Can you believe that???????????

I just posted the same thing on the other Sopranos thread. I had a feeling after last week this was gonna happen....I thought my cable went out at the end. Then the credits come up.......This was David Chase saying FU to all Sopranos fans.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-06-11 05:36 by sweetcharmedlife.

It just ended! One way to do it I guess.......
It sure pissed us off!

Fred Hardin
Pleased to meet you........

Perfect end. Remember Tony said at one point: "You probably never hear it when it happens" (referring to getting killed. Tony Soprano died.

I think the point is that it never ends. Read the lyrics to the Journey song playing. Tony's immediate family was summed up in that song as if the series was written to it. It had your heart beating at the end I bet. Anything else was way too predictable.

the theme of the whole show is the pointlessness of life- it was the perfect end

OLDKR

Anybody I know...I mean ANYBODY...could have written a better ending to this great show...Last weeks episode would have been a better place to end.
I mean really...Did you guys just completely run out of ideas?!
Very poor Chase and friends! Very poor.

I think my ending idea was better: Tony and his daughter are having an argument while standing over an ancient Indian burial ground. Lighting strikes both and WHAAZOO! They switch bodys. Watch the madness unfold

it sucked, but whenever a show is this big and the ending is built up so much it is nearly impossible to pull it off...

MASH and Cheers come to mind. And there are many others.

I guess they felt they could come up with an incredible ending so why bother trying and they went in the opposite direction.

this ending could only mean one thing, SEE YOU IN THE THEATERS

............the episode was brilliant. Watch it again and take careful notes.....so much was packed in to the episode..........just like last week......... The entire series was absolute genius and will be missed.

What a way to get whacked! Eating onion rings and listening to Journey.

It sucked ONLY if there's a movie...that means it was a cliffhanger disguised as a finale. Otherwise, it was pretty clear...he was watching Meadow come through the door and didn't see it coming when he got popped in the head...LIGHTS OUT!!!

No need to see anyone's reaction or even the actual hit...it was Tony's show. We saw it the way he did and then he was gone...the last word was "stop"...it's over...

If I'm wrong and there's a movie...it was a shameless ploy for more dollars. If I'm right, it will become a legendary and forever discussed ending.

I disagree. I don't think he gets killed.

The lyrics say: "The movie never ends. It goes on and on and on and on."

Tony goes on looking over his shoulder about getting killed. He had to look up every time the door opened. He will until the day he dies. And he goes on having to worry about going to jail and always will. That's his life and always will be until he dies, goes to jail, or ends up like Junior.

I liked how he told Junior that he and his brother used to run North Jersey and Junior said, "That's nice." It didn't matter in the end. And it doesn't really matter that Tony runs North Jersey either, because its not worth it. And that's the life he's stuck with. That's why at the end he said you have to enjoy the good times while they're here. At least it shows his family heading in the right direction.

"You'll be studying history and you'll be down the gym. And I'll be down the pub, probably playing pool and drinking."

Never considered the "lights out" part was the hit. And they made sure to reference the "you never hear it part" twice this last season. I think I have to agree. When you look at it that way it was a genius ending. Chase was always ahead of the curve with this show.

Loved it. My wife and I stayed up until 1:00 am discussing it. IMHO..there will be more folks. I still say Tony's mother is alive and working with Junior and the FBI to set Tony up.

What a way to finish !!
Its entire personnal how you want to end it!!Depends on your imagination. I couldnt thing of a better way to (even more) immortalize this amazing piece of art. You decide,but the doubt will allways remain !!

Already 100 pages on HBO message board talking about this episode !!!

[boards.hbo.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-06-11 20:23 by arizojp.

Steven Van Zandt has already dropped hints about a possible Sopranos movie.

SPOILER ALERT: DON'T READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN IT

Agree it was a great ending. Leave it wide open - no better way to make it memorable. But, I thought the episode was, in general, poor. Too many scenes and topics introduced for little purpose:

- Other than a little faint symbolism don't see what the scenes with Junior added. That Tony might end-up one day with no memory, or not caring about his life?

- What did the Janice scenes offer? Just Tony tying-up loose ends?

- AJ's car fire and his career changes: what was the purpose of this? Are we supposed to assume something about Tony from it?

- Why was the "little guy" from NY so quick to turn on Phil? What, one rude phone call and he doesn't care if Tony wacks Phil?

- All the stuff with Paulie: what did this add to the episode other than taking-up time?

- The scene with Silvio: nothing was said. What are you supposed to get from that?

Karl

Different ends on east coast and west coast broadcast !!!!!!!!!

[4tvs.com]

I think they just wanted Tony to have final scenes with Uncle Junior, Janice and Syl. I think it would have been worse if they never wrapped up the Syl and Uncle Junior storylines.

