Rant or Rave: The Sopranos Final Epidsode

Slight spoiler alert-- though I will not discuss the Sopranos Episode in detail in the post, there are some spoilers regarding the content and tone of that episode. So-- be warned, there are some things discussed below that you may not want to read if you have yet to watch the finale of The Sopranos but someday hope to do so.

I do mostly raves, not so much with the rants. Not sure if that's because I'm such a naturally jovial, half-full kinda guy or because I avoid reading and watching things I know will annoy me, but there it is. Well, here's a big old Rant of the "Wow that was awful kind".

After watching-- and thoroughly enjoying-- all six seasons of the The Sopranos (available at the Mukwonago Community Library, btw), I was both looking forward to and dreading the final episode. Looking forward to it because it was the final episode, the series finale, with all that usually implies. Dreading it because a) I didn't want it to be over and 2) I was worried it wouldn't be worthy of ending such a terrific show. More so the a) since I trusted that the final episode would carry the show's terrificness all the way through to the end.

Not so much, imho. Oi, was number 2 realized. That was a terrible ending! Even knowing a fair bit about it-- given the amount of publicity it received at the time, picking up some details was fairly inevitable-- I was hugely disappointed. And I knew the ending was fairly ambiguous ahead of time, yet was still terribly let down by the complete nothingness of that final scene.

Here's my initial response: The build up to the final scene in the restaurant was great. Tension was built, much was resolved, but the final fate of the Soprano family still hung in the balance. And so it does to this day. The ending, contrary to critical opinion, was in my opinion awkward, unsatisfying and completely unworthy of the rest of the series.

Overtime, my opinion has softened a little-- it wasn't completely unsatisfying, nor completely unworthy. But I still think it was a poor ending to a fantastic series-- one of the five best TV series ever. I guess it was all part of David Chase's artistic vision, and I have trouble ripping the man since his was the genius behind the show from start to, almost, finish. But personally, his concluding vision left me cold and disappointed. Which is all the more painful and difficult to digest because the rest of the series was so blasted visionary, exemplary and just a blast to watch.

Still, I am glad I watched it through to the end. It was a tremendous ride and often a riveting production. Though I wish the ending had been other than it was, I do not regret commiting myself to the roughly 80 hours that is The Sopranos, beginning to end.