'The Sopranos': Fade to black

It was an ending that, if nothing else, had millions on their feet. In what may be the first case of finalus interruptus, David Chase, faced with deciding between a bang and a whimper, chose neither. Instead the creator of “The Sopranos” decided to fool millions of Americans into believing their cable had gone out for possibly the most important moment in the history of televised drama.

The final scene of the final episode of “The Sopranos” had all the elements of traditional climax down to the benign plate of onion rings Tony “ordered for the table.” As the Soprano family gathered in a diner, the light was mellow, the talk was mundane and Tony (James Gandolfini) kept one eye on the door, watching any number of possible assassins or smug federal agents as they poured sugar in their coffee or visited the men’s room (possibly to retrieve, à la “The Godfather,” their weapons cache). Then, just as Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler) joined the group, and the tension became virtually unbearable — szzzz. Blank screen.

For several agonizing moments, America was united ... in uttering every profanity known to man as millions of hands reached for millions of remotes, while partners and friends yelled, “No, no, don’t touch it!”

Then, silently, the credits began to roll and somewhere Chase was, no doubt, having a pretty good laugh.

Not a predictable way to end what is now constantly referred to as the most significant television show ever, but then Chase has reveled in his unpredictability from the start. Certainly the show’s setup — a depressed mob boss seeks solace in psychotherapy — was a bit off-template. And through the eight years the show has ruled cable, Chase has consistently refused to bend for dramatic convention; the creation of characters and situations that rose to shuddering heights only to disappear two beats before climax has become one of his hallmarks. The Russian mobster simply disappeared into the snow; this season Little Vito seemed primed to “go Columbine” only to vanish from the scene. In the previous episode, Chase summarily dispensed with the beloved Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) through a rat-a-tat series of ridiculous events that had the psychiatric community in an uproar last week  — no self-respecting shrink would allow herself to be conned, at a stupid dinner party, into believing that all those years were worthless. And fans wondered  whether Chase and his writers had forgotten what it was they had loved about the show in the first place.

So after the initial heart palpitations have slowed, the surprise ending does not seem quite so surprising. The episode that led up to it, that alleged final episode ever, was workaday “Sopranos.” Or as workaday as it could be with Bobby dead, Sil almost dead, and the Feds apparently working a turncoat. and Rapt viewers analyzed every detail, from the look on Paulie’s (Tony Sirico) face after Tony asked him to take over Carlo’s operation, to the songs on the jukebox in the final scene.

Chase wrote the episode alone, and he was clearly enjoying himself, playing on the fact that people had their own expectations — odds were Tony would get whacked — and would bring to these details what they wanted to bring. He even managed to insert a little lecture about the downtrodden scriptwriter through an old “Twilight Zone” episode playing in the background of one scene.

Much of the narrative dealt with the state of that interminable whiner A.J. (Robert Iler). As he prepared to commit statutory rape (his girlfriend is a junior in high school), his car caught fire and he experienced, he told his therapist, the thrill of destruction. Tony, of course, was furious because he had already told A.J. the danger of parking the SUV in leaves — “you could grill a steak on that convertor.” The things that haunted Tony for the last eight episodes were suddenly nonexistent. Christopher’s death had improved his gambling luck (though he had picked up a stray cat that did nothing but stare at Chris’ picture). He even came to some sort of terms with Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese), a man bitter even without his memories. “The two of you ran north Jersey,” Tony told Junior. “Did we? That’s nice,” Junior answered before gazing blankly out the window.

With the exception of that scene, and the fact that Tony’s operatives were finally able to locate and whack Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent), it was as if none of these people realized this was the final episode of “The Sopranos.” (Except the cat. The cat seems to realize.) In one scene, as Tony managed to turn a conversation with A.J.’s therapist into a conversation about him — “My mother was a very difficult woman. I didn’t have a very happy family life” — the look on Carmela’s (Edie Falco) face was priceless. And for a moment it was as if Tony’s years in therapy, his entire character arc, the entire show for that matter, had never happened. People were trying to kill him, his son had just attempted suicide and was now joining the Army, and again it was all about him and his mother. All that hard work for nothing.

Which may be exactly what many people were feeling as Journey sang “Don’t Stop Believin’.” while the Sopranos sat in a diner, and it was then that the television went dead.

Chase is possibly the only man in America who could get away with such a thing, and maybe he shouldn’t. While it is one thing to flout the conventions of television, it’s another to flip dramatic tradition, not to mention your audience, the bird. No, he didn’t owe us any neat endings, nor some sort of final word on the nature of good and evil. But after eight years, he did owe us catharsis, some sort of emotional experience that would, if not sum up the entire eight years, leave us with something more meaningful than instant panic and lingering irritation. In the end, the art of writing is the art of making choices. Ending a series with the social weight of “The Sopranos” is not an enviable task, but end it must, and not with the sophomoric gesture of a blank screen.

Yes, people will be talking about the show tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, but they probably won’t be talking about Tony Soprano or any of the work the very fine cast of actors and writers has done over the years. They’ll be talking about how frustrating the blank screen was. In fear of tainting the legacy of “The Sopranos” — if Tony really was just one more truly bad man, some viewers would feel betrayed; if he went from antihero to hero, others would feel the same — Chase has offered us instead an epic novel with a do-it-yourself ending.

And, of course, the distinct possibility of "The Sopranos: The Movie."

-- Mary McNamara

Update from Mary:

The blank screen.

In less than 24 hours, it has become the obelisk from “2001,” the Rorschach blot, Stonehenge and “Ulysses” all rolled into one. The sudden blank screen that marked the final moments of the final episode of “The Sopranos” is the new dark mirror in which viewers see the reflections of their own dreams and desires. In hundreds of responses, to my personal mailbox and in the comment area here, readers have deconstructed that image with the passion and alacrity of literary theory post-grads on an espresso bender.

The blank screen signified Tony’s death (exactly as he described it to Bobby on their fateful fishing trip), it was David Chase literally “pulling the plug” on his creation. It represented the paranoia in which Tony lived his life, Uncle Junior’s descent into Alzheimer’s, the repressed panic of the female characters. The sudden darkness symbolized the demise of the Italian community, the corruption of the American soul, of American television or (my personal favorite) Chase’s commentary on the country’s dependence on cable TV.

The theories are bountiful and boundless and reveal a level of sophistication that, while not surprising among fans of such a multi-layered and literate show, seems to contradict the conventional wisdom that television kills creative thought, if not actual brain cells, among viewers.

Nobody would call these “Sopranos” fans couch potatoes.

Obsessive, perhaps—here’s to the one reader who looked up the entire “Twilight Zone” episode and the other who matched the songs Tony passed over on the jukebox to the stages of his life—but then isn’t obsession one requirement of intelligent analysis?

But there is an overall awareness of how television, and the writing process, works, of what the show stood for, both philosophically and within the entertainment industry.

It all goes to prove one point: that it didn’t really matter how Chase chose to end his legendary series. Whacked or not, arrested or not, somehow suddenly heroic or not, some people would have loved it, some people would have hated it. In today’s world, it turns out, one does not go out with either a bang or a whimper, but with a thousand e-mails.

-- M.M.

(Photo courtesy HBO)

Comments

[Pete Viles]

I liked it. It's why the series was great in the first place: it played by its own rules.
Plus, I wanted Tony to live.

[Perfect Ending]

Frustrating? Yes. A copout? Maybe. But still the perfect ending. What they just did with TV is what the Beatles did w/ music, turned a medium on its head.

[Christopher Jordan]

The anti-ending as a finale fits for the Sopranos. With Christopher dead, Bobby dead, Silvio in a coma, Paulie refusing a promotion, AJ a wreck, Meadow planning a wedding, Carmela pre-occupied with her real estate projects, Junior rotting away in the psych ward, and without Dr. Melfi as quasi-consigliere, Tony is left alone at the top.

