The Sopranos: Series Finale

Michael Cavna, TV editor and blogger of Scripting 'The Sopranos', will be online Monday, June 11, at Noon ET to discuss the end of the TV series.

A transcript follows.

Read Tom Shales's review of the final episode.

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Washington, D.C.: I thought this was the worst episode ever! I hated the end, as did my co-watchers! I don't like to be left hanging at the end of a SERIES FINALE!!!!!!!!

Michael Cavna: Last night, David Chase cut to black with perhaps the most controversial case of Finalus Interreptus in television history.
Now, in the cold light of the morning-after, we diehard fans are all his stugotts.
Somewhere in France, Chase is smiling, because -- judging by the societal indictments he was handing down last night -- we are finally mad about SOMETHING.
His lesson: If not the war or the environment or our SUVs or TV news focusing on Karl Rove's silly dances instead of larger matters, at least we can get still get mad about "The Sopranos"!
Okay, David, we got it. Duly noted. But as fans, many of us are still ticked,
So, to answer Washington D.C.'s question directly: Not to go all Melfi on you guys, but: This is exactly how Chase WANTS us to feel. Our Tom Shales got word from an "informant" that this finale would leave viewers PO'd -- (and Chase knew we'd come bearing verbal torches, a lynch mob looking for his safehouse angry over the monster -- er, moBster -- he created. Hey, no wonder he stayed in France, non?).
Now, since today's chat will likely end up as a destination for part of the Great National Venting going on this morning, I will be part-Melfi today and say: I feel your pain, paisan!
As a certain Italian-American therapist I know yelled at the scream within seconds of the cut-to-black last night: "That's chicken-[expletive]!"
She felt cheated big-time. At the moment of cinematic climax, when we expected the supreme pleasure of surprise and perhaps violence, Chase turned coy and gave us interruptus.
This morning, some are waking up much like Katherine Heigl in "Knocked Up" and asking:
"So what exactly did we see this in guy?!"

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Lame ending: The only way the ending could have been any more of a cop out would have been if Tony debated whether the top button on his shirt was too high ala Seinfeld.

Michael Cavna: Word, Lame Ending. And if there's one word I'm hearing this morning, it's "cop out."
Speaking of "Seinfeld," among the big Who Woulda Thunk-It's this morning is:
Who'd-a thunk that comparing finale to finale, all the main characters in "Seinfeld" would end up in the clink and NONE of the main characters in "Sopranos" went (yet) to the Big House.
Not that there's anything wrong with that...

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Bowie, Md.: Ironic that so many who praise the series for being quirky and leading-edge and unpredictable are now castigating the ending for just that. Hey, people, let the art speak for itself.

Michael Cavna: I hear you, Bowie. Because I rewatched the finale this morning On Demand and here's what I'm feeling (hey, we're all in therapy over this episode, no?):
This was one helluva beautiful eight-year relationship, and now I was damned frustrated over how it ended. And yet, with even a little distance of 14 hours, how it ended was, well, "special."
Chase was different. His show mattered to us. We might not have ended with satisfaction, but hey, we'll always have Jersey.
And speaking of art: Chase seemed to drawing direct inspiration from the John Sayles's flick "Limbo" (fittingly titled), which came out about the time Sopranos first hit the air. In arty "Limbo" Sayles fades out with -- you guessed it! -- a cut-to-black screen, leaving us with that last non-image. Direct inspiration, non?
ALSO, to cinch the connection: In "Limbo" -- largely about solitude vs. community -- the idea of a NEO-nuclear family is explored -- which seems to have directly inspired Tony's line last night to Janice about how maybe know, she can invent/start a NEW kind of nuclear family.
Any else see the "Limbo" connection?

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New York, N.Y.: I went back and watched last week's episode. When Bobby is killed, Tony has a flashback to the two of them on the lake. In that flashback scene, Bobby and Tony are talking about getting whacked and Bobby says "You won't see or hear anything, just cut to black." With that in mind, I think Tony got whacked.

Michael Cavna: Yep, New York, I flashed back to that exact line, too, shortly after the finale ended. (The Season 6B opening episode, the one on the lake, is chock full of harbingers for the entire last half-season -- right down to last night's opening shot closeup of Tony's face.)
How I took that flashback line was that Tony wasn't necessarily whacked at the diner, but someday, somehow, his big Cut-to-Black moment WILL come -- and he won't see it coming.
(As Chase himself might say cribbing Dylan: "You don't need a Bellwether-Man to know which way the wind blows...")

