This week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy had a decent balance of action and drama. The season started off slow—the first three episodes were a snooze-fest, and last week’s had me flatlined from all the activity. In contrast, this episode was well-paced. It moved the story along, threw us some curveballs, and ended with a cliffhanger.
The war between the Chinese and SAMCRO is heating up, and everyone is told to pick a side. Both Lin and Jax tell Nero to pick a side. Sheriff Jarry tells Unser and Chibs they need to pick sides. Interestingly enough, Sheriff Jarry should also pick a side, because right now she is (literally) straddling both sides. Yes, we cut from Althea Jarry in underwear lounging next to Chibs with a joint, to Sheriff Jarry in uniform standing at the Diosa crime scene with a clipboard. Sigh. Nothing ruins post-coital bliss like paperwork.
Everyone’s on lockdown in case the Chinese retaliate again. Wendy’s invited to the lockdown this time because, frankly, they’re running out of caretaker options for Abel and Thomas. We’ve witnessed this scene before; scantily-clad women and children all cuddling together on the couch. Only Sons of Anarchy can make prostitution, checkers, and a lockdown look so family-friendly.
Outside of lockdown, Lin holds Nero hostage and tells him that Jax has been lying the whole time. He demands that Nero deliver Jax by the end of the day, or Nero’s son will get hurt. Obviously, Nero’s pissed and he attacks Jax, so Jax tells him that the Chinese killed Tara, and Nero has to pick a side. Nero meets Lin to fill him in on Jax’s plans, seemingly choosing the Chinese side. Please, do any of us believe that? Nero is a cardigan-wearing OG—he doesn’t flip that easily.
That’s right, he DOESN’T. Nero helped Jax lure the Chinese into a trap. They’re held hostage by the Sons and Barosky’s dirty-cop friends. Jax starts fighting Lin, telling him it’s all in retaliation for Tara, and of course Lin is throwing all sorts of, “Harpo, who dis?” face because he has no idea what Jax is talking about. The scene is broken up by a SWAT team and the Sons flee away with Lin’s crew headed to jail.
Unfortunately, in all this madness we still haven’t seen anyone seriously question Jax about his “outlaw” status. Both Nero and Bobby, the only two men suited for the job, seem no longer capable of independent thought. Why would Kurt Sutter make Bobby so reluctant in past seasons—when Jax actually seemed to be doing good things—then turn him into a blind follower now, when Jax needs criticism more than ever? Because this whole season is built on a false premise (the Chinese killing Tara), it’s getting a little tiring to watch.
Oh, and I’d be remiss to not mention one charming little scene involving young Abel threatening people with a hammer. Oh yes. Turns out he sees his daddy protecting everyone, and Abel feels he has to protect baby Thomas. He swings and slams the hammer around, bursting with anger. When Thomas starts to cry from the commotion, Abel drops the hammer and soothingly speaks to Thomas. It’s really psychotic stuff, and sent chills through my bones. Wendy did say that Abel is like Jax, and I fear that junky (shout out to Gemma) is right.
Meanwhile, Gemma and Unser have been trying to get Juice the hell out of dodge. They finally arrive at Juice’s hotel room to escort him out of town and, wouldn’t you know it, a dead body is in their way. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) Turns out he was the hotel manager checking to see if Juice had left yet, and he happens to be Chinese, so Juice killed him, thinking he was from Lin’s crew. Sigh. More misunderstandings for SAMCRO. More innocent people hurt. More crime scene cleanup for poor Unser.
Clearly, Juice is now a loose end that needs to be cut off. Gemma drives him to the middle of nowhere and clever little Juice catches on. He and Gemma fight over her gun, there’s a car crash, and the episode ends on the side of a road with Juice pointing a gun at Gemma’s head.
My theory? Gemma is alive too. She can’t be killed on the side of the road by Juice—it’s too quick. No, when Gemma goes down it’s going to be hard and it’s going to be because of Jax. I mean, Jax has to find out that Gemma killed Tara, right? At this point, that’s pretty much all the audience is waiting for.
So that leaves us with one other question—is Juice really a rat? Or is he going to become a double agent for Sons? Did he and Gemma work out a deal or did he leave her alive on the side of the road and flee right to the Mayans? OK, I guess that’s a few questions. What do you think about what happened between Juice and Gemma?
Emily Worden is a Bostonbased freelance writer and author of Make. Sell. Repeat. The Ultimate Business Guide for Artists, Crafters, and Makers. You can follow her on Twitter.