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The Sopranos Ends With a ...
If you still have your copy sitting unwatched on your Tivo, I'd suggest that you stop reading before you are spoiled. The show is done at last and apparently fans are freaking out over the bizarre ending. At my house, we thought at first that the DVR crashed until the credits appeared in silence. Personally I thought that a show known for such excess tried to take an artful bow: It didn't work for me, but I get it at least. Anyway, I had a number of Sopranos submissions this morning and figured I'd just post this comment to give people who were interested in discussing the end of the show a nice place to discuss before they cancel their HBO.
He's dead, Jim.
Don't piss off The Angry Economist
It completely sucked. It left you with thinking "he either got shot.. or didn't get shot."
I guess their main objective was to leave question, but leave everyone realizing that he's got to spend the rest of his life in anxiety, wondering if he's going to get shot at any time.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
I never was an avid fan of the Sopranos. My roommate was seriously in love with it and I'd catch an episode with him. I've seen only a handful and they spread across a broad spectrum from an interesting first season episode full of mob action & scheming to a kid shitting in a shower and stepping on it. Ok, so maybe I'm oversimplifying the episodes that slowly build up family strife and psychological problems that must come with being in organized crime families.
... if they did, mobsters would have just killed each other off. But there are smart mobsters out there and what I took the ending to mean to me is that Tony is, after all, a smart mobster. He made it. Guys around him were dying left & right and his time had come but he struck a deal after holding out. I think they killed his brother or at least someone close to him but he was smart enough to write that casualty off. Not a lot of people could do that. Maybe this series chronicles the growth of an intelligent mobster? The old Tony might have made an offensive after that.
:)
Last night, it was very easy for me to accept the ending of the series finale. Because I wasn't addicted to the show. Logically, not all mob stories end in a Scarface-like explosion where everyone dies
I kept waiting for an assassin to pop out & kill Tony for the last half of the show. But, I didn't have a reason why that should have happened. Am I so trained by movies & books on endings that I can't accept one without a climax? My roommate new it was coming because he kept looking at his watch and saying stuff like "ok, shit better start happening because they've only got like 15 minutes." But you know, you're at the mercy of the writers and creaters of the show.
It was unorthodoxed for it to end that way. I'm reminded of the utter ripoff I felt when I saw the last episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion. But that was due to funding, I think this was the idea of the minds behind the show. Good for them. I like seeing deviations from normality when I don't have to suffer from it.
In the end, there were a lot of things that weren't wrapped up and I think that's the big problem a lot of fans are having to deal with. I think the reason so many fans are going to feel this is that the show started off as a badass mob series that attracted viewers of a certain nature who enjoy living a vicarious life of crime. Unfortunately, the ending just wasn't juicy enough to satiate that kind of appetite and I think that's why you'll hear so much about this. Personally, I liked it although I recognize that too many questions were left unanswered, too many futures were left uncertain & too many problems were left unresolved.
But, hey, that's life, isn't it?
My work here is dung.
and I canceled HBO.
Not just because the ending sucked but because there's nothing else I watch on those channels.
But that episode really sucked. I get it, "You won't know it's coming. Everything will just go black."
I don't care.
Besides I really wanted to see Meadow and AJ beheaded. There I said it. I can't take it back. It's out there.
This
That sense of tension and anxiety at the end is how Tony has to lead his life, every minute of every day. He doesn't know what's going to happen next, and now you know what that's like.
I agree. This has nothing to do with tech. It sucks. Soprano's isn't even a sci-fi.
Back when Slashdot was just a "stuff that Taco thinks is cool" site. I miss those days.
It's about the 42"+ Plasma or LCD. (But they left that part out)
News for Couch Potatoes. Stuff that doesn't matter.
I can throw as many stones as I wish; my house is made of transparent aluminum.
I felt like I was watching a David Lynch movie. It was a pure WTF!?! moment. I have psychological blue balls. As others have said, I think the cat was either Adriana, or Christopher. Despite the trick ending, there were a several fascinating plot tidbits.
Why did you click to read it? Did you expect a tech link?
It's a news site with a heavy tech influence. Get over it.
I just clicked to reply, not to read
The rest will probably be the full-length movie they're talking about.
"Please, shut up. Just when I think you can't say anything more stupid, you speak again." -Archie Bunker.
I've read a few things this morning... I rather liked Lisa Schwarzbaum's writeup in Entertainment Weekly.
My wife was horribly dissapointed but I'm glad we get to wonder what they might be doing now, albeit without us watching...
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
It's not been broadcast here yet, you insensitive clod!
Me neither, but I have gotten a kick out of all the various responses to it.
concrete5: a cms made for marketing, but strong enough for geeks.
The motto for the site is "News for nerds, stuff that matters". I think the ending falls under the second part of that. While it may not matter for you, it matters for the expected 10m people that watched last night. If you don't want to read about the Soprano's, don't click on the thread. Seems pretty simple to me.
It was pretty clear to me that he died. Remember the flashback in the previous episode, where Bobby says "You never even hear it when it happens, do you?" Implying everything just goes black - you're dead before you even hear the gun being fired. Well, that's exactly what happened. The last thing Tony say was Meadow walking in the door.
Earlier in the episode, he was eating an orange, which is a reference to the Godfather files that has been made before in the series. They signify death, don't they?
I thought it was an excellent episode. It would be so cliche if they just showed him getting his head blown off, or even ended with a black screen and gunshot. If you pay attention, you pretty much know what happened. But you have to think about it.
This space intentionally left blank.
They're testing their new "-1000000000000 Offtopic" rating designator. But now it's for stories instead.
u-bend
Ba-wimper?
A Wang?
What? You could at least have taken first post to get things started.
Now I'm curious, so I'm off to TV w/o pity just to find out...sheesh, so much for
getting work done...don't wanna spoil it?
Bah!
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
After 8 seasons I was hoping for an ending that was little more then a riff on The Lady or the Tiger, with a parsnip of The Godfather all set to a Journey soundtrack. Chase apologists will say this was an artful conclusion to the series, but that only stands so long as there is no Sopranos movie. It's an audacious end to the series, but as with most great TV shows an 8 season burden of developing plots cannot be concluded in 65 minutes with total satisfaction.
I just clicked to reply, not to read
In which case you're absolutely at the right site.
This guy's the limit!
Sounds like they got the Seinfeld writers to come out of retirement to do the series finale episode.
They played "You keep me hangin' on" by Vanilla Fudge 3 times through out the episode and finished with "Don't stop believing" by Journey. Oh there will be a movie alright...
Prolly Taco just wanted to get it out of the way, so we can get back to discussing tech stuff without people filling the firehose with Sopranos submissions and the system grinds to a halt since there ain't anything else left.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I could have tolerated the ending of the Sopranos if Deadwood was still there to help you fogetaboutit. But they canceled that, too. Didn't even bother to wrap it up. Suck ending to the Sopranos, no Deadwood and instead some stupid surfer show that doesn't even make sense and Big Love which should be renamed Big Snoozer. No decent concert series, their comedy shows have gone down the toilet and all the movies you want to see are available on Netflix. C'ya.
That giant sucking sound you hear today are millions of people just like me canceling their subscription.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
The motto for the site is "News for nerds, stuff that matters". I think the ending falls under the second part of that
I always thought that the "stuff that matters" actually mattered - like rights, events and so on, with a tech flavor.
It is unfortunate that a TV show now comes under "stuff that matters". I'm surprised that we don't have Paris Hilton updates as well - I'm sure that matters to a good number of people.
He lived, always a little unstable, always a little wary, but part of both families. Real life has loose endings and the ending reflected that.
