Entirely Uninformed Sopranos Opinions

Okay, so thus far I have only gotten most of the way through Season 3 of The Sopranos on DVD. I enjoy it, although it's not the show I have enjoyed the most of anything I've watched through Netflix. I don't have HBO, so of course have not seen the final episode yet (or anything beyond mid-season 3.) But, if the goal of a show is to have people talking about it, you have to give David Chase credit; the entire blogosphere has been atwitter for 2+ days now, talking about it. Hell, I listed to many of ESPN Radio's podcasts, and most of them spent a significant portion of Monday's shows talking about it as well.

When you can have a bunch of sports talk shows talking about your highbrow, HBO television show...well, that's some kind of impressive.

My favorite column about the finale thus far is undoubtedly Ross's. For that matter, it's one of the best columns of his that I've ever read, which is saying something, as I really enjoy his writing. Favorite quote:

Which is what the show comes down to, in the end - a wicked man in a wicked profession, who has intimations that something else, something better, might be out there waiting to be claimed ... but in the end prefers living the only life he knows.

This is a very deep and insightful point to make about the show, and about people. Human beings are fundamentally both very conservative and very adaptable. It's a strange, almost paradoxical combination, but it also makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint. If you grow up with life being a certain way, you'll be more successful at living that way if you can adapt your expectations and behaviors to fit best within that mold. However, once you have grown up in that style, it goes almost without saying that your behavior and skillset are best-suited for that life, and hence you will resist any significant changes in that life.

I think this is probably why I don't enjoy The Sopranos as much as many other people do. I already kind of know that this is how people are. When I watch TV, or a movie, I don't want to see people acting pretty much the same way people always act. I want them to be more noble, or more evil, or more able to swing around New York City on webs and make out with Kirsten Dunst.

However, for all that, cheers to Chase for sticking by his artistic vision, especially by ending his series with a big 'Fuck You' to everyone who came in with preconceptions as to how the show 'ought to end.' Life is full of loose ends, in fact it's nothing but a series of them. A show that aims to be 'real' ought to end just the way it did.