The Sopranos ended on a note that left many fans dissatisfied, but when you look at the overall arc of the show that David Chase created, it shouldn't have come as much of a surprise.
After watching the final season, I had to go back and rewatch the entire series, because it had been too long, and a lot of key characters and plot points had been forgotten.
As a result, I had an even deeper appreciation for the show. The layers of complexity, the subtle humor and pop-culture references, the fantastic music--all of these things that David Chase and his excellent group of writers and directors no doubt mapped out with attention to every little detail.
The music: Oh, the music. It was revealed that David Chase played drums for a garage band when he was a kid, and on one of the commentaries, Steven Van Zant mentioned that Chase had a hand in almost all of the episodes in terms of what music was picked.
One of the key musical moments in Season 6, Part 2 is in the episode "Stage 5," with the use of John Cooper Clarke's "Evidently Chickentown." The song conveys such a feeling of unease and it's especially worth noting that it's used as a soundtrack to the christening of Christopher and Kelli's baby, which would normally require more of an uplifting number.
Instead, it hints at the demise of Christopher and the Soprano family as a whole. Little by little, the Soprano empire is pulled out, like pieces from a game of Jenga. First Christopher, then Bobby, Silvio gets shot up, and Tony...well, what happens to Tony? We do know that Phil Leotardo gets it and has his head crushed like a friggin' grapefruit, which was well-earned.
Regarding the finale, I think that Chase's intention was to infer that life is not filled with tidy endings or neat resolutions; it's a complex mess, and whatever happened to Tony, it can't be good. The overall feeling of the final season is impending doom, and the supreme excess of the Sopranos can only lead to punishment, not reward.
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