Brilliance Takes Some Time to Digest
By pmd on Jun 11, 2007 in Random |
Who’s gonna console me?? Saying goodbye to your favorite TV family is tough…
After watching the final scene several times, I absolutely loved last night’s Sopranos’ finale. The Sports Guy really summed up my feelings perfectly….
Bill Simmons: the problem was that, on the first viewing, right when it ended, everyone had the same reaction: “Oh, no, my cable just went out!” I don’t think that’s the reaction you want for the last scene of one of the greatest TV series ever, but I watched the ending a second time (and about 6 more times, actually, I was fascinated by how they constructed it) and it’s clear what the intent was: There was no ambiguity, the whole scene was centered around the fact that his head kept popping up every time the front door of the coffee shop opened.
So in the final last few frames, the person he loves most was coming through the door, but they cut away right as his head was popping up in that split-second of “Uh-oh, who’s this?” fear that will consume the rest of Tony’s life. I thought that was cool and a good way to end it. The problem was, I didn’t figure this out until the 4th or 5th time.
So that’s bad. I do think that, if he was really getting killed right at the end, they would have shown the guy coming out of the men’s bathroom, even for a split-second. That’s why I’m certain he didn’t get killed. Anyway, that was my interpretation.
Peter - I love you but you are trying to paint a happy picture on a pile of dog shit. The fact of the matter is that the last episode blew. Here’s how I know: After the show ended, I felt, disappointed, cheated, annoyed, pissed, etc. I wasn’t confused and I wasn’t thinking to myself, “That was intense, I’m gonna need a few days to digest that… gotta let it marinate.” No fucking way. All this marinating everyone is doing, intellectualizing what happened during the last episode, evaluating how Chase decided to handle it, doesn’t change the fact that when sitting on the couch as those credits were rolling, you, me and everyone else I’ve spoken to was totally disappointed. I think what’s going on here is that no one wants to accept the fact that after all these years of Sopranos fan loyalty, they took our love and spit it back in our face with that lazy shit they broadcast. No amount of psychoanalysis of Chase, or Tony Soprano for that matter, can change the fact that the actual show, how it was crafted, executed and ultimately presented, was shit.
Schreiber | Jun 12, 2007 | Reply
you make a great point..i wont lie..i know im reaching… but i expressed that a bit too
Peter | Jun 12, 2007 | Reply
not justifying…i wasn’t disappointed. i liked it…
bsidewinzagain | Jun 12, 2007 | Reply
Simple Minds, here is your answer. Stop looking sooooo deep into it. Chase, himself, in an interview with a NJ newspaper, said he left everything in the scene, and was not trying to “mess,” with peoples heads. This has gotten so much publicity, he would rather have people think want they want if they did not understand what happened. Well, here is your definitive answer: TONY IS DEAD. You have to actually pay attention to the final sequence of events that occurred from the moment Tony walked into the Diner. The visual perspectives from third party-to-Tony, if you noticed he walked into the Diner, you saw him in 3rd party, then he looks at the table, “his perspective,” or what he sees….yadayadayada, he sits down looking at the menu. Everytime he heard the chime from the door opening the camera went from 3rd party showing him look up, to his eyes seeing who’s walking in, it happened consistantly for all his family members coming in. All the others who walked in Phil’s cousin, the “MembersOnly Godfather reference dude,” the black dudes, which by the way Tony killed those guys that shot his ear, they represent who could have shot him, it doesn’t matter who actually did. Anyways, after all the issues with parallel parking, Meadow finally comes running into the Diner, the sequence continues, you hear the chime, 3rd party view of Tony looking up, and then in the sequence you should see through Tony’s eyes, which TADA….. was BLACK,if he were alive, he, and all of us looking through his eyes would have seen Meadow running in. We didn’t because he got wacked, who cares who shot him, because remember, the question was coming into the show, “What is going to happen to Tony?” We found out, and that’s all we need to know. The final lines from the show were, a discussion between Tony and AJ, to focus on the GOOD TIMES, as if it was an omen. The ending was great, it takes a couple times of watching it to understand though. Sorry no movie, or alternate endings in the DVD.
King Luke | Jun 13, 2007 | Reply
The show ended the way it started, Through Tony’s perspective. I know, most wanted to see Tony get wacked in 3rd party, but it was the genius of Chase, to end it the way he did.
King Luke | Jun 13, 2007 | Reply
I read an article that said none of the people in the diner appeared in past episodes.
i just don’t think that qualifies as a great ending… building the tension in the easiest, basicly most cliche way possible, with this looming death threat, then not following through. yuck.
i did love the Journey tune though… seeing him get blasted in front of his family with that song playing behind him might have been kind of cool…
since we’re talking… the way i would have handled it would have been to whack peter bogdanovich — one of the people at the dinner party (where bogdanovich spills the beans about melfi having tony as a client) talks to the media or something — tony finds out, confronts melfi, she tells him about bogdanovich, tony kills her, then his boys kill bogdanovich. that would have made me happy… then they could have whacked tony, or ended the show in the middle of a plate of onion rings, i don’t care… i’d have been satisfied.
Schreiber | Jun 13, 2007 | Reply
luke ur so stupid..and oh so wrong..dipshit
Peter | Jun 14, 2007 | Reply
How about that is exactly what happened, PETER PUFFER. That is why Chase said he would not make a movie to the show because in his own words, “that means tony would have to be alive.” Keep thinking that the ending means he will always have to watch his back and what not. Of course he has to always watch his back, he’s the head of the mob, that’s a given. He would have been less nervous since he made the deal with New York to have them back off, and Phil got wacked. So to say he was nervous about everyone who walked in the door is not plausable. He looked up because he was seeing if his family members were coming in, that’s it. But, Pete, you obviously don’t use your brain, or can’t conceptualize what you see. You are cookie cutter, and need to see exactly what happened, that’s why you think he is still alive because you didn’t “see” him get wacked. But, sorry he did. That’s why the black screen stayed up so long, if was meant to be over it would have went straight to credits.
King Luke | Jun 15, 2007 | Reply
Oh yeah, congrats on the “INTERN” JOB. What happened BK wasn’t hiring?
King Luke | Jun 15, 2007 | Reply
Luke I generally dont respond to haters who wake up at 7 am to post on my site..but two things..
# 1 - you can call me an “intern” as long as you want. Im living my dream–literally. I hope you are too–though I highly doubt you are…
#2 - you can call me a lot of things, but cookie cutter? i dont think anyones buying that..thanks for your constant support manfan
pmd | Jun 15, 2007 | Reply
“The Ending” is really separating the snobs from the crowd. I was an English Major concentrating on 20th American Literature so I have grown accustomed to storytelling that is filled with ambiguity, lack of closure and leaves you feeling every which kind of way but satisfied.
I will admit their is a certain amount of elitism in my appreciation of “The Ending”, and will go even further and say that those who don’t appreciate should read more hemmingway, faulkner, Flannery O’Conner, Sallinger and the other greats to understand that those are the Greats that Chase was pursuing.
Chris | Jun 15, 2007 | Reply
I’m sure I’m way off, thanks Pete. Go to MSN and click Is Tony dead? and it will link you to HBO exec.’s, stating after talking to Chase, the people are on to something with the Death theory, and are closer than anyone else, when it came to it’s conclusion. So him being alive is all crap. Chase wouldn’t confirm 100%, but guess what, that’s what happened.
King Luke | Jun 15, 2007 | Reply