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Whatever Juice learned in prison, it wasn't lying. The only reason he manages to bluff his way through the "Who took the key of coke?” inquisition is because he stirs up a few intra-gang bad feelings. Clay and Jax decide to interrogate Filthy Phil and Rat Boy, mostly because they can't fathom fully patched-in members betraying the club. The situational irony is staggering.
Anyway, there are assorted attempts to get the prospects to fess up, including a game of Russian Roulette, a cage match and threats of unleashing Happy on everyone. While the prospects are staring at a gun and wondering exactly which decision of theirs led to this point in their lives, Chibs and Juice are sitting outside, and Juice nervously tries to feel Chibs out on the race issue and whether it really matters if a member of SAMCRO is black. Chibs explains the nuances to the viewers: You can have a black old lady, but club rules is club rules, and you knew what they were when you signed on for the life. He explains, "The rules have been around since day one. Different time. I'm not saying I agree with them all. But if you start picking and choosing which ones to follow, then the whole thing just falls apart.” Into anarchy, perhaps? Anyway, Chibs is not dumb and none of us will be surprised if, in a future episode, we learn that he knew Juice was not exactly descended from the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha line.
Juice's mounting sense of unease and desperation leads him to try and retrieve the cocaine before a prospect gets killed. Unfortunately, Miles stumbles across Juice digging up the cocaine, and after a brief, frightening fight, Juice kills him. He's rattled, but makes up a story about discovering Miles in the act of unearthing the cocaine, so now Juice is a hero to his brothers. Well, all of them except the dead one.
BREAKING DAWN: One of Tig's twin daughters comes to visit Dad/shake him down for $12,000. Bobby Elvis knows it's a shakedown. Gemma knows it's a shakedown. (She has gone so far as to fact-check Dawn's story.) So Tig knows it's a shakedown. But he goes along with it, because this way, he'll get to see his daughter again.
IMA REMARKABLY BAD JUDGE OF CHARACTER: Ima failed to take a hint from Opie and hung around the clubhouse, first running into Tara (who gave her a Gorgon-like stare and let Gemma do all the threatening), then into Lyla, who had come in looking for Opie. After Lyla lunges for her erstwhile pal, Ima pulls a gun in the clubhouse, then uses it to cover her escape. You can imagine how well this goes over with Gemma, Tara and Piney, all of whom were in the clubhouse at the time (Piney, it should be noted, was holding baby Thomas). For her sins, Jax later hunts down Ima and beats the crap out of her.
YOU CAN'T SPELL ‘DOPE' WITHOUT ‘OPE:' So he and Lyla are pretty much done. She told him about the abortion, and that was pretty much Opie's excuse to check out. This is not going to end well.
NOT GOING IN THE MORROW FAMILY HOLIDAY LETTER: Unser, who is a highly situational ethicist but ultimately not amoral, realizes that Clay is going to kill Tara to protect his secret. He tails Tara and goes to Roosevelt to alert him to a possible threat. It's just too bad for Unser he's not around when Clay sets the cartel on Jax's old lady. (On the bright side: That'll be the hard proof Roosevelt needs to act.) Since Roosevelt wants more proof beyond Unser's ticky suspicions, Unser gins up a note threatening Tara in the hopes that it forces everyone to pay attention. Start the betting pool now as to whether or not Tara dismisses it as the work of the brutalized Ima.
Silent joke of the night: Clay: (fires his gun into the ceiling) Killing each other ain't going to solve anything.
Tig turns and gives him an incredulous look.
This episode takes up immediately where the last one left off: SAMCRO and their Mayan counterparts are looking at the tidy stacks of cocaine packages and wondering why there is one missing. Each side immediately begins blaming the other for the missing kilo, and Juice attempts to deflect attention with, "It was all here before ten. I came by after I hit the weed shop and did a walk-through." Alvarez says thoughtfully, "So you were the last one here?" Juice says, "Yeah, I stuck a key of blow down my pants and just walked out. Douchebag." His tone practically screams, "I did, really!" but nobody notices, because Alvarez has just lunged for Juice, and naturally, everyone has to make a big, noisy show of holding each other back.
