What the heck was THAT all about!? :freak:

At first I thought my DVR had gone on the fritz. Heck. At least we can't say the ending was "predictable".

GOSH! ;) At least it was better than the final episode of Seinfeld.

GOSH! ;) At least it was better than the final episode of Seinfeld.

Ouch.

I totally saw that coming.

At first I thought my DVR had gone on the fritz. Heck. At least we can't say the ending was "predictable".

I thought my cable had gone out too. I thought the ending was a cheat, and I never did figure why Paulie was acting so weird unless he was meant to be a red herring.

Maybe the ending was meant to be a digital-age homage to the ending of Two Lane Blacktop?

I did think HBO's new series John from Cincinatti showed some promise, though experience shows "mysterious stranger" shows usually start off good then tank when it's time to explain the mystery. Good cast though, and some great surfing footage.

Boy, Rebecca Demornay sure has changed from her slim vixenish Risky Business days........

I wanted something different. Did you notice how Tony walked in the diner and saw himself sitting in there? That was weird and cool. Then there was this feeling of dread through that entire scene. I just knew it was going to end in bullets. The door chime rang. Somebody walked in. Meadow? Pretty clever. Not what I had in mind, though.

I wanted something different. Did you notice how Tony walked in the diner and saw himself sitting in there? That was weird and cool. Then there was this feeling of dread through that entire scene. I just knew it was going to end in bullets. The door chime rang. Somebody walked in. Meadow? Pretty clever. Not what I had in mind, though.


The scene did build tension effectively, though about the third time Meadow reparked the car I was getting annoyed.

I did like how all AJ's angst about the world around him (and his desire to do something about it) were suddenly healed by a new BMW and a job in showbiz, that may have been the bravest comment The Sopranos have made in awhile.

I wanted something different. Did you notice how Tony walked in the diner and saw himself sitting in there? That was weird and cool. Then there was this feeling of dread through that entire scene. I just knew it was going to end in bullets. The door chime rang. Somebody walked in. Meadow? Pretty clever. Not what I had in mind, though.

Thinking back, I guess the scene was meant to tell us that, even though Tony's life seems to have been cleaned up for the moment, he's still gonna spend the rest of his life wondering if every person he sees is gonna pop him. That last look on his face, even though it was only Meadow coming in, said that.

Would one of you fine gentlemen who watched the episode give a brief synopsis, please? I don't know that I'll have a chance to see it before HBO stops showing re-runs....

Thinking back, I guess the scene was meant to tell us that, even though Tony's life seems to have been cleaned up for the moment, he's still gonna spend the rest of his life wondering if every person he sees is gonna pop him. That last look on his face, even though it was only Meadow coming in, said that.

According to the Sopranos "experts" appearing on the news today, some of the suspicious characters at the diner are identified by name in the credits as minor-previously-appearing characters who had beefs with Tony in earlier episodes.

some here think its the viewer who got whacked, hence the sudden black screen.
just a theory

It's the only way this series could have ended.

I'm sorry, Griff. I'm too wordy to recap the episode but also certain this episode will be talked about for a long time to come. Like it, love it, or hate it, as Carson says, it may have been the only way it could end.

It felt for all the world to me that death was waiting there in that diner for Tony. I believe thats why the sudden black screen. He never saw it coming. Just as he and Bobby discussed how the end might come in the brief flashback from last week. Regardless, Lots of great water cooler talk today!

Don't know why they wasted 5 minutes on A.J.'s burning SUV. I know, I know, it reinforces his B.S. about "materialism". Still, totally unnecessary.

Would one of you fine gentlemen who watched the episode give a brief synopsis, please?
I'm not a gentleman and I don't have any premium channels but the Television Without Pity site is quite timely with their recaps in a nutshell
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/content/a13172/

some here think its the viewer who got whacked, hence the sudden black screen.
just a theory

Someone over here recapped from a previous episode, that Tony? was talking about you never see it, or hear it coming.
So it sounds like that might have been the point.

Someone over here recapped from a previous episode, that Tony? was talking about you never see it, or hear it coming.
So it sounds like that might have been the point.

Might have been. Might not. As much as I've lamented the decline in quality of The Sopranos in it's latter seasons - it's never wrapped things up in nice little boxes. What we got Sunday night was what we got - and it's for each of us to fill in the blanks if we need to.

