» 6-21: "Made In America" 2007.06.10 (recap) Options

[Dan Dare]

The absolute worst ending for any series EVER.

Have you seen the last episode of The Prisoner?

It maddened me last night because I was sure that my dvr had eaten the last 30 seconds, but on reflection it's not such a bad ending, and a la Junior singing, it was in character with the show as a whole.

And while one can read anything one wants into the ending, sometimes a vaguely sinister Arabic looking man walking into the men's room is just a vaguely sinister Arabic looking man walking into the men's room.

[Sam G]

I wonder why more people seem to think the cat is Chris and not Adriana.

[Vinny Vincenzo]

The spoilers all said that Benny was going to whack Phil, but it turned out to be Walden Belfiore. I think it was Paulie who asked him what kind of name is Walden for an Italian kid. He said he was named after Bobby Darin, real name, Walden Cassotto. Walden Belfiore showed up for the last five episodes. Don't remember him having a nickname. He's played by Frank John Hughes, who played a great part in HBO's Band of Brothers as SSgt. William 'Wild Bill' Guarnere. He came out of nowhere, like so many other Soprano's characters. Thought he did a pretty good job.

[Hey Zeus]

The fact that the final scene was set in a diner is enough to convince me the series ended with Tony's POV of his beloved daughter entering the establishment with his immediately receiving a bullet in the back of his head. BLACK.

[jenpape]

I just saw on MSN that a Leotardo was in the diner at the end, it said that on the credits, can anyone confirm?

[Beckster]

It was what it was....and for me..I thought it was one of the best hours of television I have ever seen...I could barely breathe for one hour..because I knew it was the finale..the characters did not know...for them it was just another day in the the life...pretty much what real life is..life just goes on, for Tony it was close, but by being working a deal he pulled through..I mean isn't that kinda of how he differed from Phil? Life for them goes on....

[Gadfly22]

Here's what I think:

1. Tony did not get whacked. The guy at the counter stayed WAY too long, and let witnesses get WAY too good a look at him. As we've seen this season, executions at restaurants happen quickly, by guys with obscured faces. Tony's fine.

2. The episode was about viewership: Agent Harris watching and feeling a sense of participation in mob action. The cat watching the picture. Even unconscious Sil "watching" Little Miss Sunshine. All of this AFTER last week's cutting off of the primary voyeur, Dr. Melfi. Still the watching goes on. And at the end, all Chase did was make sure WE the audience felt like an audience, watching and waiting for what's next. We wanted to SEE something, HEAR some new information. And we got a black screen and silence and nothing else. Chase's last word, in effect, was: "You want more? Poor you!" And I'm OK with that.

[Wanda Overthere]

I don't have as much hatred for the ending as I did last night, but I am sick at the probability that Tony got whacked. That to me was a huge cliche. I should have known it when the opening shot was Tony appearing he was in a coffin.

The alternate endings better be on the damn DVD, that's all I've got to say.

[bj222]

One thing I picked up on upon second vieiwing - the DOCK BELL, which Tony heard and seemed agonized by at the Baccal summer home, made the same sound as the door bell in the the restaurant. Not sure what to do with this yet.

Doing some more thinking - my take-away from this episode and the series as a whole - is that, despite our desires to changes/do the right thing - we all sink back into this middle-class comfort. Each of the Soprano family had a desire to take the hard road - Carmela with the separation, Meadow with Med School, AJ with his desire to join the army, Tony post-shooting, and each character "took the easy way out" and slinked back into middle-class, numbed-out consumerism. I like it.

[peedeejones]

This is how The Sopranos ends; not with an bang but with a whimper.

...and it blows!

[IcyAll Ican]

Now that I've watched again, I'd have to say the theme here was "don't be a pussy" ...

1. Chase wasn't: he gave an ending that said what he wanted to say, despite acknowledging that some fans would hate it.
2. The orange cat. BTW: a MALE cat, so it wasn't Ade. ;-)
3. The Brooklyn FBI agent's nudity.
4. Paulie, wimpering about seeing the Virgin Mary and fighting prostate.
5. The guys at the gas station, puking after seeing Flattened Phil

BTW: shout out to all the Lincoln references? Lincoln was killed at the Ford Theater.