Chase made sure to avoid the stereotypical mob-endings. No prison or violent death for Mr. Soprano. Tony's punishment is his isolation. He is one of the last of a dying breed, always looking over his shoulder, never at peace.

[Chris]

The anti-ending as a finale fits for the Sopranos. With Christopher dead, Bobby dead, Silvio in a coma, Paulie refusing a promotion, AJ a wreck, Meadow planning a wedding, Carmela pre-occupied with her real estate projects, Junior rotting away in the psych ward, and without Dr. Melfi as quasi-consigliere, Tony is left alone at the top.

Chase made sure to avoid the stereotypical mob-endings. No prison or violent death for Mr. Soprano. Tony's punishment is his isolation. He is one of the last of a dying breed, always looking over his shoulder, never at peace.

[Randy Jurado Ertll]

The message is that life goes on...no matter what catastrophes occur...most Americans forget soon...and eat "onion rings" as if nothing has happened.

Now we have to find something to do on Sunday nights...especially from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Maybe cathing up and viewing old reruns...on A&E.

Hopefully, The Sopranos will gain millions of new fans through A&E. Especially those that were asleep as the wheel and did not order HBO to watch the Sopranos for last eight years. We get a second chance to relive those 8 years through reruns. I am one of those late comer fans...I caught on to it about 1-2 years ago...now I know what people meant when talking about the Sopranos.

Everyone needs therapy to feel normal.

[Ned Raggett]

There's an involving novel called _Tigana_ by Guy Gavriel Kay that works through a massive epic-fantasy setting with characters in all kinds of shades of grey rather than the good-v-evil trope. One of the best reads of my life, I think -- and the final short sentence provides a dramatic twist, a last sudden eye-opening moment, and then a blank white page rather than a blank black screen.

I wouldn't change that ending for the world. Sounds like Chase found his equivalent, and personally I salute him for it.

[Jimbo Edwards]

This was no traditional fade-out...I believe the ending of the show reflects the way life ended for Tony - without even hearing the shot that killed him (as he and Bobby discussed in the boat, which was seen in a flashback in last week's episode). The last thing he saw was his daughter coming into the diner - then he was gone. Suddenly, without awareness, satisfaction or "closure." Everything just...stops.

[Mik Heehee]

The entire end of the episode takes place inside Tony's head. The threat of sudden death arriving in the midst of pleasant familial humdrum is his punishment, forever and ever amen.

[Matt]

Well again, I COMPLETELY disagree with Goodman on this. The end to the Sopranos was almost EXACTLY what someone would expect. This whole time I have been curious if there would be a true ending. I would have been SURPRISED if Chase had actually decided to tie this up with a clean end. (Something that Six Feet Under was able to adroitly pulled off- and why I would argue, was a more impressive series.)

It seems a lot of writers in television really just have a weakness of knowing how to actually end things. I really find this to be the ultimate cope out of smart television. I really wish the writers of tv series would rise to the challenge of creating a true ending to a show.

Sorry to beat tim down again but seriously the following line made me double take…

“He gave a gift to critics who wished that "The Sopranos" would just end, without melodrama or crisply tied-up storylines, but more like a camera shutting off. And it did.”

Is this what critics wish for? Really? I would argue the majority just decide to shut the camera off. And sadly this is a practice done by the better, more critically acclaimed shows… Seinfield, Cheers, Everyone loves Raymond… sorry I am just blanking on hour dramas that really got any attention for their series finale

And the worst part was that Chase thought it would be cute to go to a GOTCHA type gimmick at the end… that was CHEAP. The whole last scenes motivation seemed to get everyone to jump off the couch to check the tv…. Care to argue with me? Shows have come to a close on a shot to black before… but to wait a FULL 5 SECONDS before your producers credits are up? Bush league Gimmick! LAME… (and this is from a person who works in tv)

Now the question is if Chase comes out with another success… If his new show bombs, expect a Sopranos movie by 2012….

[Jim]

If Tony did get wacked it was a total copout. We are not watching this from Tony's eyes... but from the eyes of the viewer. I think it was a "life goes on even with it's problems" ending and a very bad one at that. We were set up in a "Psycho Thriller" kind of way... the suspense was building and then just blah.... nothing... stupid... badly done...not wanting to commit to certainty in character or morality. I don't think it could have been worse then it was.

[Jim]

If Tony did get wacked it was a total copout. We are not watching this from Tony's eyes... but from the eyes of the viewer. I think it was a "life goes on even with it's problems" ending and a very bad one at that. We were set up in a "Psycho Thriller" kind of way... the suspense was building and then just blah.... nothing... stupid... badly done...not wanting to commit to certainty in character or morality. I don't think it could have been worse then it was.

[Unhappy]

I was more then disappointed at this ending. I haven't been this pissed of at a TV show in a while!!!.

[D]

i liked it, left it up to the viewer with endless possibilities. i would love a movie.

[stuart patterson]

Unless my DirecTV™ gliched, a dialog between Tony and Pauly forshadowed the sudden black screen ending, provoking in me a genuine apprension that my Italian Dinner/Sopranos party was imperiled. Had my reception failed, it would have been like a broadcast of the World Cup suddenly going black during penalty shots, and in Brazil... For a moment, I thought 'Am I paid up?'. ...a perfect viewer emotion for this Mob, Mob World.

[Shawn]

I thought the ending was fine, and was right in line with Chase's thesis for the entire series, which was to refuse to give easy answers and pander to the lowest common denominator. I'm actually lauging at the blogger's passive-aggressive anger: "I'm not saying David Chase owes us something, but he owes us something." Had he ended the show with Tony getting whacked, or turning to the feds, or being brought in by the feds, or some other tragedy regarding the Soprano family, then there would have been complaints about that being "too predictable." There's no way Chase could have won with any ending he chose to go with. And I'm not sure what the blogger means by "emotional experience." Was she not happy that a truce was brokered and that Phil met his end? Apparently, that was not enough of an "emotional experience" that most likely would have been felt by a Tony whacking or some other "fitting" tragic ending, which, again, Chase has stated he was not interested in doing. And let's face it, the expectations and hype for this episode were so high that there was virtually no ending that would have satisfied the bloodthirsty junkies/action fiends/"closure-loose ends" hounds. Kudos to Chase for sticking to his guns and ending his creation on his own terms.

[vega77]

The ending was terrible.. I've never been a big fan of the show, but this just seals it: This has been one of the most overrated series in the history of television. The angle has always been "mafia family deals with regular domestic issues in their unique way," which was interesting for about 2 episodes.

[brendan]

it was cowardly. chase didn't end it on his own terms...he didn't end it. there was no ending. he cheaply set us all up with those last minutes. he built up incredible tension, made millions of people feel knots in their guts, and then laughed at them. that's not brilliant, that's not cinema verite, it's lame. playing a trick on people is no way to conclude a series of this magnitude. they should have done that with "joey", not "the sopranos".
the sad part is he shot 3 different endings. i'm sure the other two were conclusive.
what a great dissapointment.
wow. we can make up our own minds. maybe tony did die. we'll never know. brilliant chase...just brilliant. ug.

[Keith]

Lame.

[tom ruegger]

Mary McNamara totally gets it -- thank you, Mary -- and I'm surprised that many of the folks commenting above didn't seem to read Ms. McNamara's analysis. The ending is a joke, compliments of Mr. Chase. At the very moment that we are about to see the conclusion of the story, the cable goes out, and the screen goes blank and the sound goes off for aboput 5 or 6 seconds. That's the joke. We were all waiting to see the big final moment, and when it comes, the cable goes out. It's a self-conscious joke about cable -- how cable, over the past 8 years with "The Sopranos," has grown into a very big thing. And when the cable goes out -- just like when "The Sopranos" goes off the air -- there's a dark void in our viewing lives.

