So, any other thoughts on the Soprano ending?

[CoffeeCat]

It's taken me a while to process Chase's unanticipated "Sopranos" season finale. I
was prepared for Tony to die, or end up in prison or for his family to die--due
to his crimes.

I wasn't prepared for a non-finale finale. Was anyone else?

There are thousands of takes on the final episode. My interpretation
is that the audience got wacked. We were cut out of the Sopranos life---when Chase decided--
just as we were introduced to their lives when Chase decided. We got a glimpse into a SLICE of the
Sopranos' lives. They go on ("it goes on and on and on and on"), but we're done.

Also--I get the sense that Chase has some disdain for his audience. Does anyone else feel that way?

There were numerous political statements in the final episode. Bush was shown dancing like a clown (when
AJ was watching tv with Rhi) and AJ's speech to the funeral/dinner crowd made fun of people who absorb themselves in "American Idol" and other shows. AJ chastised everyone for "living in a dream world" and focusing on
television--instead of facing important world issues. The episode was titled "Made in America" and AJ
pontificated about the sad state of the "the American Dream" and how it's currently about "people buying more than they can afford" and "getting bling".

It was as if Chase was using AJ to say, "Wake the hell up! America is burning and the dream is dying, while all of you sit around obsessed with television!" I took that as a slam against his own audience, and his repulsion for how obsessed people were/are with it.

Meadow also gave an interesting speech to Tony about current government--and it's newfound powers that can crush the individual. This was really profound--because the Constitution is supposed to protect against the government acting in this way--and Chase (through Meadow) was clearly that this is terrifying--and the only hope is attorneys attorney who are willing to stand up to the government (and this is more important than saving babies).

Who knows what Chase went through with this show. Production was halted and delayed. Actors wanted more money. Maybe HBO put pressure on him. Maybe Chase was just a bit tired of how much America was obsessed with his show--as America disintegrates?

And what about the final song? Tony considered and passed by, "My Way" by Sinatra and "Who
Will You Run to When it All Falls Down" by Heart. He selected "Don't Stop Believing".
In other words---Tony didn't do it "his way; he focused on his family. Also, the show didn't end with everything "falling down". It went "on and on and on and on"...

I wonder if this part of the song is a reference to the audience:
"Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night"

And the final two words that played, before the screen went black, "Don't Stop".
That seemed like a nod to the audience to never stop believing, to press forward---
even though our ride with the Sopranos ends here.

I've probably mulled the last episode over a bit more than I need to. However,
the show was very thought-provoking.

I'd love to hear others' thought and interpretations...

[truebrit71]

1. It was crap.

That's my interpretation...

[Exultant Democracy]

2. With about 15 minutes left to go I started to hope that nothing would happen

up to that point I had been a little frustrated with the episode, but then all of a sudden it started to dawn on me. During the final scene while my friends were yelling out what they wanted to happen I yelled out "nothing they have dinner!" I couldn't have been happier with the ending.

[dr.strangelove]

3. Wow, I read most of those things 100% the other way

The show was always about Tony and his family. the mob was the background that made the show great, but I always thought the show was not about glorifying the mob, but showing how they are regular people with regular problems, but then at the same time, they are criminals to the core.

I thought Chase was making fun as asshats like AJ who attack people who enjoy basic entertainment, like Survivor or American Idol, not making fun of the people who like those shows.

In my mind the show was about Tony's failure to remove his kids from his lifestyle. AJ, who spent two seasons goign on about how you must make a difference and how he hated what American was doign in the world, dropped his feelings to be given a job working for a mob funded porn and B movie producer, a foreign car and the hot cheerleader type girlfriend. He is the so called "new mobster" who now are branding out into entertainment and finance. He became the part of his father he hated the most.

Then MEadow is even worse. After 5 seasons of taking stands against Tony and his racism and destructive feelings, she falls for the son of a mobster, who is a mob lawyer. She is either going to be her mother, and ignore what her husband does to make his money, as long as she is rich, or she will make her money defending her father's friends. She will no doubt have a long list of client referrals.

As for her speech, I took out of it that she flipped from being one concerned about civil rights abuse, to one who was concerned about the treatment of her father and his friends, who are not being prosecuted for their race, but because they are murderes and theives. I thought Chase was saying these two characters who he developed as being anti-Tony, have gone all the way back to being exactly like Tony.