The Sopranos Final Episode: Did We Get Closure?

Voices rung loud both for and against the last episode of the Sopranos were just as forceful as those against it.

The supporters underscored the sheer brilliance of David Chase’s strategy, i.e., to cut our relationship with our beloved TV show off, right as we are in the midst of indulging our senses. Yet others screamed, he cheated us of the closure that we so badly needed! And some saw the cutoff as death itself. It was all the closure they needed.

But the question remains, what would have provide the closure? And in fact what really is closure at all? A conclusion of each dramatic thread that constitutes the larger picture, allowing us finite values for the stories that had us spellbound these last several years? And if we really knew, would it truly make the difference?

How does the question apply to life outside of the Sopranos? Would it really bring us peace to know the outcome of every situation we are faced with? Or would it spur us to constantly ask What if?

What if it had not happened that way? What if I had done something else instead? What if I had trusted my instincts in the first place?

As each century advances into the next, we make strides towards success: financial success, material success, commercial success. But does any of this translate to emotional success? Do we actually contribute to universal happiness as we birth brilliant minds that in an enterprise that we call success become creatures of control? While we yearn for independence, we become increasingly dependent on our own creation. All because we are not willing to let life take it natural course while we stand back and watch. So can we ever recognize this trait or save ourselves from it?

When Veena’s brother died on a commuter plane crash, she insisted on seeing his badly damaged remains. In most countries, the psychological implications of this would have legally precluded her from doing so, but she knew that in Nepal she could insist and get away with it. And she did, because she wanted closure. So Veena’s happy memories of playing with her baby brother in their childhood are now forever enmeshed with the image of his spine broken in three places, and his skull smashed beyond recognition. Was this the closure she had asked for?

Perhaps we could redefine the concept of closure, if we were to understand that the only thing that is final is that nothing indeed is final, and that if we just accept this, then we might regain true independence, that is rightfully ours. Maybe David Chase had thought about it too. We have no crystal balls, and the uniqueness of life with the Sopranos lay in the fact that in every single episode, we never knew what would happen next…until it happened.