[Mickey]

I'm sure Chase wanted people to be sitting up all night debating the end of the show (just like I'm doing now), but there's no question in my mind that the ending is -- simply -- Tony alive one second, dead the next, doomed to the same fate he meted out to so many. Dead without knowing who's killing him, or what will happen to his family. Just -- dead, with a bullet in his head. It leaves you thinking (appropriately) about all his victims, as well as the meaninglessness of his life, and how all his familial concerns and psychological struggles can be wiped out in a moment of retribution. I don't even think it's *that* oblique -- I thought it was incredibly powerful. Brilliant really.

[writer]

Pure genius. David Chase gave us something utterly unexpected, yet utterly satisfying. Any of the obvious expected ends would have been anticlimactic an hour later. Instead, that exquisite dread we felt at the end will live on with us forever. Most of the loose ends are tied up (some just emotionally) and Tony has returned to that which matters most to him: his family. Together at last in their happiest we've seen then. Is this their final moment? There are clues in the episode, overt and incredibly subtle, to suggest it may be. But who knows? It doesn't matter. That final family moment in all its normal simplicity is with us forever, now. As Tony and AJ said: focus on the good times.

Anyone who dismisses that ending as a "cop out" probably didn't pay attention or hasn't watched for the past 8 years and doesn't really know this show.

[Lindsey]

I really appreciated your assessment of the last episode being like an epic novel with a do it yourself ending: There *were* great things about the episode - the cat, Phil's head, the last scene with Junior - and honestly, I didn't need a bloodbath or witness protection or Adriana to come back from the dead or anything, but I did want to feel like I got a chance to say goodbye. That final cut was both malicious and insecure on Chase's part - he could have let Meadow join them, releasing the tension that was so effectively built throughout the scene and then left us with a long shot of the family that would have given us that chance to say goodbye, but it was like he didn't feel he could pull it off and instead chose a cheap stunt that made his fans feel like idiots.

Once I accepted that that was really the end (that surfer show had long since started before I could bring myself to believe it) I was left feeling like the Sopranos was like nothing so much as Great Expectations. Both were created by writers who redefined their genre but who exhausted themselves before the end and relied on a gimmicky technical device to close their stories rather than making the more difficult authentic choice.

[Glad Its Over]

Lame ending to one of the most overrated television shows ever.

[Kim]

The blank screen was brilliant. The audience took the hit, not Tony. In the boat, Bobby said something like "When you get hit, everything just goes dark." We've been in their world for several years, but now everything goes dark for us. Cleverly done, in my opinion.

[phil]

Attention, Sopranos Viewers...
You should've watched the Tony Awards, instead. Nothing happened there either, but at least it was well-choreographed.

[Koudsi]

The ending was tyght. Tony, on top ,wih his enemies six feet under.TIme for the Sopranos to move on to the Big Picture.

[Dee]

Chase managed to shank all of his loyal viewers with this ending. I'm still ticked off. I'll have to go into therapy for this......LOL.

[Adam]

I find it humorous that she had to mention 'statutory rape' element of the episode...geez.

[Uprise]

Chase did what he tends to do, defy convention. Like many, I didn't wanna see Tony get whacked, so it makes complete sense for Chase to get our pulses running as Meadow does a piss-poor job of parking her car and we get shots of suspicious characters all around the Soprano family (there's no way that shmuck heading to the bathroom was going to to the head to grab a piece from a toilet and come out guns blazing ala Michael Corleone; he could've smoked the whole family from where he was sitting at the counter) as they routinely order dinner.

I didn't like Dr. Melfi's all-too-easy decision to drop Tony as a patient either. Just doesn't add up based on what we know of her. After AJ's attempted suicide, his subsequent nihilistic streak and desire to go to Afghanistan, it just doesn't make sense that a development executive gig would so easily placate him. What're ya gonna do though? These are small complaints when considering the show as a whole.

It's fair to want and even demand catharsis at the end of a show the caliber of "The Sopranos." I sure as hell wanted it. After eight years of Tony's therapy, etc., the final episode took a weird turn when Tony started going on about his mom during the discussion with A.J.'s therapist (Carmela did make a priceless face) but it didn't make me think that the past 85 episodes never happened; I thought this scene clearly showed his inability to take responsibility for many of his questionable choices after eight years with Dr. Melfi. To me, Chase was telling us that regardless of Tony's desires to progress beyond what he is, he is and will always be a family man, a gangster and a sociopath.

We're not talking about M*A*S*H here, so I never expected the kind of catharsis from "The Sopranos" series finale that, for example, a series about surgeons saving lives in a warzone could provide. Though the series finale didn't provide an emotional experience to sum up the entire eight years, it reminded me that no matter what, Tony will forever be looking over his shoulder. For a show like this one, that's enough closure for me.

[mike williams]

Stop trying to analyze this into something good...The bottom line is that the endind totally sucked and David Chase made a moron out of everyone..don't try and put a good face on it..It simply stunk.

[Dan Currie, Boston, MA]

Remember the scene in the Sopranos finale last night when the Twilight
Zone theme was playing in the background and you could hear that show's creator, the great Rod Serling, starting to introduce an episode? I
thought I heard Serling say "Mr. Julius Moore." But he must have said
Moomer because look what I found:

"Former streetcar conductor Julius Moomer (Jack Weston) aspires to be a highly paid TV writer, but he is handicapped by a severe talent
deficiency. Julius' fortunes take a sudden upswing when, practicing a
bit of black magic in his tiny apartment, he conjures up the ghost of
William Shakespeare (John Williams). Unfortunately, not even
Shakespeare's brilliance is any match for the formidability of
bullheaded TV sponsors and network censors. A young Burt Reynolds
steals the show as Brandoesque actor Rocky Rhodes, while star Jack
Weston's wife Marge Redmond appears in a supporting role. Written by
Rod Serling, "The Bard" was the last of the hour-long Twilight Zone
episodes to be telecast; it first aired May 23, 1963." ~ Hal Erickson,
All Movie Guide ... How perfect is that?

-Dan Currie, Boston, MA (dcurrieus@yahoo.com)

[L R]

I want to see one of the alternate endings please. This one was garbage. Perfect ending my

[Abe Lucas]

The Sopranos was a celebration of the vulgar, the violent and the depraved. It appealed to the worst in our society, elements which have become staples of American entertainment. A lousy ending to a lousy series. It never should have been put on the air. As American television goes, this series was just another gilded cow pie.

[William Stosine]

If David Chase had made The Wizard Of Oz Dorothy and gang would still be wandering around the Emerald City. If he'd made King Kong he'd have faded the story to black while Kong took a break from terrorizing the city. If he'd made The Searchers John Wayne would still be searching. Ugh.

[Robert Stein]

Chase, aside from telling us The Sopranos aspires to art not gangster melodrama, may have been dropping metaphors like Uncle Junior's Alzheimer's to remind us that everything ends and is eventually forgotten. That may be his way of making The Sopranos memorable against the odds:

http://ajliebling.blogspot.com/2007/06/arrivederci-sopranos.html

[Warren]

It left us nervous, agitated, wondering whats next...Just like Tony. Plus with lots of room for the movie.

[James]

The show ended three years ago. However, last night's ending left open the opportunity to continue to make money from the Soprano "business" with a movie.

It was like reading a book with the final page missing. Leaving the audience to draw its own conclusions was cowardly and CLICK.

[Ed]

David Chase is brilliant. What everyone is forgetting is what the character Tony flashed back tosaying to Bobby Bacchala while sitting in the boat during the episode "Soprano Home Movies" right before Bobby was killed ..."you never hear it coming..." does this mean that Tony was really killed at the end of the episode by one of the "assassins?

