In the Sopranos, we follow the boss of New Jersey Tony Soprano in his day to day life, tackling all
the trials and tribulations life throws at him as head of a mob family and head of a household.
Throughout the show there are numerous plot threads, like Uncle Junior’s Rico trial,
the volatile Ritchie Aprile making a move against Tony, and that animal Blundetto
murdering an innocent 40 year old kid. Many of these plots are wraps up nicely in the show,
but others are left open with their conclusions up for the viewers to decide. Like for example,
what happened to the Russian in Pine Barrens? Will Silvio ever wake up from his coma? How long
did Phil Leotardo do in the can? What happened to Furio, and of course, who killed Tony Soprano at
the end of the show, if he did indeed die? I’ve tackled many of these mysterious on
the channel and plan take a look at more, so subscribe if you haven’t already done so and
hit the notification bell to stay up to date. One of the big unanswered questions of The
Sopranos is whether Ralph Cifaretto really did kill the horse Pie O My. Ralph is an
intelligent, cunning and unhinged capo Of Tony’s glorified crew, and Pie O My is
a race horse he owns. Ralph is indifferent to the horse, seeing it as a cash machine,
instructing the trainer that the jockey shouldn’t be shy with the whip. Tony on the other hand,
who has a thing for animals anyway, becomes very attached to the horse, referring to it as “our
girl”. Still though, Tony is happy to take a large cut of Pie O My’s winnings from Ralph,
adding to the friction between the two. Ralph becomes irritated at the vet fees
for the horse, and at one point refuses to take action when the horse becomes
sick during the night, leading Tony to rush to the stables to sort out the hullabaloo.
Later, Ralph is beside himself with grief after his son is rushed to the hospital
after an accident, with him possibly having brain damage. Ralph makes a point to Tony that
the medical bills will be tough, and in the same conversation Tony informs Ralph that he
is sleeping with Ralph’s ex-girlfriend. In the same episode, Pie O My dies after
a stable fire, which was deemed as accidental by the fire department. However, Tony believes
Ralph had the fire set intentionally to collect the $200,000 insurance policy on the horse. Tony
goes to Ralph’s house to inform him of Pie O My’s death, and insinuates that Ralph had something
to do with it. Ralph seems more concerned about his son’s condition, and telling Tony about it,
but Tony keeps steering the conversation back to the horse. Ralph denies he had anything to do
with it, the two get heated, then get physical, leading Tony to choke out Ralph, killing him.
So did Ralph actually kill the horse? The show never tells us,
leaving it to the viewer to decide. So let’s take a look at some arguments for, and some against the
idea he actually killed the horse, and see if we can come to some sort of conclusion.
So of course, he was the highest earner in the family, but had commented to the financial strain
his son’s condition would put on him, so there is an obvious incentive there for Ralph to kill
the horse for the insurance money. It’s not as if he had any sentimental value for it. It was
also a chance for some petty revenge against Tony, who he doesn’t like anyway, but he just recently
told him he’s sleeping with his ex. The hose was getting sick, so on top of his boy’s medication
he’d need to pay for Pie O My, and much of the earnings from the horse was going to Tony anyway.
As Ralph says, you can’t argue with the logic. Ralph is also foreshadowed as an arsonist all
the way back in his first appearance, where he had Albert’s trucks torched, and he is
emphatically told by Tony “No. More. Fires.” With that being said, the stars may have aligned
so to speak, but this could all be circumstantial. Just because he had the motivation, doesn’t mean
he did it. Is he really in the mood to be scheming about stable fires when his son is
in the hospital? That’s the way you’d see it based on Ralph’s reaction with Tony anyway.
Tony always needs someone to blame. It isn’t enough that a tragic accident happened and
that’s that. No, someone has to be the target of his frustration and venting, perhaps when he
beefed with Ralph and attacked him, he wasn’t just thinking about the horse, but the girl Ralph beat
to death, and a whole lot of other things. Ralph was in the process of changing it seemed. At the
very least, he was having second thoughts about the life he lived and the decisions he has made,
something I’ve talked about a lot in a video called “Why You’re Wrong About Ralph Cifaretto”.
