Having said that, I look forward to IndieWire journalism on a daily basis.

Though – in a very different way – Six Feet Under gives it a close run for its money.

Some things to keep in mind: the dark, often meta, sense of humor of the show. Partly, the ending was a joke on our expectations, and about the futility of expecting closure from endings.

Like many people, I was reluctant to believe Tony was dead, but I had to agree that it seemed like the most likely explanation. Everything about the scene seems to be leading towards something momentous and probably dark. But I've always had my doubts.

For one thing, we've got to remember that the war had effectively been called off. Certainly it's possible that we're dealing with a lone wolf, or someone that hadn't gotten the memo. But then we have to consider what actually happened – Tony was murdered in front of his family. This is a big no-no in the mob, but more importantly, it's a kind of awful ending for the other characters. We can understand that Tony's killing is the price of his immoral criminal life, but to spray his wife and son with their father's brains? That's too dark, even for The Sopranos.

He's neither dead nor alive. He's dead in the sense that the show doesn't progress past that point in time. He's alive in the sense that we can still imagine him, and re-watch old episodes. We must learn to live in the not-knowing, grasshoppers.

Also, the amount of time spent watching Meadow parallel park is a tip-off. We know she's parking, but Tony does not. For all he knows, something may have happened to her, which is also something he'll have to live with – not knowing if he can keep his family safe. We see Meadow walk up to the diner's door and then it cuts to Tony's face as the bell rings as Meadow walks in. He looks up and it cuts to black there. Had we held on Tony's face a moment longer, we'd see his recognition of Meadow. But since it cuts to black before that, he's forever left in a suspended state of not knowing.

And the whole episode thumbs its nose at the concept of wrapping up a series. Silvio is left in a coma. Pauly has a more powerful role in the family, but is still not very trustworthy. The feds may or may not have flipped Carlo, who could possibly testify against Tony. AJ is still pretty aimless. Etc., etc. Like the Journey song says, "the movie never ends, it goes on and on and on and on."