Pie-O-My

"Pie-O-My"
The Sopranos episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 5
Directed by	Henry J. Bronchtein
Written by	Robin Green Mitchell Burgess
Cinematography by	Alik Sakharov
Production code	405
Original air date	October 13, 2002
Running time	54 minutes
Guest appearance(s)
see below
Episode chronology

"Pie-O-My" is the forty-fourth episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and is the fifth of the show's fourth season. It was written by Robin Green and Mitchell Burgess, directed by Henry J. Bronchtein and originally aired on October 13, 2002.

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
• Federico Castelluccio as Furio Giunta
• Steven R. Schirripa as Bobby Baccalieri
• and Joe Pantoliano as Ralph Cifaretto

* = credit only

Guest starring

• Jerry Adler as Hesh Rabkin

Also guest starring

Episode recap

Ralph Cifaretto's racehorse, "Pie-O-My", wins a couple of races and makes a lot of money. Ralph gives Tony Soprano some of the winnings for picking the winning strategies. Tony grows fond of the horse, eventually referring to it as "our girl," in direct contrast to Ralph, who brusquely instructs the trainer – speaking of the jockey – to "tell that midget not to be shy with the whip." As Ralph continues to give Tony a "taste" of the prize earnings, Tony's growing expectation of an increasing share of the winnings creates tension between the two.

Carmela asks Tony to invest in some stock and sign some financial papers, among them a life insurance trust. Tony's accountant advises against the life insurance trust since it would be advantageous to Carmela only in the instance of Tony's death and would cause Tony problems in case of a divorce. When Tony eventually signs some of the papers, including one that authorizes Carmela's cousin Brian to invest in stock on their behalf, he refuses to put his signature under the life insurance trust, claiming it would allow the government authorities to trace their illegal finances, leaving his wife disappointed and frustrated. When Tony later, trying to make up to her, offers her money to purchase the stock she mentioned, Carmela angrily announces that it has already split and they've missed their chance.

Adriana La Cerva is unhappy that her rock club, the Crazy Horse, is now being used as a meeting place for various mob members. She also grows extremely paranoid that her activities as an informant will be discovered. The FBI handlers continue to press her for information, arranging meetings with her that interrupt her daily activities and assigning a new female agent, Robyn Sanseverino, to be her contact. The agents claim to Adriana that Christopher is in danger by working with dangerous criminals; they deny her assumption that Richie Aprile and "Pussy" Bonpensiero's disappearances were due to them entering the witness protection program and tell her she could help Christopher by cooperating with them. Adriana avoids going out with Christopher for dinner with Tony Soprano, pretending to be sick, and later approaches her fiancé with an idea to move to California to start a new life there. But, Chris dismisses her worries about him as negativity. Adriana finally gives the FBI their first bit of information when she mentions Patsy Parisi's steady income of likely illegal suits. After returning home, she relieves stress with an injection of Chris' heroin.

Janice Soprano takes an interest in Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri. She interferes in a conversation between the new widower and Mikey Palmice's widow JoJo Palmice, then gives the dinner that JoJo had made for Bobby to Junior Soprano. In trying to get closer to Bobby, Janice takes credit for Carmela's lasagna and also counsels him to put his grief behind him by focusing more on his work. After she tells him that Junior is counting on him, Bobby pulls himself together and completes a neglected task for Junior: meeting with a union shop steward to intimidate him into changing his vote in an upcoming election.

Meanwhile, when Junior catches the report of his court appearance on TV, he is displeased by the unflattering likeness painted by the courtroom artist. During the next day's proceedings, he fixes the artist with an intimidating stare.

With veterinarian's fees for Pie-O-My piling up, the vet refuses further treatment until he is paid. Ralph, however, refuses to take action when the horse becomes sick during the night, passing along Tony's number; Tony rushes to the stables and settles the bill. Tony tells the vet he'd better hope the horse "makes it" before going into the stall to sit with the animal, where he comfortingly strokes her neck, telling her that everything will be all right.

First appearances

• Agent Robyn Sanseverino: The F.B.I. agent assigned to handle Adriana.

Title reference

• The episode's title is the name of Ralph's race horse, Pie-O-My.

Connections to other episodes

• Christopher refers to the ominous appearance of a raven when he was "made" in the episode, "Fortunate Son."

References to other media or events

• At the stables, Hesh references Seabiscuit, who was, at the time, a frequent pop culture reference due to the popularity of the book about him. This episode aired before the release of the 2003 motion picture of the same name.
• A scene in this episode pays homage to Mr. Rogers' performance of "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Junior takes a cardigan sweater out of his closet and says: "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...and I gotta rot in that courtroom".
• In a scene where Adriana was at home watching television, she was watching a Body by Jake infomercial.
• In a scene where Tony is lying in his bed watching TV (prior to receiving the call from the stables about the horse being sick), he makes a comment to Carmela about a "Churchill TV movie". This might be a reference to The Gathering Storm (2002 film), a BBC–HBO co-produced television biographical film about Winston Churchill, which aired in April that same year, six months before this episode.

Music

• The song played over the end credits is "My Rifle, My Pony and Me" by Dean Martin and Ricky Nelson, from the 1959 Western Rio Bravo. Tony is seen watching this movie (and specifically, the scene in which the song appears) in the Season Four premiere, "For All Debts Public and Private".
• The song heard from A.J.'s room when Tony is in bed is "The Gift That Keeps On Giving" by Deicide from their album Insineratehymn.
• Snake River Conspiracy's cover of The Cure's Lovesong plays in the Crazy Horse club.
• The song played when Bobby goes into Dorley's Lounge to speak with Teddy about the union vote is "Theme for an Imaginary Western" by Mountain.

External links

• "Pie-O-My" at HBO
• "Pie-O-My" at the Internet Movie Database
• "Pie-O-My" at TV.com