| Season 6 | Episode 2
Jax's day is pretty much a perfect storm of suck. Let us count the ways:
1. After picking up his old lady – who does not look too thrilled with the door-to-door service – there's a tense little discussion about how Tara would like to get this guardianship business settled. Jax dances all around the words "Hell, no," by serving the same baloney he's been slicing for three seasons now: He'd like to support his family himself, he's getting the club into legitimate money with no bloodshed, they're solid, solid as rock. (Have I put Ashford & Simpson in your head? YOU'RE WELCOME. Happy Wednesday!) It is abundantly clear from the look on Tara's face that she is merely listening to him because it serves some larger purpose.
(Tara's also scheming, which … I am not sure is her strong suit. In this episode, we learn that all those yellow pads she was writing on are filled with "everything I can remember," and their purpose is to help Lowen establish that Jax's violent lifestyle makes him unsuitable to be the boys' guardian if she goes to prison. Then we learn that Tara's planning on filing for divorce immediately before the trial. Then we see Tara asking Margaret to run some "confidential" blood tests, but to what end?)
2. His mom has volunteered him to clean up a mess in Nero's crew. (To be fair, the club is affected by said mess because the guns came from them) As in, Arcadio tells everyone it's his KG-9 that shot up the school or rather, since guns don't kill people and people kill people, it's his KG-9 that his old lady's kid used to shoot up the school. Naturally, everyone's first instinct upon hearing this is, "How can we disappear Arcadio and his old lady Daveny without anyone realizing it's us?"
Well, they figure it out by taking Arcadio and Daveny up to the cabin where Piney was murdered, and Daveny panics, and soon enough Arcadio is sort of accidentally shot to death , and Jax decides to manage two minor headaches at once by having super-secretly-on-probation Juice smother Daveny. Because Juice is all messed up in the head – on account of betraying one father figure and craving the highly conditional love of another one – he goes along with this, even though it's evident that "killing people's old ladies" was not really in whatever recruitment materials he got before joining the club.
Nero is not thrilled that Daveny is dead – on account of how her two older kids are now down both a sibling and a mom – and Jax easily lies about how Daveny just OD'd and he's so sorry it happened.
3. Jax tries to get out of the gun business and Galen's all, "Ha! Good one. You can buy your way out by doubling our business when you pass it along to someone else, or you can reinstate Clay as your business figurehead. Also, we're shipping all our KG-9s out to you. Sell them in the wake of these messy school shooting." Galen also gets off the best line of the night in response to Jax's fretting and muttering about the school shooting having a lasting effect on the club's future: "Some politician pledges vengeance and reform. Six months from now, nobody remembers."
(Speaking of vengeance: Toric appeals to Clay's vengeful instincts, explaining that he isn't about justice so much as he is about hurting people who hurt him, and Clay's all, "I can get behind that. So I'm sure you'll understand that I will let the hurt commence once I dish out some of my own. Bring me my estranged wife and my stepson! I want to twist the knife in person."
When Clay and Gemma do talk, he aims directly for her soft spots: "You were an amazing old lady. You always kept me on task, you always kept me strong … I just want you to know that whatever goes down, none of this lands on you." Gemma plays to the audience behind the one-way glass and spits venom at Clay, but the minute she leaves, she breaks down.
Before Toric can do that, he has to bring the pain to SAMCRO on another front, and he correctly senses that this school shooting is his entrée into the local law enforcement apparatus and soon ingratiates himself to the local D.A. And to Diosa. Uh-oh.)
4. Jax learns that the reason Clay's still alive is the same reason his old lady's facing jail time: Toric. (It is a wonder Jax hasn't put a hit out on Otto yet, just out of spite for how that man's screwed up his life.) Gemma puts a lot of pressure on him to go Deal With This So My Husband Can Die Already. Jax doesn't make any headway on this and so Clay lives another day.
Lisa Schmeiser is a reporter, editor and blogger living Oakland-adjacent. She tweets often at lschmeiser.
