No, no, he was saying, "I didn't do it, but so what? It was just a freaking animal." Just because Ralph had a history of murder doesn't mean he committed that one. And to me that is the genius of it all. After all of the despicable things Ralph did, Tony killed him for something he didn't do. That is some delicious irony. But I get that it was left open to interpretation, so one can easily think he did do it; I just think it was made clear that he did not.
Seems a revealing choice of words, "but so what?" It would logically flow from an admission, like "I dropped the egg but so what. It's just an egg." Given Tony showing up hugely distraught over what happened, it's perfectly understandable Ralph would deny it. Plus, it's typical mafia conversation. Even in a previous episode with Carmine. "What are you saying?" "I ain't saying nothing. All right then." He's telling Tony to kill someone. In the same way, Ralphie is saying he did it. That's my interpretation, anyway. The irony still works because Ralphie had been completely out of control for an entire season, murdering Tracee, letting his kid play with a bow and arrow, causing rifts with New York. Killing the horse was absolutely the least of his transgressions and it was the one Tony acted on.
We can agree to disagree. One really cool thing about that episode is the multiple Sympathy for the Devil lyrical references there are in it, considering that it was the first time we, the viewers, felt any sympathy for Ralphie (because of his son's accident).
I can't remember whether there was ever a hint that Tony realized the role Ralph played in the death of Jackie Jr. (the bad parenting and goading)? I don't think so, but even that may not have gotten him whacked by Tony.
Not a whack, but some retributive violence of the Artie Bucco kind, when he beat the living cr@p out of Benny Fazio for operating a credit card scam that led to Artie's restaurant being investigated. I probably enjoyed that scene just a little too much, if I;m honest.
Man, it's tough picking just one "best whack" on the Sopranos... ...but Adriana, man. Crawling on her hands and knees away from the normally comic Silvio, pleading for her life, knowing at the end Christopher ratted her out and Tony made the call. Then, Christopher after he flips the car. Tony's done all he can for Christopher - and also NOT done everything he could have done to him - and when Tony sees the battered baby seat, that's game for Chrissy. He's just trouble. Ralphie. Satisfying and darkly funny (the priceless moment when Christopher picks up Ralph's toupee). Loudmouth had it coming.
Actually, Tony made Ralphie choose whether to kill Jackie Jr or give him a pass, knowing Ralph would be hugely conflicted about it. Tony made it so that he appeared neutral about the decision and pushed it all on Ralphie. The backstory of course was that Tony had just recently made Ralphie a captain and Ralphie was dating Rosalie Aprile. Ralphie initially wanted to give Jackie a pass, but was under a lot of pressure from the rest of Tony's crew for Jackie to answer for the shootout at the card game. So Ralphie had Jackie killed. As for who Tony blamed, it was ultimately Jackie's own stupidity that put him in that situation. Note that even Christopher, who was at the card game and wanted Jackie to die, came to realize the wisdom of how Tony handled it, by pushing the decision onto Ralphie. Initially Christopher was hugely critical of Tony for not immediately whacking Jackie.
That Tony/Ralphie scene, where they discuss what to do about Jackie Jr., was amazing. Tony talks like he will leave it up to Ralphie, but he says things in a way that make it clear that Ralph needs to order the hit. "And who gives you a **** what people say behind your back that they don't have the balls to say to your face?" In other words, "Go soft and let him off, and everyone will be talking about it behind your back." And then later when talking in Tony's Suburban, he makes it clear that he needs to get it done ASAP. "Chain of command is very important in our thing." Tony played Ralphie liked a fiddle.
Honestly, the hits I remember most from this show? 1) Bobby "popping his cherry" on the guy in Montreal, ordered out of pettiness/cruelty by Tony after losing the fight in "Soprano Home Movies." 2) Eugene Pontecorvo doing a hit on himself at the end of "Members Only."
Sidebar: the actor who played Eugene was atrocious. He was okay on all prior episodes when he would get a line or two here, and a line or two there, but once he did scenes where it was just him and one other person dialoguing for several minutes, you could tell he was not good. Even the scene with Tony, where he asked about moving to Florida, was not good, and Gandolfini was awesome and could get the best out of anybody.
Tony was shrewd in that way, and understood motivation and management when he was able to keep his anger in check. He got a call from Jackie before meeting with Ralphie again. As you say, the entire conversation was putting Ralphie on notice that he needed to decide what to do while leaving him no room but to whack Jackie. Tony was basically saying to Ralphie: hey, you wanted to be captain--now make the tough decision and do your job. I can see why you didn't like him, but I thought he did fine. I thought some of the female actors messed up their takes, like the Gloria Trillo actress. She did very well overall, but you could tell she was in awe of Gandolfini, especially during their violent scenes. When he shows up at the dealership after learning that she had given Carm a ride home, he grabs her and drags her into a sales office. He is totally in character and appears angry and on the verge of strangling her, and she breaks character and starts smiling. They should really have shot more takes of that until she got it right. The actress who played Valentina did the same thing when she felt uncomfortable saying one of her lines to seduce Tony. But you watch Gandolfini in those takes and it's amazing how he just never gives so much as a hint of breaking character.
I didn't see it that way at all. When he shoves her against the wall she is enjoying this drama she created and actually licks her lips .
Pass. I don't think he was good at all. That is my take as well. She even made a point to say to Carmela, "Run it by your husband and see if he'll treat you" (about the car), so she was relishing in getting a reaction out of Tony. With Valentina, she smiled after the one line because of the line, "Does she suck your *** better than me?" It's almost like she was laughing at herself for asking such an over the top rhetorical question.
I assume Dom was a made man (not sure they ever said for sure), and made men are almost always given a pass to break balls like that, even to other made men, in theory anyway.
Apologies if this one was mentioned and I overlooked it, but the Mustang Sally whacking was one of the best ones. The whole scene was awesome. In fact, that is one of my top 5 Sopranos episodes (Another Toothpick).
