Mas Sopranos Por Favor

I was just going to post a comment under Rich’s post (well done my friend) sharing my thoughts on The Sopranos finale. But, like usual, once I get to writing it’s hard to stop so I had to turn this into a post. One might say my words run like a ducks ass….think about that one for a minute….

Rich and I have had some great banter on this topic, along with 50 million other people in the world. While I think we have some strong points, I would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this. What did you think of the ending? What did you think was the significance of the “cut to black?” I’d love to hear from everyone on this (if there’s not enough space in the comment box, shoot me an email at antploza1908@yahoo.com and I’ll post your thoughts).

Random thoughts….

• I tried to go to hbo.com immediately after the finale aired but I couldn’t get on either. I did find some other message boards and it wasn’t pretty. Almost everyone seemed to be pretty pissed how the show ended. Like you, I was completely shocked when it happened but the ending has grown on me. Just as long as I didn’t have to see Tony get whacked, I can live with that. The ending I like to imagine is everything goes on like normal and the next chapter in his life is trying to beat these new indictments. (*Note* - I wrote this comment on Monday and the ending continues to grow on me. I don’t think I’ve ever been this captivated by a show…aside from my growing crush on The Wire and my first Girls Gone Wild tape.)
• Can you believe Carlo flipped like that? All so he could get his son out of a distribution charge? Weak…WEAK!
• Glad Philly got whacked. Like I said in my post last week, I think this absolutely had to happen. Shelly and I actually cheered when it happened and I’m pretty sure there was a fist pump or two involved. I am, however, troubled by how easily a small, yet formidable NJ mob family was able to dismantle a powerful NY syndicate. Even if that same NY family is now working under it’s 4th boss in the past 6 months. Has a real mafia crime family gone through this many bosses in such short a time? The only real-life comparison I can think of is Loan Services Supervisor.
• The one point I vehemently disagree with is the part about Tony being an FBI informant. I think this scenario is near impossible and I don’t say that just because I didn’t want it to end like that. What would Tony have to offer the FBI? He’s the boss, he’s the target…who would he be snitching on? The guys from NY? They’re all dead too. Let’s just say Tony was an FBI informant and Phil was the target. The FBI agent involved (Tony’s contact) would have been pissed to hear Phil was popped. Coppers don’t want to see their targets killed, they want them brought to justice.
• If you’ve got a couple hours to burn, check out The Sports Guy's chat wrap. Good stuff.
• In an email exchange we had, Rich said someone in Vegas called into a local radio station and said they noticed a lot of things were happening in 3's in the final scene, e.g. 3 people at Tony’s table, Meadow tried to park her car 3 times, 3 coffee creamers on the table. This might be a stretch but does anyone else remember the episode in which Uncle Junior (pre-dementia) said people died in threes? Bobby, Sylvio…..Tony?? Again, I think this is a stretch but it’s worth mentioning
• Did anyone else see the B-side Journey song on the little juke box? Tony picked “Don’t Stop Believin’” but the song underneath that was “Any Way You Want It.” As in, the show ends any way you want it to?
• The cat that was hanging around the safe house and Satriale’s was cracking me up. Not so much the cat but Paulie’s reaction to the cat…classic. In The Sports Guy’s chat wrap (above) a reader asks if the cat is supposed to be a reincarnation of a previous character. I think the cat played an important part in the episode but I don’t think it was Aida or Christopher reincarnated. Anyone remember the character “Big Pussy” that got whacked in the season 2 finale? Well, I think since the show started with a “pussy” it had to end with one. So that’s what the cat represented….or something. This is an actual character from the show. I don’t just love saying the word pussy or anything…..
  
  The more I watch the finale (going on 5 or 6 times now) the more I appreciate the beauty of the ending. For the first time we the audience can genuinely feel what Tony Soprano feels. The nervousness every time someone walks in the door, the heightened sense of awareness, knowing that death could be around every corner. For once, we know what it’s like to be Tony. I couldn’t ask for anything more out of the ending (other than maybe a Cubs World Series win playing in the background).
  Again, this is just my interpretation, but I think the abrupt ending was just that, the ending of the show. Life goes on for Tony Soprano. I don’t think the “cut to black” was Tony dying or, like I said earlier, maybe I just don’t want it to mean that. Herein lies the beauty of it all….it ends how we think it ends. And that is much more satisfying than a bloody shoot-out where everyone dies.

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