So, here is the first thing we learn in this episode of Sons of Anarchy: Gemma and Nero are morning people. But before they can finish making sure it really is a good morning, if you get what I mean, there’s a knock on the back door. Gemma peers out and snaps, "It’s not my gardener. It must be for you." Oh, Gemma: a lady in the drawing room, a whore in the bedroom and a bigot in the kitchen. Anyway, Arcadio (also sometimes called Primo) bursts in all panicky. Gemma, who has a lifetime of observing idiot goons bringing bad news to their alpha gangsters, immediately recognizes that this is an occasion that warrants a pot of coffee.
Then we cut to Bobby Elvis and the mountainous Jury riding on to Nevada. And you know what? I’m going to just sum up his plot line in one sentence: Bobby Elvis is recruiting disgruntled bikers because he wants to start a nomad chapter. We’ll see if this is the beginning of a coup in the club or what, but for now, it’s basically the hairy felons’ equivalent of getting coffee with your coworkers and bitching about upper management.
Okay, so let’s get back to the interesting stuff: Arcadio breaking the news to Gemma and Nero that his old lady’s kid Matthew was the one who shot up the Catholic school the day before. Gemma says, "Jesus Christ," but what really has her and Nero clutching at their sub-par tickers is the news that Matthew had borrowed his stepfather’s KG-9. But they recover and soon begin scheming over how to get Darveny out of the house and out of sight before the cops decide it’s time to stop treating a bereaved mom with kid gloves and start asking how Mommy’s little man happened to get his paws on a semiautomatic.
Meanwhile, Clay and Toric are moving their respective game pieces into position: Toric has handed Clay a plea agreement to sign, and Clay is stonewalling him: "You blame the club for the death of your sister. I get it. It’s personal. But, uh …what’s the endgame here? You’re gonna run down every reaper on a Harley?" Toric replies, "You know why I was such a good lawman? Because I never gave a shit about justice. It was always about retribution for me. Hurting people who hurt people, that’s always my endgame." Okay, we all get it: the Sons go up against an adversary who lives by the same credo they do, and both sides are two blinded by ego to realize that they’re warring against someone who’s just like them.
Anyway, Toric dangles a tempting deal: sign an agreement to cooperate, and he’ll provide Clay with a legal team to fight the murder rap and witness security for "anywhere in the world." This is not really anything Clay wants. He doesn’t want any where in the world. He wants to be king of Charming with Gemma as his queen and all the crazy ex-marshals in America can’t make that happen. So Clay settles for second prize: Messing with people’s heads. He tells Toric he wants to see Gemma and Jax. "Why?" Toric asks. "Because I want to hurt people too," Clay replies. "I ain’t signing shit until I see both of them."
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Gemma is helping Nero get dressed as he bitches about Arcadio being a habitual moron. (There's shades of her helping Clay, and let us all raise a glass to how seamlessly Gemma manages to slot a new man into the space the old one left in her well-ordered world). Then she nudges, "You gotta get his old lady out of there. Once the shock wears off, she’s going to want someone to pay … [pause as Nero takes the bait] …the club can help."
It must be incredibly convenient to be the mother of an outlaw MC president. If I had that kind of power, I’d be using grizzled bikers to run garage sales and clear lines for me at Costco. Anyway, the two of them will meet up again at Jax’s. Gemma smirks, "Wifey comes home today." I wonder if Nero has figured out yet that the reason Gemma’s so edgy around Tara is not because Tara’s threatening to take the boys, but because she loves Tara and it’s killing her not to be able to control her.
Speaking of Tara, Lowen’s walking her out and asking, "Should I ask about [the big honking bandage on your hand]?" and Tara only answers, "I can’t go to jail." Lowen vows to do everything she can to help. So it looks like Gemma’s pep talk will eventually cost the club its legal counsel. In that case, bring back Rosen! (Southland’s been axed and Tom Everett Scott can probably close his Twitter client and spend a few days on set, yes?).
As Lowen downplays the damage Toric could do, she trails off, because who should be waiting outside the jail but Jax and his bike? Lowen chuffs and says, "I asked to wait for my call. Do you want me to tell him you’re not ready –"
"No," says Tara, in the manner of someone who is bracing themselves for a colonoscopy. Her face is bleak, but it sharpens as she hands over a stack of notepads. "I wrote down everything I can remember. It’s in the pads. Did you start the other paperwork?" Lowen did. Tara reels for a minute, then firms up and says, "Thank you." Then she marches off to meet Jax in an outfit I totally hate.
