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actually the end of the series, and the last mini-season, to me anyway pointed out how bored/annoyed Chase had seemingly become with his characters ... he may have intended to usher us through "separation," but I don't think so. By the end, Tony's crew was threadbare. The old gang was mostly dead and everyone else was lazy and bored -- no fire in the belly remained -- the money was drying up, there was stiff competition from New York. The adults and kid had become slackers. I always thought Adriana was the most interesting character because she had genuine AMBITION ... unlike everyone else who just wanted to get laid, get high or get revenge from some shitty little thing. whatever.
The Wire echoes Homicide-Life on the Streets on having long story archs. Remember, was it, Latisha Jackson on Bayless' first day ... and how the series ended. The last season got a bit weird ... I felt there were story arcs / certain plot lines they could bring themselves to abandon when it because more obvious they wouldn't be back ... our loss.
To me, the relative "shallowness" of the Sopranos was summed up when Tony visited Silvio in the hospital in the last episode -- I had no idea what Tony was thinking or feeling ... which made me realize that to a large part I had never had a real clue what made Silvio "tick" ... except inertia. The voids in the characters led to much lively speculation on chat boards, but in the end -- after all those years of "knowing" these characters -- there were remarkable gaps in who they were ... When the remarkably capable actors took off their roles, there was little "there."