[Bill]

Now THAT was a finale!

For those who wanted closure, an unmitigated finger from David FREAKING Chase. It was simply incredible.

With fifteen minutes left, I thought... OK, so this is it: Life goes on. Meadow readying for her legal career, AJ on the couch laughing, Carmela looking at a new spec house, Tony checking on Sil (and raking leaves, looking at the sky, waiting for Episode One's ducks to return). And then Tony went to the diner.

The last ten minutes of the show and series were pure unadulterated suspense. Every moment ratcheted up the anxiety, beginning with Tony picking out the perfect song to end OUR life together: "Turn, Turn, Turn"... "Who You Gonna Run To"... "I Got to Be Me"... "A Lonely Place" ... all fitting reminders of Tony and his situation over the last six years. Then he picks, by a band named JOURNEY (and what has this series been but a journey for US, as we came to welcome into our lives a sociopath, a killer, a philanderer, and made him part of OUR family, as we got to know his two families), a song called "Don't Stop Believing." And what else is there for Tony but the belief that he'll survive. There IS nothing else.

And yet we as an audience are waiting for his death, watching ever person in the diner and who arrives as a potential assassin: the grey haired man in the back booth (a ringer for the late, not-so-great Phil), the truck driver solo in a booth, the guy who comes in and sits at the bar (and then goes into the bathroom, like Michael Corleone -- to pick up a gun? -- in "The Godfather"), and then the two African-Americans who come into the diner late. All of these, I was sure when I saw them, would be the final shooter in the series.

Carm comes in, and Tony tells her the news that he'll probably be indicted, and the song's next line? "And it goes, on and on and on and on"... so this is the way life will really go on for the Sopranos, endless waiting for the inevitable. AJ comes in and we're expecting the hit at any moment. (When the three of them each eat the fried onion rings... maybe this is the slow death from cholesterol and high blood pressure!) And when Meadow takes multiple attempts to parallel-park the car, we're left thinking, "Good, maybe she'll be too late, maybe she'll be spared." And when she does arrive, and Tony looks up.

Nothing. Blackness. Silence. For the first and last time in the series, we're left with silence over the credits. Perfect!

You want closure? Fuggetaboutit. You wanna know (vicariously... as we have for the last six seasons) what was life as Tony Soprano is like? You got it, baby. Unrelenting suspense, waiting for the indictment to come, or the bullet to hit. And like Tony, we are left with this gut-wrenching feeling FOREVER, because this is the final episode. We thought that we sympathized (maybe) with Tony before? Now we know what it feels to be him... and it's not pleasant (my gut is still tied in knots).

Wow... what a perfect ending for the show.

[Melissa]

I thought it was a big eff you to us fans. After all the millions of dollars we helped him make off this show, after all the endless waiting between seasons for him to get the damn thing back on the air, after watching him whack beloved characters (Ade, Big Pussy, Christafah...), David Chase just gave us the middle finger with that series finale. Yeah, it's just a TV show. One that I loved. I wanted an ending -- maybe one that I hated, maybe one that I loved, but SOMETHING. He copped out. He stopped The Sopranos. He didn't end it. And if he was laughing as he wrote it and as he imagined fans' reactions, then eff him, too.

[Stephen Hunt]

It was not a satisfying ending. Maybe you can analyze it into being a smart ending, but it was so not satisfying! Maybe that's what life's like. Your loved ones die before you get to say all the things you meant to say to them, but this is television! This is where everyone gets to say all those things! This is our stand-in for life! It feels a little like the Seinfeld finale--OK, we get it. That's funny. But not funny ha-ha. Too clever by half.

That said, what a ride it's been.

[Pam]

I thought the ending was great! Looking at my husband almost saying, "Please tell me you paid the cable bill. When the credits started to roll, we both stood up and said 'NO WAY!' I am a fan for life. Hail Tony, Carmela, Meadow, AJ and Chase. Thanks for such fun over the years.

[mf tillman]

Chase didn't know HOW to end the series so he didn't. Six Feet Under's
closing episode was brilliant. Chase provided no closing episode. This is considered creative? What hogwash.

[Peter]

It was boring, as boring as last season. Like being addicted to fast food.

[Chris Rice]

Here's the deal with the final episode, which was, by the way, very, very, smart.

Women are left out of "being made in America"--Tony's sister Janice will not inherit Bobby's money and Meadow, though being the more accomplished of Tony's kids, will not sit at his power table. AJ, the weak, insipid, materialistic dreamer (AKA, American) will reign.

More importantly, the sudden blank screen, reminds that art elicits repressed emotion. We, the viewers were left with a panic attack.

[mark thisius]

The ending was a classic and I feel whether Chase picks it up again or not it was perfect. The suspense and anticipation kept me on the edge of my seat and everyone I watched it with was okay with the blank screen. Tony was whether you loved or hated him the man. To whack him or have him cower to the fed's by turning himself him would have been way to predictable and unsatisfying. Bravo to Chase for leaving us with Tony alive and letting us anticipate the movie. I was not let down and I enjoyed the show as much as anyone. Nothing in the history comes close to this. HBO built an empire on the back of Chase and his ending will never be forgotten.

[Karla]

I thought the final episode was perfectly constructed. And, I am not going to use a thousand words to say why. Karla.

[Tom Gorman]

If you think about it (and aren't we all?), David Chase finishes the series with the ultimate whack job. Like a painless shot to the back of each viewer's head -- bam, it's over -- The Sopranos ends with each of us getting whacked. Now, ain't THAT an appropriate ending?

[Louis Graham]

The final episode of The Sopranos was a perfect end to this entire last season. There was no dramatic point to it, no emotional point to it, not even a philosophical point to it. Just another hour of meandering. The only point of this entire season was financial. It was another case of "We have no ideas left, but they want to pay us a boatload of money, so what the heck--do a few more episodes." How disappointing.

[Mike B.]

Chase left the ending up to people's own interpretation and imagination. Soprano's rewarded those viewers who paid attention to detail. I remember earlier in the season when Tony and Bobby were in the boat discussing being whacked and Tony said it would happen out of no where and you would not see it coming. I think thats what happened in the final episode.

[John]

Anyone who thinks that the open ending on the finale doesn't mean there is going to either be a feature film or a return of the series at some point in the not-so-distant future is crazy. The cast has all said if the right script hit their desk they would be open for a feature length movie. Don't count out Tony Soprano just yet. It might be a few years, but he isn't going away anytime soon.

[Jason]

I've been a loyal Sopranos viewer since episode #1 and it was coming out on the heels of "Analyze This" and I thought it was coat-tailing on the mobster in therapy theme that materialized out of thin air. But I still watched. When they took almost 2 years for a hiatus that would no doubt extinguish any other series and then came back with a season of laurel-resting lameness...I watched. I think because people love this show so much that they defend it entirely. Well I love it, but I'm not going to defend it. To end the project like this and the "life goes on" mentality, says nothing. There in effect was no story arc...our protaginist takes this long journey only to arrive back to life as usual. It's a farce...it's the easy way...it's the end. Shame on you.

[Katy]

There are only two explanations for that show last night. Either one: That was an intentional giant FU to the audience. Or two: There were a lot of people yes-ing David Chase into believing that finale was great. Anybody who believes the last episode of Sopranos was genius needs to read the Emperor’s New Clothes. That show stunk. Plain and simple.

[susan morrison-vega]

I loved the Soprano's last episode ... in that five second fade to black, I swore up and down at Comcast's lousy cable service, and when the credits rolled, I screamed at the deadly silent screen, "God damn you, Dave Chase. God damn you." And, l Iaughed like crazy at his brilliance ... leave 'em wanting more ...

