Unidentified Black Males

"Unidentified Black Males" is the sixty-first episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the ninth of the show's fifth season. It was written by Matthew Weiner and Terence Winter, directed by Tim Van Patten and originally aired on May 2, 2004.

Guest starring roles

Episode recap

Tony Soprano notices that Tony Blundetto has a foot injury, which he blames on an attempted assault by several black males. The next day while playing golf with Johnny Sack, Tony learns that the man who killed Joey Peeps walked with a limp. This causes Tony to nearly pass out from one of his panic attacks. Tony confronts his cousin, and Tony B, after a full denial, requests more responsibilities and earning power, which Tony ultimately gives him. This in turn causes Christopher Moltisanti to express frustration and jealousy in front of his fiancée Adriana La Cerva, who then gives her FBI handler Agent Sanseverino a phone call.

At Joey Peeps' funeral, the mood is tense, not least because the mobsters who provided the headstone accidentally used his nickname "Peeps" instead of his actual surname, Peparelli. Johnny Sack, extremely upset over the slaying of his protégé and friend, now suspects Tony B's involvement. Tony quickly makes up an alibi for Blundetto, saying he was with him the night in question, searching for Tony B's long-lost daughter, Kelli. Johnny accepts reluctantly after warning him of dire consequences if he finds out he's lying. Both Sack and Little Carmine are gearing up for an eventual confrontation.

Meadow and her boyfriend, Finn De Trolio are having difficulties choosing where to spend the summer, which causes tensions in their relationship. Tony gets Finn a job working at a mob-run construction site, where he meets several members of the Soprano crime family, who have all been added to the payroll, with "no work" jobs. He gets along with them at first, but becomes uneasy at the sycophancy addressed at him over his association with the Sopranos. This turns into downright fright after he witnesses a violent encounter between Eugene Pontecorvo and Little Paulie Germani over homophobic jibes. The next morning, Finn reports for work early and accidentally catches Vito Spatafore performing oral sex on a male security guard in a security vehicle. Later in the day, Vito corners Finn in a portable toilet and invites Finn to a New York Yankees game, and intimidates him into agreeing. Unsure of Vito's intentions, and worried he might be threatened or even killed, Finn considers leaving the New Jersey area for the time being. This triggers a long and heated argument with Meadow, who dismisses all his fears of violence and accuses him of lacking commitment to her. Exhausted, Finn proposes to her at four in the morning in their sweltering apartment.

In a traumatic session with Dr. Melfi, Tony reveals that his panic attacks are back, and she traces them all to his cousin Tony B. He ends up admitting the truth about what he was doing the night Tony Blundetto got arrested. His story about being beaten up by black guys was a lie to cover up a panic attack he suffered after arguing with his mother, Livia. Tony also realizes that he has not been making things right with his cousin but rather assuaging his own guilt and shame.

Carmela seems inclined to get close to her estranged husband following their one-night-stand, but he avoids her so she decides to pursue divorce instead. Tony reacts very angrily to the news, and vows to deny her any of his illegal cash earnings. After contacting several lawyers, Carmela realises that Tony has outmaneuvered her on the legal front, making contacts with them all so that they are ethically prevented from taking her case. She becomes tearful looking out the window of her home and seeing Tony floating peacefully in the swimming pool, as Meadow is on the phone with her sharing the news of her engagement to Finn.

Music

The song played over the end credits is If I Were a Carpenter by Bobby Darin. The lyrics reveal some of Tony's feelings toward Carmela.

Title reference

Numerous misfortunes that have happened to members of the crime family are falsely attributed to unidentified black males. Four are mentioned in this episode - Tony's absence the night Tony B. was arrested, the death of Jackie Aprile, Jr in "Army of One", Tony B.'s foot injury from "Marco Polo" which he still suffers from in this episode, and the injuries Eugene causes to Little Paulie's head in this episode ("I think I seen a couple of niggers runnin' that way").

Connections to previous episodes

Finn was previously associated with an awkward discussion of homosexuality when he and Meadow defended a homo-erotic interpretation of Herman Melville's novel Billy Budd to Tony and Carmela at dinner in "Eloise."
Christopher sang a few words of "If I Were a Carpenter" in the Season 4 episode "No Show", beginning the opening verse as "If I were a carpenter, and you were a douche bag..."

Production

Joseph R. Gannascoli came up with the idea of Vito being a gay mobster after reading about a member of the Gambino crime family who was gay and allowed to live for the sake of being a good earner.

References