The Sopranos: Was Ralph The Devil?

thank you The Sopranos is a show full of Despicable characters the mobsters of the DeMayo family are liars thieves and even murderers Tony himself is at times a vicious and remorseless scumbag and the show revolves around how terrible these people truly are come on I'm a fat [ __ ] crook from New Jersey but there is one character who stands out even among this crowd the worst of the worst Ralph ciferetto Ralphie is considered by most fans to be one of the worst human beings on the show not only is he a drug-addicted sexual degenerate he's also a vicious sociopath whose want and carelessness destroys the lives of the people around him in fact Ralph is so evil that some people believe he's the literal devil there is actually some evidence in the show to suggest this but is this really the case is Ralphie the devil or is there more to this character than meets the eye let's find out why was I born handsome instead of rich Ralph ciferetto is a mobster in the demaio crime family he's a contemporary of Tony Soprano and Jackie April having grown up together and being a part of the same crew Ralph did not participate in Jackie's plan to Rob Peach lamanna's card game which resulted in him being left behind as Tony and Jackie became rising stars in the family Ralph is introduced in the third season having been in Miami before this looking after the family's interests down there this was also where he became addicted to cocaine which would be a big problem in his life during this time Ralph also married a woman named Ronnie and had a son named Justin Ronnie and Ralph later get divorced and Ralph grew very distant from his son you know I was on his seventh birthday Florida so high on Coca I forgot to call him Ralph is one of the biggest earners in the family controlling most of their construction operations known for being intelligent and very creative when it comes to making money he is by far the most valuable person Tony has working for him however Tony feels nothing but disdain for Ralph mostly because of his personality Ralph is constantly behaving inappropriately making fun of the people around him and generally just getting under everyone's skin he gets away with it because of how well he earns but it's his nature that leads to Tony passing him over in favor of Gigi you got some bad Tendencies where I feel like sympathize because I got him too in addition to his lack of social graces Ralph is also a sexual degenerate despite being in a relationship with Rosalie April Ralph eventually leaves her to be with Janice who's willing to satisfy his more unusual urges as she explains Ralph is in the masochistic sex wanting to be dominated and in pain this is also confirmed by Valentina who breaks up with him because of his extreme fetishes he told me to rub his dick raw with the cheese grater get the [ __ ] out of here I wouldn't do it I told him to [ __ ] off however it's not just Ralph's personality that's an issue it's also his Reckless disregard for human life particularly when he's high on drugs Ralph becomes very dangerous he ends up hitting Georgie in the eye with a chain while imitating the film Gladiator which he is absolutely obsessed with [ __ ] obsessed with gladiator I've always wondered why Tony seemed to hate Ralph from his very first appearance on the show well in the script for the episode University there's some dialogue that didn't make it into the show apparently in high school Ralph caused a girl to drown when he sank her canoe which resulted in him being expelled no idea if this is still Canon to the show but if it is it shows how early on Ralph's drug addiction and recklessness started Ralph is also one of the Prime reasons that Jackie Jr is killed he encourages him to be involved in the Life giving him a gun and telling him stories about his father when he was his age when Jackie later robs the card game Ralph says that he wants to give him a pass however this is just an attempt to Pawn off the responsibility for the whole situation onto Tony when this doesn't work he orders Jackie killed despite the fact that he's dating Jackie's mother Rosalie he also shows absolutely no concern for Rosalie's grief during his whole time I was at Michael mad all night bro with the grief poor kid can't get any sleep there incest however his most heinous act is of course the killing of his girlfriend Tracy Tracy is a young stripper who works at the Bing she is enthusiastically in love with Ralph but he treats her horribly pimping her out to other guys and laughing when Silvio beats her this culminates with them getting into a fight after Ralph cruelly mocks her and Ralph ends up beating her to death Tracy she slipped where are you and I don't know she fell this incident really bothers Tony who hits Ralph for killing an innocent girl though that seems like a completely reasonable response it's actually a big problem in the mob world as Tony is not allowed to hit another made man Tony is caught between a rock and a hard place despising Ralph but not willing to get rid of such a valuable earner he ends up making him captain of the April crew after Gigi dies despite his initial disdain Tony and Ralph managed to work well together running various schemes like the Espionage construction project in a scammed defraud HUD however their relationship eventually falls apart over pyomai a racehorse that Ralph buys Tony being a lover of animals takes control