And there are about a million websites devoted to TV shows and their fans. No reason the interested slashdotters can't go there. Just because it matters to someone, doesn't mean it belongs on slashdot.
Why did you post story X?
Slashdot is many things to many people. Some people think it's a Linux site. To others, it's a geek hangout. I've always worked very hard to make sure that Slashdot matches up with my interests and the interests of my authors. We think we're pretty typical Slashdot readers... but that does mean that occasionally one of us might post something that you think is inappropriate. You might be interested in my Omelette rant.
Personally, I have a pet peeve when people post comments saying things like "That's not News For Nerds!" and "That's not Stuff that Matters!" Slashdot has been running for almost 5 years, and over that time, I have always been the final decision maker on what ends up on the homepage. It turns out that a lot of people agree with me: Linux, Legos, Penguins, Sci (both real and fiction). If you've been reading Slashdot, you know what the subjects commonly are, but we might deviate occasionally. It's just more fun that way. Variety Is The Spice Of Life and all that, right? We've been running Slashdot for a long time, and if we occasionally want to post something that someone doesn't think is right for Slashdot, well, we're the ones who get to make the call. It's the mix of stories that makes Slashdot the fun place that it is.
Slashdot is meant to be a giant mixing bowl of stories. They focus primarily on the tech but there are some things that pop up other than tech or sci-fi stories that are worth notingWell, back to rejecting software patent applications.
You know, I came up with a rather nice ending about a year ago that involved Big Pussy coming back from the dead as zombie and using voodoo to take over Tony's crew, then going to war with Phil and then the rest of the Five Families. I even wrote a theme song (to the tune of the Three's Company theme song)...such a pity they didn't use it. Now that would've been a great setup for a spinoff. People like the mafia, they like zombie flicks...how could it fail?
i think i will go watch the who gives a shit channel
When Tony was shot last year he got a bionic arm and ears, also season 2 took place entirely on Europa.
This mental patient wakes up and we realize the whole series was just a dream.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Life goes on even though there is the impending "threat" of violence. It was an attempt to let us see through this character's (Anthony's) eyes a constant threat, similar to that of many Americans. If you let it consume you, you will end up anxious or worst case scenario, preemptively attacking another country, "God forbid."
I don't watch this series, but it was interesting to see how the rating was on TV.com. I guess everyone didn't like this series finale. :(
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
HBO hates, hates, hates time-shifting and anything else that replicates their content without paying them tribute. It was not in their best interest to put on a great show that would be Tivoed and passed around the internet.
It has been stated many times that Chase filmed several endings. He did not do that to keep the actors and writers from knowing the ending.
He did that so that HBO could put the better, alternate endings onto highly marked up "collector's edition" DRM'ed DVDs for us to buy.
Here's my belated Sopranos prediction: Within a few short months, certainly in time for Christmas, the alternate endings will appear on DVD. This will be heavily advertised. The base price DVDs will be a piece of crap. Ysou'll have to buy the collector's edition to get the alternate endings plus other "exclusive" content. The DVD will use a "better" encryption than ever before, followed by the inevitable posting of the decryption key or keys by some geek on digg.
It's not personal, it's just business.
The show. Not the finale or any before.
:-)
Now I know how the people feel who never watched Star Trek
I don't even watch that show, I just came to know what's the big deal about the ending. I do not, however, want a list of the stuff you don't care about, so STFU already.
You can't take the sky from me...
I'm curious, of the people who watch Sopranos and are old enough to have gone through the previous pop culture obsession with the mob, around the time of The Godfather, what's the attraction still? It all seems so '80s to me.
This probably reads like a troll, but I'm genuinely interested, because I so don't get it. Think of it as a personal failing on my part, and point out the cultural riches I'm missing out on.
At first I was like: WTF?
But then I realized we were looking at every action around him as a source of danger... Expecting anything to happen. And for that short few minutes we knew what it was like to be Tony. Could be the FBI waiting to grab you, could be some hired killers edging their way toward your table and entire family, the whole damn place could explode, etc...
No nice tidy bow wrapped ending for us or Tony, just another rev of the same wheel.
-- chud
I don't believe there is a correct interpretation of the ending, I think that's the whole point. Offer the viewer no solace, force them to think about what they have just watched, and let them decide on what that may be, regardless of what it is.
if you don't like it, perhaps you could use slashcode to make your own site.
That's exactly what the series ended with. You can read into it all the "meaning" you like. The fact is, the writers, directors, producers, et. al., left it wide open. "How do we end it?" they all said to themselves. Then, HBO executives, said: "Just don't. Don't end it at all. Don't have Tony dead. Don't have him in jail. Don't have him run to his new FBI friend and make a deal. Don't resolve anything. Don't do anything that will lock us into or out of possible future revenue. Just cut to black." And the rest of them, in unison, standing their in muffled awe, breathed "Genius."
too late. Also, to all the people saying Tony's dead: he might have just been pinched by the FBI. That ambiguity is the lousy part. I agree that signs point to him being dead; it's strongly implied, but it's not absolute.
burrocrisy
and that would be what? Ruling by jackasses? Never has a slashdot misspelling been more apropos
That would be too easy, too typical and not at all keeping with the series. The show died.
No, post the thread to a TV website, not a tech one. Most people don't even get HBO and of those not all give a flying fuck about that show.
I'm waiting for "The Baritones" an Italian Immigrant singing group with ties to the mob , making their way up the charts with
less that honest methods. Trouble ensues when the tenor of the group falls for a bass and the plot turns fishy.
I never thought to see a news like this in Slashdot, yet, i never watched the Sopranos either, the closest thing to watching it was an episode of the Simpsons where they play the music with chief Wiggum going on his car as if he was Tony Soprano, I have to admit i did see the intro to the show once and I like the music. Its funny that Slashdot posted this story on the front page, yet my journal story about itunes including users names and accounts numbers in itunes store songs files didn't make it.
I'm on Season 6, Episode 7. Thank you Netflix. This season is great and I can't wait to see Season 7 - it is getting hard to dodge the spoilers.
"No matter where you go, there you are." -- Buckaroo Banzai
The Rev D Wayne came into my life many years ago and I have worshipped at his church in many venues in many cities. I shall be abasing myself once more in a month or so and begging for his blessing.
Actually, of all channels in the US, HBO should care the least about TiVo beause it's main purposes are time shifting and skipping commercials. However, since HBO doesn't have commercials, they don't care if you skip them. And why should they care if you use a TV to timeshift? You still paid them. Also, I doubt most of the shows on torrent sites originated on TiVo, so much easier to go the old tv capture card route(and get software to snip the commercials or just do it yourself)
Monstar L
People thought their TV/Cable/DVRs went out. If you see the ending you will understand why.
It reminded me of that Beatles song, "She's So Heavy" on Abbey Road. They'd worked themselves into this song and didn't know how to end it. Eventually, the editor took a pair of scissors and cut it at a random spot. I wonder if there isn't some correlation. David Chase is a huge music fan. Anyway, it's not the ending many of wanted or expected, but I liked it. keytohwy
Lots of people used their Tivos to record the last episode of The Sopranos.
There's your tech flavor.
Now shut up.
Mac OS X and Windows XP working side by side to fight back the night.
I was listening this morning to 104.3 and the DJ was talking about how he gets to be a trivia question because it was his voice on the alarm clock that is the first thing you hear.
Anyway, they start to play a little 'farewell' song, which is basically a reworked version of the L7 song. It starts talking about a few of the things that happened in the episode. About 30 seconds or so into it, they sing "Walks into a diner" and then the song just cuts off. I got a kick out of that.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
Wow. What else haven't you watched. I wanna know more about you and maybe why you've never watched it.
