Episode no. Season 4
Episode 9 Cinematography by Phil Abraham Original air date November 10, 2002 | Directed by Tim Van Patten Production code 409 | |
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Written by Robin Green
Mitchell Burgess | ||
"Whoever Did This" is the forty-eighth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and is 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 November 10, 2002.
Contents
Starring
* = credit only
Episode recap
As Junior Soprano is leaving court, he is surrounded by media and accidentally hit in the head by a boom mic, causing him to fall down several steps. He is sent to the hospital with a concussion. Initially, Junior seems to be acting confused and a physician offers a theory Corrado may have had developing dementia and it could have been exacerbated by the concussion, but, later, Junior is found to be fine and enjoying his stay at the hospital as respite from the trial. Tony recognizes this as a potential advantage in Junior's trial. He convinces Junior to feign dementia during his competency hearings, which he accomplishes. However, Junior begins exhibiting actual signs of dementia in private, and wanders to a neighbor's house looking for ice cream one morning.
Ralph Cifaretto's 12-year-old son Justin is hit in the chest with an arrow while play-acting Lord of the Rings in Ralph's backyard with a friend. Ralph rushes Justin to the hospital, but he suffers significant blood loss and brain damage. In the aftermath, Ralph is met with significant sympathy from the community, save Paulie Gualtieri, who (correctly) suspects Ralph was behind a traumatic prank call to his mother in retaliation for Paulie ratting him out to Johnny Sack. Ralph cries openly in front of Tony, making him visibly uncomfortable, and expresses desire for some kind of redemption, meeting with Father Intintola - though not yet confessing - and establishing a scholarship at Rutgers in Jackie Aprile, Jr's name. Even Carmela seems convinced Ralph may be turning over a new leaf.
Tony gets a call that Pie O My, his and Ralph's racehorse, was killed in an apparently accidental stable fire. Tony immediately suspects Ralph, and confronts him in his home. Ralph vehemently denies the accusation, but loses his temper as well, and the argument escalates into a physical fight, in which Tony murders Ralph with his bare hands on Ralph's own kitchen floor. He calls Christopher, reaching him immediately after he has injected heroin, to help with the clean up. A doped-up Christopher arrives late and helps Tony dismember Ralph's body (discovering in the process that Ralph is bald and wears a toupe), then dispose of his body parts in separate locations. Tony never outright confesses to Christopher that he murdered Ralph, and Chris never expresses outright suspicion, but both acknowledge that the situation would look bad. After completing the disposal, they clean up at the Bada Bing, where Tony passes out and wakes up alone the following morning.
Deceased
Connections to prior episodes
Music
True-crime inspiration
Jason Bautista was convicted of killing his mentally ill mother in Riverside, California on January 14, 2003, then dumping her decapitated body with its hands removed off Ortega Highway in Orange County. Jason's half-brother, Matthew Montejo, who was 15 years old when Jason killed their mother, testified in court that he helped dispose of her body, and that they got the idea to chop off her head and hands to hide the crime from this episode.
Awards
"Whoever Did This" was Joe Pantoliano's 2003 winning submission for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.