(Sidebar: it is stunning how every season, Tara’s wardrobe gets worse. Right now, she’s wearing this army-green t-shirt with a lace back and it’s the most unflattering thing ever, to say nothing of witless from a style perspective. Is it supposed to be a cheeky juxtaposition of masculine camouflage and feminine lace? Because it’s a blend of badly fitting and trashy).
| Season 6 | Episode 2
As Tara walks out, she covers up her hideous shirt with an equally unflattering mushroom-colored cropped biker jacket with puffed sleeves and now the only explanation I can find for any of this is that Gemma gave her those clothes for Christmas as a total spite gift, and Tara’s wearing them now as a screw-you message. Jax, wisely, refrains from commenting on her appearance. In fact, he says nothing at all, just hands her a helmet and glasses. They ride off silently. It’s an uncanny bookend to the first time she climbed on his bike back in season one.
The happy couple arrives home, Gemma is doting on Thomas while Abel, the world’s best behaved child, is coloring quietly. When Tara comes in, Abel shouts, "Mommy!", and runs to her for a very sweet reunion. Then Tara goes to snuggle her baby and there’s a moment where Gemma just looks at her as if she’s not going to hand over the baby, but she does pass him on to Tara, who sniffs his head and coos. Abel attaches himself to Tara’s leg, and Jax watches the whole thing, not exactly aglow with relief over the mother of his child(ren) being reunited with his sons. Gemma takes advantage and pulls him into the kitchen. She tells him that Nero’s coming by because something’s gone down with one of his crew, and when Jax snaps, "Now?" Gemma says gently, "It’s about that school shooting yesterday."
Cut to Jax looking horrified. Not because innocent lives were lost and everyone’s staring at a gruesome reminder that in today’s United States of America, mass shootings are part of the national landscape, like July 4 parades and people being trampled to death at stores on Black Friday. But because he knows this school shooting could come back on the club, and it would super-duper-suck to bear the consequences for dealing semiautomatic firearms.
Hey, it’s C. Thomas Howell, whom I will always love because he is one of the few actors whose name also doubles as a grammatically correct sentence. Also, he was on Southland, so this should be seen as a sign that Tom Everett Scott needs to get his ass back to Charming. Anyway, C. Thomas Howell is an ATF agent and a pal of Toric’s, he’s working the mass shooting, and he’s here to provide exposition. "Four dead. Three of them were kids. Nine injured, two of them critical. The security guard put two rounds in the shooter’s head while he was switching clips. The shooter was 11." "God bless America," Toric deadpans. We learn he’s quickly connected the dots by knowing that Matthew used a KG-9 to shoot up the place, and then C. Thomas Howell introduces us to CCH Pounder, AKA the district attorney who has caught this mess. Oh my gosh, this is gonna be awesome. Anyway, Toric goes to introduce himself to the DA, and his pal C. Thomas Howell says, "Do me a favor. When you burn this bridge, make sure I’m not going to be on it." Toric nods.
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Back at the Teller-Knowles estate, Jax is still reeling from the implications of what’s going down and watching Tara dote on the boys. He then comes over, ruffles Abel’s hair (the shot frames his wedding ring) and says, "Daddy needs to talk to Mommy for a moment." We see, by the by, that Mommy did not put her rings back on once she was out of the clink. Tara and Jax smooch the kids, then repair to a bedroom. Once there, there’s an awkward moment before Jax drapes himself all over Tara with, "I’ve missed you." "I’ve missed you too," Tara replies, and it’s a good thing she’s a naturally reserved person because otherwise it would be all too easy to tell that she is not so thrilled with Jax at the moment. Then Tara presses, "So do we finish that last conversation we started?" Jax replies, “Is that what you really want?" Tara does NOT reply, "No, what I really want is to go back in a time machine to the moment before I accepted Kohn’s offer of a date, because if I hadn’t dated his crazy stalker ass, I’d have never headed back here with the subconscious assumption that you’d clean this up for me, and then I’d have never become legally entangled with you and bound to you for life thanks to the children we have together."