Final soprano's episode was:
I'm pretty sure if it contained a 10 milliwatt laser, had Bluetooth, and was featured on ThinkGeek, then, yes, it would be OK to post about it. Because geeks would care.
Geeks of both sexes, that is. "Finally: tampons you won't be embarrassed to run into the drugstore for!"
Anyone who was expecting a pat, neatly wrapped up ending clearly hasn't been watching the series. Or if they were, they weren't thinking about the guy who wrote it. When was the last time we saw David Chase wrap up something neatly?
I think the folks arguing that Tony was killed at the cut-to-black are on to something, but it's not really worth arguing about. Either there will be a movie or not (my money is on not), and if there is, the folks arguing that Tony is dead will likely feel pretty dumb.
Anyway, this is probably the best thing I've read so far about the series conclusion. (Not my blog.) Make of it what you will.
"DRM'ed DVDs" and ''DVD will use a "better" encryption than ever before''
huh?
If it's a plain ol' DVD, that will play back in any regular ol' DVD player, then there's no DRM. There's encryption, sure, but the CSS encryption was cracked completely. Done. They *could* encrypt the thing better, but then it won't play back on DVD players - it's no longer a DVD.
Now perhaps you actually meant it'll only be available on HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, and by some magic way the HD-DVD version won't be 'cracked' almost instantly (as the keys have been found for HD-DVD perpetually).. or, knowing that HD-DVD's only protection is swiss cheese, only go with Blu-Ray and its additional protection layer.
Or maybe it is a DVD - but a data DVD, and you can only play it back on a special HBO set top box media center thingamajig?
Anyway.. if it comes out on DVD at all, it'll be ripped in no time.
===
Other than that, I fully agree with what you're saying - production companies are exploiting the Regular > Special Edition > Collector's Edition > Director's Cut > Director's Cut Collector's Edition > etc. thing up the wazoo. I wish it would stop - but it's a moneymaker, so I doubt it will. As you said - it's just business.. but it's pretty dirty business.
I don't mind the model in general - I don't mind paying extra for additional content if that's what I want to see. What I do mind is if you have e.g. a Special Edition which has bonus features A, B, C and a Collector's Edition which has bonus features B, C, D, and a Director's Cut which has features B, D, E and F You'd have to buy all three to get the full extras. That's just lame.
Because if you time shift, they can't sell the episode to you from HBO OnDemand which costs an additional $5.99 per month over and above the base HBO cost, at least in my neighborhood (Cablevision).
The best time to plant corn also matters to millions of people, but we don't bother putting a farmer's almanac on /.
SIGSEGV caught, terminating
wait... not that kind of sig.
The last show kind of spoke to me in an odd way. I mean don't get me wrong, I loved the episode before with the huge blood bath, but that is a very rare occurrence in Sopranos. Sopranos is more about the drama, and that's what we get in the episode.
That being said the ending had me hooked because every couple seconds I was saying "oh god don't do it here" and I had a feeling it was his final scene. But I believe the ending was his death, as Bobby Baccala said in the first episode this season you don't even hear it. Why else cut the music and the screen? I think the show was over and so was his life.
But that will be a series ender people will talk about for years, and as such kudos to David Chase.
So, I think the point of this is, Slashdot is "News for nerds, stuff that matters [to CmdrTaco and friends]." If you don't like it, you're welcome to go and start your own news aggregation site. CmdrTaco and company have also conveniently provided the code you could use to run your site. Have at it. But, as long as you're coming here and reading the articles on this site, realize that maybe not everything discussed here is right up your alley.
I personally haven't watched a single episode of the Soprano's. But, I came in here to read the comments because enough people have talked about the show over the years, and the build up to the final episode, that I was interested in hearing how it ended (especially in light of CmdrTaco's description of it).
IANAL... But I play one on
can I be as cool as you when I grow up? Please teach me your ways!!!
A series with as much depth as The Sopranos doesn't need to end with a Hollywood style ending. You don't need a shootout like Scarface or Tony going into jail or Silvio going into witness protection like Goodfellas. Any attempt at making a happy or concluding ending would have been a bigger disappointment to fans of the series. As it would have been very hard to make something like this "conclude" in some way. IMHO this is the best series ever seen on TV and one of the most realistic mob stories ever told.
OK, I may be in a minority here, but I'm ecstatic that this show is finally over. Glorified sex, glorified violence, and power. The typical bullshit of "holding a mirror up to society" is more of a lie with this show than most movies that similarly glorify street violence, etc. Worse, they lower society's standard of acceptable behaviour.
The last show I was this happy to see check out was Friends. Finally, another execrable piece of shite not wasting any more resources that could be used for a worthwhile purposes.
"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
And how many times has that flying horse turd Firefly and Battlestar Glaticarican been a topic here? It may not be sci-fi but people found it a relevant topic. It's nice to hear about show that doesn't involve a rabid fan base of people in latex masks wishing the mothership would come already. By the way, keep waiting.
The majority of comments on Slashdot have always been shit Which is why people shouldn't be modding up comments that are useless, like people whining that the entire article doesn't interest them. ESPECIALLY when the summary explains that it's being posted because so many people asked for it ("hey, people like X, I'll go in there and say X sucks! I am t3h awesome, lol").
This is a site for nerds to talk about the news, and apparently a lot of nerds want to discuss this bit of TV news. Let them talk amongst themselves.
If people really need to tell the world about what they don't like,
Mod down the chaff, mod up the info.
That is all.
You can't take the sky from me...
waiting for the final season here.
... So I switched channels, then went back and saw the credits.
Weird.
Still, nice way for Phil to go.. A distant Irish relation shared a similar fate, _NEVER_ pass out on the curb while waiting for the bus...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164085/
Why, we could apply this to all kinds of businesses. The DVD shops could protect against theft by refusing to sell DVDs, insurance companies could protect against rampant fraud by refusing to offer insurance, taxi drivers could stop car theft by not owning a car! Wow, what a world we could live in!
You know, there is a difference between trolling and pointing out the flaws in your reasoning. Just saying.
In that case, I'm waiting for the "Mega-happy" ending and then the "Scooby-Doo" ending.
this is just a placeholder till i send back my real sig from the future.
War done with Phil Dead
AJ coming out of his depression
Meadow pretty well set
Tony Resettled and Wife has her job remaking houses.
So you saw the terrorist reference in the end... the godfather bathroom reference..
but listen to the MUSIC:
The music goes:
"Don't Stop"
and they do. It all STOPS. The end of the series.
I can program myself out of a Hello World Contest!!
I'm surprised that we don't have Paris Hilton updates as well - I'm sure that matters to a good number of people.
/. style Paris coverage?
Totally. You know if she was just smart enough to refuse the breathalyzer she would have slipped in under 0.08% BAC if the officer insisted on taking her for a blood test. None of her more recent troubles would have percipatated if if hadn't been for the DUI conviction. There. Was that sufficient for
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Your parents must be proud.
Help me take back Slashdot. When did 'News for Nerds' become 'FUD and Conspiracy Theories for Extremist Nutjobs'?
Doesn't take any balls to say it was horrible! That being said, it was actually awful. Watch A&E reruns to see how good it used to be. What a let down. Not even an attempt to wrap up all those seasons.
Anonymous Coward
Joe M from Boston.
