by J Malcolm Stewart:
The events of the last few episodes are weighing heavy on everybody’s mind, Jax is at home, playing father… Nero is at church taking confession with an very uncomfortable Gemma in tow… Lee has been spending some time between the sheets with one of Diosa’s finest…
It’s when Nero leaves the scene with Gemma that we see that this week’s “SOA” is going to focus on guilty consciences. When Gemma is first suspicious and then dismissive of Nero’s desire to confess, something happens between them. Nero breaks it down that confession is good for his soul, the thing that makes able to maintain composure despite the shady things he’s done in life. When Gemma sees that Nero doesn’t laugh off the things that hurt him (like she does), she apologizes, telling him that he’s really a good man. Nero’s silence speaks volumes.
Meanwhile at the Come In Motel, Lee is getting ready for another day of mayhem while the Diosa Girl is in the shower. The sound of unfamiliar tires pulling causes Lee to grab his silenced Nine Mil. handgun (because he’s just such a laid back guy). He sees out the window that it’s just the Stockton prosecutor and her entourage but when Diosa Girl sneaks up on him to say bye-bye, he gut-shoots her. As she bleeds out with shock and confusion on her face, Lee makes the decision to smother her before anybody can come knocking on his door.
Despite his obvious regret for the accident, we can almost see the wheels turning in Lee’s mind on how he’s gonna turn this around. Leaving Diosa Girl in the bathtub and after putting on his “noble-cop” face, he tells the prosecutor they need to start putting heat on Nero and the BizLats.
Jax goes in to see Chief Eli and spills that Clay is getting protection in County. Eli tells Jax that the Fed whose been sniffing around is the brother of the nurse Otto killed. Jax relays that understands that Eli probably has the same hatred for Clay due to the murder of his wife. Eli gives him kudos for his mastery of the obvious.
Jax goes in to see Clay with Lee again lurking behind the one-way glass. Clay lays out his whole story of woe, but assures Jax that he won’t take any deal to snitch. Jax rejects his apology but makes sure to go to the glass to address Lee directly. He apologizes for Otto’s actions, but tells Lee if he continues to go after Tara, that Jax can make this personal as well. When he leaves, Lee comes in to save what left of his deal with Clay. Despite reminding him of the recent betrayals of Jax and Gemma, Clay steadfastly refuses any deal. With a sad shake of his head, Lee muses to Clay that the murder he didn’t do is the one that is going to get him snuffed.
Jax calls a table meeting and it’s sad to see that Redwood Chapter is down to six active members. The Reaper looks lonely. Jax tells everyone to lay low, given the heat that he thinks is coming and tasks Phil to get some more warm bodies around the Clubhouse by sizing up some new prospects. When Chibs pipes in that Bobby should be kept in the loop, Jax tersely replies that if Bobby cared he’d be here.
What is Bobby doing, you may ask? Well, at that particular moment, we see that his three renegades have become five as he’s enticed two more Las Vegas members to join his break away movement. Now that he has enough guys to go nomad, he promises the group that they will make “club history.”
Taking his advice to turn up the heat, we see that Lee has two BizLats cuffed around Shooter Mom’s kitchen table. After taking an unopened beer bottle out of the fridge, he tries to extract some info from the two foot soldiers. When they tell him to take a hike, he uses both of their mouths as human bottle openers. After causing enough damage to keep them in the dentist chair for months, Lee calmly wipes off the top and announces it was a screw top all along, showing he’s not only one that description applies to.
Back at the clubhouse, while Gemma watches the kids, Wendy arrives with bruises on her neck. You expect, given their past history, some kind of Gemma explosion when Wendy asks for Jax. But instead of venom, Gemma takes Wendy into confidence as she relates that she’s been harassed physically by an ex-con at her NA meetings. Despite the fact we as the viewers sense something wrong with her sob story (given Jax’s treatment of her last season), Gemma gives a her a shoulder to cry on and promises her a solution to her problem.
Jax, Nero, Tig, Juice and Chibs head to a sit down with Parsons and Colette about the addition of Colette’s girls to the Diosa stable. While everything is tea and crumpets for a minute, the bakery that is Parson’s HQ gets shot up drive-by style. Everyone escapes with their lives after the commercial break, but it quickly becomes clear that the Persian pornographers that SAMCRO muscled two episodes ago want some payback (especially since Tig secretly killed one of them). The gang heads down to the docks where the porno crew is making their escape by yacht.
