Episode Report Card Sobell: B | 3 USERS: A+ YOU GRADE IT Leavin' on a Cargo Plane
By Sobell | Season 3 | Episode 7 | Aired on 10.19.2010
nds out about your involvement." Oooh, foreshadowing!Back at the hospital: Jax is checking in on Gemma and he shares his travel plans with his mama. She breaks down at the thought of missing so much of Abel's life while she's in prison. Jax reassures her, "I'm going to protect you. You're not going to jail." Gemma instantly turns off the waterworks: "I know what you're doing with Stahl, and I do know what the club will do to you if they find out." Jax is all, "Not to worry! I've got it covered!" and Gemma (correctly) points out that as his mother, she will never not worry about him. Clay comes in there, catches sight of Gemma's teary face, and asks what's going on. Gemma breaks down weeping again with, "I just want to be with my family." She pulls herself together-ish and asks if there's anything she can do. Unfortunately, yes: Make a call to Maureen Ashby and let her know that SAMCRO's coming. Jax perceives Maureen as the best shot for finding Abel. "Maybe you can push her for more information, mom to mom," he coaxes. Gemma steels herself for the chore.
Clay and Jax exit the hospital room and promptly run into Bobby Elvis and Tig. There is apparently something really, really bad going down with the Grim Bastards -- something so bad, neither Tig nor Bobby Elvis could make out the details over the sounds of T.O.'s sobs.
When we get to T.O.'s place, he has, at least, stopped crying and moved on to the numb phase of grief. You see, his giant enforcer guy was murdered -- several bullets to the back, and a knife buried at the base of his skull. The SAMCRO guys all recoil in sympathy, then begin thinking damage control: It's obvious Salazar (i.e. leader of the Calaveras MC) did this in retaliation for the new SAMCRO/Mayans/Grim Bastards deal, and it's smart that nobody else knows about this right now. T.O. explains that he skipped calling 911 because "things we're going to do to the Mexicans, it's best that nobody puts motive on us." Clay has to be the bad guy here and explain, "Retaliation's tricky. The deal with the Mayans is less than a day old, and Alvarez still has ties to Calaveras." Bobby Elvis elaborates: "We have to vet all things Mexican before we do anything else." Cut to T.O. realizing that this is the downside to throwing in with SAMCRO: that lucrative heroin-running job is just a job, Clay is his boss, and the boss is telling him that he can't put the hurt on Hector Salazar. T.O. hollers about this a little, but Tig, of all people, offers a pragmatic approach: the Mayans are sponsoring a racing rally today, there's no reason why they can't talk to Alvarez there. "Talk" is the key word in that plan.
Cut to the rally. Tig, Bobby Elvis and Juice are walking along, taking in the sights, and Tig grins, "I love a fiesta." Juice replies, "You do realize every Latina you've ever boned ends up dead, right?" Tig points both hands down to his crotch and says, "Hey, this comes with a price." Bobby Elvis implores Tig not to introduce any new women to le petit mort or le authentique mort in the next few minutes. Alvarez catches sight of SAMCRO and a few Grim Bastards, then heads over with a few of his men. This does not go unnoticed by Salazar and his Calaveras cronies.
Alvarez drawls, "I heard what happened. We got no knowledge." T.O. fumes that it had to be Salazar. "Maybe," Alvarez says phlegmatically. "Maybe?" T.O. growls, clearly on the edge of a rage-induced aneurysm. Clay whips off his sunglasses and stares down T.O. with, "I don't care how bad you're hurting. You need to focus your rage." T.O. apologizes, explaining that he had known the dead man-mountain Langdon since they were four. This impresses Alvarez, who says, "I didn't patch these puppets over, but they still serve a purpose." Jax clarifies: They don't want to make this about Calaveras; they want to make this about Salazar. Opie -- who is clearly prepping for his pack-light ordeal and laying off all hair products -- emerges from behind a tonsorial cyclone to opine that Salazar's gone rogue. Clay offers a solution: Strip Salazar of his patch and put someone else in charge. After about ten seconds of deliberation, Alvarez orders everyone to repair to the men's room.
