Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Soprano's Made in America
I've been holding off blogging about this as I needed time to digest everything. Some people loved the ending, others hated it. Emotionally, I've come full circle. Like many, I thought at first something went wrong with my satellite feed, but when the credits started to roll, I thought, what the heck was that? That can't be the ending! So, I watched the credits roll, waiting for another scene to fill the screen ala Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - but that was it. Finished. No more Tony and the gang. Well that was a dumb way to end a series.
At first, I was very angry, I felt very cheated as I had a lot of time and energy invested in the Soprano's franchise - one of the main reasons why I still subscribed to HBO. But the more I thought about it, I started to cool off a bit, and figured how do you end such an outstanding series? There was a lot of closure in this final episode:
Paulie did not turn out to be a rat
Tony makes a deal with the New York mob to get things back under control
Phil Leotardo get's whacked
Tony acknowledges his issues with his mother
The book is closed on Uncle Junior
AJ in spite of his idealism, is bribed by his father to make movies
Tony tries to take care of Bobby's kids
Tony calls out Janice for the greedy person she is
Silvio is alive but non responsive
So looking back, the only open thread is what will become of the possible indictment?
I then cooled off and was ok with the ending. But the more I thought about it, and the more I talked to other people, my mixed feelings turned back into my original sentiments. I started to ask myself why would you end a series like this? It just doesn't make any sense - then I thought, it has to be GREED. There really hasn't been a successful big screen movie straight from the world of Cable. And if you kill off the Tony Soprano character, who would come and watch a 2 hour movie?
Sopranos is one of the most successful franchises in cable history, and the final restaurant scene painted a very stressful situation. Tony walks in and surveys the diner, sees no one there, takes a booth in the middle of the restaurant. Tony works the juke book to play Journey's Don't Stop Believing. Each time the door opens up he nervously looks up, we see several shady characters enter the restaurant. Wasn't the guy sitting at the end of the counter, Jason Patrick, who by the way had every reason in the world to kill TS? Carmela walks in, then AJ, and finally Meadow - and then poof - fade to black and silence.
All those fans - feeling cheated - clamoring for more closure are sucked into the the vortex of a movie. This is just my theory, but one that makes sense. For me, I don't care, I am done playing around with HBO. I've watched many great series - Sex in the City, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Carnivale and Rome. But I am done, no more, like I said earlier, the only reason why I still kept my subscription with HBO was the Soprano's and if that's how they want to end the show, fine go ahead - I will end my investment too.
At first, I was very angry, I felt very cheated as I had a lot of time and energy invested in the Soprano's franchise - one of the main reasons why I still subscribed to HBO. But the more I thought about it, I started to cool off a bit, and figured how do you end such an outstanding series? There was a lot of closure in this final episode:
Paulie did not turn out to be a rat
Tony makes a deal with the New York mob to get things back under control
Phil Leotardo get's whacked
Tony acknowledges his issues with his mother
The book is closed on Uncle Junior
AJ in spite of his idealism, is bribed by his father to make movies
Tony tries to take care of Bobby's kids
Tony calls out Janice for the greedy person she is
Silvio is alive but non responsive
So looking back, the only open thread is what will become of the possible indictment?
I then cooled off and was ok with the ending. But the more I thought about it, and the more I talked to other people, my mixed feelings turned back into my original sentiments. I started to ask myself why would you end a series like this? It just doesn't make any sense - then I thought, it has to be GREED. There really hasn't been a successful big screen movie straight from the world of Cable. And if you kill off the Tony Soprano character, who would come and watch a 2 hour movie?
Sopranos is one of the most successful franchises in cable history, and the final restaurant scene painted a very stressful situation. Tony walks in and surveys the diner, sees no one there, takes a booth in the middle of the restaurant. Tony works the juke book to play Journey's Don't Stop Believing. Each time the door opens up he nervously looks up, we see several shady characters enter the restaurant. Wasn't the guy sitting at the end of the counter, Jason Patrick, who by the way had every reason in the world to kill TS? Carmela walks in, then AJ, and finally Meadow - and then poof - fade to black and silence.
All those fans - feeling cheated - clamoring for more closure are sucked into the the vortex of a movie. This is just my theory, but one that makes sense. For me, I don't care, I am done playing around with HBO. I've watched many great series - Sex in the City, Six Feet Under, Deadwood, Carnivale and Rome. But I am done, no more, like I said earlier, the only reason why I still kept my subscription with HBO was the Soprano's and if that's how they want to end the show, fine go ahead - I will end my investment too.