Instead, she starts out by pointing out that Oregon’s a moot point now, and Jax does the, "I understand why you wanted me to sign those papers –"
"Did you sign them?" Tara asks. "No," Jax replies. And in Tara’s face, we see her not looking too surprised, but rather thoughtful. Jax continues, "RICO’s dead and Clay’s gone. I’m gonna start moving the club in the right direction. I’m meeting with the Irish today, cutting ties. No more guns. We’re gonna start earning legit." Tara only asks, "What does that look like?" Jax tells her, "We’re gonna grow Diosa. It’s trashy money, but it ain’t dirty money. Or bloody. I can take care of us, Tara. No one gets hurt anymore. We don’t need papers, or guardians, to protect our family. I know staying here isn’t what we both wanted. I don’t know if I can explain this, but after Ope … I just feel like if I step away now, none of that makes sense. Like what he did was for nothing."
Again, this conversation is about what people are not saying, and what Tara does not say is, "The truth is, there will always be some reason you can’t leave the club, because the tiny hothouse world you live in is the only one where you feel powerful and accomplished, and that is more important to you that an intact family with a wife who is not in danger of getting killed by one of you people, or getting kidnapped, or getting sentenced to a dime in SanWa, or kids who are not being kidnapped by terrorists."
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Tara merely sits down and shrugs, "Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. My trial’s in six weeks, I could go back inside." Jax assumes that any jury will let Tara walk and vows, "You’re not going anywhere," which sounds a lot less reassuring than he means it to. Fortunately, the conversation is interrupted by Abel at this point. Also, Nero is here so Jax gets to have another life-ruining conversation.
Nero and Jax confer in the kitchen about the urgent need to get Darveny lost before she can talk to the cops, and while they’re busy expositing about the need to do this discreetly before somebody in the ATF says, "Hey, isn’t Stockton terribly close to Charming where all those bikers runs guns without ever facing any consequences? Might they have something to do with this recent unpleasantness?" So they’re in agreement and then Gemma cranks up Jax’s stress level even more by coming in and sharing the news that the unfortunately alive Clay wants them to pay him a social call at the hoosegow. There is a glorious moment when Jax goggles so hard that it looks like his eyeballs might actually pop out of his head.”
(Sidebar: One of the things I find amusing about this show is how Jax never has a low-key or lazy day. It is always being woken up to horrible news, then dealing with Nazis/real estate developers/Catholic terrorists/corrupt law officials/his mother/the idiots in his employ, then untangling another mess in a way that involves dumb, loud, fast exploding things, then taking phone calls at the wrong moment, then falling into bed. It is a wonder this guy doesn’t just start off the day screaming "FUUUUUUUUUUUU," then spend the remainder of the day howling, "UUUUUUUUUUUU," and finally close at midnight with, "UUUUUUUCK!")
Anyway, Jax pulls himself together to go carry off the caper of the week, and Tara’s all, "See ya!" but unfortunately, she still has Gemma hunkered down in the house. As Tara goes to get a cup of coffee, Gemma breaks the ice with, "I like the hair." Tara replies, "Thanks. All the cholas are wearing it like this. Can hook you up if you want." So are we to infer that Tara’s hair was the result of being held down by a band of marauding tonsorial terrorists? This haircut is inexplicable. Gemma declines and then says, "I’m not the one who turned you in." Tara takes a sip of her coffee and says, "I know." Note, however, that she does not share who did turn her in or how she knows that. Also note that her shirt is awful from the front, with half its neckline inexplicably sawed away. Is this shirt supposed to be a cry for help? I may hate it even more than I hate her hair.
