The Sopranos

Xmastime and Unconquerable have already weighed in on The Sopranos finale. Xmastime hated it and Unconquerable loved it. I guess I'm somewhere in between. I have to admit that I was initially disappointed by the abrupt ending to that incredibly suspenseful final scene (yes, I did think for a moment that my cable went out; no, I didn't groan as if I had been shot as I overheard one of my neighbors expressing his displeasure through my open windows or "boo!" my television as I've heard others have responded). And after a day to ponder all the theories being offered up as to "the meaning" of that final scene, I find myself less disappointed with it (seriously, next to the dream scene from Twin Peaks, I can't think of another scene from a television show that has inspired this much discourse).

Overall, I thought the final season was an improvement over the last few. I thought the series declined as Tony was made more likable as the series progressed. Tony snuffing out Christopher this season was a return to Season 1/Season 2 form when you never knew when Tony was going to do something despicable. That to me was the most interesting aspect of The Sopranos, that this character who could be so charming and likable one moment could also be a brutal murderer the next. At its best, The Sopranos held up a mirror to the worst aspects of American life. Sure, we could alternately laugh at or be horrified by their sociopathic antics (and often both simultaneously), but at the same time we could also identify with their more mundane daily problems.