For what it’s worth, actor Joe Pantoliano says he played the scene as if Ralph didn’t kill the
horse, whereas Sopranos creator David Chase quite bluntly said on the Talking Sopranos
podcast that Ralph did indeed kill the horse. You as the viewer don’t have to necessarily
take his word for it of course, but that is the opinion of the man who created The Sopranos.
Because it could really go either way, based on Ralph and Tony’s final scene. Everything,
from the acting to the dialogue, is completely split down the middle – nothing is given away,
it all works if you think Ralph did it, it all works if you think he didn’t. It’s like when
Ralph shouts “So what? It was a ****ing animal!” If you think Ralph did it, this could almost be
an admission, a slip from Ralph where he is essentially saying nothing has been lost from
the horse, we’ve gained $200 grand, be happy. If you think Ralph didn’t do it, this could
be interpreted as Ralph venting his frustration about Tony going on about the horse when all he
can thing about is his kid in the hospital. It is truly some fantastic dialogue. If you
think Ralph didn’t do it, I want you to listen to Ralph’s little monologue
with the mindset that he did do it, and vice versa, and its great how it works both ways.
Ralph says:
And then Tony of course hits him. Ralph just kept going on and on, trying to give more reasons and
excuses why it would be OK IF he had killed the horse, which makes him look guilty. After all,
why go on and on if you’re innocent. Me thinks the mobster doth protest too much.
But on the other hand, it makes sense that someone under the pressure he is currently under,
with his kid and all, would find it insulting the way Tony waltzes into his house moaning about a
horse, and he brings up Tony’s hypocrisy in regards to meat, and just unleashes
all of his frustrations on Tony, unable to control his mouth as Ralph is famous for.
When Ralph says “so what?”, it’s telling. Plus after he says the line about the envelope,
there is a small pause, with Ralph then saying “don’t give me that look”. Ralph blinked first
here, Tony’s relentless pressure and gravatas seemingly made something in Ralph’s demeanour
slip which resulted in an unspoken look between the two confirming Ralph did kill the horse.
If anything, Ralph seems intent on getting Tony to see the benefit of what he’s done,
without going too far as to admit he actually did it, as that will set Tony off, and he seems
unable to comprehend why Tony is having such a hard time of getting past the horse’s death.
Tony didn’t even indicate that the fire was intentional – he says the fire department said
it looks like an accident. But then Ralph says “what sick *** would do something like that on
purpose, huh?”. Nobody indicated there was human involvement but Ralph bought it up,
and this may have been the clue Tony needed. There’s also little things here and there
that could tip you one way or another, like the close up of Ralph cooking the eggs with the fire,
which may have been symbolism for Ralph cooking the horse with fire.
If you want my take, I think it makes more sense for Ralph to have killed the
horse – I think that is what happened. But I prefer Ralph having nothing to do with it,
I think there’s a greater irony there, that of all the things Ralph has done the one thing he
is eventually killed for is the one thing he didn’t actually do. I also think it links better
with the religious elements of this episode, which I talk about more in the other video,
with Ralph having to take on this punishment of death so his son is saved. Like I talk about a
lot in the other vid, there is a lot of devil symbolism in this episode, and if
go all abstract for a second, maybe the goat that stayed with Pie O My and somehow survived,
the goat often being a sign of the devil, maybe the goat did it. Maybe it was an evil goat,
a devil goat, and Ralph took the blame for its schenanigans which resulted in Ralph’s
redemption arc being cut short via misplaced blame. That would make Ralph a scapegoat. Get it?
Or maybe we’re all actually barking up the wrong tree, and it was actually Paulie,
as revenge for the phone call Ralph made to Paulie’s mother. It could explain Paulie’s
weird obsession with he horse painting, with him seeing it as some kind of hunting trophy from his
Machiavellian scheme which was intended to only burn Ralph, but ended up actually killing him
So what do you think? Do you think Ralph did kill the horse, or do you think the
poor guy is innocent? Let me know in the comments below, and thanks for watching.