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New York, N.Y.: I must have missed a beat at a crucial point, but how did Tony's enemies know where the family was going to eat that last meal? Was AJ's girlfriend in the house when Carmela mentioned the destination? Did she rat them out?

Michael Cavna: Do we know for certain they were his enemies? Among fans I've talked with today, some viewers think those were mob guys, others think they're feds (right down to the symbolic USA cap on one guy's head), and others think they perhaps were just those "strangers out there somewhere in the night" that Steve Perry was wailing about -- people that Tony will always have to view suspiciously as he looks over his shoulder -- that for him, "this movie never ends / if goes on and on and on ... "
As for AJ's new girlfriend, Rhiannon -- Chase may have given her a name with witchy connotations, but seems a stretch to think she's a rat or a plant.

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Anonymous: For me, night's ending was a relief. I didn't want to say goodbye to Tony and the crew, and now they can live on in my imagination. The build up in that last scene had my heart pounding. Philly's death was gratifyingly mean and nasty. Bravo, Mr. Chase!

Michael Cavna: Isn't that something that far all his sins (including the "unredeemable" way in which he pinched Christofah), many of us still didn't want Tony to die.
Talk about painting a brilliant antihero for all time -- THIS is where Chase applied his masterstroke. We (like Melfi) were often conflicted about Tony - not unlike how many of us are conflicted over the show's finish.
And Philly's death -- amazing! Has any show ever taken "head of the family" more literally?! (De-capo-tation!) And the way his grandchildren (the next generation!) just bounce lightly over his head, like the changing of the social guard as a new generation rises.
Brutal and hilarious simultaneously...

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Houston: I liked the ending. For a brief moment we got to feel what Tony experiences everyday. The paranoia he must have every time he comes in contact with anyone.

My question: Given the ending of the final episode, what do you think the odds are there will be a "Sopranos" movie in a couple of years?

Michael Cavna: EXACTLY! Houston, we have a problem: Tony's eternal paranoia. Which is how Chase's Eternal Cliffhanger best works. Maybe the lurking guys were just innocent civilians, but he's always gotta wonder.
And Chase told our Tom Shales that he -- fan of Eastern philosophy as he is -- is walking away forever from the TV show. But hoo-boy, I can definitely see him doing this feature film, which he'd love to put on the pantheon shelf of motion pictures next to "Godfather" and "Goodfellas" and "Casino" and "Pulp Fiction" and others.
The real catch is Gandolfini. He say he's explored every nook, cranny and heavy-shuffle of this character. Pay HIM enough though and perhaps...

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Richmond, Va.: I think David Chase really insulted his audience's intelligence last night, but not via the ending. When we see Silvio in his hospital bed, we can clearly see hair on the top of his head. What? Are we supposed to believe that he has NOT been wearing a hairpiece for the last eight years?

Michael Cavna: The hair has been a running joke on the show. Even in as serious a scene as this was (as Tony reacts to Silvio's coma and Uncle Jun's mental coma with big-time parallels), Chase still gives us something to laugh at -- a little treat for the viewer.
Personally, loved the laff.

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Tony's Location: It would have been pretty easy for a Fed or a contractor to tail Meadow or AJ to the diner. She's oblivious, and he's dumb as a stump.

Michael Cavna: Indeed!
BTW, speaking of Meadow: Anyone else pick up on ALL the car jokes/references last night? From the catalytic converter (AJ wants to fly Trump in copters but can't even handle the simple technology of his XTerra!) to the Ford rolling over Leotardo (this is not your god-father's Ford) to -- hilariously -- Meadow trying to parallel-park her car.
She appeared to be driving a Lexus 250, right as we'd inundated with ads about how the new Lexus 460 can self-parallel-park. Even in a scene of extreme tension, Chase was having devilish fun...

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Richmond, Va.: Yeah, Chase made a point. But his job wasn't really to make a point, but to entertain us. And there, the last episode fell short. First: entertain us. IF it makes a point after that, okay, but making a ha-ha point without entertaining us is not what we pay the cable company for.

Michael Cavna: Let's face facts: For the last 10-15 seconds of black screen, really, Chase was entertaining himself.

And speaking of "cable company," I've heard from scores of people who thought their cable had gone out right at the point of story climax -- including right here in The Post newsroom. For a show that has helped "make" HBO what it is today, what a beautifully sick twist.

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D.C.: What are people complaining about? Phil died, Tony lived, Meadow will get married, AJ has recovered and will do movies, NY/NJ families will continue to do business, etc. End of story.

