Last night marked the end of a landmark television series, "The Sopranos". The episode has created controversy, with some folks condemning it, and others praising it. I, for one, count myself among those who find that the last episode, especially the last scene, perfectly fits within the spirit of the series as a whole. It was unconventional, thought-provoking, conversation-inducing, and left the viewer without the solace of a tidy, made-for-TV ending which we, as Americans, have become so used to since the debut of the first commercial TV programs back in the late 1940s. This, of course, has been the essence of the Sopranos since its debut in 1999. Series creator David Chase, who wrote and directed the final episode, has consistently resisted the convenient and comforting TV-show paradigm that has marked so many shows over so many decades. He created an anti-hero, a sociopathic New Jersey mobster who time-and-again showed us why we should loathe him, but we rooted for him anyway, right up to the end. Our reaction to Tony Soprano as an audience was brilliantly mirrored by Chase through the character of Agent Harris, the FBI agent who was part of the team that tried to bring Tony down, until the character was transferred to anti-terrorist duties after 9/11. Harris has slowly, reluctantly, been feeding Tony information about the conversations going on in Brooklyn among the rival family members who wish him ill. In the final episode, Harris warns Tony again, which saves Tony (but not brother-in-law Bobby, or Silvio Dante). When Harris finds out that the rival mob boss Phil Leotardo has been whacked (after Harris provided Tony with the information necesary to find him), Harris exclaims, "We won!" Harris is us, the audience. We know we should wish Tony ill, either a long prison term or two in the hat, but we still want him to win.

The last scene brilliantly ends the series on an unorthodox note, which characterizes the series at it's best. Tony, wife Carmella, son A.J. and daughter Meadow are going to meet at a local restaurant where they eat regularly. Tony arrives first. Chase builds the suspense as he focuses on different people in the restaurant, or as they enter. Is this how it ends, a typical mob hit inside a restaurant? Will the Italian-looking middle-aged guy emerge from the restroom and kill Tony in front of his family, just as Leotardo was killed in front of his? How about the guy in the baseball cap, or the two guys who look like gang-bangers? Chase builds the tension in Hitchcockian fashion, as Meadow struggles to parallel park outside. Just at the moment when Meadow runs toward the door, Tony looks up and then.....cut to black. No music, nothing. My wife stormed out of the room, "I hate that". Chase, no doubt, would be pleased.

Unorthodox. Brilliant.