We start our day in Charming with Jax staring at himself in the mirror until he hears the voice of his youngest child crying… Gemma and Nero greet the day in each other arms… This brings us to a well-executed sequence where Tara’s, Gemma’s, Nero’s and Jax’s interactions are all interspersed together. Jax and Tara attempt to reconnect. Nero tries to comfort a messed up Gemma. Jax offers Tara his support, telling her he should have protected her. Nero tells Gemma he will back her up in her dispute with Jax.
At Charming P.D., Patterson has come to see Chief Eli, proclaiming that she is giving him extra manpower to tail Jax wherever he might go in town. When Eli questions the wisdom of this move, Patterson gives him the “Get on Board” speech. In her view, SAMCRO is evil and needs to be stopped by any means at their disposal.
Jax pulls up to the Ice Cream store and notices that he is being eyeballed by a young girl who is sitting next to the club’s bikes. After giving her the threat assessment look-over, he comes in to get an update from the assembled members. The change over in guns is going fairly smoothly, but Bobby warns that their Italian contacts will be unhappy with any changes.
Unser comes in and tries to talk to Jax after taking some good natured ribbing from Bobby about still being alive. The two sit down after Jax grabs Unser a beer (do outlaw bikers really stock up on Miller Lite?) and it becomes clear that Unser wants to talk about Gemma. Before Jax can shut him down, he sees that the girl from across the street has promptly produced a wrench from her jacket and is bashing Tig’s bike. As he dashes out to confront her, the girl throws the wrench through the store’s front window, sending glass shards everywhere. That done, she flees on foot with Jax in hot pursuit.
Jax finally gets Wrench Girl to ground near the City Center after a spirited chase. As Jax pulls her to her feet, a crowd gathers. When he begins to questions her about her actions, a cry of “rape, rape!” springs forth. Jax quickly measures the hostile response from the onlookers and lets the girl free. The mood is ugly as whispered comments against the the club follow Jax back down the street.
In lockup, Clay has found his way to Chapel services. But the Good Book is not foremost on his mind as he spots his Real IRA contact in the group of worshipers. The Chaplain tells everyone present to turn to John 8:32 ( “and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”).
Back the Ice Cream store, the club looks over the aftermath of yet another attack. Tig laments the damage to his bike and wonders out loud if all teenage girls hate him. Chibs says yes. As Jax looks at the shattered window, Eli and his officers roll up. Jax sarcastically asks if he’s there to take his statement. Eli solemnly informs of the tail and the reasoning behind it. With a sigh, Jax concedes that he will have to live with the tail for a while.
Unser also reveals that he knows the trouble girl’s father and that her mother died in the same car crash that killed Jax’s father, JT. A grim Jax tells Tig to find the girl’s father.
At the hospital, Tara and the club’s Lawyer are finalizing the last touches on her escape plan. Again, there’s some disquiet with how Tara is handling things. And again, Tara sharply dismisses any slowing down with her attempt to flee Charming. But, even she knows that her web of deceit is weaving thin.
Back in Chapel, the Chaplin is preaching it up about the Gospel and the goodness of Christ. Clay decides it’s time to make his move. He asks the Chaplin if the death of a single man over 2,000 years ago can really make a difference. When the Chaplin says yes, we see Clay rise to his feet, leaving us to wonder how getting that old-time-religion fits into his plan.
Well… Let’s say, Clay has a plan of salvation, but it doesn’t have to do with Jesus. Channeling his best Animal Mother from Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket, clay begins his own mock sermon about the benefits of a certain part of the female anatomy that also is used to describe cats. As he gets to the height of his disruption, the guards move in to restrain him, leaving one of them to lose most of his nose from a bite from Clay. He’s rousted and taken away to medical isolation.
Back in Charming, we see that Jax and the club have moved to Diosa to meet with Nero. The joy of Nero’s release is soon turned to suspicion when he asks to talk to Jax in the kitchen. Jax knows what’s coming and tells Nero to back off about the Gemma situation. Nero agrees but asks Jax to think hard about what’s been happening the last few weeks.
The meeting is ended with the arrival Charlie and Charlene bearing bad news about their Stockton business. The heat is getting too extreme because of Patterson’s crusade and Charlie makes the point that the upside to working with SAMCRO has vanished. They are out. He leaves the door open, but as for now, Stockton is closed for business. They leave, and despite a pity look from Charlene, it’s clear that Charlie has been calling the shots all along.
To make the scenario more tense, Gemma comes in to see Nero while Jax is there. His boiling point is quickly met and Nero and he are soon back arguing over Gemma. Gemma rises up to inform the club about the sacrifice that Nero was prepared to make to save everyone. But when she tries to warn him against Tara, Nuclear Jax returns. The news that Tig has found Wrench Girl’s father breaks upa swiftly darkening scene.