I'm not a gentleman and I don't have any premium channels but the Television Without Pity site is quite timely with their recaps in a nutshell
http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/articles/content/a13172/
Thanks. Scott/PhilipMarlowe had sent me a link in a PM a bit ago. I can't view the link you've given me while here at work, but will check it out when I get home. Should've thought of TWOP! I enjoy their recaps. :D

Might have been. Might not. As much as I've lamented the decline in quality of The Sopranos in it's latter seasons - it's never wrapped things up in nice little boxes. What we got Sunday night was what we got - and it's for each of us to fill in the blanks if we need to.

As much as I disliked the last season, the more I think about the ending, the more I think it wasn't a half-bad idea.

Can you say MOVIE

There ain't gonna' be any movie.

It's the only way this series could have ended.

Ooooh, there are a few other ways! :lol:


My personal preference:
The whole mob goes to trial with word of a surprise witness. In the last scene, our boys are all in the courtroom wondering who ratted on them. The doors open. They all turn to look. Doctors wheel Adrianna in in a wheelchair, her head still bandaged from the bullet wound that put her in a coma for two years. She stares at Tony with pure hatred. Tony looks at Sil. Sil shrugs, embarassed by his failure. Fade to black, roll credits. :)

I'm just still really pissed they whacked that gorgeous, basically innocent babe.

I'm just still really pissed they whacked that gorgeous, basically innocent babe.


Yeah, other than being a cokehead, almost sleeping with her boyfriends boss, and selling her boyfriend out to the FBI, she was a heckuva gal.

I will give you the babe part though.

And speaking of babes, how about Donna Pescow in Sunday night's episode?

Just watched the last half of the episode and have to say that, even tho I was expecting it, I was still like "WTF?!?" I like to think that Tony was whacked as Meadow was walking in the door....

And that scene w/Phil at the gas station? Whoa. I love the reaction of that one bystander with his exclamation, as well as the school age teen tossing his drink. Seeing the kids bump up a bit in their seats in the SUV while "Granny" was freaking and the SUV ran over Phil's head was... I dunno. Fitting, I guess.

And all of that from a guy who's watched maybe 18 episodes of teh entire series. 'Course, I caught the last five episodes in a row that aired to sort of catch up a bit....

I was never a big Journey fan but now I can't get Don't Stop Believin' out of my friggin' head. Or Donna Pescow.

I was never a big Journey fan but now I can't get Don't Stop Believin' out of my friggin' head. Or Donna Pescow.

Now that is sad.

Now that is sad.

LOL! I was just surprised to see her is all. As far as I remember, we had never seen Patsy's wife before.

To make it easier for people to understand maybe DC should have ended it with "Any way you want it thats the you get it... "

So much for omerta.

In the only interview he's given to date about the finale of "The Sopranos," creator David Chase swears the series' abrupt, cut-to-black final scene in a New Jersey diner was not intended as a stunt to mess with fans' heads.

"No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God," Chase told the New Jersey Star-Ledger of the surprise-no-surprises series capper, in which mob boss Tony Soprano is seen having a seemingly quiet dinner with his family as a few menacing characters lurk around — perhaps intending to take Tony out, perhaps not. "We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people's minds, or thinking, 'Wow, this'll [tick] them off.' People get the impression that you're trying to [mess] with them and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them."

Chase was on the lam from the media storm that erupted Monday morning over the end of the series many have called the greatest in TV history. According to The New York Times, he was in France with his wife during the final airing Sunday night, after telling HBO executives that he would not be available for interviews — and after telling his writing staff to keep their traps shut, too.

"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," Chase told the Star-Ledger of the final scene, which unspooled to the strains of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' " (see " 'Sopranos' Is Latest To Keep The Faith In Journey's 'Don't Stop Believin' " (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1562182/20070611/journey.jhtml)). Did the creepy guy in the Members Only jacket come out of the bathroom with a gun, "Godfather" style, or did any of the other suspicious-looking patrons shoot Tony and his family, causing the screen to go black? (See "How Will 'Sopranos' Meet Its End? Silvio And Bobby Aren't Talkin'." (http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1562035/20070608/id_0.jhtml))

"Anybody who wants to watch it, it's all there," Chase said.

