Times Change

Was just sitting here at my desk, still seething over the finale of The Sopranos.

I ranted at length about it on myspace (where I put all my unimportant thoughts) but I'll sum it up like this:

In the grand scheme of things, it was the kind of ending you'd expect from a clever writer/director/producer like David Chase. It throws off the shackles of convention and makes you draw your own conclusion. Fine, ok, I get that. But it isn't what he was building up to, and the last episode was pretty much crap because of it. He switched horses mid-race, and we all got trampled. David Chase is an ass.

I was looking at this picture from Season One. Consider everyone on it, L to R:

Dr. Melfi: Snapped and kicked Tony out of her office in the next-to-last Episode.

AJ: was all over the finale, and still isn't interesting, presumed alive.

Livia: Dead of old age, Season 2 (or 3, I forget), one of the best characters the show ever had.

Meadow: the one person we have hope for, presumed alive.

Carmela: just a sad, sad character who tries so hard until it becomes too difficult, presumed alive.

Tony: appears to have beaten the New York Families, presumed alive.

Christopher: dead, earlier this season, at Tony's hand.

Silvio: in a coma, dead for all intents and purposes, next-to-last episode.

Big Pussy: dead, end of season two, at Tony's hand.

Paulie: went through different levels of betraying Tony over the years, friend of his Dad's, now a Captain.

Uncle Junior: nuttier than a snickers bar, but alive.

There's so much to say about that finale, but I'm not going to repeat myself here. I just find it interesting that the core characters, above, went through so many changes over 7 (let's be honest) seasons.