Posted by BlueSeats:

dj, I know people who couldn't stand tony's mom and couldn't wait for her to get off the show. When they brought the story to the point that she and Junior were out to kill tony, how much further could they take it?

he dies and comes back to life as kevin finnerty

here's a hilarious quote from a fan:

"I know what the cat symbolizes.....David Chase is too much of a p***y to figure out how to end the show."

Posted by djsunyc:

Posted by BlueSeats:

dj, I know people who couldn't stand tony's mom and couldn't wait for her to get off the show. When they brought the story to the point that she and Junior were out to kill tony, how much further could they take it?

he dies and comes back to life as kevin finnerty

here's a hilarious quote from a fan:

"I know what the cat symbolizes.....David Chase is too much of a p***y to figure out how to end the show."

Rumor has it they filmed 3 or 4 different endings. Perhaps ultimately they felt the unknown was more lasting than the known. I think they may have been right. If they made it seem like everything would go along rosy that would be uncharacteristic of the gruelty of the life portrayed, and if he got whacked it would have been predictable and cliche. Instead they leave it where life goes on, or not, such as it is in that world.

I can't figure out the "seeing himself" thing. Im going to watch it again.

Also the restaurant was kind of not the type they usually go to.

I was dissapointed at the sudden ending with such high tension but the more I digest the more I liked the ending.

Its nice when the wrap it up nice and neat but this is thought provoking and outside the box.

We had a party last nite and it was interesting to see the reactions. One really had no idea whether the GW blows up by terrorists or Tony chokes on a cheerio and dies. David Chase has always gone outside the box and given some abstract endings to about every season. On the surface usually unsatisfying.

AJ in my view becomes exactly what they wanted him to be.
Meadow will do well, Carmella is still the whore she always was and I Tony, if not whacked will have legal troubles again. Paulie proves to be the loyal guy and was honored to get the offer, which will shut him up for a while.

The tense ending was great. I thought Tony was about to take them all into protected custody and they walk away from it all.

AJ justifying his MPG for the M2 vs his SUV was classic sociopath behavior. AJ is a lot like TONY. Depressed, flunked out of college and got into business with his father.

I think with most movies we get a kind of closure but this series was massive in the amount of hours it covered. After all, they had 9 HOURS to wrap it up any way they wanted.

I liked it. Im going to watch it again soon and see if I can pull more out that I might have missed.

I thought Philly getting his coconut cracked open and the black dudes watching the shooting, then the anticipated rolling of the SUV, and then the subsequent sqush was a great laugh!

Posted by kam77:

You assume the artist is "Lazy" for not giving you a shrink-wrapped ending answering all the questions. in fact YOU are the lazy one. Foreign audiences would take this much better than American ones. We wanted a hollywood style "closure". Instead we got food for thought.

or you could be trying to justify an ending to satisfy your need to not be dissapointed?

If they had given you an ENDING... you would have digested it and sh@t it out and been done with it. It would have been a cliche ending anyway.

Now they've given you something you can THINK ABOUT for as long as you wish. You can enjoy this ending forever. Or you can tell yourself Tony is dead and fill in the images in your head about the gory details of the family whacking.

Or you can take it as.. .life continues and every moment for Tony will be filled with paranoia for the rest of his life, either from the cops or from a gun, or ending up senile... you don't get out alive... this one moment in the restaurant was no different from any others he will have.

We just don't get to share any more of them.

Some thought from Bill Simmons.

Brett (LA): Most people will hate the end of the Sopranos, but then again, most people suck. David Chase handled the ending with the same delicate, subtle nature that he did the entire show. The ending showed us that this is the life Tony made for himself, a life of fear, a life where you should concentrate on the good moments (as AJ said) because there will be bad ones to come (like his impending arrest). It was well done. To anyone expecting a bloodbath, go rent Cleaver. You've been watching the wrong show all these years. Oh, and if you tell me im wrong, up yours.

SportsNation Bill Simmons: (12:34 PM ET ) I agree with this... the problem was that, on the first viewing, right when it ended, everyone had the same reaction: "Oh, no, my cable just went out!" I don't think that's the reaction you want for the last scene of one of the greatest TV series ever,

SportsNation Bill Simmons: (12:35 PM ET ) but I watched the ending a second time (and about 6 more times, actually, I was fascinated by how they constructed it) and it's clear what the intent was: There was no ambiguity, the whole scene was centered around the fact that his head kept popping up every time the front door of the coffee shop opened.

