Letters to the Editor
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Missing the overall
People are making so much of the ending, story and character twists and turns they are missing the overall parable about our current culture: the constant sense of impending doom in the final season, reflecting that of our own country. That sense, like our own, is not always justified as Chase's devices lead to nothing (just like our many terror alerts) and when it is, is often a fear brought on by Tony's own actions in the world (blowback for the U.S.) In the end, the series died as it lived: dissatisfying yet intriging and thought-provoking. Narravtive-wise the show ended the way every season ended: the next-to-last episode was the one filled with action (the death by violence of major characters seemingly setting the stage for a grand finale which didn't happen, just many questions left unanswered and storylines petering out.) While Chase is a great writer, I think maybe he's given too much credit sometimes for having an overall narrative vision (as opposed to his thematic one of commenting on American life) which perhaps isn't there. I thought the show sometimes could have used a senior story editor - others say issues like the failure to tie up loose ends is part of Chase's brilliance, but at the start of each new season (especially after the disappearing Russian) brought such an outcry they would make a half-hearted attempt to give closure to plot lines that lasted an entire season, making it seem like an afterthought. The show has always been as much, if not more, of a comment on current American values (consumerism, medicated reality, overwhelming denial in pursuit of the American dream) as it was about the modern Mafia. Every episode wasn't brilliant (for that, see Deadwood), but it will go down as a unique and often insightful commentary on American life for this past decade. Kudos for Chase and crew for that.