OK, let\'s take it one step at a time.
I almost like that Tony and Carm sort of bought out A.J., proving that he was the pretentious phony I assumed all along. But overall, for me it diminishes the dramatic impact of what happened with him in the prior episodes and so I ultimately don\'t like the direction that went.
I also didn’t think it was at all believable that Carlo would flip just cause his son got busted with Ecstasy. I mean, it\'s not like he was facing 20-to-life for that. But then again, how would we know? We didn\'t even see that scene. I guess it was more important to show Hunter, who coincidentally, is played by David Chase\'s daughter. That was certainly a forced scene which added little and was something else I didn’t like.
And though I liked Paulie’s situation with the cat, I thought the stuff between the cat and Chris was beyond stupid.
And overall, I just felt this episode was a bit too timid for a series finale. It definitely lacked intensity. There were very few moments were I felt any emotional reaction to anything, especially in the first half. I didn’t think this episode wasn\'t sharply written. It featured mostly pedestrian dialogue. You can probably pick any Sopranos episode out of a hat—or any episode of most HBO dramas—and chances are it would be better than this one. It was without question one of the weakest Sopranos\' episodes ever and that was set in stone well before the ending.
To be fair, there were some things I did like:
1. The overhead shot of the food with the overheard conversational mumblings.
2. Butch walking from Little Italy to Little China without noticing it. Chase made sure he threw in the whole thing on the bus\'s public address about how the former used to be 40 square blocks and is now just one street, which was great.
3. Agent Harris, who for my money, was the episode\'s MVP and delivered far-and-away the best line with, "We’re gonna win this thing." Hilarious.
4. The SUV\'s explosion was clearly symbolic and ties into much of the political flavor this season has had with frequent mentions of Iraq and oil, which is fine by me.
5. Of course, the Tony and Junior scene, which was unquestionably my favorite one in the episode.
OK, about the ending.
Despite the obvious vision of Tony in a coffin to start things off, there is nothing in this episode to indicate that he would get killed. That would have nullified everything which transpired between Jersey and New York. Plus, I refuse to believe that Chase would kill his main character in the last scene without showing any of the aftermath. That would just be stupid. So, after much deliberation, I’ve concluded that there is no logical reason whatsoever to believe that Tony is dead at the end. You don’t see Meadow come through the door. But she is the last person we see before the last shot with Tony so I can only conclude that he is looking at her. The parallel parking baffles me. It’s obviously a tension builder, but I think that scene had enough tension as it was without needing Meadow\'s parking struggles.
So for me, Chase is actually not leaving the ending open-ended. Granted, I can understand how the abruptness would piss off people and I’m not saying that I thought it was a classic ending. Overall, it was an mediocre episode with an average ending. But I do like how Chase shows how amidst all the turmoil, the Sopranos have survived. Well, at least, they\'ve survived for now. I think Chase did a good job of showing both sides of the coin. On the one hand, the family is reasonably happy to just be alive and together, but on the other hand, this saga for them will never end, especially for Tony, who must always live his life in fear of being killed.
The thing with the very end is, since I don\'t believe Tony is going to get killed and that Meadow will just enter and they\'ll talk about all "the good times" and enjoy the onion rings, I can understand why Chase didn\'t want to fade to black with Journey playing in the background (which I was not big on at all). That would have been a bit too cheery of an ending for an otherwise morose show. So he played it down the middle, showing that the Sopranos are happy all things considered, but that the uneasiness will always be prevalent in Tony. I have to say, that although I didn’t love this ending, that I liked it better than if he had been killed in the last scene (wouldn\'t have minded if it was earlier in the season) and that I also liked it better than if Meadow had come in and they chatted and then faded to black. My initial reaction to the ending was rage, but after a second watch, and much thought, I can actually see why Chase decided to go that route. He definitely ended the show on an uncomfortable and anxious note, which does undoubtedly fits the nature of the show.
Again, I completely understand how people could think it was left open-ended and how infuriating that is. The last scene had tension, tension, tension, and then no release. It\'s more than fair to say that the Sopranos is an all-time show, which jerked around its audience at times, and then had a chance to make it all good by going out in a way that would absolutely wow it\'s loyal audience—which has put up with inconsistency in the latter seasons and longer breaks between seasons than occur between most movie sequels—and then failed to do so. I totally understand how some people could feel that Chase didn\'t have the conviction to trust either of his two possible endings and consequently decided to go with no ending.
But what I\'m saying is entirely predicated on the notion that if Tony was going to die, he would have died already and I believe there is a plethora of evidence to support that claim. I do not think that Tony died. I think Meadow just came in and they talked, and considering that we know what would have transpired then, there really wasn\'t any reason to show what happened. Instead, we end with the anxiety that has been prevalent in the protagonist’s head since the show\'s first scene.
In numerous ways, this episode disappointed me. It was comparatively one of the weakest episodes of the series and hate when I get that from a finale. And overall, the latter seasons were not nearly as good as the first. But then again, the show created an early body of work that anybody would have been hard-pressed to match. And to its credit, the show never traveled down the road of cliché and Chase made sure that continued through the end, as bitter as that ending turned out to be for most viewers.
**** out of *****
