The latest episode got me interested in the show again.

Discuss.

** If you have somehow still clicked in this thread despite it saying SEASON 6 stop scrolling and click close **

its been pretty s*** since tony got shot

I thought the first half the season where tony got shot was pretty s*** (well, s*** by Sopranos standards anyway), but the second half the season was pretty good.

wow! all i can say, i cant believe he kills him.... not gonna say who in case anyone hasn't seen it yet.

its been pretty s*** since tony got shot

That was the last good episode. Latest is pretty good.

Notes
- AJ needs to grow some balls
- I didn't see that coming (tony and chrissy thing)

love this show but yaaaaaaaawn at this final season

not the way I'd choose to wrap up a series

yeah for a show with such a high reputation its kind of weird they are wrapping it up in a dull kind of way.

Wow, its still going, I didn't even realise that, I thought season 6 ended mid last year.

Yeah, dunno why they called it Season 6 still cause it's pretty much a new final season for all intents. Also, I think some of these episodes have been a bit more standalone because they've finally reached that magic number of eps needed for syndication. Still, some s*** really needs to go down. I want a mob war or a fed crackdown or something, one death that was a long time coming isnt going to cut it.

yeah, hopefully Tony smacks Phil down.

SPOILER TAGS MOFO!

SPOILER TAGS MOFO!

You'd think having "Season 6" in the thread title would be enough of a spoiler warning ...

(or maybe my sarcasmo-meter is broken)

Still, some s*** really needs to go down. I want a mob war or a fed crackdown or something, one death that was a long time coming isnt going to cut it.

Judging by the latest episode, looks like mob war AND fed crackdown are gonna happen, I reckon.

Obviously the royal f***ing-up that Tony gave that c********* from NY didn't go down to well, judging by Phil's attitude towards Tony and Little Carmine towards the end.

Also, given the fact that Tony is spending so much time helping out the FBI with that terrorist s***, I reckon that's gonna somehow turn around on him. Remember, Christopher was the only person who knew that Tony is having any sort of dealings with the FBI (two episodes ago, he called him to get the names of the Arabs that were hanging around the bing). I'm guessing one of the NJ crew are going to find out that Tony has been talking to the FBI, for whatever reason, and freak the f*** out. That, or Tony's crew will be investigated, and one of them will flip. If anyone flips, my money is on either Paulie (because he's a loudmouthed c*********), or Sil (for pure shock value - as if you'd ever consider Sil flipping to the feds).

It's been a motherf***er of a season so far. So much crazy, awesome s*** happening. I'll be sad to see this show go :(

99% sure paulie aint going to rat as it was apparently in his contract, as in he (Tony Sirico) refused to play the part if they made him a rat.

* N U K E D *

By Jim

Do you even watch this show?*

I didn't spoil a thing, despite this being a dedicated spoiler thread. Maybe if i quoted the character's name, things would be different but I thought it was pretty vague.

Thread title changed just for you :)

* = Yeah ok judging by previous post do but still!

last edited by parabol at 20:08:12 22/May/07

I'd already watched it when I saw your post - but I saw ticman's and thought it was a fair call so clicked nuke, is all. No need to go all TONY SOPRANO on me*&^@%#&@!#

season finale was excellent - the ending will be seen as lame by many but i personally found it to be the best possible way to wrap up the show.

Holy crap .. one of the most boring episodes I have ever seen, except for the last few seconds.

Surprisingly digg.com had some interesting comments (very rare occurrence):

Spoiler:
One major interpretation can be that Tony got shot in the head and never saw it coming, hence the sudden blackness, which would have made sense except for the part that we weren't seeing it through his eyes!

Another interpretation is that the dudes walking around suspiciously were only his constant paranoia in his mind.

Lastly, it could have just been an open-ended ending


Who knows?

last edited by parabol at 18:50:09 11/Jun/07

another interpretation could be that if I wanted to imagine what the ending was sposed to be, I wouldn't have watched the last couple Seasons

are they telling a story, or making me do all the hard work?

televisionwithoutpity's forums cover most of the comments; some people really dug the finale, some didn't (well, most didn't)

ending was dumb imo

well the word isSpoiler:
its was left for the imagination, because honestly how do you end a show about a family when obviously... life goes on.

the last 5mins are set roughly a year or so in the future and is essentially spose to elobarate that they have moved on from the events that have happened. tony is still a little paranoid *he really always has been paranoid* yet he still has a strong sense of happyness.


it made me realise that no matter how they ended the series it would of shat alot of people off and im grateful they ended it this way cause i can leave it to my own mind to make an ending whilst still knowing that the storylines that ive watched for the past 6-7 years have all been resolved.

no matter how they ended the series it would of shat alot of people off

Thats very true.

