself up for failure no matter what happens, and that's what this last scene shows. He could have done plenty of things to save himself and his family, but in the end he has failed them, and his life is going to be a constant series of disappointments and calamities from here on out.

A.J. can't handle responsibility, why is he being forced to accept more?

Meadow can't function without a big man to tell her what to do. What happens when that goes all wrong?

Carmela sold herself out for ease and comfort. What if she changes her mind, and the divorce forces the courts to take a good long look at Tony's finances?

What about the long list of people who have defended Tony, but who Tony has used up and thrown out? How is he going to survive without them?

What about the growing list of enemies that Tony has to deal with? The New York mafia, the FBI, the Arab terror suspects...Just because Phil is dead means nothing, it's a Pyrrhic victory. Now he owes the New York families more than ever - and he owes the FBI too. Tony wins the battle, but loses the war.

Tony could have made an investment of kindness into his family by showing some care for the weakest one of them all, but Tony can't stop being angry at Uncle Junior long enough to have a conversation with him.

Tony's sense of self-importance is his critical flaw. It has caused him to abandon everything that could have saved him. He's a classic Greek tragedy, and like all Greek tragedies, this flaw is his undoing. Do you really need to see how it happens? Does it matter how it happens?

I thought it was excellent.

[Zip Goshboots]

I agree with Larry King in today's Constitutional: They had a couple of cheeseburgers and went home.

[b-diddy]

did you know the mafia started as a benevolent organization in dark-ages sicilly when the Islam was in control? basically, despite what anarchists might tell you, people in societies need governments. the muslims were not exactly simpatico with the sicillians, though, so cosa nostra, as its called, stepped up to the plate, and provided rudimentry government services such as settling disputes. of course, eventually muslims were run out of sicilly, but by then cosa nostra had already dug roots and wasnt going anywhere. so what started as a good idea has been inching towards pure evil for ~1000 years. it also explains why to be a part of cosa nostra your last name and your mother's maiden name must both end in a vowel, but its preferrable to be sicillian.

also, everything i just said in the last paragraph may not be at all true.

[UxKa]

I didnt really like the ending myself. Ill accept it if one of two things happens: if they release a dvd of the supposed five endings that were filmed, or if a movie comes out. I would probably prefer the dvd. Also did anybody notice the guy who owned the sports store was in the restaurant too? Obviously the guy walking into the bathroom looked suspicious but I dont think he was going in there to get a gun like in 'The Godfather' because nobody knew Tony would be there. Then there was the guy that looked like a trucker. Basically three people in there that either A wanted Tony dead or B could have been hired/made men.

[defrocked]

I love how because I didn't like the ending I haven't been paying attention. Tony does seem to be fucked regardless, but he has for much of the series. He's always had a bounty on him, be it from another family, the feds, his own family (mob and actual) or otherwise. I just don't buy the ending. I stand by that it was uncreative because who hasn't come up with the idea of "just end it"? It's empty and unfulfilling. I would have hated to see a gorey bloodbath between Tony's family and New York, but at least they would have written something. At least they would have taken a chance. This was crap, and I really don't want to see a movie come out of it prolonging their ending some more. Leave it as it is and I'll forget the copout ending and remember the good times.

[b-diddy]

i thought a better ending would have been tony cleaning up at the bing, when some end of the night patrons to be come to the entrance, but tony says, "sorry, bars closed". something original like that.

[Zip Goshboots]

What would have been great would be the therapists sitting around and Phil Leotardo appears with his smashed head and blows them away, and then drops his gun and farts real loud.

[ojay]

I liked the ending.

It was lazy and an easy way out.

But we're all suckers for bitching about it.