VERNE GAY: More Ranting on "The Sopranos"
Funny thing about endings - they almost always come at the end, of books, movies, poems, symphonies, you-name-it. At their best, they are cathartic. They're also a final bow to meaning, but also to the audience's participation. A recapitulation, of themes, ideas, meaning. And most of all, an emotional release (see: cathartic.) You don't stay to the end of something to not get to the end. And by the way, endings aren't some middle-class bourgeois convention - the stuff of middlebrow writers or musicians or poets. Most artists all seem to recognize that what they've produced is in fact artifice (from whence "art" is derived) and not some true reflection of "life" in all its ambiguities. For them, the end is also the beginning, for it loops back to all that came before, and taps the humanity of the reader or viewer or listener in the process.
That's why the ending of "The Sopranos" was so incredibly disappointing. It was thumb of the nose, a puckish "screw you" to eight millions who deserved better, and who expected to deserve better. Poor ol' David Chase - sitting poolside in the south of France right now, laughing his ass off at the angry patter of a million fans. (Not to mention the blogs!) David, you are an arrogant man - ultimately trapped by the very medium you so haughtily dismissed for so many years, even while you availed yourself of its generous pay scale. At the end of the day, you really had no perspective on Tony. You really didn't know what he "meant," and - by association - what "The Sopranos" meant. You disdained the trite TV ending (and of course "The Godfather III ending) because you refused to be categorized as just another TV hack. But the final clip job was in fact hack work. You had no courage of your convictions, because - in fact - you had no convictions after all. You were afraid to kill Tony, afraid to keep him alive, because you were afraid that either decision would undercut the entire premise of your magnum opus. So you did the next best thing - no decision at all, while laughing at the fans who had the gall to ask for a simple conclusion to this long and often wonderful novel.
How very very disappointing.
Was the ending just another cute reference to "purgatory," with characters in neither Heaven nor Hell (go all the way back to a very early episode, when Chris comes out of a coma, to talk about his brief visit to Hell, when Paulie, in fact, corrects him to say that he was actually in Purgatory.) If so, then Chase has misread the whole meaning of Purgatory, for (in Catholic theology) those who have committed mortal sins are barred entrance.
Silvio's last name - Dante - was always just another cute Chase trick - the nine circles of Hell, and all that. And Silvio, in a coma, is in a sort of purgatory as well, just as Tony was at the beginning of season six, and just as he and his family are now.
Do fans - me, for instance - have a right to be angry at Chase? Hell yeah. Do we have a right to be cynical? Hell yeah, for all Chase has done has kept the possibility of a movie alive. Oh no, David might say (if he ever comes back from France and that pool.) My artistic vision is complete! I don't believe in tidy endings! (except for Phil, Bobby, Sil, Chris, etc. etc.) Life isn't like that!
Except for this: When Warner Bros. offers a hundred million for the two-hour finale that will really be a finale! Amazing how money can alter (or pervert) artistic visions.
Alive or dead? Your call, I'm afraid.
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Comments (17)
Wow. I wont even get into the million reasons why this WAS the perfect ending and some of the best TV produced. Re-watch that last scene and TELL me it wasnt brilliant!!!.... But if you REALLY need an ending well maybe David Chase DID give you one and you just dont know it. Now I wont take credit for this theory, I heard it somewhere else this morning. And at first I thought it was far-fetched. But the more I think about it, the more I do think its possible that this series DID have a very final ending.... Remember a couple episodes ago when Tony and Bobby are in the boat and Bobby wonders to Tony what it must be like to get whacked? And Tony says its like nothing, your just gone, you dont know what happened, there is just nothing.... Well there you go. This was not a fade to black, this was a CUT to black and total silence. So if it makes you feel better, go ahead and imagine that the second Meadow walks through the restaurant door Tony is taken out with a shot to the temple from the guy in the bathroom. Cut to black. End of story. After all this show has always been all about Tony and whats going on inside his head. Well cut to black and silence and Tony is gone, just like that, right in front of his family... Maybe David Chase is laughing at all the people that dont know there really WAS an ending.....
I like many others was somewhat angry and upset at the end of last nights episode until I actually took a step back to think about it. It was a really good ending because of all of the foreshadowing in previous episodes. When Tony said that to Bobby on the boat how everything just ends was very helpful in my thought process. The thing is Tony wasn't killed as Meadow walked in the door because we looked at Tony when the screen went black. The show ended the life of the Sopranos in general had reached its culmination and therefore to us no character specifically but the entity of the Sopranos died. I now find it to be extremely clever although still a cop out for not wanting to upset any opinion on what should have happened. Overall, I find it clever and somewhat genius to have the show die not the main character.
I strongly disagree with your printed review and your additional comments. The direction of the last few minutes of the finale was brilliant. If you reflect on the episode in its entirety, it is as close to a "happy ending" as one could imagine. Tony resolved all issues with just about every remaining meaningful character in the show. Despite the cloud of possible prosecution, life went on as it had for him. AJ turned his life around at the end, punctuated by new girlfriend and car. Carmela found something to smile about after reviewing building plans. Meadow found love and, perhaps, a high paying job with a law firm. All of the characters were content at the conclusion of the series. The ending scene captured the ongoing unforeseen potential danger and peril that lurks around everything this family does--including eating a simple dinner at a restaurant. That fact of life for the Soprano family was brought home perfectly by the ending of the show. Pity that you missed the point of the entire episode. Maybe if you watch it a second time, or a third, you will appreciate that the direction of the last sequence was intentional and rendered exquisitely.
