After a hearing for his ongoing RICO trial, Junior is pursued out of the courtroom by journalists. Distracted by a pretty female reporter, he bumps his head on a boom microphone and falls down the courtroom steps. He is taken to a hospital and acts confused and exhibits possible signs of dementia, prompting the doctors to keep him longer. In private with Tony, Junior reveals that he is faking this behavior to extend his stay at the hospital, which he finds preferable to house arrest. Tony gets the idea that Junior could use this same technique to his advantage in competency hearings, potentially causing a mistrial. Consulting with Junior's lawyer Harold Melvoin, Tony coaches Junior on how to believably feign dementia in interviews.
Ralph Cifaretto, mulling over the joke that almost got him killed, deduces that Paulie Walnuts leaked the information to Johnny because Paulie's nephew Little Paulie was at the dinner and frequently visited his uncle. As payback, Ralph prank calls Paulie's mother Nucci at the nursing home, fabricating a story that Paulie was arrested for fellating a cub scout with a gerbil lodged in his rectum in Pennsylvania. Nucci is mortified, while Ralph and his crew burst out laughing. Later, while Ralph's son Justin is staying with him, he and his friend role play The Lord of the Rings unsupervised with a real bow and arrow. Justin is seriously injured when the arrow pierces his chest, and Ralph rushes his unconscious son to the hospital. While there, Ralph has a volatile confrontation with his ex-wife and lashes out at Justin's friend, forcing Tony to restrain him while he breaks down crying.
The incident with Justin Cifaretto has a sobering effect on the rest of the Soprano family. As it becomes clear that Justin will be disabled and require years of physical therapy, Ralph resolves to pay for the best therapy possible, continuing to earn massive amounts. The normally abrasive and surly Ralph becomes much more subdued, and even shows signs of turning over a new leaf. He reconciles with his ex-girlfriend Rosalie Aprile, apologizing for failing to support her in the aftermath of her son's death, and even proposes to her, though she turns him down. Ralph visits Father Intintola to seek spiritual guidance, praying with him and deciding to draft a lengthy confession of his sins.
As Ralph visits Tony's office to deliver his kickup, he cries openly in front of him, making Tony uncomfortable, and shows remorse over his past sins. Tony takes this opportunity to confess to Ralph that he is now seeing Ralph's former goomah, Valentina. Ralph does not seem to mind this. Soprano family and mob members speculate as to how genuine Ralph's newly moral outlook might be. Most of the guys are sympathetic to Ralph, but Paulie — still angry over the prank call to his mother — insists he is still the same man, and his show of emotion is just crocodile tears. Carmela, meanwhile, seems to lean toward the possibility that Ralph may be genuine. Tony remains on the fence.
Tony gets a call from the stables where Ralph's horse Pie-O-My is kept and learns that a sudden fire caused the deaths of numerous horses, Pie-O-My included. He visits the burned stables and sees Pie-O-My's remains. As he questions the cause of the fire, the owner insists it was electrical, but when she refers to the insurance payout Tony eyes the scene suspiciously. Tony promptly pays a visit to Ralph's home unannounced to deliver the news in person. Ralph seems pleasantly surprised, and Tony probes for information, making it clear that he suspects Ralph deliberately started the fire. Ralph denies this, but says it was just a horse and it's better to have the insurance money. After the horse's recent illness it would be downhill from here.
As Tony continues to accuse him the confrontation escalates, with Tony finally punching Ralph when he insults his weight. The two men have a brutal struggle, during which Ralph injures Tony and sprays Raid in his eyes. Tony eventually pins Ralph down, snarling "She was a beautiful, innocent creature! What did she ever do to you?" at him as he gives him a long-overdue No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on the floor. Tony eventually grabs Ralph by the throat with both hands and finishes him off by strangling him to death.
