The Sopranos Series Finale

I liked it.

I’ve watched every episode to date of this mobster drama – and i’ve been consistently happy with the show. The Sopranos is a consistent show – and it’s probably the 2nd best television show of all time. Shows like “24” have steep up/down times. High apexes of fantastic thrilling drama are fought by immediate downslopes of boredom and wrongdoing from a production standpoint. 24 is the greatest show ever, and its the worst thing on TV the next episode.

The Sopranos is not that way. It is consistently a fantastic show and never veers far from that mark.

Enough background.

Let me begin by saying that ANY way this series ended would have failed to meet expectations. It’s just impossible to conclude a series of this magnitude in a way that won’t disappoint somebody.

With that said, I like the series finale. I enjoyed this series finale and I enjoyed the way that concluded the series. I enjoyed everything about it. The setting, the feel, the anticipation, even the song. In my opinion, the series finale was a fantastic showing. I just signed offline because Vanbergs told me he purchased a bicycle.

In detail, here’s why I liked the series finale. Tony has been depressed and dealt with depression in his family for the entirety of the show. He fought with his wife, he dealt with problems his son had, and he dealt with all that in his role as ‘boss’ as well. It is not debatable: Tony Soprano had a dark life.

****Spoiliers****
The ending of the series did a fantastic job of bringing everything to a happier and optimistic end for Tony. The song, the entrance of his family members, with these things the viewers get a sense of happiness where all the bad and shitty things with the characters’ lives are behind them. Tony Soprano is a happy man at the end of the series. He’s getting along with his wife, the issues with his son are resolved, and he’s free to have this meal with his family without having to worry about his mob stresses now that Phil Leotardo had been taken care of.

Although the cinematography creates suspense for the viewer, there is care free bliss amongst the Soprano Family as they sit and enjoy their last meal together. Tony is the happiest he had ever been in the entire series at the moment he dies. His last vision is his daughter Meadow running into the restaurant. Just for a split second, the whole family is together. The last image Tony sees, the last thing he experiences is his entire family together. He hadn’t experienced that for a very long time – if at all in the entire series.

It was definitely his last moment. Even though it is not shown, Tony Soprano was murdered. There is absolutely nothing else that 5 solid seconds of black silence can signify. The music stops abruptly, and the series is concluded. (BTW: Journey was a fantastic choice). I’m actually glad that it ended the way it did… If they would have shown Tony getting killed, I am sure that I would have physically wept and possibly spun into a sobbing fetal position.

The Series finale did a fantastic job of doing all this without coming off as rushed or cheesy.

In my opinion, congratulations David Chase and HBO for a phenominal series, start to finish.

4 thoughts on “The Sopranos Series Finale

  1. vanlandw

    I don’t know if i’m as enthusiastic about the ending as you are but I understand it I’ve come to terms with it and the more I think about it the more I do like it. I’m not bitter with how it ended but my post summed up my feelings but for the most part I agree with you. Prior to the episode I went in thinking it was going to be to a degree anti-climatic, but expecting maybe a twist.

    You summed up everything very good with your words and we are vans so our opinions are the only ones that matter.

    gg vanberge4

  2. vanbergs

    You have made a very convincing argument, and I think you should read the feature on ign.com dubbed “Sopranos Finale Roundtable Discussion”. They have a very good conversation on the pros and cons of the episode.

    I guess I would like it more if I didn’t have such high expectations. The Sopranos has always been a very mature show and one that has taken a lot of chances. I was really hoping for them to take just one more chance with a finale that no other show could have dreamt of doing: and that is either Tony prevailing or reaching the end of his downfall.

    I guess one could argue that the actual finale included both of those to an extent, but why not show it? Why leave it up to interpretation from the viewer? I enjoy film and tv analysis as much as the next van, but for an ending to one of the best shows ever, I felt that more punctuation was necessary.

  3. Vanberge Post author

    The contrast of blue/white can be a little much, but i’m not changing it.

    If you have an LCD or laptop turn on fontsmoothing / cleartype fonts and that is much much better. 😛

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