Who really cares about the ending of the show? It's TV! There are so many more important things to discuss.

Sent by Dbe Schild | 2:43 PM ET | 06-11-2007

Although I've never watched the Sopranos, I really don't get the whole big deal about the "life goes on" kind of ending. When other shows do it, then its considered stupid, yet when the Sopranos did it, all critics and everyone say its genius. It sort of shows the critique nature in regards to the nature of storytelling on television.

Sent by Louis | 2:44 PM ET | 06-11-2007

For the first time in recent memory, I had to turn off your program when I heard the topic was a TV show, much less a TV show that glorifies extreme violence. Don't we have better things to do with our time? I do.

Sent by Paul Armstrong | 2:46 PM ET | 06-11-2007

Brilliant!!! It is high time to make people in America think about life with a better sence of reality and stop focusing so much on fiction.

Sent by Benny Kennedy | 2:46 PM ET | 06-11-2007

It's funny you mention Buffy, because the ending reminded me of the ending of Buffy's spin-off, Angel. I loved the idea that Angel & Co. went out fighting, and we were left on our own to decide whether they lived or died. The ambiguity of the ending to The Sopranos is the same: I get to decide what I think happens to Tony. So does everyone else...who loses?

Sent by Amanda | 2:57 PM ET | 06-11-2007

For all the hype of "The Sopranos", I still think that the best TV drama that HBO (or any station, for that matter) has ever done remains "Six Feet Under" (despite its neatly wrapped ending).

Sent by Ashraf Osman | 2:58 PM ET | 06-11-2007

So many people have been calling in with positive feedback on the Sopranos ending that I had to speak out with a contray view. For me, last night's finale just represents yet another way in which HBO's time has come.. and gone.

The real problem with the Sopranos ending isn't that it didn't resolve everything. The real problem is that it, literally, did not END. The writer did *not* as some argue give us a clever, open-ended conclusion. Instead, he simply stopped writing.

It's true that, even in literature, writers don't always wrap up every loose end. They do, however, provide an ending that brings the reader to a place where, frustrated or not, they can walk away from the experience feeling like the story was complete. They don't just stop writing mid-climax.

It would be even harder to imagine a real word-of-mouth storyteller stopping mid-stream like this. The audience wouldn't stand for it and the orator probably wouldn't have an audience next go-around.

Personally, I gave HBO one last chance by watching John From Cincinnati and, equally disappointed, decided to cancel my HBO subscription after it was over.

With the Tudors, Dexter, Weeds, Brotherhood, etc. - it's clear to me where the real serial writing talent is today.

Sent by Karl | 3:01 PM ET | 06-11-2007

I can't believe all the time that's been wasted today on various NPR programs talking about this show. I know it's been said many times, but the show played into the worst stereotypes of people from NJ, without being redeeming in any other way, for example good stories or a sense of humor. I have to disagree that the show was well written. In the end it was just a soap opera, and not worth all the attention it got. I for one am glad that we will no longer have to hear about the Sopranos

Sent by Anthony DeLauro | 3:05 PM ET | 06-11-2007

I WAS WRONG that the choice of surname "Soprano" implied the ending, of Sopranos "singing" to the Feds.
I WAS WRONG that David Chase would remind us that the Tony most of us care about is really an evil man.
I WAS WRONG that the Kevin Finnerty arc would play a role at the end. (Or did it?)
I WAS WRONG that the scene of Tony in business clothes at a lake, from this season's previews, would reappear at the end. It never showed up anywhere far as I can tell.
I WAS RIGHT that auteur David Chase is creatively unpredictable.
I WAS RIGHT that Paulie would not turn on Tony. Think evil thoughts, maybe. Carry them out, never.
I WAS RIGHT that Carmine Lubertazzi Jr., who, like Tony, but unlike his Uncle Phil Leotardo, prefers negotiation, would play a role in an accommodation.
I WAS RIGHT that Tony is a survivor and would not get murdered.
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF the sojourn into a compressed Little Italy?
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF the beautiful orange cat? Or its obsession with Christopher's image? I think: the cat is us, the fans and viewers, focused obsessively outside of ourselves. It reminds us Tony cared for and protected animals. It told us that Paulie who hated cats would still not challenge Tony by harming the cat. That was my most tense moment.
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF Meadow's problems with parallel parking? I think: None. That's just part of life and again Chase is reminding us that not every "significant" or symbolic detail has meaning. Meadow is capable of solving her own problems. She is now an adult.
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF Tony's jukebox musings? None. Just a joke on us for paying attention.
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF the mystery man in the cheap restaurant? The camera draws our attention to him. Tony, with his finely-tuned instincts for danger, most recently more tuned than ever, who had told his crew, "Eyes in the back of yer head," seems oblivious to him. I think: Whatever Tony knew that we didn't, he was not oblivious, just, confident. With Carmine Jr. more-or-less heading NY, Tony now had a rival-acolyte-partner and no need to worry. Carmine Jr. was also Tony's replacement for his nephew, a slightly younger co-worker whose position enhanced Tony's.
And last
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF the dreamlike quality of some of the last handful of scenes? The final scene in a non-descript restaurant, Tony having almost become the softer Kevin Finnerty. Holster's or Hestler's or such. Is that in NJ? In Arizona? Need to know. We can no longer ask Picasso about the similar images in GUERNICA and DEMOISELLES painted 30 years apart. But we can still ask David Chase. It may just reflect his fatigue at working on this series for so long. He may just be saying, "Enough. I did my job. The rest is up to you."
WHAT'S THE SIGNIFICANCE OF the mid-scene "CUT TO BLACK"? I think: David Chase is saying, This is only a television show. They are a family going on with life. You do the same." All the negatives in Tony's life are gone. For him and his family, it's a new beginning. The SMASH CUT TO BLACK is also a parallel to dropping the curtain on a stage play, so I assume Mr. Chase is working on a play.
By the way, I don't believe that anyone on THE SOPRANOS ever used the word "whack" as euphemism for "kill." I think Mr. Chase left that respectfully in Scorsese hands.

