Whoever Did This
From Sopranopedia - The Sopranos Encyclopedia
| “Whoever Did This” | |||||||
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| The Sopranos episode | |||||||
| File:Sopranos ep409.jpg | |||||||
| Episode no. | Season 4 Episode 48 | ||||||
| Guest stars | see below | ||||||
| Written by | Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess | ||||||
| Directed by | Tim Van Patten | ||||||
| Production no. | 409 | ||||||
| Original airdate | November 10, 2002 | ||||||
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| Episode chronology | |||||||
"Whoever Did This" is the 48th episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos. It was the ninth episode for the show's fourth season. The episode was written by Robin Green & Mitchell Burgess and directed by Tim Van Patten. It originally aired on Sunday 10 November, 2002.
Table of contents |
Guest starring roles
- Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore
- Allia Kliouka Schaffer as Svetlana Kirilenko
- Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile
- Leslie Bega as Valentina LaPaz
- Dane Curley as Justin Cifaretto
- Marissa Matrone as Ronnie Capozza
- Richard D'Alessandro as Dennis Capozza
- Frances Ensemplare as Nucci Gualtieri
- Murielle Arden as Elodi Colbert
- Richard Portnow as Harold Melvoin
- Dan Castleman as Prosecutor Castleman
- Matt Servito as Agent Harris
- Frank Pando as Agent Grasso
- Paul Schulze as Father Phil Initintola
Episode recap
Uncle Junior has a rough time leaving court through a crowd of reporters and falls down the steps when hit by a boom microphone. He has a short hospital stay, but suffers no apparent lasting damage. Tony calls Junior's attorney, Melvoin, and suggests that they could use this to their advantage by having Junior feign dementia and avoid trial.
While playing an unsupervised game imitating characters from The Lord of the Rings, Ralphie's son, Justin, is wounded when an arrow lodges in his chest, rendering him in a coma with probable brain damage. At the hospital Ralphie is devastated and gets into an argument with his ex-wife, Ronnie (now remarried to another man, Dennis). Overwhelmed by guilt, Ralphie visits Father Intintola and even Rosalie comes to offer him support. He profusely apologizes to Rosalie for his earlier behavior; she later turns down his impromptu proposal. He also sets up a scholarship fund at Rutgers University for $20,000 in Jackie Aprile, Jr.'s name.
The horse Pie-O-My is badly burned in a stable fire and has to be put down. Tony, who arrives to survey the damage, is traumatised when he views the animal's body. He goes to visit Ralph to give him the news. Ralph offers condolences, but is more concerned with recent improvements in Justin's condition and the growing cost of his medical care, and offers to make Tony eggs. Tony becomes suspicious that Ralph had the fire set to claim the insurance money on the horse, which Ralph denies, but is derisive of Tony's concern for the matter. Furious, Tony starts a prolonged, extremely intense fight and eventually tackles Ralphie to the ground, viciously choking and bludgeoning him to death, shouting, "She was an innocent creature!"
Tony calls Christopher to help him dispose of the body; he is high once again. Tony recognises the signs in Christopher and chastises him for his problem. Tony tells Chris that Ralphie was dead when he got there, but Chris sees through this. They discuss how to handle the murder and what to say to their associates. They remove Ralph's head (revealing his baldness), hands and feet from the corpse and then wait until dark to dispose of the body parts. They throw the body from a cliff and bury the rest at a farm (owned by Mikey Palmice's hospitalized father) — they are forced to use a stolen JCB backhoe because the ground is frozen. Tony mentions that he knew how to drive it from past experience on his grandfather's construction site.
Deceased
- Ralph Cifaretto: beaten/strangled to death by Tony Soprano in a lengthy, rage-filled fist fight. His body is dismembered with the help of Christopher Moltisanti.
Title reference
- Tony uses the phrase "whoever did this" when discussing with Christopher how others will react to Ralphie's death.
- The title may also refer to the stable fire and Tony's suspicions of Ralphie.
Trivia
- At two points in the episode, lines from the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil" are quoted verbatim in reference to Ralph:
- When meeting with Justin's surgeon in the hospital, Ralph says, "Please allow me to introduce myself."
- When meeting with Father Phil, Ralph introduces himself with, "Pleased to meet you," (a phrase Ralph has never uttered before in meeting new individuals); shortly thereafter, Father Phil asks Ralph, "Were you there when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain?"
- When Tony looks in the mirror after whacking Ralph he sees pictures of Tracee, the Bada Bing stripper whom Ralph killed.
- Apollo 440's take on "The Man with the Harmonica" plays over the end credits.
