I never thought about post credit finishing thoughts. That would have been interesting. not sure if you ever watched the HBO series, “Six feet Under” another one of my favorites. But I was incredibly impressed by the way the writers handled the finale to that show. They essentially used the same mechanism that they started each show with ( a death) for each major character, showing each character’s death scene in a way that brought closure to how each character’s life turned out. Some with new partners, jobs, etc. It really provided amazing closure for the viewers and kept consistent with the theme of the show no less.

It reminds me of how Tony was able to justify his actions through the series – to Melfi and to himself. Killings, mistresses, etc. – can all be justified. Just blame your mother – again last night “I had a very unhappy childhood”.

Or if you get in trouble, buy your way out – a new house for Carmela, a car for AJ, etc. There’s no end to the way someone can justify their actions.

As Dave said – you can’t help but rooting for Tony. That to me is a larger issue around the show – how does this killer, misantrope, evil person get people around him (and viewers) to identify with him. He’s just a regular guy with regular family problems? Right. What does it say about us, the viewers?

I guess it was an insult for Chase to not deliver what the viewers wanted – closure. I personally think any abrupt ending to the series – his murder, jail, etc. would have felt a little forced and disappointing. Sure everyone (myself included) wants to know what happens to Tony (I was hoping for some after credit text “Tony was sentenced in 2009…. and died in prision in…”) but it would have changed our perceptions. “Tony got what was coming to him” or “Tony got off scot free” would have forever changed your view of the character. For me, better to leave it focused him as a person throughout the series than on him as the person based on his end (in a way like everyone talked about Chris after his death).

A 2 hour finale would have been great. No doubt. I still like the way he closed it out. Maybe I’m sick for the torture of wondering what happened next. But it’s enoyable to me to conjure up potential next scenes. I saw rumor that when they release the DVD for part 2 of season 6, it will come with the ending we never got. That would be quite the sales tool for the producers.

I disagree with you on AJ. His weak personality would never have made good on his intentions to go into the military. The real comedy in it all was that they were berating him for totaling a $30,000 Nissan SUV. Then they end up buying him a $50,000 BMW M3 as a replacement. I loved the scene of AJ justifying it because it gets 23 mpg. Too funny. Did you catch how horrible the premise of that script Tony got for AJ to work on? Something about a guy getting sucked through his dataport and into the internet to fight crime.

I’ll leave you with one morsel of food for thought that i caught in a column this morning. In last week’s episode, there is a flashback for Tony to his boat ride with Bobby on the lake earlier in the season. They are having a talk about what it’s like to get whacked. Bobby makes the hypothesis that it simply fades to black: “you wouldn’t even know it had happened: everything would just go black”.

…..Much like last night’s ending. Maybe Tony got whacked after all.