While the ending was wholly unsatisfying, it was typical of Chase. He refused to just give the audience what they wanted (the Russian, return of Furio etc). It's what made it a great show in not pandering to the viewer, and at the same time a frustrating one for the same reason. Hard to end it any other way. Real life works like that. Similar how in the Wire (better than the Sopranos (IMHO) how the main bad guy of the first couple of seasons goes to jail while the new bad guy is sitting in the back of the court room ready to take it place. As the song at the end of the Sopranos last night goes, "it goes on and on , and on and on". Tony will always be paranoid, Carmela will always be focused on trivia and AJ and Meadow will remain vacuous.
While many applaud (or loathe) the writers for this "artful" ending, the cynic in me sees this as a financial decision. Whacking Tony destroys the possibilities for a Soppranos movie. You'd be stuck with a prequel and those are _so_ passé.
Comcast gives you OnDemand for free, as long as you subscribe to the premium channel. I suppose it's a matter of market and company more so than HBO.
> At my house, we thought at first that the DVR crashed until the credits appeared in silence.
I thought the exact same thing (either cable went out or TiVo messed up), then they rolled the credits. Brilliant! I knew they would leave the door open for a movie.
...Maybe the traffic light far down the road from where Meadow was trying to park.
...And fading to black on a green traffic light off in the distance, or better, reflected in a window of a cheesy store across the street from the diner... would have been perfect.
I didn't see the episode - haven't had time to follow the series this season - but I did read the episode summaries....
Yes, that's a reference, and if you slept through English in high school, go back and re-read The Great Gatsby, dammit.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball
Did anyone else but me think that by ending it the way they did, they left it open for a movie?
It was a good show, but it was still a soap opera. It doesn't need resolution an ending any more than Days of Our Lives or General Hospital needs one. The final episode convinced me of that. Not only did they leave you hanging as to Tony's fate, but none of the other major characters(that didn't die) seemed to have changed much at all over the course of ~8 years. A.J is still the same confused and spoiled brat that he was before. Meadow is engaged, but she was before(to Finch) and it looks like the same road as Jackie Aprile, Finch, etc. And she's still in denial about Tony's mob involvement. Carmela has become a bit more independent, but is still basically the same character she was about the beginning of the series. 'The Sopranos' had great dialogue, good use of symbolism, good directing and acting etc. But the series wasn't essentially different than 'Dallas'
..my biggest beef with the episode is that after 7 seasons of awesome musical choices, Chase goes out on Journey?
"Don't stop..."
>>I always thought that the "stuff that matters" actually mattered - like rights...
Not too many rights issues apply to white, middle-class males with excellent job outlooks, so the articles become pretty redundant after a while...
At least it had an ending which is better than I can say for Carnivale, Deadwood.
Life just goes on. Best scene is when AJ got his new BMW he is on the phone with the girlfriend and says something like the new car gets great gas mileage of 23MPG highway. That after lamenting through the season about the US dependence on foreign oil. Fitting way to say good by to JR and I love it that Pallie Walnuts ended up being the good guy/weasel that he has ever been. Also notice that the show only had snow in the first half of the episode. For me this was a fitting end to a great series.
"If you still have your copy sitting unwatched on your Tivo, I'd suggest that you stop reading before you are spoiled..."
I'd just like to thank those involved for learning a lesson over the Lone Gunmen fiasco.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
Shut the hell up basement boy.
Always illuminating
"I personally haven't watched a single episode of the Soprano's. But, I came in here to read the comments"
/.'s editors choosing stories...I remember reading an interview with Taco here about a year or two ago. He wrote something to the effect that this site started as what would today be called a blog site -- his blog site. So Taco or his editors can post whatever the heck they want. If you don't like it, don't read it.
Same here. There are a lot of angles you could take on this story as to why its posted here. I for one find it interesting to see how people react to a television show ending in such an unorthodox way. Television is so pre-packaged and easily digestible and it has affected our perception of reality. People want quick fixes, they want stuff to resolve, all within the space of one hour. Well, sometimes it doesn't work that way. I for one, not having watched the show, find the concept of this particular ending ingenious.
Plus, in accord with GP's point about
People who complain about this story is a bit like me grousing about another article about the end of BSG just because I don't particularly care for the show: Frankly, nobody gives a damn.
blah blah blah
Of course if you asked me last week if that should have been the end, I would have definitely said "No". I agree with a lot of the opinions of last night's episode regarding not necessarily needing to know whether Tony (and possibly his family) are alive or dead. That being said there was little to no closure in my mind last night. Here are some of the closing points in last night's episode and why I feel they really didn't do it for me: Phil Leotardo got whacked: While Phil getting killed was probably the biggest point of closure in last night's episode, he wasn't much of an issue until the past 2 episodes (more so last episode then the one previous). Not to mention his head getting accidentally rolled over with the crowds' reaction was much too comical to be taken seriously. Tony and Uncle Junior: This just seemed forced. Tony wanted absolutely nothing to do with Junior until last night when he seemed compelled to go visit him and then become visibly annoyed with how Junior's Alzheimer's has blocked all memory of "running North Jersey". This confrontation in many ways gave me the feeling that this was the last time Tony would ever see Junior, which in this situation could be the case, but not so much with the next ....
Tony and Janice: Seemed too much like two High School graduates discussing the future and what to do next. Though nice to see bro and sis seemingly getting along, it again felt very forced. Remember that at this point Tony still had a target on his back, but made time to visit his family and his sister.
Tony and AJ, Tony and Meadow, Tony checking out Carmella as she walked by, and Tony with Paulie Walnuts were all fine because they either gave some closure or tastefully didn't.
However, I could have done completely without all of those things listed above. Here's an ending for ya. One of Tony's capos gets whacked and another is in critical condition in the hospital. Tony himself is the next target and holes himself off in a hideout with some muscle and goes to sleep with the assault rifle that his murdered capo brother-in-law gave him. End of story. No need for anymore closure then that. Tony's life of crime has always led to death and fear for all those around him and finally it turns on him.
Just some thoughts.
This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but a whimper.
- T. S. Eliot
I often thought of Tony and those like him, living in a hell of their own creation, are living the lives they deserve. No sense of home, no resolution, constant fear, watching the door always.
That said, Paulie still needs to get shot by the Russian.
weasels in a bag
Or, the family did a bunch of gross stuff to each other and Tony says "The Aristocrats!"
We, the audience, got whacked. That's what we get for allowing murderers into our homes. I think it's a bullshit cop-out, but who cares what I think, because I got whacked.
The ending was to bring around a sense of inclusion of the viewer.
When the series started we were all outsiders seeing the dirty world of Tony, who was definitely a bad guy. We were boggling at how sadistic and brutal this world could be and not understanding how one could live in it.. yadda yadda yadda
By that last scene we're now seeing the world through his eyes. Every little detail around the restaurant was something we now saw as "that guy might be here to whack Tony" or "look out for that". In essence we're on the other side of that fence now. The job of this story is done at that point. He's told a story engrossing enough to pull you across to Tony's perspective. Done.
Essentially we've had 8 seasons of "a while in the life of Tony Soprano", it doesn't have any obligation to a morally just or redemptive ending. Life does, in fact, even for Tony, go on...
I'm a fiscal conservative, it's a pity we don't have a political party anymore
It's amazing to me how many people really just didn't get it.
The ending left a lot open to speculation, but one thing that it didn't leave open (IMO) is Tony's fate.
Tony is dead - if you watch episode #78 "Soprano Home Movies," while Tony and Bobby are on the lake they are talking about what happens to people like them, and specifically about what it's like to get killed. Tony says something along the lines of "you don't hear the one that gets you," and Bobby asks "what do you tin happens when you die," to which Tony replies "nothing, everything just goes black."
