In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
This was an episode that seemed to be devoted to setting up payoffs in subsequent episodes. Among the plotlines being set up:
* Calaveras went after the Grim Bastards and killed their giant enforcer. T.O. wants to do to the Calaveras club what Cortez did to the Mexicans, but Clay persuades him to hold off for a bit. And by "a bit," I mean "five minutes," which is how long it will take for SAMCRO and the Grim Bastards to confab with the Mayans and get Alvarez to hand over the Calaveras crew. One revenge killing later, and everyone thinks things are all squared away. The one exception to this rule: Hector, the former president, who is stripped of his patch and tossed from the club. He's now hankering for revenge against SAMCRO, whom he blames for taking away his club's patch-over into the Mayans.
* Jax's plan to use Ima as a way of pushing Tara away earns him some disapproving commentary from Opie, who had tried that strategy on Donna (not the Ima-banging, the pushing-away part) and discovered that it didn't work. Although Jax's ploy appears to be more successful with Tara at first -- possibly because as a medical professional, she is all too aware that epidemics always start with a Patient Zero, and it's not like Jax practiced safe sex -- Gemma intrudes as only an expectant grandmother can. Jax's mom claims that Jax is only trying to protect the great love of his life. Tara chooses to see Jax's actions as the man just looking for a reason to feel good about bailing on her. She angrily leaves the house -- unaware that Hector is now tailing her. However, Tara still helps Gemma escape. (More on that below.)
* Gemma and Maureen chat on the phone (per Jax's request) and Gemma finds out what we've all suspected for episodes now: Trinity is John's daughter. Surprisingly, she does not have another cardiac incident over this major, Maureen-sponsored revelation. Maureen takes the news of SAMCRO's imminent arrival to her immediate circle of friends and family (Father Ashby, McGee, Chibs' erstwhile old lady and daughter) in a scene that suggests they're all really hoping SAMCRO wipes out Jimmy O.
* Gemma's heart holds up when she executes an escape with Tara's help. (Tara provides the fake medical emergency that gets Gemma into an unsupervised area, and she provides her key card to let Gemma out.)When Murray catches on, she pulls Tara into a supply room for a What-the-hell? conference, Tara spills the whole story about Abel, then apologizes for being such a pain in the ass. Murray punches her and shrugs, "Nobody will believe Gemma got away without slugging you." And this is how we find out that Murray is probably one of the more brilliant strategists on the show: She's playing a very long con by betting that aiding Tara will help St. How-In-The-Hell-Does-Charming-Support-This-Hospital retain one brilliant young old lady surgeon. And since appealing to Tara’s sense of self-preservation is a losing gambit, why not speak to her in a language she clearly understands, i.e. violence and quid-pro-quo deals?
* SAMBEL is in bed with Jimmy O, as evidenced by McGee promising Clay not to let Jimmy O know that SAMCRO is on its way, then turning around and telling Jimmy O, "Hey, SAMCRO will be here tomorrow afternoon." So much for the integrity of the Founding Nine.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Good news, everyone! Ima's new glute workouts are paying off. At least, that's the takeaway I'm getting from the episode's opening shot lingering on her thong-clad rear. She rolls off Jax with the ever-romantic, "Oh, I've got to pee," and as she walks to the bathroom, Jax rolls his eyes and reaches for his smokes. Oh, good! He can offer one to Tara, because she's just walked into the clubhouse. Prospect Flounder behind the bar looks alarmed; the thought bubble over his head reads, "So ... is there something I'm supposed to do when an old lady's about to catch her man with a sweetbutt?"
As Tara clacks down the hall, Opie comes out of another room and tries to ambush Tara by lying, "He's not in there." However, Opie's very bad at lying, so Tara just gives him a disgusted look -- it must suck being reminded that no matter how much "respect" an old lady allegedly has, nobody will ever respect you enough to not cover for your partner's stupid, lying, naked ass -- and storms into Jax's room.
Jax looks slightly guilty but not exactly surprised. Hands up, all of you who suspect he slept with Ima precisely because he figured this would drive Tara away. Tara drinks in the scene -- Ima's clothes on the floor, Jax not saying a word, Ima sauntering out and purring, "Morning" -- then rolls her eyes and leaves the two to sit around and make small talk. Perhaps they can discuss what it will mean if and when Jax gets a burning sensation when he pees. Or perhaps Jax can just say curtly, "Get out."
