If David Chase wanted his viewers to get the sense that for Tony Soprano life goes on and he’ll always be watching for thugs while his family munches onion rings, he could easily have shown that. He didn’t. The camera watched the possible thugs, but Tony didn’t.
If he wanted viewers to think that Tony got his head full of lead while dining with his family, he could have shown that. Not pretty, but not out of line, and it could have been done with more or less a degree of grace.
Instead he gave viewers nothing. Even when Tony S. looks up from the table, there’s nothing.
That’s a writer committing to shortchanging his audience.
Made in America, the name of the final episode, is a common phrase used in many contexts. We often search for it when buying something. It’s a phrase which has come to mean genuineness, durability, authenticity. In addition, to be ‘made’ connotes the ritual one goes through to be initiated as a true gangster. Put together the phrase offers a sort of ironic twist to the concept of being made. What was once thought of as achieving true identity and purpose has in a sense been a fraud– all the ritual, all the pride and supposed comradery, all superficial. The process of being made is a fraud, it is not the genuine process of becoming. Notice what Phil says about the NJ crew, ‘they don’t even make people right, they don’t even prick the finger.’ Notice what the NJ crew says about Johnny Sack and the NY crew, ‘he created a sort of insecurity’ (referring to Phil). After the death of his brother, and his near death experience, Phil made it his calling to reaffirm his ‘made’ gangster identity. But in the end it led nowhere. Did anyone else catch the brand of vehicle which ran over Phil’s skull. It was a Ford. 100% Made in America. In a sense, this symbolizes the true process of being made overpowering the fraudulent ‘made’ one. So, if we recognize the symbolic judgment passed on the fraudulent ‘made’ identity, than where is the real process? In the final episode, who is Made in America? — This is where it gets a little fun.
check out more on my blog jakjonsun.wordpress.com