Tony calls Christopher to help dispose of Ralph's corpse. Christopher gets the call just after shooting up heroin and arrives late. Still high, Christopher is shocked and disoriented to find Ralph on the kitchen floor, while Tony insists he found him like this. Tony quickly realizes that Christopher is high and chastises him before they set about cleaning up the mess. As they put Ralph's body in the bathtub to dismember it, Christopher grabs him by the hair and pulls it off his head, revealing for the first time that Ralph was bald and wore a toupee. Christopher dismembers the body while Tony grabs bags to hold the parts. They wait until dark to avoid carrying conspicuously large bags out of Ralph's house in broad daylight. While they wait, watching television, Tony gives Chris advice on his upcoming marriage and possible fatherhood, suggesting he jump in without overthinking it, and also tells Chris he will have to quit using heroin.
As night falls, they first drive to the farm of the late Mikey Palmice's father, where they have trouble breaking through the frozen ground with a shovel. Tony orders Christopher to hot wire an excavator, but Chris has trouble operating it and Tony does the job, digging up a small hole where Chris drops Ralph's head and hands in a bowling ball bag. Next, they travel to a cliff to drop the rest of Ralph's corpse into the bay. Returning to the Bada Bing to clean up, Christopher refrains from accusing Tony of the murder but still says that the death of a made man will look bad. Tony reminds Christopher that nobody but the two of them knows Ralph is dead.
The next morning, Junior abruptly leaves his home, walking next door in his pajamas to ask his neighbor for ice cream while the FBI watch from across the street, suspecting that he is just putting on a show for them. His caretaker quickly retrieves him and he claims he just went out to get the paper. As she goes to make tea, he stands still, staring ahead with a blank expression and exhibiting some characteristics of dementia while in private. Meanwhile, Tony wakes up in the Bada Bing dressing room. He briefly notices a photograph of Tracee, the stripper Ralph killed, on the dressing room mirror, before heading out into the daylight.
Tropes:
- Alas, Poor Villain: Despite being a despicable excuse for a human being most of the time, the tragic circumstances that surround Ralph's demise are meant to evoke some sympathy, what with his son being in a coma and his Heel–Face Door-Slam (see below).
- Ambiguous Situation:
- Did Ralph kill the horse? And did Tony kill him over the horse or Tracee?
- When Uncle Junior wanders off to the neighbor's house to ask for ice cream and has to be brought back in by his nurse, near the end of the episode. Is he still Playing Sick in front of the FBI agents that have him under surveillance? Or has his descent into Scatterbrained Senior now started in earnest?
- Berserk Button: Killing an animal that Tony cares for, especially in a way that made it suffer terribly, and worse still showing callous disregard, is a sure way to anger Tony. Ralph insists on hitting that button multiple times and hard.
- Commenting on Tony's weight and eating habits didn't help, either.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Ralph has gotten away with a LOT over the course of a season and a half because he was the biggest earner for Tony. And it continues even through the first half of the episode, as Tony explicitly invokes Ralph's earning capacity to establish a Protectorate over Ralph against the other mobsters, Paulie in particular. But then comes the stable fire ...
- Call-Back:
- After disposing of Ralph's body, Tony wakes up at the Bada Bing, and notices a picture of Tracee on the mirror. It reinforces the Ambiguous Situation and Riddle for the Ages involved with Tony killing Ralph. Was Tony avenging Tracee, Pie-O-My, or both at the same time?
- Recall that the initial introduction of Pie-O-My established Ralph as the Bad Guy Who Abuses Animals and Foil to Tony the Friend to All Living Things. That dichotomy manifests again in the argument between the two men that leads to Ralph's death. Ralph insists on showing callous disregard for Pie-O-My's suffering multiple times, and thereby dooms himself by pressing repeatedly on Tony's Berserk Button.
- Character Death: Bye-bye Ralphie.
- Chekhov's Skill: An inverted example of the trope. Ralph displayed a penchant for arson during season 3. But having that penchant dooms him instead of helping him. Tony clearly has his sights set on Ralph as the guilty party for the stable fire.
- Close to Home: Justin' (Ralphie's son)s accident inspires Tony to try and better connect with his own son A.J., who simply responds with Age-Appropriate Angst.
- Combat Pragmatist: A frying skillet, a kitchen knife, a can of Raid, a knee where it hurts, Ralph does anything and everything he can think of in his brutal fight to the death with Tony. Unfortunately for him, it was game over for him against the hulking Tony once he ran out of options.