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Tara then pulls out the torn-in-half pages of the legal agreement from last season’s finale. Abel’s been using them for coloring. I applaud Gemma’s earth-friendly philosophy of reuse. (Lord knows she’s done a lot to advance the cause of green burial, where bodies are interred without any toxic chemicals or ridiculous coffins to get in the way). Gemma points out that she had nothing to do with that either. Tara nods, then rallies to thank Gemma for taking care of the boys. Gemma does not reply, "Me and an army of crow-eaters!" Instead, she just stares at Tara for a moment, as if waiting for a sign that it might be okay to hug her or something, but Tara only flees the room. Gemma looks concerned now, and calls out, "You okay, Mom?" Tara pleads with exhaustion.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now: my favorite relationship on this show is the one Gemma and Tara have. And this is the second imploded relationship of Gemma’s that’s broken my heart over the course of the show. I think it says something about how nuanced Katey Sagal is in her depiction of Gemma’s emotional damage and conflicting impulses that she can make us care about the pain that a truly toxic woman like Gemma experiences.
Toric observes the scrum of priests, teachers and law enforcement types all bickering over how to handle this shooting, then sidles over to introduce himself to DA Patterson. (Small in-joke? Patterson, California is about 40 miles south of Stockton on I-5). Patterson’s just taken a briefing on Darveny, who is not exactly an upstanding citizen, and she snaps, "If we could tie the disaster to a Mexican street gang, the whole thing would be a lot neater." Toric makes his grand entrance with the bold proclamation, "Hanging a gang face on this might give the locals some comfort, but that’s a very bloody band-aid." Patterson is all, "I’m sorry? I was unaware I’d have hecklers?" and Toric hastens to provide his bona fides and rattles off the Sons of Anarchy’s likely involvement in this, including their relationship with the Byz-Lats, AKA Nero’s crew. He’s only there to help a broken nation heal, he argues. Patterson looks skeptical, but only because common sense tells her that any time the phrase "your problems can be traced back to a biker gang" comes up, the solution "So, let’s ignore those problems?" becomes a little more alluring.
So, SAMCRO + Nero just roll in through the back door of Darveny’s house, because the Stockton PD apparently sent all their cops in to the school to argue with priests as opposed to staking out the gang-associated, record-having mother of the child shooter. It takes seconds to realize that Darveny’s critical thinking faculties – which were probably not high to begin with – have been dulled by grief and heroin, in that order. Jax gives Darveny a look and you can see him decide right there that she’s got to die because "only thing worse than a rat is a junkie rat." (Plus, killing Darveny has the bonus perk of letting him kill Wendy by proxy). But Jax plays along with the whole "Hey, how about we take Arcadio and Darveny to our cabin until people forget about this mass shooting. Give a few weeks. Some other mentally ill person will massacre an office or something and then we’ll be off the hook."
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Meanwhile, Gemma’s visiting Clay. You know how sometimes, you break up with someone, and a month or two later they contact you all, "Let’s get brunch!" and after making sure you have a built-in excuse for taking off if it’s too gruesome, you go, because you don’t want to be That Ex Who’s Not Cool? And the whole time, you’re feeling vaguely hostile, you’re hoping every topic of conversation subtly conveys the message My life is SO MUCH BETTER now that your fool ass is not in it, and you’re wondering why on Earth you thought "Let’s stay friends" was a goal worth considering? Multiply that by ten, then remove any lingering ethical qualms you’ve ever had about anything ever. Good! Now you’re in Clay and Gemma’s headspace.
Let’s recount that conversation:
CLAY: I know why you did it. Even when it was all going down. You, Juice, the gun … I saw it. I got it. It was like watching the other shoe drop in slow motion. I was never easy to be with, Gemma. You and me, we embraced some serious shit from day one. But you were always an amazing old lady. You always kept me on task, you always kept me strong. These last six months, the shit I did … You want to know why I lied to you about it? ‘Cause I knew you’d set me straight. And I didn’t want to be straight. That would have been too hard. So I convinced that everything I was doing was for us. Which was bullshit. It was just for me--
GEMMA: Why? Why here, Clay?
CLAY: I just wanted you to know that whatever goes down … none of this lands on you.
GEMMA: What? You think I feel bad? That I’m sorry for what I did? [turns to the one-way glass where she’s sure someone is lurking] For telling the truth?
CLAY: I never loved anybody the way I love you, Gem.
I know you feel the same.
GEMMA: You don’t know shit about what I feel.
