Consistently my most favorite character on The Sopranos.  Swoon... 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"We cannot allow a mine shaft gap"

He had his reasons.  Often he apologized. He gave and gave and gave. And don't forget, Danwhy (Mr. Insensitive), Chris had a "disease."

Do not read this link if you haven't seen the show or if you don't want spoilers.  But this article from today's LA Times expressed the affection some of us felt for both Chris and Tony. A line was crossed in Sunday's episode and Paul Brownfield and I recognize it for the turning point that it was. 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Christopher took Richy Aprio's body to the pork store and parcelled it out on the meat band saw. 

I'm just sayin'.

Thank you very much, Raymond.  That's the kinda helpful quality you could always count on from Christopher.  Richie Aprile was a dirty scoundrel.  Disposing with his remains was well within Christopher's job description with Tony's Waste Management firm.  And it was a favor to the abused Janice (aka Parvati) Soprano. 

How can that be viewed with anything but due respect?

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Penultimate episode of all time tonight! I'm so excited!!!

Hope some of you are watching and enjoying the slow disinigration as much as I have been.

In the meantime, I'm ready to rewatch Season 3 having completed my Season 1 and 2 review.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"We cannot allow a mine shaft gap"

Though I ordinarily leave the room when the "Next on The Sopranos" bit comes on, the last couple of weeks I've stuck around to watch. Count on David Chase not to give anything away. Geez! Even the titles of the episodes! We spent days trying to figure out what was the meaning of "The Blue Comet" or "Heidi and Kennedy." Hahaha.

So last night I'm stunned by the short episode. David says, "It's over." I say, "No, it's not. There's ten minutes to go." But it was over. And then the screen reads...

NEXT WEEK

...then the next one reads...

THE FINAL EPISODE

...and then...

EVER.

I let out a small whelp. Bittersweet though. If tomorrow I heard David Chase had agreed to tag on five more episodes as sort of an aftermath or something, I'd be more pissed than anything else. So this is good. But it just was so hard to see that word "EVER" and absorb its finality.

Sigh.

Josh has a good working theory for what's to come. I like it.  It would be satisfying.  My theory has been shot to hell and I now officially relinquish it.

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Danwhy did you notice the use of The Doors "The End" at the Bada Bing?! 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Susan, I must be watching it a few hours ahead of you!

Yes, I noticed the Doors, although to be honest, the episode moved so fast I wish I had recorded it as I'm sure I missed a lot, I'll catch a repeat though this week before Sunday.

One thing that I enjoyed (and was sometimes frustrated by) was the pacing of the Sopranos.  Some episodes seemed (note I said seemed) to accomplish nothing.  Last night was a fast forward version, the things that happened yesterday could have taken an entire season in previous years!  I'm not so sure I liked the pace but things sometimes get fast as life races to it's enevitable conclusion.  I don't want to give anything away but Tony at the very end of the show, how perfect was that moment!  So many perfect moments last night. 

I have some theories too but I am enjoying the ride so I try not to think about it too much.  Next week will surely be one of the best sit back and watch 60 minutes I have experienced in a very long time.

"We cannot allow a mine shaft gap"

We have the option of East Coast HBO or West Coast HD HBO -- one at 6 pm and the other at 9 pm Pacific.  I try not to cheat and watch it East Coast time.  I think I only did that once when we had plans for later. I TiVo it and watched it the next morning.  Then I will watch it some more before Sunday.  I did have a few questions which Josh was able to answer like who was that guy at the beginning -- the one with the newspaper in the driveway.  Was the blonde on the staircase Phil's gummah?  Who was the guy in the restaurant?  Had we met the young model friend of AJ before?  Stuff like that. 

Yes, the final moment of Tony last week was perfection.  Especially when you take into account his love of the History channel.

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

This Doors fan caught the song! :) I mentioned it to Kelly when we were watching.

We recently upgraded to DirecTV HD so we'll be watching it "live" on Sunday instead of the TiVO.

I just can't figure out what is going to happen in the end. Part of me doesn't want Tony to get whacked, but the other part thinks that really is the best way to end it - forEVER.

