There will be
dissertations on those last 5 minutes written for
decades. There will be college courses
completely revolving around what happened on Sunday
night. And to a man, every single person who watched
all 85 episodes previous to that one will all share
one common bond: they have never felt a more intense,
spectacular flood of emotions, than they did during
those last 5 minutes. If the point of entertainment
and art is to create emotion, Mr. Chase most certainly
did that. The question now is, do we like the
art. It's kinda like Andy Kauffman making an entire
audience hate him. There is a brilliance to it. I most
certainly respect the man for having the ability to
control people's emotions effortlessly... but I'm
still putting in Chris Rock DVDs in 2007. Along with
my constant re-watching of Soprano episodes. So here
are my two pennies:
Been
waiting for years to know how The Sopranos
would end. Years. It has consumed me, and
these past few weeks have been quite
"jumpy". The entire show was
ridiculously tense. You know these
are the last scenes you'll ever see of
these characters and no one is
safe. It's really the only episode you
feel that in. Things keep going and going
and you keep looking at the clock and
thinking "There's only 10 minutes
left...what the fuck..." It tries to set
this tone of normalcy but that makes it
all the more intense... and then there's
the last 5 minutes. Ho-lee
shit.
They purposefully
make you think Tony and his whole family are going to
get killed. They end the show at a very cramped little
diner. Show shots of every patron setting up the
stereotypes (kids, lovers, old, young) so when they
act to the blood bath you can relate. There's a
mysterious Italian looking dude that comes in,
continually stares at Tony and then goes to the
bathroom (ala Godfather to put the gun together). They
even have two black guys come in that look completely
out of place but remind you of the other pairs of
black dudes that have been used the past 8 years to
pull off "hits". The music Tony chose on the jukebox
is intentionally "happy" and "campy" (Don't Stop
Believin' by Journey) and it gets louder, and louder,
and louder as the scene progresses. Add to all this?
They intercut Meadow (the daughter) trying to parallel
park her car right outside the diner, over and over
and over - making the audience think she's gonna be
the one who is spared this bloodbath by the seemingly
innocuous inability to parallel park. It is a
brilliantly edited piece. I've never seen a
more intense scene in my life. Edge of your seat
doesn't begin to describe it. My breathing was so
heavy, and my heart was racing so fast I could barely
contain myself. Those 4 minutes and 50 seconds easily
felt like a legitimate 15 minutes. And then as you all
know, it abruptly cuts to black with all audio ceasing
for 10 seconds. That's it.
Your first
emotions are obvious. Utter frustration, completely
cheated, totally weak, absolutely lazy, unbelieveable.
I was literally shaking and had to go outside and
walk around. I was mindfucked. Angry to say the
least. In fact, I wrote on the journey boards right
after:
JESUS
MOTHER-FUCKING CHRIST. WHAT WAS
THAT.
DAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.
Just like my
goddamn sports teams - god - fucking - damnit!
RIGHT THERE. RIGHT AT THE MOMENT. CAN BARELY TASTE
IT. BEARS SUPERBOWL WIN AFTER 20 YEARS - BUCKEYES -
LEBRON - ADAM YOY GET YOUR OWN LATE NIGHT TALK SHOW
- THE SOPRANOS ENDS....
CUT TO
FUGGGGGING BLACK.
FAEE*(&*S&%794%^^(%
unbefuckingliveable
Now add something
else into it that not only has never happened watching
TV, I don't believe it's ever happened in my
life. Myself, and a good couple thousand people out
there - saw a different ending. After an hour of
pacing and calling people (all the while Donna
laughing her ovaries off at my reaction - lol)
I went on the hbo message boards and someone
wrote: "He was shot. He mentioned to Bobby you
never see it coming. The last shot was Meadow walking
through the door from Tony's perspective and Tony was
shot in the head."
"AHA!!!! Now
that's creative!" I thought. This made me
happy. I relaxed a bit, went on a walk with Donna -
feelin' a bit better. Was taking it in and really
enjoying it. Was excited to see it again at 9 PM. I
re-watched the last scene in high-def... and it was
TOTALLY DIFFERENT! They ended on Tony's face
instead of Meadow walking in and they shortened the
time of the blackout. Huh? Why would they change it!
