IN THE end, everybody did love Raymond. And it took a near-death experience to get them to admit it.

That’s what happened last night as CBS presented the final episode of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” comedian Ray Romano’s destined-to-be-classic prime-time sitcom about contemporary family dynamics.

There were no group hugs – just the usual misunderstandings, deceptions and insults that have characterized this series for nine seasons.

Last night’s mix-ups began with Ray Barone (Romano) going into the hospital to have his adenoids removed. But when the routine procedure was over, he had about a minute’s trouble coming out of the anesthesia.

In that brief interval, his wife and family were forced to contemplate life without Raymond.

But as soon as word came from a doctor that Ray was OK, they conspired to keep their feelings a secret from Ray.

Of course, it wouldn’t have been much of a TV sitcom if Ray didn’t eventually learn the truth.

And that’s when his family – especially his wife, Debra (Patricia Heaton), dad, Frank (Peter Boyle), and brother, Robert (Brad Garrett) – reluctantly revealed, in not so many words, that they loved Ray.

The plotline felt familiar. In its weekly examination of family life, “Everybody Loves Raymond” often dealt with the way family members bicker and brawl while concealing and avoiding expressions of real feeling.

On this series, though, despite all the shouting, there was never really any doubt about who loved Raymond, although right up until the end, it was still doubtful whether Debra loved Marie (Doris Roberts), Ray’s doting mother and Debra’s competitor for his attention.

Last night’s episode really had two closing scenes. The first one, between Ray and Debra and played out in the privacy of their bed room, could have served as the series ender.

Less touching was the raucous kitchen scene tacked on to the end of the show in which all the family members – including Robert’s wife, Amy (Monica Horan) and Ray and Debra’s three kids – all battled for French toast at the table which was always too small.

But it is a credit to Romano – as well as his fellow cast members, producers, directors and writers – that the show’s final episode did little more than explore the territory this show had visited so many times before.

It was a fitting, satisfying end for anyone who loved “Raymond,” and for anyone who didn’t.