Jordan .

You'll love it in HD Jordan, I don't know how we lived before!

48 hours to go...

"We cannot allow a mine shaft gap"

Dissapointed here as well.  Of course the Sopranos always was about the "mundane", it was just framed in the exciting.  I guess it's only fitting the ending went the mundane route.

Of course it could be that Tony did get whacked.  In the Blue Comet eppy last week there was a flashback to Tony and Bobby talking about how when it happens you won't feel it or hear it.  Then again, the Journey song contains the lyrics "the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and on".

I did like the cat!

"We cannot allow a mine shaft gap"

argh...i still don't know what to think tonight. It's been a couple of hours, and part of me is annoyed and another part feels fine with it. All week, I'm wondering who is going to get whacked, and then in the final minutes, the music blaring, wondering if this was Tony's last moments as more and more people walk through the door - is Meadow going to walk in just as a bullet goes through her dad's head? is his wife gonna get hit by a stray? will it be the guy at the bar? or maybe in the booth? No, it's the guy in the bar who goes to the bathroom (just like in the Godfather). The nerves in my stomach start tightening as Meadow comes up and then Tony's face, and I'm expecting a bang, and then blackness

ARGH!!!

Maybe the "real" ending will be on the DVD. Maybe that is the only way Chase and company could keep the true ending quiet.

I dunno....I wanted more, expected more....but too many times, Sopranos never delivered like it should have, and then once or twice in a season it would deliver a lot. i just dunno.

so while I am up doing some work, I'll watch it again on HBO2.

Jordan .

Very good Booth. Great comment.

This episode was final, not a season ender where explanations and further developement were possible. It's not the end of an existential art house film either - posing deep questions on life and death and placing the purpose and true plot on the viewer.  I don't have the keen eye you film buffs have on scenes and cutting and alternate endings but, that last episode seemed a hodgepodge of myriad jumbled together takes. It had no flow to it. So, several possible endings with the cop out big mystery ending the final choice. Easy out ?

I noticed this series went downhill after season 5. Season 6 did not have enough pull to remind me to catch the Sunday night showings. With some exceptions, this season was a klunker too. IMO. 

Eyes open for a reprise mini series in 3 years or a movie in the offing. ( Offing : That's the future not the act of murdering someone. ) At least they used Oyster Bay as a location - a few miles from my house - for the sighting of Leo

the Brooklyn hitman. ( squashed head)

I'm not ready to judge it yet. Yesterday was a long hard day from early morning onward. Drive to funeral services of one of my longest time pals and then to a gathering my friends and I prepared for late afternoon of the same days.  Lots of mingling with lots of folks we hadn't seen in years. Children who were now grown men and women. Little kids we had never met. Back home at 7:00 pm. Exhausted and emotionally drained by the end of the day and when The Sopranos came on.

But...

I couldnt' quite get into the feel of the show. It felt wrong. It felt inauthentic. It felt forced. And I confess that I too felt let down. Even Leotardo's whacking was strangely unsatisfying and fake with the twin babies in the car, the vomiting onstander (yes, more vomit, Booth!) and the car rolling over his head. Sigh. I almost wish last week's episode had been the final episode. But...

I'm willing to give it a second chance and see if I have a different take knowing all that's to come.

Josh tells me series' final episodes are almost always disppointing and asks if I would have felt the same if this had been a season finale. The final EVER Seinfeld was a let down too.  He's right though in that I wouldn't have been disappointed had it been a season finale.

Since I love David Chase sooooooo much, I feel he deserves a reassessment. I haven't read any of the articles yet because I don't believe my last night's viewing was under optimal circumstances.  I don't want some critics view tainting my own before I've even established it.

Waiting until later,

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

Loving it more as time goes by.  Here's the first and only post-finale interview with David Chase for those who are up to date and want to hear his perspective.

I'm off to the Getty Museum for lunch and art and views!  I love LA!!  (did I ever mention that before???) 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

"We cannot allow a mine shaft gap"

He lives in New York and Los Angeles.  Not France!

Susan 

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin