It was definitely a cop out but you always see that with popular series finales... by the time they get to the end, the pressure to perfectly sum it all up proves to be too much and they punt

Sopranos, GoT, Walking Dead, SoA, Dark Knight Rises just to name a few, come to mind

Chase just hoped the logical conclusion would be satisfactory

It wasn't, but hey at least I was entertained

I really do think it was a power play to pressure the studio to make a movie.

Very well could be, damn what a shame about Gandolfini... could've been one helluva movie with him in it

His death at 51 actually inspired me to get on blood pressure meds recently, thats just way too young, was so blown away he died that early

I have never ever understood the demand for a more explicit resolution, or any proclamation that anything 'definitely' happened.

The ending was perfect for my tastes. The entire show was about a mob boss in the suburbs with anxiety. It started with his having a panic attack in his backyard pool because he saw some ducks. It didn't give us a preamble or exposition. It just plopped us down in his life to learn it's complexity over time.

That ending put us in his frame of mind. It's the culmination of everything Chase was trying to express with the character. Everywhere he goes, no matter how he distracts himself. No matter how he tries to focus on the moment and his biological family, there's a constant threat out there of it all going to black in an instant.

Watch it again and make the argument that the last 5 minutes of the show doesn't sum up the Anthony Soprano we'd come to know.

If you didn't understand that Tony was dead simply watch the "Members Only" episode. Pay special attention to the title and the conversation between Tony and Bobby Bacala while in the boat then watch the ending diner scene and pay attention to the attire of the shooter.