After the break, Jax hunts down Wrench Girl’s dad who is surprisingly cool with the bad news of his daughter’s attack. He tells Jax that she’s bi-polar and been troubled all her life, having hardly known her mother. Jax can relate and when the father tells him of his financial woes, Jax determines to help. As he is going out the door, Jax sees a picture of the mother who died with her husband during happier times. Something is oddly familiar about her but Jax can’t place where he knows her.
At the hospital, Nero comes by to see Tara. The meeting starts off ok, but when Nero pleads for her to think about the actions she’s setting in motion, Tara goes Dark Phoenix on him, telling him that everyone who stays with Gemma ends up dead or in prison. She tells him flatly that she killed JT and that Nero should watch his back.
Back in lockup, Clay is strapped to the bed in full Hannibal Lechter mode. Fortunately for him, the attending physician is crooked, paid off by the Irish to give Clay a phone and 40 minutes. After being unstrapped, Clay puts both to use.
At the hospital, Gemma tricks and confronts Margaret, bluffing her into admitting that the documents about Tara’s pregnancy were forgeries. When Margaret tries to stand her ground, Gemma tells her that she’ll get to the truth…With her or without her.
At the table, Jax has called the club together to vote on a offer to get Patterson out of SAMCRO’s business. The next scene find him in the most unlikely of places: Patterson’s office!
Once there, he offers the Stockton DA a surprising deal. The club will deliver his Real IRA nemesis, Galen, guns and all, in exchange for immunity from further prosecution. Oh and all charges against Tara dropped.
Patterson, ever the skeptic, doubts Jax can deliver such a lofty target. Jax says for her to give him ten days to delivery Galen. Though she trusts Jax as far as she can throw him, Patterson knows this is the win she’s been looking for with the school shooting. She agrees to give Jax the ten days.
Jax makes his way back to the old TM and meets with Mills, who just happens to be Wrench Girl’s dad’s employer. He gets Mills to agree to help Wrench Dad keep his house. But as the bow is being tied on this new alliance, Jax gets a call from a distraught Tara, pumping him full of smoke about Nero threatening her.
Back in lock up, Clay, his phone call finished, lets himself be restrained again as the Crooked Doc returns. After tying him up tight, the good doctor tells Clay that he has another deal to complete. Namely, the CO that he bit wants some payback and given that a guy needs to eat… Well, he gets 40 minutes to kick Clay’s ass. A pair of angry screws begin to play open chest on a helpless Clay.
A boiling Jax makes his way to Diosa to confront a confused Nero in the kitchen. While Nero tries to make Jax understand the circumstances of his conversation with Tara, a furious Jax takes a swing at him. Pots and pans go flying as Old School and New School go toe to toe. Gemma, hearing the ruckus, forces her way past Happy and breaks up the fight. A venomous Jax almost hits his mother before the other club members separate them.
Gemma again tries to tell Jax that he’s misguided and he again begins to blow her off, until Nero reveals the lengths that Gemma had to go to to protect the club and Clay during the twisted conjugal of a few episodes ago. The shock of his mother’s exploitation makes Jax listen to her… And the end begins for Tara.
After the break, we see Unser near his trailer at the TM. The club lawyer has come by at his behest to talk about some legal matters. He invites her into the trailer and excuses himself. As she settles down, a stone faced Jax emerges from the shadows. He begins to question her about the details of Tara’s betrayal. She tries to deny, but when Nuclear Jax shows up, she begins to blubber and plead to for her life. Jax says he has no interest in killing her, only in getting to the truth of the matter of Tara. She breaks and spills the gory details of Tara’s plan.
Letting her go, a nervous Unser reminds Jax of his promise not to hurt anyone. An out of it Jax says he won’t hurt anybody. As soon as the laywer is out of earshot, she calls Tara with the disastrous news. A dazed Jax wanders over to the Ice Cream store where he finds a very troubled Wrench Girl waiting to make her peace with him.
On the way through the alley however, we catch a glimpse of the town bag lady who has made a few appearances in seasons past. For a moment, we see a resemblance to the woman in the picture before she turns again to her dumpster diving.
The truth is coming out in more ways than one as Gemma and Nero confab about the death of JT. Gemma details more about the death of Jax’s father than at any other time in the series (again, I believe, laying the ground work for the “Original 9” prequel series that been thrown around after “SOA” is over.).
As scripture says, the truth may set you free, but it can also leave you in a world of hurt, evidenced by a somber Tara, mournfully singing a lullaby to her baby boy (with an awesome vocal performance by Maggie Siff herself) with a nine millimeter handgun on her lap. Fade to black, indeed.
So, can things get any more tense? Will Jax actually hurt Tara? Will Tara be forced to protect herself from Jax? Could she possibly hurt herself or the boys? Has Clay finally suffered enough for his crimes? And who is Wrench Girl and what does she have to do with Jax? Stay tuned.
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