Sopranos Sopranos Sopranos
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Sopranos Sopranos Sopranos
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Sopranos Sopranos Sopranos
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Sopranos Sopranos Sopranos
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Oh yeah...if you haven't watched the series finale of the Sopranos, you should close your browser. You should also probably lock yourself in a room, cut off your ears, and gouge out your eyeballs. 'Cuz, not for nothin', but that's the only way you're gonna avoid any spoilers come tomorrow morning.
So, yeah, there's your warning. I'm just sayin'.
A couple of hours ago, I hated the series finale of the Sopranos, but I've watched it two more times since then and I think it may be more brilliant than anyone will give David Chase credit for. So, "Screw you David Chase," for being so much smarter than me.
A lot of people will be pissed at the ending. They'll complain that nothing was resolved. There are tons of open plotlines. There were no real goodbye moments. There was no Sam and Diane meeting up in the last moments . There was no helicopter taking off from the encampment. Buffy and her gang didn't stare into a gaping hole and wonder "What Next?" There were no Air Force troops surrounding ALF telling him to surrender. A lot of people will be upset that it was just another show. I can sympathize.
But I liked it. Well, I liked the idea of it. The idea of ending with just an ordinary episode was great. While I personally think last week's episode would have been the perfect ending. This finale seemed like it was written to diliberately not give the fan service people were crying for. So, there were a lot of moments that seemed forced.
But damn, there were some great moments. Phil's death? Brilliant. A.J.'s car going up in flames? Hell yes. The cat? Awesome. "We're gonna win this thing!" This episode show was an exercise in building tension. And it did, all the way to the end, which had hypertensive viewers reaching for their baby apirin.
Journey on the jukebox. A poorly lit restaurant. Tony at a booth instead of a table (limiting any escape), slowly being joined by Carmella, then A.J. as patron after patron enters the diner. Each time the bell over the door rang I was sure that Tony was going to be popped. Tony, sitting with his family, surrounded by strangers was the perfect set up. Meadow, adding tension to scene, frustrated over her inability to parallel park. Steve Perry building to a crescendo. A cagey looking fellow walks towards Tony, and then right by him to the restroom. Two more wait by the jukebox, reaching into their jeans. Then, as Meadow runs in, a quick cut to black and then silence. Brilliant.
So what happened.
Put me in the Tony got killed camp. The Sopranos is a show that's to be looked at from Tony's perspective. We've looked through his eyes throughout the entire series. Scenes that take place outside of Tony's presence are about Tony. So when that scene cuts to black, that's Tony catching two in the back of the head.
My other reason? Tony's all about the music. Any time the shows final scene has music, it carries foward through the credits. Tony's our little music box and when the music stops, show's over kids.
Finally, and this one is a bigger stretch. When Mr. USA first walks into the restaurant, Tony reaches for a gun on his left side. When Mr. USA doesn't appear to be a threat, Tony relaxes. Tony does not reach for the gun at any other point before the end. I watched the ending in slow motion on the HBO2E replay (thank you DVR). If you pause right as you hear the bell over the door for the last time, Tony looks up. The expression on his face isn't a happy one ("Oh, look, my beautiful daughter.") it's one of concern ("Oh shit!"). Tony's left arm goes to his side as if he's reaching under his table for a gun. When he pulls his arm up, he pulls it as if he's actually drawing a pistol. The look on his face never changes to one of relief. Then you get the cut to black.
Fine, want a better reason? Tony is eating onion rings in the the final scene. Why? Why not french fries, or zuchinni sticks? Well, onion rings, have holes in them. Just like Tony will in just a few seconds.
Alright, so I don't know. My guess is, Chase filmed several endings and this scene is from the "Let's kill Tony" ending. They filmed it all the way through and cut it later. Maybe it'll be on the DVD.
I just really want Tony to die.
Nice ending.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Screw You David Chase (Soprano Spoilers).
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3 comments:
God Bless you, Chris, but you are wrong.
Picture the writers’ room… two groups of people standing on opposite sides of the room, one screaming, “We have to kill him! It’s what they want!” The other side screaming, “No, keep him alive! That’s what they want!” Studio execs, of course, sitting in their offices on the speaker phone screaming, “make sure we can still get a movie or a reunion out of this!”
So, since he figured he would get flak either way, he just didn’t….
He didn’t do anything.
