The mood starts off grim, Crow Lovers, as our open has Jax sitting alone on the roof at the Stockton docks. The taking of Bobby clearly is weighing on his mind, but his Chuck Taylor’s have never looked better. As he broods, an instrumental version of “All Along the Watchtower” plays under the montage. Wendy watches Abel draw… Juice tells his C.O. he’s ready to talk…
The camera finally turns to Bobby, down to one eye, but as defiant as ever. Moses, the high powered muscle who is handling him for Marks, drops him some grub and cigarettes. When Bobby remarks that Marks’ men should just kill him, Moses replies there will be “due process.”
At the TM, Unser looks out at the burned and broken remnant of the old clubhouse and starts to think about the future.
Back on the roof, Chibs approaches Jax and lets him know that Happy and Rat are trying to track down Tyler (and he gets line that out without stumbling). Jax, deep in the “Dane of grin mean” mode, admits that he’s been outfoxed by Marks. Marks has no weakness, no vulnerable side like Jax. He knows now, this was a fight he shouldn’t have picked.
Chibs urges him to get refocused. The club knows the risks involved and were willing to back Jax in his play to kill Lin. He emphasizes to Jax that the bloody road of revenge for Tara has brought him to this place and he has to see it through. Chibs also colorfully reminds Jax that the men around the Reaper need a leader. The two men show as much affection for each other as the macho code allows, even using each others’ government names. Beautiful.
After the open, the guys have found Tyler, who, as usual, has bad news. Marks has gone to ground and there’s been no sign of Bobby at the usual haunts. He also relays that Moses is no joke. Ex-Special forces, Ex-Blackwater equals no bueno for Bobby. Jax impresses on Tyler that the club has 24 hours before they receive another Bobby body part. They need to find where Moses is holding him. Tyler expresses the rational fear that all his activity will expose his role in betraying Marks. Jax loudly reminds him that he’s in all the way and in SAMCRO goes, so do the One9ners.
After Tyler bolts, Tig tries to tell Jax that Bobby’s bounty hunter has some further info about the dead muscle man from Indian Hills, O’Leary. Jax tries to wave it off, given the priority to find Bobby, but Chibs like a good VP, checks him. Jax taking the meeting helps the overall goal of finding out who the rat to the Chinese is. Jax relents.
At Gemma, Unser and Wendy compare notes about Juice. Unser’s spider-sense is telling something is wrong with Juice’s behavior. They are interrupted by Brooke and Quinn, returning from the store. Brooke tells Wendy that the preschool called and that either Gemma or Jax has to pick up Abel, who has come to blows with another student for the second time in a week. Wendy groans and grabs the cellphone.
In the catacombs, Bobby gets a longer sitdown with Moses. Marks’ bag man wants talk to Bobby, vet to vet, reciting Bobby’s service record to him (Grenada, Sutter? Not even a Lebanon tour? Can’t we count Boone’s time with James Wood’s Vampire Hunters?). Moses relates that he is operating under wartime ethics and that his torture of Bobby isn’t personal. Bobby tells him to come off his high horse and admit he’s not in the army any more, but now is a common thug like the rest of them. Moses cuts to the chase: Tell him where the Pastor’s body is and he might walk away alive. If not, his clutch hand is next to go.
Bobby plays it tough as can be, saying that he didn’t squeal when they took his eye and he won’t for anything. And someday, the club will find Moses, no matter how long it takes and put him down. Moses says to him if he tells the location, Bobby might live to see that day.
At the clubhouse, the bounty hunter relates that O’Leary was an Iraq War vet with some minor problems with the law. Most interesting to all is his connection with a gun-running militia just up the road. Jax figures a ride by might help shed some light on why he disappeared.
At the cabin, Gemma is using her rather interesting methods to help the Pastor’s wife kick the habit. While the moment is ripe, the two women talk with the PW stating that Gemma must feel she’s the world’s worst mother. Ahhh, if walls or Juice could talk….
Gemma is classic Gemma, telling her that nothing matters more that making sure you protect your family. And it doesn’t matter how many time you fail, it’s how you respond to those failures. The Gipper is proud somewhere. Nero tells Gemma that Wendy is on the phone.
SAMCRO rolls up to the farm where O’Leary’s militia connections are known to stay. And since this is SOA, they are greeted by gunfire. Which confuses the heck out them… During the firefight, a lone kid rolls up on a bike to see what’s going on. He ends up at the barrel of Tig’s gun and a cease fire is reached.
Out of the domicile comes another Sutter created formidable matriarch who quickly shoos the bashful hostage into the house. Militia Momma is also the dam of their mysterious O’Leary and relates that she was told by his long absent father that he was dead. And Daddy Dearest? Indian Hill Prez Jerry, of course.
Jax is caught off guard by the news, leaving a quick thinking Rat to come up with a Brothers In Arms story about why the club was looking for her son. Jax mutters his sympathies to Militia Momma.
Back at the bikes, Jax, Tig and Chibs absorb the info. Jax now sees that Jerry has had the means, the motive and the opportunity to betray the club. He tells Chibs to set a meet with Jerry and his VP for the afternoon. There will be a final reckoning.