- Confessional: Ralph to Father Intintola.
- Continuity Nod:
- When Tony confronts Ralph about the fire, he asks him about Corky Ianucci. Tony believes Ralph hired him to start the stable fire which killed Pie-O-My. Corky was also apparently used by Silvio to help blow up Vesuvio, the restaurant owned by Artie Bucco, in the pilot episode.
- When Tony looks in the mirror the morning after killing Ralph, he sees a picture of Tracee, the Bada Bing stripper whom Ralph killed in "University".
- Some of Ralph's body parts get buried in the farm of Mikey Palmice's father.
- Chris asks Tony if Artie is banging "that French broad".
- Country Matters: Ralph calls his ex-wife one during a heated argument over Justin's accident.
- Crocodile Tears: Paulie doesn't buy Ralph's seeming change of heart, and views his seeming Manly Tears as fake.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Pie-O-My and a few other horses were literally burnt alive by the stable fire. Pie-O-My in particular lingered for hours afterward and had to be put down.
- Curb-Stomp Cushion: Although Tony ends up killing Ralph, he manages to get a number of good hits in on Tony that have him reeling, vomiting, and in great pain after.
- Death by Irony: One, possibly two, examples with Ralph's death:
- Firstly, Ralph, a big fan of the movie Gladiator, has a fight to the death when his kitchen essentially turns into a small gladiatorial arena, complete with Ralph grabbing a bunch of nearby improvised weapons around him to strike Tony with.
- Secondly, if Ralph really didn't kill Pie-Oh-My, it means that after everything he did during the series that would've gotten him whacked were it not for his success as an earner, he was ultimately killed for something he didn't do.
- A Death in the Limelight: Ralph gets the most continuous focus and character development he'd seen since his introduction - including the clip Joe Pantoliano submitted for his Emmy win that year - all in its first 30 minutes. Then he and Tony step into his kitchen to talk about a dead racing horse...
- The Determinator: A can of Raid to the eyes, a frying pan, a butcher knife, a knee to the nads- nothing is going to stop Tony from killing Ralph for good once he's convinced that Ralph burned Pie-O-My to death.
- Disposing of a Body: Chris and Tony dismember Ralph's body. They then place some of the pieces in a bag wrapped in chains and weighed down by heavy objects (e.g. a bowling ball as one example), and dump them in a river. The other pieces they bury on the farm of Mikey Palmice's father. Tony certainly doesn't want law enforcement to find Ralph, but even moreso he definitely doesn't want the other Capos and made men finding out he killed Ralph without a sitdown and authorization.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Uncle Junior has a Head-Turning Beauty reaction to a young female journalist wanting to ask him questions. It leads to his subsequent Staircase Tumble and Tap on the Head.
- Do Not Go Gentle: It may have been a foregone conclusion that Tony was going to waste Ralph. But Ralph pulls any and every stop he can and gives Tony all he can handle.
- Dodgy Toupee: Chris has a rather alarmed reaction when he finds out that Ralph was wearing one all along, after pulling on it with the intention of cutting Ralph's head off from the rest of the body. Tony is quite amused.
- Double Speak: How Tony instructs Chris to bring the items necessary to Ralph's house so they can dispose of his body.
- Dull Surprise: Chris lets out a rather quiet "Hoooo ...." when he walks in and sees a very dead Ralph lying on the floor, mostly because Chris is high as a kite on heroin.
- Dumbass Has a Point: Even while high off his ass on heroin, Chris accurately points out that the other mobsters will notice Ralph's sudden disappearance, given he was not only a captain, but one of their biggest earners.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Paulie is livid over the Prank Call to Nucci.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- Ralph is clearly shattered by Justin's accident, so much so that it's a Riddle for the Ages whether it would have led to a full Heel–Face Turn for him.
- Paulie is full of barely restrained Tranquil Fury over Ralph's prank call to Nucci and would love the opportunity to whack him if Ralph's role can be proven.
- Tony is distraught by the death of his pet horse.
- Foreshadowing:
- Uncle Junior tells his Amoral Attorney, Melvoin, to make sure the chicken is delivered to him. Melvoin informs Junior that he didn't make the Early Bird Special. It's the first hint we get that Junior is doomed to become a Scatterbrained Senior.