Sure, it could be clever, but at the expense of the fans who made this show so popular? Seems a wee bit… well, it’s the actions of an asshole. A lazy one at that. “I can’t please everyone, so I’ll please no one.”
I agree with the mad amounts of tension, and I agree he did a great job of it. I normally watch this show out of the corner of one eye (the husband is the faithful viewer), but this episode actually kept my interest. And then? No payoff. This episode left me with blue balls, and I don’t even have any! It was like that game where someone pretends to punch you, but doesn’t, and then when you flinch, they laugh. That’s what the ending was like to me.
Looking back, when AJ utters that line about remembering the good times, it’s almost like Chase was apologizing. “Hey look, I didn’t know how to end it, so remember how good some parts were?” Bah! You are a well-paid writer, and I do not accept this. If the show had taken that kind of “everything is possible” attitude from the beginning, well, sure, the ending could be accepted, but it wasn’t. Chase had a story, he’d been telling the story, then when he gets to the end… he wants the viewer to decide?
Now, I can’t really fault the rest of the episode for the mess that the last 2 minutes made. I enjoyed the corruption that the rest of the Sopranos underwent because of Tony. AJ going back to his sleazy ways of working for a porn company and banging a high school student, Carmela is going back to her forced ignorance of Tony’s “work” in exchange for the benefits that his “work” produces, and Meadow’s working for the corrupt against the law. I liked the idea that no matter what they do, Tony has such an influence on them. I loved the scene with Tony and Uncle Junior… That fatalism that Tony understands when he looks at Uncle Junior. That no matter how great you were, you will end up alone in the end (and crazy and lost and weak).
Now, while I agree with you on Tony having been killed, you’re justification is a little faulty. Yes, the show is about Tony, and if it was always from Tony’s point of view, I could say with certainty that the black screen makes me believe that, yes, Tony is dead. But… the show wasn’t always from Tony’s perspective, and there were plenty of storylines that didn’t include Tony. Sure, most did, but not all, and that’s a big reason that this ending doesn’t work. I just think that if you are going to give me an ending like that, the just black screen, you need to prepare me for it. If, in fact, he did want to end the series with a “what happened to Tony,” there needed to be hints throughout the show - more unexpected, unanswered storylines.
I think the ending was a cop out. I really think Chase thought, “no matter what I do, they aren’t going to be happy, so I’ll leave it open ended and everyone will get their way!” I didn’t watch the ending to decide what I wanted to happen - that’s what fanfic is for, isn’t it? I watched to see how the writer I followed for… nine seasons had to offer. I wanted to be punched in the face; I wanted to feel it. I didn’t want to flinch and be laughed at.
Laura, Laura, Laura..
I'd agree with you about the "I can't make everyone happy, I won't do anything" scenario if Chase had ever done anything simply to make the fans happy. However, over the course of the show he's been notorious for not really caring what the fans want. He's started story lines just to leave them hanging. He's resolved major conflicts off camera during the show's incredibly long hiatuses (hiatii?). He did that whole Tony in Coma arc.
Chase is a man who just doesn't give a damn about giving the audience what they want. So I believe that this ending is exactly what he envisioned when he saw the show was ending. Now, I agree that this wasn't the best thing to do to fans who've been following the show for the last seven years. Fans probably deserved a more *M*A*S*H* like ending.
We're going to have to disagree. I'm going to lump this with Angel and Seinfeld as finales that don't finalize.
Oh Chris. I do agree with you... that we will have to disagree.
But I didn't watch Seinfeld or Angel. Well, I watched the first season of Angel, and I am learning about Seinfeld through friends ("oh you know, the one with blah, blah, blah. Oh C'mon! You saw that one, right?" I have been forced to start watching it on syndication).
Maybe it was that this finale was so hyped, or the fact that few shows these days make it to a series finale to actually conclude their story, that I think it just kind of sucked that Mr. Chase was given the opportunity, and...
I think I may have focused too much on the last two minutes. I just really wanted the money shot, so to speak. Hell, I would have settled for Tony tripping on his shoelace and falling into oncoming traffic. I just really wanted something definitive. To tell you the truth, after the scene with Meadow, I wanted him to realize how badly he was affecting the lives of the people close to him, and off himself as a sacrifice. The realization that he is not a noble man, and this one act being his only chance at doing anything noble in his life. Of course, could you imagine the flak that would have caused?
It’s okay that you liked it, though. You can still be my MySpace friend.
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