I have to say, the final season of the Sopranos before last week had been a bit frustrating. Each previous week while the credits would roll, I would curse the show out in my head for not delivering some big drama and I was beginning to think that the whole series was going to end in one giant disappointing whimper. Until last week. KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS was that a great episode, and I am completely hooked in, can’t wait, nuts for the final episode. So now with Phil and Tony in hiding, bodies falling and bullets flying…how does it all end?
UPDATE: Now that it’s over, what do you think? Vote Here!
June 10th, 2007 at 9:05 pm
My feelings about the series finale? BOOOOOOO!!!!! I’ve been an avid watcher of Sopranos and this was by far the worst show ever!!! What a disappointment.
June 11th, 2007 at 1:42 am
The Series finale SUCKED!!!
June 11th, 2007 at 10:20 am
I was disappointed by the finalle. I expected more. Chase left too much for interpretation, which is good, but I really expected a great deal more. It was more like a season finalle, not a series ending.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:11 am
The series finale was SUCH a huge letdown…this mixed with the early ending of HBO’s Rome does not say good things about the network!!!
Let’s hope Entourage doesn’t go down in flames next!!
June 11th, 2007 at 1:04 pm
Been a fan since episode one. Seasons 1-4 were fantastic. 5 and 6 were horrible. No new interesting characters, no new interesting things happening with current characters, and the series finale? Well its one of the worst series finales I have ever seen, it gives no closure on anything.Thats all I wanted was a little closure. Does Tony get whacked, got to jail, or what. I don’t ask to know evrything, guilty or innocent or stuff like that, just let us know if he gets busted or not, then if that happens maybe put it up in the air if hes guilty or innocent. But don’t put up in the air what ultimately happened to him. This is the WORST episode of season 6, it really sucks. This is quite possibly as bad as some of those ridiculous season 5 episodes including the episode where tony dreams for almost the whole time at the plaza hotel. What a waste of what could have been the best series finale television history. This could have been one that was talked about for years, but instead we got a little over an hour of one of the worst episodes in Soprano’s history. Its so bad that even the killing of arguably the most powerful man on the show[Phil] could not make it any better. WHAT A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT.
June 11th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Tony sucked Phils cock when it went to black. That’s why they couldn’t show it.
June 11th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
The final episodes should have had more drama and bloodshed between the two families.Besides Phil getting whacked at the end no one else from his family was harmed.The only thing that happened to the New York family was a case of mistaken identity.The last two seasons showed a softer and peaceful Tony Soprano.Thats not why we all watch this show.It seemed as if he was kissin Tony Sac’s and Phil’s ass to keep peace.I personally wanted to see the Big Bad tony Soprano we all know and love teach the New York family who the real mob boss was once and for all.Can anybody tell me why most of this season focused on two depressed kids?AJ and Vito’s son?Not a good way to wrap up one of the best series of all time!I think they owe us one more season to make up for the last two disappointing ones!
June 11th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
In my opinion, here’s whats going to happen. They shot a ending to the restaurant scene, and i believe Tony was shot. In several years, once AJ is older and out of the army (or whatever), either the ‘Soprano’s’ will continue, or another series based on it will begin, with AJ (or maybe even Meadow) the main character (a boss or up and coming goon-type). They will air what happened during that final scene and AJ will use what happened as his motivation.
June 13th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Ending it with a big bang would of been very cliche. It was ended the way it should of been. A little room for interpretation, but basically the beat goes on for Tony and both of his families. He has always been about self-preservation. Chase and the actors are done, 8 years is enough, they need to move on. Unless a studio throws millions at them to make a movie, but Gandolfini is has had enough.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I have been a fan of The Sopranos and The Wire from their very start, and only at the end of both series do they’re epic scope become realized.
When I first saw The Sopranos series finale, I was as confused as everyone else as to the meaning of the ending. THEN, I watched the first season again, and it all became clear…
The Sopranos is about one thing above all others, TONY SOPRANO, and the sickness from which he suffers. Tony is a combination of his father’s passion, loyalty, and zeal for life, while at the same time, he suffers from what his mother suffered from: a hole so deep down and black inside of him, that the only way he can fill it, is to destroy (kill) off those closest to him, and in essence, kill off parts of himself.