Clay quickly ends all the hollering and grappling by firing his weapon into the air. He shouts, "Now, killing each other ain't gonna solve anything." Cut to Tig looking at Clay in disbelief; his expression reads, I hardly KNOW you anymore! Everyone quickly leaves so the club leadership on both sides can hash this out. Clay promises to go over the security surveillance -- there are cameras at all the entrances -- but that really doesn't soothe anyone. Alvarez says Rafi, who's logged 15 years as a soldier, wouldn't have taken the cocaine; Jax is equally adamant about Juice. On the one hand, I suppose he has to be: it's a lousy MC leader who sells out his guy at the first opportunity. On the other hand, did nobody notice how weirdly Juice was acting? In a moment of unintentional hilarity, Jax suggests that perhaps Rafi is buffeted by outside pressures nobody knows about. Alvarez responds by reminding us all that Romeo will be here before the end of the episode, so this "Who took the coke?" riddle has to be solved in another 50 minutes. He then makes his exit with, "We find the bitch who did it? It don't matter if he's Mayan or Son, he's dead." Clay and Jax sulk a little, then try to see if they can figure out who it is via deductive reasoning. Here are their premises: "No way it was Juice" and "Miles is too stupid." Therefore, according to the process of elimination, it has to be one of the two prospects who were completely ignorant of what the crates held, Filthy Phil or Rat Boy. Anyway, Jax goes to call Happy. Those poor pledges.
Tara drives her momvan over to Teller Morrow. She's got a staff meeting to get to, and Grandma is going to be watching Thomas until it's over. (Abel is conveniently off-camera with the babysitter, who apparently is not getting paid enough to take both kids to Target.) Gemma asks how Elyda the babysitter is working out, and Tara says, "She's good. Abel likes her. She's teaching him Spanish." Gemma, perhaps thinking back to her last parental visit, says, "Just keep her away from Tig." I don't know; I wouldn't mind seeing Bachman again. Just then, a taxi pulls up and the cabbie asks for $18.25. We see a teenaged girl ask the cabbie to hold on. She locks eyes on Gemma, and Gemma sighs, "Oh, Christ." Tara asks, "Who's that?" Gemma replies, "Half of Satan's spawn. Here -- take the baby."
The girl gets out of the cab and grins, "Mama Gemma." Gemma gamely says, "Hi, baby. [One-armed hug] Your daddy's not here, Dawnie." Dawn! Dawn of Fawn-and-Dawn fame! (We heard about Tig's twin daughters in Season One.) Anyway, Dawn is ... well, you know how there are a lot of style blogs out there where the girlbloggers are all into canonizing Audrey Hepburn, and touting "ladylike" silhouettes and having fits over the sin of French manicure-style pedicures? Dawn is those girls' exact opposite. She tells Gemma she's renamed herself "Margeaux, with an 'X,'" then hits her up for $20 for the cab fare. To her credit, Gemma refuses to screw over the poor hack who chauffeured Crazy into town, so she hands over a $20. Dawn pays the cab, ignores Tara's attempt at an introduction and then greets a smitten Chucky with "Holy shit! Are those things real?" Chucky immediately delves into a discussion on the nature of reality ("No. I mean, they exist...") but Gemma would like to know whether Fawn will be showing up. I would like to know if Fawn is now spelling her name Fauxn. With an X. Anyway, Dawn makes a show of her eyes welling up as she says dramatically, "That's why I'm here. She's bad. I need my daddy!" She flings herself into Gemma's arm for a good weep. Tara's nose wrinkles, no doubt from the stench of the bullshit Dawn just shoveled at all of them, but she politely refrains from pointing out that Gemma's going to covered in runny mascara and simply watches. Gemma orders Chucky to track down Tig, then reluctantly begins patting Dawn on the back. The role of God's Fierce Mother comes with its duties as well as its perks, one supposes.
