"The Weight" is the 43rd episode of the HBO original series The Sopranos and the fourth episode of the show's fourth season. Written by Terence Winter and directed by Jack Bender, it originally aired on October 6, 2002. This episode marks the halfway point (43rd out of 86) of the series.
Johnny is consumed with anger about Ralphie's joke about Ginny, leading him to savagely assault a member of Ralphie's crew whom he encounters at a bar. When Tony confronts him, he blames his temper, but also says he loves his "Rubenesque" wife. On Tony's instructions, Ralphie phones Johnny to try to make peace, but he ends up giving a botched apology; Johnny takes this as an admission of guilt and is further angered.
Johnny asks Carmine to permit a hit on Ralphie; he refuses. There are two sit-downs. Johnny walks out of the first because Ralphie is present. At the second, Ralphie is not present, but Johnny remains inflexible and insists on retaliation to defend his wife's honor. Carmine turns him down again and tells him to "get the fuck over it." Johnny walks out again.
Carmine hints to Tony that Johnny can be killed, and Silvio and Christopher arrange for it to be done in Boston, where Johnny will be visiting his father. Simultaneously, Johnny arranges for Ralphie to be killed in Miami, where he is staying in a hotel.
Johnny leaves New Jersey for Boston but returns home to retrieve a sweater. He finds Ginny with a stash of junk food and candy. Initially angry, he reminds her that he never asked her to lose weight but is deeply hurt that she has lied to him. He calls off the hit at the last moment and tells Tony he will accept Ralphie's apology.
Carmela and Tony argue bitterly about their finances. She and Furio, who comes each morning to pick Tony up, are growing closer. He has bought a house and she goes to see it with A.J. At the housewarming party, Carmela and Furio dance together to sensual Italian music.
Tony buys Carmela some flowers and a little black dress from Saks Fifth Avenue. She puts it on. Greatly aroused, he takes her to bed. In the next room, Meadow starts to play the song Carmela and Furio danced to. Carmela yells for her to turn the song off and she complies. But as Tony lies heavily on top of her, Carmela's eyes open, and she imagines that she is still hearing the music to which she and Furio danced.
The title refers to the joke Ralph Cifaretto made about Ginny Sacrimoni's weight in "No Show," a joke which Johnny Sack eventually learned about from Paulie Gualtieri; this remark almost cost two arguing mobsters their lives.
This episode also shares its title with "The Weight," a song by The Band.
Ralph told the joke about Ginny's weight in "No Show"
When Ralph calls Johnny Sack to deny he told the "mole joke," Johnny says that he "should have let Tony chop off [Ralph's] head a year ago," referring to when Ralph and Tony were on the outs, and Tony was considering killing Ralph in the season 3 episode, "He Is Risen."
While visiting Meadow's dorm, Tony sees Meadow's graduation picture taken in the episode "Funhouse."
Ralph asks, "What? You never made a joke about Ginny Sack?" to the guys. They all respond, "No! Not like that!" In season 3 episode, "Employee of the Month" all of them can be seen making even cruder jokes about Ginny. In that episode, Johnny Sack walks in on the guys and is immediately suspicious.
Johnny says his wife is "Rubenesque," voluptuous, like the women painted by Peter Paul Rubens.
Upon seeing Ralph in formal wear, Eugene calls him George Hamilton.
Believing Johnny to be overreacting to his joke about Ginny, Ralph compares him to Walter Raleigh.
Junior tells Tony the story of how Lou earned the nickname "DiMaggio", which involved him beating his former boss and his wife to death with a baseball bat.
When Chris and Silvio visit Frank and DiMaggio to set up the hit on Johnny, DiMaggio tells a story about murdering a man named Tommy Neri. The name Tommy Neri is a nod to the actor Richard Bright, who plays Frank Crisci in this episode. Richard Bright played a Corleone hitman named Al Neri in The Godfather.
Music from Furio's housewarming includes "O'Mare" and in particular "Vesuvio", by the Italian band Spaccanapoli, which is later played over the end credits.
"Suddenly Last Summer" by The Motels plays in the background when Furio visits Carmela.
One scene at the Bada Bing features ZZ Top's "Tush", a subtextual reference to the joke about the mole removed from Ginny's tush - Tony refers to Ginny's tush immediately before the Bada Bing office door opens and "Tush" is heard blaring from within the club.
