Unidentified Black Males

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“Unidentified Black Males”
The Sopranos episode
Episode no. Season 5
Episode 61
Guest stars see below
Written by Matthew Weiner and Terence Winter
Directed by Tim Van Patten
Production no. 509
Original airdate May 2, 2004
Episode chronology
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"Marco Polo" "Cold Cuts"
Episode chronology

"Unidentified Black Males" is the 61st episode of the HBO original series, The Sopranos. It was the 9th episode for the show's fifth season. The episode was written by Matthew Weiner and Terence Winter and was directed by Tim Van Patten. It originally aired on May 2, 2004.

Contents

[edit] Guest starring roles

[edit] Episode recap

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Tony sees that Tony B. has a foot injury. While playing golf with Johnny Sack, Tony learns that all that is known about the man who killed Joey Peeps is that he walked with a limp. This causes Tony to nearly pass out with one of his panic attacks. After hearing his cousin's unconvincing denials, Tony makes up an alibi for Blundetto and tells Sack that the two cousins spent the evening looking for Tony B’s estranged daughter. Trying to prevent Tony B. from acting on his own again, Tony gives his cousin more responsibilities in the business and promises to help try to get "the books opened" for him (make Tony B. an official mafioso).

Tony gets Meadow’s boyfriend Finn a job working at a construction site. Finn gets to meet a lot of men in the Soprano crime family while at the job. After witnessing a violent encounter between Eugene and Little Paulie, Finn feels uneasy at the site. He becomes more nervous when he observes Vito performing oral sex on a security guard one morning before beginning work. Later in the day, Vito invites Finn to a Yankees game, and intimidates him into agreeing. Unsure of Vito's intentions, Finn decides to leave the New Jersey area; after a heated argument with Meadow, they agree to marry.

In a session with Dr. Melfi, Tony admits 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.

Carmela has decided to pursue divorce, but receives word from yet another lawyer that he has declined to take her case because of who she is married to. She becomes tearful looking out the window of her home and seeing Tony on a float in the backyard pool as Meadow is on the phone to her sharing the news of her engagement to Finn.

Spoilers end here.

[edit] Title reference

  • The title referring to "unidentified black males" is referenced several times in the episode:
    • Tony blames the black males for his mugging the night Tony B. was arrested.
    • Tony B. blames black gang members for his foot injury.
    • When Eugene smashes a bottle on Little Paulie’s head, they agree to blame it on some unidentified black men.
    • When Meadow tells Finn of Jackie Jr.’s death, she repeats the false story that he was killed by black drug dealers.

[edit] Miscellanea

  • Joe 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. Later inspiration for the writers would come in the form of “Johnny Boy” D'Amato, acting boss in the DeCavalcante family who was outed as a homosexual and subsequently murdered in 2003. [1]
  • Although Vito and Phil talk to each other in this episode, their cousin-in-law status is not mentioned. The first time this is revealed is in the first episode of season 6, "Members Only"
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