Sopranos: Viewers Furious/Flummoxed Over User-Generated Ending
1a.m. PDT:
Viewers reacted swiftly and angrily across the Internet, venting their wrath over the much anticipated but ambiguous, anticlimactic Sopranos finale, "Made in America."
Here’s a sampling of messages mostly off HBO’s boards, at least the one’s that are printable.
"That was an AMAZING finale, it ranks right up there with the Seinfeld finale."
"Chase needs to have a sit down with Alan Ball [Six Feet Under] who could teach him a few things."
"Chase has entered the witness protection program because of the backlash from this final episode. He’s gone to ground…its an expression."
In the final scene, the Soprano family takes their seats one by one at a local diner. AJ is cured of his depression after watching his Nissan Xterra explode. Meadow has found true love and probably a job that pays $170,000 per year. Carmela appears to be working on her next real estate project. Tony has finally learned (a little) to check his need to wallow in the emotional deprivation of his childhood. The music in the diner is too loud and the camera cuts frequently to the patrons - to a man who takes a seat at the end of the counter and to a mysterious fellow in a baseball cap with his face averted. Meadow has trouble parking her car and is the last to arrive. She approaches the door. The bell chimes; Tony looks up and…
Nothingness. The screen goes black. Millions were certain that their cable systems had mysteriously crashed. Said one user, "that was just a rotten thing to do to all the fans for all those years. I thought my cable had gone out! It wasn’t cute, it wasn’t funny, it wasn’t interesting, it was just rotten. I feel used."
Then, as the credits began to roll in silence, fans switched over to their other screens, vainly trying to sort out the cryptic conclusion. They could easily supply their own endings based on the rich history of the series and recent breadcrumbs scattered by Chase. There was much speculation about the patrons. Some saw Janice, Tony’s sister, walk into the diner; others were sure they spotted the hardware store owner who lost his business to Tony over gambling debts. Many noted Tony’s flashback (in last week’s episode) to a conversation with Bobby.
There was also a controversy brewing about a shot said to be missing from the very end of the east coast feed.
Chase handed over responsibility for the finale to the viewers who were free to interpret the series according to their own prejudices and anxieties. It’s a user-generated finale, left to the vast imagination of the audience.
The Sopranos: a national Rorschach test.
The press and viewers were certainly abuzz over the surprise ending. A number of viewers, disgusted, said they were canceling their HBO subscriptions sooner rather than later. Many felt cheated and manipulated. And since David Chase hasn’t ruled out a Sopranos movie, maybe they were.
UPDATE: 9:24a.m.PDT - The New York Post is trolling the HBO board for feedback from angry viewers who are threatening to cancel their subscriptions:
Posted: Jun 11, 2007 12:12 PM (1087 of 1144)
I would be interested in hearing from anyone, via e-mail, who’s cancelling their subscription to HBO because of their disappointment over last night’s "Sopranos" finale.
Thanks,
Michael Starr
TV Columnist
The New York Post
michael.starr@nypost.com
jvon commented:
He ate an orange.
I rest my case.
mary mcnamara commented:
Hi opinionatrix - I was having a little fun w/ the word "user-generated." Viewers - as I said above - were left to "supply their own ending" out of the "bread crumbs" left by Chase. I called the finale "a national Rorschach test" and said the audience was "free to interpret the series according to their own prejudices and anxieties." Rorschach tests, by nature, are highly subjective. In other words, we're on the same page here.
Google alerts never crossed my mind. Speaking of cheap - that was a REALLY cheap shot. I almost deleted your post because of that remark, but I figure dialog is better than deletion. I've never keyed my writing to google and wouldn't even know how. This is a big organization; the technical stuff is out of my hands. However, if you're such an expert on google algorithms, gee, will you handle my SEO? (Don't take that literally, 'kay?)
opinionatrix commented:
A "user-generated" ending? No--you've got the concept wrong. If it was a "user-generated ending," we'd have seen users send in mashed-up clips to create what they thought was the proper ending--and we'd all have been directed to YouTube or something. What happened with the Sopranos was a particularly literary post-modern ending. In the post-modern world, everything is relative. If you think Tony gets shot, then he gets shot. If you think something else happens, then that's what happens. It's like life. We never know what's going to happen to someone else. All relative and situational. But don't say it's "user generated"--that just shows you're trying to get into search and Google alerts. And that's even more "cheap" than Chase's ending
lettersman commented:
I agree. David Chase and HBO should have modeled themselves after Joe Dimaggio. The Yankee Clipper once said: "There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best." This last Sopranos episode was like watching a once great ballplayer refusing to run out a pop fly.
