The last song

Question: How would it be possible to reclaim the cultural association of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" from something as indelible as the lezzie, trashy AWESOME AWESOME hilarious roller-skating scene between Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci in Monster?

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Answer: Use it in the final scene of the final episode of The Sopranos.

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And that's pretty much the only way to reclaim that song. Bravo!

While I appreciated it as the closest to art television could possibly get, I never really got into The Sopranos -- I didn't start watching it regularly till the fourth season and I never really was able to piece together whom everyone was and why they wanted to hurt each other. I fell out of it soon after I started; this last episode was the first I watched all season. And yet, I thought this scene was pretty beautiful in its simplicity. I think the show's oft-examined theme of sentimentality is contagious.

Those few seconds of dead air between the final shot of Tony and the credits are about as self-congratulatory as it gets -- The Sopranos dies and so does the cable. Not that I disagree, per se. It's OK for a cultural phenomenon of this magnitude to pat itself on the back.

Comments

[ginger]

The ending just left me confused. not a great way to go out

[knitterly]

I came here hoping, just on the slightest chance, that you might have had something to say about what I just watched. Thank you for having an opinion because I'm still not sure what I think.

More than anything, I'm just looking for someone here on the internet to hold me til I sort these feelings out.

[chickyonly]

having watched the ending about three times now, i think it was absolutely appropriate, and perfectly in sync with the tone and history of the show. loved it. hopefully with time and reflection, others will stop being infuriated over the lack of "resolution" and see the ending for what it is.

thank you for posting about this! of every blog i read, your commentary was what i was hoping to read the most.

[bukbukbuk]

The problem is they are setting themselves up for either a HBO "event" or looking towards a movie or three. Journey be damned, the fuggin Sopranos eating onion rings at a crappy diner while every passing bystander appears to be a potential murderer is lame. Then fade to black...

Gay as Winston. And not as huggable.

And why do so many crucial plot twists on the show hinge around characters never before seen? Who the hell was that guy who shot Phil (with gratuitous product placement from Ford, Ford, Ford)?

[Daryl]

Not outraged but certainly disappointed in the finale Rich. Maybe it's a good thing you didn't watch too many episodes. I feel like the guy who dates someone for 8 years and is left standing at the altar.

I hear a Sopranos: The Latter Years movie in the making since I don't see many of them working in the maistream post this.

[Max]

Re: "Don't Stop Believin'"--I was just relieved to see the song "reclaimed" from both Family Guy and Laguna Beach, which are the two shows that put it on the cultural map for most of my students (high school juniors) and their peers and made it *the* semi-ironic sing-along song at dances and proms for the last year or so. (I didn't remember the scene from Monster, which is pretty fantastic.) I couldn't help smiling when it was Tony's jukebox pick.

For what it's worth, this was the end I was hoping for, including the few seconds of black screen. Hooray for no real closure!

[Mike V.]

Lots of hoopla over the last episode of the Sopranos last night.
No big Hollywood ending. Everyone wants some sort of "payoff".
These are the same dopes who would complain on Monday if no one got whacked Sunday night.
In other words, they didn't get the show to begin with and were not really fans.
It was the greatest show in the history of TV and now it's over. That's all I'm sad about.
It was just like any other episode, only this was the last one.
We've already been through a whole ton of drama including Tony almost getting it. The show as a whole, from start to finish was always ABOUT the drama/story.
The show didn't start with Tony's family coming to America and then show the rise of the Sopranos.
It started in the middle, and it ended in the middle.

[Queen Lena]

I'm not that person who was disappointed if someone wasn't whacked in every episode, but I was still disappointed. I'm not sure what I was expecting...Maybe I wanted justice, I don't know. AJ, that little prick, complains about the ills of the world and now he suddenly feels better that he's becoming involved with his dad's twisted business. Sure, I can feel sentimental and all that, but in the later episodes, I had a hard time feeling compassion for Tony. He's crazy. He should've gotten killed too, or indicted for a crime. The only hint of anything positive in this episode was the assurance that Tony "will" get indicted. I put it in quotes because we will never see it happen. I feel like i have (female) blue balls.

[ekar]

I'm lost and sad, I don't know what to think. I trusted the show and it let me down in the same way you'd trust a sociopath to spare your life but he'd kill you just the same. In a way I think it was a great ending but another side of me, the human side- wanted justice.

[seanbperiod]

I've read on a few sites that paulie (i think) said to tony "you'll never hear it when it happens" - some people say that tony got shot right there, or maybe the show got killed for the audience.

