Sunday, June 10, 2007 5:15 PM
<Spoiler Alert> Didn't see the finale? Stop reading. </Spoiler Alert>
And so my Sunday night addiction is over, and I've had to pay my respects to the Sopranos tonight...but what a satisfying way to end the series. But what did the ending mean? There are already a tonne of speculations on the Sopranos Facebook groups about what could have happened, as well as some that I'm thinking:
- Nothing...they ate dinner. All the camera work around the people that kept getting focus (like the guy with the cap in the corner or the guy that came in along with AJ) was just for effect, and Meadow walks in and they all sit down and eat.
- Tony dies...Meadow walks in, Tony looks up...but he "never hears it coming" and the screen going black for those moments was him dying. Does the whole family die? Who knows...
There was also speculation that Patsy was the one that put the hit out on Tony, since he was the one that Tony was convinced flipped to the feds on him.
But regardless...not really "knowing" what happened is really what is at the heart of the show: a crime boss who struggles between his family and his work, and the ongoing threats that affect both. Even if Tony didn't get killed at that moment, how much longer before he would have been...or would he have ended up like Uncle Junior to waste away? Or would he have gotten old and still have a hard time giving up control, like Phil did? There is no happy ending to this show...there is no way to cleanly end it because the story focusses around life.
If anything, the Sopranos is a commentary on all our lives: we're here, we die. And who really remembers us when we die...who does it really affect? Our existence really only touches two generations prior to us and two generations after us...otherwise, we're just another gravestone in the yard. Think about it: tell me the names, first and last, and maiden name, of your great great grandparents...without looking it up. And tell me what they did, what their personailities were like, what their faults were...you can't. Look at the Sopranos...look at how many died...and what was the overall effect? Life goes on...life continues. So it is with us.
Even those who try to leave their mark on the world aren't secure in their seeming immortality. I'm sure the pharoah that oversaw the creation of the Sphynx in Egypt thought that his name would be known throughout the ages for his contribution...but nobody really knows. I bet you most diabetics wouldn't be able to tell you that it was two Canadian doctors, Banting and Best, that pioneered insulin as a treatment for the disease which has enabled millions to live normal lives. Our lives and what we do in them are so fleeting...and no matter what heights we achieve, there will always be someone, somewhere, at some time, who will reach higher. Does that mean we still shouldn't achieve? Or does that mean that we just need to keep perspective on all that we do and prioritize based not on what others say we should do or what others say is important, but on how we want to spend the unimaginable short time that we exist for?
Do I think Tony died? It doesn't really matter. What matters more is whether I'm doing what I want to be doing in the time I have, since none of us know when we won't hear it coming.
D