The Sopranos Finale

Success can be a poison.  Everywhere I look in entertainment and technology, success is the agent of sloth.  I can’t think of a clearer example than Microsoft.  Their operating system has been atrophying for years, a product that is no doubt their flag ship, but nonetheless stands essentially unchallenged in the marketplace.

 

Their entertainment division on the other hand, the people behind the xbox 360, have had to pull themselves up from under the shadow of some very stiff competition.  As a result, a revolutionary new console has been produced, quite possibly taking the throne as the dominant home entertainment device in this generation, and we’re still waiting for our first update to windows in many, many years. 

So too with the Sopranos, the show that single handedly redefined HBO something more than just movies.   

Last night they ended their final regular season of all time.  I’d like to give you some exciting spoilers or something wild that happened, some radical cliffhanger or a brimming war with

New York for the final 8 episodes coming in 2007, but, nothing happened.   

 

 

Perhaps, I’m looking in the wrong places.  To be sure, Tony has developed as a character, has become a relaxed zen-like

Jersey mob-boss.  His son, Anthony Jr. has a job and a tremendously hot girlfriend with a kid, all in all, he’s a model guy.  Christopher is using again, or maybe quitting again, but definitely banging someone Tony was interested in.  Oh, and the war with NY, well, acting boss Phil is in the hospital following a massive heart attack, so we’re just going to have to put that one on hold for now.   

 

 

The fact that nothing happened in this last episode is indicative of one of the most laborious seasons of television in recent memory.  Really, nothing has happened this season.  Granted, people have been killed, but they were uneventful deaths, which happened as anticipated and with little fanfare.  Even the feds seem bored with the Sopranos, opting instead to share friendly tips and focus on terrorists.   

 

 

The bottom line is, this finale, and the season in general, felt like a show that was tired of trying, and generally, felt like it didn’t have to anymore.  The Sopranos have become an iconological hour of television that is an acting foundation for what gritty challenging television with flawed characters could bring us.  Now, in it’s twilight hour, the only way I can really sum up my feelings from this season, is: complacent.  It is time for the show to get out of the way of shows that have something to prove, like Huff, Deadwood, BSG, and Big Love.  If there’s one thing I’ve noticed…  when someone comes out of the gate with something to prove, they usually do.

 

Perhaps a more direct comparison to The Sopranos would be Sony’s recent rise to power and fall from (the customer’s) grace.  While no one can be certain of the true power of the hardware (early indications call the word "bitchin" to mind), the overall attitude of the company’s SCE division is that the consumer will choke on whatever they’re fed, regardless of content.  Can this be the same company that brought us Katamari Damacy, Shadow of the Collosus, God of War, Devil May Cry…need I go on?  Success is indeed poison, and I for one applaud Microsoft’s ability to have independant thought within its own walls.  Sony’s music division, on the other hand, certainly has made some interesting choices, as well…

This isn’t to absolve M$ from their responsibility to deliver SOME innovation in the Operating System sector.  Their name has become synonymous with not delivering on their promises.  Go to any Linux propaganda area of the internet to get some very pointed, irrefutable facts about the superiority of GNU and the Open Source movement (a nod to Sony, or perhaps their frugal side, for embracing Linux)  The only reason DOS-based games were developed was because DOS was unintrusive and bare, NOT because of it’s innovative features (DirectX has been one of the only real Microsoft-inspired game development choices, and not superior to OpenGL in any appreciable way).  Since then Windows has polluted the OS world with sluggish enhancements and ports-of-ports-of-ports of the last revision, and stunted advancement in both hardware and software.  I have hopes for Vista, but those hopes are:

A. – That the 360 interoperability (Live Anywhere…sweetness) is robust and fun.
B. – That they don’t break anything I’ve already learned to deal with.

Yes, indeed, success is poison for advancement, without question.  Of particular embarrasment is that the shows that have surrounded Sopranos (the excellent Rome and the superlative Six Feet Under come to mind immediately) are of such a high calibur that most TV programming should be downright ashamed of itself.  And why the promise of the return of the final eight episodes?  And off-seasonal rotation at that?  Is there any real reason why I should even think that "interesting" will happen upon us?  No thank you.  Now is the time for Showtime to rise to the occasion; Huff shows that there can truly be brilliance outside of HBO; I devoured the first season through Comcast ON DEMAND, and this season continues without missing a beat.  Let’s just hope they don’t get too successful…