The Bus

I think a lightbulb just went off above J.J. Abrams's head tonight.

Supermallet

I didn't need a shootout, but the family sitting down to dinner together would have been nice.

hapgilmore

wow, terrible ending

DGibFen

NotThatGuy

If you haven't seen it, start from S1: E1 and get back to us. Don't let the finale change your mind...it was one of the best series on tv, ever.

-p

jackepstein

I'll do a write up tomorrow morning; but this finale was nowhere near as bad as you guys are saying... If anything, I think the last minutes of the show were excellent.

FantasticVSDoom

Exactly...

raven56706

it was until the series finale put no closure to this freaking series..... this is pathetic...

Mordred

The first 4 seasons or so were great. It's been kind of hit and miss since then.

I honestly didn't hate the ending, but I certainly didn't love it. I kind of like the ambiguity, but feel like there should have at least been some payoff.

Timber

I'm watching this episode like I've watched every other episode for the past 6 or so years and I came to the realization that I had no idea who half of these characters were. The guy that was going to testify against Tony, I have no idea who he is.

Didn't like the finale at all

zooiiks

I think the cat symbolized that Paulie's jinx would come to fruition. Paulie went on and on about how every guy who took over Ralph's crew was killed. Then you had the cat staring at the late Christopher's picture even when Paulie moved the photo to a diff location. Finally, Paulie agrees to take the job and what happens? The cat winds up staring at HIM. Paulie's a goner.

Numanoid

Half of the people wanted Tony whacked, half wanted him to grow old and die naturally. However Chase would have ended it, half the audience would be pissed they didn't get their way. With the setup of this final scene, the ending can be whatever it is you want it to be -- whacking or living happily ever after.

That's pretty much the basis of good art - allowing the viewer to interpret it the way they want, and is significant to them, not necessarily the way the artist wants it to be seen.

Kudos to Chase for having some artistic balls and not catering to the folks that need everything wrapped up with a bow on top.

Supermallet

That's because Chase always envisioned the show as a 4 season show, and then HBO begged, cajoled, and practically bribed him to do more seasons.

Daryl

Agreed. The last 5 minutes had me on complete edge. I was almost to the point where I was gonna leave the room, wait for it to end, and then just go back and watch just the last 30 seconds on the DVR.

FantasticVSDoom

Sure the last few mins were good until the abrupt ending, but the show was an hour and five minutes. With the exception of that, the cat, and Phil getting caught, nothing else happened.

zooiiks

Also loved how AJ, after all his whining, wound up selling out big time...just like an American.

metalfan

Is it just me or did the guy who came in the diner in the trucker hat and sat in the booth alone look like Robert Patrick's character. I was thinking how messed up it would be if he came back for revenge for ruining his life. And when the guy went to the bathroom, all I saw was the Godfather.

raven56706

creative it was....in the sense it left you guessing... but hell with no movie in sight and a finale so driven in pushing topics.... this is no where its supposed to be

Numanoid

Between me yelling at the screen during Phil's hit ("Go Walden!") and the literal palpitations of the final scene, this episode affected me more than any show in years. What more do you want from a television show? Yet apparently it sucked balls. I guess I'm just a freak.

GoldenJCJ

You also have to realize these comments are coming just moments after watching. I'm willing to bet after thinking over the episode for the next day or two people's minds might change...then again, maybe not.

I have to admit, I thought the last few minutes were pretty good.

Mordred

It would have been awesome if you had paused it right as Meadow got to the door of the restaurant.

Supermallet

I'm more of a fan of ambiguity in art than most, but there's a difference between having an ambiguous conclusion and having no conclusion. And if you're right about half the audience being mad one way or the other, than I take this as artistic cowardice. Chase didn't want to make half his audience mad, so he just has no ending? Come on. You said you like David Lynch, but even Lynch's most obtuse works actually had conclusions, even if the conclusions weren't what you might have expected.

chris_sc77

"There'll be people who will like the finale, and people who won't like it. But I think that if people look at what the show was, or could even watch the whole story again, they'll understand what the ending is."
-David Chase

joefrog91

What the hell did Agent Harris mean when he said, "We're going to win this one!" Did he mean that they would finally be able to convict Tony?

Bugg

If Chase had the show end with Tony ballet dancing with the pink hippos from Fantasia, I'm guessing the usual posters here would be proclaiming it genius and letting the rest of know we don't get the show.