CLAY: Well … I just wanted you to know. You did the right thing.
GEMMA: Well thank you. I’ll go home and untie the noose.
CLAY: I love you, Gem.
Then Gemma loses her mind demanding to be let out immediately. Toric watches this and intones gravely, "Love alters not, with his brief hours and weeks … but bears it out even to the edge of doom." This is a far prettier epitaph than Charming’s original fun couple deserves, but whatever.
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Gemma sprints to the bathroom, then begins sobbing. She gives herself a pep talk ("You stupid bitch. Don’t let him do that") and when she comes back out, who should be waiting on a bench in the hall but Toric. He says cheerily, "That must have been hard for you. Still a lot of big feelings there." Gemma says, "You’re the coward behind the glass?" "Lee Toric, Pamela’s brother. The nurse Otto stabbed in the throat." Gemma is taken aback…not because what Otto did is truly repellent but because she’s just realized Toric is the guy keeping Clay alive in prison, and that’s going to complicate the kill-Clay-before-my-carton-of-milk-expires plan she’s been counting on. Gemma asks, "You turn Clay? That why he’s puking up all that sorrow?" Toric deadpans, "I don’t want to spoil the big surprise. He really wants to tell Jax in person."
Oh, God, it’s the Irish. They come back more often than a venereal disease, I swear. As per usual, Jax and Galen have a supremely pissy conversation where Galen gets the best of the deal. The upshot this time: Galen could not give two shamrocks about the club’s misgivings over being in the gun trade. They’ll move his guns or … they’ll double his business before being allowed to walk away. Also, Galen would like to use Clay as his liaison to customers, even behind bars. He finishes the conversation by saying, "One more thing, just an inventory issue. We have a surplus of KG-9s. We’re going to ship them out to you." Jax is all, “WHAT?” and Galen grins that in the wake of this tragedy, demand for the KG-9s will skyrocket and they can double the price. It’s a win for everyone!
Except Jax, because there’s no way he’ll ever get rid of the Irish. It’s the family curse, more so than cardiac abnormalities.
Chibs and Tig come over so they can … um, bask in the seething? Get a minimum number of contractually-mandated scenes per episode? And Jax says that the prospects can move all these crates of guns to the warehouse, but he’s not going to let them out on the market yet. Chibs tries to point out that this is not exactly good customer relations and Jax says, "I don’t give a shit about people. Feds are going to put us on the radar after this shooting. I’m not going to put any goddamned guns on the street" Chibs points out that the club just put up a lot of cash for these weapons and "selling weapons is club business. We need to take this to the table." Jax shouts about there being no table if he doesn’t finesse this and it’s tig of all people who manages to get them both to calm down. What is this world coming to?
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Toric presses Clay to sign and he drawls, "You know my deal" Toric protests that he needs time to track Jax down, and the clock on Clay’s safety is ticking. Clay is all, "Look, I’m not even halfway through Flatland, it’s not a long book, and I expect you to produce results by the time I get to the discussion questions in the back. Now scooch. I got mind-blowing metaphors about perspective to absorb."
And now we’re at St. I Hope They’ve Suspended Your Privileges, Doctor. The tireless Margaret comes by as Tara’s cleaning out her office, and Tara draws her in with, "I need to ask you a favor. I need some blood work done, confidentially.” Margaret asks if Tara’s okay, and as Tara closes the door to her office, she begins, “I need a pregnancy test …" And oh my God, if Tara has a superpower, it’s getting pregnant by the wrong guy at exactly the wrong time.
Back at the Teller-Knowles manor, Tara’s handing over medical documentation of her injury to Lowen, and asking if she reviewed the pads Tara gave her. Lowen stammers, "They are, uh, very … very thorough. And terrifying." So has it finally hit her exactly what kind of client SAMCRO is? The remainder of the conversation shakes down like this: Tara has basically handed over a laundry list of all the insane and deeply illegal stuff Jax has done, chiefly to establish how incredibly unfit he’d be as a custodial parent, and she’s worried that admitting to any of this will make her life more complicated. And by "complicated," I mean "likely to include jail time." Lowen hastily assures her that there’s no chance of being indicted for anything she’s written down. Then she adds, "We still have to contend with Gemma. Grandmothers pushing for custody can make compelling case –."