• I thought the "Made in America" connection would be the series, itself. As in, "It was 'made' by Americans who watched week after week" ...
• When Tony woke up and sat up, he did not have a sheet -- he had a blanket. Considering the time was Winter, not so surprising.
• Someone else posted this first, but I agree: that cat heard some electronic bug in that picture of Chrissy, IMO ... so moving it wouldn't keep the cat from locating it and staring at it again.
• LOVE that Angie checked out the bottom of the plate! (Didn't she have her own series called "Angie"?)
• After all, folks, this was only one episode. Movie analogies aside, why should it be the answer to everything? Slow and steady wins ...
• That kitchen Carm was looking at in the sampler was her kitchen!
• Makes sense to me that Agent Harrass was excited by PL's death -- they've all been building up these cases. Now AH's team will have a shot at prosecuting, not burying.
• AJ is the new Christopher
• I don't think 86 episodes will prevent THE SOPRANOS from airing in syndication. It's an hour long drama. There's plenty of content. And if SEX AND THE CITY failed, it was because it was watered down and it relied on sex and nudity. THE SOPRANOS also has murder and blood -- things that can be shown on TNT or A&E
• Kinda sad when Paulie walked into the Bing and it was all quiet
• Doesn't anyone know that you don't have to hit the bottle to get the ketchup out? Just use a butter knife and break the tension holding it in, and it pours right out
• There will be no "happily ever after"
• That garage where they had the meet looked like the CLEAVER set
• Tony loves innocent creatures, so it's not surprising he liked the cat. And Paulie's in big trouble if he does something to it!
• That cat walking down the sidewalk and lying down? CGI
• The song in the van when Tony and Paulie were waiting for AH? "Denise"
• The song on Paulie's cell phone? "Cecilia"
• Paulie's quote at the funeral "He's saying the framers intersected with the Ramistan at approximately the Paternoster"
• The line Dylan was singing as the fire destroyed the CD? "He can't sing with his tongue on fire" ... (sounded like to me. Don't have the actual lyrics ... anyone?)
• So Little Paulie was back in action! Nice!
• Toenails and fingernails and hair keep growing after death (As Christopher discovered in an episode the first season?) ... nice to see Mrs. Syl cleaning his toenails, and filing them ...
• Tony, Tony, Tone ... Tony on SOPRANOS, Tony awards on CBS ... coincidence? They had a SOPRANOS joke on the Tonys: David Hyde Pierce, appearing in a number from CURTAINS, the Bdwy musical he stars in, said "A soprano has been wacked ... no, not that soprano!" or some such comment ...

Along with the final Harry Potter this summer, this ending had me really worried. I think Americans (and perhaps other nationalities) expect a happy ending, even if they will applaud or appreciate a "real" ending. I know I would have been upset had Tony been killed. In fact, if any member of that family died, it would have colored the entire series in a bad way. I don't know that I could go back and watch the DVDs of previous seasons if I knew "but he dies at the end" ... and I think smart HBO people know this. They want to keep selling this product. If they had any influence in Chase's decision to end it as he did, they'd have come down on the side of "don't kill off Tony", IMO.
I also think it's sort of a male vs. female thing -- I think men are more excited by the idea of tragic endings than women. As much as I love the words of ROMEO AND JULIET, I hate the ending. WEST SIDE STORY was only marginally better, but would be one of my favorite musicals had Tony lived.
I understand that tragedy has its place, but it's an end to longevity for movies. The box office has shown this. If you have a sad ending, you don't make as much money. Directors have railed against this, but Hollywood understands. That's why in every episode of STAR TREK, if there was a new crew member, they were gonna die -- none of the stars.
It would have been more "artistic" and more "I'm in charge" of Chase to end it with Tony dead, or the family dead, or everyone dead. But instead he got as close as he could without ruining his creation. I admire him for it. I sort of suspect he's not thrilled with having to make the decision, though -- he didn't want the audience to love Tony, so he would have loved to let Tony have his just desserts. But with commerce ... truly something we make in America, he could only do what he did, IMO.

I want to also say that the argument against Tony being killed in the last moment, and therefore the blackout, in which his POV is talked about ... "it can't be Tony's death because the series wasn't from his perspective" etc. ... though I don't think Tony died, I do think it could be argued as a possible reason for the blackout. NOTHING is ever really from a character's perspective, because they don't shoot in POV after POV -- when Tony remembered his conversation with Bobby on the boat, he saw himself. He didn't even see Bobby's face in the memory they showed, because that was not what had been filmed. It's something I always thought might be interesting -- to show a character's memory as what they actually would see, which (unless there were mirrors around) would NOT include themselves.

[Teesa]

What I liked:
*Paulie--most everything he said & did had me laughing, I'm really going to miss him
*the cat--"snake with fur" *LMAO*! Although I don't think it was meant that the cat was Ade or Chris reincarnated, that would be too much like "Lisa the dog" from SFU
*Holsten's!--I live like 4 blocks away. One of the crew members petted my dog when we were stopped at the red light at the corner right where the parlor is

What I disliked:
*the sudden black screen ending, because I too thought the cable went out, and I thought it was placed at such an odd moment, *maybe* if they blacked out after Meadow sat down or something, but not just as she walks in
*Meadow's parking problems--just a minor quibble, but all she had to do was drive down a few feet and pull into the parking lot there. If you are going to use a Bloomfield location, do it right! ;p

[paulie42652]

I FREAKING LOVED THIS!!

Chase wanted to get a rise out of people. Man oh man. Mission Accomplished.

That is WHAT LIFE IS, you continue, you go on, no matter good, bad or indifferent. Bad stuff happens, you continue, good stuff happens, you continue.

You Get On With IT!

[joeysynq]

I'm happy with the ending it took me a while but I've come to terms with it. I got what I wanted, my three favorite people were left alive (Tony, Sil, And Paulie). I'm left to dream up my own scenarios for the rest of their lives.

Over all I liked the episode. There was a lot of humor, from the random guy jumping out of the van and yelling, "Oh Shit!", when Phil got it to Agent Harris all upbeat when he heard about it.

[markjay1]

Very unrealistic. Agent Harris would NEVER do that.

Obviously he would because he did. His motivation was unclear but when a character does something the motivation is implied.

It's been posted that the story ends on the words from the song "Don't Stop" and it made me think that we should keep believing, keep pretending. I'm glad that we can do that and not be faced with a bunch of bodies.

Of course you could also say that the story ends with the word "stop." Everything stops? Tony dies so everything stops.

This post has been edited by markjay1: Jun 11, 2007 @ 8:30 am.