Posted by kam77:

altutor says...

The ending was great. I've been saying to people since last season, "the fitting and perfect end to this show, would be for nothing to happen". Boy, I couldn't have been any bit on. The brilliance of the ending was a slap in the face to all great shows that needed to prove something to the viewers that what they were watching for all those seasons was for something. Chase proved that nothing needs to happen to our main characters for a show to end. The shows end was the continuation of a family. We came into this show in the middle of their lives without any provocation and we leave without any provocation.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by kam77:

djsu it must suck to be you... you can never enjoy a thing..

brilliant show, brilliant ending... if you don't get it, don't bash it.

quite the contraire, i thought carnivale (on hbo) was brilliant...as is "lost" on abc.

if you can explain to me what the past 4 seasons of the show was about, i'd love to hear it.

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by kam77:

altutor says...

The ending was great. I've been saying to people since last season, "the fitting and perfect end to this show, would be for nothing to happen". Boy, I couldn't have been any bit on. The brilliance of the ending was a slap in the face to all great shows that needed to prove something to the viewers that what they were watching for all those seasons was for something. Chase proved that nothing needs to happen to our main characters for a show to end. The shows end was the continuation of a family. We came into this show in the middle of their lives without any provocation and we leave without any provocation.

I disagree. IMO you either have nondramatic ending and let the characters go on or you kill the characters and show the viewers what happened (or at least provide more of an indication of what exactly happened). We have no idea if Tony gets whacked, if the entire family got whacked, or if absolutely nothing happens other than them enjoying their dinner. Those guys could have been FBI agents about to arrest Tony for the pending criminal charges or they could have been hitmen, or the guy that others have pointed out was from a past season could be back for revenge. I just see no point in having the story end with so many questions left unanswered (unless they plan to do a movie, which I have heard might happen). If you wanted to end with nothing happening, then don't setup the last scene as if something is going to happen.

A tidy ending still answers no questions. They could have had a nice meal and ended it singing kubaya and we'd still wonder if tony would get whacked or busted the next day. That's the life, you live moment by moment. If they all got killed we'd still wonder what would be the response from Paulie and perhaps Sil. It's never over.

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by kam77:

altutor says...

The ending was great. I've been saying to people since last season, "the fitting and perfect end to this show, would be for nothing to happen". Boy, I couldn't have been any bit on. The brilliance of the ending was a slap in the face to all great shows that needed to prove something to the viewers that what they were watching for all those seasons was for something. Chase proved that nothing needs to happen to our main characters for a show to end. The shows end was the continuation of a family. We came into this show in the middle of their lives without any provocation and we leave without any provocation.

I disagree. IMO you either have nondramatic ending and let the characters go on or you kill the characters and show the viewers what happened (or at least provide more of an indication of what exactly happened). We have no idea if Tony gets whacked, if the entire family got whacked, or if absolutely nothing happens other than them enjoying their dinner. Those guys could have been FBI agents about to arrest Tony for the pending criminal charges or they could have been hitmen, or the guy that others have pointed out was from a past season could be back for revenge. I just see no point in having the story end with so many questions left unanswered (unless they plan to do a movie, which I have heard might happen). If you wanted to end with nothing happening, then don't setup the last scene as if something is going to happen.

A tidy ending still answers no questions. They could have had a nice meal and ended it singing kubaya and we'd still wonder if tony would get whacked or busted the next day. That's the life, you live moment by moment. If they all got killed we'd still wonder what would be the response from Paulie and perhaps Sil. It's never over.

I meant what happened at that moment. Of course, whatever happened would have had ramifications that the veiwers would not know about. But they built the scene up like something was going to happen and then showed us nothing (not even a suggestion of what happened like when Adrianna got whacked). To me, that was pointless.


[Edited by - thegame on 06-11-2007 09:16 AM]

To me, understanding that they live in constantly suspense and the unknown was the point. So what if he survived that moment if it's just followed by the next moment, like when they leave the restaurant and go to the car, or leave the car to get in the house, or leave the house to go to work? It's one episode of survival to the next, why should the viewer place so much significance on that one moment when for those in the moment it's but one like so many others?

because it's a tv show. it's not real life. we view for entertainment. you can have dramas with existential open endings and that's fine. but i wasn’t up for that in this case. count me among the disappointed. i wanted something more active and definitive.

speaking of interesting shows, was anyone into twin peaks. it was a while ago, but that was one great show until, like most of them, they ran out of steam.

Posted by Marv:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by TheGame:

Posted by kam77:

altutor says...

The ending was great. I've been saying to people since last season, "the fitting and perfect end to this show, would be for nothing to happen". Boy, I couldn't have been any bit on. The brilliance of the ending was a slap in the face to all great shows that needed to prove something to the viewers that what they were watching for all those seasons was for something. Chase proved that nothing needs to happen to our main characters for a show to end. The shows end was the continuation of a family. We came into this show in the middle of their lives without any provocation and we leave without any provocation.

I disagree. IMO you either have nondramatic ending and let the characters go on or you kill the characters and show the viewers what happened (or at least provide more of an indication of what exactly happened). We have no idea if Tony gets whacked, if the entire family got whacked, or if absolutely nothing happens other than them enjoying their dinner. Those guys could have been FBI agents about to arrest Tony for the pending criminal charges or they could have been hitmen, or the guy that others have pointed out was from a past season could be back for revenge. I just see no point in having the story end with so many questions left unanswered (unless they plan to do a movie, which I have heard might happen). If you wanted to end with nothing happening, then don't setup the last scene as if something is going to happen.

A tidy ending still answers no questions. They could have had a nice meal and ended it singing kubaya and we'd still wonder if tony would get whacked or busted the next day. That's the life, you live moment by moment. If they all got killed we'd still wonder what would be the response from Paulie and perhaps Sil. It's never over.

I meant what happened at that moment. Of course, whatever happened would have had ramifications that the veiwers would not know about. But they built the scene up like something was going to happen and then showed us nothing (not even a suggestion of what happened like when Adrianna got whacked). To me, that was pointless.


[Edited by - thegame on 06-11-2007 09:16 AM]

To me, understanding that they live in constantly suspense and the unknown was the point. So what if he survived that moment if it's just followed by the next moment, like when they leave the restaurant and go to the car, or leave the car to get in the house, or leave the house to go to work? It's one episode of survival to the next, why should the viewer place so much significance on that one moment when for those in the moment it's but one like so many others?

because it's a tv show. it's not real life. we view for entertainment. you can have dramas with existential open endings and that's fine. but i wasn’t up for that in this case. count me among the disappointed. i wanted something more active and definitive.

speaking of interesting shows, was anyone into twin peaks. it was a while ago, but that was one great show until, like most of them, they ran out of steam.

marv, i have the entire series on dvd. twin peaks was awesome. first season was fantastic, then when lynch left in season 2, it kind of went on all these poor tangents, then it wrapped up nicely when lynch returned.

a show WAY ahead of it's time as the american viewer, on primetime, was not ready for that weird out supernatural stuff. and i still think it will only have a niche audience today.

Posted by Marv:

because it's a tv show. it's not real life. we view for entertainment. you can have dramas with existential open endings and that's fine. but i wasn’t up for that in this case. count me among the disappointed. i wanted something more active and definitive.

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by BlueSeats:

Posted by Marv:

because it's a tv show. it's not real life. we view for entertainment. you can have dramas with existential open endings and that's fine. but i wasn’t up for that in this case. count me among the disappointed. i wanted something more active and definitive.

But what ending, short of death, would have been definitive?

they spend an entire 1 last week showing the "war" between ny and nj...how key members were getting killed.

then without notice, there's a sitdown to squash everything. totally random and a basic "cop out" to end that storyline.

they spend 7 episodes about AJ's interest in the world and terrorism, all to get wrapped up in 2 minutes of threatening to join the army to becoming a movie producer.

it's stuff like that, and i am only talking for myself, that just doesn't jive with me.

it's an hbo show, only has 10-13 episodes a season. they take 2 years to film one season. their story board and story telling arcs, over the past 4 seasons (or basically after tony's mom died in real life) have been all over the place.

You've mentioned Tony's mom dying a couple of times. first, are you referring to the actor's (Gandolfini) mother, or the actress who played his mother? Second, what is the significance you ascribe to this happening? Did you find her an inseprable element to the show? I didn't.

That said, yes, the resolution with NY and AJ's turnaround, both occurring in the same episode, did seem hurried.

I took the resolution with NY to represent that you're in as much risk from the inside as you are from the outside, and that everyone can be bought at the right price, they all have internal, ego gratifying motivations. That played into the situation with AJ too. First we see from him a dual relationship with violence; he is as once turned off and on by it. He can also be placated and bought by self glorifying projects and material goods, like his mom. That seems to be a theme that unifies many of the characters of that world.

I don't think it was a classically good ending, I'm just not utterly disappointed in it. If I needed to know for sure if tony survived one more meal or not i might be upset, but I'm comfortable with the continuum of uncertainty the show represents.

Posted by mrbean259:

I don't watch the Sopranos myself, but it seems like people just wanted a ton of deaths in the last episode or at least Tony dying.

Just in comparison with another HBO series...I remember the last season of Oz they just seemed to kill everyone off for no other reason than just to kill him which was really disappointing to me after spending so much time watching these characters only to watch them die in what seemed to be a forced way of just "going out with a bang".