Whoever Did This

"Whoever Did This"

"Whoever Did This" is the forty-eighth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and was the ninth of the show's fourth season. It was written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, directed by Tim Van Patten and originally aired on Sunday, November 10, 2002. This is also Joe Pantoliano's 2003 Emmy winning submission for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

Guest starring roles

• Sharon Angela as Rosalie Aprile
• Murielle Arden as Elodi Colbert
• Leslie Bega as Valentina La Paz
• Dan Castleman as Prosecutor Castleman
• Dane Curley as Justin Cifaretto
• Richard D'Alessandro as Dennis Capozza
• Frances Ensemplare as Nucci Gualtieri

• Joseph R. Gannascoli as Vito Spatafore
• Tim Kang as Dr. Harrison Wong
• Marissa Matrone as Ronnie Capozza
• Frank Pando as Agent Grasso
• Richard Portnow as Harold Melvoin
• Allia Kliouka Schaffer as Svetlana Kirilenko
• Paul Schulze as Father Phil Intintola
• Matt Servito as Agent Harris
• Susan Jhun as News Reporter Allison Pak

Episode recap

As Junior Soprano is leaving court, he is surrounded by media and accidentally hit in the head by a boom mike and falls down several steps. He is sent to the hospital with nothing more than a concussion. However, this minor blow to the head may be a golden opportunity for Junior: Tony suggests to his attorney Harold Melvoin that they could use this in Junior's defense via an unstable mental capacity, and Junior is to act as if he has Alzheimers. Tony tells him all he has to do is "act oobatz" or crazy, and this will end his legal problems.

Although things may be looking up for Junior, they can't get any worse for Ralph Cifaretto. While Ralph's 12-year old son and a friend are playing unsupervised game of Lord of the Rings, Ralph's son Justin is inadvertently shot in the chest by an arrow. The maid bangs loudly on Ralph's bathroom door when he is taking a bath, urging him to come to Justin's aid. Ralph rushes outside to see his son lying on the ground unconscious, and is quickly rushed to the hospital where he remains in a coma. Ralph is guilt and grief stricken and begins to regret all the wrong he has done throughout his life. He even goes and visits Father Intintola to try to redeem himself and become a better person.

It is hard to believe by many, especially Tony, that Ralph may be trying to become a better person due to the recent misfortune. Ralph apologizes to Rosalie Aprile for not being more sympathetic when Jackie Aprile, Jr. died. He even asks Rosalie to marry him, but she smartly declines. Ralph also creates a $20,000-a-year scholarship at Rutgers University in Jackie, Jr.'s name. Tony is very sympathetic towards Ralph and is amazed at the new attitude that Ralph now possesses. Paulie, however, still has strong, resentful feelings towards Ralph, especially since he knows Ralph prank-called his mother in an earlier scene to get even with Paulie for telling Johnny Sack that Ralph made the Ginny Sack joke, which almost caused a war.

Just as people were going to give Ralph a chance to redeem himself after all the malicious and disrespectful things he had done in the past, Tony and Ralph's racehorse, Pie-O-My dies in a mysterious stable fire, which was deemed as accidental by the fire department; however, Tony believes Ralph set the fire intentionally to collect the $200,000 insurance claim he and Ralph had on the horse. After going to the stables the morning the trainer calls and delivers the bad news and sees Pie-O-My's corpse wrapped up and dragged away by a tractor, Tony goes to Ralph's house. Tony delivers the news to Ralph that Pie-O-My is dead. Ralph expresses his condolences to Tony, although not very sincerely. He and Tony go into the kitchen where Ralph is preparing eggs on the stove.

