I don't think it has to end with Tony getting his due. Maybe that's what Bracco alludes to, that Tony does indeed ride off into the sunset, however unexpected that may be.

On a personal level, and I really am conflicted about saying this, I hope Tony does suffer. I know that I'm in the minority, and a tiny minority at that, but I'm just tired of him always getting his way. For me, he's never been the anti-hero that alot of people feel that he is. He's a terrible husband, good provider or not, he's very jealous of others being seemingly at peace with their lives, and let's face it, he's a murderous bastard, that when push comes to shove, will kill you in a heartbeat depending on his mood.

Are there alot worse people in the world ? For sure, but that doesn't make it right.

No matter what happens, I'm really looking forward to this season.

PB,

No, you are correct. Tony does indeed deserve punishment. I totally understand where you are coming from. I can too understand how you'd feel conflicted.

What is it about this character that makes him my favorite on the show???? Surely if he were a real life person I'd have absolutely nothing to do with him and God knows I'd certainly would never want to be married to a Tony Soprano.

Stepping back from the fantasy of a tv show, and looking at it in a realistic way, yea, Tony "deserves" a harsh punishment. he is a "crook." Whatever the ending, I hope in the end, we all can agree, that the series ended appropriately.

TIS

TIS,

I wish I had worded it as well as you did. You hit it right on the head, especially about being conflicted about Tony being your favorite. I guess suffer was a poor choice of words on my part. Punished is a more accurate description of what I'd like to see happen to Tony. What I really do NOT want to see is Tony riding off into the sunset like Michael Corleone at the end of part 1. Do I love the end of part 1 ? I loved it 30 years ago and I love it now. It still gives me goosebumps, every time. But THE GODFATHER is opera where THE SOPRANOS is too close to real life. For me, an ending like GOODFELLAS, where everyone goes out in handcuffs, would be more appropriate.

PB

I'm sure some of you, if not most of you, are familiar with the British series 'The Prisoner' in the late sixties, starring Patrick McGoohan. Completely different genre, I know, but bear with me on this. That particular series raised more questions in terms of content than it answered, much like The Sopranos. After faithfully promising fans that he would tie everything up, McGoohan wrote an entirely nonsensical ending which may still feel unsatisfied with.

Now, I'm not suggesting for a minute that Chase & co would write anything ridiculous, but it's certainly possible the ending could be an anti-climax. Maybe that's what Ms Bracco alluded to. Nobody gets whacked, Tony and Carmela live happily ever after etc blah blah blah. Would they do that to us? Would they let Tony get away scot-free?

Like TIS, just speculating. But the thought that Carmela might buy it has occurred to me as well.

I posted somewhere above that the ending could be anticlimatic. It could all end with a whimper of sorts as in "all goes on as before." Remember the fight Tony picked with his young driver when he returned from the hospital after being shot? Remember how he went into the bathroom and threw up then looked in the mirror and smiled. That same attitude of his could be incorporated into a script for the finale.

Okay, so either Tony gets it in one way or another in the end or he doesn't get it in the end. So, if he does gets it, he either gets busted or one of his kids or Carmela or Christopher gets it either because of an accident or because he's Tony Soprano. The possibilities are endless. "As the Don used to say: 'Out of the mouths of babes...'"

Let's not forgot what SC said (correctly) a few posts back. WE HAVE BEEN WRONG MORE THAN WE'VE BEEN RIGHT (a lot more) on all the predictions we've made in the past. How many times during the season we guess this or that and either nothing climatic happens or something we just don't expect. If the "odds" are that all our speculations are incorrect, then this will truly be a "surprise" ending.


Heck, I don't care, it's still fun to talk about. If I don't get to see the 6:00 showing on Sunday, I'm gonna go nuts wondering what you guys are talking about.

SB, I cheated!!! I read your spoiler!! :(. I just couldn't resist. (Call me Mrs. Kravitz ) Even still, I am not believing anything just yet.

TIS

Here's the main why Tony won't be killed....MONEY! Chase knows how much money HBO would throw at him to make a "Sopranos Movie". He will keep Tony alive with a few other key or regular characters (Silvio, Artie, AJ, Melfie, FBI guys, Hesh, Meadow, Carm, Janice, etc.) just to salvage a plot. I'm getting rather excited for the final nine, but it's bittersweet knowing it's the end.

Since we have been wrong more than right, is there any chance Melfi doesn't make it out of the series alive?? I think, as the most moral character on the show, she should. Thoughts?

Nah, Sollozzo knows she's a civilian.

