It was heavily implied that Ralph did set the fire that killed Pie-O-My, but never directly stated or admitted by Ralph. This leaves open the possibility that Ralph perhaps didnt do it, but it was, as he said, a lucky accident wherein he and Tony got a nice insurance settlement out of it.

So my question is, do you feel absolutely sure that Ralph set the fire? Or could you maybe see where he didnt and just got too emotional and angered Tony?

This is a good question. If you watch that episode with commentary on both writers discuss this question. One writer stated he believed Ralph did it, the other was less sure and almost leaned the other way. You never get direct confirmation. Best guess though is he did. Why else was he not suprised and not to be found. Also the lack of confirmation is there for another reason. The writer's are indirectly telling you horse murder or not, he deserved death. Killing Tracy, disrespecting the family & the bing, contemplating killing Tony in Season 3, constantly disobeying Tony, and treating others like shit. Horse or no horse his new found spirituality in Whoever did this was just not enough.

Yeah I liked how the writers made the viewer feel very sorry for Ralph in the hour leading up to his death. With his son's injury and his church visit and mending things up with Rosalie and Tony, you began to pity him. This is almost a subliminal way to suggest that he was in fact not guilty. Its a great episode either way.

Just watched Tony beat Ralphie to death, what a scence!!!!!!!

And then Chrissy comes to help,high as a kite and Tony is not happy about that.

Joe Pantoliano said he played the scene as if Ralph didn't set the fire and in his mind it really was an accident and their tempers flared and that was a wrap. I always looked at it like the horse was a metaphor for Tracee, subconsciously on Tony's part. "She was a beautiful innocent creature!!" as he's bashing his head on the kitchen floor. Plus after him and Chrissy go to the Bing to shower and clean up as he's leaving he stops and looks at the poloroid taped on the mirror of Tracee. That scene wasn't there on accident.

When the show was airing on HBO's website they would have little teaser photos of the upcoming episode and there was pictures of Tracee sitting at the table in a restaurant next to AJ that was a real "wtf" moment.....that turned out to be part of the dream Tony had in "The Test Dream" with Tony and family eating with Vin and Annette Benning. They must have deleted the scene where Tracee was sitting in for Meadow. But there was the scene where Tony was looking at Meadow in the kitchen and she turned into Tracee in his mind's eye for a second. Again, nothing was put in this show on accident. He was greatly bothered by what Ralph did that girl that was his daughter's age. Pie O My dying the way that she did where there wasn't 100% conclusive evidence it was an accident sealed Ralph's fate and was the straw that broke the camels back.

Fair enough, the whole scene from Ralph making eggs, swinging the frying pan at Tony to Tony taking the knife off Ralph, up until the fight was over was amazing. When Tony stomps Coco and when Tony punches in the wall after Carmella says she loves Furio that intensity makes it the best!

Melfi also bust Tony’s balls in the ending when she is convinced regarding the criminal mind or whatever, basically Tony is a psychopath that only feels emotional over animals.

Chase was a genius at doing that, especially with the we "love to hate" characters, throughout the series.

I don't know, him beating Tracee to death and the way he taunted her before hand I didn't feel too much pity for him before Tony rang his bell. Was a long time coming. I felt sorry for his kid, but fuck Ralph. There must have been some other shit there too, Tony was leery of the guy the whole time he was on the show since he showed back up from Miami. They grew up together and he never liked him, so there must be some backstory between them or something Tony knows about they never got into in the show on top what a freak the guy was that we did. He was a great villain though, and Joe did a great job with his portrayal, that's for sure.

I remember watching that scene with Tony and Ralph live, with headphones on......waaaaay back when HBO was one channel, channel 2 on the cable box. What an intense scene.

They set it up to have Tony value the life of the horse over the life of a child, further emphasizing his sociopathic mindset.

It's important to note that Justin survives the accident, and that he has a chance of significantly recovering despite the initial grim prognosis. This would mean of course that he would need his father's support, both financially and emotionally, through the rehabilitation process. And, Ralphie's newfound attitude and empathy might have made this possible. Ralphie was so fucked up beforehand that it's easy to dismiss any possibility of him changing, but such a catastrophe involving his son might be the catalyst to do it.

Even most mob bosses might see it this way. No matter how far out of line it was for Ralphie to torch a stable to collect insurance money and kill a horse that the boss had such a connection to, a level headed boss would wait a few months to take any action, solely based on the situation with the kid. And, considering the circumstances, it would likely involve a hefty tax. As the rules go, Pio-O-My wasn't anyone's wife...she wasn't a goomar....And to quote Ralphie,..."it was a fucking horse". Meanwhile, Tony goes right to Ralphie's house like it was AJ or Meadow that perished in the stable. He instigates a fight, resulting in bashing Justin's father's skull into the floor and suffocating him.

Interestingly enough, Tony does take a more common sense approach to Ralphie's situation when Paulie threatens to kill Ralph over the prank call to his mother. Paulie has no kids. "No conception", as Tony put it. He doesn't understand what Ralph is going through. Paulie is such a nut that even Tony is sane standing next to him.