As Tara storms back out through the clubhouse, Opie feebly apologizes. She brushes him off and keeps walking. Lyla's all concerned with, "Should I talk to her?" and Opie snaps, "What you should do is get that porn bitch out of our clubhouse." Lyla decides to skip the lecture on the inherent misogyny in blaming Ima for Jax's calculated misbehavior and instead points out that this isn't her fault. Opie snaps, "No, but if you didn't eat pussy for a living, you might have a different set of friends." True, but there are perhaps better ways to frame that sentiment, Opie. Or maybe you can sell another damn motorcycle and fund Lyla's AA in bookkeeping. Anyway, Lyla hauls off and slaps Opie. She stomps off after Tara. A prospect pipes up, "A little more coffee?" Opie gives him a you have GOT to be kidding look and exits left. Prospect Flounder says reproachfully, "Dude ..." and the other guy defends his actions with, "What? Caffeine's a mood booster!"
Lyla heads to try and catch Tara and -- wait a minute. She and Opie have a basketball team's worth of kids between the two of them. Where are the anklebiters? I can't even imagine Piney being thrilled about having to deal with all those kids' homework assignments, nighttime teeth brushing, getting them all ready for school, etc. And I know SAMCRO does not have a Ladies' Auxiliary operating a 24/7 drop-in center for biker spawn. ANYWAY. Ima comes strolling out in time to watch Tara pull away, and she says conversationally to Lyla, "That was awkward." Lyla replies by slapping Ima, right as Tara goes by. Ima inquires as to what the hell Lyla's problem is, and Lyla clucks, "You couldn't help yourself, could you?" She stalks off. I'm thinking Lyla's displacing some of her own complicated feelings about being with a man who constantly disparages her vocation.
Unser comes by Gemma's hospital room to pay her a visit, mostly to let her know he'll be handling her transport to the county lockup in the afternoon. Gemma gives him static about yesterday's clubhouse raid, and Unser says, "I told Clay, the sheriffs initiated it. We didn't find out until it was happening." Gemma calls him out for being a bad liar and says, "You not working with us, I get that. You got a lotta eyes on you right now. But you letting us get hurt? That's bad. That's how you lose friends. I'd hate to see you lost." You have to admire the nerve of a woman who's busy making veiled threats to law enforcement mere hours before she's scheduled to go into the penal system. On the other hand: climb off the cross, Gemma. Your club can sell the wood for funds. Nobody was "hurt" in the raid the day before, so your wounded act is misdirected.
Back at the clubhouse, Opie's hanging in Jax's room, waiting for the boy king to emerge from his morning toilette. Insert your own jokes about autoclaving one's privates, running antiseptic rinses through one's system, etc. here. Opie says, "Ima. Kind of a dick move." As Jax pulls on his pants (knife hanging from the belt, gun tucked into the back), he says cheerfully, "Yup." Opie asks if Jax would like to tell him what's going on. Jax would not. Opie shrugs, "I hope you wrapped your shit. That was a high-traffic zone you were ripping through last night." He heads to the door and Jax finally speaks: "Hindsight! If a dick move could have pushed Donna away, would you have done it?" Opie explains, "When I first went inside, I pushed on her for a divorce. Told her the marriage was a sham, she should just take the kids and split. She knew what I was doing. She hung in. I think it's going to take more than a little porn pussy to scare away Tara." Jax sighs as he realizes that he just risked becoming Patient Zero in the Superherpes Epidemic of '11 for nothing. Then he asks Opie, "And your porn pussy? Is that scaring you away?" Opie fumbles uncomfortably, "I don't know." Before the guys can get into a rehash of Opie's issues with his current old lady's occupation, or his issues with the kind of life that seems to surround the lifestyle he's chosen, Juice summons them to church. Jax grabs his cut and rolls out of the room with, "Let's go find my kid. We'll figure out what we're doing with our dicks when we get back." Maybe you can also figure out what Opie's doing with his kids. It's not like anyone's too concerned about them right now.
Once in church, Clay lays out their triptik: Oswald's cargo plane will land in Manchester, they'll head north and then ferry up to Belfast. SAMBEL will allegedly pick them up at the port. Jax is not happy about this, as he suspects O'Neill is a weasel, but Clay points out that when you're a bunch of men who should not even be leaving the country, you can't afford to be too terribly picky about who's going to be taking you in once you're overseas. Tig follows up on that note by saying since they're traveling under the burden of bond restrictions, "no rockers." The boys won't be wearing their cuts; they've got reaper-emblazoned jackets on the bar instead. Bobby Elvis adds that they need to pack lightly. I would think that's sort of a natural for guys who are used to traveling on motorcycles, but maybe Bobby Elvis is concerned that Opie's new samurai ponytail 'do requires a lot of hair product or something?
Chibs comes in right then and belches out a fat load of exposition: Jimmy O's had Fiona and Kerrianne (aka Chibs' former wife and current daughter) "under lockdown," so he's only recently been able to talk to her. She has no idea why Jimmy was lying about Abel's whereabouts, but she suspects it has something to do with Jimmy's plans to push against Father Kellan Ashby, and SAMBEL is somehow involved. Clay frowns as he realizes nothing good can come of Kellan Ashby being even tangentially involved in this. His face is going to sharpei into permanent furrows once he gets a bead on the whole situation. Jax states the obvious to everyone: Jimmy O doesn't want SAMCRO in Ireland, and if SAMBEL does not reliably keep SAMCRO under the radar, they could be dealing with some very nasty moves from the Real IRA. Chibs looks like he's going to throw up at that possibility.
Zip! We're in Belfast. Where, surprise, surprise, O'Neill is busy telling Jimmy O SAMCRO's latest plans. O'Neill nervously warns Jimmy, "You got to keep me in the loop when things go down. The crew can't know the information came from us." Well, that "us" answers the question of whether or not O'Neill's rattitude is an isolated thing or a SAMBEL-wide infection. Anyway, Jimmy O is stone-cold and he's all, "I really don't care if or how SAMCRO fi
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 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 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
w Gemma's choosing to look at the bright side, and backs away with, "I don't think Jax is ready for another baby. I walked in on him and that porn slut this morning. He's been trying to push me away. It worked. We're done." This new threat to Gemma's tribe galvanizes her, and she instantly starts making explanations for Jax's behavior: He blames himself for everything that happened to Abel (project much, Gemma?), he's terrified something bad might happen to Tara, etc. "He's lost, baby. You have to be the constant, ride it out," Gemma says. (Again: Project much, Gemma?) Tara protests that she's not so strong as Gemma, and because Gemma has the sense not to preen, "Well, nobody is," she changes tactics with "He wouldn't be doing this if he knew you were pregnant." Let's all pause for a moment and contemplate what Jax would be doing instead. Oh, man. Just ... no.
Tara implores Gemma not to tell Jax about the baby, because if it's one thing every character on this show knows, it's that keeping secrets and obfuscating open communication never, ever has unintended consequences that blow up in your face later. Tara vaguely alludes to abortion -- "What happens to this baby is my decision. I'm serious, Gemma. No-one can know" -- and Gemma shares a bit of recently-become-relevant wisdom: "Secret babies are a bad idea." Tara pleads, and Gemma shrugs, "You want my silence? I need a favor." You sort of have to admire how deftly Gemma manipulates people to do her bidding.
Zip! We're in Belfast. Fiona has taken off the shades and she's not looking beaten up, but girlfriend is looking seriously haggard. She and Maureen are watching McGee tend to the young not-a-bomber. He comes over to tell them that "Burns we can deal with, but the eye? It's gone." The women react with dismay. Fiona explains that Jimmy O had the boy's older brother on Fiona-Watch, but "he let us go so we could help [the boy]. The lad fought us all the way here, didn't want to disobey Jimmy." Another SAMBEL member -- short, wiry halo of hair, giving off a vague Middle Earth vibe -- pops over to explain that there's still some first aid to be done, and he's off to Shire to pick up some more supplies. The bikers disperse and the ladies make small talk about their respective daughters: Trinny's road-tripping with Cherry and Kerianne is more or less catatonic on account of her effed-up home life.
Enter Father Kellan Ashby, who engulfs Kerianne in a paternal embrace, then heads over and does the same for Fiona. He then catches sight of McGee tending to the would-be bomber and explodes, "What in the name of Christ happened?" "Sharin' a grievance with the police service," McGee replies dryly. Behind Kellan, Fiona says bitterly, "Jimmy has them all convinced that folks are just fat Irish sheep moving with the loyal herd. They think every act of violence is their Republic duty." Sensing that now is not the time to debate the philosophical tenets of the Real IRA, Maureen hastily comes over and invites Fiona to wash up after a long night of carting around bleeding teenagers behind her husband/captor's back. Then Maureen lets Kellan know that SAMCRO's on its way. "Good. Clean the boy up. Let him go back to Jimmy. We can't stop him," Kellan says bitterly. (Over by the boy, McGee's making a big show of not eavesdropping.) Maureen drops her voice and asks, "What about Fi and Kerianne?" Kellan decides, "They're coming with me. I can keep them safe in the rectory." Maureen nervously points out that Jimmy will come looking for them, and Kellan replies simply, "I know." Given Kellan's ability to summon garrote-happy flunkies on command, I am not exactly worried for him.
Jax skulks into his own house and catches Tara in the act of packing a bag. He graciously tells her she doesn't have to leave yet, on account of his pending Irish road trip. Tara's not even paying attention to him. Now that Jax has what he wants -- an old lady pushed to the point of indifference -- he isn't happy he got it. So he tries apologizing for the awkward scene of the morning, and Tara refuses the apology with "It's what you wanted." (I love, love, love that she's got his number.) Still hoping for absolution, Jax follows Tara into the bedroom and says all sensitively, "I didn't want you to get hurt." Tara still can't be bothered to look at him as she packs, and she says, "Yes, you did. You think I'm responsible for what happened to Abel, and you hate me, and you just can't say it." Jax does not exactly refute the charges. Tara finally looks over -- he's got his eyes on the floor and is scuffing his toe against the carpet like a little boy -- and says, "Your mother thinks this is about protecting me." Grateful that his mommy set up this line of reasoning, Jax is all, "Why, yes, that IS why I needed to have extremely athletic sex with a porn starlet despite that moving conversation we had in 'Service' last year about how I'd never hurt you like that." Tara erupts, "You are so full of shit! You and I both know nothing's going to happen to me. You need a reason to feel good about bailing. Well, guess what? The prince doesn't always get his way." She stalks out of the house. Jax takes a moment to think about how this entire season has been one long exercise in him not getting his way, then follows after Tara. She pulls away before he's out the door. Neither of them notice Salazar staking out the house, or telling his old lady, "Now we know how to find [Jax Teller's old lady]." I sort of hope that these two continue to stake out Jax's place with no success whatsoever, because I hate the prospect of a self-fulfilling prophecy about Tara being in danger.
Back at the hospital, Murray knocks and asks for a bit of Gemma's time. This is going to be good -- both women are basically hyperfocused on doing things for a greater good, but they have radically different ideas of what constitutes that greater good. For the admin: "I need your help with Dr. Knowles." Gemma is not swayed by this appeal, but Murray continues, "You exert a strong influence over Tara. She needs encouragement to make the right decisions about her future." Gemma acidly asks, "And what decisions are those." Murray rolls her eyes before saying, "Her relationship with the club." "With my son," Gemma clarifies. Murray nods. Gemma gets haughty: "You have no idea who we are. All you got is an impression, corrupted by the opinions of others --" "I didn't come here to talk about you," Murray says icily. Gemma replies, "Attack my son, you make it about me." I am still parsing the conversation for anything that can be construed as an attack on Jax and ... not finding it. Neither is Murray. Gemma makes a plea for respecting the tenure of Jax and Tara's affection for one another, which sounds a lot like whistling past the graveyard given her conversation with Tara earlier in the episode. Murray smirks and walks off. I like that woman more and more with each episode: She's as much a strategist as Gemma, but I think she's got the advantage of being able to separate the personal from the professional in a way Gemma does not.
SAMCRO's packing up and taking off. Clay hands a cage with Gemma's cockatiel to one of the prospects and says by way of pet care instructions, "Anything happens to this bird, I'm going to stuff you in a cage, make you wear a beak and shit on newspapers." "That sounds fair," the prospect shrugs. For all we know, that's his idea of a well-spent weekend. Piney and Clay then dither over the itinerary like two old ladies about to board a Carnival Cruise to Cancun, and Jax announces he's going to take the truck so he can say goodbye to Gemma. "I'm going with," Tig announces. (What did I say earlier about how he injects himself into the Teller/Morrow nuclear family? Echoes of how Clay hung around John and Gemma maybe?) Clay's off to do his own thing for a bit, and tasks Bobby Elvis with getting the boys to the plane on time. Better him than Happy -- this way, everyone stands a chance of getting on that plane alive.
And now, a tedious goodbye scene between Opie and Lyla. (One sweet detail: Chibs wordlessly grabs Opie's bag and walks off with it so Opie has one less thing to think about. I will never stop being struck by how the older members of the club still parent the ones who were raised in it, like Opie and Jax.) Oh, Lyla has something to tell Opie, but then she realizes that maybe it can wait until after her boyfriend gets back from Ireland, so she settles for feebly saying, "You know how much I love you, how sad I'd be if anything ever happened to you." Opie assures her nothing will happen, then tells her he loves her. And ... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
At the hospital: a spasming Gemma is being wheeled down the hall by a bunch of nurses, and Unser grabs Tara to exclaim, "Jesus, Gemma! What the hell happened?" Tara tells him, "Fever's spiked to 107, it may be a reaction to the new meds. We're putting her into an ice bath before she strokes out." She runs off, and Unser's left to think, "One hundred and seven degrees? Isn't that a little, you know, high?"
Tara supervises the nursing team getting Gemma into an ice bath, then dispatches them to go find another doctor. Then she huffs at the guard who's watching, "A little privacy, please." He leaves, and Tara leans down to tell Gemma, "All clear." Up pops the miraculously healed Gemma. Amazingly, being dunked in the ice bath has not pushed her into another cardiac incident. Tara pulls out the bag she had packed at Jax's house, then launches in Phase II of Gemma's escape: Gemma in a white doctor's coat, making a phone call to Jax, while Tara uses her keycard to hustle Gemma through the back corridors of the hospital.
Gemma's conversation with Jax is brief and hilarious: "Just meet me outside the service entrance of the hospital in a few minutes." "WHAT?" "Just go. [click]" Jax facepalms and fumes all the way to the hospital.
Tara and Gemma say their goodbyes. Tara's packed a few weeks' worth of meds for Gemma, but warned her she'll need to find more if she's planning an extended Irish sojourn. She gives Gemma her keycard, stuffs some cash into her pocket, and drops her car keys into Gemma's hand. "I'm not sure anyone's going to believe I did this at gunpoint," Gemma says. "You may as well have," Tara replies bitterly. Gemma says, "I'll keep my promise. No one will know about that baby." Tara reminds Gemma that legislators have not yet passed laws giving Gemma Teller Morrow control over everyone else's reproductive rights. Gemma implores Tara, "Wait until Jax gets back. Look into Abel's eyes before you do anything." The security alert sounds for Gemma, she lunges forward to hug Tara, then promises, "I'll be back in a week."
Tara scampers off and promptly runs into Murray, who asks, "Where's Gemma Teller?" Tara stammers out her cover story about Gemma pulling a gun on her, and Murray asks, "You expect me to believe that?" "I don't really care," Tara replies. Murray sighs in exasperation, then pushes Tara into the nearest supply closet. Once they're inside, she points out, "You're committing a crime. Do you understand that?" Tara deflates and explains, "That Irishman? That killed the prospect? He kidnapped Jax's son. It wasn't in the papers, the cops, the FBI, they don't give a shit. It's all on Jax and the club to find them, and Gemma wasn't going to jail until she knew that baby was safe. You know, maybe there was nothing I could have done to stop him from taking Abel, I don't know, but helping Gemma was my way of making up for it. And I'll deny all of it, and if the cops don't believe me, I guess I'll suffer the consequences." Murray takes this all in, quickly parses where Tara's feelings of obligation are, then ruminates on what to do. Tara blurts out, "Thank you. I know you're trying to help me." She heads for the door, and that decides Murray: Since Tara's often motivated by feelings of obligation, why not indebt Tara to her? She calls out, "Wait," then clocks Tara in the eye. As Tara shrieks, "What the hell are you doing?" Murray hands Tara an ice pack and says, "They'll never believe Gemma didn't slug you. Let's go." Tara stares after Murray for a moment, then the circuits in her brain hard-wired to respond to bossy, agenda-driven mommy figures kick in and she follows.
Gemma bursts out the back door of the hospital and toward the waiting Jax, Clay and Tig. Jax is not too happy to see her, as this blows Gemma's deal with the Feds all to hell, and Clay tries to steer Gemma toward sweet reason, but Tig interjects with, "Don't even bother trying, boys. Trust me. I've been there." (HA!) The not-so-happy family heads toward the truck, only to be intercepted by Unser sourly saying, "Guess your fever broke." Whoops! Unser says, "Sorry, Gemma. You come with me now, I'll tell them you turned yourself in, had a change of heart, no one gets in trouble for aiding and abetting." "And if she says no?" Clay asks. Sorry, but there is no other good option here. Unser pulls out his gun, so Tig pulls out his. Jax backs up, muttering, "Oh, my God."
Gemma moves forward, calls Unser's bluff on his willingness to shoot her, and waltzes off. She orders Tig to take Tara's car and hops in the truck with her husband and son. Oh, my heart broke for Unser here: He's so out of practice being a cop first, and he can't bring himself to admit or believe that SAMCRO's allegiances and obligations are always based on mutual convenience.
Car chase! Oh, wait -- not yet. Tig pulls everyone over, points out that this whole incident has been called in, and since Unser saw Gemma in the truck and Tig in the Cutlass, it makes sense to do a car swap. Tig offers to drive the truck off and lead the law enforcement away from the plane. Jax is not happy about the prospect of going to Ireland without Tig, but Tig says, "You need your mom more." (Again, the older members parenting the kids who came up through the club.) He then urges everyone to get their boot scoot on. Gemma swoops forward and gives Tig a brief kiss on the lips, and he looks at her with helpless love and devotion. As Tig hops in the truck, he hollers, "Jax! Get your boy!" and then heads off.
Cut to Tara lying to the police, the ice pack held up to her face. Murray icily adds, "I saw Dr. Knowles trying to pursue her. I figured it was more important to tend to her wound than to do your job." And with that line, Murray has just become my new favorite character. Yes, it's interesting that Gemma's got a Gallic counterpart in Maureen (who seems driven by the same maternal impulses and I-do-this-for-the-greater-good delusions Gemma has), but I love that this show has now introduced someone who can out-Gemma Gemma and does so purely for professional reasons. I look forward to seeing how Murray capitalizes on the newfound sense of obligation Tara now feels to her.
As Tig drives off, he giddily exclaims to the cop cars behind him, "Stay with me, piggies. Stay with me, p-i-g-g-i-e-s!" I don't suppose that any of those policemen will notice that there's only one person in the truck? No? Anyway, Tig is delighted to be leading the police on a wild chase.
The Cutlass screeches into the hangar in Stockton, and Osborn frets, "Cutting it close." Jax apologizes: "Sorry. We had to give someone a ride. Not my idea." Gemma gets out, all sunglasses and cheekbones and insouciance. Clay tosses Bobby Elvis Gemma's bag, and the club consigliere asks, "Where's Tig?" "Halfway to Modesto," Clay says. You can tell he's not too thrilled at this turn of events either, but he's too smart to say anything about it just yet.
McGee rings Clay right then and they chat: McGee's gone out of his way to line up SAMCRO with loaner cycles, and they're all going to bunk down at a local flophouse around the corner from the biker clubhouse. "It ain't California pretty, but it's got a bed and a shitter." Well, one flops where one must. Clay says, "I need to ask you a delicate question." "I'm a delicate man," McGee chortles. Clay asks, "O'Neill. We got concerns he's backing up some of Jimmy's lies. You think his Catholic
loyalties are outweighing his commitment to the MC?" McGee protests, "Liam's been a brother for ten years. I trust him. No worries. He's not in bed with Jimmy." Clay replies, "Good. Because whatever Jimmy's agenda is, he can't know we're coming. That intel puts us in danger." McGee gives Clay his word, hangs up ... then promptly walks over to Jimmy's car and proceeds to break said word. Jimmy now knows that SAMCRO's touching down the day, and -- bonus round! -- he also knows that Fiona and Kerianne are with Kellan Ashby. What possible motive does SAMBEL have for throwing in with the Real IRA over their parent MC? Is the money that good? Anyway, Jimmy O drawls, "We're ready for them. They won't be here long."
Meanwhile, SAMCRO skips toward the airplane, oblivious to the danger they're flying into. They bid Piney goodbye and walk down the tarmac. I take a minute to chortle at how Happy's bringing a cooler -- I personally hope he's the one walking around asking, "Coffee? Tea? Snack mix?" -- and try not to think about how many things can possibly go wrong in week's 90 minute episode.
sobell, aka Lisa Schmeiser, is a San Francisco Bay Area reporter, blogger and editor; she also tweets here. She's pretty grateful that she didn't have to contend with anyone like Gemma Teller over the past 40 weeks.
See an interview with Kim "Tig" Coates from Sons of Anarchy.
Check out an episode preview below, discuss it in our forums, and check out our gallery of why SAMCRO should have their charter revoked!
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.