- Tony asks Ralph to have a look at Pie-Oh-My ...
- Chris also lampshades the repercussions should the Capos and other made men find out that Tony whacked Ralph without proper authorization. And indeed, it will soon become an Open Secret.
- Uncle Junior pretends to be confused about when JFK was president, faking dementia. However, by the series finale, Junior will be suffering from dementia for real, and when reminded of his once-close friend Bobby Baccalieri, will only be able to think of JFK's brother Bobby.
- Functional Addict: Zigzagged. Tony clearly views Chris as an Addled Addict. But Chris just manages to keep it together long enough to effectively help Tony dispose of Ralph's body.
- Genre Shift: The episode starts with an almost sitcom-like tone, focusing on subplots about Junior faking dementia for his trial and Ralph prank-calling Paulie's mother. Then Ralph's son suddenly suffers an accident and goes into a coma, and it turns into an emotional melodrama about Ralph's grief. THEN Tony suddenly kills Ralph during an argument, and the rest of the episode is a dark, absurdist comedy about Tony and Christopher disposing of his corpse.
- Gilligan Cut: Rosalie tries to comfort Ralph by telling him that Justin is going to be ok. The very next scene is of her callously telling Carmela that Justin is going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life.
- Gut Feeling: Ralphie is entirely correct when he deduces that Little Paulie told Paulie about the fat joke at Ginny's expense, who in turn told it to Johnny Sack.
- Half-Truth: Tony demands that Chris help him dispose of Ralph's body on the rationale that he doesn't want law enforcement to find the body and trigger an investigation when there's already a lot of legal heat on the DiMeo crime family, including Uncle Junior's trial. He's correct as far as that goes. But what he's really worried about is the other Capos and made men in the family finding out that he whacked Ralph without authorization from a sitdown.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Ralph shows signs of possibly becoming a better person in light of his son's tragic accident. Most of the cast is uncertain how genuine his change of heart really is. They never get the chance to find out.
- Hidden Depths: It turns out Tony is pretty good with a scoop tractor, even while suffering from the effects of inhaling bug spray. Chris is impressed.
- Hypocrite: Tony forbids Paulie from whacking Ralph, invoking The Mafia rules that prohibit harming a made man without permission. Wanna guess what Tony does to Ralph a few minutes later in the episode?
- Implausible Deniability: Tony tells Chris, "I found him like this" when Chris walks in and sees Ralph's dead body. Then a second time combined with Title Drop, "Whoever did this, it should've happened a long time ago." But Chris, even as doped up as he is, can clearly see that Tony himself has blood on his shirt and bruises on his face from the fight to the death. Lucky for Tony, Chris is willing to go along with it.
- Ironic Echo Cut: A darkly funny example: Ralphie's son Justin is tragically injured, and he suffers significant blood loss and brain damage, with doctors saying that he could potentially end up being disabled. Later on, as Ralphie sits beside Justin's hospital bed, Rosalie Aprile comes into the room. She consoles him, saying:Rosalie: Justin's gonna be alright. You'll see. He's gonna be fine.
[cut to Rosalie talking to Carmela over dinner at a restaurant]
Rosalie: He's gonna be a vegetable. - Jerkass Has a Point: While he goes about in the most asinine way possible, Ralph is not wrong that Tony values the life of a horse more than the life of Ralph's son Justin, nor does he care as much about the human cost of their line of work.Ralph: It was a fucking animal! A hundred grand apiece! My kid's in the fucking hospital! I don't here you complaining when I bring you a nice fat envelope. You don't give a shit where that comes from.
- He's also not wrong that the parent who purchased a deadly weapon for a child has more responsibility for the child's death by that weapon than the parent who happened to be bathing at the moment when the child decided to use it irresponsibly.
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Ralph's expires this episode, courtesy of a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from Tony.
- Karmic Death: Ralph beat Tracee to death. Tony puts him six feet under with a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Kill It with Fire: Tony is definitely convinced that Ralph did it to Pie-O-My.
- Killed Off for Real: Ralph, courtesy of Tony.