Then, in last week's episode, "#85 The Blue Comet," Tony flashes back to this scene while he is lying in bed "everything just goes black."
Even David Chase said in an interview that the key to how it ends is in that first episode (Soprano Home Movies), and to make sure people would remember this he put Tony flashing back to that moment at the end of "#85 The Blue Comet."
On top of all of that there was so much death symbolism in the episode...I definitely had to watch it twice, but he definitely got clipped - and I think the finale was awesome.
In addition to the death symbolism and foreshadowing, the show made a lot of points about America - hence the title.
Ha. Haha... That's a good one. +1 Funny
For being considerate enough to not spoil the ending of the show in the synopsis.
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
Sites to start:
Slashdolt, funny news about dumb things
Slashdoh, news about the Simpsons
Slashdoowap, news about really old songs
Slashdrama, news about daytime soaps
There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
The only thing I know about the Sopranos is that Alabama 3 made some music for the show, the theme tune I suspect. Alabama 3 is a great band, go see them live if you ever get a chance. In case you hadn't noticed they are from from Brixton, London.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
Avon shot Tony Sophrano and then was killed by Federation troops.
Least that's how I remembered it as a kid.
It's not nice posting spoilers up as stories. Jackasses.
(Thankfully I watched it this morning.)
Brighthouse (TWC) gives us HBO on demmand for free to all HBO subscribers...
"I told you a million times not to exaggerate!"
Thank you. After catching a few morning newscasts, I thought I was the only one to notice this.
I suppose the vast majority of fans were expecting to see Chase steal a scene from Scarface, and were so disappointed they overlooked the dialog and plot.
Subtlety, it seems, is a grossly under-appreciated art form in this day and age.
but take this into account... the massive amount of publicitly generated by this final episode alone was enough to get me thinking "should I buy this series on dvd/hd-dvd/blu-ray?"...
the point: they just managed to open sales to a wider audience than their dedicated fanbase... those with marginal interest may now go and purchase some new box sets.
I thought the ending was good...it showed that this level of violence and uncertainty was the norm for these guys. It's just one more day in the life of the Sopranos and life goes on. As such, I thought it was a good ending for the series as a whole.
I've heard about the Sopranos but never got around to watching an episode. Anybody have a general overview for me? I assume it's like mafia or something?
Meh.
Did anyone notice that Carmelia had made a reservation at a restaurant? That did not look like the type of place that took reservations. And they each showed up without the person they were with when Carmelia told what restaurant they were eating at. It was like it was a code word for the family to meet there. At any rate I for one have been disappointed with the last 2 seasons and the ending was par for the course. The show has been going down hill for some. The writers have some explaining to do, before I pay to watch a series like that again(it was the only reason I had HBO) And who gives a ripp about watching AJ get a lecture for parking his car on leaves. Yes I get that, they were lecturing while connected with murder, racketeering etc. etc. Whatever
I've never seen a single episode either. I came in to see what fans thought of the ending. I know a lot of people who watched it.
'I don't want more choices. I just want better things.' - Edina Monsoon
Finish the story.
And, if you were curious about #1
Start the story.
Camping on quad since 1996.
Phil got his and they left it up to the imagination to decide what happens next - as it should be because life goes on and as far as the Sopranos go, what just happened was pretty much business as usual so they're just getting on with their lives. No great fanfare. No ridiculous twists and turns. It was the perfect ending to something that really didn't end. We just don't get to see what happens next. I think it's genius.
You could use the same logic and apply it to the viewer, as others have said. "Everything just goes black" - the series has died. I think the more obvious (and Occam'sly) explanation is that they were fine and had dinner and life went on (for a while, at least). The recurring theme in the show is that the life he leads is one where you never know whats coming next. The final scene highlighted that - Tony has to be looking over his shoulder at all times for what's coming next, be it the law or the enemy.
Nobody is getting it. We were the ones that got wacked! We didn't see it coming because we thought Tony was gonna get it but it was us.
Tony is a replicant - an organised crime model for optimum viciousness. Everything went black because of the built-in deactivation circuit. He actually is the 7th of the replicants that escaped in the back story of Blade Runner and will appear in the upcoming 27-disc "Blade Runner, Binge and Purge" box set (with apologies to Metallica). He is shown whacking Gaff and remarking "F**king origami, fuggedaboutid!". Skynet sent him back in time to defeat the Architect before he could construct the Matrix, but he took a detour into some rather lucrative crime.
This was not the ending you're looking for. You don't need to see this TiVo. You can go about your business. Move Along.
This is just wrong.
If HBO *hates* time-shifting then why are one of the fastest at putting up content and a strong proponent of OnDemand viewing? You just made that up. Good job on getting the mod points, I guess.
--- I do not moderate.
nice ending, the point was to make everyone scared that something bad was going to happen and then just to show you that everything back to normal an fine like the beginning of the show
I guess that's the beauty of it
You are right - it is possible that anything happened; but with that scene in the first episode of season6pt2, and the fact that they had it in a flashback at the end of the the previous episode to this one; coupled with the symbolism and David Chase's comments make me feel that he took one to the head.
I think most people missed the fact that Meadow was pregnant. It was mentioned that she would be running late to dinner, because she had to see the doctor, something about "Switching Birth Control Pills". On her way in, and parking her car, she was extremely flustered. So Tony dies (all of a sudden everything just goes black, the one "creepy guy" that went into the bathroom probably came out with a gun in his hand), but life goes on (Meadow is pregnant).
I think the ending was well done. Everyone in my house was getting agitated about Tony getting killed. The music was loud. The suspense was up. Everyone is checking their watch and asking each other if this was going to be a 2 hour episode.
And then black. And I'm sure millions of people, just like me, said, what the hell? Did my cable just go out? I was thinking, as the end was coming up, that there was no way to end the series normally because there just wasn't enough time left. There certainly wasn't enough time for reaction shots from the family that we would certainly want to see. It was also apparent, from the fact that we were spending so much time seeing the details of this little seemingly meaningless meal that we're seeing details of Tony's life that usually get left out. Seeing a little bit of his perspective and feeling a bit of the tension that he feels. It was, overall a good ending because the tenor of the series over all of these years just doesn't point to us seeing Tony die. No real fan of the show wanted to see that. It might have been a plausible excuse to end the series, but the fact of the matter is that we've tuned in for so long because we want Tony and his family to live on. I think that when we look back on it in years to come, we'll be more satisfied knowing that he's still around. Still, I have to admit that it was a bit disappointing. Not least of all because there was no music for the end credits which has been a Sopranos signature.
I'd have to say that this ending doesn't compare favorably to the endings of other series such as HBOs own Six Feet Under. As far as I'm concerned their montage ending that touched on the highlights of the live of the remaining characters with some extra attention to Claire's point of view had unbelievable emotional impact.
On the other hand, the focus of Six Feet Under was the struggles and the lives of the characters to get past their more-or-less ordinary personal challenges and make something meaningful of their lives within the norms of society. While the Sopranos relied just as heavily on the intimate details of the lives of the main characters, we're not rooting for Tony to overcome his own personal hurdles and to reach his dreams in any traditional way. We tuned into Sopranos to see Tony struggle and fight, to take on those same problems like a mobster. We want to see him do things the way he would do it and we can't (or at least probably can't get away with). Seeing Tony get old or finally succumb to the forces that would bring him down aren't what we want to see. So in this case, it's best to see him at the top of his game. I know that I will always want to remember him that way.
...I already know what that's like.
--- JurassicPizza
To the person who was saying "Everything just goes black". Very well thought out. Of course you guys are forgetting that there is still talks about making a Soprano's Movie. If that is the case they HAVE to leave Tony ALIVE. Got to string you along just enough that either could of happened.