I liked the Uncle Junior scene and was trying to figure out if he was really senile or was just faking it to get sympathy and some money from Tony. If you watch the scene closely it appears as if he does recoginize who Tony is.

arizojp Wrote:
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> Different ends on east coast and west coast
> broadcast !!!!!!!!!
>
> [4tvs.com]


Well I watched it on the East coast and saw Tony look up and then the screen goes blank. Maybe the poster in that forum had it backwards? Maybe the West coast actually saw Meadow walk into the diner?

Did anyone see her actually walk into the diner?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2007-06-12 00:41 by FrankM.

FrankM Wrote:
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> I think they just wanted Tony to have final scenes
> with Uncle Junior, Janice and Syl. I think it
> would have been worse if they never wrapped up the
> Syl and Uncle Junior storylines.
>


Frank, I agree with your general premise, but didn't feel like the storylines were very well "wrapped-up". I guess that maybe that was Chase's point, that sometimes things don't neatly tie-up, they just end.

Really just upset they used Journey to end the show. "Don't Stop" might have been a better choice!!

Karl

Here are 5 reasons why Tony Soprano died in the finale of the Sopranos.

1 - Godfather references - In a show that has reveled in Godfather references one can not ignore the references in the final episode. The most damning of references is Tony eating an orange when talking with Carm earlier in the episode. It is well known that in the Godfather films, the inclusion of oranges have always preceded some sort of death or tragedy. There are two more references to the Godfather in the final scene. The obvious is the creepy guy going into the bathroom; nobody expects that he came out with just his dick in his hand do they? The less obvious is the quote Tony uses when describing the onion rings. Tony says they are "The best in the city" and this is the same quote used to describe the food at the restaurant in the Godfather shortly before Michael carries out the hit.

2- Members Only - The creepy guy going into the bathroom had on a Members Only jacket. This is significant because in the FIRST episode of this season Eugene is made fun of for wearing the same jacket. In the same episode Tony rejects Eugene's plea to leave the mob and as a result Eugene hangs himself. The creepy guy in the Members Only jacket could be a relative of Eugene's seeking revenge for what Tony did to his family. This would also explain why Tony is killed even though the hit on him was called off.

3- Death Discussions - In this season Tony talks with both Bobby and Sil about death. In the boat with Bobby it is discussed that you probably don't see it coming and things just go black. This scene is also observed later in the season via flashback, further during home its significance. The discussion with Sil comes after the New York capo is hit in the restaurant. The guy didn't see it coming, nor did Sil until it was to late. Sil discusses this event as surreal.

4- Meadow Can't Park - Meadows parking problem delays her getting into the restaurant resulting in her not sitting next to Tony. If his daughter is sitting next to him, Tony probably does not die on that day as there is not a clear shot. The shooter would not risk shooting around Meadow, so her not being there is significant.

5- Abrupt Cut - Every episode of the Sopranos ends with music and the picture fading to black and then the music continues over the credits. Until now. The abrupt cut to black and silence, then holding on black and silence for a while suggests that what Bobby and Tony discussed on the boat is true. He does not see it coming and then everything is just black and silent. This must have been what is was like for Phil, talking to his grandchildren one moment and the next everything is black and silent.

It is my opinion that Tony dies in front of his family, just like Phil.

..........just an opinion............one of thousands.........

Rip This Wrote:
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> ..........just an opinion............one of
> thousands.........


well no duh

if not for opinions why have message boards

hey Radio Marv............it sounds like you are struggling with the episode(s) so here's something maybe that will help wrap it up for you..........it's from AP writer Jocelyn Noveck. Hope this helps..........



And so on the first day of Year One A.T.—After Tony, that is—the "Sopranos"-viewing world was split in two camps.
One was muttering bitterly into its morning coffee at the open-ended conclusion of the epic series, a banal family moment over onion rings that would have delighted existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre, author of "Being and Nothingness."

The other was lavishly praising the iconic HBO drama for capturing life's essential ambiguity and disorderliness.

Forget Tony for a minute—the guy's been psychoanalyzed for years. Does all this say anything about US?

For some popular culture critics, the two reactions speak to the difference between entertainment and art, and which of them we want. If we wanted pure entertainment, there was obvious disappointment—no, aggravation—in a finale that set up threats to Tony's life in that last diner scene, then ended abruptly.

But if we see it as art, they say, then why should we object to the artist—series creator David Chase, said to be vacationing in a French chateau Monday—painting final brush strokes on his masterpiece as he wishes? And in retrospect, aren't unanswered questions in perfect keeping with the moral ambiguity that's infused the whole series? And aren't loose ends a huge part of life?

