Derek Bodner’s Blog

Everybody has their opinion on the Sopranos Series Finale on Sunday, here’s mine.

I especially liked the part when …

Yeah, that about sums it up. For a series finale that had as many loose ends to tie up as the Sopranos did, that was a very underwhelming episode to a great series. The Phil Leotardo scene was a great scene. But it was a great scene surrounded by 30 minutes of filler on each side. For every loose end that was tied up (Phil getting whacked), 5 more were opened up (The profession of Meadow’s fiancée and how it conflicts with Tony, the new rat in the family, etc). And this very well may have been David Chase’s intention. We started watching during the life of the family, and we ended watching at just another point in the family, not necessarily the end.

My main gripe was the ending, and the ambiguity of it. Overall, I think the ending was terrible, but I think it was just one or two details away from being great. I don’t need everything wrapped up, but I don’t think a “decide for yourself” ending was the way to go (in fact, I hated it). What I think would have been great endings:
* Tony gets whacked. This scene could have been almost exactly the same as how it was portrayed in the actual ending. Tony’s sitting there with AJ, and Carm eating onion rings. He’s watching Meadow come in, and as Meadow enters the door she screams in horror. Screen goes black, and show goes silent.
* Tony lives. An ending where Tony kills Phil and lives on was more than acceptable to me. In fact, I was secretly rooting for it. However, do not create the ambiguity at the end by having the screen go abruptly black and question whether that was meant as a nod to the comments made by Bobby earlier in the season about what you remember when you get whacked.

By having the screen go black and quiet at the end, people are going to believe that you are insinuating that Tony was whacked and the at conversation with Bobby has more significance. And I can an argument being built for both sides. And that’s the main problem I had with it. I think David Chase did a great job of setting up tension at the final scene. During the entire 8 minutes of the diner scene you were on the edge of the seat. I think that was brilliant, some of the most suspenseful TV I’ve ever seen. Leaving it open to interpretation, however, was not. Either Tony getting killed, or life going on (and the tension could have been a great indication of the life Tony had to live, constantly worrying about his safety) could have been great. However, the execution was lacking. If Tony was to be killed, we needed to know Tony got killed (not necessarily see it, as I said above only seeing Meadow’s reaction could have been the best scenario). If they all lived, going black created ambiguity that was not needed.

My only other main gripe was that as a whole, the episode was very underwhelming. There was virtually no payoff. It was just another episode in the Sopranos. After dealing with subpar stories for the last 2 years, I think a payoff episode was in order. I also think the war with New York was very underwhelming. Not that more people had to die, but betrayal, tension, everything could and should have been ratcheted up. This was an event that they had been building towards for 3 seasons now. Phil Leotardo was certainly a bastard, but the war needed more than that.

Overall, I don’t think the finale was quite as bad as everyone’s making it out to be, but I do think it was a disappointment. I do not think the ending was done right (although I do think it had potential), and overall I think it was underwhelming. I think it’s time to go back and re-watch the first two seasons.