Michael Cavna: Because we're overly TV-conditioned viewers who don't want to have to use TOO much imagination, youse knows?
Speaking of AJ doing movies: Loved that twist and Chase's continuing skewering (talk about handing down indictments!) of Hollywood and the business. (liked the background clip of the voice saying that "Writers are a commodity" -- beautiful.)
And off of that: I'll prolly keep referencing the '70s film "Network" from here on in because that seemed an OBVIOUS thematic inspiration to Chase last night -- right down to (1) use of black screen; (2) sudden interruption of signal at the point of death (or interpreted death; and (3) mostly, because Chase wants us as viewers to GET MAD AS HELL and not take it anymore! -- from war (see: "It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding," DYLAN) to what Chase sees as this administration's handling of war, torture, terrorism, environment -- yet, he posits, we gradually get the house and the car and the girl (or boy) and settled into our Barcaloungers like AJ -- from angry, eager-to-learn-Arabic idealists who want to make a difference and soon are eating nacho chips and laffing at the TV news's cheeseball sound-bites of Rove's rapping and Bush's dancing and we're diverted with societal attention-deficit disorders. We forget, we laugh, we go on...
Meantime, only smarter animals on the planet -- namely, last night's orange cat -- remember to keep looking at the wall, not forgetting the fallen (Tabby sees Dead People) -- and sixth-sensing what we lose touch of...
Hey, them's Chase's obvious metaphors, not mine. But I digress/regress ...

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I'm With Houston, but in New York: It was brilliant. The more I think about it, the more I am suffused with its perfection. Understanding his lifelong paranoia is crucial to understanding that we don't need to know exactly when and how things will happen now that the show is over. It is obvious that he wasn't killed at the end -- showing it as a black screen is not David Chase's way -- that's too hackneyed. The loose ends (the Russian, all of the people who are out there and could kill or ruin Tony) and moral ambiguity of the characters (Carmela's bargain, the awareness of his family members of how their comfortable lives are actually made possible) are what made the story brilliant. Please stop tormenting yourselves with elaborate theories of what happened. It doesn't matter.

Michael Cavna: Me, I love that Chase loves loose ends.
If he'd tied it all up in a perfect narrative bow, THEN I'd be genuinely PO'd ...

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Anonymous: ....and Hunter coming back from med school to make Meadow, in spite of her degree from Columbia, look like a loser.

Michael Cavna: Anyone else, notice, btw, that that appeared to be David Chase's own daughter playing Hunter (who obviously was real-world inspiration for parts of Meadow)?
Chase's real surname is DeCaesare (yes, kinda like "Caesar"), and believe the actress shared that same name.

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Washington, D.C.: As much as I liked the tension, my favorite line of the episode was Carmela's "if there were children playing in those leaves, you would have run them over."

Michael Cavna: Great line. And great parallel to the Other SUV Incident: The backseated children running over Phil Leotardo's dead-as-dry-leaves head.

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Washington, D.C.: Everyone's mind is on the last scene, but after thinking the episode over, it seems to me that they really did a great job of giving a fitting epilogue for everyone's characters. The scene with Tony and Uncle Junior was especially powerful, and a very appropriate sendoff for the show.

Michael Cavna: Yep. Uncle Jun finally got out of prison, and now he's mentally imprisoned -- victim of his own dementia/Alzheimer's. And a link to the past that Tony can longer reach...

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Boca Raton, Fla.: Onion rings and Journey? That's it? What the hell were they thinking? Sure, Phil got what he deserved, but the fans of "The Sopranos" deserved better.

Michael Cavna: Perhaps Irony of Ironies last night:
After Chase's absolutely brilliant song choices for lo these last eight years, the last rock note we ever hear on the show is sung by ... Steve Perry?!
Talk about Chase's smug jokes.
(And how many reporters' calls are the members of Journey getting today? -- Seriously, I've already heard the song twice on terrestrial radio since the show aired.)
It should be noted: When he started the show, Chase reportedly wanted much of the music to echo the time when Tone and Carm met: late-70s/early-80s. So actually, Journey just might as well have been "their song" when they dated in high school -- the early parts of the scene played out heavy with nostalgia, like a date -- right down to Tony's briefly seeing HIMSELF in the guy who entered wearing a black jacket -- only Tony apparently saw himself wearing a Members Only jacket. Now if THAT doesn't say late '70s/early '80s!

also, loved the "American Idol" last night -- and so must have Randy Jackson, who used to play WITH Journey -- oh, all the threads that interconnect in a Chase work...