At Abel’s preschool, Gemma ( who must have set some kind of land speed record to get there from the Cabin) and Wendy are picking up the troubled youngster when the Den Mother is confronted by a concerned Courtney Love. The teacher recommends that Gemma and Jax strongly consider counseling for Abel. Which leads to a typical Gemma flashpoint and storm off. It’s the biggest brush-off Love’s received since Madonna at the MTV Awards. Who’d ever think we’d live to see her as the voice of reason?
In County lockup, Juice has a sitdown with Unser and Jarry. He says he wants to be in administrative segregation. In exchange for protection, he says he will finger the killer of Tara, who he says was a foot soldier of Henry Lin. Jarry is wary that all he wants is AD-seg for fingering a killer, but agrees to the request. After Juice leaves, Unser puts all the pieces he has together… Juice will hit Lin in exchange for absolution from the club. But the involvement of Gemma and Juice is still troubling to him. He ponders that reality as Jarry gets the wheels in motion.
At Gemma’s, a quiet Abel asks Nero for some milk while Gemma goes to check on Thomas. When she reaches her bedroom, the sight that greets her stops her dead in her tracks. Her birdcage is open and the crows are missing. At least, until she checks the strange bulge in the bed. Thought and Memory have gone with the wind, literally serving as the inspiration for this week’s ep. name. Someone is sending a message. A message driven home by the words scratched into Abel’s bedroom wall… “NO SON IS SAFE.”
Nero gets to a freaked out Gemma first. And quickly stops Abel from seeing the carnage. One source of fear is eliminated when Brooke and Thomas come back from the store. But the writing on the rhetorical wall is even clearer than the physical one. Gemma breaks down in Nero’s arms, strangely fixated on the fate of her birds.
On the road, Jerry and his VP meet with Tig, Chibs and Jax. The proceeding is cool and formal. Jax and Jerry take a walk a few feet away. Jerry asks about Bobby and Jax explodes. He calls Jerry out, says they know the truth about the identity of his son and accuses him of being the rat. Jerry tells his end, stating that O’Leary was his son, that his taking him into the outlaw life was a last ditch chance to bond with the man. But despite his anger at Jax’s killing of him, he didn’t tell Lin anything. Jerry makes it clear that his take down of Jax will come at the table with the other charters. Jax accuses him of lying.
Then things take an interesting turn. Jerry begins to tell Jax about JT’s diary, unaware of Jax’s previous three-year history with the document. But he relates that JT wasn’t really murdered. Sure, Clay tampered with his rig… But, in Jerry’s reading, JT used that as an excuse to check out. A one way, high speed suicide solution to all his problems and fears. Jax sneers at this and a struggle ensues. Jerry gets dropped going for his gun by Jax. One problem down…
However, another one begins as Jerry’s VP rightfully freaks out. What he’s seen goes against every protocol and code that the Sons supposedly hold dear. Killing Jerry should have been put to a vote, with all the warped due process and procedure that the outlaw life demands. On top of that, it seems that Jax made the call by himself based on flimsy evidence. He swears there will be hell pay for Redwood because of this. Jax gets a call on his cell. The trio gets on their bikes and ride away with Jax’s coke-whites stained with Jerry’s blood.
At Gemma’s, a heart to heart with Abel is under way. Gemma asks why he hit the other boy with his lunch pail. The youngster says flatly that the whole thing was an accident. Gemma asks if he know what an accident is. Abel chillingly asks if she knows the difference herself. Gemma, unaware of his overhearing of her confession last week, is confused beyond words.
Jax and the rest of the club get to the house and are filled in by Nero. Jax knows more than ever the walls are closing in. He tells the group that he will make a deal… The picture and the paper, but not the Pastor’s Wife. He tells Tig to make the needed calls to Marks.
In the catacombs, Bobby gets another visit from Moses. The paper with the addresses is on the floor, untouched. Moses says he admires his courage. Bobby suggests he should perform a sex act. The whole love fest is interrupted by one of Moses’ men (NBA All-Star Carmelo Anthony, showing that he didn’t spend his summer only counting his new contract money) saying there’s a call.
Moses takes the call. He tells Bobby that Jax wants to deal. However, the terms of Marks demands aren’t negotiable. The sun is going down and so is Bobby to the floor, thrown down by Moses’ men. The soldier produces a hunting knife… And applies it to Bobby’s right hand.
Night falls and the Forest Ranger’s version of “Watchtower” gains some lyrics. Jax broods on the Redwoody roof. Unser plays Eglee in Scrabble at the hospital. Nero relates to Wendy that he is out as soon as he can get some stuff together. He tells her she’s welcome to come with him and escape. Outside in the yard, Gemma buries her birds.
Chibs come to Jax to advise him on his mistakes in dealing with the Jerry problem. Jax is a little dismissive, but Chibs hammers home the reality that his actions will hit home with the other charters. Jax struggles to agree, but before the issue can be pushed further, Tig comes with another box from Marks. A box no one can bring themselves to open as the Reaper makes his bow.
Crow Lovers, where are we headed? Will the other charters revolt against Redwood? Is Abel becoming the true Son of Anarchy? Will Bobby be Fed Ex’d to death? And if Jerry wasn’t the rat, who is? Be back here next week and Fly Like the Crow.
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