The Sopranos

[yendi]

Well, I liked the ending. A hell of a lot.



Well, other than the "fuck you, Tivo" aspect of it.

But I love the ambiguity, and I love the necessity of it. Almost everyone said that the series had to end with one of two events: Tony getting whacked, or Tony going to jail. A few vocal mavericks argued that it had to end with Tony on top (since Chase has never pretended that his show was a morality play).

If Chase had gone with any of those, there would be a motherfucking chorus of, "oh, he went with the obvious choice" complaints. Because heightened expectations lead to that particularly nasty no-win scenario (remember the folks who complained about the ending of Sex and the City, which did, indeed, go out with the ending everyone said it would?).

Also, just a reminder about the structure of classical narrative: The climax is not the ending. We'd long passed the traditional point of narrative tension; last night was the catastrophe, and we don't need to see it (whether in the form of that guy who headed into the bathroom, the kids at the jukebox, or simply a subpoena six weeks later) to know it's coming. The lack of music at the end is more than enough of an indicator that Tony might be happy for a few seconds, but that it won't last.

Which is not to say that Meadow's endless parking scene didn't annoy the fuck out of me. Ditto AJ's angst. But overall, I'm satisfied.


And tonight, I'll get John From Cincinnati (didn't record it last night) and Big Love. And next weekend, the debut of Meadowlands and the return of The Closer shortly after that. Followed by the return of Eureka and the limited run of Masters of Sci-Fi later this summer. The end of The Sopranos is no more the end of good TV than the end of Seinfeld (speaking of underwhelming finales), M*A*S*H, or season four of Babylon 5 were.

Comments

[mgrasso.livejournal.com]

It's too early to tell with John From Cincinnati, obviously, but the pilot had some really interesting touches, enough to keep a geek like me intrigued for this season at least. I'd be interested to hear what you think about it when you do get a chance to see it.

[gikiski.livejournal.com]

I liked the ending after realizing it wasn't a technical fault. I mainly liked how the whole scene made me feel leading up to the final moment.

I had to load up the first episode, which I hadn't seen yet (I started at the end season 2), in order to see if they were trying to do some kind of wrap, like The Wall [album] does -- ending with the beginning. Though I grew quickly aware, while it was loading, that the story 1) wasn't about past events, the show was contemporary and 2) it would have been impossible for them to film the actors current state back then.

[yendi]

Homicide: Life on the Street does that, with the exact same line opening the first episode and ending the final one (although with a different character and a different set of circumstances).

Love the icon, btw!

[yendi]

I probably won't be able to watch it until Tuesday or Wednesday, but I'll let you know what I think (or, more accurately, I'll make a post).

[kradical.livejournal.com]

On Homicide, it was two characters, and one was the same. In the first episode, it was Lewis and Crosetti. In the final episode, it was Lewis and Sheppard. ("Soon as I find this thing, I can go home.")

[kradical.livejournal.com]

I dunno, I felt it was a narrative cheat. That final bit was building to something, and then he cut to black. It was almost like it was a "fuck you" to the audience. It's not like he was unaware that the show was ending, but this felt like he couldn't bring himself to make a decision.

And if you're basing your creative decisions on what fans will think, or on trying to get a reaction out of your fans, then you need to go into a different line of work....

[lovingboth]

While I remember, did I miss a post about the pause in film reviews?

[mere-bystander.livejournal.com]

You are the first person that I've read who liked the series ending. I can't give an opinion because I've never watched it...

[rhicat.livejournal.com]

For me, the way Phil got wacked and the Christopher cat more than made up for the ending.

On the subject of loose ends and past characters - does anyone remember what happened to Tony's Russian girlfriend? I remember her dating the politician and T beating him up over it.