I agree. I've never been more happy with a final episode than this one. You've all got problems with it, fine. I thought it was absolutely perfect. One of the best episodes of the greatest series in history. I've always loved it, and will continue to do so.


Matt.

The way I saw that ending (my interpretation) is that Tony gets popped. Anyone disagree?

I mean the scene is so full of hints and symbols.

The consistent use of the color orange and the fact that Tony eats an orange in the final scene (remember the way Vito Corleone dies in Godfather I?).

The guy who goes to the bathroom (just as Michael Corleone does in Godfather before killing Sollozzo).

And then there's the black screen in the end, and when seen in conjunction with the flashback where Bobby says "you never see it coming" I cant understand why anyone would think that Tony doesn't get killed.

Well, my opinion at least.

Cheers
Rob

I disagree. My interpretation is that the entire series is about Tony trying to successfully balance his two families. And the series ends the moment he does it. With Meadow coming in, he has been able to bring his family together for a nice meal at the same time everything in his other family seems to be at peace. No one has any problems with what he's doing, or how he's doing it. He and Carmela have finally gotten A.J. on track, they're marriage is probably going better than it ever has. Everything is in balance. When Meadow enters, Tony has completely balanced both aspects of his life. In that one fleeting moment, everything that needs to be said, is said. The end.


Matt.

After some reflection, I still hate the ending.

All Chase was doing is hedging his bets for a possible movie in the future.  Period.

Sure, you can "interpret" the ending any way you want -- as if he is doing us some kind of big favor by letting us figure out the ending for ourselves -- and refusing to embellish on what he really had in mind.

You can like the ending if you want -- that's your choice -- but please don't use the word "brilliant".

Chase refused to put a period on his story -- and for that, I call him a coward.

You seem to be something of a follower of the show, Bert, so do you mind my asking what you were expecting from the finale? I got everything I wanted from it, you obviously didn't. I'm not attacking you or anything, but you must've gone into the finale with some measure of speculation under your belt. I'm just curious to know what you thought was lacking in the finale that made you hate it?


Matt.

Quoted from bert After some reflection, I still hate the ending. All Chase was doing is hedging his bets for a possible movie in the future.  Period. Sure, you can "interpret" the ending any way you want -- as if he is doing us some kind of big favor by letting us figure out the ending for ourselves -- and refusing to embellish on what he really had in mind. You can like the ending if you want -- that's your choice -- but please don't use the word "brilliant". Chase refused to put a period on his story -- and for that, I call him a coward.

How does that work?

It's your choice if you like it or not, but you can't think it's brilliant?

And what's brave about being limpid? Is ambiguity necessarily cowardice?

All this reminds me of Alien 3 after people found out NOOT AND HICKS were dead.

Quoted from Matthew Taylor ...what you were expecting from the finale?

I honestly don't know what I was expecting -- but something that would take my breath away, given what had gone before.

Epecially since they had to live up to "Six Feet Under", which WAS brilliant -- arguably the best finale ever in my book.  Better than MASH.  Better than anything I can think of.  That one just blew me away.

But this one -- it just blew.  Poof.  Malfi didn't even show up.  They even let Silvio live.

He knows people are gonna come clamoring for a movie -- and now I think he ended it this way so people would clamor for him to do just that.

And that pisses me off.  Tony didn't have to die.  I don't care.  That's not my point.

I think he let his fans and his characters down just in case he wanted to cash in later.  And that's the truth -- I can smell it -- no matter what he says.

Considering all the people that were taken out in the last few episodes, what would they really do for a movie?  Have Silvio recover dramatically?  Bring back Furio?  Insert Dr. Melphy back into the storyline?

To me, it seems like there wouldn't be much to go on based on the series ending, unless they reveal that Phil's crew was full of sh*t when they backed off, or they make it more about him possibly going to jail.

If they do go the movie route though, they MUST keep the gag with Paulie and the cat running.  That was great.

Quoted from bert I honestly don't know what I was expecting -- but something that would take my breath away, given what had gone before. Epecially since they had to live up to "Six Feet Under", which WAS brilliant -- arguably the best finale ever in my book.  Better than MASH.  Better than anything I can think of.  That one just blew me away. But this one -- it just blew.  Poof.  Malfi didn't even show up.  They even let Silvio live. He knows people are gonna come clamoring for a movie -- and now I think he ended it this way so people would clamor for him to do just that. And that pisses me off.  Tony didn't have to die.  I don't care.  That's not my point. I think he let his fans and his characters down just in case he wanted to cash in later.  And that's the truth -- I can smell it -- no matter what he says.

This show has never been about full closure. When was the last time it has wrapped everything up cleanly? Never. This show has nothing to do with Six Feet Under either, which was a show almost entirely based around giving closure to characters. Chase didn't do the ending because he wants to make a movie. In fact, he's said that he has no intention of making a movie unless he came up with something really good. He says that everything you need to know about the episode is all right there. It is the end of the series; just not the end of the characters. The show ended when Tony was able to succesfully balance both his familes, as said above. Once that happens, the show is over. It cuts the viewer out at that moment just like we cut right into Tony in Melfi's waiting room in the Pilot episode.