That was completely s***.

They could've had the police knock at his door for the case they've been building for ever
they could've taken out his whole family
they could've charged him with Adrians murder
they could've done anything instead they opted for nothing.

that guy could've walked out the toilet and shot him in the head

That was completely and utter s***.

as posted on HBO forums -

"WOW!!!! AMAZING!!!

OK, at first I was really angry. I mean really, really angry. I can't believe though that no-one has posted by now what happened. The only thing I saw that was right, was that in the last scene we are seeing through Tony's eyes. Remember when he was speaking with Bobby...basically saying that you don't see it happening?

So here is what I found out. The guy at the bar is also credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito. That wasn't that long ago. Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Phil's brother Nikki Senior was killed in 1976 in a car accident. Absolutely Genius!!!! David Chase is truly rewarding the true fans who pay attention to detail.

So the point would have been that life continues and we may never know the end of the Sopranos. But if you pay attention to the history, you will find that all the answers lie in the characters in the restaurant. The trucker was the brother of the guy who was robbed by Christopher in Season 2. Remember the DVD players? The trucker had to identify the body. The boy scouts were in the train store and the black guys at the end were the ones who tried to kill Tony and only clipped him in the ear (was that season 2 or 3?).

Absolutely incredible!!!! There were three people in the restaurant who had reason to kill Tony and then it just ends. This was Chase's way of proving that he will not escape his past. It will not go on forever despite that he would like it to "don't stop". Not the fans!!! Tony would like it to keep going but just as we have to say goodbye, so does he. No more Tony and I guess we are supposed to be happy that Meadow didn't get clipped as well (she would have been between the shooter and Tony) since she is the only one worth a crap in that family.

Thank you David Chase for making it so obscure that I feel bad for hating you at first. Absolutely amazing!!!!"

I just started watching this show, so I don't know how right he is, but for those of you who have........well?

its always been the little details with the sopranos.

This was Chase's way of proving that he will not escape his past. It will not go on forever despite that he would like it to "don't stop".

Weird I thought his way of proving that he won't escape the past was by in that exact same scene, he has Tony tell Carmella "honey, my former crew member is prolly going to testify me so omg, it appears I won't escape my past"

and the black guys at the end were the ones who tried to kill Tony and only clipped him in the ear (was that season 2 or 3?)

Is this dude saying they're just in his head and he can't escape them or what?

Because I'm quite sure that Tony shot both of the black dudes in the head (one of them at the very least).

I wish a bit more happened however sopranos has never been about extreme 24 style plot twists or cliffhangers. Satisfied, A.J is a bitch.

stuff used to at least happen tho

Here's a very well thought out post from SA:

I can say that the "Tony got shot guys!" argument is ridiculous for the same reason that I'd say someome claiming Bill Murray whispers "I am really a robot from the future sent to protect you" in Lost in Translation is ridiculous; because it's a stupid ending, it's not supported by the evidence, and, most of all, it's completely at odds with the spirit of the rest of the artistic work. I'm going to steal a page from Mr. Gone's playbook, but honestly, he's got a point: you can like or dislike the ending all you like, but if you think Tony got shot, you don't understand the Sopranos on a fundamental level. It's not a show about endings, it's not a show about resolutions, and it's certainly not a show that would give the viewer the emotional closure of the mob boss dying at the end. No no no. No for so many reasons:

1. David Chase has said that all mob movies end with the mobster dying or going to jail, and he wasn't going to do either of those and do something more unconventional. Now, you can try to stretch it and claim that he died "unconventionally" but you're already reaching.