- Mid-Season Twist: This episode takes place roughly in the middle of the season and it features the biggest death of season four. Notably, this is one of the few major character deaths that doesn't occur in the final couple of episodes of a season.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Chris helps Tony dispose of Ralph's body, even as he's fully aware that Tony killing Ralph without a sitdown and authorization was against the rules of The Mafia. But he does it anyway, partly out of Undying Loyalty to Tony, but also out of self-interest recognizing that he and Tony are in a very real sense joined at the hip.
- Nepotism: In both directions.
- Chris falls in with Tony disposing of Ralph's body, party because of Undying Loyalty and Tony is His Master Right or Wrong. But it also has shades of Pragmatic Villainy. He's well aware that his place in the mob, such as it is, is almost completely on account of a familial connection to Tony. He knows that without Tony there to protect him, his own place within the crime family would be precarious at best.
- Tony in turn asks Chris, and only Chris, to help him with Disposing of a Body. And it ties in with Chris' concerns. Tony is afraid of losing the support of the Capos and other made men if it gets out that he whacked Ralph without a sitdown and authorization. Chris is the only one he trusts to keep the secret.
- Nervous Wreck: Paulie tells Tony that Nucci had to be medicated after Ralph's Prank Call.
- No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Tony absolutely steamrolls Ralph once he has him pinned on the floor.
- Not Me This Time: Ralph insists repeatedly that he had nothing to do with Pie-O-My's Cruel and Unusual Death. But it doesn't work since he mixes it in with multiple presses of Tony's Berserk Button.
- Open Secret: Tony's cover story that Artie got mugged isn't working out very well. Rosalie and Carmela lampshade that almost everybody suspects Artie tried to off himself with sleeping pills, and that he and Tony have had a falling out.
- Parental Neglect: Ralph starts to feel guilty about not being more of a father for Justin after the accident.
- Pet the Dog:
- Tony tries his best to console Ralph after Justin's accident. At least before the stable fire ...
- He also promises Paulie that he'll visit Nucci in the hospital, who had to be medicated after the Prank Call.
- Father Phil seems genuine in his desire to help Ralph.
- While no one will know how firmly Ralph's change of heart would have stuck, he does at least appear to sincerely apologize to Rosalie for his Lack of Empathy during her grief period caused by Jackie Jr.'s death.
- Playing Sick: Uncle Junior, Tony, and Melvoin collaborate to try and get Junior out of his RICO charges by having Junior feign dementia. The initial effort won't work. But then Irony will ensue.
- Pragmatic Villainy:
- Although Ralph denies setting fire to the stable, he insists that he and Tony should think more about the $100,000 apiece they'll both get from the insurance payout. It backfires though, as in this particular instance it only amounts to another press of Tony's Berserk Button.
- Tony and Chris both cooperate in disposing of Ralph's body out of self-interest. They implicitly agree that it's in their best interests to preserve their nepotistic connection to each other, and keep the secret to avoid losing their places in the mob.
- Prank Call: Ralph pulls off one of the most famous ones in the history of television at the expense of Nucci. Only by watching it
can you get a sense of just how mean-spirited and yet funny at the same time it really is. - Revenge: Ralph's Prank Call is motivated by the desire to get back at Paulie for telling Johnny Sack about the fat joke at Ginny's expense.
- Riddle for the Ages: Plenty of examples.
- Was Ralph's change of heart for real? And even if he was sincere, would it have lasted if he'd lived?
- Did Ralph actually burn Pie-O-My to death for the insurance payout and to get rid of a looming liability?
- Was Tony avenging Pie-O-My, or Tracee, or both at the same time?
- Did Tony go to Ralph's place with the intention of murdering him, or did he decide to during the argument?
- Rule of Symbolism:
- In a blend between this and Shout-Out, the episode's dialogue incorporates references to the The Rolling Stones' song "Sympathy for the Devil" (e.g. Father Phil asks Ralph "Were you there when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain?" - this is a near-verbatim from the song's line "I was 'round when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain.") "Sympathy For The Devil" is essentially the predicament the episode puts Tony and the viewer in thanks to Ralph's grief over his son.
