Sopranos: The Final Bloody Curtain

It's that time of year again. It's the last time I will be able to say that in regards to The Sopranos. The first episode of the second half of the final season (That's a mouthful.) premiered last night on April 8^th. I have to admit that the first half hour moved very, very slow. While I got a kick out of watching Carmela and Janice sing Karaoke, I was slightly bored. It started out flashing back to when Tony spotted the feds at Johnny Sack's house and took off running, dropping his gun. He didn't realize a kid was watching from his bedroom window and went and later got the gun. The kid got caught with the gun and it got traced back to Tony. Tony's lawyer got the charges dropped. Then Tony and Carm enjoyed Tony's birthday at Bobby and Janice's house (You know, the one Tony had to bend over backwards to get them.). Drinking, laughing, telling stories all while Janice had a nanny watching her little girl. Who by the way, looked as though she had aged two years and was about three or four years old. Some weird soap opera time warp going on perhaps? They said that Phil Leotardo had just gotten out of the hospital. Had he been in there THAT long? Maybe I am over analyzing. It IS just a show, after all.

Things began to pick up a bit when Tony started insulting Janice in a brother sister kind of way while they were playing Monopoly. The same insults they have always slung at each other. Bobby, extremely drunk got very offended and knocked Tony on his butt. This, as we all know is something you just do not DO to the boss of the family. When Tony was driving Bobby through what looked like the back woods I honestly thought he was going to take him out instead of head up to Canada. However, when they indeed DID arrive in Canada I realized how Tony killing him at that point would be way to obvious to Carmela and Janice.

When Tony assigned Bobby the task if killing that drummer, I realized that perhaps this was Tony's way of getting revenge on him without really getting revenge, if that makes sense. He could have asked any of his guys to take care of it, but he made Bobby do it. The odd thing is, is that I can't remember if Bobby has ever killed anyone before. He seemed to sloppy. He allowed his shirt to be ripped and he dropped his gun where it was, I couldn't tell if he wore gloves or not. Will this come back to haunt him later? Bobby is very weak in comparison to characters like Christopher. Bobby actually seems to have morals and at the end of the episode when he held up his daughter Sophia and looked out on the lake, he seemed to be pondering how he could possibly get out of this life and into a simpler, non-dangerous life. The show ended with Tony getting a phone call from his Lawyer, saying the gun charges were being brought back up on him.

It really makes me wonder how this show will end. There are only eight episodes left after this one I believe. There has been talk that there was a lot of foreshadowing in last nights episode. Is Bobby destined to be whacked? Early on in the episode Tony seemed to be eluding that perhaps someday Bobby could be someone a lot higher than he is right now and that others (Perhaps Christopher) have left him down. Then of course we have to wonder if that drunken brawl between them changed things forever of it since it was a personal family matter it will quickly be resolved and put aside.

At one point during the show Carmela was telling a story about a boy drowning in a pool that was surrounded by adults. Tony says for some reason he can't get this story out of his head. At first I thought maybe he was being sarcastic, noticing that Janice has a nanny to watch her child and pays little attention to her. Then I thought maybe it was a foreshadowing of something happening to AJ or someone at the pool party AJ was secretly throwing. Then I read somewhere that the story was a metaphor for Tony's life and how the pool is represents his life and the boy is him in his subconscious. The pool has been referenced a lot in past seasons, as were the ducks leaving the pool. It's very thought provoking. Though it could just be we all read into things to much.

So the big question is. How will it all end? With only a few episodes left many of us are hoping for some big sha-bang of a twisted ending. Some think Christopher will take Tony's place, meaning Tony gets killed. Others think that Adrianna is STILL alive, despite claims of the contrary from the writers, and actors themselves. Some believe she will come back and that Silvio didn't really kill her because he is really a Federal Agent. Now THAT is an ending I would like to see. I doubt that one is going to happen. I would be happy if they at least had Carmela find out what really happened to Adrianna somehow and get hysterical with Tony. Will the Russian FINALLY surface? Will Uncle Junior get more screen time?

In all reality, like last seasons ending, it could end up being just a calm, boring ender. Perhaps one person gets killed and that is it. Maybe life just goes on until Tony dies of old age. Just please tell me AJ doesn't take over the family. AJ and Meadow can't even manage to leave their parents home. I guess I wouldn't either if I had a house like that.

It has been said that the actors truly believe that the fans will be happy with the way the show ends itself. I believe Michael Imperioli said that it won't end the way people expect it to. I'm looking forward to it. It is inevitable that there will be many of us that may be disappointed by the ending, but they sure are successful at getting us to watch!