Sopranos Thoughts

So Mrs. X and I finished up with the final season of The Sopranos the other night. We don’t have HBO so Mrs. X’s brother Mr. A recorded the season on tape for us. We had tried to avoid spoilers but Mrs. X had learned about Chris’ death and I had learned about the attack on Bobby and Silvio. Even beyond that, it was very hard to avoid learning about the last 5 minutes of the last episode. Although I can say that we were both surprised at the manor of Phil’s death (yuck).

Obviously I’m late to the game when it comes to how the show ended. I actually didn’t mind it, but I had been prepared for it. If I had been watching, I think I would have been a little irritated. I like threads coming to conclusions, even if you disagree with how they choose to end it. The abruptness of the ending leads me to believe that something specific happened at that moment. I would probably have to go back to season 1 and see how the series began to garner a couple of extra clues regarding the ending. I believe it ended with Tony coming into Dr. Malfi’s office, but I’m not sure.

I haven’t had a chance to read EW’s article on the subject, but I’ve seen several theories already about what the ending meant. The first is obviously that the show just ended and life goes on, though we are no longer privy to it. Mrs. X leans more in this camp.

Second theory is that the fellow in the Members Only jacket comes out of the bathroom and kills Tony. There are shades of the Godfather in the set up of the scene and it would give an added point to the flashback scene in the previous episode where Bobby noted that you probably don’t even hear your death coming.

Third theory was that the whole thing was a dream sequence and Tony is still out on the run from Phil. This comment was based on the person noting that Tony went to bed in an unmade bed and without any other comforts. However, I think it’s obvious that some time has passed and once the first night was over, Tony would have made the bed and put in a few things. The fact that he took up his AR-15 in a later scene showed that he was still carrying it around with him whenever he went upstairs into the bedroom. So I don’t agree with this theory.

A fourth theory, which I believe has some merit is that, it wasn’t Tony that died, but his dream of a normal family life. The whole series has been about justifying his mob life and trying to get a normal family. The fantasy segment began when he entered the restaurant and saw himself sitting at a booth like a normal man. His family comes in and they try to act normal, but Carmella brings up the Carlo business and AJ also reminds him that he now works for him in a way (since Little Carmine shares his interests with Jersey and New York). The music reminds Tony to not stop believing in the dream, but he does and everything ends. My only quibble with this theory is that I don’t like the timing on the ending if he is letting the dream die. The shot ends with him looking up as someone comes in the front door. If he was letting the dream die, I would have expected a sigh or other sign of dejection come over him before looking up. So I’m still on the fence about this one.

Still, its been an entertaining series and one can only hope that a new series comes along with this much entertainment value.