This week’s episode starts with Jax at home for a change, watching over the boys as the day begins. He makes his way back to the bedroom where he finds a resting Tara, who is pretending to recover after her scam on Gemma.
He summons up as much tenderness as he can as he asks her if she wants him to stay at home. She indicates he should take the boys to day care and that she will spend the day resting. Poor sod… Given the wool that’s been pulled over his eyes, you can feel some sympathy for him.
At Charming P.D., Gemma gets her morning coffee from Chief Eli as he attempts to get her statement. Gemma laughs off the idea that she’s gonna get a fair shake. Her devious nature is in full swing as she dissects the scam that’s been run on her. Thinking out loud, she relays that Tara was never pregnant and that Wendy and Margaret have all conspired to catch her in the web she now finds herself in. Despite himself, Eli finds he believes her story.
The morning also finds Wendy scoring a fix on the street. Ever fragile, she’s a hair away from falling off the sobriety wagon.
Jax rolls into the ice cream shop only to be greeted by Bobby with the morning papers. Jax takes one look at the headlines and calls for a table meet. As the camera pans back, we see that the main headline is an accusation that SAMCRO is at the heart of the Stockton school shooting. A piece of speculation surely dropped by everyone’s favorite DA.
Speaking of Patterson, she’s meeting with Nero and his lawyer, turning up more heat on the BizLat leader. She threatens the group with RICO prosecution if Nero doesn’t give up his source for the Tech 9 used in the Stockton shooting. She also reminds Nero of the plight of his special needs son. Nero keeps up his tough front, but it’s evident that the weight of the lives lost is beginning to wear on him.
Back at the house, Tara is met by a pensive Unser, who also has put two and two together. He tries to dance around the questions on his mind, until Tara confronts him with a blunt “just say it, Wayne.” When he presses her about the particulars of the plan, she admits that she faked the attack from Gemma, but falls short of telling Unser she was never preggers. Unser tells her how heart broken he is that Tara has resorted to these type of measures. As he leaves to check on Gemma down at P.D., he tells Tara he can’t help her any longer.
Back at the table meet, Tig voices concern that the BizLats on the street are getting anxious, especially after the arrest of Nero. He’s afraid they are going to talk. Chibs seconds this worry. The main group decides to head to BizLat territory while leaving Bobby behind to deal with the Kara Kara interviews set for that afternoon. (Tough work if you can get it, Bobby)
At Charming P.D., Unser talks to Eli about the soft nature of the evidence against Gemma. Tara has conveniently also decided to not press charges. Unser urges Eli to drop the case and let the “family” handle it. Unser cynically jokes if that’s how Unser used to solve every problem he ever had with SAMCRO. Unser responds that without the club, Charming would be ripped apart. But that Eli has to make his own decisions on what to do.
The club rolls into town and find the BizLats on the corner, beside themselves with anger and indecision. Jax tries to talk the street soldiers down while Tig spots a unusually close 80’s sedan doing surveillance on both crews. The club takes it for a cop, but when the driver fires up the engine and runs one of the BizLats over, well, let’s just say, it’s not a cop. The remaining BizLats freak as Jax and the club try to convince them to help them hide the body. Chibs advises Jax to remove himself from the melee and to go home for a while.
Back in Charming, Eli has kicked Gemma out onto the streets, obviously feeling his case isn’t strong enough to put her away. Unser tries to broach the subject of Tara’s actions with Gemma, attempting to explain the reasoning behind Tara’s despicable actions. Gemma, however, is in deep survival mode, already plotting about how to turn the situation back to her advantage. Unser, out of frustration, roars at her to stop the anger and the scheming. He tells Gemma that he knows she does what she does to protect what she loves, but that too much anger and secrets are combined in the mix. Gemma replies that she doesn’t intend to roll over for anyone.
Back at the house, Tara and the club’s lawyer are meeting and Tara’s plan is proceeding rapidly. But, given the total awfulness of her plan, even her lawyer is beginning to have misgivings. When she tries to voice this to Tara, the young mother snaps at her, telling her to take her money and to do the job she’s hired her for. After her lawyer leaves, Tara has a near meltdown in the bathroom, raging at herself to stop crying.
In Stockton, Patterson has had a uniform bring Parsons in. Unofficially, of course. But she let’s it be know that she’s gonna put the screws to him as well, taking the jurisdiction for the docks away from P.D, and turning it over to the Sheriff’s office. Parsons plays it cool, but he knows that Patterson isn’t bluffing and that her threat could quickly become reality. She also lets drop that she has received complaints about the drive-by (drive-over?) killing that happened earlier in the morning and that SAMCRO was likely involved. She presses Parsons to get her some info.