I couldn't agree more with what Ed said above. This seems like the most acceptable scenario to the cut to black in the final seconds of the finale.
David Chase is a pretentious hack, and his contempt for the audience that helped make him rich is his most outstanding quality. That there are still people willing to lap up the slop he serves is incredible, but then no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
In a way it was a perfect ending, however. This was the most overrated program in the history of US television, and its creator has rendered the entire series completely meaningless with this act of contempt. In the end, this was truly a show about nothing, and it's grand finale was entirely devoid of meaning.
Chase and his worshipful fans deserve each other.
The idea that Verne Gay knows what The Sopranos meant, and David Chase doesn't is one of all-time most hilarious things I've ever read.
Thanks for the laugh!
Also, there's no movie in the works, so please.
http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/
As much as i truly hated the non-ending to this story -- i would expect nothing less and still thought it was brilliant. The sopranos has been built on what doesnt happen for the last 3 years -- however its alway been intense anyway
just because -- not too many people are talkin about this but why isnt the comments Al Roker made last week getting more attention. I am a Special Education teacher and find his comments just as hurtful as any other made in previous months (site Imus) It really is a joke that because there is no Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson for peopoe with special needs. The last radio/tv personality to advocate for that was uhhhhh oh yea he got fired
Verne, you are SO wrong in your assesment. After reading and thinking some more, care to do a re-write?
also, read this interview with David Chase, it kind of contradicts most of your rant
http://blog.nj.com/alltv/2007/06/david_chase_speaks.html
In fact, the ending was genius if you've paid attention to the show or are just a fan of well developed well thought out plots that all tie together and have the memory of a champ to remember it all
the ending was simple, he got killed, but let me tell yall why and explain in detail... There was 3 people in the room total who had a reason to kill tony.....
the two black guys, they were paid before to kill tony but he was only shot in the ear, this was in one of the earlier seasons,
also in the earlier seasons, the trucker who was sitting at the bar stool, who the camera kept focusing in on, is Nikki leotardo, Phil Leotardos nephew, he was in one of the early season episodes where Phil and Tony have a sit down....
heres where the genius comes in....
When tonys walking in the diner,you see the camera focus on him, then it switches to his perspective, and you see him looking @ the booth hes gonna sit at...
then the camera switches back to tonys face, then it once again switches to his perspective, and it shows him looking @ the door and looking @ the people come in..... Everytime the door opens the Chimes sound....... Carmela walks in, Chimes, AJ walks in Chimes, this when Meadows parallel parking, still trying to get inside the restaurant....
at this point the camera switches back to the trucker who goes in the bathroom......
Then it goes to a scene where meadow finally parks and starts running in the diner....
the doors about to open, Tony looks up....
and No Chimes......................
No Music............
Everything just goes black...............
In one of the early episodes of the sopranos, tonys talking with bobby about what it must feel like to die..
Bobby says "at the end, you probably dont hear anything, everything just goes black"
part of that was revisited in the second to last episode during the last seconds of it, when tonys about to go to sleep and he flashes back to the memory of him and bobby on the boat... "You probably dont hear anything everything just goes black"
so in the end, the Journey song was playing, the chimes on the door sounded but when meadow came in, the guy in the trucker hat came out and killed tony...
its the reason you didn't hear, or see anything when he died.... it was from his perspective.... and everything went black, then the credits rolled.
Verne, shut the hell up. No one's been listening to your inane tripe since your imbecilic review of the Lost finale, and no one's really listening to it here. Your idiotic assumption that Chase is thumbing his noses at viewers is completely speculative, and makes you look like a whiny sissy who didn't get what he wanted. Chase does not CARE what viewers want -- he cares about his vision. If no one can respect that, then maybe independent thought is going the way of the dodo.
Albert:
Nikki Leotardo is an internet myth. No such character exists or has ever existed on the Sopranos.
The guy on the bar stool is not the trucker, he's "Man in Members Only Jacket," who is also the man who went into the bathroom.
I like everything else you said.
This is totally right on.
Join the FaceBook group: The Last Episode of Sopranos Sucked and I'm Glad It's Over.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2493215772
All this episode did was confirm that Chase didn't know what he was doing after season 1.
apesar que no lo conosco me parece un sujeto muy ridiculo ,
tampoco se donde vive ni me interesa escribo estas lineas para votar en contra de las temporadas de sus peliculas espero que me respionda
apesar que no lo conosco me parece un sujeto muy ridiculo ,
tampoco se donde vive ni me interesa escribo estas lineas para votar en contra de las temporadas de sus peliculas espero que me respionda
apesar que no lo conosco me parece un sujeto muy ridiculo ,
tampoco se donde vive ni me interesa escribo estas lineas para votar en contra de las temporadas de sus peliculas espero que me respionda