And would you look at who Alvarez asked to join him at the urinals! It's Salazar and a few other Calaveras guys. And Alvarez demonstrates why he's nobody to mess with: He pulls a gun on Salazar, points at his head and calmly explains, "Let me explain how this works: I kill you, or you tell me which one of your lieutenants was responsible." Salazar indulges in some choice sentiments that could best be described as "hate speech" toward the Grim Bastards. Clay then makes good with T.O. by whipping out his gun, sticking it on the other side of Salazar's skull, and explaining, "A body is going to hit the floor in the next minute. It's either going to be you, or one of your brown buddies." Spoken like a man who can't tan. (Also: While I do not enjoy, say, transcribing bigoted comments, I do think they're sort of necessary in this show -- this season, we've had a lot of moments that veer dangerously close to "Cuddly middle-aged bikers! They are mostly amusing!" territory, and it's handy to remember that these guys are not adorable, harmless misfits.)
Anyhoodle, Salazar would prefer not to die, so he fingers one of his lieutenants, THAT guy dies, and a peeved Alvarez decides to rip off Salazar's patch and remove his cut. Jax stuffs it in the toilet, and Salazar swears, "I'm going to kill you for that." Then Alvarez gives the Calaveras MC a sudden promotion to president. He turns to T.O. and asks, "We good." Yes, they are. There's some hugging between the Mayans and SAMCRO, and everyone leaves Salazar alone in the men's room to think about what he's done.
Back at St. How Do the Taxpayers of Charming Support This Hospital?, Gemma is prepping herself to call Maureen. It takes a few tries before she can bring herself to complete dialing the number. When the two women connect, Maureen shuts down the store, takes a moment to compose herself, then picks up again. Gemma gets to the point: "Clay asked me to call, let you know that SAMCRO's on their way. They'll be there tomorrow, late afternoon." Maureen just whispers, "OK." Gemma asks dully, "Do you know where my grandson is?" "No, but I know who does. I'll do whatever I can to help you," Maureen says. Gemma then says, "My son? He knows nothing about John and Belfast?" "Nor does my Trinny," Maureen says. Cue the sound of the record needle scratching for Gemma. And that is how she finds out that John and Maureen had a daughter together. Gemma dives for a trash can and vomits; Maureen takes this as her cue to hang up. After a moment, Maureen digs out a locked box from one desk drawer, takes the key from another, then opens the box. Beneath the guns inside the box, there's an envelope with a photo: Maureen and John wearing the giddy, glazed look of exhausted new parents and a baby in a white gown. The note on the back: "Me, John, Trinity, Belfast, 1988."
Maureen barely has a moment to compose herself before there's a banging on her front door. It's Fiona, kitted out in a headscarf and a big pair of Jackie O. sunglasses. Note to the reader: Per all the other Belfast scenes, it is blackest gloomy night. Either Fiona's paranoid about being spotted, or Jimmy O's idea of "lockdown" includes a few black eyes. I'm going to go with the former, because she's dropping off some teenager who was carrying out a bomb run for Jimmy O, but had the explosive blow up in his face. Jimmy won't let the kid go to the hospital, so Fiona's running to Maureen for help.
Maureen takes a look at the situation and goes to get McGee. Fiona grabs her and says, "Jimmy'll know I'm gone by now. He'll come looking for us. He'll kill me, Mo." Maureen is not about to dispute that. She thinks fast: "Stash the car in the mill lot. There's some American lads coming over, they'll be here soon. They will deal with Jimmy." Fiona is skeptical of this, which is silly since those "American lads" all have their names in the show's opening credits, so of course they'll find a way to prevail. A Pyrrhic-victory-that-creates-problems-in-seasons-four-through-six way to prevail, no doubt, but a way to prevail nonetheless.
Back in the hospital, Gemma's still digesting the news about Trinity when Tara comes in. Naturally, Gemma's not going to tell Tara why she's so upset, so she'll have to resort to Plan B: Expressing her emotions in opaque and inappropriate ways. Tara tells Gemma she's been cleared for release, and then apologizes with "I know how hard this is for you." Gemma pats Tara's tummy with "At least I have a new grandson on the way." Ooh, Gemma, bad form! First off -- and I realize that writing this as someone whose due date was yesterday makes me a tad incapable of objectivity -- never, never touch a pregnant woman's stomach without express written or verbal consent. Second ... This could be a girl Tara's carrying. Let's see how happy Gemma is at the prospect of her granddaughter putting in time as a sweetbutt in 2030.
Anyway, Tara's really uncomfortable with ho