Back at the Coke-K Corral, Bobby Elvis is rolling up from his errand of the last episode. Clay asks how Otto took the news; Bobby shrugs, "He gets it." Jax asks how Bobby Elvis is, and the man shrugs again. Really, what else is he going to do? Everyone else is hanging around in a silent, nervous knot, and Tig singles out Miles with, "He's ready. Let's go." Chibs casually begins playing with rope, as if to make a noose. Juice looks like he's about to wet himself from terror. Filthy Phil immediately begins babbling that he and Rat didn't even know what was in the store room, and neither of them took the cocaine. Rat says, "It had to be the Mayan. He was off by himself most of the night." We cut to Juice, who looks shocked -- shocked! -- that someone could end up dead because of this. Clay merely rumbles, "We'll get to the truth." Then comes the sound of a hammer blow and Miles screaming, "AHHHHH! No no no no!" Filthy Phil looks like he's about to pass out. We go to the room, where a grim Happy is bringing a hammer down on the table while Miles -- who is quite unharmed -- makes agonized noises. Tig is watching the whole thing with bemusement. We zip back to the barn: the prospects have "What in the WHAT?" expressions, and Juice looks like he can't believe the group of homicidal maniacs he runs with would actually harm someone over a botching cocaine deal that could get them all killed.
Happy comes to the door, his yellow dishwashing gloves stained with red, and casually tosses the ballpeen hammer between his hands. "," he rasps. Jax taps Rat, who protests that he didn't take the cocaine. Filthy Phil protests that Rat didn't do it, and neither did he. Jax does some shoving around, and Happy says in a menacing tone, "I'm waiting." We cut to Juice, who looks like he's on the verge of running away. I seriously cannot believe that none of these guys are paying attention to Juicy -- his body language and expression are practically telegraphing, "ASK ME ABOUT THE BRICK OF COCAINE I STOLE BECAUSE I'M BEING PRESSURED BY THE NEW SHERIFF."
Anyway, the phone rings, Tig answers, and he tells Clay haltingly, "I got a thing at T.M. My kid just showed up." Bobby Elvis asks, "Which one?" Tig answers immediately and without hesitation: "The crazy one." Jax asks innocently, "Which one?" "Yeah, I know," says Tig, who may well be self-aware enough to know that the nut doesn't fall far from the crazy tree. Clay's all, THIS is what I get for not quashing Take Your Daughter to Work Day, but he waves Tig off. Bobby Elvis announces that he's going with Tig. (I must say, I'm impressed with how shrewdly Bobby Elvis has been nurturing his relationship with Tig. It probably helps that they were cellies in Stockton, if the Sons of Anarchy iPhone app is correct. Still, it seems like Bobby Elvis is making a special effort to be there for Tig in his time of feeling alienated from Clay.)
Clay then orders everyone in the gun room. Everyone goes tromping in except for Juice, who has to stop and compose himself first. I don't know if it's that the other guys think that Juice is an especially tender flower, or if they really are genuinely stupid enough to think that patched members don't betray the club despite last year's SAMBEL follies and this season's SAMTAZ adventure, or what, but ... it's just so strange that Juice's emo behavior is going totally unnoticed.
Back at the clubhouse, Gemma tromps over to Dawn to tell her that Tig's on the way, and should she need anything -- an extra "x" for her name, perhaps -- Chuckie is her man. Dawn comes in for another hug, and Gemma is all, "Yeah, that's enough of that." She then walks past Piney, who is knocking one back at the bar, and scolds, "It's nine o'clock." "Yes. It is," Piney replies. Tara charges on by with an "I'm late", and Gemma kisses her good-bye with genuine warmth. Just then, Ima walks out and Tara stops dead in her tracks. Ima says, "Good morning," and that's when Gemma stands up. We get a beautiful shot of Gemma in the foreground, Tara in the background, and both women in the same challenging posture. I don't want to go making sweeping generalizations about the season at the almost-halfway point, but it really seems like one of the themes that's being embroidered is how Gemma and Tara are becoming closer, and Tara is becoming the Gemma Teller of 30 years ago.
In any event, as sweet baby Thomas hangs out in his bucket car seat on a clubhouse table, Tara and Gemma double-team Ima as to exactly who invited her into the clubhouse and why, and then they team up to tell Ima that she's no longer welcome. Tara has stopped speaking, and is moving toward Ima with murder in her eye; Gemma interposes and tells Ima, "Bitch, she will rip your little tits off." Ima saunters off, and a livid Tara goes stalking toward the door. Gemma braces herself for whatever's coming , and heads out the door; her last act is to tell Piney to stop drinking because he's now on babysitting duty.
Outside, Gemma helpfully pours kerosene on the flames by asking Tara if Jax came home. "That's not the point! I hate this shit. She shouldn't even be here," Tara protests. "I know, baby," Gemma replies consolingly. Another car pulls up, Lyla gets out, and Tara mutters, "Great. Here comes another one." "Be nice," Gemma chides. Lyla comes over to ask if anyone's see Opie, and my hat is OFF to Kelli Jones and the rest of the costuming crew. Here, Lyla looks like an angel -- soft sweater, jeans, loose natural hair and barely any makeup. She comes off like a sweet, gentle young wife and mother. It's a great contrast to Gemma and Tara (both with their long, sideswept bangs, dark clothing and aggressive accessories), and it makes the rest of the scene that much more heartwrenching.
In that scene: Lyla admits that "we're struggling a little. A lot of distance. We don't talk much." Gemma says, "It's just lizard brain, baby. It happens to all guys when they get married." Cut to Tara looking at Gemma all, You know I'm engaged to be married to your son, right? She then awkwardly mutters about giving it all some time. Lyla haltingly thanks them, and the club's queen walks off with the queen-in-waiting. Tara hisses, "That felt shitty." "Yeah, not our business," Gemma replies.
Just then, Lyla catches site of Ima's car and turns toward the clubhouse. Bobby Elvis asks Gemma, "Is she -- is she looking for Ope?" Gemma turns back in genuine dismay.
Lyla stalks inside and asks, "Where is she?" "Where's who, darlin'?" Piney asks. (Thomas is in his arms, and it's the cutest damn thing. Is there a member of SAMCRO who does not handle babies well? I ask because every time there's a baby on screen, there's a biker dandling the infant on his knee. I'm going to pass out from shock the day we see Happy soothing a child to sleep with Snow White & the Chainsaw She Used to Sever the Beating Heart from Her Stepmother's Chest.) Ima saunters out, and Lyla asks, "What are you doing here?" Ima pouts, "Nobody says 'Good morning' any more." Again, the contrast between how Ima's kitted out -- little leather jacket, shorts, feathers in her hair -- and Lyla is exquisite.
Anyway, Lyla and Ima have a conversation wherein some things are said that can't be taken back, and the upshot is they're not besties any more. Tig comes in all, "Hey, hey, hey," right as Lyla lunges for Ima, and Ima pulls out a gun for the second episode IN A ROW and threatens to blow a hole through Lyla's "yammy." She then starts waving it around to cover her escape. Lyla sobs, "Why him?" and Ima says, "You want answers, sweetheart? Go ask the cock that was inside of me last night." Lyla runs off, sobbing even harder, and Tig steps between Ima and Dawn, telling Ima to get out, now. As Ima leaves, Tara snarls, "Keep that .38 close, bitch. You're going to need it." If Ima were as badass as she thinks she is, that's when she would have shot Tara in the kneecap.
Once Ima's out of the clubhouse, we see: Tig greeting Dawn with genuine feeling; Tara stalking over to check on Thomas; Piney rolling his eyes at his idiot son; Gemma ordering Bobby to call Opie; Bobby Elvis wondering if handling all the club's lady drama is karmic punishment for his stepping out with Luann.
And now, a scene that demonstrates why people who do very well on the logic portion of the GREs generally do not go on to life in an MC: Jax is setting up a game of Russian Roulette for the prospects, and he tells them, "If you get through this, we'll know you had nothing to do with the missing brick." Insofar as lines of reasoning go, that is on par with, "If we tie you up and throw you in this pond, we'll know you're not a witch if you sink to the bottom." But the pledges, who clearly did not spend three weeks discussing The Crucible with Mr. Edwards in their junior year of high school, play the game. Filthy Phil goes first. He is terrified, but he does it, then sort of begins sobbing afterward. Opie gets called away from the table by his phone. Then Jax re-spins the gun's chamber and hands it over to Rat. That boy gives him a demented yell, pulls the trigger, then gets ... nothing. Cut to Filthy Phil vomiting from terror or relief. Then Opie steps in all, "Yo, we got a problem." We, Opiesabe?
Also, I can admit when I was wrong: technically speaking, Jax was correct in that a) neither prospect had anything to do with the missing brick, and b) they got through the game.
