Sopranos wrap up

The "season finale" of The Sopranos was last night, and all I can say is ... Dead Flowers to Moonlight Mile on Sticky Fingers might be my favorite back-to-back song pairing of all-time. And I'm not even that much of a Rolling Stones fan. (Greatest back-to-back album song pairings is a good idea for its whole own post. Coming soon...)

Anyway, when the show opened and Moonlight Mile played, I was thinking to myself this is the perfect song to accompany any bittersweet cinematic situation. Whether it be overcoming a mental handicap to accomplish a goal, reuniting with a lover after years apart because of war, prison or time travel, or stuffing the severed head of a former colleague into a drain.

So why," I was thinking. "Haven't I heard the song in a movie or TV show before?"

Well, I did a bit of investigating and found that not only has Moonlight Mile been featured in many movies and TV shows, just four years ago a movie titled "Moonlight Mile" was released. It was a bittersweet tale of a young man figuring out what do with his life in the wake of his girlfriend's tragic murder. The song was the centerpiece of the film. The movie stared Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon and Jake Gyllenhaal, so it was kind of a big deal.

After reading the plot outline I realized I had seen the movie (or parts thereof) multiple times and as recently as a year ago.

I can give the Sopranos this -- when the show impresses me with a clever application of a song I actually remember that they have. At least for 12 hours.

Other than that, there wasn't a whole lot going on in the finale -- or the season. Speaking of Sticky Fingers, last night Christopher was back on the junk, and for a few seconds towards the end of the episode I thought there might be an attempted whacking of the beak-nosed one. Of course, while whacking Christopher would constitute the kind of action one would expect from a show based on volatile underworld types, it would also be the type of action the Sopranos increasingly shy away from (filling the void with rollicking guy on guy action in a New Hampshire meadow.)

And why would you end a season of a serialized Mafia-drama with one its main character's life hanging in the balance when you can end it with a wide shot of a loving, but complicated, extended family on Christmas? That'll bring me back for the next season.

Actually, it probably will. I've already invested seven and half years and close to a thousand dollars in HBO bills on the Sopranos, so I might as give next season a chance. Who knows, maybe they finally will provide resolution on the countless plots they've started and left unfinished.

But I wouldn't be surprised if about this time next year I'm staring at the TV Guide, shocked the series finale is only an hour long because they owe me about 12 hours of answers.

It's Entourage time now on Sunday nights -- there's a show that doesn't ask question it won't burden itself to answer.

But it does make me despise my friends for lacking the prescience to become famous movie stars.