At this point, your probably asking, where is my evidence for any of this? Well, to see the big picture, we have to start from the beginning. The first time we meet Tony, he witnesses some ducks, floating in his pool. The ducks touch Tony inside himself somewhere deep down, only to fly away and never return. This moment leads us to what will eventually be Tony’s complete, personal downfall, much like Michael Corleone’s (after Godfather II), only much more in depth.
From the first season on, Tony deals with his business, enemies from within his organization, his family life, and most of all, himself. At the end of season 1, after Tony’s mother tried to have him killed, Dr. Melfi describes Livia (his mother) as having a disorder from which she derives no joy from life, and manipulates those close to her against each other. Listen closely, because while she is describing Livia, she is describing really Tony.
Now I get to what I call, “The Blackness”. Throughout the series, we have watched as Tony has murdered many of those closest to him. When Tony murdered Pussy, it is important to note how sick he got before the deed, because it reveals its true nature in the last season. In the first season, in the episode, Boca, Tony stumbles into the house one night, in glee, because he had let Meadow’s high school soccer teacher live, after it had become known he slept with a girl on the team, but more importantly, he is happy because “He didn’t hurt nobody”. This is one of the few moments of the show when Tony is relieved from himself, because further down his life, he will hurt and destroy many more lives.
Back to “The Blackness”, there is an episode in the last season, where Tony contemplates killing Paulie, not for anything Paulie has done, but simply because he has an urge to. This urge to kill Paulie, manifests itself in physical symptoms of distress again, while Tony is on a boat with Paulie, fighting against his instincts to murder his friend. At the end of the episode, Paulie experiences a dream, where Big Pussy is cooking in Paulie’s kitchen, and warns Paulie that he could be next.
Now to the thick of it. Tony’s “Fredo” moment, when he kills Christopher. Christopher in many ways is the person closest to Tony, perhaps even more than his own son, because he shares the life that Tony lives, and relates to him in a way A.J. can’t. After suffering a horrific car crash on the way back from a meeting with the New York crew, Tony kills Christopher in the most brutal way: he pinches Christopher’s nose shut, while Christopher bleeds internally at the steering wheel, suffocating him to death. Tony makes the decision right then and there, as if he is experimenting with fate, and the consequences of his actions. During the episode, Tony shows no remorse, and during a trip to one of Christopher’s mistresses in Nevada, Tony gets high on an exotic pepper, and declares while standing in the Nevada desert, that he “gets it.” But what does Tony finally understand?
Here it is, he understands his own sickness. There is something inside of him, a darkness, which has dictated his life, and its main urge is to destroy those closest to him, perhaps as a way of punishing himself. It is Tony confronting his ID, the driving force inside him, that Dr. Melfi could never help. All those connected to Tony, are in constant danger.
THE LAST SCENE- The last scene is not meant to be taken literally, it is meant to be a reminder of Tony’s life. The black guys in the diner represent the two black men hired to kill Tony, by Junior. The man in the jacket at the bar, represent many of Tony’s past sins and crimes against others in the mob, and the constant threat of revenge against him because of it. The father of the kids with the FBI hat is self explanatory. What lingers most of all though in the scene, is death, or otherwise, “The Darkness”. It looms over every shot, and pierces the scene like a knife. Why? Because now that Tony has killed almost all those closest to him, the people who are now in the greatest danger, are his immediate family. The death seems to loom over Meadow the most, who perhaps Tony loves the most. Tony’s love is a curse to the receiver of it. When they eat the onion rings, it resembles last communion, because Carmela and A.J. have both compromised their lives for the splendors of Tony’s crimes. In the end, Sylvio lies in a coma, in a state of uncertain future. Paulie is in constant danger. Tony’s family is in danger too. The last shot is of Tony’s face, and then the darkness, which boils inside of Tony, and spreads out as the hand of death to all those associated with him.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you Emperor Zombie for your interpretation. I just finished watching the entire series. Started in January and we literally just finished watching the final episode. Throughout all the seasons there has been an intense amount of symbolism hidden and sometimes no… in ever scene. However, this last scene did stump me to some extent! After reading your description of the last scene I can’t agree more. This show is one that was predictable at times but kept you guessing at others. It was chocked full of symbolism I believe. It only makes sense that the final scene followed the same pattern. Thank you again!