Letters to the Editor
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so many answers, so many questions...
Whew! What a task it's been to read each and every post from the beginning to now, but I'm glad I did. So many interesting takes on the ending of The Sopranos--or, the ending of the Sopranos? (I do see in some cases, an amusing likeness in the posts to poor little AJ's quoting of "Yeets"; pretentiousness never quite goes out of style for the partly informed.)
I have to say I subscribe to the "ending of the Sopranos" theory: Tony dies in that instant of sudden blacking out. But I haven't found in all the posts any real explanation of why Chase has Meadow taking so much time to park, as the tension for us rises. Put another way, why does the assassin WAIT so long to do his job? It's possible that both incidents together mean the shooter is determined to kill the entire family and is waiting for the tardy Meadow to arrive. Tony is there first; no action. Carmella joins him; no action. AJ sits down with them; still nothing. And at the sound of the tinkling bell? At the moment Meadow also comes in? Blackness.
Like all others here, I find it fun to speculate, but of course it's entirely Chase's game. I liked the ending; I like the ambiguity. And though it may be pushing it to suggest Chase intended such a thing, I like Silkstone's wonderful piece on p. 19 of the these posts about Death and the solitary nature of dying. Wonderful.
Just a final question: asked twice in the posts above, and never responded to by anyone--how might we take the strange moment when Tony sees himself in the diner? Nothing else in the entire episode is at all like that moment, that surreal moment. I'm curious as to why no one seems curious.
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some small observations
1. It was Agent Harris who flipped, not Tony. Perversely entertaining.
2. Tony's meals in the episode were hamburgers, french fries, and onion rings. Not Italian food.
3. (as pointed out by someone else) Little Carmine's film company is called "Lone Wolves"
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Easy Way Out?
I have to laugh when I see how upset people are getting about the ending. The entire last scene is a preview of Tony's life from now until his inevitable indictment and trial, wondering if every person who comes through the door is an assassin or federal agent.
The cut to black WAS a hit, but it was on us. Like Bobby said, you never hear the one that gets you.
Personally, once I got over that split-second of panic that my cable had gone out, I laughed out loud at how irreverent and brilliant the ending was.
I guess the complainers wanted everyone to get in a big circle and do a Mary Tyler Moore Show group hug. Get over it and raise a glass to Chase and Company for a great run.
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Panic Attack Black Out, Anyone?
Uh, "sudden black out"... hello...where has this concept been important before on the show?
What if the black screen has a meaning more in line with what we've seen since the first episode of "The Sopranos" than just Tony getting whacked? I'm not sure if anyone has suggested this yet, since there are so many letters here I don't know where to begin, but we're made in the scene to feel the pressure of what Tony lives through-- anyone coming through the door could be friend or enemy-- couldn't Tony have "blacked out" like he's done with all of his previous panic attacks? It would be an appropriate ending and a very funny joke: after all this time (and now that he's away again from Dr. Melfi), Tony still can't deal with the pressure.
Remember, the panic attack black outs are exactly where we began the series, what got a lot of what we've seen rolling... wouldn't that be an appropriate place to end?
And maybe it's also Chase's joke on us-- again to make us realize how close we might be to Tony whether we like it or not-- the audience is so overwhelmed thinking about what "big thing" might happen next that-- instead-- we suddenly just "black out"... just like Tony.
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Sopranos Goes Dark
How could EVERYONE have gotten it so wrong? The "sudden dark ending": remind anyone of the "sudden dark ending" of "A Man for All Seasons"? Is David Chase trying to say, in a twisted looking glass way, that Tony S is a modern day St Thomas More? The, in this case, antihero fighting the mores (pun, not intended)of modern day US?
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I thought of you, bernbart!
When AJ said he wanted to enlist, I felt like such a fool for poo-poohing your prediction last week (although I still say the Army would never have let him do it).
The funny thing is, Chase had a way of making a lot of predictions come true, but subverting them by bringing them to life in a much different manner than anyone had envisioned. Most people thought Phil would get popped, and he did (but who could have envisioned it going quite that way?). People also thought Tony would start collaborating with the FBI. Well, he did, didn't he? I thought that something awful would happen to Meadow that would break her father's heart, and it did: she became a mob lawyer. Bernbart thought AJ would enlist in the Army, and he really might have, if his parents hadn't basically bribed him. I also had been saying that the final episodes were showing what a fiction it was that Tony could separate his work life from his family life, how the compartmentalization was breaking down, and that's precisely what the final scene showed: He can't go out to dinner with his family without fearing for his life.
So really, gang, we didn't do too badly on the predictions. I still think we kick Slate's ass.
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we get the ending we deserve
Like some other posters here, for a split second I was in disbelief when the screen went black then I laughed. Laughing partly out of relief that I didn't have to watch any of them get blown away.
But I believe David Chase's ending allows us to make up our own ending and I think that is brilliant. All that conjecture is not for naught - whatever we think happened to Tony CAN happen to Tony, if only in our own minds.
At least until the movie comes out...
Delwyn Slim