'Sopranos' final season to begin April 8

Bathgate66

James Gandolfini told the Daily News in Friday's edition that he had "no idea" what to think was to happen to his character, the emotionally tortured mob boss and suburban dad Tony Soprano, after the hit series' final episode closed Sunday with an abrupt cut to a blank screen.

"You have to ask ("The Sopranos" creator) David Chase that. Smarter minds than mine know the answer to that," Gandolfini said. "I thought it was a great ending. You decide."

The screen went black and silent as Gandolfini's character and his family sat down to dinner, leaving fans guessing - and some complaining - about the ending's meaning or lack thereof.

Some have suggested that the movements of a man in the background portended a "Godfather"-style shooting. Others surmised that the show, which delved deeply into the domestic life of its mobster protagonist, was simply ending on an everyday note. Chase has declined to explain.

Several of Gandolfini's cast mates echoed his praise for the show's open-ended conclusion.

"A conventional ending would have been a fraud," Steven Van Zandt, who played Silvio, told the Daily News.

"Life doesn't have tidy little endings," said Van Zandt, a member of rocker Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. "Even some great songs just fade out like the last episode of 'The Sopranos."'

alpitt

I really don't think he died, HBO execs are covering their asses because a lot of people are pissed. But most of these people just don't get it, Van Zandt was right.

moeaholic

i'm tired (already) of the whole "he went to the bathroom, ala 'godfather' " bit. last i knew, i was watching the sopranos.

Proteus

It made me hungry for onion rings.

LOVEBOATCAPT0226

Proteus wrote:

It made me hungry for onion rings.

Holsten's restaurant is now making a shitload of money off there onion rings.

Proteus

And then it made me wonder what entrees they were going to order.

I mean, a diner.

This was the true climax of the show.

Nevermind blackouts and loose ends and symbolically located angels of death.

Not a single shred of gabagool or proscuit' in sight. No zuppe di mussels. No zucchini flowers. No baked ziti.

A diner.

There were cokes on the table. Cokes.

No Sambuca. No Grappa. Not even a house red.

I bet Tony was going to order meatloaf.

Pure tragedy.

duffy

i can appreciate what they were trying to do to end the show that way, perhaps. but its hard not to feel a little bit ripped off.
say the ending was meant to imply that Tony was killed in the end...it kinda haunts me in a way...cause if you die quickly like that -
goes to show ya...in the end...nothing really matters after all. lights out. bada boom bada bing. done for. time out.

AllNiteThing

duffy wrote:

i can appreciate what they were trying to do to end the show that way, perhaps. but its hard not to feel a little bit ripped off.
say the ending was meant to imply that Tony was killed in the end...it kinda haunts me in a way...cause if you die quickly like that -
goes to show ya...in the end...nothing really matters after all. lights out. bada boom bada bing. done for. time out.

Honestly, if the show ended like that, I wouldn't mind. I think it would be kinda cool. Maybe see a gun up against Tony's head as he looks up at meadow, then black. No gunshot, nothing. Would be intense. But, I don't think it would follow the way chase operates. For all of the grittyness and mob-ness of the show, there always has been an underlying technique of implying things, of symbolism and of not outright spoon feeding the audience. It's what made the show great. For all of the dirty killings and strippers and Tony cheating on his wife, there is the backbone of intelligence to the show that you have to dig for just a little bit, but when you do, the show takes on heights that no other has accomplished. That said, a 'traditional' Scarface/Godfather ending would in no way do this amazing show justice. Getting it in the head or walking away in handcuffs would make Tony's demise 'run of the mill'. Chase left it up for us. He showed that there is little 'finality' or closure in life or this show (many loose ends...(the Russian?)...just like life).

Proteus

Not even a plate of stuffed mushrooms.

NCBRI

Proteus wrote:

And then it made me wonder what entrees they were going to order.

I mean, a diner.

This was the true climax of the show.

Nevermind blackouts and loose ends and symbolically located angels of death.

