Monday, June 11, 2007

Final Sopranos Episode

By requset of Sheila, I am here to comment on last night's episode, the final episode, of The Sopranos.

If you have not viewed the last episode, don't read the following.

This morning, I was watching The Today Show, and they featured a segment called "Ending without a Bang." Basically, that describes the ending, which cut to black before any action happened.

Honestly, I felt that this whole season dictated the the ending of the show. NOTHING HAPPENED! There was little action, more meaningless conversations leading to no major climaxes or problems. The biggest point of drama was when Christopher, Bobby, and Sal got shot. Otherwise, the plot wasn't far from allowing me to doze off as I anticipated bigger scenes to unfold.

So, with nothing really happening throughout the whole season, I could hardly be surprised when nothing happened at the culmination of, not just the episode, but the entire series! But, I could see why they chose this ending for a variety of reasons.

First of all, this leaves open the possibility for a movie. I would not be surprised if they took this route. The box office would crawl with Sopranos fans. Second, many other films, series, and books have left off their plot with a "create your own ending," which could be the case here if they do not choose to do a movie. They set up the scene well enough for many arguable point of view for what was to happen in those final moments. Personally, my heart was beating through my chest, but I did feel disappointment when I was lead to no conclusion, not even the one that I was dreading in those moments.

The Today Show mentioned that, minutes after the show, angry fans mobbed the HBO website with angry notes and messages (that should be interesting, so check it out today), but there was so much activity on the website that it basically froze. Who could not understand? The most highly anticipated finale of the year ended at a standstill, or as The Today Show puts it, without a bang.

Lastly, I think the "create your own ending" idea isn't always a bad one. For some reason, I think that many Sopranos fans are disappointed and angry about them substituting this for the ending. One person told me that it's a "cop out." I just think that fans want a little more closure. If anyone was a Six Feet Under fan, that show left complete closure, carrying out the lives of each character. I felt satisfied, closed with that show. With The Sopranos, I feel highly the opposite. I feel a lack of resolution, a bit of confusion.

But maybe this is exactly what they wanted. This is one of the most highly acclaimed television series of our time. Maybe they wanted to cause a stir like this. When Seinfeld ended, they used a controversial final episode that left many angry and disappointed.

When people tried to guess the ending, I thought that no one could have pegged it. A TV show with this much popularity has to come up with some original ending that fans could never have dreamed. This elevates suspense and makes the show the awesomeness that it is. So, maybe this isn't such a bad thing after all, or is it?

What do others think of the final episode?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

i was reading Newsday and a write Verne Gay had a review on it, and the title of the article read "Was the most anticipated finale of the TV season a disappointment? YES...

WTF HBO!!! totes sucked! you had my heart racing, as if though i had finished a pack of red bulls...and what do you do? you black it out?!?!

I do like Jami's dads analogy, cute, but no, fans need an ending...

There is skepticism about a follow up movie, which, i don't think will happen, but the fans wanted more! and again to quote Gay's article...we got just another question mark...such a a good episode turned wrong...o well, i guess we can all say our ending to the show was correct...

Jami said...

After thinking it over more, I don't think there is going to be a movie sequel either. What is your interpretation of it Sheila? What do you think happened based on everything you've heard?

Does this make a good TV show--when we can argue about possible endings? I kind of like that in a way, even though it might be more ambiguous than I'd want it to be...

Anonymous said...

maybe that was their ultimate plan, to have everyone discuzz it for so long, but, so far, everyone i have discussed this with, has hated the ending as well...so is it better that we go on and on about the ending to its disliking, or would it have been better if it tony did die and we talked about how great it was!?

coobyjr23 said...

it's a tough call she. yeah it would be great if we had long discussions about how great it was vs long discussions about how it wasnt so great. i think that it was left open for interpretation but it's not really that kind of show. people got shot like it was nothing, like i remember seeing part of an episode where steve buscemi's character got shot and life went on. maybe he did die and becuase it was tony, they wanted to make it a big deal? i dont know. it being the final episode, the final few minutes of the series should have been a big enough deal if they had killed him. i dont know. could have been better, could have been worse.