Highlights: Phil was dead, his head squashed like a pumpkin. Good call and a moment of victory for the good bad guys. The irony of Tony's prospective son-in-law, with Meadow at his side, landing the case that could send Tony to the Big House. Or the big question: Is Tony dead in all that blackness; maybe Carmela, Meadow and A.J. along with him? ... or Tony alive and alone, stuck with Paulie Walnuts and Patsy as his go-to guys like the mob's AA farm team. Most of all from this season, I'll remember the cold indifference in Tony's eyes when he killed Chris-ta-pha. The horror of it matched Adriana's scramble across the ground in her mad attempt to escape certain death. Hey, these guys really are sociopaths!

Sunday nights will never be the same at our house. Thank you, David Chase.

[OW]

I'm not clear why all the people whining about the show's closure bothered to watch the show to begin with. Seems like they missed the entire point all along.

And frankly, when I read this:
"It seems a lot of writers in television really just have a weakness of knowing how to actually end things. I really find this to be the ultimate cope out of smart television. I really wish the writers of tv series would rise to the challenge of creating a true ending to a show."

I'd really like to know what the writer had in mind. You think it's that easy to create "closure"? Do tell?

[neelie]

What was up with that creepy cat? What do you think that symbolized? Chris re-incarnated??

[Ironskull]

No I didn't think my $10,000.00 Mits HDTV blew up at the end. I simply thought like another reader, that the ending was lame and anticlimactic

[Mark]

No Tony didnt DIE!!!!!! For those that have followed the series from the beggining, The Sopranos was just that... The SOPRANOS!!! Of course Tony was a Mob Boss, but at its core, the show focused mainly on the complexities of "Family" Tony's mom, Uncle JR, Carm, Meadow and AJ. Did anybody else notice how( with the exception of his Mom) the final scenes featured "Sopranos" ? The scene was meant to be mundane, tense and normal. The apparent dangers all around Tony which the viewing audience was obviously privy to, is actually no different from his day to day life. Its just this time Chase let us see through the eyes of Tony. Yes, Tony and Bobby's talk about what happens "right before you die" Silence, then it all goes black.. was significant. After being the proverbial "fly on the wall" and watching the dysfunction and murders take place with firsthand information for 8 years.. Life went on as usual for the Soprano family.. that fade to black was US, the viewer.. that was Our shot behind the back of the ear.. We got clipped... LoL

[Mr. X]

It was crap...

[Bonzo Bunn]

The show goes on. We got whacked. Never saw it coming.

[Larry Kaplan]

Great television, good drama---very well done. I just wish people would get as worked up about the things that happen to good people. Let's face it, as with the Godfather movies---yes, it's compelling; yes, it shows us the nuances and complexities of life and its gray areas; yes, it is about the human condition---but at the end of the day, it's a story about evil people who do awful things. I just wish we'd put as much energy into exploring the depths of good people, too.

[Dr.O]

So that stugatz Chase pulled a fast one on every sucker who has been watching this show for how many years? Will the sequel be far behind? I was hoping Tony would kill Dr. Melfi and then himself. Or maybe vice-versa.

[BB]

Bill up there seems to me the one who got it.

There was a reason besides a "cheap shot" ending. Chase wasn't writing just a gimmick. This, he was trying to say, is what life as Soprano is like... really like. You're always looking over your shoulder for the moment you die - while having onion rings with your family.

That could have been his last moment. Or just a night out. He lives in a constant state of paranoia. It would be intolerable to most of us. Tony always seems to have "unfinished business".

Now - so do we. I wish Mary commented on this.

[Mark Palmer]

The ending was perfect...plain and simple. Maybe people are looking for resolution, but there is none for Tony. Like Rick and Renault walking across the rain-soaked runway at the end of Casablanca, or Steven Carrell bursting into song at the end of 40 Year Old Virgin, the best endings suggest beginnings. Or at the very least, give us a clear sense of how the world is going to go on after the show is over. This was one of those endings. I don't think David Chase was cheating anyone...or turning convention on its head...he was just letting him know that life would go on, except even in the most mundane moments, Tony would be watching the door. And the power of the ending was that we were all there watching it with him.

[Dr. J.]

About as interesting as the last episode of Seinfeld. What a disappointment. Chase should have allowed other writers to participate.

[Mary]

The ending was great!

[Kate]

That was as infuriating--and frankly, insulting--an ending as the last episode of Twin Peaks.

[Dr.O]

Tony Soprano knows more surely than 99% of us how his life will end: death by a fellow gangster or in jail. He, like, us just doesn't know when.

[Shag]

All the intellectual analysis about the ending is a crock. We just wanted to see basic, good ol' blood and guts. Who cares about Chase making jokes about cable and the hidden messages. Television is basically about escapism (see Paris Hilton) and not much more. The ending sucked, period.

[ricci]

i loved that there was no wrap-up. it really fit with the series and the sort of fantasy that this could actually be happening in the world.
the entire season was sort of an intense build up with no climax until last week when bobby and sil were shot. the final episode was fitting with that. like anyone could be shot, or some accident could happen at anytime, but mabey not.
the finally left us with the feeling that life goes on for the sopranos, we just dont get to watch it any more. the only thing that really makes me mad is that this was the last season of the only show on sunday night.

[Trixie]

Beautiful!

[Legal Guy]

AJ wasn't going to commit statutory rape. In New Jersey the statute is laid out here:
New Jersey

§ 2C: 14-2
Aggravated sexual assault is sexual penetration with a victim under age 13.

Sexual assault is sexual penetration with a victim between age 13 and 16 when the actor is at least four years older.

Just wanted to keep you informed

[P W]

Its the show about nothing.

[zemery]

TONY GOT WHACKED!

Many times Tony said, “When you get whacked, you don’t see it coming. Everything just goes black.”

[Brian]

What I'll remember about the final episode is not the fate of Tony, rather cursing aloud at Time Warner Cable, thinking my DVR recording failed before the ending.

[rona]

i loved it

[joe friday]

mary, mary-

those onion rings - aren't they shot full of holes?

and tony, isn't his back to the door?

and dr. melfi - remember her face at the dinner
party? wasn't she pissed at dr. kupferberg and
his professional and immoral friends for playing
her, equivocating her services to tony as criminal?

and isn't it more possible she forces him out the
door cause she's really got it bad for a guy tha
ain't no good - who she nonetheless want to
protect, to mother like his momma never did?

and junior - statuatory rape? the girl might be
playing a highschooler, but she isn't, we know
that, it's a lot like an internet sting, there is no
fifteen year old girl, and besides, she juimps
him, and gets on top right before the fires of
eternal damnation, i mean the leaves beneath
aj's suv, catch on fire, bringing that action to
a memorable yet somehow unfulfillng interruptus.

chase could give scorcese morality lessons.

and the blackout?...hey, maybe tony's still
there, maybe not. and maybe there'll be more,
and maybe....maybe we'll all have to get back
to our own lives for a while. maybe.

ciao, sopranos. adio.

[Tom]

Journey cashed in (again) also.

[Matt]

This comment back to OW...
.
I thought this show was really really strong. It was obviously well written and something that I wish I can someday acheive.
.
But the total ambiguous ending really doesnt take much creative effort. Everyone could easily just say... oh yea, life goes on... nice. I would argue that this is the EASIEST way to end things and sets chase up to make a few soprano movies when he gets the itch.
.
I believe that really strong series should focus on their endings just as much on their set up. And ten years from now I will still be talking about how GREAT six feet under was from the beginning to the end... It all fit, it all had motivation... The Sopranos will always have the astrick that it copped out at the end.
.
Really what was the motivation behind the whole last scene? All I can see is cheap gimmick to make people think their cable went out... thats it.
.
Maybe Chase thinks himself clever, but I think he was just cowardly.