Although Ralph seems sympathetic towards Tony because the horse is dead, he seems more focused on informing Tony of Justin's improving condition. Tony observes that it's kind of funny how right after they took out a $200,000 dollar insurance policy on the horse that it dies in a fire. Ralph interprets the hint right away and calmly assures Tony he had nothing to do with it. Tony continuously drops hints that he believes Ralph did it, even asking him if he had heard from Corky Ianucci lately - an expert arsonist who was responsible for setting Artie Bucco's restaurant on fire in the pilot episode. Ralph begins to grow angrier and tells Tony "It was a bolt from beyond, we got lucky, the horse was no fuckin' good!" Tony replies "Jesus Christ, you did it. You cooked that fuckin' horse alive!" Ralph exclaims, "No, I did not! But so what? It was a fuckin' animal!". In a furious rage, Tony punches Ralph, knocking him across the kitchen. The two scuffle briefly, with Ralph unsuccessfully defending himself with pots, pans, a knife, and Raid. The fight culminates with Tony strangling Ralph and bashing his head against the kitchen floor shouting "She was a beautiful, innocent creature! What'd she ever do to you?" Ralph is finally lying dead on the floor. It is never revealed whether or not Ralph actually did have anything to do with the fire.

Tony enlists Christopher Moltisanti to help dispose of the body, explaining that Ralph was already dead when he arrived. Even in a heroin-induced daze, Christopher sees the truth and begins to realize that Ralph's disappearance could have serious ramifications. Christopher cuts off Ralph's head along with his hands, placing them in a bowling bag, discovering in the process that Ralph is bald and wears a toupee. Christopher and Tony dispose of Ralph's body by throwing it over a cliff into a quarry. They take his head and hands to Mikey Palmice's hospitalized father's farm. Because the ground is frozen, Tony uses a back hoe to dig up a hole, while he scolds Christopher for his drug use. Christopher tells Tony that Ralphie getting whacked could be a problem, to which Tony replies, "You're the only other one who knows about it."

The following morning, Uncle Junior's dementia goes from an act to slowly becoming real. After the feds witness him being brought back to his house after idly wandering to the neighbors' house by his house keeper, he stands in his living room genuinely confused. Back at the Bada Bing where Tony and Christopher disposed of their clothes and showered, Tony awakens, calling Christopher's name, but realizes he has already left. Tony then sees a picture of Tracee, the Bada Bing stripper who was killed by Ralph in the season 3 episode, University, implying that he doesn't feel so bad about killing Ralph. Tony then throws open the back door of the club, and walks from the darkness into the blinding light of the next day.

Deceased

• Ralph Cifaretto: beaten and strangled to death by Tony Soprano. His body is then dismembered and decapitated with the help of Christopher Moltisanti.
• Pie-O-My: Killed in a stable fire, possibly by Ralph's instruction.

Title reference

• Tony uses the phrase "whoever did this" when discussing with Christopher how others will react to Ralphie's death; earlier he used the phrase in reference to Ralphie's prank call to Paulie's mother.
• The title may also refer to the stable fire and Tony's suspicions of Ralphie.

References to other media

• Tony and Christopher are watching The Girl Who Had Everything (1953) by Richard Thorpe, starring Elizabeth Taylor.

• The song Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones is quoted twice throughout the episode, Ralph says "pleased to meet you." to Father Intintola, and the Father says, "were you there when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain?". Additionally, in a scene where Paulie expresses anger at Ralph despite his son's injury, Tony tells him he should have "a little sympathy, here".

Foreshadowing

• When Tony has Ralph pinned up against the wall at the hospital to prevent him from escalating the altercation with his ex-wife and her husband any further, you can see Tony's hands around Ralph's throat.

• When Ralph's son Justin is shot by the arrow, Ralph is in the same bathtub he will later be decapitated and "drained" in.

Connections to prior episodes

• 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 the episode "University."

• 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.

• In "The Weight", Johnny Sack tells Ralph "I should've let Tony chop off your head a year ago," a possible reference to what happens to Ralph in this episode.

Music

• "When I Need You" by Leo Sayer is playing when Ralph is in the bath.
• The Moonglows' original recording of "Sincerely" plays while Carmela and Rosalie dine at Vesuvio.
• The song played over the end credits is "The Man with the Harmonica" by Apollo 440. It is originally from the Ennio Morricone score of Once Upon a Time in the West, a Sergio Leone film. The man with the harmonica was played by Charles Bronson.