SportsNation Bill Simmons: (12:37 PM ET ) So in the final last few frames, the person he loves most was coming through the door, but they cut away right as his head was popping up in that split-second of "Uh-oh, who's this?" fear that will consume the rest of Tony's life. I thought that was cool and a good way to end it. The problem was, I didn't figure this out until the 4th or 5th time.

SportsNation Bill Simmons: (12:38 PM ET ) So that's bad. I do think that, if he was really getting killed right at the end, they would have shown the guy coming out of the men's bathroom, even for a split-second. That's why I'm certain he didn't get killed. Anyway, that was my interpretation.

Erik (Boston, MA): Bill, You refer to the Sopranos as one of the greatest series' ever and yet it has gotten panned by reviewers and lambasted by some of the hardcore fans it had in the earlier seasons...what gives?

SportsNation Bill Simmons: (12:40 PM ET ) That happens to every TV show. Look, I don't care what people say after the fact, there has never been a television experience - EVER - like those last 2 episodes. Name me another time where the viewer was literally having a heart attack wondering what was going to happen. People will appreciate those shows eventually. But I do agree that there was a much better way to execute the whole "did my cable just go out?" fade to black. It's too bad.

Nate, Queens, NY: I was really amazed at how they were able to build the tension so well by using sharp camera angles, seemingly inconsequential occurences and the cheesiest power ballad of all time. My heart was racing even after the third viewing. Fantastic finish. Also Leotardo's death was one of the funniest death scenes ever.

SportsNation Bill Simmons: (12:42 PM ET ) Totally agree. The amazing thing about the final scene was how, on the second viewing, everyone who entered the coffee shop was so harmless... but on the first viewing, you're completely convinced that each of them is up to no good. And the cuts to Meadow parallel parking were so freaking tense, but in reality, that's one of the more mundane things a human being could do... on the second viewing, it was just someone trying to park their car. I feel like that was the whole point of the ending. Even something like meeting the family at a coffee shop had now become a nerve-wracking experience for Tony. His life was screwed.

Djsu-

You posted like 5 negative comments out of maybe 10 in the whole beginning of this thread. So i was directing my response to you. Its not personal. You took a firm stand about how the show sucked and you wasted your money (hmmm where have we heard this before) and I told you to stuff it already cuz i'm a fan of the show and i'm fine with the ending... and even if i hated the ending, that doesn't make the last few seasons any worse or less enjoyable.

You guys have to think outside the box. I think its obvious what the ending was. Tony and quite possibly the whole family died at that table. When you die you don't see sparkling lights and a golden escalator. You see nothing because you no longer work. Your brain can't function your eyes to see, your mouth to talk, your body doesnt move. Black Silence. Artistic Ending. And there will be no movie.

Posted by Cookdcokehop:

You guys have to think outside the box. I think its obvious what the ending was. Tony and quite possibly the whole family died at that table. When you die you don't see sparkling lights and a golden escalator. You see nothing because you no longer work. Your brain can't function your eyes to see, your mouth to talk, your body doesnt move. Black Silence. Artistic Ending. And there will be no movie.

This ending will be on the DVD. It was tested before an audience and they found it didn't sit well with them. So everyone who loves their bloodbaths can enjoy.

Actually I liked the ending and Tony's choice of music spoke volume of what he thought about life.

Okay, I have now reviewed the ending 3 more times. This is my conclusion. Nobody gets killed. If you look at all the characters, they all acted rather normally. The first glance from the guy that walked in with A.J and his second glance when he was sitting down, were both really innocent when you watched them again. No one else really ever looked at Tony. I think everyone's anticipation that something was going to happen, made it seem like the people were looking in a menacing manner, but really when you look closer, the other people really were not giving the sopranos more than the normal chance glance. I guess in this respect the ending was clever, but the fact that you had to watch it 3 times to get all this means that most people, including myself, missed it last night. I also noticed that Tony does walk in and looks at himself in a different shirt, which makes you wonder if the entire last scene is just a daydream.