2. Execution: Look, if he was going to kill Tony off like that, it was so bungled in execution that it desereves to be derided. It's not the over-in-a-flash idea, it's the fact that Chase made a point to demonstrate that none of these people were threats, and the fact that there was nothing to suggest that this moment rather than any preceding was taking place from Tony's perspective. If the aim had been to do that, the shot should have been an approximate POV, like we'd already had with the shots of people coming in or the shots of his fingers on the jukebox. Showing Tony's face, straight-on, is a crystal clear way of NOT putting us in his perspective, and in NOT tying what the reader is seeing with what the character is experiencing. Even if the last shot had been of Meadow entering the door and then it cut out, I might see the argument: Tony is watching his daughter and then he gets capped. But they specifically show us his face which places us in the role of third-person observor, and they have nothing suggesting a shooting occur on frame. The Sopranos is many things, and is a brilliant show, but it has never couched dramatic action in subtle suggestion like that. If Chase had wanted Tony to get shot in a flash, there were a thousand ways he could have done it better and clearer; if Tony was dead, we would know it, rather than be debating it with theories like "THE BLACK GUYS FROM SEASON 1".

3. Thematically: Look, this is really the biggest thing. If there is one thing Chase has made abundantly clear over the last 8 years, it is that The Sopranos does not follow convention. There might be a beginning and no end, the gun in act one will not go off in act three, and major dramatic lines will go unresolved. Chase has made a f***ing art of the Deliberate Anticlimax, of pointedly denying the viewer what he wants. He took the most popular side character and shipped him off to Italy, never to be heard from again; he took one of the most popular and well-liked episodes (Pine Barrens) and never gave it any callbacks or resolution. Again and again, dramatic buildup has met with subdued resolution, if it was met with resolution at all. Characters have tried to change and made no progress; enemies have been built up for episode after episode, and were then disposed off in five seconds. Life doesn't have closure, life doesn't have resolution, life just goes on, is almost the single abiding theme of the show, and I don't know who you people are who expecting anything else; what show have you been watching? The anticlimax defines the Sopranos, and I don't know why anyone thought the finale would offer anything else.

But Z. Autobahn, you may ask, if the ending was just Life Goes On, why the abrupt cut to black? Because a fade-out on the family dining, even with problems on the horizon, is still an ending, and still gives closure. By fading out there, we see that Tony has persevered, that his values, in the end, have swayed AJ and Meadow, that the family is the same as it ever was and the Family, though hurt, has won out. There is closure there, even if all threads aren't resolved. Denying the viewer that closure is central to Chase's vision though, and so he found a way to avoid it, by literally cuttiong out in the middle of the scene. Nothing of note happens at the diner, but to end there would still be an ending; and not providing endings is pretty much what the Sopranos is structurally about.

4. The f***ing Web site summary says nothing about a shot. This is, ultimately, one of the most critically acclaimed shows on television; it would not end with a super-subtle-wink-and-nod-and-think-of-Hemmingway fiasco. By not acknowledging the cut to black, the summary says it all: nothing happened. Life Went On.

I'm not saying it's a great ending. I'm not even saying it's a good ending, though the way it's been haunting me says something positive about its ability to get under my skin. But for christ's sake, Tony did not get shot. Period. If you think that, you don't get it.

Now, if you combine that with this (an interview with David Chase earlier):

But how will the show go out? Brutally, bloodily, and loudly, like Joe Pantoliano's Ralph Cifaretto? Or abruptly and senselessly, with a pathetic whimper, like Adriana's pocket dog, fatally sat upon by a drug-addled Christopher? During last year's polarizing first half of season 6, some fans and critics — salivating for a wild wind-down — complained of meandering plotlines, such as Tony's alternate-reality coma state, or Vito's Johnny Cakes detour to New Hampshire. On a DVD commentary for one of those 2006 episodes, Chase referenced that criticism by sarcastically introducing The Sopranos as "the famous show where nothing happens," and his sneer was visible even on an audio track. Merely mentioning it on the set exasperates him all over again, and he cites last year's ninth episode, which revolved around a mishap at an Italian street festival involving Janice and her baby girl. "Someone said, 'So an amusement-park ride breaks, that's what The Sopranos is about now?'" Chase, 61, shakes his head, his weary eyes even wearier. "That episode was about the need for stimulation. People have an emptiness within them, and you need to be stimulated and do something. Not only that, but Paulie Walnuts saw the Virgin Mary! That's nothing happening? I don't know what to say." He laughs, but it is not the laugh of a man who has put this behind him. "The thing is," he adds, flashing a wicked grin, "I'll say, 'You want to see nothing?' And I'll do less. Sometimes it's hard not to enjoy that you're irritating some people."

Is that a threat? Will The Sopranos end with a nine-episode arc of Tony painting his basement in real time? Chase won't go that far: The notoriously secretive master plotter has revealed that Tony's truce with acting New York boss Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) will start to fray, and that Christopher's (Michael Imperioli) slasher movie will finally be finished. But when it comes to the series finale — always a near-impossible landing to stick for beloved shows — Chase is dead set against yielding to demand for a definitive period at the end of the series' sentence. (A jail sentence? A death sentence?)

