Sopranos Swan Song

Okay, I will say it flat out, I am sorry to see Tony, Carm, Meadow, A.J. and the rest of the dysfunctional Sopranos gang sliding down the final-show rabbit hole toward syndication. Sunday night's swan song will, I'm sure, create a feeling of personal loss as I have invested all these years getting to know the rich characters so brilliantly created by the series creator David Chase. Yes, Tony is a thug, and you wouldn't want to be anywhere near his family's sphere of power, but over time you came to appreciate his layers of complexity, even vulnerability, and maybe even a glimmer of humanity displayed in his role as North Jersey's crime boss. For a while Tony's size, power and pure-cold meanness seemed to exempt him from the ravages that reality visits on most mortals, but in recent weeks his personal and organizational fragility have been exposed. It is as if God had decided to pull the string that is unraveling Tony. All of his relationships have been crushed; even his therapist, Dr. Jennifer Melfi, has cast him away, and his dwindling lieutenants have gone to the mattresses, preparing for a last stand against the silver-haired devil Phil and his New York guns.

As the hours fade for the Sopranos we loyalist-viewers ponder whether Paulie has turned coat against Tony's gang. We wonder whether Tony dies, or goes witness protection. What of Carmelo and the children? There is no way this can end well. So we wait for the last chapter of the best show on television, and wonder if we will see its likes again.