They are all dead. The "three" hit men where just waiting for the daughter to arrive so they could do them all at the same time.
And if you don't like George W. Bush, move out of America.
/. community.
Seriously, "if you don't like it, leave instead of criticising" has to be the lamest fallacy ever. You might as well just type "I have no valid response and you win."
That you got modded up for it only speaks to the general lameness of the current
I think I saw .5 episodes of this. More HS dropout gorillas killing each other. Great. Just what I need to watch.
The entertainment industry needs an enema. Ending this stupid show is a step in the right direction.
Do you have a link or reference to the article/interview where he states that? If you do that just about cinches the intent of the ending.
Otherwise we're still speculating...
But then Chase reminds us that Tony's life is inherently unstable. One of his guys flipped. He's likely to be indicted. And then the last scene. Like everyone, I found the tension excruciating and I thought something awful was going to happen. But it didn't. The buildup of tension, the shots of suspicious characters in the diner, were reminders that Tony's world will never be safe. The dinner is a good time -- as AJ reminds us -- but the message of the ending is that good times are fleeting, the world is full of scary people, and death is never far away.
Why do I think he didn't get killed? Well, because
I would like to espouse the theory that Tony is not dead. I believe *the viewer* is dead. People may have had a point about Tony dying if the series were shot primarily in first person. But it's not. And besides, Tony tied up most of his loose ends during the episode. Who was left to whack him? (Not to mention that David Chase seems to have taken some pains to add the little-known song "I'm Alive" by Tommy James & The Shondells to the jukebox list, and the fact that the final song was called "Don't Stop Believing".)
No. *We* got shot by the suspicious Italian guy when he was coming out of the bathroom, or perhaps by the two African-American guys (just like Tony's close encounter in Season 1).
Clearly the end was meant to be somewhat ambiguous (to understate the point), but I truly believe that the intention was to kill US, not to kill Tony. Life goes on for the Soprano family, just like it has in every other episode. It does NOT go on for us. The viewer finally experiences what has happened to so many other characters on the show. We're dead before we even hear the shot.
Tony didn't get whacked. WE DID.
I find it hard to believe that anyone would complain about the ending. It's difficult to get more closure on a TV show than one's own death.
Paulie turned out not to be a turncoat in the end. The ending, whilst it pissed me off at first, makes close just fine and I should have expected. I want to re-watch the episode where Paulie and Christopher are chasing the Russian in the Pine Barrens. No closure there, but it became one of the show's most popular (if not the single most popular) episodes and I loved it. Just the speculation of what happened to the Russian, whom was beaten up and shot in the head. So now, the end of the series gave us just that, what you had watching Tony watch everyone else in the diner, anxiety as someone mentioned before. You can take the scene however you won't make your own story. It's over. I kind of like that, very poetic. Kind like the girl (or boy) you had a break-up with and while you may wish for it to continue and you still wonder what it would be like, you continue happy just the same. Certainly one of the best shows ever made for TV. This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end Of our elaborate plans, the end Of everything that stands, the end No safety or surprise, the end I'll never look into your eyes...again Can you picture what will be So limitless and free Desperately in need...of some...stranger's hand In a...desperate land Lost in a roman...wilderness of pain And all the children are insane All the children are insane Waiting for the summer rain, yeah There's danger on the edge of town Ride the king's highway, baby Weird scenes inside the gold mine Ride the highway west, baby Ride the snake, ride the snake To the lake, the ancient lake, baby The snake is long, seven miles Ride the snake...he's old, and his skin is cold The west is the best The west is the best Get here, and we'll do the rest The blue bus is callin' us The blue bus is callin' us Driver, where you taken' us The killer awoke before dawn, he put his boots on He took a face from the ancient gallery And he walked on down the hall He went into the room where his sister lived, and...then he Paid a visit to his brother, and then he He walked on down the hall, and And he came to a door...and he looked inside Father, yes son, I want to kill you Mother...i want to...fuck you C'mon baby, take a chance with us C'mon baby, take a chance with us C'mon baby, take a chance with us And meet me at the back of the blue bus Doin' a blue rock On a blue bus Doin' a blue rock C'mon, yeah Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill This is the end Beautiful friend This is the end My only friend, the end It hurts to set you free But you'll never follow me The end of laughter and soft lies The end of nights we tried to die This is the end ~'The End' by The Doors
I certainly think your interpretation makes sense. The other one does too (it was meant to reflect that Tony's life is a tense one where his untimely demise is always just around the corner). Soprano Home Movies captured this feel too (with Bobby in Tony's final episode role). Much of that episode was a tense buildup of Tony likely killing Bobby for beating him up (the wives worrying, the worry when Tony asks to pull over in the middle of nowhere). But it never comes, Tony doesn't harm a hair on Bobby's head.
So, what was Chase referencing in Home Movies? The boat scene or the trip to meet the Canadians?
Anyone think so?
He knows that, you pedantic twit. There's a good case to be made that the season's climax was in the next-to-last episode. Perhaps you don't agree, but that doesn't make his word usage wrong.
Most people don't even think inside the box.
I wonder how Vegas is going to handle this. After all, they were taking bets on Will He or Won't He.
Methinks the director is going to have to fess up as to wtf happened, less he end up on the wrong side of some "fade-to-black" folk.
UTF-8: There and Back Again
...a great disturbance in the Force. As if millions of voices suddenly cried out, "The fuck?"
CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
I must admit, I'm torn up about the episode. Part of me loves it. That was the absolutly most dramatic way it could end. Tony getting out of the business would have been sappy, overdone, and (I think) not in line with the rest of the show. Tony and the family getting killed would have been expected, overly dramatic, and not really in line with the rest of the show. But the way it did end was like "well, that's it..." with an elipsis. Just like the show has always been, an elipsis. No conclusions. No TV drama. It, more than most shows, did not cave in to television/movie conventions. It was not a story about a TV family; it was a story about a 'real' family. Yours or mine. This one just happens to be a mafia family, but its really not so different from anyone elses. And it ends in the in a very 'realistic' way: that is to say, it doesn't. As the last words in the episode say: "Don't stop..." Our minds fill in the "believin'."
/shrug "who knows" sort of ending. And a "wait till we cash in on a movie we say we aren't going to make, but then do when everyone wants another paycheck." So, on that level, it annoys me just a bit.
So I loved the ending, right? well, yes I did. But at the same time, I think it was a little bit of a cop out. This was probably the easiest way for the writters to end the serries: without doing anything. Indeed, they build all that tension in the final scene (more on that in a second), but then the show ends before even a hint of a payoff. Again, I get it. And part of me really likes it. But as realistic as this is...as much of a docudrama about an american family it is, it is still a television show. And we, as faithful viewers need some closure. Instead we get a
But I still loved it. When the show ended, I said, out loud, "What the f***!" I honestly thought my TiVo didn't record everything. It was an amazing, gut reaction. It will be remembered.
Now, a few quick points. I don't think that Tony dies after the black out. First, that is the TV drama ending that everyone expects. And, as we have seen, Sopranos does not give you what you expect. Second, it doesnt seem to fit with the "Families don't get hurt" stuff and the resolutions made in the final episode. Still, there was all that tension in the final scene. What I think that is is the life that Tony lives and will always live: there will always be that threat out there. So, the final scene is filled with tension. How much suspense can be built from Meadow trying to park a car? Holy crap! But its all a red herring. Its there but it isn't there. We see the suspicious guy sitting at the bar. We see the suspicious guy with the hat. But that doesn't mean they are killers. The point is: they could be... in the life of Tony. The threat is there but it is not there. Families don't go to war now. The real threat in Tony's life is from the upcomming indictments, not the guy at the bar. But Tony will be forever suspicious. So, he will always raise his head when someone comes in the door, just in case. In case it is a killer or a FBI. Who knows?
