Game of Thrones or The Sopranos, Who Had The Worse Ending?
With their latest House of the Dragon coming up, there’s a chance for HBO to reel fans back in. After their disastrous finish in mot fans’ minds, they need some Game of Thrones magic for HotD. But looking back on the history of HBO, it’s not the first time they’ve disappointed with a finale. The original letdown came all the way back with a well-known HBO staple The Sopranos. Between the two, which was more of a heartbreaking ending?
Game of Thrones
What a god-awful experience the ending of this rollercoaster of a show was for most fans. Say what you will about the show, but as soon as it passed the books, it felt like they were winging it. It was like they just kept hammering home key points that fans wanted to see like a checklist as if they abandoned the entire plot altogether. Can someone tell me the point of the White-Walker story? Sure, it was cool seeing Arya take them down, but if you removed them from the story would it have changed at all.
Then of course there was the actual ending. Bran being named king wasn’t even the issue, the show just ended with all of the characters walking away? Arya sailed away, Sansa returned to Winterfell, and Jon just left to go live with the Wildlings? That’s the end? Did anyone else feel like the showrunners just sorta got bored and walked away? There was zero closure to any main story except the people who died.
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The Sopranos
Then, of course, there was The Sopranos and the infamous cut away to a black screen. No actual finale, no sound, just a black screen. So much went wrong for HBO and viewers, outrage filled their emotions. Was Tony whacked? The door was left open to interpret for the audience. Was he really dead if he was shot? Could he just have been left in a coma for them to pick up later on with a movie? It was the ultimate lack of closure for audiences.
There were so many theories as to what the ending actually meant, but if their motto was “leave them wanting more” they hit the nail on the head. With the recent movie The Many Saints of Newark, HBO returned to the Sopranos but this time in prequel form. It was a way to fill in the blank for a lot of things that happened on the show, but still wasn’t the closure people wanted.
That’s why The Sopranos is ultimately the more disappointing finale. With James Gandolfini’s death, there’s no going back and fixing it as Showtime did with Dexter: New Blood. That story will forever be untold unless (choking back the vomit) someone does a reboot. The Many Saints of Newark was perfect for giving fans a little more taste of the story they loved, but there’d almost have to be a sequel series if they ever wanted to go back. There’s no way to tell that story the right way without the right writing team and phenomenal story.
Maybe one day, as HBO did with Game of Thrones, they can return to The Sopranos but that’s a very hard line to cross.
Rick ODonnell aka Caveman Rick has many years covering the Miami Dolphins, Sports, and all sorts of movies and television.