The American Mind

Picking Journey “Don’t Stop Believing” to close the show was amazing! I foudn a list http://collegecandy.com/buzz/3398 of all the songs on the series finale from last night. worth checking it out…

[…] Ron Chusid is a little kinder about the ending: Ending the series by having life go on without a clean ending would have been fine. The problem is the manner in which this was done. Viewers shouldn’t have been left with the first reaction consisting of wondering if their cable went out. Fading out over a scene of a family dinner might not have created as much internet buzz tonight, but would have been a more conventional way in which to end. But then David Chase never wanted to be conventional. […]

We are kidding ourselves trying to say the “The Sopranos” was superior to network TV because of its more liesurely pacing and characterization, like life where not all loose ends are tied up neatly. I have no problem with this, in theory. “The Sopranos” always demanded much of the audience: the insane length of time between “seasons,” which was chalked up to giving the writers time to think at a high level; the episodes (and whole seasons), where nothing much happened, which was chalked up to the need for full character development; the red herrings and feints, which were charked up to realistically reflecting the “messiness” of life; and the self-indulgent dream sequences, which were supposed to tell us something importnnt about the characters, I think. What I did not expect is using the FBI as a “deus ex machina” to allowing Tony to survive the mob war with Phil, who was then killed in front of his grandchildren, even though his daughter’s home was the first place anyone would look to find him. Was having him “fingered” by an FBI guy for some meaningless information regarding two Arabs really necessary? The FBI guy was taking sides in a mob war. Is he now an “ex officio” member of the DeMeo crime family? A more realistic ending would have had Tony and maybe his family (except Meadow, who is delayed by her parking problems) in the dinner. The show was always about Tony’s redemption — that he was really a good guy despite his doing terrible things. I think he crossed the line when he killed Christopher, his surrogate son and heir apparent, a helpless injured man and father. At that point, he became irredeemable. He is capable of anything. His reaction to murdering Christopher was totally without conscience. Why not have Rosalie Aprile betray him? She overheard him tell Carmella about the hideouts. Her boyfriend, Ralphie, was murdered (and dismembered!) by Tony. Her son was killed on Tony’s order in a way to make it look like drug dealers did it. She has to know or suspect. Or Paulie? He barely missed being murdered in Florida. What was his sin? A joke about Johnny Sac’s wife? Talking too much? Being a lonely old man — and a potential threat to Tony? He could have been the traitor. He was not hit, even though he is a captain, like Bobby and Silvio, both of whom were shot. He was guarding Tony in the safe house even though he was told to go home. He was reluctant to accept promotion because everyone who had headed the “crew” had undergone premature death. The show did not end as much as just stopped. It appears that the needs of commerce — movies or reunion shows, although Chase has given the impression that he was never stoop do anything so “cheesy” as a reunion show — take precedence. A better ending would have had Tony and perhaps A.J. and Carmella (since Phil’s girlfriend and her father, both “civilians,” had been killed) shot. The show would have ended with Phil doing business with Paulie (not quite a boss, but the head of a New Jersey crew with whom New York could do business). What a downer. This will leave a bad taste in the mouths of most “The Sopranos” fans.