Well it would be very hard to describe my weekend in words. I now know how Frank Sinatra must of felt on Monday mornings. My good friend Ryan Powell turned 30 and we had a suprise birthday party for him. It was funny because it was about 11 oclock on Saturday and I saw two people carrying him in from the car i got up to him and he had been properly tagged from head to toe and it was only a 11 oclock. Ryan I can only say few have partied harder than you in those 30 years and keep it rocking. This weekend officially kicked off the summer tour and the next month and the half good determine if I live to see 75. I mean this shit is taking a lot out of me, but in the same token Saturday night was one of the funnest nights of my life. Puking behind Open Pantry Sunday morning was not very fun, but what can you do. Im sure I looked like a million assholes when I went to my parents house to help move some furniture. Oh well. I slept until 6 pm and then got ready for the moment 7 years in the making.
The final episode of Soprano will get a mixed review from me. I didnt mind the ending at all. I mean there was no one thing they could have done to truly rap everything up and make everyone happy so the creator chose to leave up to the viewer with so many possible endings. The last scene was very powerful and it was very intense, however I wish some of that would have carried through the rest of the episode. The best part had to be the FBI agent helping Tony find Phil and then him showing his enthusiasm when Tony whacked him. I thought the last episode was great at proving the Tony is the most persuasive guy and when he asks people tell. Ok now onto my problems with the ending. AJ fucking Soprano you ruined this season for me. I mean all of this build and for what seeing you get a job handed to you by your father and him just taking care of everything. I mean I guess it is kind of fitting but they built this character way up and the payoff just did not meet my standards. I also was left very unhappy by the way Tony ended his relationship with his sister, JR, and Sil. I know SIl was in a como but he was a great character and I thought that scene could have been better. I also wish Tony would have made his piece with JR but that really didnt happen either. I dont know the show has been great but it was time for it to be over and I dont see this rumor of a movie carrying any weight. I really enjoyed this show and season 5 is one of the best Television history. I will miss it but I think there are better shows out there like Deadwood that I am just beginning to sink my teeth into. I also have heard great things about the wire, carnivale, and now John from Cincinatti is showing some promise. All in all a lackluster finale but the season was entertaining none the less.
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Great series. I think the creator basically said, "Look, I can show you a bunch of truly unlikeable, violent, self-centered and whiny people, they will behave this way throughout the entire series, but you, the viewer, will love them anyway."
Tony - Absolute zero growth for this guy from day one of the show. This entire season was a reminder that he is a heartless thug who will do whatever he feels benefits him the most, damn everyone else. Case in point, murdering Christopher and celebrating by busting nuts in Christopher's Vegas girlfriend. Tony's big moment in the finale - he goes to visit AJ's therapist, out of alleged concern for AJ. What does he do? He starts in with that same whiny bullshit about how his mother wasn't nice enough to him as a child.... isn't that exactly what he started with in the first meeting with Melfi 85 episodes ago? Zero growth, zero change.
Carmella - Like in the beginning, still knows that her husband is a criminal jerkoff who cheats on her and treats their kids like crap, but, hey, the money is nice and she kind of gets off on the excitement. She glares at Tony as he takes over the meeting with AJ's therapist, but, fuck it, where should we all go for dinner? That's her big concern.
AJ - Flirted this season with actually giving a shit about something other than himself. The war, the terrorists, the environment, chemicals in the food supply. Oh, but giving a shit is so draining that it nearly kills him. Need to cure that? Just dangle a carrot of a night club in his future and toss him a BMW. Happy as a clam. Still the little do-nothing whiny brat that he was on day one.
Meadow - This stupid little cooze just can't believe the way the big bad government treats "Italians," so she dumps her short-lived goal of helping poor people at the legal clinic and her shorter-lived goal of treating sick infants, and goes back to the goal of earning $170k a year representing corrupt politicians and criminals, like her new mafia family boyfriend. Um, bitch? The FBI treats your dad like that because he's a fucking murderer, racketeer and thief, not because he's Italian. But hey, whatever pays well. Justify it how you like.
Janice - One of the funniest of all, she literally becomes her mother, Livia. First, Junior's senility really gives this one away when he calls her Livia repeatedly - he can't tell the difference - and looking at a picture of young Janice, recalls how she had tried to leave the gas on his stove to kill him. Later on, she's there moaning to Tony about how much she's done for Bobby's kids, but they just don't appreciate her. Hilarious, you actually are your mother now.
The ending? What was it?
1. Just cutting away and life goes on with Tony looking over one shoulder for assassins and the other shoulder for the FBI for the rest of his life?
2. Tony was whacked, and just as Bobby Bacala said to Tony on the boat in the mountains, "You probably don't even hear it when it happens, right?" Some schools of thought say that Tony crossed the line by whacking Phil in front of his wife and the babies. You leave families out of it. Did New York retaliate by whacking Tony in front of his family?
3. One theory I saw on the internet, did the creator "whack" the audience? You're sitting there one minute, wanting to see what happens next and then - snap - it's all over and you didn't even hear it coming?
Other funny stuff, the cat freaking out Paulie by staring at Christopher's picture. Just golden. I imagine he thought it was Adrianna's ghost.
I totally agree on the FBI agent being hilarious. First, he is the bizarro Tony, coming home late and yelling at his wife on the phone about how he has shit to take care of, what do you want him to do? Then, he gets pumped when the information he leaked gets Phil whacked. One for Jersey! That'll show his old FBI partner in Brooklyn! On top of it all, the FBI agent talks to Tony from bed where he is with his own "gumar." Priceless. The anti-Tony.
Timmay great post as usual. This is one thing that I have just accepted over the course of this show there is no character growth. I mean the main characters try to do right but at the end of the day they are in the mob and they may not like who they have become but they sure like the lifestyle. Carm, worrying about dinner and her new house, was perfect everything back to normal. Oh dont worry we just whacked the NY mob boss but he goes out with the fam later that night. I do have a question when the FBI agent calls and tell TOny where Phill is. Did he get that info by sleeping with that other agent? It was a wonderful scene and we see that everyone involved with Tony gets caught up in the lifestyle. I also loved the scene were Paulie was hitting on the 20 year old, it was vintage Paulie. And I cant believe I forgot to mention the Cat, though I didnt understand the italian reference of a cat sucking the breath out of you. The Cat staring at Chris picture was great. It reminded me of one of my favorite scenes where Paulie goes to that sayance. Even though i dont think this would happen I wonder what Gandolfini would say if Brian De Palma, or Martin Scorscese offered him 50 million to play Tony one more time. I think the movie would be huge though I am happy with this ending.
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