Explaining the Sopranos Finale
John C. Dvorak

Everyone is trying to get into the act about the miserable ending to the Sopranos with all sorts of theories. I can tell you what happened and perhaps the complaining will end. While I didn’t like the ending it didn’t completely surprise me since the entire series was filled with unresolved loose ends from the rape of the psychiatrist to the machinations with the Russian mob and the missing guy Paulie shot. An entire website could be devoted to loose ends. And the show, over the years, became very slow-moving so it was fitting that it ended in a boring café.

But what happened? We go to black then the credits roll silently.

It’s pretty obvious to me. It was the show that was killed. It was the end of the series, the show was killed – “whacked” in the parlance of the genre. Thus the abrupt black screen and the silent credit roll. The credit roll was the wake. The show is dead, over, done. Get it? And, yes, it is so corny that it was indeed lame. Argue all you want about it, but that’s the joke or the symbolism depending on your perspective. As for Tony being dead or alive. How funny. He is a fictional character! He was never alive to begin with.

You all got jobbed by David Chase.

related links:
Worst analysis ever — click here

San Jose Mercury News – McCollum: After `The Sopranos,’ a debate rages

What I didn’t expect (although perhaps, in hindsight, I should have) was how overwhelming the reaction would be and how passionate, both pro and con. The episode, particularly its final scene, generated more debate than I have seen in seven years on this job. Indeed, no other finale in TV history has come close to generating such an uproar.