Anyway, Jax and Opie and Chibs go striding out, and Clay is all, "Did I say you could go?" Jax explains, "Psycho porn star pulled a gun at the clubhouse on Gemma and the girls." Juice takes advantage of this distraction to nervously chatter to Clay that he thinks the prospects are totally telling the truth. Jax backs him up, citing the Russian Roulette thing as proof (and not, say, of proof that either prospect is smart enough to weigh a 17 percent chance of getting shot against an 83 percent chance of pulling off the theft). Anyway, everyone scatters. Since Miles is thought to be in the E.R., he goes back to the clubhouse so he can check the surveillance footage. Jax and Opie head back to the clubhouse. Chibs and Juice are left to babysit the guys.
Back at the clubhouse, Tig is listening intently as Dawn weepily makes her way through a monologue about how Fawn's in danger of doing serious damage to herself with an eating disorder. Tig asks, "When did all this go down, Dawny?" and Dawn stops sniffling long enough to correct him: "It's Margeaux." "With an 'x,'" Bobby Elvis helpfully supplies as he puts down mugs of ... Bud Light? Root beer? Butterbeer straight from Hogsmeade? Who knows? The point is, Bobby Elvis is playing barback, the better to keep tabs on this conversation. Anyway, Tig is skeptical -- "This does not sound like your sister. How long has she been puking?" -- and Dawn argues that Fawn's been weird about food since an episode in kindergarten where she counted her Cheerios. Then she leads her daddy down the primrose path: Their mom (Colleen) is apparently too engrossed in her own twelve-step recovery to bother being any help; it's fallen to Dawn to make arrangements at a recovery facility in southern California; Fawn would never go if Tig were to be the one to accompany Dawn there; so she'll need $12,000, but she promises, it's all for Fawn. Bobby Elvis has a finely tuned bullshit detector, and its beeping is so loud, he can barely hear the sound of Tig asking Dawn to stick around while he gets the cash together.
And now, Clay, Jax, Piney and Miles have pulled up. Gemma is none too pleased and lays into Opie: "[Ima] said some cruel shit. This may be none of my business, but you hooking up with --" Jax is all, "Mom!" and Gemma reminds him that Ima pulled a gun on her. Opie accedes that verily, he created this shit storm. And then he steps into Piney's sucker punch. Opie goes down fast and hard. When he manages to get to his feet, Piney growls, "Your dick almost got people killed. I don't even know who you are anymore." Opie's all, Well, crap, I've got to own that too.
The scene has Tara tending to Opie's forehead cut, but her bedside manner is noticeably lacking. Opie slumps off-screen, and Jax asks Tara if she's okay. No, she is not. Not only did she miss a staff meeting because of biker antics, she's had to deal with her fiance's former one-night stand. Tara storms off, and Jax lights a joint. Opie's got a bag of frozen veg on his brow, and he observes, "Doc seems a little pissed." Jax shrugs, "She's just reliving my shit." Opie sighs, "At least she gave you a pass. Don't figure I got one of those coming." Jax passes Opie the joint and says glibly, "Getting knocked up and getting kidnapped kind of wipes the slate clean. I wouldn't recommend it as a fix." Opie finally admits that perhaps bringing another human being into the world is not going to fix what ails him and his marriage. Jax figures the pregnancy gets Lyla out of porn, and once again, I am confounded by the SAMCRO conceit that somehow, what is keeping Lyla working is not, say, being a parent and a partner to a convicted felon with a shaky career path, but rather her vocational commitment to taste-testing her coworkers for yeast infections.
Jax then goes to make nice with Tara, who is broadcasting an angry silence. She finally holds up her left hand with its engagement ring and asks him if he knows what that means. "Yes," Jax sighs. Tara emphasizes that she needs to be able to trust Jax. He protests that it was Opie who hooked up with Ima this time. Tara is all, "This isn't about Opie. It's about ... this. How you guys treat women." Jax argues that Tara can't condemn the whole club, but really -- why not? Tara correctly tells Jax not to stick the club into this discussion, as it's really about respect: "I'm the mother of your son. You hurt me, you hurt all of us." Jax vows he won't hurt her. Tara just turns around, gets into the momvan, and drives off. Gemma comes over and opines theatrically, "The sting of that betrayal ain't going to fade." Jax grunts. Gemma gets in his face and says emphatically, "I'd make sure it doesn't happen again." Hands up, those of you who suspect she's not suggesting that Jax embrace monogamy as a valid lifestyle option.
