I'm not a big fan of dream sequences...wasn't expecting that to eat up most of the show's time. But it was nice again to see that these characters can get even gas and diarrhea! Can hardly wait for the new shows. Hey, how come Carmella's plans for the three week trip to Italy were not mentioned again?

I generally don't like dream scenes either but somehow this one worked for me. Dream scenes usually take some the of realness out of a show. Instead of being sucked in, you realize that these people are just acting and the whole thing is fake. This time that didn't happen for me. I guess we're going to have to wait now and see what Carmela's plans are. At least she's got that mink coat now!

i loved april 9th season finale. it blew me away. i didnt think they would get pussy. you have writers that are excellent, cast and crew also . tonys mom is a a amazing actress.i hope in the future tony sister can rejoin the cast i could not beleive it when she killed richie i had to rewind my tape for that scene. smile. well please continue with such a great show. tv hasn,t been this good in quiteawhile. smile.

Remember, emails to this site do NOT go to anyone at HBO or the cast. You are right though, TV hasn't been this good in a while.

I'm sorry but I've been a fan of the Sopranos since the beginning. Some later episodes have been a little confusing and needed to be seen again to understand what was being said, but this last one was something else. I went to the web site and read the review, and the only conclusion I can come up with is the writer of this review must have been smoking the same thing the writers of this episode did. It was really a let down and just may have lost me as a viewer. I listened to the teaser all week and was really let down that no answers were given except with Big Pussy. I think it was a deliberate teaser to get us to come back next season. I doubt that I will be back.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and as I said in the "Impressions" page, some people are NOT going to like this episode. No one is smoking anything and I believe very careful thought and planning went into the writing of this episode. It was almost surreal at times. That's going to turn some people off, and that's ok. Nothing will ever please everyone but even if people don't like it, they are going to have very strong opinions about it as this person does. It invokes a reaction and even though you say you 'doubt' you'll be back, I'll bet just about anything that you 'will' be back. And of course this was a teaser. Is there any other show in the known universe whose season ender isn't a teaser? What did you expect? Did you think the writers were deliberately going to answer everything so that there would be nothing to look forward to next season?

This season has been building towards this. Tony Soprano has had to use his Don powers many ways this past year. He got Janice set up in his ma's house. He whacked Matt Bavalacka. He sent Janice home. he saved the world today, as it were. And finally, he had to use his powers where it counted- he had to whack his best friend.

A fuking trout. A slime who weasled his way into his midst to weasle his way out. And he had to end him.

And he suffered a serious blow. He became his father. And with that, he became a more powerful boss. After a serious case of agita, he found himself in more power than ever, standing at his daughters graduation, tall and proud, puffing away on his cigar.

This season was much darker than last, and this finale really showed it. While last season ended seeming to say that family will only make you stronger, this season ended saying at the end of the party, you're alone. No Melfi. No Carmella. No Pussy, figuratively and literally. Just you and your cigar.

I personally think this season far surpassed season one for a couple of reasons. Season one was David Chase's setup, now we're seeing the payoff. I doubt he has a huige master plan, but I believe his goal is eventually to have Tony reform himself. I don't think him and Melfi are done, and I don't think his conscience is clear of Pussy yet.

I am waiting in eager anticipation for Janrary 2001.

the final show left me screaming more more mlore this is the best show on tv.

I have some really mixed feelings about this final episode of the year. The dreams were very strange, I kept waiting for Richie to show back up. Tony's dreams were really quite good and helped him make some important decisions and to get some things out in the open, such as with Dr. Melfi and big Puss. However, the dreams did take up to much time. Pussy knew he was on his way to his final boat ride. It just shows that there is no forgiveness in the mafia, not even if it is one of you best friends. At the end of the show,during the grad party, Tony seemed proud, relieved and powerful. One last observation. Did it look as if Carmella was looking for Big Puss?

The dreams were very strange indeed and you certainly didn't know what to expect or even what to think at times.

I was highly disappointed with the final episode. It didnt end on a note of suspense. A season finale is supposed to leave you hanging, wondering what will happen, so that you cant wait for next season to start. The only loose end here is if Tony will beat the airplane ticket thing. That is hardly a finale. The thing with Big Pussy was resolved. He is dead, end of story. No suspense. Where is the suspense???

You're right, the episode did not end on a note of suspense. This is very consistant with the series though. If you watched season one, you'll have seen that that one didn't end that way either. I believe this is intentional. One reason I think is that since there are only 13 episodes per season (an therefore per year) it would make it hard to leave you on the edge of your seat and then you have to wait about 9 months to find out what happened. That would be very bad. Both season so far have been fairly complete in themselves. Both season ended in a similiar note; the family together, things are good and Tony smiling and smoking his cigar.