I think that david chase just wanted the audience to get revved up with all the tension building up to the end, highlighting tony's paranoia- he could be hit at any time. he's never safe.

when the song came on, i also thought it could be that the sopranos will live on.. it did go black after "don't stop".

who knows- maybe david chase just wanted an ending that will be grouped together with st elsewhere and dallas.

[Bobby]

The show has been pretty horrible for the past three season or so. This was actually one of the better episodes of that run (though the first two of this mini-season were great). The David Chase "easter eggs" in that final scene are ridiculously stupid, though.

[Sunny Bunny]

I disagree that The Sopranos is the closest television has come to "high art" (which is what I assume you meant).. that distinction belongs to SIX FEET UNDER! I have never really got all of the love and praise for this show, tbh.

[Shonda]

"The Sopranos dies and so does the cable."

OMG, I get it now. Of all the theories about the (non)ending, this one makes sense to me.

I love you.

[Nancy]

I was never a rabid fan but I watched this show occasionally. You can't have "resolution". I think this ending shows exactly what his/his family's life is -- always looking over your shoulder. You can't even eat at a diner without worrying. It will ALWAYS be so.

Seinfeld shows what happens when you actually try and end a show with a last show. It's dumb, it doesn't work. This is really perfect.

[JEN L]

I love the way it ended. As in real life, there is never a nice, tidy ending, it just ends. I am not on board with all the theories that Tony was executed and that was signified by the sudden blackness. I also liked the idea that the diner is just the diner - and when I read whom all the characters in the diner were - I hated it. I just like the idea of it ending.

People tend to like everything all wrapped up in a pretty bow. But that is not life.

[miss christy]

i always associate "don't stop believin'" with the first wedding scene from The Wedding Singer, when they are playing it on cello/violin. It's so awesome, i'm half tempted to steal it for my own wedding.

[bunnymarie]

I have never seen this show but I just watched that clip and thought it was pretty obvious he was going to die that night. Those men in the restaurant were circling him. They knew who is was. HE IS CAUGHT. Do the writers of the show really need to show him getting greased? Is that the way you all needed this to end? By the way I totally agree with Rich. That was an awesome ending.

[vagabondblogger]

I thought the ending was great - it's up to you to decide how things go down from here, i.e. use your own imagination. I myself have several scenerios. I love this show. We bought the DVD's and took them with us overseas to watch over and over again (totally appropo for gofuckistan (Baku, AZ) gangland capitol and export central for black leather jackets in Central Asia). I am addicted and will truly miss it.

[zachretox]

The more I digest the ending, the more I like it. I'd rather have an ending that is open to interpretation and allows for (albeit at times heated) discourse than a bullet-time bloodbath. This isn't Scarface.

[sneakmove]

the sopranos finale is the sort of thing that will forever separate who i can be friends with from who i can't.

if you hated the finale, i can't be your friend. it's that simple.

[girlyQ]

Rich, I highly recommend renting the first season. Livia Soprano was an incredible character and her relationship with Tony really set the tone for the whole show. It puts the paranoia of the final scene in context.

[Queen Lena]

I agree with Sunny Bunny up there that Six Feet Under was much closer to "high art" than the Sopranos. I'm just still so confused. I don't know what to think about this episode. When it ended, I was just blank for like 3 minutes; I felt nothing. When Six Feet Under ended, I was sobbing like a baby. There needs to be some sort of emotional reaction, whether positive or negative.

[Erin]

I feel that the ending was perfect and brilliant. There was a lot of great symbolism in this episode and as for the final scene, in the previous episode it flashed back to Tony's conversation with Bobby at the lake where they said something along the line of "when it happens I bet you don't even see it (hear it?) coming". This makes me think Tony may have been killed as it cut to black. Since the audience in a way IS Tony, we were whacked too. Or perhaps it was just the death of the viewer along with the death of the show, and life for Tony goes on. And we didn't even see it coming.

[mariootsa]

There are some interesting theories thrown around, but I think people just want it to mean something more than what was behind it. Honestly, I just think they couldn't figure out an ending that would feel satisfying enough in one way or the other, so they decided to do nothing. I can't help but feel cheated.

My two cents: Life goes on the Sopranos. Tony will always be under a gun. Anybody (the guy in the Members Only jacket, the black dudes) can be the next hit-man. Tony still needs to worry about the next stool pigeon. Paulie is still getting by on the skin of his nuts. Carmela is still an enabling bitch who is getting her 'specs' on for her 'business. AJ is still an entitled, whiny asshole, Meadow is just trying to park her fucking car. Hey, we've all been there. It's life Soprano style. Brilliant.