"That’s not going to happen," Tara snaps. Okay, WE GET IT: Tara is in danger of losing her mind if she goes to prison or Gemma gets custody. Lowen drops it and hands over a big old folder, then promises, "I will wait until right before your trial to file for the divorce, but as far as the motion to make Wendy the primary guardian for the boys, we should move on that right away. You will want that in place if something were to happen to you." Why, whatever could happen to the mentally frayed, perpetually in-danger-of-abduction Dr. Tara on a show that likes whacking its regulars on the regular?
Now we’re at the cabin where Piney was killed and someone did a nice job cleaning up all the bits of brain and blood, that’s for sure. Darveny is freaking out, mostly because there’s no heroin in immediate sight but also because she has correctly sussed out that the club is going to kill her because she can link SAMCRO to the school shooting. Arcadio completely downplays her concerns, I guess because he thinks hardened criminals merely like to spirit people to the middle of nowhere because giving people an unplugged weekend in the woods is their way of putting a little positivity into the world.
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Because Jax’s day isn’t stressful enough, Gemma decides that now is a fine time to swing by the cabin and tell him that Toric’s protecting Clay, and Jax had better do something about that. This right here is why Jax is rooting so hard for Gemma and Nero to stick – because if Nero can become the focus of all Gemma’s "Fix this! NOW!" imperatives, maybe his life can calm down to the point where he’s only dealing with a bunch of sociopathic Irishmen, a wife who’s staring down a trial, a club that’s dwindling to a bunch of old men, Opie’s widow, Tig’s impending handoff to the pissed-off Pope organization and Clay’s inexplicable survival.
(Discussion topic: If Gemma had had a daughter, do you think she’d be offloading her agita onto the woman the same way she does her son? Provide supporting arguments FOR and AGAINST).
Unsurprisingly, Arcadio is not that good at soothing Darveny’s woes, and thing you know, she’s grabbed a shotgun off the wall-mounted rack and is hellbent on shooting her way to freedom with Arcadio. Unfortunately, it soon turns into a firefight where Nero shoots Arcadio, and then it’s easy enough to subdue Darveny and take her back to the cabin. Jax has to be forcibly reminded not to blast Darveny’s head off with a shotgun. When he looks up, he seems almost feral. This is a guy who needs a vacation and a meditation labyrinth somewhere. And maybe also a job change. Just brainstorming here, trying to help Jax live his best possible life.
Back in his crappy motel room, Toric is working through his own shakes in order to effectively forge Clay’s signature. That’s totally going to go off as planned with absolutely no repercussions for anyone later in this series!
Back in the cabin, Gemma’s holding Nero’s arm as he looks down at his cousin’s body. This is the second of his relatives who’s died in close proximity to SAMCRO since he hooked up with Gemma a few months ago. Here’s hoping the rest of Nero’s family lives out of town, eh? The bikers are tying the bound-and-gagged Darveny to a bed, and as Jax comes out, he gives Nero a furious look and says, "You let me know what you want to do." "Go back in time and avoid picking up Gemma" isn’t an option, alas.
Now is the scene where Jax lets everyone know he and Juice will be shooting up Darveny so she can avoid withdrawal, and what that really means is that Jax is going to pressure Juice into shooting up Darveny, then smothering her with a pillow. Since Juice is on the whole double-super-secret probation thing, he goes along with it. And going by the look on his face, this is going to haunt him nearly as much as betraying Clay does.
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Okay, we’re on the downhill slide in this episode, so hang on. Toric goes back to DA Patterson’s office with a cooperation affidavit "signed" by former SAMCRO president Clay Morrow. He explains, 'His testimony lets me reopen a RICO case against the MC, I point the gun dealing to San Joaquin, hand you your villains." If it is wrong to imagine the season ending in such a way where Clay cops a plea, Tara ends up behind bars and Jax’s head explodes upon discovering a re-opened RICO case, then I do not want to be right. Patterson dismisses Toric’s valentine as "generic, inadmissible bullshit," and Toric argues, "You gotta move slowly with these guys, get them to swallow a piece at a time." Patterson’s all, I live in the fast lane, boy-0, and she wants an agreement of cooperation with "teeth." Toric vows to make that happen. Patterson stops and says, "You want these guys dead, don’t you?" As if it’s the most obvious answer in the world, Toric snaps, "Yeah." He adds, "And you want out of this bullshit county and this win puts your resume on the map, coast to coast."
