Sons of Anarchy Recap: “Soverign”
Original Air Date (FX): Tuesday September 11, 2012
Season 5 Episode 1
“Every time I think I’m out…they keep pulling me back in!” As much as any staunch fan of The Godfather would like to forget the bulk of what happened in Part III of the trilogy, Michael Corleone’s iconic line, along with his initial moral struggle with the nature of his father’s business, and his ultimate inability to escape his role within it, resonates here — as we return to the City of Charming for the fifth season of Sons of Anarchy.
We find Jax Teller this season in a far different place than it seemed we might, as we watched him try to get out of the club for a significant portion of season four. But seeming is just that, because the writing has been on the wall from the very beginning: Jax is the prince who would be king.
Where we last left off Clay killed Piney and put a hit out on Tara, neither of which being the wisest decisions he’s ever made. Not that Clay is well-known for his moral code, excellent leadership and decision-making abilities. Needless to say, when Opie found out Clay was behind the murder of his father, he was none too pleased. Top that off with the fact that Clay was also ultimately responsible for his wife’s murder, and you have a recipe for revenge — which took the form of Opie shooting Clay in the chest, followed by Jax shooting Opie in the hand. But Clay survived, because you really can’t stop a man like Clay with a few measly bullets. You just can’t. And that has as much to do with him being the necessary evil in this show as it does the fact that the man is a bear. Also, over the course of some heated domestic disputes between Clay and Gemma, the truth about what happened to JT, Jax’s father, came to light. That’s right, Clay killed him too. And just when you thought SAMCRO might be able to pull away from the dirty deals Clay set up with the Mexican cartel, the CIA says no. You see, they’re interested in getting the Irish, in exchange for making RICO go away for the club, and the whole thing requires not only SAMCRO, but Clay’s continued involvement.
Now that we’re all caught up, on to the brilliantly executed bloodbath that was “Sovereign”.
We begin in perfect SOA style, with a voiceover from Jax, writing in his journal, as we’re introduced to the current state of the characters: Jax on the road with the club, front and center, Clay up on his feet again, but barely, Gemma in the middle of an orgy… with Jimmy Smits, Tara keeping her gun close by, and back to Jax again. And then it begins.
In case you forgot, SAMCRO is currently at war with the Niners, based on the fact that Tig ran down Laroy girlfriend Veronica Page. Veronica also happens to be the daughter of one of the best, most polished criminals this show has ever seen, named Damon Pope, played masterfully by Lost alum Harold Perrineau. But more about that later. For now, all you need to know is that the Niners take down a SAMCRO truck making a cocaine run, and it all goes up in flames.
Jax and Tara continue to have the same kinds of conversations they seem so tired of having. Club business, and that fact that they have no idea how to have a real life with the aforementioned club business always looming large. But they’re a family, Jax says, so they’ll pull through.
Jimmy Smits makes his Sons of Anarchy debut this week as a high class pimp (aka “companionator”). And this is no regular morning after, unless you consider regular waking up and pulling a gun on the person you just slept with. But Gemma is disarmed, in more ways than one, and we can see that Smits is going to be a very interesting presence on the show, and within the dynamics of Clay and Gemma’s fractured relationship.
Clay really is in rare form in this episode, which is saying something. Not only does he attempt to worm his way back in with Gemma, but he stages one of the most contrived “confessions” imaginable. He tells the club he was the one who killed Piney, and framed the cartel after the fact, because Piney pulled a gun on him and it was all he could do. This is really classic Clay, and Jax knows it. But Clay is in that golden place of usefulness, which is basically the only thing keeping him alive at this point. He continues, telling them that Opie was the one who shot him, which they blamed on one of the Niners, and then asks for a vote as to whether or not to keep him in the club. Opie, meanwhile, not only wants nothing to do with SAMCRO, he’s still furious Clay hasn’t paid for his sins. But Jax promises him he will, in another one of those great scenes between the two of them, so we should all look forward to that. Honestly, as much as I love to hate Clay, I can’t say I wouldn’t be thrilled to see him get what he’s had coming to him for years.
And, impressive as Smit’s introduction to SOA was, the prize for the most incredible introduction of a new character goes to Perrineau, whose performance as Damon Pope, over the course of several scenes, gave us shades we’ve never seen from him as an actor before. Yes, Michael was a murderer on Lost, but he was always a reluctant one; always one to consider himself a victim of circumstance. But not this time. Giving new meaning to the phrase cool and collected, Pope exacts revenge on Tig for the murder of his daughter in a scene so brutal, and so raw, it may be the furthest we’ve seen this show go. I could explain the way he burns Tig’s daughter alive, but it’s something you really have to see for yourself to believe.
We leave Charming with Tig in complete disarray, still at the scene of his daughter’s death, while Jax and Chibs go on the run. You see, witnesses have come forward to pin the death of Veronica Pope not only on Tig, but Jax and Chibs as well. So, either the witnesses are confused, or someone’s been put on Clay’s payroll. And where do they hide? Smit’s high-class whorehouse. Because, for whatever reason, this show can’t keep Jax away from whores for too long.
So there we are, as an incredible season premiere of Sons of Anarchy comes to a close, and chaos reigns. But would it be this way if Clay still held the gavel? Where does the club go from this point with Jax in hiding, and Bobby (the new VP) left to make the big decisions? We’ll have to wait and see what Kurt Sutter has planned, but he’s hinted that we may have to prepare to mourn more than once.
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