Dang, I’m Lucky
Posted by TFG on 11th June 2007
I’ve got some smart readers who will bother to comment on a dork-blog. Check out Charles’ Sopranos take, which if I weren’t semi-retarded, I could have written since it’s pretty much what I was thinking, in an un-thinking way:
It’s funny to me how so many people seem to think Mr. Chase owed them something, especially their own ideas of closure and having all the loose ends wrapped tidily up like they are accustomed to. Frankly, they either haven’t been paying attention or didn’t understand what they were weatching all these years. The Sopranos was great TV, but that’s all it was. A lot of people should get a life and stop seeing The Sopranos as anything other than what it is advertised as — entertainment.
As for the ending, it fit very well and the more I think about it the more I like it. So many people, including me suddenly swore at their cable or satellite companies thinking something had gone wrong when the vidoe and audio seemed to suddenly go dead. Now that’s something any producer worth his salt would kill for. One entertainment industry cliche does come to mind — always leave them wanting more. Like they say, it’s not TV, it’s HBO.
As for what happens next, who cares? Personally, Tony’s fate is almost certainly sealed with Carlo’s flipping. That would have been kind of difficult to sustain for another season. Carmela is almost independent with her spec house building and acceptance of Tony being Tony. Meadow is settled. AJ appears to haved moved from his “poor you” phase into something that will maximize his limited abilities. Most of Tony’s crew that were really worth anything are gone. Paulie is interesting to watch like a train wreck is interesting to watch, but that’s about it.
One side note, I think Agent Harris was getting his info on Phil from the other agent he was having an affair with. I think she figured out earlier what he was doing or overheard him on the cell phone while she was in the bathroom, which is why she was giving him the “if looks could kill” treatment. That’s the only original thing I can add that I haven’t seen somewhere else yet.
Thankfully, we won’t see any spinoffs of Meadow or AJ, and just about everyone else who could have been considered for a series moving forward got whacked. I read one interesting theory at another site explaining the ending that the blackness was Tony getting whacked. There was a line in an earlier episode about not knowing about it when it comes and that there would just be the blackness when your time comes, and if Mr. Members Only Jacket was the assassin he appeared to be set up to be, that would fit, especially if it was viewed from Tony’s perspective. It’s plausible, but I think Mr. Chase just decided to stop. In fact, he decided to stop a year ago, but carried forward for another nine episodes. Mr. Chase has been anything but conventional and this ending is just another unconventional aspect of his magnum opus.
It has been said that the secret to happiness is enjoying what you have rather than lamenting what you don’t. I’m rather happy that I’ve seen The Sopranos and I’ll be making Mr. Chase, et al, a little richer by buying the DVDs eventually. Until then, I’ll sit patiently awaiting the next installments of The Wire. Entourage, John from Cincinatti, etc., not so much.
Chuck should really have a blog 
Check out the rest. Lot of good talk, even though I’m not much of a teevee blogger…
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