The fourth last episode of the Sopranos aired here in Melbourne last night and boy did I lose a lot of respect for Tony.

SPOILERS

At the beginning of the episode Christopher and Tony are involved in a car accident; Christopher, badly hurt and unable to get out from behind the wheel of the car, tells Tony he won't pass the drug test, so Tony covers Chris's airways and kills him. He then makes a point of going on a trip to Vegas to shag the woman that Chris used to get it on with; what a piece of shit.

Firstly Tony and the boys used to judge Chris for having a drug problem, but then they'd give him a hard time for abstaining and not hanging out at the Bing, so really they weren't as supportive as they could have been. As for Tony shagging the woman in Vegas, I guess he did that simply because he could and Christopher couldn't; nice. But then again, what else would you expect from psychopath.

Christopher was my favorite character, so it pissed me off to see him go out that way. It's even more disappointing to know that Tony isn't going to get his comeuppance for it.

The final episode of The Sopranos aired in Melbourne last night. After reading about how disappointed some of you were with it, my expectations were low, so I was pleasantly surprised with how it panned out. I'm glad the Jersey family whacked Phil and maintained their power base. I was also glad that Tony survived, even though I resented him for killing Christopher.

I thought Tony's final scene with Uncle Junior was sad. You could tell that he knew Uncle Ju was cactus and the tear in his eye and the way he stormed out indicated that he was really upset about it.

I was a little disappointed with the way AJ finished up though. After working through his depression and striving to find meaning in his life, he pretty much opted out and decided and to hide out in the decadent lifestyle of a rich kid.

All in all it was a plausible and satisfactory ending to a fabulous series.

I wonder if we’ll see more of the show’s stars popping up in movies now?

Ok, Bert, found the thread like you said and theres a lot of things said in here that surprise me.  I've done a bunch of reading on the ending and have gathered my own thoughts on it.

Quoted from dogglebe Paulie's feeling his age and turned down Guido's old job. Phil

Paulie didn't turn down the gig.  He was going to but when Tony said he would give it to Patsy instead, Paulie hated the idea of Patsy coming into all that cash -- so he accepted the offer.  Remember he gives Tony a look and says "Prick.  You always know what to say to me."  Tony took that as a yes from Paulie, patted him on the back and left him alone.  I found that whole frame pretty eerie, because Paulie is the only one alive outside of Satriale's...and that's where the entire crew used to hang.

Quoted from dogglebe While flipping through alt.tv.sopranos, I read something of interest. Remember when Bobby and Tony were fishing in the boat (at Bobby's place)?  One thing he said was, 'you never hear it coming.'  A few weeks back, when Paulie and Tony went into hiding in Florida, Paulie had a dream where Big Pussy tells Paul that you don't hear the bullet. Phil

I think it was "I bet you dont even hear it when it happens" which explains why the screen cuts to black and the music stops.  Every episode played the music until the credits were over, but the series finale didn't.

and if I remember right, Paulie had a dream about Puss but Puss didn't say anything.  Paulie asked him a question.  I forget what it was.  Something about "tell me, when my time comes -- will I stand up?"

But they do slam you with "you don't even hear it when it happens" over and over throughout the whole season.  Bobby's dialogue, Tony having the flashback of the dialogue (which is unusual in the show, flashbacks), when Philly gets whacked.  His wife doesn't register what's going on til seconds later, then she's screaming her head off.  Same thing when Jerry torchio or whatever got whacked in the restaurant with Silvio.  Sil was still talking when blood splattered on his face and he was momentarily confused before he knew what the fuck was going down.

Anyone else notice any of the little symbols and things they did at the end, like having the giant orange mascot of the cat grilling Tony from behind on the wall?

Personally I did WTF when it ended and wondered if the cable went. You watch again and it's all there. I don't think the final scenes could have been more orange in hue. It's all subtle but it's all there. As you

Slabby hits the mark. How else could it end?

In my humble it was a fine end to the best series I've ever seen. I'm off to buy the box set. I wanna see them ducks again. Fuckin' A.

I think Tony was killed myself.  I remember reading that Chase didn't want to ever show Tony getting his, though, because we've seen how people get killed on the Sopranos.  6 seasons of how people get murdered in that business and 6 seasons of some (or many) people who wanted to see Tony get his.  It's all building up...and up and up and up.  But how could you off Tony?  We've seen it all before.  And he's the main character.  The biggest most important character on the show.  I think Chase said it would have been disgusting to see everybody be happy to see Tony go, or something along those lines.  So that's why I think it ended the way it did with the whole "you dont even hear it when it happens" (which is probably true, anyway) instead of SHOWING it happen.