Episode Report Card Sobell: A | 2 USERS: A YOU GRADE IT Liar, Liar, Ants on Fire
By Sobell | Season 4 | Episode 3 | Aired on 09.20.2011
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Oh, Kozik, you big dumb human golden retriever. Thanks to his game of street basketball with some of the kids who live near Happy's mom and aunt, he gives the local crime crew a prime opportunity to boost the truck that has SAMCRO's new firearms inventory. The crew -- headed by two brothers named Luther and Vandross who only want to buy a swanky new Ford F-350 for their mother via the money they expect to get for the guns -- is quickly brought to heel thanks to a combination of SAMCRO hijinks and their mother. (I hope we see more of Marianne Jean-Baptiste in the future. She was awesome.)
Clay and Gemma launch a PR offensive designed to convince Tara that they'd never, ever, ever conspire to kill the inconvenient waffler John Teller. It has exactly the opposite effect. We also learn that Tara's been looking at other hospitals around the country, but now she's stalling because "I have to let Jax lead us out."
Meanwhile, Potter and Roosevelt have correctly figured out SAMCRO's involvement with the Galindo cartel, and they know it's big, bad news. Roosevelt helps Potter launch Plan B, which involves exploiting Juice as the weak link. Potter's dug up Juice's dad and it turns out Juice is not only part Puerto Rican, he's also African American by way of his dad. This will not sit well with SAMCRO, and Juice knows it... so it's a question of how far he's willing to go and what he's willing to do to keep Roosevelt from passing that information along.
The Wahewa meet with Clay and Bobby Elvis to discuss a new and improved ammo pay plan. To underscore that they are not a tribe to be messed with, the head of the Wahewa meets with the SAMCRO boys right next to a Russian -- whom they've buried up to his shoulders in dirt, then set flesh-eating ants upon in retaliation for the Wahewa boy killed in the prior episode. Clay conducts a mercy killing. Then he and Bobby Elvis discuss the ethics of the situation, what with SAMCRO charging the cartel a 50 percent markup on ammo. Clay figures there's no reason that the profits should trickle down, then lies to David (head Wahewa) about the economics of the situation and vows, "We're not making a dime more off the new arrangement. You've got my word." Cut to Bobby Elvis realizing that when Clay gives his word, it means nothing. And given that Clay promised Bobby Elvis leadership of the club after he steps down... well, the seeds of dissent may have taken root in Bobby Elvis's heart.
Certainly after the club vote -- in which Piney registers his disgust for the direction of the club -- Tig masks his anxiety over whether Clay's shutting him out by backing Clay, and Kozik throws the vote to the "Yea" side -- everyone's wondering if SAMCRO's still solid.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Another morning in Charming and the leaders of SAMCRO are already hard at work in Jax's kitchen. Abel is sitting at the kitchen table looking at a DVD while Clay pours coffee and tallies votes with Jax; the club VP is absent-mindedly dangling Thomas on his knee as he and Clay talk. We know who the "no" votes are, but the guys figure that Tig and Happy are yes votes. Since Kozik's an ex-junkie, he'll probably vote "no." Opie's undecided: "He saw the benefit of having the cartel on speed-dial, but he's not there yet," Jax says. Clay presses Jax to work on Opie; in reply, Jax tells Clay he better get Bobby Elvis to muzzle his mouth before he poisons the vote.
Just then, the ladyfolk walk in: Gemma is staggering under a giant laundry basket and Tara's bringing in an old high chair. Jax cannot believe that Tara's even thinking about putting something so hoopty in their kitchen, and tells her to get a new one. She protests that someone could probably use the chair, so she wants to put it in storage. The whole point to this scene? To establish that the key to the storage unit is in the junk drawer. (Also, Gemma and Clay share an amused look at the "kids" having a domestic discussion. This is two episodes in a row where they've been studying Tara and Jax's relationship. How long until Clay and Gemma begin playing the "You're just like us!" card?)
As Tara's futzing around the junk drawer, Clay sneaks up behind her and scares the hell out of her. But he's all smiles as he thanks her for sharing the engagement news when she did: "That was a class act." Tara is self-deprecating. Clay continues, saying, "I'm so happy you're going this family. You're already a great mom. You're going to be a great old lady." Watching Clay try to play the loving paterfamilias puts one in mind of a shark trying to channel the winsome harmlessness of a sea otter. Tara stands there awkwardly, and Clay continues, "Raising Jax is the best thing that ever happened to me. I love my son, as much as I loved his old man." Fortunately Thomas pulls the TV-baby trick of crying right as the moment stretches to its most awkward, and Tara rushes off, saved by the plot contrivance. Hands up, all who think Clay is simply terrible at attempting to sweet-talk someone. I don't doubt the sincerity behind what he's saying, but it is so painfully obvious that he's trying to assuage Gemma's concerns about those damned letters and this is not a spontaneous outpouring of sentiment.
Anyway, time for the menfolk to run off and do manly things, and we segue over to a new locale, Chez du Happy's Mom. Happy is outside tearing strips off Miles and Kozik for not cleaning up their pancake-related mess. Sure, the guys have guns to move, but Happy's aunt is no man's maid and he is here on this earth to enforce that truth. Just as Kozik closes the truck, two young men toss over a basketball into the back yard. After a few taunts back and forth, Kozik is lured into a game of street ball ($10 a point), which is, in fact, a game of beat-up-the-idiot-white-guy. Guess who wins! Hint: Not the white guy. The boys drive off with Kozik's keys.