OK, right off the bat: if you didn't see it last night, stop reading now. You have only yourself to blame.

Now, I managed to see the episode in question shortly after its American transmission date, back in June, so it's quite possible that I'm not as angry as some of the die hard fans that saw it last night and are still spluttering into their cornflakes. But I have to say that I think it was the right way to end it. As soon as I heard that the end was in sight, I started imagining the finale in my head. It first consisted of a huge shooting match in the streets of New Jersey, with everybody dying and set to Joey by Bob Dylan ("Sister Jacqueline and Carmela and Mother Mary all did weep/I heard his best friend Frankie say "He ain't dead, he's just asleep""). Then I decided that no, that was far too epic and overstated. It would be Carmela discovering everything about Tony, and Adriana's death; and killing her husband herself (actually, that was my wife's idea). Cue Murder Incorporated by Bruce Springsteen. But what was I thinking? This is The Sopranos we're talking about: the show that virtually invented the refusal to resolve elements of its narrative. OK, all you Twin Peaks fans, calm down: I'm not just talking about plot. I'm talking about its seminal decision to go against the grain of American television by not resolving moral issues. A man kills someone else and doesn't get caught. Someone cheats on his wife and she never finds out. Sexual tension isn't always acted on, but sometimes left there hanging. And, let's be clear: The Sopranos never did this for the sake of it; it was telling the truth, yes. But just telling the truth isn't enough, otherwise reality TV would be something other than the televisual spawn of Satan. No, The Sopranos was cynical enough to depict an America in the Bush era (although it began under Clinton) in which people cheat, lie and kill and then prosper. Without it, we wouldn't have the beautifully depressing Six Feet Under or the incredible moral complexity of The Wire (thanks again for this, Word - I am loving it). David Chase once said in an interview that the problem with much American television was that it was all subliminally trying to reassure us, to tell us that the world was ok: we could trust the teachers, doctors, lawyers, police force and US President. Our lives were safe in their hands. Well, God knows we all know that isn't the case. But how many US TV shows before The Sopranos dared say it?

So, now it's over. And many of us are screaming our anger at that final sudden blackout that, were it not for the giveaway e4 logo at the top left, we all thought was a powercut. But we are responding in the language of traditional televisual expectations: how are they going to wrap it up? we all thought. Well, what if they don't? It's not a trick. For Tony is forever looking through the door, always wondering if the next person to walk in will be to kill him or to arrest him. Carmela will always have her suspicions that maybe Adriana didn't just leave Christopher. AJ may be up and down for years to come, maybe even eventually killing himself. Meadow may never decide what she wants to do with her life or learn how to park her car. But we can't have it both ways: we can't praise The Sopranos for its bravery in not resolving the traditional narratives of television drama, and then complain when it ends like this. To paraphrase John Lennon, you still have all the old DVD box sets if you want to reminisce. But, if I were you, I'd watch a few old shows to get it out of your system and then start watching The Wire. That's what I did.