Chase has always said The Sopranos isn't a morality tale, and he has no interest in the tidy TV tradition of tying up all the loose ends. After all, people have been asking him for nearly six years what happened to the Russian who escaped from Paulie and Christopher in the Pine Barrens, and he's still confounded by the question. "I remember David saying, 'I don't know what happened to him,'" says Imperioli. "In TV everyone's used to closure, but David said in life things happen and they're a big deal while you're going through it, but they don't always resolve and they kind of drift out of your consciousness. He'd like the show to more like life."

Chase came up with the endgame about four years ago. "There'll be people who will like the finale, and people who won't like it," shrugs Chase. "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."

...

While Gandolfini and Chase may be ready to go, fans can't help but look for any hint of waffling that might provide hope that The Sopranos might somehow, someway, someday come back. Like this entry buried in Chase's résumé: The onetime scribe for The Rockford Files, which ended in 1980, wrote a 1996 reunion TV movie for James Garner called The Rockford Files: Punishment and Crime. Aha! So maybe he does always come back! Explain that, Mr. Finale! ''Frankly,'' says Chase, sticking a shiv in our fantasy, ''I think we should have left Rockford in the '70s. And I wouldn't make that mistake again.''

And yet... "That doesn't mean I would rule it out," he adds. What's that?!? Stop the presses! Maybe Tony Sirico is onto something after all! Chase sighs. "The reason I'm so cautious about this is, I say these things, and then they say, 'David Chase is jerking our chain. He's trying to lead us on that maybe there will be a Sopranos movie.' I'm not." His voice rises with the same frustrated emphasis that Al Gore's gets when he says for the thousandth time that he does not intend to run for president. "There is no plan. I don't think we should do one. But everybody reserves the right to change their mind at some time, or miss something and want to go back to it. I'm realistic enough not to rule that out, but I would say the chances are really unlikely."

Sorry about the long post, but after reading all of that, I reckon it's fairly clear and concise as to what happened when the screen went black - nothing. Life went on, as life does.

Kevin Smith posted his thoughts. Pretty good summary I reckon.

I don't remember any FP shots being used in the sopranos. Considering the effort they go to make the audience just an observer, but with an insight into tony's thoughts (Dr Melfy) without being direct about it. Its always been about tony and how things effect him, but it wouldn't make sense to go first person just to show his death. It wouldn't suit the style of the show.

Spoiler:
Tony got shot, end of story.


last edited by nF at 17:28:28 15/Jun/07

the last scene is filmed so that no matter how you look at it you can not be 100% certain of what happens next, as soon as you realise that you will then realise that what happens is that "life goes on"

Well, that was an awesome ending.. although for Chase to wrap everything up (Uncle Junior, AJ getting better, Meadow getting married, Philly getting taken out, Visiting Sil, Paulie finally understanding he can't escape death, etc, the Fed feeling like he's won, etc) is very unusual. I have a feeling if there was a follow on (new series, movie, whatever) than it will show Tony waking up from a dream sequence.

Whether it was supposed to be a follow on from the previous episode (ie: went to sleep in that episode, woke up in this one) is flawed as the bed arrangements were completly different. I also think the shirt he wore into the diner is different to the shirt he's wearing at the table - even though the people in the crowd around him hasn't change.

I just finished watching it then, I liked the last episode, mainly because Phil got owned so hard and I'd been waiting for that for a long time, but also the bit where the FBI guy finds out and hes like "s***, we're gonna win this!" made me laugh.

I thought the ending was pretty dumb though, I don't care what it was supposed to mean, it was dumb. But I think what annoys me more, is people hailing the guy as a genius for doing stupid, pretentious things like that. It doesn't take a genius to think "Hey, you know what, it'd REALLY piss of a lot of fans if we don't give the show a proper ending and just cut to black in the middle of a scene", it only takes an a****** who likes messing with people to come up with that idea. Its as bad as people hailing David Lynch as a genius just because he makes movies nobody can understand.

yup

I didn't even realise that was the last episode. That was awesome. Exactly what I expect from the Sopranos.

Everything I could have wanted to see happen didn't happen in just the last episode, it happened over the six seasons of the best show I have ever invested in.