Back at Jax’s, the club prez is greeted by an empty house as Tara has bolted for elsewhere. As he considers what to do, Parsons blows him up and tells him of Patterson’s newest threats. Jax tells him he’s headed back to Stockton to find out what’s being done to find the murderous driver. As he heads out the door, he runs into Wendy. The tension between the two exes is heavy (does anyone do the “mean mug” better than Charlie H. on series TV?) and Jax is dismissive of Wendy, despite the fact that she’s come in peace. As he storms off, she manages, however, not to spill the beans.
Back in lock up, Nero has summoned Patterson to reveal the source of the Tech 9. A dead calm Nero tells a shocked Patterson that he was the source, that he bought the gun from a unknown buyer and gave it to the mother. Patterson knows that Nero is lying, but tell him to prepare himself for life in prison.
Back at the ice cream shop, Tara rolls in, looking for Jax. A very compassionate Bobby takes her out back (away from the interviews) after telling her that Jax isn’t there. While they puff and pass, Bobby urges her to stay the course with Jax. Bobby relates how hard Jax is trying to make the club legit and that he needs more time. Bobby tells Tara that Jax’s one weakness is he needs a good woman to support him. His heartfelt approach has some impact on Tara. For the first time in months, she truly begins to doubt her plan.
Back with the Bizlats, Jax discovers that they have found the runner, an OG member of a rival gang. Blood and retaliation is in the air as Jax tries to convince them to let the cops handle the situation. He calls Parsons to have Patterson tipped off. However, the tension with the BizLats is extreme.
Back at the DA’s office, Eli drops the news to Patterson that Diosa Girl’s DNA and blood were found on the linoleum under the carpet in Lee’s motel room. This means that her case against Nero is likely dead. Patterson states she has Nero’s confession, but Eli counters that a good lawyer would dash such a confession on the rocks, given Lee’s malfeasance. Patterson pouts.
On the block, the BizLats are tired of waiting around. They rush the runner’s house without SAMCRO, seeking to take blood for blood. The club scrambles after them, catching as they bust down the runner’s door. The runner tries to man up, but he’s swiftly taken down and about to dispatched until Jax notices a photo on the mantle. He connects the dots and figures the young boy in the picture was one of the victims of the school shooting. The Bizlats, confronted with the evidence that the runner was a father of one of the victims, stand down. On the way out of the door, Jax gives a muted apology to the unconscious dad.
After the break, Stockton PD rolls in as Runner Dad has armed himself with a knife. As they try to talk him down, Runner Dad proceeds to stab himself in the neck. Patterson get there just time to see the clean up.
Meanwhile, Gemma is coming up the stairs to Wendy’s place just as Wendy is returning. Shocked to see Gemma, Wendy lets her in, offering no defense for her actions. But, instead of angry Gemma, she gets crafty Gemma, offering to smooth over the wrath of Jax if Wendy again will shift sides. Wendy wails that all she wants to do is to see her son. She gives Gemma back her Nine Millimeter and tries to give her the drugs she scored. Strangely, Gemma takes the gun and after giving her a very intimate Judas Kiss, tells her to get rid of the drugs herself, evoking their first scene together many moons ago in the “SOA” pilot.
Back in lock up, a furious Patterson confronts a resolute Nero. He expects the folder she has to contain his plea deal. Instead, it’s full of crime scene photos of both the school and Runner Dad. Patterson tells Nero that despite his noble attempt to take the fall, she wants the truth and won’t let him take the “honorable” way out (does anybody do outrage better than CCH Pounder?). She tells the guard that Nero is free to go.
At the docks, Jax and Parsons meet up and recount another narrow escape. Jax, feeling the weight of his recent rash decisions, asks Parsons how thoroughly he disposed of Alice’s body from last episode. Parsons assures him that she met a fitting fate for a child pornographer: chopped, burned and buried. With a rakish grin, Parsons tells Jax not to worry about the killing. He won’t use it against Jax… Unless he has to. The joke falls flat.
Jax goes to the hospital where he finds Gemma waiting. In full mean-mug mode, he tells her to leave and never return. Gemma tries to tell Jax she didn’t do what she’s accused of, but he’s having none of it. He tells her that the kids will be told that she is dead.
At Wendy’s, the call of the drugs has proven too much. As the heroin enters her veins, we see her drifting off into a world of chemical euphoria.
At home, the evening is coming on as Jax and Tara put the boys to sleep. Jax flatly asks if Tara regrets coming back to Charming. She says that she can never regret the decision that led to their son. Jax states that he wishes she had come five years earlier… Or five years later. He then acknowledges he’s losing her and that he needs her to tell him how he can win her back. The episode ends with Jax’s words hanging in the air and with Tara’s silence.
So what do you think? Can Tara change her mind about her plan to leave Jax? Will Gemma enact terrible revenge? Will Patterson be able to keep anybody in jail? Leave your comments below.
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