Patterson may want out, but she doubts this guy – whose "jacket reads like a bad detective novel" – is the sturdy steed who will carry her to the big time. But he gets results, and she’d like a public hanging of the Byz-Lats. "A win here will help my career, but dead kids makes this as personal for me as the murder of your sister is for you." These two make a tentative agreement to cooperate.
Toric celebrates by swinging by Diosa Norte and picking out an escort. I … sort of love his twisted sense of occasion.
Back at the cabin, Juice is playing the wide-eyed idiot in response to the obvious inquiry, "And how is it that Darveny happened to be dead after you shot her up?" Fortunately, years of being an actual wide-eyed idiot provide the helpful experience he needs to maintain the ruse. Nero casts a skeptical eye at Jax, who refuses to look at him, and Jax deflects by speculating that what happened here was a bad cross-reaction to the mystery drugs the highly supervised woman somehow took in the few seconds she had between freaking out on Arcadio and holding a rifle on everyone. Because none of the Byz-Lats or SAMCRO boys have any forensic experience beyond heckling an episode or two of CSI: Miami, they’ve got to accept that sometimes, you tie up a known junkie and she ends up suffocating.
Nero storms out of the room and monologues that he’s okay with the idiot Arcadio turning into worm junk food but Darveny had two other children (living with their dad) and "her youngest is dead now, mano. Dead ‘cause of me and you. Don’t matter what the risk is! We don’t hurt people like that." Across the room, Gemma uneasily watches Nero have an attack of conscience and quietly begins laying out her campaign to surgically remove his ethics before they get in the way of her club. Anyway, Nero asks Jax if Darveny’s death was Jax’s call, and Jax passionately lies about how it had to be an accidental overdose and then lays it on thick with, "I know how hard it’s been on you, brother. Everything I do is for you." Nero chooses to believe Jax, and it’s hugs all around.
| Season 6 | Episode 2
Jax then asks the rest of his club to handle the burial detail, kisses Juice on the cheek – oh, that would make me super-nervous – then says, "I got to head home to see the wife."
When Jax gets home, Tara’s finishing up the dishes. She does not ask about his day. Instead, she reaches out to him and Jax hugs her with, "I’m so glad you’re home." "Me too," she says. "I’m sorry I was gone all day," Jax apologizes. Tara asks what’s up with Nero and Jax shrugs it off as "a little Latino family crisis" – good news there, because if Nero’s family gets clipped at one every few months, there should be no more crises by mid-2014 – and Tara lets that vague non-answer stand and tops it with, "A quiet Mom day."
We go into our musical montage of the episode. As we listen to a lovely cover of "As Tears Go By" (a song I cannot hear without thinking of the Vatican II-style folk masses I attended as a child where we sang the Lord’s Prayer to this song because that’s how we rolled in the early 1980s) we see: Toric setting up an out call date with the alluring escort, then handing the hostess his card on the way out with, "Tell your boss he has a nice place"; Nero burying Arcadio and Darveny, which is heartbreaking in how he prays for them and in how Darveny’s two older children will never know what happened to their mother; Jax grimly humping Tara in bed and not noticing that she’s crying. That last scene is sad not only because Charlie Hunnam is covered from the waist down, but because it seems like such a tragic bookend to the end of the season one episode "The Pull." I know two episodes into a 13-episode season is early for making statements about a season’s thematic sweep, but I think if you want to know where this season is going, look at the world that was set up in season one, and unravel it person by person. Jax and Tara are done. What’s ?
Lisa Schmeiser is an Oakland-adjacent reporter, editor and blogger. She regularly tweets here, blathers about comics here, and posts the oddball personal piece of writing here.