Time for this blogger's requisite "Commentary on the final Sopranos episode" post.TV owes you nothing. In consulting other friends, co-workers, bloggers, newspapers, critics, David Chase himself (in article form)... I come to the conclusion that TV owes you nothing. A lot of outrage comes from the now-infamous ending, where we may or may not have gone to blackout prematurely.
Then I realized: This wasn't a movie. This isn't a story that gets neatly wrapped up in 2 hours. TV chronicles the story, perhaps a bit too long for monetary gain, but is a serial by nature. The good ones do not stop and start at our convenience. The idea of a TV series having an ending, made popular by the Mary Tyler Moore show, well... sucks.
I asked myself about truly memorably TV series endings, episodes that give you goosebumps and make you say, "Wow." There's the Mary Tyler Moore show. Maybe MASH. And after that... I came up with nothing.
Should they survive long enough to get the opportunity to present a series finale, they all probably ended with everybody moving out (Mary Tyler Moore Show, Growing Pains, Friends, MASH, West Wing), a narrator informing you how everyone ends up (the Wonder Years, Mad About You), an episode that provides a last plot twist that neatly wraps up all outstanding issues (Cheers, the Fugitive, Malcolm in the Middle), or just a bunch of horseshit (Seinfeld, St. Elsewhere).
In the end, I liked this "open-ended or not" ending of the Sopranos because it was different, unique, new.
First, the finale was appointment television. This wasn't a show you could DVR and watch later. If you missed it, you were out of the conversation and could not avoid it. There are no shows on TV (with exception to maybe the American Idol finale) that have the ability to do that anymore. Do you think people will scramble to watch the finale of CSI? Doubtful. When an episode becomes appointment TV, it needs to raise its game.
Second, it's Thursday, and the Sopranos aired on Sunday. People still talk about it. And it's intelligent discussion. It's not "Man, that sucked" or "Man, that was awesome." It's interpretation, discussion, then airing of grievances. I'll take that any day.
Third, the open ending or not allowed for multiple interpretations, which is unique to TV. Here's the possible endings I've counted so far:
1)
Tony's dead. This stems from two theories: The first comes from a flashback in the previous episode between Bobby and Tony, where they're discussing what it must be like to be whacked. Bobby described it by saying, "You never see it coming. Everything just goes black." This would evolve further if the hit were to involve Tony's family, either as viewers or victims. The hitmen would wait for the family to be there. Hence, why everything goes black as soon as Meadow walks in.
The second comes from the conspiracy theory that everyone in the restaurant is a ghost from Tony's past (the cowboy that Christopher whacked, the hitmen who botched a hit on Tony, the boy scouts from the train store where Bobby met his demise). It's a stretch, but not beyond the realm.
2)
They whacked the audience. Roughly same explanation as #1, except we're the victim. The Sopranos, this theory states, live on - we just don't get to see it anymore.
3)
Tony's arrested. Also the same rationale as #1, except add the conversations about Carlo flipping.
4)
Tony sits down to eat dinner with his family. It seems like stating the obvious, but it makes sense. The Sopranos is a family drama, just in the setting of the modern day Italian Mafia. It dealt as much with Tony's relationship with his mother and his wife and kids as it did with politicking with Johnny Sack. It starts and ends with the family.
The cuts and characters in the diner? A red herring. Another David Chase signature.
And why the blackout? David Chase spent the second half of Season Six reminding you that Tony is a sociopath, a killer with ice water in his veins. Therefore, you can't get the happy ending here. You can't get the wide shot of the family laughing over dinner at a Jersey family restaurant institution as the camera pulls out to a wide shot of the diner under a starry night. Chase constantly debated whether crime pays (and if it does, what's the pay rate?) throughout the series. I think his answer, demonstrated under this theory, is "sometimes."
5)
It was all a dream. Before the episode aired, everyone pointed back to the episode where Tony is Kevin Finnerty, a traveling salesman. They argued that Kevin's the real person and Tony's his dream. Chase wisely decided he knew his audience better than that. You could argue that the blackout ends the dream, but I don't buy it.
6)
It's a microcosm of Tony's world. Why build up all the tension in the diner? To give you a taste of Tony's world. Constantly looking over his shoulder, looking for the gunmen before they find him. It's a sugar-coated ending, one last cheap thrill.
7)
David Chase is fucking with you. Look, he's no dummy. He's proven himself a maestro with the music throughout the series. Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" seems unbelievable until you realize the B-side on the jukebox is "Any Way You Want It." Why building up the tension with the cut shots and looks to the man at the counter? Why not? Chase didn't know how to end it, so he figured he'd stick his dick in your ear and fuck with your mind.
Worked, didn't it? Remember your reaction 5 seconds after the credits started to roll and you realized your cable didn't go out?
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So where does this leave us? Without the Sopranos, for one. I know there's talk about another season or a movie - but I'll pray we don't go down that road. In TV terms, it's better to walk away too soon than too late. You can't point to an instance where the Sopranos jumped the shark. Give it more opportunities and it will find one.
Also, it inspires hope for TV. The Sopranos changed things. For better or worse, we'll see. However, the networks will see the reaction from the Sopranos' finale and want the same for their shows.
Change is good. We hope.