But what about the 5 or so seconds of black without any music? Good question. It could signify death, but I think that is too obvious. I think this is the 'the series is over' queue, not the 'the family is over' queue. It was like lowing the curtain and the lights. The play is done. What happens happens. Life goes on, but the Sopranos show is done. There are stories that will never be told... and they will be more stories of a family just like yours and mine. Music would have suggested a continuance--some sort of resolution. Instead you have none--just like life. In life there aren't resolutions. There is just life.
So yea, I was frustrated by the episode. And I wish that there were answers. But this ending was amazing nevertheless. I am sure that people will disagree with me, but that is just another reason the episode was so great: it leads to coversations.
I really like that idea ^_^ although I have to admit I've never seen the show...
It was very clear that Tony was killed at the end. During the entire final scene after Tony sits at the booth, every time someone enters and the bell rings, the camera focuses on Tony for a second then you get Tony's perspective of the person coming in. As meadow runs up to the restaurant, the bell rings Tony looks up and rather than seeing meadow and hearing the music it suddenly becomes dark and silent (the fact that music also stopped confirmed it for me) and you are essentially seeing and hearing what Tony is: nothing.
Disney has both animated and live-stage musical versions of The Lion King.
The clearance system sounds logical. It is not. It is completely arbitrary. -- John Bolton
The audience took one to the head. Not Tony. Tony being shot... big deal. Probably 50% of people hyping the show expected that. Anyone expect the audience to get whacked? Not I.
"Nature doesn't care how smart you are. You can still be wrong." - Richard Feynman
Ok, since I got modded offtopic and redundant for asking, let me rephrase the question. Why the fuck is this in "Ask Slashdot"? I can't see a single questionmark in the story, can you?
Pauley: "Some guy's been watchin' every ting we been doing for years. I took care of it."
I felt it was more just that things go on. We just saw a brief peek in the life, not a beginning and an end. Our view into the life of the sopranos cut out, but life as it is for the fictional characters "goes on." Of course it's all very open to interpretation, but I choose to believe he lives on, at least for a while.
There is DRM a plenty on DVDs.
Heck, region lock? Hello?
You can't take the sky from me...
anyway - that's what a blogger on Multichannel.com said. Kinda interesting. Here's the link:9 90010499.html
http://www.multichannel.com/blog/1300000330/post/
Since I've never watched the Sopranos how about someone add the last season to 7 Minute Sopranos so that I can see what happens.
The Farewell Tour II
HBO hates, hates, hates time-shifting
Which is why they put everything on On-Demand the day after it airs. Bastards!
It was as if millions of unresolved plotlines suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.
Gimme a break.
;)
I am not one for the 'it doesn't belong on slashdot' complaint, but I can not see if the slightest reason this should be on slashdot.
And no, it doesn't matter.
Maybe next week we can have stories about American Idol and which TV anchor has the best fuckin' hair.
BTW, I am using Safari on windows, so all misspelling are Apple's fault.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
For the director, writers, actors, and everyone else involved with the show's production, these roles have all been played for the last time.
Second, beyond the open-ended cliffhanger regarding Tony, I feel they did a good job of walking each major personna across the stage for a final bow over the course of the final episodes.
Third, as far as Tony is concerned, we don't know what happens but does it really matter? Its implied that he might be killed suddenly by the shifty-looking character who walks past into the bathroom, especially considering Bobby's remarks during the "Soprano Home Movies" episode and the flashback last week, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread. Of course with Phil dead (and Tony having received permission prior) there is nothing in the episode to suggest who might still want to have him killed or why. It may be that the two guys walking into the restaurant just before Meadow are Feds coming to arrest him - even if he isn't killed that night it is understood that he'll have to face the Rico case that been built against him throughout the series. Perhaps nothing happens at all everything follows what others have stated, that the last five minutes are just expressing to the what every moment of Tony's life is like, never knowing what might happen next. The greatest part of about the ending (whether you liked it or not) is that it opens the floor for the viewers to think, discuss, and decide for themselves.
Finally, bonus points simply for being different.
Your Brain + EEG + LEGO Robots = Brainstorms
Good points! I had forgotten about the foreshadowing previously, but I totally got the fact that he was killed (after hurling an expletive at my TV cable, thinking it had gone out at THE most inopportune time). The screen goes black, you're shot in an instant. Like those old Jetta commercials where the passengers are chatting and then bam, they're in an accident, catches the audience off guard, because that's what car accidents are like. Plus, a show that always ended with music, ended in silence and black, in memoriam, for Tony.
It was on here (Canada), but I didn't watch it. Never got in to it.
The series finale that had me gibbering "What the fuck?! What the fuck?! What the fuck?!" was Life on Mars. That was fun.
...laura who was 12 in 1973
covered in Multichannel News. The blogger calls Sopranos a "national Rorschach test" which pretty much sums it up, for me anyway. http://www.multichannel.com/blog/1300000330/post/9 90010499.html
Also, this blogger spotted the NY Post television columnist fishing the HBO board for viewers who were threatening to cancel their subscriptions...so I guess we'll be seeing that story pop-up soon, too.
Congratulations! You have discovered the primary distinction between a democratic country and a privately-owned website. Have a cookie.
Oh, some lame TV show. Thanks for wasting my time.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Here is the exact dialog from that episode:
'Bobby: "I mean yeah, our line of work, it's always out there...bet you don't even hear it when it happens, right?"
Tony: "Ask your friend in there, on the wall"
Bobby: "(laughs) Listen to us...morbid fucks." '
Nowhere does anyone say 'everything goes black', or anything even remotely like that (and if you want to see what it looks like to 'not even hear it', I suggest you re-watch the execution of Jerry Torciano). The truth is that there are some people out there who just have to have some kind of closure to the series, people who have to see the bad guys get what they deserve. Well, that didn't happen here. Think of all the times he evaded death or capture, mostly through shear luck. Hell, look at the beginning of the episode! Are you honestly saying that the whole series was nothing more than a series of red herrings leading right up to the last second? I have more respect for the writers than that. If there was going to be a surprise hit, why bother with Phil ordering the 'decapitation' of the Family, or the entire second to last episode?
Personally, I find fans like to play guessing games now with shows, looking for symbolism and clues that aren't even there. Sometimes, what you see is what you get, and what you see is the Sopranos, presented one last time for our viewing pleasure. Remember the last lines:
'AJ:"...right. Focus on the good times."
Tony: "Don't be sarcastic."
AJ: "Isn't that what you said one time? Try and remember the times that were good?"
Tony:"I did? Well, it's true,I guess."'
I came here for a good argument
That's fine to say the ending was artsy and made you think. All true, though I would argue, "To what end?" Either way, the end was totally inconsistent with the rest of the series. The show makes the viewer remember things and understand things, but hasn't ever implied things before. Even after Tony was shot and had the dreams of being dead for a few episodes the viewer wasn't left hanging. Some speculation, sure, but even though it could have gone either way it didn't. Calling the ending an artistic existential triumph is a little much. It's never been that before and shouldn't have been now.
the last chapter is just blank pages
When Scientologists are bashed for abusing the legal system, that's OK.
When Scientologists are bashed for breaking the law or harassing people, that's OK.
But just mocking their belief system? How is that defensible?