Not a single shred of gabagool or proscuit' in sight. No zuppe di mussels. No zucchini flowers. No baked ziti.

A diner.

There were cokes on the table. Cokes.

No Sambuca. No Grappa. Not even a house red.

I bet Tony was going to order meatloaf.

Pure tragedy.

"Made in America"

binauralsounds

NCBRI wrote:

"Made in America"

BINGO!

Garden Dogg

NCBRI wrote:

"Made in America"

yup...50s-style diner complete with jukeboxes on the table and a big tray of onion rings.

rrivers

AllNiteThing wrote:

Honestly, if the show ended like that, I wouldn't mind. I think it would be kinda cool. Maybe see a gun up against Tony's head as he looks up at meadow, then black. No gunshot, nothing. Would be intense. But, I don't think it would follow the way chase operates. For all of the grittyness and mob-ness of the show, there always has been an underlying technique of implying things, of symbolism and of not outright spoon feeding the audience. It's what made the show great. For all of the dirty killings and strippers and Tony cheating on his wife, there is the backbone of intelligence to the show that you have to dig for just a little bit, but when you do, the show takes on heights that no other has accomplished. That said, a 'traditional' Scarface/Godfather ending would in no way do this amazing show justice. Getting it in the head or walking away in handcuffs would make Tony's demise 'run of the mill'. Chase left it up for us. He showed that there is little 'finality' or closure in life or this show (many loose ends...(the Russian?)...just like life).

Having a last scene where the majority of viewers thought their cable went out does not fit with the show either.

AllNiteThing

rrivers wrote:

Having a last scene where the majority of viewers thought their cable went out does not fit with the show either.

That's their own stupidity. I never once thought that. It's an arbitrary ending. Meaning there is NO ending. This show is as close to realistic life as you can get (for this lifestyle), thus just like life there is no finality. It keeps going on. There would be no good place to end it, and that is one of the points this scene makes. Also, the extended black was a brief period of reflection, to take it all in and let the impact of that scene and everything that led up to it sink in. Brilliant.

rrivers

AllNiteThing wrote:

That's their own stupidity. I never once thought that. It's an arbitrary ending. Meaning there is NO ending. This show is as close to realistic life as you can get (for this lifestyle), thus just like life there is no finality. It keeps going on. There would be no good place to end it, and that is one of the points this scene makes. Also, the extended black was a brief period of reflection, to take it all in and let the impact of that scene and everything that led up to it sink in. Brilliant.

I know you think you are smarter than everyone, but when your screen goes blank in the middle of a show, it does not mean you are stupid to think your cable went out. I did not think my cable went out, but I don't think people who did are stupid.

Many of the classic pieces of literature have endings ie Romeo and Juliet.

The "life has no closure so the Sopranos has no closure" argument is really tiring. The Sopranos is not life, it is a TV show that people have invested a ton of time in and made the people working on it very rich. It did depict life in a realistic way, but there needs to be an ending. The ending does not have to spoonfeed the audience, but to have "no ending" is a cop out. There are a ton of good ways to end it that would have been satisfying and within the spirit of the show. I also love how people say there is no finality in life. There is finality in life. Things come to conclusion. I don't know about your life, but you make decisions, things are set in motion, and an outcome occurs. It is not always in a blaze of glory, but I can't remember a problem in my life that terminated in everything going to black.

I don't know that the show was a real reflection of the life either. I have seen a few people who were in the mob or family members were in the mob who said it was not a real reflection of how life is. What made the show great was that the characters were fully formed, interesting individuals put in a situation with very high stakes.

elmer

In the first season when Christopher shoots the cake-shop kid in the foot, Vito is there, the kid refers to him as Gino, Christopher tells him to leave the shop as to a civilian not as another made guy.............odd

PissBottleMan

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PBM

WhiteMaleRat

basta! va fungue!

rrivers

PissBottleMan wrote:

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PBM

"My pee came out rainbow!"

rrivers

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/james_gandolfini_shot_by_closure