David Chase Responds to Sopranos Finale Criticism

In what seemed to be a prelude to tragedy, David Chase teased fans with tension on the final scene of "The Sopranos". (Photo Courtesy HBO)

In the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers, Meadow Soprano tried desperately to parallel park her car--to metaphorically fit in where she just couldn't--while Tony and his family ate onion rings to the chorus "hold onto that feeling" of Journey’s "Don’t Stop Believin’". America waited as the tension crescendoed to... blackness. Was the blackness representative of the massacre that followed? Does Tony Soprano live on? Fans wanted answers and were unsatisfied with an ending left open for interpretation. Yes, The Sopranos defied their fans who wanted a tangible fate for the mobster they had grown to love.

Show creator David Chase let the controversial conclusion speak for itself.

"I have no interest in explaining, defending, reinterpreting, or adding to what is there," he told the The Star-Ledger of the final scene.

"No one was trying to be audacious, honest to God," he added. "We did what we thought we had to do. No one was trying to blow people's minds or thinking, 'Wow, this'll them off.'

"People get the impression that you're trying to with them, and it's not true. You're trying to entertain them."

Some fans have assumed the ambiguous ending was Chase setting up the rumored "Sopranos" movie.

"I don't think about much," Chase said. "I never say never. An idea could pop into my head where I would go, 'Wow, that would make a great movie,' but I doubt it.

"I'm not being coy," he added. "If something appeared that really made a good 'Sopranos' movie and you could invest in it and everybody else wanted to do it, I would do it. But I think we've kind of said it and done it."

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