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Los Angeles: How's this for a theory: Tony didn't get whacked, any hope that Tony and Carmella and AJ and Meadow might crawl out of the family business into self-awareness did. Tony's not going to get self-aware that his depression and lack of connection is a result of the violence he commits against others. Carmella is not going to accept that getting out of the life, or keeping her children out the life, would require sacrifices in her material lifestyle and honesty with herself and her children (or more realistically, Carmella has accepted it, and has chosen wealth and relative peace over her children). AJ is never going to have to grow up or make any hard choices, and will probably cycle in and out of depression for the rest of his life, because he's sensitive, but stupid, directionless and controlled by evil people. Meadow is going to follow in her parents' footsteps: lying to herself about the real nature of her family like Carmella does while playing the victim like Tony does.

After stringing us along for eight years with hope that these characters are redeemable, Chase is showing us that this, an empty and unconnected life, is what people like Tony get.

Michael Cavna: Much here sounds plausible, LA. Hey, you're already in the right town: Sounds like you've got the treatment to send out to superagent Ari for Chase's movie.

And speaking of: Part of the reason Tony survives is because he, like "Entourage's" Ari, is the ultimate dealmaker. He doesn't lose his head (like Phil, both temperamentally and thus literally) -- he usually, ultimately is the best dealmaker on either side of the river.
And hey, he's a godfather -- more than Ari, he already knows how to "hug it out" ... [!}

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Monroe, Mich.: An unrealistic portion of the awful finale was when the FBI agent phoned Tony to tell him Phil's location. The FBI would have tapped Tony's cellphone and would have intercepted the agent's call to Tony. Why would an FBI agent jeopardize himself by phoning the location of a mob boss who he knew would be killed?

Michael Cavna: Yeahh, much of the Agent Harris stuff felt the most like necessary plot-device and the least "real" on the granular level...

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Great Falls, Va.: What a waste. It was as if five different writers were told to go dash off an end to a plot line. Nothing was integrated. The AJ line was a waste of time; better if he had e-mailed them from basic training. Do we need a Discovery Channel lecture on the dangers of parking over dry leaves? Give me a break. They should have stopped two years ago; I'm sad to see it end so flat.

Michael Cavna: But will you to the feature film if Chase makes it?

And I know some fans for whom the show, in spirit, ended for them as soon as Ade was killed.

After that, "Sopranos," ironically, was "dead to them"...

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Janice: I loved her on the lounge -- she was her mother. Even though she has purged all that mother stuff, "I never get any thanks." (Sorry if it's a misquote)

Michael Cavna: Yep -- perfect. She HAS become her mother. High collar and all, the Rolling Stones chest tatt of would-be rebellion no longer showing.

From Janice to Sil to Uncle Jun, Tony makes the rounds that reek of parallelism -- those other characters have all lost a major part of themselves, while Tony keeps on rolling like a big ol' indestructible Cadillac Escalade ...

THIS is why Tony made sure to bargain for money to recompense Janice...

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Junior's Faking It!: Didn't you see that little smirk of his when Tony mentioned "this thing of ours"?

Michael Cavna: Yeah, I think Uncle Jun's connection to present-day life comes and go, fading in and out like a sketchy radio signal.

Tony has him for a minute, smirk and all -- and then Jun's gone again -- confusing Bobby Baccala's name-reference with Bobby Kennedy back at the Ambassador, assassination and all (another great subtle Chase trick, linking the twin assassinations with just "Ambassador" ...)

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Philadelphia: Honestly, what do people want? Aside from Tony getting killed, there would have been no other really great way to wrap things up. In general, I think "tie ups" tend to seem really forced, fake, and not up to Sopranos standards. This was shocking, and made you think, and was certainly a lot better than the family sitting around the pool sipping lemonade with Tony saying something like "you know, we'll always be okay."

Michael Cavna: Couldn't agree MORE. Chase would have disappointed only if he had been trite or hackneyed or caved to traditional narrative.

Besides, he's largely taken the issue of good/bad off the table for history's sake (the way he quickly categories our cult-phenom finales) -- he now OWNS this kind of ending in the public consciousness and we'll talk in years/decades ahead of Pulling a Sopranos ending.

As Rene Russo's character says of Costner's blowup-but-brilliant 10 at the U.S. Open in "Tin Cup": "In 10 years, no one will remember who won, but your shot, Roy -- it's IMMORTAL!"

Mr. Chase -- you made your bones! You're officially TV-immortal.

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Alexandria, Va.: Bottom line, Chase has absolute contempt for his viewers. Don't understand my obscure references? Too bad. Want another season? I'll do it when I get around to it. Want an ending? Nah, don't feel like it.

