Chase discusses "Sopranos" finale

What happened

Sopranos creator David Chase has stirred up controversy again about the HBO show by officially suggesting that lead character Tony Soprano did not die at the end of the series finale. In an interview published in the recently released “The Sopranos”: The Complete Book, Chase said, “There are no esoteric clues in there. No Da Vinci Code.” Regarding fans who were disappointed about the way the series ended, Chase said, “The pathetic thing—to me—was how much they wanted HIS blood, after cheering him on for eight years.”

What the commentators said

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Could Chase be any less appreciative? said Matt Basilo in the blog Primetime Pulse. “Way to criticize the very people that made your show such a success. What’s that expression about biting off the hand that feeds you?” There’s nothing wrong with fans wanting some justice. It’s common for an audience to become “smitten” with the “bad guy” because generally speaking they are the “more fun, entertaining” characters. “But in the end they ultimately want good to triumph over evil. What is so pathetic and disgusting about that?”

Chase is still messing with the audience, said the blog Actress Archives. “Are we supposed to ignore the conversation between Tony and Bobby in a prior episode” during which they said “‘everything just goes black’ when you die?” Chase’s comments about the finale are totally confusing—“and it seems like the seven-time Emmy winner likes it that way.”

It makes sense that Sopranos fans don’t want to stop discussing the series finale, said the blog Defamer. “With HBO subscribers understandably less engrossed with” the Sunday night options the network now offers, viewers don't have anything better to do than speculate about “what actually happened.” And Chase’s book just adds fuel to the fire: He “may have intended his answers to defuse any lingering accusations” that he toyed with the audience, but all he did was “provide Finale Deconstructionists with a new text to study.”