In 2005, one of the most popular sitcoms of all time went off the air with a poignant yet deliberately open-ended series finale. “Everybody Loves Raymond,” based on the comedy of Ray Romano and starring Romano as sportswriter and family man Ray Barone, ran for nine top-rated seasons on CBS and became a staple of American television over the course of nearly a decade and more than 200 episodes. When it finally came time to end the show, an entire nation tuned in to see how the Barones would say goodbye.
The “Everybody Loves Raymond” series finale, titled simply “The Finale,” begins with a scenario that showrunner Phil Rosenthal described in an interview with the Television Academy Foundation as deeply “relatable.” It’s something just about everyone among the millions watching that night in 2005 could grasp and tie back to an event in their own lives — an unexpected health scare.
The episode launches with Ray revealing that he has to have an operation to get his adenoids removed after years of sore throats and trouble swallowing. It’s a minor procedure, but he’s still convinced it will go terribly and could kill him, so he drags the whole family along to the hospital. While they’re there, a nurse comes out and explains that Ray isn’t waking up from the anesthesia. The whole Barone family freaks out. Less than a minute later, a doctor appears and tells them that Ray is going to be fine, is coming out of the anesthesia and will be available to visit in just a few minutes.
Again, it’s a small but relatable moment that Rosenthal crafted to hook the audience in, because the health scare isn’t actually the linchpin of the story. It’s what happens next that changes the dynamic of the entire Barone family, and sends the show off with a big emotional punch.
When she hears that her husband might not wake up after what was supposed to be a simple medical procedure, Debra Barone (Patricia Heaton) understandably breaks down crying, terrified for a few moments that her husband and partner might die. The moment passes quickly, but her father-in-law Frank (Peter Boyle) and brother-in-law Robert (Brad Garrett) both see the impact it has on her. They’re also there to hear her next words — a vow that none of them can ever tell Ray what just happened, for fear of how he’d react.
Once Ray is back home, Debra starts to look at her home life quite differently, even when she’s complaining to Ray that he can’t do simple chores like picking up the dry cleaning without making a mistake. Suddenly, she’s much more grateful to have her husband in her life, and it’s clear from their interactions in the finale that she’s still imagining what life would be like without him. Even with that changed outlook, though, Debra steadfastly refuses to disclose to Ray what made her so suddenly grateful that he’s there eating ice cream and making a mess in their bed as he recovers from surgery. That mistake is left to another member of the Barone family.
Frank Barone is not one for showing emotion. Throughout the original run of “Everybody Loves Raymond” he’s depicted as a crude, sarcastic patriarch who only shows real affection and earnest love when the situation is really dire. But it’s clear right away that the prospect of losing his son weighs heavily on Frank’s mind.
In the aftermath of the surgery, Frank agrees to keep what happened secret from Ray, and further vows to never tell his own wife, Marie, about the near-death experience, as she was luckily in the bathroom when it all went down. But Frank can’t let go of what he felt when he briefly thought Ray might die. Later in the episode, he remarks that he had never seen Debra break down like that before and he never wants to see it again. It gnaws at him, and because Marie is an ever-vigilant matriarch, she notices.
So, Frank breaks the code of silence and tells his wife what happened — a decision that will have far-reaching ramifications for the rest of the episode. More than that, though, it underlines just how emotional Frank really is, even when he’s not prepared to show it. He quite literally loves his family more than he can say.
Perhaps the longest-running theme in the entire show is the inferiority complex nursed by Robert Barone. Because he’s the oldest and Raymond is his baby brother, Robert has come into adulthood feeling like Ray gets all the spec
