The Sopranos: Season 6 Part 1 [DVD] [2006]

10/10, don't miss!

This last (half) series of the finest TV show ever made is actually one of its best (semi) seasons, so it makes some sense to review this masterwork from the (hopefully now spoiler-proof) end. The Sopranos finishes, indeed, as wonderfully as it began and carried on: constantly complimenting the viewer's intelligence, right up to the bitter-sweet dénouement.Yes, the penultimate episode is the proper narrative/dramatic "end," with its stunningly-staged assassination of Baccala and the calamitous (and, typically of the show, almost hilarious) near-fatal wounding of Silvio (to the sound of Nat King Cole, the sight of naked Bing bystanders and with hideous collateral damage to a passing motorcyclist).But the actual finale itself had to, er, not happen; in that typical Sopranos life-goes-on manner of astonishing observation of, and pleasure in, the less extreme, often seemingly mundane, and frequently drop-dead-laughing details of "family" life. (Examples, I'm sure, will crowd in on everyone who knows the show: Junior getting the hump with an unflattering court artist some series back; Junior's conviction, in this series, that his will-executor - an unseen character we know, only from Janice's brief reference, to have an artificial larynx - is from outer space; the ketchup bottle in the last ever episode... there are so many.)Individual episodes in this last set are also quite outstandingly brilliant. For me, number three ("Remember When"), is perfect Sopranos. It has an exquisitely-constructed counterpoint between a trip wherein Tony basically confronts Paulie with the problem of his trouble-making indiscretion about three series back, interspersed with the unfolding Cuckoo's Nest tragedy of Junior's inglorious "rule" of the mental health facility that is now his domain. The build-up of tension in these parallel worlds is breathtaking. Even as Tony finally asserts his scary authority over Paulie on an extremely uncomfortable boat-trip, Junior's "career" is meeting a sticky, violent end at the hands of a disturbed youth whose worship he has cultivated. The last shot of this episode, a track across one of those outdoor "pet encounter" sessions for Corrado's fellow-inmates, finishes on one of the most poignant images I've ever seen on TV, a devastating pan from the disfigured cat he's vacantly cuddling to the lost, toothless, living-dead face of Junior. Beautiful, dreadful.So: the final episode has a deliberate, but no less entertaining, sense of bathos to it. And this is Sopranos "anti-climax," remember, so it was always going to be a cut above. Indeed, to echo the quite credible references from other reviewers to its Shakespearian level of attainment, I have to say that the Sopranos' ending certainly puts it amongst the greats for all time - with no small hint of the Existential playfulness we've all come to treasure.In fact, this last series ends with the most vivid illustration of quantum physics since Schrodinger's Cat - really! Without getting into "spoiler" territory, I think we can confidently say (or not) that what happens "next" is entirely up to you/us. Or not: it's the audience ourselves who can most reasonably be considered to get "annihilated" in the series' last split second. Tony's "fate" won't be resolved until we reopen the "box" and look inside to see whether that Sopranos cat is alive or dead. The Uncertainty Principle in a nutshell - only the box gets switched off for us before we can look further.Mischievous David Case would probably deny it (just as he playfully pleads ignorance to the significance of all those oranges and eggs), but there is some exceptionally witty referencing going on. As Tony's fellow-patient Schwinn (the great Hal Holbrook) says early in the first phase of this final season, "reality" is only a perception of wave-forms and "we're all connected" (this in an episode that also features some Creationist nutters getting roundly satirised).So: that very last blip-out shot of Tony in the diner marks our own "disconnection" from the Sopranos' universe, an untidy switch-off that marks a proper anti-climax, weakly rhymed with the HBO "click-off" logo or the "stylus yank" cut-off at the end of every opening credits). It's that deliberate, that random.Maybe they all go to Paris, as Tony did in his near-death experience (the Eifel Tower beacon tantalisingly visible from an "American" hotel window) and as Carm actually does (only to encounter dead Adriana in a boulevard... and elsewhere ask Ro whether the place really exists when they're not there). The last episode even playfully gives us a supernaturally "aware" cat to plague Paulie in our last glimpses of him!Fantastic stuff - and all this in a "gangster" show that, during its time with us, has given us some of the funniest, most violent, tender, groovy and jaw-droppingly original moments we've ever had the pleasure of witnessing in a TV programme! The whole thing on box set - get it. Watch it. And, if you care at all about the cultural future, keep it as a bequest for your kids, along with all the other great complete works of which we might avail ourselves.