I instantly run to the boards again and some
other people noticed it too:
Did anyone else
notice that there was no Meadow entering the
restaurant in the final scene? When I watched the 6pm
east coast feed, I saw her face, eyes get bigger, and
then "fade to black". At 9pm the last time we see
Meadow is running from her car, then it cuts to Tony,
we hear the ding of the door, but do not see Meadow,
and then "black". I swear I saw her take a few steps
into the restaurant before they went to black in the
original. Why did they change the ending?? Gave too
much away? They also pulled the Youtube clip of the
last scene, but allow other seasons to be on
there...weird.
***
Yes I noticed
this too and I am very confused...when I watched the
show the first time the final shot was of meadow
coming in the diner then cut to black. This made me
think that Tony did get shot and that Meadow coming in
was the last thing he sees. I watched the episode when
it came on again two hours later and the last shot is
of Tony looking up...so it kinda changes the point of
view of what could have happened...
I thought I
might be losing it but everyone i have talked to
around here also saw meadow enter the diner the first
time and alot of people have posted this on the Finale
Predictions board. Anyone know why the hell this
happened?
This drove me
crazy. People were arguing constantly about it and no
one could come up with any proof of what we saw.
I had taped the HD version, not the 6pm
standard-def feed. I was beside myself. If you check
the boards even now there are people who swear on
their children they saw Meadow enter the diner.
Everyone who didn't see that says we're crazy and
imagining things... but after 100 accounts of it you
start to realize we're not all crazy. If we were, how
come we noticed the difference in the second
airing?
Well two days
later folks, I have to just give up. What
happened to me and what happened to hundreds, maybe
even thousands of people all over the world was a
shared false memory induced by mental stress. Don't
believe me? Go find a shot of Meadow in the diner. It
doesn't exist. The people who saw it were on
adrenaline. Your mind racing so fast you're trying to
predict things before they happen, you're trying to be
hyper-sensitive to clues and you literally
imagine it. What's mind-boggling however is that so,
many, people, saw, the, exact, same, thing. I stopped
counting at over 50 people just on one message board
that without a doubt in their mind swore they saw her
walk in. The difference is of course monumental
because every shot of people walking in the diner is
from Tony's perspective - so if the last shot
is from his perspective and it cuts to black... it's
clear what the intention was. If the last shot is from
an audience perspective showing Tony, then the
cut to black is just to play with us and end the scene
abruptly while we're all pissing ourselves.
Never, in my life,
am I aware of this ever happening to me. And the
fact that we all imagined the same thing? It's
a goddamn mind-fuck. Part of me is still holding out
hope that I really did see it because it seems
unfathomable that it was imagined by so many people
the same way. I will forever think of
"eye-witness" accounts completely different now.
Even multiple eyewitness accounts. Especially
in stressful situations. I was clearly
stressed out. The second time I viewed it
I was completely calm and that is why I
didn't imagine Meadow walking in and that is
why the black out seemed shorter. That's the physical
and mental toll that scene took on my body. Un, be,
lieveable. It is a spectacular social experience that
I've never even dreamt possible.
Of course that now
leaves us with whether I thought it was any good
or a fitting end. This has a peculiar feel to it. It's
art. They've all been art to me (I thought the
Kevin Finnerty episodes were brilliant), but
this one goes a step further and it's very, very hard
for me to judge. It's a funny situation from one angle
because it's like going to an art gallery, with all
the snobs looking at a splash of paint on a white
canvas nodding their heads trying to prove they can
read into it more than the next guy. You can play that
game but there's a line. A line where the artist
knows he's just fucking with you and is behind all
those snobs laughing at their remarks. LA is a lot
like that. People are so inside that they can barely
watch tv or movies like other humans. You have to be
very careful in this industry because if you're not -
you look up and lose the ability to enjoy
movies. You're so busy thinking of lighting and
effects and judging acting and directing and
continuity that you've become that snob at the art
gallery. You have to suspend disbelief to truly enjoy
movies. Have to.
