The "Sopranos" debate rages

Genius: David Chase went out with a bang by hardly going out with anything at all. Love it or hate it, no other ending could’ve brought about the debate that Episode 86, “Made in America,” inspired amongst “Sopranos” fans. HBO’s message boards abound with conspiracy theories – Tony was already dead before he walked into the diner, etc.

Though most reportage seems to emphasize the negative reaction from literal-minded fans (the flurry of postings whacked hbo.com and nj.com offline minutes after the show's end and, according to Yahoo!, its search engine was clogged with requests like "sopranos sucked," "sopranos finale sucked," and "sopranos ending sucked”), most of the comments I’ve read at a few sites in fact really liked the ending, or at least admired its chutzpah.

On the other hand, there’s this screed from Nikki Finke, who might’ve throttled David Chase had he been in the room with her while she was watching (and, seemingly, posted a half-hour before the episode concluded – so that’s how she manages those scoops – she opens a new blog entry then sits around and waits for something to happen and then, when she posts it, it looks like she beat everyone to the punch. Well played, Ms. Finke!):

“Chase clearly didn't give a damn about his fans. Instead, he crapped in their faces. This is why America hates Hollywood. Unlike some network series that end abruptly because broadcasters pull the plug without warning, ‘The Sopranos’ has been slated for years to go off the air tonight. But instead of carefully crafted, this finale looked like it had been concocted in a day or two. … Chase needed to exert himself to a concoct an artful denouement. But he took the lazy way out. The show we all loved deserved a decent burial. Instead, it went into a black hole.”

Geez, you’d think Chase had drowned her puppy or something.

On the other hand, here’s my friend Matt Seitz, who has written as much and as well on the show as anyone in the country:

“No gangster story has ever ended like this. The lack of resolution -- the absolute and deliberate failure, or more accurately, refusal, to end this thing -- was exactly right. It felt more violent, more disturbing, more unfair than even the most savage murders Chase has depicted over the course of six seasons, because the victim was us. He ended the series by whacking the viewer.

“This ending was so consistent with everything that came before -- consistent with the show's themes, its style, its cruel sense of humor, its belief in the utter finality of death as the only real ending, the sense that life goes on anyway, even without the incredibly important person known as You -- that it was the greatest Sopranos ending ever.”

There’re your two extremes – where do you come down on the issue? Would nothing less than a Vesuvian orgy of violence have sufficed as Tony’s come-uppance? Or was this one of the greatest – and deftly considered – mind-f#%&s in TV history? Or, maybe, both?

Oh, and maybe Phil’s skull might’ve held up better had it not already been ventilated.