He needs to take some lessons from Alan Ball, who ended "Six Feet Under" with the best series finale ever - one that stayed true to the spirit of the show and provided perfect closure for all the fans who stuck with the show.

Michael Cavna: Point well taken. If it eases the pain at all, Chase reportedly has contempt for many TV CRITICS, to boot!

But really, Chase has contempt for many Americans, judging by the finale -- the terrorists don't have to win; we're too busy with our end-times laziness (HIS view) and "American Idol"/"Dreamgirls" preoccupation that we're not watching the Mideast OR our administration (unless they're Rove-rapping for our entertainment). Only a few Tony's are watching the doors (or the borders) these days in Chase's "Moby Dick" allegory of a finale (though perhaps it goes too far to say Tony was the white whale to Leotardo's fatal Ahab -- tho Chase DOES love his American Lit).

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Chase whacked the viewer!: "You won't see or hear anything, just cut to black."

Given that this is exactly what happened to everyone watching last night, do you think Chase whacked the viewer?

Michael Cavna: He whacked us upside the HEAD -- to try to wake us up.

Again, to him, we're in "Network"-land, and we need to get mad as hell -- get up out of our chairs!

But yes, Chase has said he wanted us to get angry -- at least then he know he'd move the needle and wouldn't flat-line into finale oblivion.

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Beltsville, Md.: That was the funniest ending for a series I've seen in a long time!

Michael Cavna: Whole diner scene felt like something Chase crafted 3-4 years ago. It was his little guilty/delicious treat -- whether we liked it or not.

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Detroit: Where do you rank last night's episode in terms of all-time great series endings?

Michael Cavna: As an act of entertainment and narrative, I give it a "B."

But as an Act of Television -- bold, different, utterly distinctive -- I think it's easily in the Top 5.

Hey, Chase was showing us he had gonads -- after all, the show was all ABOUT gonads and bones -- who had 'em, who had who's, who was breaking 'em, who was making 'em.

Chase wanted to go down as a Tough Guy of TV. David, hey--you're now "made" in America -- you made your cinematic bones...

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Alexandria, Va.: So here is what I found out. The guy at the bar is also credited as Nikki Leotardo. The same actor played him in the first part of season 6 during a brief sit down concerning the future of Vito. That wasn't that long ago. Apparently, he is the nephew of Phil. Phil's brother Nikki Senior was killed in 1976 in a car accident. Absolutely genius!!! David Chase is truly rewarding the true fans who pay attention to detail.

So the point would have been that life continues and we may never know the end of the Sopranos. But if you pay attention to the history, you will find that all the answers lie in the characters in the restaurant. The trucker was the brother of the guy who was robbed by Christopher in Season 2. Remember the DVD players? The trucker had to identify the body. The boy scouts were in the train store and the black guys at the end were the ones who tried to kill Tony and only clipped him in the ear (was that season 2 or 3?).

Absolutely incredible!!! There were three people in the restaurant who had reason to kill Tony and then it just ends. This was Chase's way of proving that he will not escape his past. It will not go on forever despite that he would like it to "don't stop." Not the fans!!! Tony would like it to keep going but just as we have to say goodbye, so does he. No more Tony and I guess we are supposed to be happy that Meadow didn't get clipped as well (she would have been between the shooter and Tony) since she is the only one worth a crap in that family.

Michael Cavna: Great stuff, Alexandria.
So Chase sets up a rogue's gallery of connections in that diner -- whether in reality or symbolically, Tony's still surrounded. They've got him at every turn.
From every (camera) angle, the potential movie that might play out never ends...

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Washington, D.C.: Since Chase is so brilliant, what was the meaning of the cat?

Michael Cavna: Who better to chase out the rats in the crew?...

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WDC: I think it's pretty hilarious that there are all these people saying "oh it stunk" and "I'm canceling my HBO." Personally I thought it was a heck of a lot better than the last episode of, say, "Seinfeld."

Sheesh, people, it's a TV show. I think David Chase was right on target with saying that we all like to see all the ends tied up in a neat happy package. Glad to see he was consistent with his own beliefs too, and didn't "provide" that for us -- after all, life ain't so simple as we want.

Michael Cavna: Agreed -- Chase can return from France with his head held high. No matter WHAT he really thinks of America...

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Michael Cavna: Thanks to the hundreds of you who had thoughts/strong reactions/insights on this. Don't have time to recognize every one in our e-diner today, but you can always go our "scripting the Sopranos" blog at post.com to continue this discussion with me and others -- off to the Eternal Water-Cooler. Meantime, remember: Don't stop---

--86--

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