[Lorne Warwick]

The diner scene in The Sopranos seemed to encompass a cross section of America. There were the boy scouts, the truck driver, the guy and girl out on a date, the loner (who looked suspiciously like a hitman, given his furtive glances at Tony) and, of course, the Sopranos themselves. Is Chase observing the Mob as simply a part of the American fabric? Is he telling us that their tale is no more or no less remarkable than anyone else’s? After all, just looking at Tony, Carmela and A.J. sitting in the both, they really could have been any average family out for a greasy spoon meal. Tony, the way he was dressed, could have been coming from his bowling league. Or are we perhaps being reminded of the banality of evil?

[JULIE]

I liked it a lot and will miss the show. (I agree with Bill's post above)

re the creepy cat? maybe Adriana paying a visit....

[Raul Garcia]

Talk about writers block. The ending to the Spurs/Cavs game last night was more exciting.

[paul lynch]

What does it say about American art and civilization that someone can write, apparently sincerely, that "possibly the most important moment in the history of televised drama" comes from a sleazy tale of criminal activity in a society where the forces of law and order are themselves criminal, vicious or incompetent?.

[Robert M.]

Who got whacked ? We did !!! Chase rocks . R.M.

[Mike]

In the Godfather movie there were 3 characters that ended as follows.
Vito died of old age, Sonny was killed and Michael was left alone. Chase was not going to do a Sonny on Tony. They show had not advanced to an advanced time period to have him old as Vito was, so he kind of went with the Michael aspect of the Godfather movie. The only difference was Michael lost everyone but Tony still had his family.

If the show last night was episode 45 no one would have thought anything about the last 10 minutes. It was because it was the last show and the clock was winding down that everyone became engage with every aspect of the final scene.

The show actually ended when Phil was killed after the peace conference. It was back to business as usual. There would be no reason for anyone toe "whack" at that time and not at the restaurant when there were a dozen opportunities in the show.

[Dan Wilcox]

At first I was angry with the black and like many thought my Direct TV antenna had fallen off the roof. After my mate and I sat in silence maybe a full minute it came to us that the ending was a masterpiece.
The suspense Chase built was almost unbearable. The juke, the ceremonial sharing of the onion rings (The Last Supper), the man going down the hall to the bathroom, the oddly "Ozzie and Harriet" chat in the Soprano booth, Meadow struggling to parallel park (so she would be spared the massacre?) My body was tense and face leaned at the screen and
then...................... Loved it and the years of amazing TV. Thank you one and all.

[Lorne Warwick]

The diner scene in The Sopranos seemed to encompass a cross section of America. There were the boy scouts, the truck driver, the guy and girl out on a date, the loner (who looked suspiciously like a hitman, given his furtive glances at Tony) and, of course, the Sopranos themselves. Is Chase observing the Mob as simply a part of the American fabric? Is he telling us that their tale is no more or no less remarkable than anyone else’s? After all, just looking at Tony, Carmela and A.J. sitting in the both, they really could have been any average family out for a greasy spoon meal. Tony, the way he was dressed, could have been coming from his bowling league. Or are we perhaps being reminded of the banality of evil?

[A Sellers]

Initially I was quite stunned by the ending thinking WT?. But when I went back and looked at the ending agian (as I'm sure many of us did) I looked at the clues David gave us. Even the songs Tony looked at " I Gotta Be Me" and "No Where To Run", before he chose "Don't Stop Believing", gave you insight into what Tony was thinking. He couldn't go into witness protection. He couldn't rat out his fellow mobsters. He was finally at peace with Uncle Junior, realizing the shooting wasn't personal- Uncle Junior doesn't exist anymore.
The sudden blackness told his all. Meadow being late is what saves her life. The rest are doomed.

[Joey]

great ending (cliffhanger of sort) leading into the film. anyone who didnt like it or thought it was an insult. get over it. it's television not someone raping your daughter

[Nick]

I read one person's thought that said that "we" the audience got whacked. And there was also a reminder that Bobby told Tony in ep. 1 of this season that "You probably don't even hear it when it happens." I think that says a lot about what happened. I knew that there was meaning, but in the moment of watching it was pure shock and "WHAT THE..?! THAT'S IT?!" Then I thought it's either the best finale ever or the worst. Now thinking of it, it's an excellent way to end it. And I absolutely LOVE that it's open to interpretation.

Here's the thing, I think either we got whacked. Or we got whacked... WITH TONY! The whole series is from his perspective, even if we cut to other things happening, the world has always been through Tony's eyes.

And in terms of the whole, the finale didn't resolve anything... that's B.S. For one thing the show's not "Lost", so it's not like there were "mysteries" that needed to be resolved. It's about the head of a mob family trying to do his job while keeping things together at home, and needing to go to therapy to deal with his issues. Have we forgotten that that's the initial premise of the show in the first place?

So, let's look at where we/they are now, in the diner. Meadow's successful in law school and probably gonna marry that guy. A.J. is seeing SOME kind of direction in his life. Carm will probably get her dream house and still loves Tony after the wringer he's put her through. Janice will NEVER be fully happy, so why force that kind of resolution on her, though she still wants to care for Bobby's kids. And Tony has come to terms that Junior is just an old man suffering from severe dementia instead of being a maniacal sociopath. Not to mention, his crew's issue with Phil Leotardo's clan has been resolved. And Paulie simply wants the easy life and not die, what ever that means in the mob. That's this present moment. There are no loose ends.

I think the beauty of the final scene is that it is set up like some "Godfather" type thing is going to be played out, where in all actuality, they are just a family, eating onion rings in a diner, and we are just feeling Tony's paranoia. So, him getting whacked, or us getting whacked isn't the real issue that needs to be dealt with. That wouldn't fulfill anything. With the great song, "Don't Stop Believing" playing in the background, it's A.J. who says, "Focus on the good times." That's what is really trying to be said here. Through all the aweful junk this family has been through, and we've been through, we won't see them again. We've seen enough tragedy on the show. If we remember, things were kinda easy in the begining. Nothing serious went down until Tony whacked the rat on Meadow's college trip. It was Tony feeling peace about some ducks and then having a panic attack. We don't need to end with tragedy, because it didn't start with tragedy. Ducks to Onion Rings. I think that's awesome.

[mergerman]

Chase left us with the same feeling that Tony is destined to live with for the rest of his days...until everything is black. Unfair to call it cheap. Quite the opposite...poignant. Of course he was winking to the audience and playing convention...a great filmmaker can wink and pay homage...as in the shady figure entering the restroom (to retrieve a gun taped to the toilet tank no doubt). Everyone had different wishes for the ending driven by their views of the character...witness protection, Tony getting whacked, etc. But for the story to be wrapped up in a neat package belies what made the Sopranos great - the complexity of Tony, his good side, his evil side...the contradictions in his character. You can't wrap that up in a neat package. Its not a cop out. Killing him would be easy, turning him would be easy. A television event a la the Seinfeld finale or anything else would just play hokey. But, just letting him go, and letting us go to wonder like him when and how it will end, while knowing that the tragic arc is set, whether Tony goes like Phil or goes like Junior will (or Olivia) ...that was a brave and brilliant choice - consistent with 8 years of, by and large, masterful television.

[Rod L]

I have watched the Sopranos from the beginning. The things I enjoyed the most was the realistic and in-your-face dialog, the compelling "drama" and the wonderful character development. But the thing that kept me watching week after week was the wonderful unpredictability. Big Pussy getting whacked. Ralph getting a beat-down from Tony who then put his decapitated head in a bowling ball bag. And, Christopher ultimately being murdered by a paranoid Tony, all generated an out-loud expletive from me.

This was hyped for months as the final episode and, to be honest, I wanted finality: shocking, surprising, unpredictable, closure. Instead all I got was a blank screen. I am sure the writers (in this case David Chase) whom I've held in such high esteem for the last eight years could have found a more creative ending and still maintained their "creative integrity". I feel violated.

