mcnabb

Vanity Fair April 2012 issue has a great story about all the Soprano characters. Alot of behind the scenes stuff from each characters perspective. Many of them addressed the ending:

James Gandolfini said he hated it at first, almost to the point of WTF? But after a few days, he said it was a perfect ending. Steve Van Zandt still resents fans who hate the final as he says, "OK, how would you end the show?"

As a diehard Soprano fan who HATED the ending, this argument by Van Zandt and other cast members is very lame. were not the writers, were not the creator, were not the actors, it is not our job to come up with an ending for the show.

I always thought the ending was a cop-out by David Chase as he didn't know where to go: Kill Tony? Tony goes to jail? Tony goes on Witness Protection? So he made a black screen so we are still debating what we think happened to Tony instead of what really happened on screen.

resinrats

I actually like the ending. Just recently saw the series. I knew about the ending while watching & there are set up lines ealier in the season to explain what happened (IMO). 'You never see it coming' was mentioned a few times. It was being told from Tony's perspective & his world just stopped. AKA wacked probably from the guy that had gone in the bathroom.

Mike86

I was pretty much the same as you. I hadn't watched the series in full until I bought the complete series set a couple years ago and watched them all. I had read what the ending was prior hand and it really didn't bother me that much once I saw it. I agree that it did seem like there was some foreshadowing in the episodes leading up to the finale. I guess I can see where fans who were watching it week to week for all those years would've been upset though. Truthfully though I think this is a case where no matter what they did it wouldn't have lived up to people's expectations so a more definitive ending probably wouldn't have made it any better.

Buttmunker

I never understood "The Need" to have some grand finale for the end of a series. Some of the season enders were nice enough, and could have been enough to end the series.

I mean, what would be so wrong about ending the series with the family sitting down to eat a meal together? Why do you have to have main characters dying off? The necessity to have some estravagant ending is preposterous and needless. Not necessary.

mzupeman2

Gotta love Fox News. There's nothing that there states that Chase 'strongly suggest Tony didn't get whacked'. He just says that he finds it incredibly odd that after people cheered on Tony for eight years, they wanted him to die so 'justice' is served. I agree with him on that point as well.

I loved the character of Tony Soprano, but I loved that character because he was such an intriguing character study, not because I always wanted him to come out on top or something. Tony was a horrible human being... some of that was bestowed upon him, and some of it came to him naturally. He always tried to relate to being more human, to being more sympathetic, to actually giving a crap... but he never really did. Well, he did once perhaps but, he finds it very easy to disconnect from himself, from others, and from reality. 'Justice' would not have come at the hands of another, it would have come from Tony finally realizing what oats he's sewn.

But, that doesn't really seem to be the case and Tony has trapped himself based on the events of his life. Either he does the thing so many people have popularly suggested over the years, which is Tony always having to look over his shoulder for the rest of his life, or he ends up getting whacked. I subscribe to the 'got whacked' theory, and it's not because it was some strange sense of justice or that he deserved it or anything like that... it's because he's been digging his own grave since the very first episode of the series, and after all was said and done, he's never been able to stop digging, and he's never been able to save himself from that inevitable fate.

Shannon Nutt

Yes, but Chase said there are no hidden clues or "Rosetta Stone" in that final scene. I think people read a LOT more into it than what is really there or intended to be there. Some people have watched it like the freakin' Zapruder film.

mzupeman2

Right, because there weren't any 'hidden' clues. As Chase has said, it's all there.

DVD Josh

And what is there is nothing.

Ruined the entire series for me.

PopcornTreeCt

I thought it was ridiculously obvious especially how in that episode they flashback to Bobby talking about how "you never see it coming".

Very, well said.

Larry C.

It's been 5 years since that episode and we're still talking about it. I think Chase got what he wanted.

spainlinx0

I still love this ending, and I still hate the Lost ending.

d2cheer

Yup.

Osiris3657

So. I just finished the series as a first timer. My initial reaction to the controversial ending was anger because I wanted closure, but after sitting here thinking about it I'm OK with it.

Spectacular show. Tony Soprano is one of the most iconic TV characters of all time. The acting was tremendous throughout. Silvio was my 2nd favorite character.
I couldn't stand Tony's sister Janice or his son AJ. AJ was a whiny little brat and Janice a selfish, materialistic bitch.
I also didn't care for the way Christopher's storyline ended. I don't know if this would have been too predictable, but he seemed like a character destined to die in a shootout.

Anyway I really enjoyed the show and regret waiting this long to have watched it.

Next up is The Wire.

bluetoast

Yeah I too just finished it last week as a first timer and am still thinking a lot about it. Bought the cookbook and the entertaining guide. Love it, it's up there with The Wire for me.

Dave99

I just did a wire marathon a month or so ago. Excellent show also, starts a little slow, make sure you stick with it.

mhg83

Watched for the first time last night. And after reading through this thread it seems more people hated this ending to losts. After having some time to think I thought the finale was better than what most people have said about it. While Phil's death was good it could've been better if they showed us his head being rolled over instead of the sound. This isn't network tv so I'm not sure why they held back on the violence? Disappointed AJ didn't get blown up in his car. It seemed at first someone from New York messed with the car. I'm gonna go with the group that thinks Tony got whacked. Whoever went to the bathroom had the gun in there. This is now in my top five favorite shows.

bluetoast

No need to see Phil's head, the "OH SHIT" guy sold the moment perfectly.

Buttmunker

Besides that, the sound alone made up for visually "seeing it." The the adage went in Jaws, "Less was more."

chrisih8u

"If you didnt like the Sopranos ending it's just because you didnt get it. You are soooooo stupid because obviously Tony dies."

Chase finally answered whether Tony is dead or not.



http://www.vox.com/2014/8/27/6006139...f-the-sopranos

aktick

He died a few years later on a trip overseas.

bunkaroo

Yeah I almost feel like that's a sentimental answer now, especially since they can't continue the story either way.

Goat3001

Anytime a Sopranos discussion comes up one of my friends always says something like that. It really makes those Sopranos snobs look stupid now.

I still hated the ending. I wonder if Chase finally gave a definitive answer because Gandolfini has since passed and the possibility of a Sopranos movie is off the table.

boogieman03

Blah. I only think the ending works is if Tony dies.

Josh-da-man

That is true.

My take is that the intent of the scene was that Tony took a bullet in the back of the head from Members Only, but the scene was kept ambiguous so that HBO could spin The Sopranos off into a series of films if they wanted to.

spainlinx0

I did think Tony died, but it doesn't ruin the ending for me if he didn't. I loved that series, and I still love it when I rewatch it. It does disappoint me that he gave a definitive answer. I enjoyed that he always dodged the question. However, I don't think he had that ending to leave it open for a movie later.

Also, I enjoyed reading that article.