Clay is looking at the footage that the security cameras are currently recording around the club. He sees Tara's momvan leave, then notices that Unser's truck is parked outside, but it's not moving. Clay heads outside, wakes up Unser, then has a vague conversation with Unser wherein he threatens to set SAMCRO on Unser if anything should happen to him. Unser listens to the threat and it barely fazes him. Whether that's because Unser's already dying of cancer or if it's because he figures a blustering Clay is one playing from a position of weakness is anyone's guess.
Showdown at the Coke-K Corral. Chibs is loading a pistol. He's speechifying, "We know one of you is telling the truth and one of is not. It's up to you two to decide which is which." The prospects look at one another nervously. Happy says, "No one comes out of this room until we have an answer." Hey! I remember when they did this on The Shield, only it was in a railroad box car. The patched-in guys leave the room. Filthy Phil and Rat just look at the gun.
At the clubhouse, Miles is confirming to Clay that "I checked the footage at the warehouse. No one but our guys came in or out. It was all quiet." Clay nods, and then orders Miles back up to the compound after giving back the footage to Oswald's security guy.
On top of the clubhouse, Lyla -- still soft and youthful looking -- is sitting and trying to compose herself. Opie comes up and sits to her. He can't look at her. Lyla sniffles and asks, "Were you drunk?" He was not. Lyla sniffles again and asks, "Why?" Opie says, "I found the birth control in your dressing room." Lyla sighs and sniffles, "You did it to get even?" Opie admits he doesn't know, then says, "I know you don't want another kid." Lyla admits to the abortion of last season; Opie is stunned. He finally says, "I'll have Mary take the kids. I'll crash at the clubhouse. You tell me what you want to do." And then he leaves her.
Back at the Coke-K Corral. Chibs comments on how quiet it is, and Juice asks, "You really think they took it?" "Do you?" Chibs immediately shoots back. THANK YOU, Chibs. YOU have been paying attention to Juice, haven't you? After a moment, Juice asks, "Do you ever push back against the rules? Some of them are pretty hardcore." Chibs says, "[We] knew what they were when we signed up." And kudos to whoever blocked this scene, because the way it's set up -- Chibs perched in a scaffold, Juice sitting on a stack of pallets below him -- beautifully broadcasts how Juice is seeking paternal advice from someone in the club, and how Chibs is willing to play that role. Juice nods. Then he turns his enormous eyes up to Chibs and asks, too casually, "The black thing ever bother you?" Chibs gives him a sharp look. Juice clarifies, "With Fiona and all." Chibs shrugs, "Ahhh, Fiona was an old lady." Then he goes back to studying Juice. He finally speaks again: "Listen. The rules have been around since day one. Different time. I'm not saying I agree with them all. But you know, if I start picking and choosing which ones to follow, then the whole thing just falls apart." Into anarchy, perhaps? (You do have to admit, there's something richly ironic about an outlaw MC being sticklers for rules. Might as well reposition themselves as Sons of Parliamentary Procedure.) Juice barely chokes out, "Yeah." Chibs, who is not dumb, keeps watching Juice. Question for the forum: Do you think this is the moment where Chibs realized Juice's background, or had he suspected for a while?
Meanwhile, just in case nobody was sufficiently on edge, Romeo has announced that he wants to come to the Coke-K corral and pick up his parts. Clay and Jax have a tense conversation about how they're going to handle the missing brick and the answer is simple: They're going to kill one of the prospects as a show of good faith for the cartel. "Sometimes the herd needs thinning," Clay says, conveniently forgetting that sometimes, the young bucks force the old males out of the herd.