[Dave A]

Fantastic ending. I love the idea someone else put forth here that Tony indeed did get killed and that silence was what he would have experienced. Just nothing.

I think the final scene was one of the best ever written for the show. What it did was something we have never experienced on the Sopranos. It gave us a glimpse of how horrible Tony's life is EVERYDAY. Every person who walks through the door he has to check, every moment he has to be on guard. It was the brilliantly horrible ending because that is what his life is now - always waiting for someone to kill him. It doesn't matter if he lives or dies if that is what his life is like.

[Rik]

Tony came full circle...right back to where he was in episdoe one, season one...back to the panic attacks. That was the "black out." No longer able to justify himself via his visits to Dr. Melfi, he can't help but slip back into the personal hell that brought him to see to seek therapy in the first place. He is suspicious of everyone in the diner...the guy in the ATF jacket, the two black guys coming in, the patrons around him. In short, paranoid. Meadow is late joining them; his nervousness grows; his paranoia takes control, and...BINGO. Panic attack. He blacks out. He's right back where he started...doomed to a life of fear, both real and imagined. Chase showed us what it was like to walk a few minutes in Tony's shoes.

[Bvap]

from a friend:

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
WOW!!!! AMAZING!!! OK, at first I was really angry. I mean really, really angry. I can't believe though that no-one has posted by now what happened. The only thing I saw that was right, was that in the last scene we are seeing through Tony's eyes. Remember when he was speaking with Bobby...basically saying that you don't see it happening? So here is what I found out. The guy at the bar is also credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito. That wasn't that long ago. Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Phil's brother Nikki Senior was killed in 1976 in a car accident. Absolutely Genius!!!! David Chase is truly rewarding the true fans who pay attention to detail. So the point would have been that life continues and we may never know the end of the Sopranos. But if you pay attention to the history, you will find that all the answers lie in the characters in the restaurant. The trucker was the brother of the guy who was robbed by Christopher in Season 2. Remember the DVD players? The trucker had to identify the body. The boy scouts were in the train store and the black guys at the end were the ones who tried to kill Tony and only clipped him in the ear (was that season 2 or 3?). Absolutely incredible!!!! There were three people in the restaurant who had reason to kill Tony and then it just ends. This was Chase's way of proving that he will not escape his past. It will not go on forever despite that he would like it to "don't stop". Not the fans!!! Tony would like it to keep going but just as we have to say goodbye, so does he. No more Tony and I guess we are supposed to be happy that Meadow didn't get clipped as well (she would have been between the shooter and Tony) since she is the only one worth a crap in that family. Thank you David Chase for making it so obscure that I feel bad for hating you at first. Absolutely amazing!!!
=

[B. Hsu]

Truth is, if the show followed its hallmark of mirroring reality, all US mobsters end up either dead or in jail. That would force David Chase exactly where he didn't want to be, in the boring mediocrity corner that he painted himself into. So how do you avoid that and create endlessly dicussions? Don't even end it and add a twist - the blank screen.

[Michelle]

A terrific ending! Doesn't anyone remember the episode when Tony described death as when everything just "turns to black"? A friend of mine had to remind me of that episode. It all makes sense - fantastic, simple ending!

[Domenica]

David Chase showed us his contempt for his viewers with this finale. Exactly what Ms. McNamara said - he left us with instant panic and lingering irritation. No emotional catharsis. Why, Mr. Chase, why? All we loyal viewers did during this 8 yr run was keep tuning in and supporting your creative efforts. You are rude and arrogant and deserve to fade to black.

[kentb b]

The ending worked for me. I won't miss the Sopranos much with the other great drama on hbo plus "the Riches" is great. If you want a different ending just make one up and live with it. Sopranos was good but got much more hype than it deserved.

[Matt in Miami]

First, Tony is dead. All that foreshadowing, the conversation with Bobby, Phil's execution - when you finally get whacked, everything just goes black. Members Only came out of the bathroom, walked up behind Tony, and killed him. No, I don't think the gun was hidden in there, a la The Godfather. I think he just took advantage of an inocuous way to come up from behind.

As for the final scene, we saw what we wanted to see. If someone told you that 5 of the most tense minutes in television history would consist of a cheesey song by Journey, a man waiting for his family to meet him at a diner, and a girl struggling to parallell park, you would thnk they were nuts. But that's exactly what Chase managed to pull off, showing that he really is as brilliant as he thinks he is.

Tony was looking for his wife and kids every time the door opened. We were looking for assassins. Tony was looking around the restaurant while he was waiting, just like we all do. We were looking for potential threats. And Meadow is just a girl who is and always has been a bad driver, something established beyond doubt over the course of the series.

Tony seeing himself sitting with his family as he entered the diner showed what he really wanted after days of being hunted like an animal - to sit with his family and eat dinner like a normal guy. That's what he was doing at the end, so he managed to die happy.

[Pauly (an LA Times employee)]

If we were watching the show through Tony's eyes, then, yes, Tony would be dead. But we weren't, and he isn't. You are. I am. The audience got whacked. And we never saw it coming. It's brilliant. Best ... finale ... EVER.

[Mark]

" First, Tony is dead. All that foreshadowing, the conversation with Bobby, Phil's execution - when you finally get whacked, everything just goes black. Members Only came out of the bathroom, walked up behind Tony, and killed him. No, I don't think the gun was hidden in there, a la The Godfather. I think he just took advantage of an inocuous way to come up from behind"

WRONG! lmao outside of the conversation Bobby & Tony had and Phil getting clipped... EVERYTHING you posted was YOUR viewing experience of the events and how they transpired in YOUR mind.. PERIOD!!! Just based on the show alone... there was no sit down that gave a go ahead to wack Tony.. you just dont kill the head of a family... People just dont want to believe life went on as normal for the Soprano family and that Silence followed by Darkness was the actual viewer finally catching one in the back of the head.. We NEVER saw it coming.. It was fast, Silent and all I seen was Blackness.. dont know what you saw? See.. while the average TV is escapism viewer is watching, waiting for the bullets to fly.. the end of Tony or a related Soprano.. we're sitting on the edge of our seat.. then BAM!! just like we've seen so many times with others... Life snatches them away... Tony and his crew go on with life... we got wacked!! simple as that... Nobody seen it coming.. Nobody heard a sound!! :) Good Stuff... Give it a few days to settle in.. you'll appreciate art vs television dramas... Our society needs things spelled out.. we've become a culture that refuses to engage our brains and think... Hmmmmmmm

[k in seattle]

"it’s another to flip dramatic tradition, not to mention your audience, the bird. "

David Chase doesn't owe you anything.

"No, he didn’t owe us any neat endings, nor some sort of final word on the nature of good and evil. But after eight years, he did owe us catharsis,"

If you could get past TV dogma you would realize that there was catharsis. You just have to breathe, think and reflect. Exactly how REALLY GOOD art should be. It's not trite, superficial Hollywood pap. It really made us THINK.

"Ending a series with the social weight of “The Sopranos” is not an enviable task, but end it must, and not with the sophomoric gesture of a blank screen."

Sophomoric? As your commenters, your update and thousands of contributors across the web have made clear - this finale was anything but sophomoric. Just because it does not conform to convention it's deemed sophomoric?

The last 10 minutes of the Sopranos finale was one of the most spellbinding and edge-of-the-seat moments I have ever experienced in television.

Indeed, I was irritated too last night. But that's just it. The let-down is David Chase breaking us free of convention. It hurts a bit. But today I realize that that final scene was a magnificent achievement.

[Dan]

I thought the finale was excellent.

People are forgetting, there was no need for that guy to get a gun from the bathroom. Unlike that "Godfather" scene, they don't frisk you at diners. Yet.

