Well like just about everybody I thought my cable had a problem when it cut to black and felt that there wasn't closure. Upon reflecting on it today, I began to realize just how brilliant the ending actually was and how Chase has left us to interpret whatever ending we wanted: was Tony killed or not? Did it just end with a typical dinner get-together with the family that mattered? If he wasn't killed is he going to get indicted in any event and end up like Junior? Was the cat Chris or Adriana reincarted or was it Chase doing an Edgar Allen Poe on us?
The paranoia and tension at the end can be interpreted so many ways. Who was being paraniod: Tony or the viewer? Anybody with a major in English Literature would love taking apart this ending. Its cinematic high art at its finest, and typical of Chase breaking conventions with this series right to the end.
But I can understand why so many people felt let down and considered it anti-climatic. Without the typical Hollywood spoonfed ending, Chase is forcing us to think hard about the final episode, the season and the entire series. At least Phil got what he deserved.
From a business perspective it also served HBO not to be definitive. The DVD release is supposed to contain several alternative endings so guess how many of the several million viewers from last night will buy it. And it also sets up a movie in a few years. Lets face it there are hundreds of millions of dollars at stake. This ending lets the viewer decide what happened but doesn't close the door to a sequel series for Chase and HBO.
F.....g brilliant anyway you look at it!
