I liked the ending to the Sopranos.
It has been mob weekend with mia famiglia. I rented the Godfather Parts One and Two. Part One had a satisfying ending, and of course Part Two ends with Michael's family relationships destroyed. After I saw Pt 1 and half of Pt 2, I was thinking what might end the mob.
SPOILER! READ NO MORE!
Then I watched the Sopranos and thought. Oh, well, nothing will end it. Nothing ends family, nothing ends the mob. They just run out of film.
If Long Day's Journey Into Night was cast with a mob family that might have made a nice (looong) trilogy of non-conclusions.
Hmmm.
Didn't see it. Probably wouldn't have watched it even if I had HBO (Showtime?). I watched the first season and saw absolutely nothing redeemable about a single character.
At least Michael Corrleone is pitiable because of the whole dead, Italian wife thing.
Posted by: Hot Mom | June 11, 2007 at 01:09 PM
I liked the ending, too. I think it fit the tone of the series as a whole. Also, I'm a fan of ambiguous endings to TV series. As one of my grad school professors once said, "The best television series end with the sense that the characters and the world they live in goes on." (Yes, I went to grad school for television. I'm a GEEK.)
Posted by: Carrie | June 11, 2007 at 01:57 PM
Hot Mom: I too didn't watch the show. I tried to watch the first few episodes (loaned to me by a HUGE fan) and wasn't interested at all. Also, poor Apollonia. All she wanted to do was show Michael that she could drive, and then she goes all kablooey and 'splodes.
Carrie: GEEK! ;)
Posted by: Catherine | June 11, 2007 at 03:14 PM
I agree with you. I was gasping "What, that's IT?" like everyone else when the scene ended the way it did. Having thought about it today, though, I couldn't think of a single shocking climax that would've been as appropriate and weirdly satisfying as hinting at a bunch of potential outcomes (Tony gets whacked in the diner, or gets indicted and jailed, or eats one too many onion rings and has a heart attack...) and letting people imagine their own version of what-next.
Posted by: Tracy27 | June 11, 2007 at 06:25 PM
Hot Mom – Yes, that’s the same criterion Gary uses when he sees a new show. That’s why he didn’t like your favorite show, Lost.
Carrie – Ah, then you liked the end to Gilmore Girls. Snif! In the diner! Snif! Eating pancakes!
Catherine – Its odd to me that after not seeing the Godfather 1 for decades the thing I remember most strongly is the way Apollonia got naked on her wedding night. I think I planned to use that.
Tracy27 – It seems a number of people quoted Tony as having said earlier in the season, “when you die it just fades to black.” But I like your onion rings theory.
Posted by: TheQueen | June 11, 2007 at 07:15 PM
I LOVED the end of Gilmore Girls. Just enough tied up, just enough left ambiguous. It was beautiful. Sniff. ;)
Posted by: Carrie | June 12, 2007 at 04:26 PM
Tear. And congrats on your new gig.
Posted by: TheQueen | June 13, 2007 at 12:18 AM
"Nothing ends family, nothing ends the mob. They just run out of film."
OK, that's kind of deep, and thinking of it that way sort of puts the finale into perspective in my head. It's not that anything actually "ended", they just ran out of film.
(Does it mean I like it any better? Not really, but at least I feel like I understand it now.)
Posted by: Dawn | June 14, 2007 at 01:59 PM
Don't stop believing. It goes on and on and on and on...
Posted by: TheQueen | June 14, 2007 at 11:26 PM