As good as this fifth season of Sons of Anarchy has been, the show hasn’t portrayed a sense of utter chaos that was expected. From Opie’s death to the invasions to Nero’s brothel, everything seemed like it would always go SAMCRO’s way. Even as their world was closing in on them thanks to Pope, it looked like all would be well. That all changed in last week’s excellent “Andare Pescare” and though it slowed in “Crucifixed,” the long and winding road looks to be sending the club into mayhem.
The show was a supersized episode clocking nearly an hour of screen time (compared to the usual 40 minutes it normally gets), and a lot definitely happens throughout the entire episode. First and foremost, Juice confronts Jax, saying “I know you know” and in the end Juice goes from being Clay’s lackey to being Jax’s double agent. It sets up a tangled web for Jax and Clay that has been brewing for weeks, but hasn’t come to a real head yet. The two don’t end up colliding this episode, but it does seem that the season is building momentum for one final showdown which will most likely result in Clay’s death—something many believed would happen last season.
Opie’s death hasn’t had as big of an effect on Jax as I thought it’d have. There really wasn’t grieving time, just a double homicide out of vengeance. Now Jax wants to go after the man personally responsible for Opie’s death, but complications arise after he learns it is an ally gang leader’s cousin. He decides to teach him a lesson, but promises to keep him alive. Well, Jax goes back on his word, and Chibs shoots the guy point-blank. Another vengeful decision made by a man who is slowly falling into insanity.
While the rest of the episode maintained a slow pace that focused on building momentum, Tara’s relationship with the jailed Otto finally resulted in something. For a few episodes now she has been volunteering at the prison’s hospital to convince Otto to recant his statement on the RICO case and now that he has agreed all seems to be well. He even asks Tara to bring him his old crucifix so that he can pray for the first time in years. Only it turns out to be a shockingly brutal way to murder a nurse, sending Tara’s world into a tailspin. She understands that she is an accessory to murder and her life hangs in the balance because Otto wanted revenge for being screwed over by Jax.
Everything that happened in this episode was carefully thought out, but it didn’t grab me as much as I thought it would after last week’s episode. Still, so much ground was covered and so many important events transpired that it is hard to look past how much importance the episode carried for the rest of the season. It was a good episode, but with this show you always expect it to be great. And I hope the next three episodes will step it up and blow me out of the water.