And if you think Chase purposely made the series ending ambiguous in order to set up a potential "Sopranos" movie, you got another thing comin'. "I don't think about [a movie] much," he said. "I never say never. An idea could pop into my head where I would go, 'Wow, that would make a great movie,' but I doubt it ... I'm not being coy. If something appeared that really made a good 'Sopranos' movie and you could invest in it and everybody else wanted to do it, I would do it. But I think we've kind of said it and done it."

Part of the problem is that so many key characters were killed this season that Chase would have to repopulate his fictional underworld in order to do a movie. He has, however, thought about "going back to a day in 2006 that you didn't see, but then [Tony's children] would be older than they were then and you would know that Tony doesn't get killed. [The idea's] got problems."

While some viewers groused about the untidy ending, some of Chase's peers were cheering his decision not to tie his saga up neatly. Damon Lindelof, one of the creators of "Lost," told the Times that, like many people, he thought his cable had gone out when the screen clicked to black and he checked his Tivo to make sure it was still running. "I've seen every episode of the series. I thought the ending was letter-perfect," he said.

"My heart started beating. It had been racing throughout the last scene. Afterward I went to bed and lay next to my wife, awake, thinking about it for the next two hours. And I just thought it was great. It did everything well that 'Godfather III' did not do well."

Others, like "House" creator David Shore, had equally high praise for Chase for taking a vow of silence. "Obviously he wants us to speculate on what it all means," Shore told the Times. "Obviously that's what we're all doing."

Journey guitarist Neal Schon told MTV News that he thought the use of the band's classic '80s power ballad "Believin' " made perfect sense for the final moments of the show, and Chase said choosing the tune was a no-brainer.

"It didn't take much time at all to pick it, but there was a lot of conversation after the fact," Chase told the Star-Ledger. "I did something I'd never done before: in the location van, with the crew, I was saying, 'What do you think?' When I said, 'Don't Stop Believin',' people went, 'What? Oh my god!' I said, 'I know, I know, just give a listen,' and little by little, people started coming around."

The problem with a Soprano's movie would be that it'd be just as boring as sitting thru 2 episodes. If they can't make a season of the show very interesting, they're not gonna come up with an interesting 2 hour movie. I'm not paying theater ticket prices to watch Tony in therapy for 2 hours.

Unless Meadow has a nude scene.

The problem with a Soprano's movie would be that it'd be just as boring as sitting thru 2 episodes. If they can't make a season of the show very interesting, they're not gonna come up with an interesting 2 hour movie. I'm not paying theater ticket prices to watch Tony in therapy for 2 hours.

Unless Meadow has a nude scene.

Two of the great disappointments of the entire series. Neither Meadow or Adrianna ever got nekkid.

Two of the great disappointments of the entire series. Neither Meadow or Adrianna ever got nekkid.

Meadow does in the straight-to-DVD movie about Heidi Fleiss, Call Me. It's one of those so-bad-it's-almost-good movies.

IMO it would be excellent to see how Johnny boy and his brother took control of North Jersey, set it the late 50's, early 60's. This would be a prequel possibly better suited to a mini series rather than a 2 hour movie.

Drea has done some semi-nude photography in magazines. I don't think she's ever allowed full exposure, though. The woman is exquisite.

My thinking from watching the episode twice now was that Tony was whacked at the restaurant. Especially w/how the episode has the flashback scene w/Tony and Bobby on the lake talking about it's like to die. It seems to be somewhat confirmed in this article:

Tony Is Dead 'Sopranos' Theory May Be Valid (http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/tony-is-dead-sopranos-theory-may-be/20070615065109990001)

My thinking from watching the episode twice now was that Tony was whacked at the restaurant. Especially w/how the episode has the flashback scene w/Tony and Bobby on the lake talking about it's like to die. It seems to be somewhat confirmed in this article:

Tony Is Dead 'Sopranos' Theory May Be Valid (http://news.aol.com/entertainment/tv/articles/_a/tony-is-dead-sopranos-theory-may-be/20070615065109990001)

I wouldn't bet on it. I think Chase and HBO are having great fun with all of this and with the buzz that the "ending" continues to generate. It's an effectively manipulative sequence and I've watched it about 10 times now. But I wouldn't bet that Chase intended any more than he showed.

Gandolfini himself says he doesn't know if Tony's dead or alive.

And didn't Chase confirm that he didn't actually mean anything by the ending? That he was just messing with our heads?