Yes, PB, but she could get it by accident. Maybe she and Tony are leaving her office together, and she gets shot in a hit on him.

All kidding aside, that would be a truly tragic twist. It almost makes sense that the one person in this world who's nice to him, who doesn't have to be, would be part of the collateral damage. That's an eery coincidence about Meadow and the car accident. Now if it happens I'll have to go see the fortune teller at the feast this summer.

Well, as said here in an earlier post, there's too much money to be made down the road not to keep enough of the characters alive for a movie. And the uniqueness of The Sopranos was the ongoing dialogue between Melfi and Tony. They couldn't kill her off.

I totally agree SB. Great post.

I think enough characters will be killed off during the New York/New Jersey mob war.

Please God, not Paulie Walnuts

A little off topic, but do you know what I hope DOESN'T happen,ESPECIALLY when the very last episode airs??? I hope for those of us on the West Coast, they don't have the ending posted on line or have it on the news too early. They do that for some award shows that air earlier back East and I've gone on line and accidently have seen who's won. This would be worse. If, like this Sunday's episode, I'm not
able to see it til 9:00 (my time), it would ruin it.

I'm lucky I have all the HBO's which allows me to see the East Coast episode, but not everyone does.

Also, remember that jerk who posted the Junior/Tony episode (I forgot which season), but it pissed me off.

TIS

Sopranos' Star Ready for Show to End
By Associated Press
2 hours ago

NEW YORK - The time has come for HBO's "The Sopranos" to be rubbed out. And Michael Imperioli is ready for the end.

The 41-year-old actor returns as Christopher Moltisanti for the final season of the Emmy-winning mob drama, which premieres Sunday (9 p.m. EDT).

"I love the show," Imperioli told AP Radio in a recent interview. "It's gonna be sad to leave it. I think the timing is right to end it."

What's in store for his character?

"I would like to end it in the psychiatric hospital with Uncle Junior," he joked. "It's probably gonna end, I would imagine, not the way people expect."

Imperioli said he hopes Tony Soprano, played by James Gandolfini, won't allow Christopher to take over as mob boss.

"If it ends with me as the boss then what's the point, it's over, right? Then I don't get to enjoy it," he laughed. "I don't have any desires in that how it ends. I mean, I know however it's going to end, it's going to be interesting and appropriate."

He said it would be funny if Christopher's fiancee, Adriana La Cerva (Drea de Matteo), got revenge on him.

"Maybe (she) comes from beyond the grave, makes him a zombie and brings him to the netherworld. I don't know, I always thought he could be killed by Adriana but that's not gonna happen," he said.

If anyone decides to post after the airing of this Sunday's episode, PLEASE use the spoiler option so that it won't be spoiled for those who did not get a chance to see it.

If I may suggest; whoever starts the first thread, just title it "Spoilers" Episode 1/Season 7 (or something like that). If we keep each episode on it's own thread, we should no when/if to go there no? I know that I won't to go there until I've seen it.


TIS

Just watched Countdown with Keith Olberman and a segment by Brian Williams on the Sopranos. He referred to Edie Falco in the kitchen just after she finished the last Sopranos scene to ever be shot. So, I'm taking that to mean at least that Carmela survives.

I would think that Chase would film the last scenes out of order. He is, after all, soooo secretive.

Olivant,

I just watched the same thing. And, I thought the same thing too. She really sounded like she's gonna miss it hu?

They must film scenes out of order, because in another post I made with an article, it stated the final scene was filmed in an ice cream shop, remember?


TIS

Btw, Gandolfini must really be camera shy, because he hardly ever appears in any of this news segments.

Well, given that she was being interviewed by NBC, I tend to think that it was the last scene. But it could be that Williams just phrased it that way.

Okay, just saw a Sopranos preview. Tony does get arrested - by the FBI and in his bathrobe. I won't say anything more. Did anyone else see it?

I'm tellin' ya, Adrianna is coming back.

Olivant,

Thanks for the tidbit. Must be Tony was going out for the morning paper if he was in his bathrobe hu?

What makes you so sure Adianna's coming back??? I'll tell you, if she does I'll eat my hat.


TIS

It came to me in a vision. Along with the winning lottery numbers. Okay, the numbers didn't pan out, but I'm sure about Ade. Start marinating your hat!

Nah. Someone needs to tell her she's dead.

Gandolfini wakes up next to a suburban soccer mom in California. He's Kevin Finnery, and the Sopranos was just a dream.

Hey, they did it on NEWHART.