"In our popular culture, we've come to expect things to get tied up neatly," said Jerry Herron, a professor at Wayne State University in Michigan, who found the ending brilliant. "The claim that Chase is making as an artist here is, real life doesn't have neat endings.

"You want Tony blown away? You want him in jail? Chase is saying, 'Fine, you write that script,'" Herron said. "He's saying that life goes on, and art goes on, and he's just going to end it right here."

Brilliant wasn't a good enough word for screenwriting professor Richard Walter, of the UCLA Film School, to describe Sunday night's finale. "That's too tame," he said. "This was genius!"

"Sure, I was frustrated," Walter said of the final cut-to-black as Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" played on the jukebox. "But you don't want everything tied up with a neat ribbon on it. I don't know what's going to happen in MY life. Do you know what's going to happen in yours?"

One thing was clear: around office water coolers, on blogs and on message boards, people wanted to talk about the finale. Their most immediate question: had the cable gone on the fritz? (The final cut was followed by a few seconds of darkness and silence before the credits rolled.) For some watching on DVRs or TiVo, there was also a moment of fear that the show had run over and they'd missed the ending—a frustration that occurred with this year's "American Idol" finale.

Nielsen Media Research didn't immediately have ratings information. However, preliminary estimates indicated viewership at the four biggest broadcast networks was down in double-digit percentages compared to last year. And HBO said its Web site crashed shortly after the episode due to the volume of people checking in and posting messages. There were 364,000 page views a second at its peak—"just astronomical," said spokesman Jeff Cuson. It took a half hour to get the Web site up again, and an hour for the bulletin boards.

The blogosphere was buzzing as well. On technorati.com, a site that monitors blog activity, the second-most popular term Monday morning was "Sopranos," after "YouTube." (It even beat out Paris Hilton, down to No. 4.)

For many fans, there was disappointment, befuddlement, even rage. "YOU GUYS GOT ROBBED—MAJOR BIG TIME!!!!!", one wrote on HBO's message board. "David Chase left way too many loose ends dangling in the air, and too many questions unanswered."

Some critics agreed. "Tony and Gang Whack Fans," read the front-page headline of the New York Post, which pronounced the finale "spectacularly disappointing." Yet others argued the opposite. "Chase was true to himself, and that's what made 'The Sopranos' brilliant on Sunday night, and the 85 episodes that went before," wrote The AP's Frazier Moore.

Some suspected that Chase had an ulterior motive for pulling his punches, plotwise: a future "Sopranos" movie.

"The line to cancel HBO starts here," wrote Hollywood analyst Nikke Finke on her Deadline Hollywood Web site. "What a ridiculously disappointing end ... Even if David Chase ... was demonstrating the existential and endless loop of Tony's life or the moments before the hit that causes his death, it still robbed the audience of visual closure. And if it were done to segue into a motion picture sequel, then that kind of crass commercialism shouldn't be tolerated. There's even buzz that the real ending will only be available on the series' final DVD. Either way, it was terrible."

As Monday wore on, however, there was the sense among some people that the ending, so frustrating at first viewing, was a lot more plausible after a night's sleep.

"I was really annoyed watching it," said Marlene Windmiller, a New York attorney and mother. "But now as I think about it, it makes more sense. You know, it was what it was. There really was no more left to say."

To one of the nation's top television analysts, critiquing the "Sopranos" finale seemed a little like picking apart a famous work of literature—for example, by James Joyce or T.S. Eliot—and saying parts of it don't work.

"Every critic says this is one of the greatest works of art ever made for the small screen," said Robert Thompson, of Syracuse University's Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture. "You can't second- guess the artist."

He compared the ending to that of another popular HBO drama, "Sex and the City," in which Carrie Bradshaw finally got her man, Mr. Big. "Now, that was satisfying," Thompson said. But was it real? "You had these independent women pairing off like Noah's ark," he said.

"This was disappointing, sure," said Thompson, who initially thought that Chase, who'd been rumored to have shot three endings, simply forgot to add one of them on. "But you could also say this is what the show needed to do to stay true to itself."

There are a lot of crazy rumors floating around out there about the guys in the diner. The guy that goes into the bathroom did not play Phil's nephew in another episode nor was he Tony's bodyguard in another episode as some rumors suggest. The truck driver and two African American guys were not in any previous episodes either.

There is also a rumor that the missing footage (the blank screen time) will be released on the dvd when it comes out. We'll have to wait and see about that one.

Here's a couple more rumors I heard. First of all,last week's episode was supposed to be the last. But HBO talked Chase into doing one more episode,so he did this to piss them off...Also I'll have to watch the credits again,but supposedly the guy who walked into the bathroom was listed in the credits as Phil's brother...............Overall I thought it sucked. I didn't expect David Chase to wrap it up a neat bow. But I didn't expect to be left with more open storylines than they started with.