by J Malcolm Stewart:
With events of episodes past becoming even more grim, it’s not surprising that tonight’s opening is super serious. SAMCRO is out checking the area’s various Irish pubs and hangouts, looking for some whiff of Galen and his crew. Gemma and Tara are forced together by a full clubhouse lockdown that has both club members and Diosa staff huddled together. Chief Eli is mulling over the crime scene photos of Lee’s murder.
Jax is taking his stake out site extremely seriously. Paired with Happy, he doesn’t stop for even a wink during the whole night. When dawn breaks, so does Jax’s fortune. A few Real IRA foot soldiers show to grab some equipment. Jax and Happy lean on the group, leading to Jax playing mumbley peg with the the IRA guy’s left hand. He spills that Galen got away clean, but that Conner, his right hand man is still in town. A more jovial Jax gets an address from the conveniently right handed thug.
At Charming P.D., Patterson shows up to get Chief Eli on board with her investigation of SAMCRO. Eli gets her up to speed on his suspicions about Nero. Patterson remarks that she will start in on Tara.
The gang regroups at the garage as Nero pulls up to take Jax to Stockton. The air is tense between Jax and Tara, especially, as the weight of their individual secrets are beginning to show. Tara plants the idea that she’s becoming scared of Gemma again. A weary Jax tells her to hang in until the crisis with the Irish blows over.
Riding out with Nero, he broaches the subject of getting in the loop about the IRA. Jax tries to tell him it’s not affecting his side of the business, but Nero tells him given the one Diosa girl’s death, he’s neck deep in this mess. He jokingly asks Jax to let him know when to duck. Meanwhile, Eli tails the two to Stockton.
They get to Colette’s just in time for her house inspection. Eli is just settling in when Parsons rolls up and asks him why he is so far off his territory. Eli counters that he heard that Parsons wasn’t a cop anymore. Parson counters that he still has some influence on the force and can get Eli some backup. Eli just smiles and tells Parsons that he’s already got what he needed.
Parsons proceeds to pull Jax and Nero out of Colette’s inspection and read them the riot act. The heat that is coming along with them is getting out of hand, he says. When Jax tries to defend his behavior, Parsons isn’t having it. The tenuous partnership between the three men is beginning to unravel. Just as Nero gets the two to calm down, SAMCRO rolls up, ready for their mission to capture Conner. Jax mumbles an excuse and bolts, leaving Parsons to fume at Nero.
At the garage, Unser and Tara talk while watching the kids. Unser tries to get some info out of her about the meeting she was having with Wendy. When Tara is elusive, he tells her he understands she’s afraid of Gemma and offers his help to her for whatever she has planned. While not exactly ready to take Unser’s help, we see Tara is considering using Gemma’s oldest friend against her.
Jax and Chibs roll up to the Irish safe house in the truck they obtained from their previous encounter. Conner is waiting with some bodyguards, busily chatting on the phone. The pair pulls up to the gate to lure Conner inside the van. Sensing something is wrong, Conner tries to bolt, leading to a gun battle and chase of Conner which ends with him getting hit with 24 cases of beer. Chibs remarks its sad to see another Irishman done in by the bottle. After barking at Tig to leave the Irish guns alone, Jax has SAMCRO take Connor to the Farmhouse, where they’ve stashed the other thugs.
In the hoosegow, Clay is adjusting to his time in GP, when a very Irish mobile librarian comes to the cell. He offers Clay a book, telling him he’ll like page 47. Clay opens the book and considers what new deal is coming his way.
At the Farmhouse, Jax threatens Conner just enough to get his phone number to the Irish Kings. Using Conner’s phone, Jax gets in contact with one of the Kings, who puts him on speaker phone as the other two come into the room. Finally having gotten to the top, pleads his case with the Kings, assuring them that he doesn’t want a war. When the Kings ask about his behavior, he puts the blame on Galen for putting the heat on SAMCRO to stay in guns. He also throws out he has another buyer ready in Marks Industries, controlled by Damien Pope’s syndicate.
The Kings indicate that they will need to consider Jax’s proposal. As he hangs up, they begin to discuss their position with a fourth man, off camera. It’s not a surprise when we see Galen sitting in the shadows. Jax’s plan is DOA, partially due to the racial lines and partially because Galen has a plan B: Spring Clay, bring him to Belfast and let him run the show from there. The Kings agree to Galen’s plan, which means the stuff has hit the fan for SAMCRO. Big time.
Gemma goes to see Wendy at work, asking her to bring Gemma a copy of Tara’s will that names Wendy executor of the boys. Gemma plans to give it to Jax to prove Tara’s disloyalty. She also butters up Wendy by giving her some lost pictures of Abel.
Wendy seems a little shaken by Gemma’s good will. We can see she’s having some doubts about her role in Tara’s plan. She asks why now? Why all the acceptance? Gemma feeds her what she’s obviously wanted to hear for a while; she’s a better match for Jax than Tara and can now be a good mom since she’s off the horse. The two have a tender moment (despite their prior history)
Back at the garage, Juice fields a call from Clay’s lawyer setting up a conjugal meeting with Gemma. He needs her and $500 on his books. Juice relays the info to Jax, who lightly treads to tell Gemma. At Charming P.D., Nero confronts Eli about the tail, leading the Chief to relay that SAMCRO and Nero are squarely in the sights of Patterson.
