What it means to be "Made in America"

Besides a near heart attack at the end, I got two things from last night's series finale of The Sopranos:

1. The decline of the Family business from the heyday of the good old days, a theme we've seen the show return to, time and time again. Little Italy has been reduced to little more than a block of restaurants - Butchie didn't have to walk far while talking on the phone with Phil before he was in Chinatown. Tony's crew has been whittled down to just him, Paulie and a few young thugs (and a hysterical cat that just kept staring at a photo of Christopher on the wall. Maybe she was Adrianna reincarnated). Uncle Junior is wasting away in a state mental hospital with no memory at all of his prior life as head of the NJ family. And the next generation of Leotardos literally runs over and crushes the prior one. (that was so gross, and I only heard it)

2. I also think Chase really drove home one of his main themes last night: that no one ever really changes, especially these people. You go through life and then you die and nothing changes and life goes on. How many times was each member of Tony's family confronted with an opportunity for growth and change, only to revert to the status quo? The only changes in the show from the very first episode in 1999 to the very last one were the losses of the characters who died. Think about it. Otherwise? Tony went through 7 years of therapy and came out of it with nothing but an excuse for his sociopathic behavior; Carmela is a little more world-weary, but she is still as materialistic as ever, even though she more openly acknowledges Tony’s ‘business’; Meadow is still smart, still Daddy’s little girl, and will end up probably being a mob lawyer, if there’s a mob left to lawyer, and won’t completely escape the life the way Tony had wanted her to; and AJ’s depression, suicidal tendencies and anger at the state of the world all disappeared in the blink of an eye with a cushy, meaningless job and a cool BMW that his parents got for him. Christopher was the only character who made any real changes in his life, and look where that got him.

I understand the anger that people are expressing about the way the episode ended. I was shocked at first, too, but then, I thought it was brilliant. I thought I was going to have a heart attack at the end and that was before the screen went blank. That final scene in the diner was like a master class in creating suspense. The music, the editing, everything. There was no way for David Chase to come up with an ending that would be satisfying to everyone. So, life goes on for Tony, et al, and from that scene you can see what it’s going to be like for him for the rest of his life – if he doesn’t end up in jail - always looking over his shoulder, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Or, maybe the guy that went to the bathroom came back and shot Tony in the head, who knows? In the end, Chase just pulled the plug on the TV and left it to us to figure out.

Personally, the choice of Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing”, and the line “The movie never ends it goes on and on and on and on...” as the song on the jukebox was perfect. For a perfect ending.

In my opinion.