Yeah I liked how the writers made the viewer feel very sorry for Ralph in the hour leading up to his death. With his son's injury and his church visit and mending things up with Rosalie and Tony, you began to pity him. This is almost a subliminal way to suggest that he was in fact not guilty. Its a great episode either way.
Chase was a genius at doing that, especially with the we "love to hate" characters, throughout the series.
They set it up to have Tony value the life of the horse over the life of a child, further emphasizing his sociopathic mindset.
It's important to note that Justin survives the accident, and that he has a chance of significantly recovering despite the initial grim prognosis. This would mean of course that he would need his father's support, both financially and emotionally, through the rehabilitation process. And, Ralphie's newfound attitude and empathy might have made this possible. Ralphie was so fucked up beforehand that it's easy to dismiss any possibility of him changing, but such a catastrophe involving his son might be the catalyst to do it.
Even most mob bosses might see it this way. No matter how far out of line it was for Ralphie to torch a stable to collect insurance money and kill a horse that the boss had such a connection to, a level headed boss would wait a few months to take any action, solely based on the situation with the kid. And, considering the circumstances, it would likely involve a hefty tax. As the rules go, Pio-O-My wasn't anyone's wife...she wasn't a goomar....And to quote Ralphie,..."it was a fucking horse". Meanwhile, Tony goes right to Ralphie's house like it was AJ or Meadow that perished in the stable. He instigates a fight, resulting in bashing Justin's father's skull into the floor and suffocating him.
Interestingly enough, Tony does take a more common sense approach to Ralphie's situation when Paulie threatens to kill Ralph over the prank call to his mother. Paulie has no kids. "No conception", as Tony put it. He doesn't understand what Ralph is going through. Paulie is such a nut that even Tony is sane standing next to him.