Sent by Larry Miller (not your London correspondent) | 3:20 PM ET | 06-11-2007

Did you read the interview with David Chase in Entertainment Weekly last month? Here are a few choice quotes:

They shot a guy.Who knows where he went? Who cares about some Russian? This is what Hollywood has done to America. Do you have to have closure on every little thing? Isn't there any mystery in the world? It's a murky world out there. It's a murky life these guys lead. And by the way, I do know where the Russian is. But I'll never say because so many people got so pissy about it.

and this:

'

In life, you don't get an ending to every story. You can't tie a little ribbon on everything and say it's over. And yeah, I know...'The Sopranos isn't life.' But it's based on it!'

and this:

If you're raised on a steady diet of Hollywood movies and network television, you start to think, Obviously there's going to be some moral accounting here. That's not the way the world works.

When I read it, I warned my wife not to read the article, fearing she'd get the same sense I got - that The Sopranos would end with nothing happening, not unlike so many of their season finales.

Sent by andy carvin | 5:13 PM ET | 06-11-2007

I wonder if anyone has thought that Tony was killed. It has been discussed that when somone is shot in the head everything goes black... Who's to say the guy who went in the bathroom didn't come out and shot Tony in the head... everthing would suddenly go black right?... The fact that the ending gives the public so many options is why it is genius. If you find yourself angry or frustrated with the the way it ended, it could suggest that you would rather be told rather than figure things out on your own. Create your own ending and be happy with it... I feel that is what David Chase wanted.

Sent by Benny Kennedy | 5:29 PM ET | 06-11-2007

The more I think about the ending, the better I like it. It is about life going on. I feel sorry for people who think television is a stupid topic. Was Shakespeare stupid in his time? The Sopranos was art for six eight season. My only regret is that sometimes my life is different series on HBO or Showtime. mmm

Sent by Kirk Price | 7:02 PM ET | 06-11-2007

@Larry

I am prepared to bring my entire $80K investment in majoring in English in college to bear on your questions:

1. Cats, who guarded Egyption tombs, are a traditional harbinger of death for characters. The cat hovering around Paulie after he's signed on to Skipper the project is not a great sign for him--and is also cemented by his lone fear of the animal. Tony, who's safe, only sees the beneficial powers of the animal: he "catches mice" for them, i.e., kills enemies.

2. The sojourn of Phil Leotardo's second out of Little Italy into Chinatown is but one of the many symbols of the Italian Mafia passing out of the vanguard and into irrelevance. Mark also Junior's inability to remember ruling northern NJ, Tony's obsession with golden oldies (that's the jukebox thing, as well as the opening shot of the airport), and the aging of the families in general. After all, Tony's already killed off the putative heir to the throne, Christopher, and Carmine's retired. Everyone else could be on Social Security. That's the entire theme of one of the episodes, and Tony's already contemptuous of the past: "Remember when is the lowest form of conversation," he tells Paulie, and he makes a similar comment to his son at the end.

3. Meadow's parking is debatable, but it may represent her inability to throw her lot in with her family. Despite his railing against everyone, co-opting A.J. proves laughably simple, but attempts to do similarly with Meadow have always backfired, also laughably--which we see when she tells her father it's his many arrests that inspired her to pursue a career in law, seeking justice for the oppressed. There's also a Greek (not Shakespearean) irony there--we think A.J. will prove his father's antagonist, but in fact it's Meadow--and she's not even aware of how her father's machinations have unwittingly propelled her. Slight side note--Meadow has always formed her careers based on the men in her life: Medical school because of Finn, law school because of the Parisi son. But in fact it's the original man in her life who determines her fate. She's the last face on the screen as the series ends, but she can't save him.

4. Diner guy: Any lone stranger is also a traditional harbinger of death. (Note that he is the only figure *alone* in the diner.) Also note his passing resemblance to all of Tony's Mafia companions--he's aggressively neutral, almost a composite; hard not to try to place him. Who's Tony being done in by? Not a lone gunman--his entire past.

5. Pretty basic reading of the two most obvious conclusions of the end: "Stop" and abrupt blackness means either that Tony's life has ended and we're seeing the nothing he sees, or Chase is saying to the viewer, "Stop! The series has stopped! This blank feed is all you get from now on, suckers!" I'm a little more interested in why Meadow gets the last frame.

There's also a shucking off of one of the most traditional conventions of drama--a gun that appears in the first act (Tony's bedroom) must go off in the third. Typical Chase: Sorry, viewers.

6. Dreamlike quality: Chase, I think, just likes it. Might be his one indulgence as a director--he's not able to make the narrative soft, but he's unable to strike sentiment entirely from the lens.

Hope this helps!

Sent by lizzie | 10:26 AM ET | 06-12-2007

lizzie, I must disagree with you about the final scene. maybe I need to rewind, but I remember the last thing before fading to black is Tony's. When the door chimes (a different tone than when others walk in?) the looks up at the door and reaches down with his left hand. then black.

Sent by tim, phoenix az | 6:36 PM ET | 06-12-2007