At the hospital, Tara’s meeting with her lawyer is busted up by a very conflicted Wendy. This is especially egregious because Tara has Ratboy in tow as a bodyguard. After shooing Ratboy away, Tara admonishes Wendy for being reckless. Wendy announces that she can’t handle the lies and the secrecy anymore and that she needs out. Tara talks her off the ledge by reminding her that she is the only hope to protect both (soon to be three) of their kids.
Tara soberly understands that she is going down for the murder of Lee’s sister, but also knows her kids need a protection from the deadly life of the SOA. For better or worse, Wendy is her only option. For her continued cooperation, Wendy demands to be a part of Abel’s life.
In the hoosegow, Gemma comes, puts the $500 on Clay’s books and then is ushered in to see him. The guard snarls that her money has bought her two minutes. Inside, Clay relays Galen’s plan and asks her to talk to Jax about what he should do. Clay knows that if the Kings cut SAMCRO out, it’s a literal death sentence for everybody in the club. Gemma, flabbergasted that Jax has gone so far to get out of guns without her knowing about it, tells Clay to sit tight until she talks to Jax.
Then, the huge curveball of the night gets dropped. The guards, along with being bent, are also perverts, stating that Gemma can’t leave until her and Clay do the deed while they watch. When Clay resists, they begin to mess him up. Gemma, understanding that a weakened Clay is no match for two healthy CO’s, gives in to their demands. As the two former lovers and current enemies begin to undress each other, their sense of anger and shame is palpable.
After the deed is finished, Clay swears vengeance against the pervy CO’s, but Gemma is warned by the ringleader to keep quiet on threat of Clay’s life. Chibs, who drove Gemma, knows instantly something is wrong, but Gemma brushes past his concern, saying she need to talk to Jax.
At Diosa, Jax and Parsons continue their argument from the morning. When Colette tries to intervene, Parsons snaps at her, leading to Jax barking at him. The air gets even more heated between the two men, given Jax’s strange affection for Colette. Chibs and Gemma roll in with Chibs snarling that he and Jax need to talk that very instant. Gemma from a distance, notes the strange reaction of Jax concerning Colette.
In the Diosa stockroom, Chibs slams Jax into the wall, yelling at him that he’s a fool for what he’s done with the Irish. Jax comes clean, saying that he thought he was doing something that would work for both parties. Chibs tells him that his secrecy has put the club in an awful position. The deep seated racist attitudes of the Irish Kings will never let them accept a deal where their guns go into black hands. If he’d trusted Chibs, he would have told him there was no way this would work. He also tells him that Clay already has a side deal with the Kings.
Jax calls the Kings with Chibs, hoping to read the tea leaves. The King that answers tells Jax that SAMCRO will have an answer by 8:00pm. He counsels that the Kings are thinking hard about the deal and that they will vote on it and call them at the clubhouse so the whole membership can make a decision. Jax says he will wait for the King’s call.
Back inside at Diosa, a very troubled Gemma pulls Nero aside for a heart to heart. We see the struggle building up in her as she looks into his eyes. After several moments of silence, Gemma tells him she doesn’t want to have any secrets from him.
We then cut to Eli’s office where his sergeant has brought him the DNA results from Nero’s truck. Eli looks at the results and loads up to go on an arrest.
At the clubhouse, the joint is full as Redwood Chapter, San Bernadino and Diosa all are in the house together. Despite the seriousness of the day’s events, the mood is almost festive as the groups talk and mingle.
Jax is pacing, checking on Tara and the boys in the back bedroom almost reflexively. Tara, picks up the toddler and walks the halls, with an air of trapped animal. (Where’s Mon Mothma when you need him?)
Nero and Gemma pull up and hug it out, as Gemma asks if he’s ok with what she’s told him. He replies that he will soon be. Just then, sirens flash and we see that Eli is there, likely with a warrant to arrest Nero.
Inside, at 7:58pm, Jax notices a strange pair of keys with a four leaf clover keychain. He asks Nubs where they came from. Nubs answers that the delivery driver who brought the new beer keg must have left them.
Jax’s spider-sense kicks in as he orders everyone one out the clubhouse. Tara screams that Abel is still asleep in the back room. Jax dashes into the bedroom to grab his son. Tearing out of the clubhouse, he covers up Abel just in time to see the clubhouse go up in flames. The Reaper burns and a deadly new era for the club begins. The Real IRA has just declared all-out war.
Again “SOA” has turned up the heat. Has Jax lead SAMCRO towards its final destruction? Will Clay actually be the person to save the club? Will Tara get out alive? And what do you think of what happened to Gemma? Is it an acceptable plot point, or are Sutter and Co. pushing the envelope too much given Gemma’s previous sexual assault? 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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