And that’s how you whack a show…
At the end of The Graduate, Benjamin and Elaine hop a bus, running away to start their future together. The first time I saw it, I thought it was a happy ending with the two young lovers finally beating through all the crap around their lives and getting on with their lives. But shortly after my first viewing of the film, someone (maybe a film professor) asked “what’s next?” and that changed everything.
What’s next for Benjamin and Elaine? Look at their faces as the bus slowly pulls away from the church. Look at how their expressions change from happiness to something else as reality settles in and they realize what they’ve done. Do they really love each other? Will they really be happy? Is this what they really want? What’s next?
Since then, it’s a question that I’ve been fascinated with in narratives. After the final fade to black and the credits begin to roll, what happens to the characters you’ve just watched or read about after that particular chapter in their lives?
I think the true climax to The Sopranos was in the second-to-last episode. Tony’s life finally pushed him to the point where he had pushed all of his family away. His life had finally and totally disrupted the suburban family lifestyle he had spent the last seven years trying to maintain. For the first time, Carmella acted like a mob wife and there was no denying for A.J. and Meadow what their father actually did for a living. From the first episode to the eighty-fifth, the show was about the double-life that Tony lead and the way his family ignored it or danced around it.
So last week, when Tony hunkered down for a night’s sleep with only a gun (“Woke up this morning, got yourself a gun”), that was the end of his ideal little family. Everything he had tried to protect his family from came crashing down once Bobby was killed in the hobby shop.
This week’s episode was really an epilogue—what happens the day after. And the answer is, not too surprisingly, life goes on. That’s what’s always happened in the Soprano household, life goes on and settles back down to normal as everyone sits around and denies that they’re waiting for the other shoe to fall. Whether the other shoe is a grand jury or the barrel of a gun or just a family emergency (is Meadow pregnant? Will she total her car like A.J. did?) The façade that the Sopranos are a normal family who can live a normal existence is shattered and all that remains are the uneasy calms of the final diner scene.
For all of this “old school” bravado, Tony is a child of the 70s & 80s. When he’s flipping through the table-top jukebox at the diner, you’re hoping that he’ll pick Tony Bennet or something else equally old and nostalgic. Instead he opts for Journey and a stadium anthem. “She was just a small town girl…” I doubt that Carmella is really a small town girl but didn’t that just perfectly encapsulate her. Her small town may not be geographical but more social—her only lasting relationships are based on the small group of mob people Tony knows. “Don’t stop believing” is the theme of the Sopranos. But it’s a bit more devious than just a love song. Don’t stop believing in the little lies to tell yourself to get through each and every day.
If you had pressed me up to the time when the screen went black, I was predicting for a while that the entire Soprano except maybe Meadow was going to be killed. Meadow is the only one who appears to understand who and what Tony is. She’s accepted it ever since the two of them toured colleges together. I was drawn into that last scene, expecting the Godfather moment or something. That it never came leaves me asking “what’s next?”
That’s the guessing game David Chase and crew have left us with. Instead of providing questions, they leave us guessing. What’s next? My guess is nothing. “Don’t stop.” Life goes on, Tony and family have a nice meal, Tony rebuilds his crew like he always does and life goes on until the next person he pisses off crosses him.
[tags]Sopranos, David Chase, Tony Soprano[/tags]