Unidentified Black Males
"Unidentified Black Males" | |
---|---|
The Sopranos episode | |
Episode no. | Season 5 Episode 9 |
Directed by | Tim Van Patten |
Written by | Matthew Weiner Terence Winter |
Cinematography by | Phil Abraham |
Production code | 509 |
Original air date | May 2, 2004 |
Running time | 59 minutes |
"Unidentified Black Males" is the 61st episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the ninth of the show's fifth season. Written by Matthew Weiner and Terence Winter, and directed by Tim Van Patten, it originally aired on May 2, 2004.
Starring
- James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano
- 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
- Anthony Soprano, Jr.
- Jamie-Lynn DiScala as Meadow Soprano
- Drea de Matteo as Adriana La Cerva
- Janice Soprano Baccalieri*
- Johnny Sack
- Artie Bucco
- Tony Blundetto
* = credit only
Guest starring
- Little Carmine
- Chris Caldovino as Billy Leotardo
- Little Paulie Germani
- Benny Fazio
- Eugene Pontecorvo
- Vito Spatafore
- Patsy Parisi
- Finn De Trolio
- Carlo Gervasi
- Angelo Garepe
- Rusty Millio
- Phil Leotardo
- Agent Sanseverino
- Gabriella Dante
- Paula Garcés as Felicia Galan
- Jason Molinaro
- Allison Dunbar as Nicole Lupertazzi
- Aleksa Palladino as Alex
- Joel Blum as Golfer
- Andrew Eisenman as Priest
- Frankie Cortese
- Sidney Davidoff as Lee Nieman
Synopsis
At Joey's
A faux pas causes tensions between Tony and
Carmela finally decides to divorce Tony and obtain her share of their assets. Tony is furious when she informs him. Looming over her, he says she is "entitled to shit." Carmela becomes encouraged when she learns that a forensic accountant could discover Tony's unreported financial assets. After contacting several lawyers, however, Carmela realizes that Tony has already consulted them all to prevent them from taking her case, and no forensic accountant is willing to assess his finances. She becomes tearful looking out the window at Tony floating in the swimming pool, while Meadow on the phone tells her about her engagement.
Title reference
Numerous misfortunes that members of the crime family have experienced, usually at one another's hands, are falsely blamed on
Connections to previous episodes
- 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 douchebag..."
- Little Carmine dismisses suggestions to negotiate with Johnny Sack by saying: "This is not the U.N." In the episode "Where's Johnny?", Johnny Sack responded to Tony's suggestion of a power-sharing arrangement: "What's this, the fuckin' U.N. now?!"
- In Season 4, Episode 13, "Whitecaps," Tony is advised to quickly consult all the best local lawyers so that they cannot represent his wife. He has apparently done so.
- In the beach scene in this episode, "Bichu Rap" by Titi Robin is being played in the background. This song is also featured in Season 5, Episode 1, "Two Tonys", where it is being played in Meadow's car when Meadow picks AJ up to go to dinner at Janice and Bobby's house.
Other cultural references
- When Tony tells his cousin there was a witness to the "Joey Peeps" murder who saw a man limping away, Tony B quips the murderer could have been Long John Silver.
- Paulie refers to Finn as Shaggy, due to his resemblance to the Scooby-Doo character.
- Vito tells Finn that he looks like Joe Perry, the lead guitarist for Aerosmith.
- Eugene Pontecorvo and Patsy Parisi ask Finn whether Mike Tyson or Muhammad Ali would win a boxing fight if both were in their prime, a question which Finn is afraid to answer for fear of angering Eugene and causing another of his violent outbursts.
- Lee Nieman, one of the divorce lawyers Carmela calls, is played by real-life lawyer Sidney Davidoff who was famously one of the 20 names on Nixon's Enemies List (and, as of May 2021, one of the last two living people on the list).[1]
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.
Music
- The song played over the end credits is "If I Were a Carpenter" sung by Bobby Darin.
- The song played during the scene where Meadow and Finn are at the beach party is "Bichu Rap" by Titi Robin. This song is also heard in the earlier Season 5 episode "Two Tonys".
- The song played while Silvio and Paulie are arguing at the Bing is "Choker" by Fireball Ministry.
References
- ^ Talking Sopranos Episode #62 w/Alec Baldwin (Celebrity Superfan), archived from the original on 2021-12-22, retrieved 2021-05-31
External links
- "Unidentified Black Males" Archived 2016-08-18 at the Wayback Machine at HBO
- "Unidentified Black Males" at IMDb