[Jeremy R.]

This ending was Seinfeldian. At the time, there was a group of people trying to convince themselves that the ending to Seinfeld was great, but as years have passed, I think most people view it as a very disappointing end to one of the greatest sitcoms ever. In a few years, we'll view the ending to the Sopranos the same way.

[Glenn A. Jorgensen]

Perhaps it was the perfect existential ending. Tony is in Hell. People will be trying to kill him, or turn him in, forever. He will be looking over his shoulder forever. Carmela will be unhappy with their life forever. Meadow will be changing her college plans forever. AJ will be a slacker forever. The guy who went to the john brought a gun in with him; he didn't need to look for one in the men's room (nice "Godfather" homage, though). Or, maybe he was just a guy in a restaurant who needed to go to the bathroom. Maybe the trucker was just a hungry trucker. Maybe the young black men were just young men who wanted to get something to eat. Or, maybe not. That's the way of the world. You just never know. Even in Hell.

[Rod L]

He was arrogant, self-centered and mean, but he was good at what he did. He had a charm and wit that could pull you in, but just as quickly he could put a bullet in your head. The people that loved him most were the ones he would most likely stick a foot up their a__ and give them the finger. Yeah, Anthony Soprano could learn a lot from David Chase.

Art, especially abstract art, certainly lends itself to viewer interpretation and boy interpretation runs amok here. Frankly the reason I watch t.v. two to four hours a week is precisely so that I can disengage my brain and not have to think--isn't that what it's for? Just give me a beginning, a middle, and a real ending and I'm a happy man.

[Stanley Krute]

Okay, Chase copped out.

Time to write our own endings.

Here's mine:

Tony looks up.

Meadow smiles and starts to speak.

Blood erupts from her forehead. She's been shot.

Tony freakout reaction shot.

Carmela rises to go to Meadow. She's shot.

AJ hides under the table. He's shot.

Silence. Interrupted only by gurgling final breaths.

Tony's alive. Alone. As he's always been.

Zoom back. Fade to black.

-- stan

[Cliff Johnson]

Oh, I get it.

(1) Many times Tony said, “When you get whacked, you don’t see it coming. Everything just goes black.”

(2) The scene between Tony and Pauly, Pauly caves in to Tony's demands, but is VERY irritated.

(3) Odd people milling about the restaurant. The screen goes black.

Pauly had Tony whacked.

Omigosh!

[joel edwards]

The ending was good. We are left to wonder... Afterall: "That's Entertainment!"
Enough has been said about that.

What I found the most interesting was the scene with the FBI agent in his little alcove watching TV as a terrorist is shown. At that moment, a fellow agent enters to announce that "Phil" had been killed. The look and reaction of the agent (who had helped Tony find Phil) was priceless. I believe he said:"We're going to win this thing." It was as if he knew they couldn't do anything final with regard to "Terrorism," but that he was able to personally affect the finality of helping to end the "Mob," by helping them to kill each other. Only he knew it, and he felt really good.

Excellent writing.

[Vail Beach]

I'm willing to accept Chase has Tony killed at the end if someone can explain who killed him? We were privy to meetings and conversations involving Phil, Butchie and the NY crew setting up the first round of murders. We heard Butchie say "do what you gotta do" about killing Phil. It's understood that this is an appropriate thing for NJ to do after the killing of Bobby and Sil's coma.

So where would this hit come from? No scene where this is discussed? No reason for it?

I get the idea that it could come any time, any way... except for the past 8 years, we've seen that these people live by a code, sort of. If someone like Tony is going to get killed, it's planned and a reason is given

If I'm wrong, set me straight.

[Al Wilson]

The whole idea of the screen suddenly going dark to symbolize Tony getting whacked is interesting. However, those last frames were not seen through Tony's point of view. They were from the viewers. We were the ones that got whacked by Chase... we didn't even see it coming. It's a great metaphor because if you were to suddenly die in real life, the outcome would be the same. The world goes on without you being aware of it. Just as the Sopranos world goes on, only we can no longer be in it. Because we are dead.

[Walker]

Is there no escape from Journey?

[Kishen]

Great ending....I wouldn't say Chase was trying to trick or thrill the audience with the ending....simply exercising a creative writer's prerogative....simply put, it conveys that life goes on...there are several exciting momentsin life , but most of the time, we don't leave with a bang....

[Yogi]

Tony died. Who else wears a Members Only jacket but an old thug. He came out of the bathroom and put a bullet in Tony's brain, and that is why instant NOTHING. It is very clear that Tony died.

[Radical Raul]

For those who thought their cable was at fault and didn't see this ending coming, all I can say is what the producers said to you, SUCKERS!!!

[Robert Stein]

A clue from the past about The Sopranos ending:

http://ajliebling.blogspot.com/

[seanp99]

A lot of hay has been made over the Journey song at the end. What song was playing when Tony walked into the diner? Little Feat, "All That You Dream" - Also fitting in its way:

Paul Barrere, Bill Payne

I've been down, but not like this before
Can't be 'round this kind of show no more

All, all that you dream
Comes through shinin silver lining
Clouds, clouds change the scene
Rain starts washing all these cautions
Right into your life, makes you realize
Just what is true, what else can you do
You just follow the rule
Keep your eyes on the road that's ahead of you

I've been down, but not like this before
Can't be 'round this kind of show no more

All of the good, good times were ours
In the land of milk and honey
And time, time adds its scars
Rainy days they turn to sunny ones
Livin' the life, livin' the life lovin' everyone

I've been down, but not like this before
Can't be 'round this kind of show no more
I've been down, but not like this before
Can't be 'round this kind of show no more

I've been down, but not like this before

[Peter Young]

The reaction of some viewers who were disappointed over The Sopranos ending is over the top--accusations that Chase showed them disrespect, calls for boycotting HBO and the like.

It was a cable television show, and its creator, David Chase, ended it in the way he, as a creative artist, chose to end it. Criticize it all you want for its concept, writing and execution, but the claim that it was an unsatisfying ending is insufficient ground by itself for condemning it. For one thing, as the comments of those who liked the ending and those who disliked it demonstrate, that is a highly subjective judgment. Given the criticisms of the ending he chose, it's plain he would have been roundly criticized whatever ending he came up with.

Those who criticize Chase for ending his story his way apparently believe it is their story, and so fairness requires they bear the burden of suggesting a better ending. If they take the trouble to come up with one they think is better, they can take satisfaction in that. At least in the absence of one that's demonstrably better, Chase's ending was good enough for me.

We ought to be grateful Chase et al. turned out 86 episodes of excellent, ground-breaking television instead of raking him over the coals for failing to meet subjective standards of what constitutes a satisfying ending. I'm thankful the director/writers chose to go their own way on this program, from beginning to end.

[Mark T.]

ENOUGH ALREADY PEOPLE!!!!!! For those of you in denial that still seems to think the old school dude wearing the Members Only jacket killed Tony (even though D.Chase didnt mind showing the discussions and eventual murders of the other crime family heads Duh ) and all this other nonsense pertaining to the series finale of The Sopranos.. here ya go kids.. a link containing thoughts about all of this from David Chase himself.. Enjoy and STOP THE MADNESS!!!!! Tony DIDNT DIE!!!!! Geesh...

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1562265/20070612/id_0.jhtml

[Edward Lewis]

I enjoyed the ending at first, open to what ever you want to think but what I dont like is not knowing if anything specific was meant.Like was Tony supposed to die?Was that what was meant it to signify or did he want it to be completely up to each individual?But one thing I know is that the cat wasnt meant to be Adriana like some have said.It was the cat Chris ran into and fed when he had relapsed on heroine with his brother and was out wandering around.

props to bvap and consider this:

a cat has nine lives--the sopranos will be back; they both escape death, as