Chibs takes the news with equanimity, and tells Happy and Juice, "Romeo will be here in an hour. We've got to put one of these guys down." Juice is incredulous, and Chibs patiently explains, "It's the only way we're going to calm the cartel. They're going to want a guilty body, and if we don't give it to them, they're going to take it as a sign of weakness. Then they're going to want more blood. I don't have any more options." Juice frantically pleads for the prospects to have one last chance, and scampers into the room himself. He makes a speech about how the missing brick affects everyone, and sets up his own eventual return of the brick with "We're going to step outside and have a smoke. And whoever took that brick? We know it's got to be around here somewhere. Just put it back. No questions, no repercussions." Happy snarls and heads toward the prospects as if to start personally handing out the repercussions. But he heads out with everyone else.
Once outside, Chibs tells Juice, "Even if that brick shows up, those two are out." "Well, at least they won't be dead -- and we'll get our blow back," Juice replies. He shrugs on a hoodie and claims he's off to the bathroom. Chibs looks quite thoughtful as Juice heads out.
Unser walks into the sheriff's department, and we see him meeting his successor for the first time. Roosevelt does not offer to shake hands. They go to his office, and Unser warns Roosevelt that Tara's possibly in danger, but he doesn't have much more on details. Roosevelt chuckles, "It was my understanding you were on Clay Morrow's payroll. I'd think you have more details." Unser flares, "I was never in nobody's pocket! I learned how to work with the club. It was about what was best for Charming, not me." Roosevelt's expression shifts slightly, and he tells Unser that he can't keep an eye on Tara unless there's any more details.
Coke-K corral. Juice has found the brick and he's hidden his sample or whatever. As he stumbles back, he runs across Miles. It is most unfortunate that Miles notices the brick tucked in Juice's waistband. (Juice, you idiot. PULL OUT THE SWEATSHIRT.) Miles says in a tone of betrayal, "You took it?" but he has good SAMCRO instincts, because his move is to pull out a gun. His bright idea is to march Juice back to the warehouse for a public reckoning. Juice nods, then gets the drop on Miles by tossing the brick in his face. Miles ends up shooting Juice in the leg, then the two tussle. Juice ends up getting the gun first and shoots Miles in the head; the other guy's blood ends up sprayed all over his face. After freaking out for a moment, Juice tucks the brick under Miles' arm.
Seconds later, Chibs comes running, hollering Juice's name. Happy's with him, and greets the scene with "What the hell?" Juice is sufficiently shaken so that his story sounds credible: "I came out to take a piss. I spotted him pulling something out of the leaves. He saw me and he freaked out. He tried to kill me. I took one trying to get the gun." Chibs gently helps Juice to his feet and supports him. Happy takes his own piece and shoots the dead Miles some more, growling, "Lying bitch." Chibs wryly asks, "Did you get 'im?"
Everyone else pulls up, and Chibs acts as Juice's PR, explaining that it was Miles. Opie looks shocked by this. Happy says adamantly, "He's very dead." Clay snaps, "I ought to shoot you guys for patching him in," then compliments Juice. We cut to Filthy Phil, who looks dazed by this development. The prospects carry Juice over to the van. After that errand, they're to bury Miles deep, with no marker. Opie and Jax walk back into the barn, and Opie correctly observes that Miles makes no sense as the thief. Jax is all, "Eh. We've got the brick back and Miles wasn't really a regular. So who cares?"
At Teller Morrow, Dawn's working the adoring-daughter angle for it's worth, showing Tig a digitized shot of him with both girls when they were younger, and asking, "Don't you remember?" He doesn't, and jokes about his befuddlement, but he's clearly enjoying himself. Chucky comes out with lemonade, and as Dawn heads over, Bobby and Gemma call for Tig. Gemma called Tig's ex, Colleen. Bobby says, "Fawn is fine. She's in Chicago with her boyfriend for two weeks." Gemma adds, "No bulimia. Dawn's playing you, sweetheart." Tig keeps a game face, but he's a little wobbly when he asks, "What's she want the twelve grand for?" Gemma's all, "I don't know. Why don't you ask her?" Bobby Elvis asks if Tig's okay, and he insists he is, then abruptly walks away. Gemma watches him go, then says, "This is why mothers should drown baby girls." Bobby Elvis gives Gemma an appalled look. (And this is why I was disappointed that Jax and Tara produced a boy. I would have liked to have seen how Jax handled parenthood when the child Tara had was a girl. I would have also liked to have seen how Tara's concerns about bringing up a girl around club life would match or differ from Gemma's. Ah, well.)
