I waited a day in case there were people who didn’t see it Sunday night but I thought the final Sopranos episode was fantastic and a fitting end to a classic show.  Listening to radio on Monday was so predictable with people unhappy with the ending.  For those unsatisfied people I have this to say – have you not learned from the previous five seasons that David Chase does NOT provide closure for a lot of story arcs?  There was never resolution to Dr. Melfi’s rape, we never found out what happened to the Russian in the Pine Barrens episode, and now we simply don’t know if Tony survived or not.  If you haven’t figured out by now that certain plots don’t have resolution in the Sopranos, then you absolutely would have hated the last episode.

BIG DEAL.  I thought the ending was brilliant.  With every time that diner door’s bell dinged when it opened, the heightened awareness of everyone walking in the restaurant had me on the edge of my couch.  I know it’s only a TV show but this was the first time I felt really anxious as to what the hell was going to happen.  Were those two guys there to kill Tony?  Would the family witness Tony being killed?  Would Meadow be spared the gore because she couldn’t parallel park?  Or were those guys simply red herrings?  To have the final scene end with Meadow entering the diner, the door bell dings, and…INSTANT BLACK.  No music.  No dialogue.  Nothing.  At first I thought I had lost cable reception and then the credits start rolling, also with no sound.  It was an ending I didn’t expect and I absolutely loved it.

We simply will never know and I love the fact that it didn’t tidy up.  I think part of David Chase didn’t want Tony to die and the other part I’m convinced is a giant “Fuck You” by him to the crowd that had enormous expectations for the show and were never satisfied that it simply was one of the best TV shows ever created.  Oddly enough, the final episode did wrap up a lot of plot points, from A.J. finally getting off his ass and getting a job to Meadow deciding to go into law to Junior having a moment of clarity when Tony reminds him that he used to run New Jersey to Janice being taken care of financially.  Plus, if seeing guys whacked was your thing, the second to last episode should have filled that urge.

Phil Leotardo not dying would have been the only plot point that would have disappointed me had it not happened.  I’ve mentioned “quality kills” in previous posts for TV episodes and even though Phil was dead from the gunshot wounds to his head, the running over and subsequent crushing of his skull was a fitting end to someone who had become a complete wanker.

There aren’t many “must see” shows that you have to see the night it airs but the Sopranos was one of them.  Yes, the storylines got kind of muddled in Seasons 3 and 4 (Tony’s weird dreams on the boardwalk) but the past few seasons have been nothing short of spectacular.

With Deadwood not coming back and Big Love underwhelming me, I sure hope HBO has another classic drama in the making.  I’ll give John From Cincinnati a chance simply because David Milch created it and he’s the one who also created Deadwood.