The Sopranos finale

* the following post started as many of my posts begin, an e mail to my pal Roy. It this then I am most often struck with A. how insightful I am... and B. how I should share that with you (my grand insight).

So, let's talk some Sopranos.
Ok, obviously that ending… or lack thereof… made many crazy. Me too, initially. Now, I dig it. Why? Because that was what every day of the family’s life was like. Was that guy with AJ (just in front of him) gonna pop Tony? How about that trucker guy at the bar? How about those two black guys?

When that dude walked past Tony en route to the bathroom, I thought they would do a formal 'Godfather' homage. Namely, a gun is taped to the back of the toilet. What else? Surely, during the painfully prolonged scene of Meadow parking I thought she would see or hear 2 or 3 pops come from the diner. Then, nothing else. They wouldn't say who got shot or who is dead. Just Meadow walking up to the diner and hearing 3 gun shots. Of course, David Chase knows this... and played us like the cheap broken banjos that we are.

So, who in there was going to kill Tony. Did Tony die after the credits rolled?

Maybe, maybe not. That is every single moment of Tony’s life. Maybe, the whole family will be sprayed in blood. Maybe, they will just have another family dinner and bicker about what poor decisions their teenagers are making. That kind of insano tension is what they live with. Bravo!

I will tell you my perfect ending for the show. It was last week's show. Remember how it ended with Tony laying alone in bed with a shotgun? He was exiled from his family, and even his entire state. Honestly, they could have skipped this week's show altogether. It was great to see Phil got 'popped', though. Now, what did the FBI agent mean when he said "we may finally win this thing"?

* lastly, I hear people say “I feel like I just wasted the last ten years of my life”. I understand that sentiment, but not because of that ending. What drove me absolutely mad was waiting 3-4 years in between every season. Just season six (this very last one) took a 1 year break. That is the crap that angered me.