Allow me to digress from my usual Tech, PR and Web 2.0 topics regarding something everyone is buzzing about: the last Sopranos episode.
No, I will not be the 500th person to talk about Chase whacking the viewers.
I was a hard core fan and am a bit more sanguine than people I know, who seem to find disappointment in every episode.
I guess it was a fitting finale, so many loose threads that no conceivable ending could have tied neatly together, and at least last night’s ending lets Tony and the gang live on in our imaginations.
There is a tech tie in – about how tech and drama can conspire and blowback.
Ejected from the master bedroom because my wife turns in early, about 40 minutes into the show, I tore myself away for thirty seconds to turn on the TV in the living room. Not wanting to miss even thirty seconds (even though this was a slow scene – the one in which Paulie and Tony were sitting outside Satriale’s, discussing Paulie’s lack of interest in taking over Carlo’s crew) I engaged the DVR – which I had previously set to record the show – to roll back to the vital thirty seconds (just goes to show how much of an addict I am, or was).
Just like the rest of the country, I was fixated until the very end. Knowing from the TV listings that this episode ran until 10:05, in the final minutes I played out numerous scenarios in my mind, calculating the possibilities with the growing awareness that whatever was going to happen, it needed to happen quickly.
Then – nothing! My screen went blank. I thought – dummy! – the DVR was programmed to record until 10:00, not 10:05, and it had shut off. The last crucial minutes and I missed them!
I slammed down the remote, then picked it up and searched frantically for the "Live" button, which takes you from recorded to live mode. By the time I found it and hit it, it was too late.
I stormed into the bedroom, wife was still up and in fact the TV was still on.
She confirmed my growing realization, that it was a sudden ending, and that in fact was all that there was.
