The Weight (The Sopranos)

"The Weight"
The Sopranos episode
Carmela and Furio dance together at Furio's housewarming party.
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 4
Directed by	Jack Bender
Written by	Terence Winter
Cinematography by	Phil Abraham
Production code	404
Original air date	October 6, 2002 (2002-10-06)
Running time	58 minutes
Episode chronology
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The Sopranos (season 4)
List of episodes

"The Weight" is the 43rd episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the fourth episode of the show's fourth season. Written by Terence Winter and directed by Jack Bender, it originally aired on October 6, 2002. This episode marks the halfway point (43rd out of 86) of the series.

Starring[]

• James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
• Lorraine Bracco as Dr. Jennifer Melfi
• Edie Falco as Carmela Soprano
• Michael Imperioli as Christopher Moltisanti
• Dominic Chianese as Corrado Soprano, Jr.
• Steven Van Zandt as Silvio Dante
• Tony Sirico as Paulie Gualtieri *
• Robert Iler as Anthony Soprano, Jr.
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler as Meadow Soprano
• Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cerva
• Aida Turturro as Janice Soprano *
• Vincent Curatola as Johnny Sack
• Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
• Federico Castelluccio as Furio Giunta
• Joe Pantoliano as Ralph Cifaretto

* = credit only

Guest starring[]

Synopsis[]

Johnny is consumed with anger about Ralphie's joke about Ginny. He savagely assaults a young member of Ralphie's crew who he happens to see laughing. When Tony confronts him, he blames his anger, but says he loves his "Rubenesque" wife. On Tony's instructions, Ralphie phones Johnny to try to make peace. Against Tony's instructions, Ralphie apologizes; Johnny takes this as an admission of guilt and it angers him more.

Johnny asks Carmine to allow a hit on Ralphie; he refuses. There are then two sit-downs. At the first, Ralphie is present; Johnny walks out, saying, "I cannot be in the same room as this man." At the second, Ralphie is not present but Johnny is inflexible; he argues that in the past he would have been entitled to defend his honor. Carmine says, "Get the fuck over it!" and Johnny walks out again.

Carmine hints to Tony that Johnny can be killed. Silvio and Christopher arrange for it to be done in Boston, where Johnny is visiting his father. At the same time, Johnny arranges for Ralphie to be killed in Miami, where he is staying in a hotel.

Johnny leaves home for Boston, but remembers something and goes back. He finds Ginny with a stash of junk food and candy. She cries. He reminds her that he never asked her to lose weight, but he is deeply hurt that she has lied to him. He calls off the hit at the last moment. He tells Tony he will accept Ralphie's apology.

Meadow joins a law center representing underprivileged clients in the South Bronx. Tony is not pleased that she is drifting away from her plan to be a pediatrician.

Carmela and Tony are arguing bitterly about money and financial planning. She and Furio, who comes each morning to pick Tony up, are getting close. He has bought a house and she goes to see it with A.J. At the housewarming party, Carmela and Furio dance together to sensual Italian music.

Tony buys her some flowers and a little black dress from Saks Fifth Avenue. She puts it on. Greatly aroused, he takes her to bed. As he lies heavily on top of her, her eyes open and she imagines that she hears the music to which she and Furio danced.

First appearances[]

• Joseph "Joey Peeps" Peparelli: Associate in the Lupertazzi crime family. Driver/bodyguard of Johnny Sack
• Brian Cammarata: Carmela's cousin and the family's "financial adviser"

Title reference[]

• The title refers to the joke Ralph Cifaretto made about Ginny Sacrimoni's weight in "No Show," a joke which Johnny Sack eventually learned about from Paulie Gualtieri; this remark almost cost two arguing mobsters their lives.

References to other episodes[]

• Ralph told the joke about Ginny's weight in "No Show"
• When Ralph calls Johnny Sack to deny he told the "mole joke," Johnny says that he "should have let Tony chop off [Ralph's] head a year ago," referring to when Ralph and Tony were on the outs, and Tony was considering killing Ralph in the season 3 episode, "He Is Risen."
• While visiting Meadow's dorm, Tony sees Meadow's graduation picture taken in the episode "Funhouse."
• Ralph asks, "What? You never made a joke about Ginny Sack?" to the guys. They all respond, "No! Not like that!" In season 3 episode, "Employee of the Month" all of them can be seen making even cruder jokes about Ginny. In that episode, Johnny Sack walks in on the guys, and is immediately suspicious.

Cultural references[]

• Johnny says his wife is "Rubenesque," voluptuous, like the women painted by Peter Paul Rubens.
• When Chris and Silvio visit Frank and DiMaggio to set up the hit on Johnny, DiMaggio tells a story about murdering a man named Tommy Neri. The name Tommy Neri is a nod to the actor Richard Bright, who plays Frank Crisci in this episode. Richard Bright played a Corleone hitman named Al Neri in the movie The Godfather.

Music[]

• Music from Furio's housewarming includes "O'Mare" and in particular "Vesuvio", by Italian band Spaccanapoli.
• "Suddenly Last Summer" by The Motels plays in the background when Furio visits Carmela.
• One scene at the Bada Bing features ZZ Top's "Tush", a subtextual reference to the joke about the mole removed from Ginny's tush - Tony refers to Ginny's tush immediately before the Bada Bing office door opens and "Tush" is heard blaring from within the club.
• Music playing in the background at the Atwell Avenue Boys house is "No Other Love" by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
• "Sally Go 'Round the Roses" by The Jaynetts plays in Johnny Sack's car radio.

External links[]

• "The Weight" at HBO
• "The Weight" at IMDb