To be fair, Winter and Weiner were credited as a writing team, as they have been for a number of past shows.
I was so disappointed by this episode, and this season in general. The writing was flaccid, and really little tension was set up by the end. The “happy family” at the end gathered 'round the tree with their secrets was just, I don’t know, cliched for The Sopranos. I expect a lot more from this show than what I saw.
Aside from the first three episodes, James Gandolfini didn’t seem to have much to do, which is a shame, because he’s a wonderful actor playing a rich role. A lot of time was squandered on the Vito storyline, I thought. I really wanted to see Paulie more this season, because I think his character hasn’t been explored completely.
Having said that, I can’t wait for Deadwood. Bring on “Swindgen”!
I think this episode will be looked back upon as the worst in the entire series. This season will always be remembered as the lowest point of a once-great show. As I’ve said before, every mention of The Sopranos 5 or 10 years from now, by critics, will bring up the sixth season and how much of a disappointment to its fans it was.
Hm. That’s interesting. I have rented, and loved, all previous seasons of The Sopranos on DVD, and this is the first season I’ve been able to see in “real time.” But after the first 3 or 4 episodes (after Tony woke up from the coma), I haven’t made much effort to watch them. I read a few re-caps, and I caught one episode (the one where Vito punched, then hooked up with, Johnny Cakes), but failed to get hooked. I kept wondering if I was missing anything good. Apparently not!
I was talking with a friend about this a couple of weeks ago, and we theorized that the show went downhill once they whacked Adrianna. One of the highlights of the show for me was watching her and Chris and their wacky, pathetic adventures (“Christafuh!”). It was so fun. This season? No Ade, no fun.
Let’s hope they figure out a way to bring back the fun for the “mini-season.”
As soon as the episode was over I said to the people I was with that either at the end of the show or in the previews, they should’ve showed one of Phil’s/Johnny’s guys about to kill one of Tony’s guys. Obviously, they wound’t show WHO was gonna get hit, but just something to keep people talking for a few weeks.
I really liked the episode, but it didn’t feel like a season finalé at all.
That said, I would have been very, very disappointed if things had suddenly turned into a bloodbath. The “happy Christmas family” ending fits in perfectly with how the season began: Tony, on at least some level, really does appreciate life more now. He was sincerely enjoying spending quality time with his family and friends. It seems cliché because it’s exactly what most people do on Christmas. There wasn’t anything even remotely mob-related about that last scene. It was just an extended family enjoying Christmas together.
Which, of course, makes it rather dull in one sense. Most of us have had similar Christmases with our families. They might be fun for us, but they wouldn’t be all that interesting for outsiders to watch on TV. What makes the scene interesting (for me) is not that it’s so normal, but that it’s so normal despite who these people are and what they’ve done.
Season 4 ended not with bloodshed, but with a divorce. This disappointed some fans who wanted to see people die and stuff. But in my opinion, that was arguaby the best season finalé of them all. I think that the writers were attempting something even more daring with this episode. Not only were they avoiding bloodshed, they were avoiding destructive emotional drama as well.
It’s a show about the family and The Family, both dysfunctional in their own ways, but season six ended with Tony giving a sincere plea to Phil to love his fellow man (in a non-Vito sort of way). Then he celebrated Christmas with those he loves. Oh, and he handles Chris’ actions and lies with respect to Julianna with nothing more than general grumpiness.
I can definitely understand why some viewers might feel let down. But I enjoyed seeing Tony Soprano being, if not a good person, at least a better one.
Other random thoughts:
If we didn’t know before, we now know that A.J. was born on July 15. (The day Jesse Ventura was born.)
Uncle Junior tells Bobby that the money was a gift for him and Karen. Ouch.
Great exchange between Uncle Junior and that one lady:
“You can make a hand-turkey.”
“For Christmas? Fucking idiot.”
A.J. might not be the smartest guy around, but I think we’ve seen that Tony was at least partially right about him. He’s a (comparatively) “good” person. If Tony were in that situation at A.J.'s age, he would have bashed some skulls in. A.J. tried the diplomatic approach.
A.J.'s girlfriend: I’d hit that.
Also, it’s interesting how accepting Tony was of her compared to Carmela. He could just have a double-standard that it’s ok for his son to date someone of a different race, but not ok for his daughter. However, he might have genuinely changed his attitude since Meadow was dating the “Hassidic Homeboy”.
The title of this episode was “Kaisha”. This is the name Chris makes up for his imaginary black girlfriend. Is the significance of the title that Tony doesn’t blow up at Christopher over the lie? (At least, not to the extent one might have suspected.) Or that his views on race have softened? Both? Something else?
I’m a little surprised people are reading the ending as such a happy thing. I got more of a mixed feeling from it. Granted that nobody was murdered and only Meadow was missing - well, her and Uncle Junior, who was on the very cold end of that scene with Bobby - I thought the ‘happy’ was being dragged down by the obviousness that it wasn’t going to last.
Is this really a season finale? I think they deliberately didn’t leave any crazy kind of cliff hanger because it’s supposed to be just continuous with the remaining episodes. I have to say I half expected a bomb to go off in the last scene and blow everyone up, though!
I’m not sure that war has been averted. Like Sil said, Philly was the devil we know. If he dies, that guy who confronted Tony when Tony left Phil’s room might take over. He’s the one who suggesting whacking Tony but Phil shot him down.
Next season may concentrate some on the Arab guys too which would be interesting.
Moderator notes: I have merged two of the threads, so that probably makes for a li’l hiccough in the smooth flow of conversation.
This season was largely a waste of time and talent. Most of the actors seemed to be sleepwalking through their parts, we saw very little of Sil, Pauli and Junior, the Vito plotline was wrist-slitting material, and there was very little tension. The Phil-Tony contention could have been played big time, but was instead allowed to fizzle with a heart attack.
This ep was supposed to be the original series finale, right? And they were going to end it with a big group hug? Fuck that. They wrote the damn thing to coincide with Christmas, then have it air in June? Whomever is running programming at HBO should be sacked.
I think there’s a diffence on two levels here about his reaction. One, what you’ve said, he’s become more accepting of people. Two, there’s a difference between his son having a relationship with a black girl and becoming responsible and his 18 year old daughter being fucked by a mulignane.
I’m sure they weren’t ending on a hug. They obviously chagned some plots when they came up with this split-season idea.
That was funny. I liked that she referred to Ventura as a politician, rather than as a professional wrestler. 
I wonder what was up with Paulie and AJ’s new woman?
Bring on Deadwood!
I doubt anything is up with them. His manner of speech seemed very typical for an older Italian man greeting a young woman in their normal job related interaction. I have seen this all my life.
Jim
I like this episode and over all have enjoyed this season… Yes it’s probably the weakest of the series but there’s been some good stuff in there.
I kept looking at the clock not because I was bored but because I felt like this episode was so packed with little scenes small builds that I kept thinking it was almost over. Other episodes have been so slow in comparison.
Did the actor that played Carmela’s dad pass away? I noticed a new face at the Christmas party and the dedication at the beginning of the show.
For me, the highlights this year were Little Carmen’s mangling of the English language and Phil’s ranting about Vito … last night we got both in one scene!!
While there were no resolutions or major cliffhangers last night, I thought the whole episode was good overall without any low points.
that’s my take on it, too - the punks now see AJ as someone to take advantage of (forgive my grammar)
Her Dad is played by Tom Aldredge as Hugh DeAngelis. There is no indication he has died. He was listed for some of the episodes this year. This was not an exhaustive search, but I would say he is still among the living.
Jim