I'm leaving a post because after reading your diatribe, I figured nobody else would bother. Yeah we are all a bunch of morons for wanting chase to make a (real) choice to wrap up a fantastic show and character. It must be hard to be so brilliant, in this literal, schlocky Rockwell world! What an ass-hat

p.s. you will never finish (or publish) your screenplay so give it up

I think you're half-right.

My thoughts:

Made in America, the name of the final episode, is a common phrase used in many contexts. We often search for it when buying something. It's a phrase which has come to mean genuineness, durability, authenticity. In addition, to be 'made' connotes the ritual one goes through to be initiated as a true gangster. Put together the phrase offers a sort of ironic twist to the concept of being made. What was once thought of as achieving true identity and purpose has in a sense been a fraud– all the ritual, all the pride and supposed comradery, all superficial. The process of being made is a fraud, it is not the genuine process of becoming. Notice what Phil says about the NJ crew, 'they don't even make people right, they don't even prick the finger.' Notice what the NJ crew says about Johnny Sack and the NY crew, 'he created a sort of insecurity' (referring to Phil). After the death of his brother, and his near death experience, Phil made it his calling to reaffirm his 'made' gangster identity. But in the end it led nowhere. Did anyone else catch the brand of vehicle which ran over Phil's skull. It was a Ford. 100% Made in America. In a sense, this symbolizes the true process of being made overpowering the fraudulent 'made' one. So, if we recognize the symbolic judgment passed on the fraudulent 'made' identity, than where is the real process? In the final episode, who is Made in America? — This is where it gets a little fun.

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Couldn't agree more, Scott. But the problem is, when the above sentiments are expressed to someone, they usually get defensive and talk about how you're attacking them because they don't "get it." It's not really about that, but it is about understanding and respecting the fact that Chase stayed true to his artistic vision for the TV show, a vision that dared to take the aesthetics of (non Hollywood) film and apply them to the standard TV drama. And had people really been paying attention, not just to the show but to the "I'm not interested in doing the 'crime doesn't pay' ending you're hoping for" hints that Chase had been giving in interviews up to now, then they would have understood what he did. And the thing that really makes me laugh is the sense of passive-aggressive entitlement that some viewers had about the finale. If I had a nickel for every time during the last 3 days that I've heard some variation on, "I'm not saying he had to whack Tony, but he owed us an ending and couldn't make up his mind, so that's just a cop-out," I'd be a rich man by now. I mean, these are the same people who bitch and moan about Lost "not giving us any answers and/or advancing the plot." It's crazy.

The use of Meadow's parallel parking (?!) to ratchet up the tension was very clever. What happens to Tony when it cuts to black... it's so obvious, I can't believe the uproar that it's too "ambiguous".

I have said everything you've written so eloquently with increasing exasperation in the last 72 hours to all the people who thought one of TV's most subversive shows was going to have a conventional ending. I spent all of Monday glued to my computer reading diatribes and occasionally posting on message boards before I realized the disgruntled fans didn't want to understand what they had seen. Some people have reversed their initial disappointment after having a few days to ruminate (or marinate as Little Carmine might say) on the episode. But what I really found appalling is how many supposedly educated people still believe that an artist is essentially the servant of the audience, and if the audience rejects his work, then the artist is a failure. To no avail, I tried to point out to people that this is above all an innovative show, and that innovations are rarely met with standing ovations. In fact, they usually provoke the exact opposite reaction. I remember years ago hearing the famous account of the world premiere of Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring" and the riot it caused and lamenting how nice it would be to live in a world where art still had the power to make people apoplectic. It's nice to know things haven't changed so very much from Paris, 29 May 1913.

David Chase spent years humanizing Tony Soprano. Occasionally he reminded us he was a killer, but still human in his motivations. An every day guy, with every day problems, who's "job" just happens to be head of a Mafia family. The point is, it's ''everyday" it doesn't stop, it just goes on. Whether we're watching or not...

"As David Chase applied the final strokes to his masterful canvas, it became clear that he had created a Jackson Pollack in a world that prefers Norman Rockwells."

David Chase is a great American modern artist. I believe the naysayers are mistaken, they were given closure. Not only closure but also a choice. Close it as you see it. The great interactive finale.

If it was a reference to the seasons first episode foreshadowing conversation with Bobby, "You wouldn't even know it had happened; everything would just go black," well…fine.

Or maybe, life goes on. We know Tony will be indicted. But, despite his evil leanings, he has his honor. Witness protection, not for him.

Seems more likely he would go to trial and the smart people he keeps around him will find a legal loophole. Ultimately, even the boss grows old and demented, like Junior or Livia. That is, if he doesn't get whacked by some stupid, ego-maniac made guy.

Life goes on. You get whacked or you grow old and feeble.

"It's all a big nothing. What makes you think you're so special?" - Livid Soprano

"It's all a big nothing. What makes you think you're so special?" Good quotation. Personally, I think it's significant, especially considering how AJ repeated those words in one of the final episodes. Remember what else Tony's mom says in that rant? About how in the end, you die alone, in "your own arms." Like Junior. That's the life Tony fears, right? Why Uncle Jun is so repulsive to him. Tony has been struggling to get out from under his mother's oppressive shadow for so long. It would be fitting, I think, if he were to prove her wrong, and die in the presence of his family. The whole season, all 21 episodes, has been an arc, which began with Tony's near-death experience, and I think it culminates in the end of Tony. The Member's Only jacket paralleled with the title of the season's first episode, the Godfather references throughout the series pointing to the fact that Tony eats an orange and the Member's Only guy heads to the bathroom, Bobby's comment about death, the boyscouts present at Bobby's killing and at the diner, a white SUV, same as Phil's, passing Meadow in the street, the communion-like eating of whole onion rings, the cat, all of those things are factored into MY perception of the ending, that what we see in those last few minutes is Tony, having failed at his "second chance" after his coma, is going to pay the ultimate price.

Others argue otherwise. I've heard theories that the Sopranos are turning rat, that they're fleeing, that the man in the USA hat is a Fed, all valid and supportable theories to varying degrees; that's what's great. The idea that Chase shot multiple endings is funny because he gives us multiple endings with this one ending. We get to write infinite endings. One could be that "some will win, some will lose, some were born to sing the blues." Another ending is that there is no ending, that it goes "on and on and on and on." Ending or no ending, it's up to you, but that in and of itself is an ending, and, to my mind, a masterful one.

Angels with Dirty Faces, and all the mob movies with their endings - say something about their era; for me today we are 'the dead-end kids/ bowery boys ' kind of - the way Cagney goes out in his last scene wasn't just for those the end kids but more for the kids watching that movie in 1938/ Today we are the audience - we make our ending & we choose where we go from here after so many great mob movies - on the waterfront; godfather - these are reflections of who we are & given the chance would we make the sacrifice to do something good for others - It is up to tony what he does next more important than what happens to him. Seems more about whether Tony can become a positive influence his kids can admire much as we must make our own decisions & legacy for the kids today & tomorrow...

Luckily my life is too rich and full to leave time for watching the Sopranos, but a
friend of mine with a high IQ says that the final blank screen is Tony's consciousness
going dead because he's just been shot. Surely you've heard this theory by now.
I think it renders all the outrage over the non-ending (good job America, save your wrath for the important stuff) moot.