Coke-K Corral. Romeo's pleased by the operation. He would be the only one; the SAMCRO boys are livid about Miles, and Alvarez is not too happy about all the extra drama. Clay asks Romeo if he can have a moment outside.
Once the two men are alone, Clay spins a tale for Romeo: "We have an internal threat. A family member stumbled on some of our more sensitive information ... She's our doc. She's got a level of access. It got out of hand. I'm afraid she's going to expose us." Romeo is no slouch in organizational intel, and he asks, "The doctor --that's your VP's old lady?" Clay replies, "Yeah. He don't know." Romeo says, "You have a very difficult decision, my friend." Clay chokes back the crocodile tears with, "Trust me -- it's been brutal. But it's got to be done. I need somebody from the outside. I was hoping you might want to handle it." Romeo rolls his eyes, then says he can do it, but it will cost a lot of time and money. "Whatever it takes," Clay says. He and Romeo shake on it. The cartel soldier goes, and Jax comes over to ask Clay if everything's okay. Clay smiles at Jax -- a genuine smile of someone who's just solved a problem -- and says, "Everything's good." Then he claps Jax on the shoulder before pulling him into an arm-around-the-shoulders hug. It is the most gruesome thing in this episode, and bear in mind, a man got his brains blown out on screen a few minutes ago.
We go to a montage. Someone is writing a letter: "I'm going to hurt you, then kill you doctor bitch." We see Tig hugging Dawn for all he's worth before she gets back in a cab. After she leaves, Bobby Elvis and Gemma come over. Bobby says bemusedly, "You gave her the money." "Oh, yeah," Tig says, his eyes fixed on the taillights. "She'll just be back for more," Gemma says. "Yeah. I know," Tig says, but he smiles at the thought and walks away. Gemma and Bobby sort of collapse into giggles at that point. Funny how in one episode, we see three different fathers deal with the children who hurt them: Clay put a hit out on his son's wife; Piney sucker-punched his son; Tig gave his daughter the money and holds out hope she'll see him again.
The music continues, and Opie brings his duffel into the clubhouse. (His poor kids. Their entire childhood consists of their parents leaving them in one way or another.) He sits on the bed and we hear a soft exhalation, perhaps the beginning of a sob. (Nicely done, Ryan Hurst.)
Then we cut to a very made-up Ima asking, "What's the matter? You jealous?" The camera switches to Jax, who nods once. Ima asks, "So I can only be your bad girl?" Jax nods and says, "That's right." Ima kisses him, then pulls him back to her dressing room." Meanwhile, back at the house, Tara tends to Juice's wound while Juice watches. We cut to Happy supervising the prospects digging the grave.
Then we cut back to the clubhouse bar. Tig is passing over snapshots of himself with his daughters, and we hear Bobby chuckling as Tig smiles around his cigarette. Opie sits by himself, and Gemma comes over to say, "I changed the sheets. You're all set in there." "Thanks, Mom," Opie says, and Gemma kisses his cheek. Ah, God's Fierce Mother will forgive her boys anything.
Clay walks through the clubhouse and into church, then closes the door behind him. Everyone looks up, and a shadow passes over everyone's mood. The music continues. Piney is flipping through a photo album looking at pictures of him, Mary and Opie. He's drinking alone. We get a heartbreaking close-up of his face; he seems to be trying to figure out how he got from the young dad in the photo to the old man beating his son today.
Ima begin stripping the minute she closes the door to her dressing room. Jax takes her head in his hands as if to kiss her...
...Then his expression gets ugly and he slams her head into her dressing room table. Ima's on the ground and Jax grabs her by the throat and threatens, "You ever flash that rancid pussy around my club or my family again, I will kill you. You understand?" He spits in her face, then adds, "Whore," before heading out. He walks out, leaving Ima coughing on her own blood, and the ridiculous misogyny that pervades SAMCRO and appears to be most rigorously enforced by the women associated with the club. Gemma wouldn't know the word "kyriarchy" if it came spray-painted on the side of Clay's bike, but she's sure a willing participant in one.
As the music winds down, we see someone sneak up to Tara's momvan and leave the threatening note on the driver's seat. That camera shows us Unser. He's upping the stakes in his own way.