- Ralph gives Tony a thick envelope full of cash. Tony in turn shows Paulie that same envelope, to establish a Protectorate over Ralph. Ralph in turn references the 'nice fat envelope' during his argument with Tony. The multiple showings and references lampshades that Ralph has enjoyed the status of a Bunny-Ears Lawyer, but that time is about to run out.
- At the burnt-out stables, a goat looks directly into the camera and Tony seems to notice it out of the corner of his eye. Goats have long been associated with Satan, as has Ralph, so its presence could point toward his guilt.
- Chris uses a cleaver to dismember a now very dead Ralph. Remember that when Chris finally does get around to making the movie like he always dreamed of.
- Chris and Tony are discussing whether Chris can have children despite Adriana having fertility issues. Tony weighs in that Chris can't seriously hope to be a father while being an Addled Addict. Ralph's television meanwhile is playing a 50s movie called The Last Time I Saw Paris, with much of its narrative centering around the main character struggling with addiction issues while wanting to be involved with the life of his newborn daughter. Another instance of the Symbolism itself providing Foreshadowing.
- The episode ends with Tony leaving the darkness of the Bada Bing, and stepping out into a brightly lit street outside. Does that symbolism mean Tony achieving some kind of partial redemption?
- Shout-Out:
- Ralph likens Ginny Sack to Shamu, an Orca that had been a performer for Sea World.
- Justin's accident occurs while he and his friend were reenacting the Siege of Gondor from The Lord of the Rings.
- Lyrics from The Rolling Stones's "Sympathy for the Devil" get a lot of play here in regards to Ralph. Upon meeting the doctor attending to Justin, he says "please allow me to introduce myself". During his meeting with Father Phil Intantola, Ralph is asked "were you there when Jesus had his moment of doubt and pain?"? And if all that weren't enough. Tony caps it off by scolding Paulie about his lack of concern for Ralph's woes by saying "have a little sympathy, huh?"
- Slasher Smile: Chris starts to wear one when he begins the process of dismembering Ralph with a cleaver. A sure sign that he's well on his way to becoming full-on Ax-Crazy if he isn't already.
- Staircase Tumble: Uncle Junior being Distracted by the Sexy journalist leads to him tumbling down the stairs of the courthouse, and a Tap on the Head.
- Sugary Malice: Janice puts on an obviously fake nice act combined with a Stealth Insult based on reminding Svetlana about the stolen prosthetic leg. It ultimately leads to an Insult Backfire when Svetlana simply brushes past her and tells her she's a "boring woman" along the way.
- Tap on the Head: Uncle Junior hits his head hard after his Staircase Tumble. The symptoms don't manifest right away, but when they do they result in a whole new set of problems for him.
- Title Drop:
- Tony to Paulie while promising that there will be satisfaction for the Prank Call on Nucci if it can be proven who did it.
- Tony to Christopher during his explanation of what happened.
- Too Clever by Half: When Uncle Junior tries Playing Sick before a testing psychiatrist, he deliberately gives occasional false answers to try and convince her of the onset of dementia. Problem is that he tries a little too hard, like naming John F. Kennedy as the president immediately prior to George W. Bush. It doesn't help that his demeanor makes him obvious.
- Too Dumb to Live: Ralph just might have lived had he simply denied having anything to do with the stable fire and leaving it at that, multiple times if he had to. But even as he knows Tony was really attached to Pie-O-My and is devastated by the horse's death, Ralph insists on pressing Tony's Berserk Button multiple times by displaying callous disregard for the animal's suffering and emphasizing the insurance payout. And Ralph carries on even as he can plainly see that Tony is becoming angrier and angrier with successive press of the Button. Then comes the comment: "What are you, a vegetarian? You eat beef and sausage by the fucking carload!" That comment prompts Tony to start things in earnest, but perhaps Tony was already intent on killing Ralph by that point.
- Wham Episode: Tony's resentment of Ralph finally snaps when Ralph is accused of killing Pie-O-My. After confronting him in his home, the two get into an argument and then a fistfight in which Tony gains the upper hand and bludgeons Ralph to death; Ralph is later disposed of by a disoriented Tony and a drugged-out Chris.