of the horse demanding Ralph pay for expensive vet care and taking a slice of the race winnings despite having nothing to do with it this also coincides with Tony starting a relationship with Valentina Ralph's former gumar however when Ralph's son Justin is critically injured while playing with the bow and arrow Ralph is distraught his son faces a long recovery with no guarantee that he will ever fully recover right after this pile my stable burns down though it's ruled accidental Tony suspects that Ralph set the fire in order to claim the large insurance payout on the horse angered by this and what he did to Tracy Tony ends up beating Ralph to death in his home Tony and Chris chopping Ralph up and disposing his body Tony blames New York for The Disappearance of Ralph though many of his people can see through the LIE though they criticized The Killing as senseless and worry about what might happen to them no one cares about Ralph specifically I mean don't get me wrong I wouldn't piss on his Ralph if he was on fire but to whack the guy over a horse how [ __ ] up is that what happened to him it can happen to any of us and it's easy to see why Ralph was a piece of [ __ ] Not only was he a thoroughly unlikable guy he had an almost Psychopathic disregard for the people around him some fans go so far as to suggest that Ralph is the literal devil now you might say that that's silly but remember that many Saints who knew were confirmed that hell is real as Christopher narrates the movie from hell I Met Death on Route 23 not too far from here there is some evidence in the show to suggest this in season 3 episode 3 Ralph literally calls himself Satan to this kid in season 4 episode 2 Janus is reading a book about the origin of Satan when Ralph is in bed with her clipping his toenails it catch up shrapmo in season 4 episode 6 you can see a sticker for the New Jersey Devils hockey team behind Ralph when he's discussing the loan with Artie and of course we have one of the most well-discussed examples in season 4 episode 9 there are several lines in the show that are actually lyrics from the Rolling Stones song Sympathy for the Devil please allow me to introduce yourself please allow me to introduce myself when I was around when Jesus Christ at his moment of doubt and pain were you there Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain pleased to meet you pleased to meet you all these little details seem to add up and it makes a compelling case for Ralph to be the devil after all he seems evil enough to fit the description given all the heinous acts he commits on the show he's the devil however that might not be the interpretation that David Chase was going for you see the show has a pattern of reminding us of how bad these characters are right before they kill them right before riccio prio's death he hits Janice in the face breaking his earlier rule that you're not allowed to hit women before you marry them right before Vito's death he kills a civilian after getting into a car accident before Eugene hangs himself he shoots someone in a restaurant it's like the show wants to remind us that no matter how much we may grow to like these characters they are at their core scumbags who deserve what's coming to them we put yourself however Ralph is unique in this unlike the other characters he actually gets a small Redemption before he dies he admits his faults expressing genuine sadness for what happened to his son and apologizing to those that he's hurt in the past I just didn't understand what you were going through or what I didn't know anything I was stupid I'm sorry I apologize now there's no way to know of this transformation was legitimate or not but I'm inclined to believe it it was Ralph seemed genuine in his emotions and in fact the Rolling Stone lyrics literally instruct us to have sympathy for this devil the point of the song is that although the devil may be responsible for evil acts in this world everyone else is complicit as well for allowing them to happen and I think that's what we're meant to take away from Ralph I shouted out who killed the Kennedys when after all it was you and me while Ralph was the one who killed Tracy Tony himself did nothing to help her and later feels guilty for his role in her death Ralph also points out to Tony right before he dies that Tony doesn't care about any of Ralph's victims so long as he earns money from it I don't hear you complaining when I bring you a nice fat envelope you don't and after all Ralph is not the only character to be associated with devil imagery Tony blendetto in Tony's coma dream plays a similar role trying to lure Tony to the afterlife Livia is also portrayed as a devil figure being cast in Shadows in several of Tony's dreams including one with Ralph as well and even Tony himself is portrayed as a devil at times so as bad as Ralph is he's just a part of the evil world of the mafia and if we can have sympathy for the other Devils on this world maybe we can have a little for him please kids in the hospital a little [ __ ] sympathy huh oh what is this a handsome contest Ops racing media dads J kids Sam cedarland Celery Man Jenna Marie Johnson Brad Smith Studios Uncle Mike Matt Joyce Countess vonzarevic and Luke p [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Pure Kino

Views: 356,220

Keywords: pure kino, kino

Id: tbg6pwC0N9I

Length: 12min 30sec (750 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 09 2023