OK, they believe in thetans and attempt to audit them out. So? Why am I supposed to laugh at that when the supermajority of the world believes similarly barmy nonsense?
The point was to make the viewers feel, if only for a few moments, the way Tony Soprano feels every single moment of his life.
The absolute paranoia. The focus on every single little detail. The search for the smallest scrap of meaning in anything as if our lives depended on it because they do.
I watched it with a bunch of friends and every single one of us was on the edge of our seats, every single one of us was muttering something along the lines of "oh, no, here it comes," and every single one of us jumped when it went to black, just completely confused.
As endings go, Six Feet Under was *closure* and it was brilliant. The Sopranos wasn't closure, not by a long shot, but it left me with something just as satisfying - I got it. I finally understood, just for a minute, how Tony Soprano works and I felt sympathy for this monster.
That's pretty good in my book!
Since I can't tell them apart, I treat all ACs as the same person.
And that addresses the logical fallacy of responding to criticism with "go away if you don't like it" how, exactly? If I don't like it, but I like the site, why shouldn't I express my grievances in the hope that things will change?
Wasn't Slashdot designed to be democratic in nature, anyway?
Why is a privately-owned website whose entire raison d'etre is centered around public contributions and activity supposed to be immune from criticism?
The Sopranos finale left me feeling exactly like the last season of Stargate. The Space channel in Canada just dropped Stargate altogether about one third into the last season after carrying it for a decade. It was only about 5 months later that I read here on slashdot that Stargate actually ran for another five months. I'm still pissed at the Space channel.
The Sopranos suffered from the same affliction as Stargate in later seasons, the spark of creativity that was present in the early seasons slowly dwindled to nothing in the last few seasons.
The last few seasons of the Sopranos were a bloody low grade family soap opera. I'd watch All My Children, Coronation street or the Eastenders if I wanted that shite. I'm not the least bit surprised they used such a weak final episode, it pretty much sums up what happened to the series.
I think it would be funny if there actually was this elaborate, climactic ending, but there was a horrible technical glitch at HBO and the episode was accidentally cut off. Then the network panicked and decided to just leave it how it was shown and let everyone go nuts talking about it.
nt
cmdrdildo is a fucking fucktard who thinks he rocks. he's an arrogent shithead with no skills and no desire to see through on what he claims to beleive in. fuck slashdot. troll this bitch to death!
A.J. is apparently the writer's voice this season in expressing his hatred of America and the Bush administration. He's moved on from Meadow and her "poor little innocent Muslim victims" kick. It seems more fitting that this hatred be emoted by a whining, quivering pile of bisexuality like AJ, though I'm sure that wasn't the primary intention.
u se-it-must-have-been-something-YOU-did-to-deserve- it" curriculum has been wrong all along. And that, they cannot do.
Merely alluded to in other episodes, since its the finale he goes all out. "...jerkoff fantasy that we're winning" or some such. Sorry flakey pacifists, but we ARE winning. If we didn't have mewling enemy collaborators like you to fill our legal system with crap lawsuits, and to saturate young minds with your lies through your media/university control, this war would have been over long ago. But since we have to care what you bedwetters and what murderous 7th century religion-crazed barbarians think of us, it has drug on for years.
Truth is, people like this WANT us to lose. The alternative is to finally accept that their "multiculturalism/diversity/take-it-in-the-ass-ca
Guess not many people noticed... If you pause last nights episode, he comes from jr to the diner at the end in black coat and grey shirt- he SEES HIMSELF at a table - then it cuts to him in a diff shirt - THE SAME shirt from s6e1 when jr shot him. Was he dead the whole season?
Here's my belated Sopranos prediction: Within a few short months, certainly in time for Christmas, the alternate endings will appear on DVD. This will be heavily advertised. The base price DVDs will be a piece of crap. Ysou'll have to buy the collector's edition to get the alternate endings plus other "exclusive" content. The DVD will use a "better" encryption than ever before, followed by the inevitable posting of the decryption key or keys by some geek on digg.
And I will get a copy of it from tvtorrents. It's gonna be sweet.
adventure-today.com
...The opening shot of 'Made In America'. Tony lying prose in his bed, eyes closed, church bells going off, all harken to a funeral. Or an up-and-coming one. I don't see how so many people missed mentioning that shot in their reviews of the last episode...
Couldn't find them on eMusic or iTunes. That's unfortunate.
I found their site, interesting to say the least. I like real country (Old Crow Medicine Show, Hank Williams, Doc Watson, Buckaroos) and I like electronic music (Thievery Corp, Colder, Thunderball, Portishead, etc). I don't know if they do as much for me, but I'll give it another listen. Interesting mixture of music, though. Not many folks fusing country and electronic, you know?
blah blah blah
I was a Blakes fan when the show ran in Belgium, 20 years ago or something close to it.
I remember the ending scene. Most of the 7 shot down, and what's-his-name being completely surrounded, standing ready with his gun in his hand....
The end...
Not a bad ending actually. Not knowing can make it much more interesting.
Like not knowing the contents of the box in 'Ronin' for example.
Why yes, yes i am. Nice of you to finally notice.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Brilliant, brilliant ending. I had the same viewer reactions everybody else did - but that's what you're SUPPOSED to feel for thirty seconds as a viewer. The ending itself has to last on forever upon endless reflection after those thirty seconds are over as being a worthy finale. The key, of course, is the cat - the final animal used to define Tony in a symbolic sense. (Hey, you don't think it was just coincidence that there was the sound of ducks off camera when waste was dumped into their pond water when Tony "got it" in a bone-dry desert a few episodes back, do ya?) This was no normal cat - Tony theorizes it can sense dead things behind walls. That's about as oblique a reference as you can get for the ultimate in existentialism, namely Schrodinger's Cat. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schrodinger's_cat So now Tony lives on forever in a storybook quantum instant where all possible outcomes exist, both alive and dead simultaneously, and the viewer never gets to look in the box and see (or by looking, determine absolutely) Tony's ultimate outcome. Brilliant, brilliant ending, Mr. Chase. Kudos to you.
Heh, from your listings you should get on with them ok. I'm surprised they dont feature in the online stores though, seeing as they had the exposure of the Soprano's thing. I'm not usualy one for listening to lyrics but most of their tunes get a chuckle out of me, all very knowing stuff if you know what I mean. I fondly imagine that the folks over at Alt.Slack might play music like this.
Facts are history now plebs have politics for religion on social media.
that's right. white, middle-class males with excellent job outlooks deserve absolutely no rights. as long as they keep on toiling away with their excellent job outlooks - to pay for all the dregs. fuck you racist asshole.
I've never understood that - why is it embarrassing to purchase tampons? Are you ashamed of buying toilet paper? Afraid to buy condoms?
Good grief. It's better than buying adult diapers I bet.
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
Adiabatic sun-protection-factor 10^8 membrane is more like it.
In other words, a 1990's style blackhole is required for macroscopic quantum entanglement.
Great ending, btw. Good tunes, good times. Thanks, writers for re-working the #1 movie.
If you need text styles to communicate then you don't have a message.
Yes.
Yes.
Personal hygiene, while prized highly in the United States, is also generally taboo. It's embarrassing to be seen at the grocery checkout with a 12-roll pack of 2-ply tucked under your arm, even though it's absurd to imply that you somehow have no need to purchase toilet paper. Same thing with condoms, plus you tack on the stigma associated with prophylactics and sex in general around here.
Good riddance to Sopranos.. Maybe HBO will make a drama series about ruthless Jewish bankers now..
-1, Troll, eh?
Truth hurts, doesn't it?
Have you driven a fnord... lately?
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