After accepting
that I imagined the end and being able to watch the
episode again, I'm still left a little miffed.
I get it though. I understand that Chase put us
in Tony's shoes for 5 minutes. I mean really
put us in his shoes. For the first time in 8 years we
felt what his day to day life was like. You think
everyone is about to kill you, you never feel safe. It
was a brilliant scene. The ending doesn't even
matter. He's gonna die at some point and the truth is
- it won't be a normal death. You stay in that
business long enough you will either die in jail or
get shot. So since that is assumed, you leave it
hanging. No ending really does justice to the
character, it's clear our imagination fills in the
blanks. What Chase intended completely worked with me.
But was it good?
When I think
of how well crafted these last 9 episodes were as we
watched Tony slowly spiral out of control - that's
when the ending pisses me off. Had that scene ended
the series at the end of Season 4 or even 5?
I like it. I accept it. Life goes on, you never
know what's gonna happen, you sit in his shoes for a
moment and it really gets you. It seems to me Chase
had this last scene in mind from very early on...and
then stretched out the series a couple more seasons,
but kept the last scene. It's out of place with these
last 9 episodes to me. This was the Tony and the
family from Seasons 1-4. But last year and especially
the last 9 episodes? Tony is markedly
different. He is losing control, he is crossing
boundaries, he's spiraling. He's turning his back on
friends, he's turning darker and darker and darker.
It's a completely different feel than the character
the first few years. You start to see the arc of Tony
Soprano and it gradually built for these final
episodes. Because of that dark turn, I feel there
needs to be a conclusion. Had his character not
changed? If the series ended a few years ago like many
hoped it had? This last scene would've been perfect.
He always was, and always will be Tony Soprano. About
to get killed at a moment's notice, but still doing
the family things that most father's do. It was the
foundation of what The Sopranos was in the first 3
seasons. But because of needing to stretch the series
out Tony eventually changed... which is fine! But,
that original idea for the ending Chase had no longer
fit. It excludes the deliberate darkened downfall we
were watching for the past few weeks and literally
feels like we went back to 2003.
Strange reaction
huh? Realize this is still less than 48 hours
afterwards and maybe after multiple viewings
I will feel different but I believe in my heart
that this ending was written a looooooong time ago and
that in trying to extend the series season after
season they inadvertently made this final scene
outdated. And if there's a movie after this? It's
absolute crass commercialism bullshit and no one
should stand for it. I'll respect it if that's the
last we see. It's art, it's brilliant, it's genius
even if I think it's done in the wrong year...
but if it's just a ploy for the movie in a couple
years? Or for an alternate version on a DVD? Fuck him.
LOL.
Hopefully this
gives you something to chew on. You can read all the
other reactions; he was whacked, the viewer was
whacked, it was a dream... you can enjoy the nuances
in that episode forEVER. But my bottom line is taken
as a whole, it was cheap to me. I get the statement
being made, but it's just too late for that statement.
You missed that boat when you added the 3rd car crash,
the 4th storyline of Christopha relapsing, the
yearlong wait for the killing of Vito - you changed
Tony by repeating those situations and you still
almost pulled it off. You made him darker, he
lost control, he was losing his crew... you were right
there - and then you ignored all of it and went back
to an old idea for an ending that no longer fit. The
end of the second to last episode was actually
a more fitting end. Alone, on a mattress having to
sleep with a gun in your hand, almost his entire crew
dead, his family in hiding... there's your ending.
That's the one that makes you sit and ponder at all
his choices in life...
...but it wasn't
meant to be. Welcome to 2007 right? Where everything
is sooooooooo close...
Adam
PS -
I secretly hope this
inspires
people to create their own "Sopranart". Long-time
radio listeners should recognize this skit. Also,
please watch it on YouTube
as well and pass that link around. Only shot of this
idea taking off.
PPS - Really,
the next entry will be a big
announcement.