Jax and Parson come in under flag of truce, claiming the day’s events are all a big misunderstanding. Emir, the remaining leader of the crew, relates to Jax and Parsons that they found his missing brother’s jacket floating in the Bay. When Jax insists that the brother was released, Parsons backs him up despite the fact he had no idea what went down.
After wreaking some further mayhem, Parsons warns Jax not to pull anymore surprises on him. Jax sees that Tig’s loose cannon ways have again cost the Club. He sends everyone home, but puts Tig on a mission to pick up the Persians’ camera equipment and to wait for Phil at the docks.
Back in the hoosegow, Clay has been transferred to GP and is being processed in. The guard is buzzed out and several burly One9ers are ushered in. It’s the moment of truth for Clay. And though he puts up a fight, it seems clear he’s going down. Until one of the One9ers offers him a way out. Clay is being offered another deal, but what will he have to do this time to save his hide?
Back at the Clubhouse, Tara spills the beans to Gemma that she’s expecting another little Teller. This brings out the mother in Gemma and despite the iciness of recent times, she promises Tara that everything going to work out fine. Given that we know Tara is planning to divorce Jax’s tattooed ass, the claim is dubious. At the motel, Lee is cutting up Dead Diosa Girl’s clothes and telling her somehow that her death will matter.
Amazingly, Clay has made it onto the yard alive and is waiting online to talk to the head of the local White Supes clique. Given the tension of between SAMCRO and the White Supes in the past, Clay isn’t exactly welcomed with open arms, but when the Black inmates seemingly mass up to take Clay out, the Supes respond predictably. However, when the melee starts, Clay shanks the head of the White Supes. Given his stunning breach of CA prison racial etiquette, Clay goes into the hole for his own protection.
An oddly melancholy Jax wanders over to Colette’s brothel looking for a hook up. Coming by her room, he hears with a client behind the door. He seems strangely compelled to find out who her latest and greatest lay is. Cracking open the door, he sees Parsons is enjoying himself greatly with Colette, with him even stopping to give Jax a wry little smile as he catches him peeping. Jax wanders out from the house, reeking of….Jealousy?
We quickly find the reason for his melancholy as he meets up with Pope’s former lieutenant. Jax has asked him to spare killing Clay until he can smooth things over with the Irish Kings. In exchange for the favor, he gives them a slip of paper with an address.
Down in the hole, the prison guard who processed Clay in stops by to give him a shank, telling him he’ll need it. As night falls, Gemma has Wendy over to give her an unmarked gun for her protection. The former adversaries suddenly seem to have found some common ground. She heads out just as Nero pulls up. While he and Gemma go inside to catch up, Lee pulls up out of the night and breaks into Nero’s truck. At the same time, Charming PD finds Dead Diosa Girl’s body in a field as a result of an anonymous tip. At home, Wendy wipes off her neck bruise make up with a towel.
Returning home, Jax ignores the incoming calls from Colette on his phone and finds Tara’s lab results on table. He goes upstairs and embraces Tara, telling her how much he loves her. Like last week, Tara’s facial reactions tell us she’s got other plans than continuing to stay Jax’s Old Lady.
At the Persians’ warehouse, a bored Tig hears the sound of cars pulling up. As he turns around expecting to see Phil, he’s instead surrounded by Damien Pope’s former associates. Both facially and verbally, he knows that his goose is cooked.
So what do you think of “SOA’s” season so far? Is Tig finally done for? Will Clay survive his prison experience? What does Wendy have planned? And is the Jax and Tara love story coming to a terrible end? Let us know below.
J. Malcolm Stewart is a Northern California-based public relations/marketing professional. He holds degrees in Political Science and Comparative Religion, but can have a conversation someone without starting a small war. Long interested in suspense, thrillers and horror, he writes and reviews on the subject for websites far and wide. When he’s not writing, reviewing or reading, you can find J. Malcolm riding around Northern CA with something radioactive in his trunk.
Follow J. Malcolm on Twitter: @sabbathsoldier, and learn more about him at http://about.me/jaymal.
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