The Sopranos: 10 Greatest Ever Episodes

Ah, Ralphie Cifaretto. Played by the ever-brilliant Joe Pantalino, old Ralphie was perhaps the most repugnant character in the series’ entire run. Which, for a show based on some pretty terrible people , is no mean feat. In perhaps the show’s most disturbing sequence, he beat well-meaning stripper Tracee to death in a parking lot. In Whoever Did This we see a human side to this heinous man when his son is critically injured in a bow-and-arrow accident. Tony himself even imparts some genuine sympathy to a man he despises. But when a stable fire leads to the death of Tony’s beloved racehorse Pie-O-My, Ralphie is the prime suspect - and his time is up.

But really, Whoever Did This is not about Ralphie - indeed, his murder comes thirty minutes into the episode. This is about Tony making one misguided decision (killing a made man over a horse) and then having to deal with those consequences. And boy, does he deal with them - over the latter half of the episode we watch as he and a doped-up Christopher spend the day decapitating and dismembering Ralphie’s corpse. Anyone who says the show glamourised violence needs to watch this sequence - it’s as sickening and nasty as it gets.

In the final shot of the episode, an exhausted Tony staggers out from the darkness of the Bada Bing club and into the blinding sunlight, before the screen goes white and it cuts to the credits. As an audience, we feel just as drained as Tony does, and the end of the episode feels like abruptly waking up from a long nightmare. However, whereas we can turn off the television and go about our lives, Whoever Did This is a stark reminder that the nightmare Tony is living is one he can never escape from.