First off, i think i should clarify some of the clues that were so very evident right throughout the final episode. At the very start of the final episode the camera is locked tight on Tony and it looks like he's lying dead in a coffin and there's even an organ playing on the radio that sounds rather like funeral music. The main clue throughout the episode is the colour orange because we constantly see the orange cat and tony even eats an orange in front of his family. The colour orange is linked to death, especially in the Godfather films. Also when Tony is sitting in the diner at the end there is a big orange tiger behind his shoulder on the back wall of the diner. It's part of a collage. Other clues include the dying trees as there are no leaves and when meadow takes three attempts to park correctly it is representing the two failed attempts on Tony's life, so it is third time lucky. Rememeber back in season one when Tony was buying orange juice and those two black assassins were going to kill him.Tony is also wearing the same T-shirt that he was wearing when uncle Juniour shot him and the guy that walks into the bathroom is wearing a members only jacket. I believe the final scene was a tribute to the Godfather because David chase has done so in the past so i presume the gun is taped behind the toilet as seen in the first Godfather. The last five minutes could be seen as the final supper and notice that the Soprano family is eating the onion rings rather strangely. They put them on their tongue like communion wafers instead of chewing them. i believe this is done at funerals in catholic churches, (sorry if i'm wrong.) Perhaps the lyrics to the final journey song are a clue as well because it starts as soon as Carmela enters the diner and the lyric goes, ''just a small town girl, living in a lonely world.'' She will have to go on living without Tony. Of course the biggest clue is when Tony and Bobby are in the boat and Bobby says, ''You probably don't even hear it coming, right?''The black screen at the end was Tony's death from his perspective, just think about it because when you die it all goes black. The black screen was originally going to last 30 seconds which would have removed all doubt but HBO wanted a compromise therefore there was only ten seconds. David chase did say all the clues were up there on the screen and remember he is a genius and he's hardly gonna resort to predictable tripe that you would see in Friends or other garbage. Well anyway, the Sopranos deserves to go down in history as the greatest show ever made and it's rather depressing to think that as viewers we will never get to watch anything remotely as intelligent, funny and damn right addictive ever again. The replay value is astonishing!!! Thank God for David Chase and his masterpiece creation. TRULY AWESOME!!!!!p.s the dvd commentary on the penultimate episode said that david chase ended it that way because he didn't want to show if crime paid or it didn't pay. the actor that plays Carlo mentions that David Chase said that to James Gandolfini when they did the final script reading in rehearsal. also in the book David Chase mentions that events have a tendency to happen around us and we don't even realise that they're in motion. This is also a reference to the episode, 'stage 5,' where Silvio is at a restaurant and he is temporarily unaware of an assassination attempt on a new york member, as it goes into slow motion.

Missed this when it came on TV.Was on holiday and someone had left the 1st series in the house we were renting, we watched it, that was it, well and truely hooked, and that was in May 09. Have brought the lot and watched the final one last week...a great series and one that will mean I will watch agian and again. We had Soprano evenings when there was nothing on the TV, and once we decided to watch one it was hard not to carry on watching.Great type casting, there wasnt a 'weak link' in the whole series.It takes you from one emotion to another and left you thinking how can this end..?I recomend this to anyone and am searching now ofr another series to replace our Soprano evenings ...any ideas??

The box set is in good condition and the DVDs play well.

The viewer is desperate to see what will happen, while at the same time, not wanting it ever to end. Can we really have sat, entranced, through 86 episodes? (That adds up to three and half days!) Well, all that concentration has its reward at the very end. If you did not have all the build up, you could not understand or enjoy the pay-off nearly as much.The ending is a triumph. It is unexpected, shocking, totally original in its concept and it leaves you thinking. An ending worthy of a wonderful series.(If you have not yet seen it and you do not know what happens, I envy you.)

it does not state ANYWHERE that this dvd will not work in a canadian DVD player!!! so disappointed wyen it came up stating not available in my region. totoal waste. hoping to get a refund. DONT BUY

As other buyers have noted, I too was surprised to find it was a European format. If it’s sold and shipped from Amazon Canada to a North American address one would hope that that might raise a flag of concern. At the very least there should be something easy to spot in the ad stating it’s not for North American use. Total waste of money.

DVD wouldn't run on my laptop or my DVD player. I emailed seller three times to inquire about a return and was ignored.

So disappointed. I didn't realize it was coming from Britain and can't play it on our Television. I can't seem to find a copy of part 1 that I can play and don't really want to jump into part 2 without first seeing part 1.