With the final episode of The Sopranos airing tonight, viewers all over the world are speculating how the carnage, confusion and betrayal will come to an end. Arguably the most popular cable series ever, The Sopranos never completely jumped the shark, although it dig bog down for short periods of time during the third and fourth seasons, in my opinion. But, if this evening’s episode is a good one, and packs any kind of wallop, all will be forgiven. If it isn’t, bodies could start showing up – most likely those belonging to HBO executives.Creator David Chase has continually frustrated many fans by not feeding them the formulaic television that they’ve grown accustomed to. Plot lines are left hanging, characters come and go inexplicably and things aren’t always clearly explained. But, that’s the way life is. We’ve grown to expect neatly packaged story lines where issues get resolved. Where good guys triumph and bad guys get their due. But, that’s not reality and David Chase refuses to give in to network pressure. HBO has given him final cut from the beginning and he’s done it his way from day one.
Some people who have watched the series from the start -- back when Tony was skinny -- might be frustrated by all of the questions that have been left unanswered. For instance, is Andriana really dead? We never actually saw the body. What happened to the Russian in the woods? And isn’t there money hidden somewhere in the original Soprano home; the one Tony grew up in?
The burning question right now is how the series will finally end. Who will get whacked? Is there another rat in our midst? Has anyone been cooperating with the FBI that we don’t know about? Will there be any surprises or plot twists? Or will Chase do exactly what he’s done in the past, and give us some silly dream sequence episode that tells us nothing? Will Chase go completely off his rocker and make the finale a musical? (That would be awesome!)
I looked online earlier and I have never seen so many people speculating about how the final show will end. There must be 500 so-called “spoilers” out there. There are some hints from earlier trailers that Phil Leotardo gets whacked, but that might just be an attempt to misdirect viewers. One guy claims that he was on the set when they filmed the last episode and goes into great detail about what happens. He says that the Soprano house gets blown up and that Meadow is the victim of a car bomb. One couple came up with an interesting scenario where Tony turns on the family and becomes an FBI informant. Supposedly, by the end of the episode, he’s living a legitimate life under the name of Kevin Finnerty, the same moniker he dreamt about when he was in a coma after getting shot by his uncle earlier this season. Still other speculate that Paulie Walnuts is either a rat or a double agent.
My personal opinion is that Tony Soprano gets whacked. James Gandolfini doesn’t want to come back and do this show again. He’s been quoted as saying that he wants to make movies and spend some time relaxing. To give the series some closure and make sure that no one attempts to do a Sopranos reunion show in a few years, Tony will have to go.
It will work out well for several reasons. A lot of folks didn’t like the way Tony killed Christopher and he hasn’t been making a lot of friends for the past two seasons with his impulsive and selfish behavior. Not whacking Phil Leotardo earlier was a sign of weakness. Every tragic hero has a flaw and Tony Soprano has several, so it’s going to be adios Antonio tonight. At least that’s my theory. And until someone sends me a fish wrapped in newspaper, I’m going to write what I think!
