ADMIT IT: the last place you thought you’d see a gay romance is “The Sopranos.” But the anointed HBO mafia drama, has enlivened up what has been an otherwise lackluster season, with the surprising and peculiar stirrings of romance between waddling gay mobster Vito Spatafore (Joseph R. Gannascoli) and short-order cook Jim Witkowski (John Costelloe). The attraction began at the New Hampshire diner where the ruggedly handsome Witkowski serves up plate after plate of scrumptious jonny cakes to the rotund Spatafore, who’s AWOL from the Mob and his family.

While Tony tries to stop the homophobic members of his crew-OK, that would be everybody- from putting out a contract on Spatafore, Vito is blissing out in his New England hamlet, mooning after his hunky cook.

Of course, in a scene right out of “Brokeback Mountain,” the two men came to blows before getting it on (an HBO representative claims the episode was written before the Oscar-winning movie was released). But in a later scene, the two guys are seen biking into the sylvan countryside and sharing a topless kiss.

So just who is Vito’s crush? John Costelloe has appeared on “Law & Order” and the Woody Allen films “Celebrity” and “Manhattan Murder Mystery.”

THE SOPRANOS

Sunday , 9 p.m., HBO