I couldn't agree more that this episode was more than just great TV, it was cinematically accomplished. The dream squences, the comic relief, the tension when Pussy was on the boat were all directed, shot, and acted brilliantly. Much like the Godfather where certain events take place in and around large family events (Connie's wedding, Vito's baptism and communion, Michael's first wedding, New Year's Eve in Havana), the Sopranos action revolves around the big events of the family, of course on a much more
middle-class level. I doubt that this similarity is coincidence.

I loved at the end where it re-capped the way Tony's crew made money over the past season, and it seemed to me that this might be foreshadowing to the types of charges facing Tony in season 3. I predict now that Tony's biggest antagonist will be the government, and not so much another mobster like
Richie or Jr. It would be a great way to proliferate Tony's character as the anti-hero. On one hand, we all love Tony, but the fact is he makes his money illegally often with ultra-violent consequences. This makes it hard to really sympathize. It also makes normal people question their own values. If some junkie gets arrested for armed robbery and gets 15 years, we all say, "Good, he deserved it." But would we feel the same way if Tony faced the same sentence? Think about it. Is their any moral difference between Tony
and a common street thug? Sure, Tony cares about his family, but he exploits women, ruins his childhood friends, and kills people. That's what makes this such a great show, so few of the characters are cut and dry. Everyone has flaws and has something we wither like or dislike about them, with the possible exception of Richie, who I kinda liked.

9 months, huh? Oh well, at least the NHL playoffs start in two days.

It seems that careful planning went into the final episode. Tony's dreams reinforced his suspicions and everything he already knew---our subconscious reads body language and catches slips of the tongue far quicker than the conscious mind does. When Tony dreamed of shooting Paulie it was because he substituted him for Puss, he didn't want to face the truth at that point. This happens all of the time in our dreams and no, I'm not a shrink. You're right, this is an episode that has to be watched more than once. I was still hoping that Puss could be saved as he was a pretty humorous character, although equally as ruthless. I'm glad Furio will be around, and I'm not surprised Christopher got his button as Tony doesn't fully understand his weakness for drugs. I think Tony is naive in this aspect as he's another generation and he thinks it's something Chris can turn off. He was aware of Chris's problem but he didn't seem to know about the drug fest in Italy. I think Chase will play around with this scenario in 2001.

I was sitting here, reading some of the other e-mails, and I just kept
getting more and more mad. Everyone of us must admit that one of the
main reasons we LOVE this show so much is because it is SO different
than anything else out there. I am not a big fan of mobster movies or
all the violence, but I am totally hooked on this show because it has
always been real and different.

The season finale was nothing like I expected. I was totally blown away
by episode #25, and I think that one had several of the cliff hangers
people wanted, along with some closures. I can not quite put my finger
on the finale, but I do know that it was brilliant. I just kept
watching it in a daze, those dream sequences were phenomenal. Not
everyone is going to fully understand what happened or what significance
they have. The Sopranos are going to be around for another two season,
and I am sure some of the images and issues brought up in the finale
will come back to haunt us again in future seasons.

This show is so different, how could we expect the season to end on a
nice tidy note, with loads of cliff hangers to keep us tuned in until
next year. I for one think David Chase is a genius, along with the
other writers. And this is an episode that will be remembered for a
long long time!

I agree with you 100%. The final episode was brillant and I'm sure the more you watch it the more you'll get out of it. In addition to the dream scenes there was a collage of scenes which gave little glimpses of Tony's life. The Hassidic Jew in the Hotel was a flashback of early in the first season. As I wrote earlier, I'm also not big on dream situations but this one was so well done that it was hard to distinguish reality from the dream. The dreams showed us what was going on in Tony's mind and tried to make sense of it all. That scene with the talking fish with Pussy's vioce was phenominal. Picking the fish was a termendous symbolism and the dialog is second to none.

Although I could have done without the dream sequences, they were expertly done. Many times we see the truth in our dreams. Tony's sub-conscience was what led him to the truth about Big Pussy. It was hard to see him go, but that is what makes this show great. We fall in love with characters and feel for them when we lose them.

I am sure that we will soon have another fantastic character to fill his place. I think that Tony is eventually going to go to prison, I just don't want his fighting with the FBI to drag out all next season. I think the writers intend to end the entire series with this conclusion.

The best thing about this series is the way they suck you in and make you love the characters. they then show you what you are loving, criminals.

The Show is still the best thing on all of television, but I just coundn't
get past the fact that to me, this season was just OK. Season-#2 had a few
moments but just wasn't chock-full-of -quality the way the fist season was.
Don't get me wrong I still love the show but it definately was mired in
a"Sophmore Slump". Hopefully Season #3 will go back to the higher quality of
the first season.

In some ways the second season was better than the first although I think much of what you said was true. The first season showed us something totally different than what we've seen before on tv. It sucked you in and you couldn't wait to see more. It was going to be hard if not impossible to meet up and exceed the expectations which everyone had at the start of Season 2.