What the…?

(Let me preface this by admitting that although I dig The Sopranos, I don’t have HBO and the only season I have seen in full is the first one. I have seen various other episodes throughout the series, so I have a general idea of the major storylines.)

Regarding the end of The Sopranos – Being that I am not a hardcore fan and haven’t even seen every episode, it’s hard for me to get to lathered up about the intentionally vague series ending tonight. I have to give David Chase credit for at least trying something different, but I know that a lot of fans already feel cheated because Tony’s final fate wasn’t shown. Regardless, that last 10 or 15 minutes was probably the most riveting television I’ve ever seen.

It’s reasonable to assume he got shot in the diner (well, in the head really), which would explain the black screen during the final 5 or 10 seconds. But if that is the case, why dance around it? I mean, they did have another guy’s head run over by an SUV, so it’s not as if it would’ve been seen as too gory. The cynic in me sees the ending as a way of leaving the door open for more movies, or even a spinoff series. So the end of the end is either a brilliant artistic statement or a jaded attempt to leave the series’ fans wanting more. But which is it?

Oh yeah, the episode itself. Yeah, it was a bit anticlimactic. But then again, most series finales are. Given the only plausible options (Tony rats to the Feds, gets arrested, dies, or quits), I think I can deal with a little bit of ambiguity. Wrapping everything up and showing a more “satisfying” ending would’ve been easy, sure, but the more I think about it the more I like the idea that things might not be over yet for Tony.