david chase

(S06E21) It's finally here, folks. The week that we've all been waiting for. Well, perhaps not that anxiously awaiting, as we know that something we've all been into for so many years is going away. That said, it's still something that has the potential of being very, very cool culturally and will definitely dominate the watercooler talk for the next few days or so.

To celebrate this momentous occasion, we're going to have a chatroom live for all of you to join in on as the show goes on and share your theories, reactions, and opinions in real-time. Shortly after the finale, you'll be able to read our review of the show here. The review is after the jump. And, our chatroom is still open for any of you to share your thoughts and comments on how The Sopranos went down.

Click here to enter the chatroom.

With the series finale of HBO's The Sopranos fast approaching (a week from this Sunday, to be exact) speculation is running wild as to what's going to become of Tony Soprano and his companions. The biggest question is whether or not Tony will alive or dead when the final credits role.

Michael Starr of the New York Post is betting that we'll know something about the series finale after the next-to-last episode airs this Sunday. Starr believes that this week's episode could be the one that features a final battle between Tony and his enemies, while the last episode could be the one that ties everything up in a tidy package, leaving Tony alive and kicking. Few clues are being given in episode description. For example, for this week's episode, "The Blue Comet", HBO writes 'The allegiance of those closest to Tony is put to the test and a case of mistaken identity has serious ramifications.' Not much to decipher from that notice, is there?

Its also been reported that show creator David Chase, who co-wrote this Sunday's episode and wrote and directed the series finale, has filmed several endings to The Sopranos to throw everyone off as to the fate of Tony. My guess is that Tony will wake up from a dream and Suzanne Pleshette will be there in bed next to him. Hey, it worked before!

Permits have been denied to the producers of The Sopranos to film in the town of Bloomfield, New Jersey on the basis of the show's "offensive depiction" of Italian-Americans. The producers had intended to film the series' final scene at Holsten's Brookdale Confectionery in Bloomfield. The permits for shooting were approved and then revoked after complaints reached Mayor Raymond McCarthy who was quoted as saying, "I don't think The Sopranos depicts the life of a typical Italian-American in a positive way, and I still don't like the way people see New Jersey based upon The Sopranos series." (The way people saw New Jersey pre-Sopranos was apparently downright Utopian.)

The filming permits are being reviewed again next week because of the flood of calls supporting Holsten's, the actual shooting location. As council member Peggy O'Boyle Dunigan said, "If you don't like the show, you can turn it off. It's hard enough to have a small business in town. I don't want to discourage them." If they get the permits, I guess we know where The Sopranos will finally end - in an ice cream parlor - hopefully, not in the freezer.

UPDATE: A loophole has been found because Holsten's is a commercial space. Filming will proceed as planned.

After the shocker that closed off last week's episode, it's not too out of line that we're treated to a famous Sopranos dream sequence this week. I got a big kick out of the show description on my TV's program guide, saying that Tony experiences "mistaken identity while on a business trip." Surely, this "means" something overall, but it wasn't even that simple. I'm truly beginning to feel like every little thing that happens, every nuance, means something to the overall plot. The previews for next week show what will presumably be the beginning of some troubles for the Family, and we're getting teased with more about that every week.

Looking into the title, "Join the Club," might lead down the direction of people who end up working as rats for the feds. And with Christopher having the Feebs in his face about terrorists being funded in this country by drug dealers, etc., we got a little taste of foreshadowing when he bumps into the two Middle Eastern men in the Bing. He already knows what got his girl offed, so it'd be a really big deal if he started talking to the agents. As for the real family, I thought seeing Carm the way she looked was almost as intense as seeing the open wound on Tony's stomach. She's in a rough place right now, and somehow holding it all together with her slacker son making a confusing attempt at making things good with his dad.

There are 20 new episodes of The Sopranos left. Period. The sixth season launches in March with 12 new episodes. Then, there will be 8 bonus episodes starting in January of 2007. Then it's over, according to creator David Chase. There had been rumors that this upcoming season wouldn't be the last, simply because, when Time Warner Inc. announced its plans for the sixth season, it didn't refer to it as the "final" season. But Chase put all those rumors to rest recently when speaking to a crowd of television critics. Not only are the next 20 episodes the end of the season, but he said that we probably won't be seeing Tony Soprano and the other good fellas up on the big screen, either.