In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.
HOLY CRAP! You guys, this episode was insane.
Vacation, Biker-Style: Jax and Tara's trip starts off well -- family sing-alongs in the car, a friendly discussion with a motorcycle cop about the bliss of riding, giddy plans to move to Oregon ASAP (and who can blame them? I would move there in a hot minute) -- so naturally, it all goes to hell when a group of hired thugs tries to kidnap Tara. Since she is now an old pro at being abducted, Tara knows how to fight back, but right around the time the armed Jax manages to slow down the van, she gets her hand slammed in the door. Remember: she is a surgeon. Or rather, she was a surgeon, as she's got severe nerve damage.
There is an awesome scene between Tara's two self-appointed surrogate mothers, Gemma and Margaret, where they basically fight over whether or not Jax and Tara belong together. Margaret calls it: "All this suffering landing on Tara, it's because of you." She stalks off and leaves God's Fierce Mother to chew on that in the chapel.
There is also an awesome scene where Tara breaks down in the hospital, where she says, "The only way I can be with you is if I lose my way out. I lost that today, baby. I have a dead hand. No one will want me now. No one … I'll never save another life again, never fix a tiny heart. It's okay. We can now be together -- you, me, Gemma … in beautiful Charming. A happy family. Maybe I can smash my other hand. That way I can just stay home, be a mom, raise babies …" When an agonized Jax tries to comfort her, she completely loses it and kicks him out. He collapses on the other side of the door, racked with guilt. (Seriously: Great work by both actors.)
By the end of the episode, Jax has broken the news to Opie that he's planning on leaving the club. He's come clean -- showing yet another way in which he's completely unlike his stepfather. Opie … does not take it especially well.
Shocker! Hitmen Don't Do Take-Backsies: Once Clay finds out that Jax is with Tara, he calls Romeo to try and cancel the hit. Romeo is all, "Remember, we told you once you made this call, you couldn't un-make it." Then he hangs up and has a conversation with Luis that reveals that indeed, Romeo could call off the hitman if he wanted to. Lesson here: Cartel honchos lie! I know, I know: I was gobsmacked too. Anyway, after the botched hit, Romeo assures Clay he'll oversee the hit personally so it doesn't get screwed up. Clay tries to weasel out of it, but Luis and Romeo basically tell him to put up and shut up. Knowing what's likely to happen if the club realizes he's the one who's in the habit of getting old ladies killed, Clay does both.
Lincoln, Cruising For an Assassination: Roosevelt serves notice to Lincoln: "I'm done being your boy." Lincoln reminds Roosevelt that he's with the U.S. government, and he has many laws on his side. Then he goes to visit Juice and makes a very simple offer: become an informant regarding the upcoming Galindo/Real IRA meeting, or watch as Potter uses RICO to dismantle the entire SOA organization. (Juice takes the deal.) Roosevelt seethes, then begins working to right the moral balance of the universe. First step: Apologizing to Juice for his role in the whole mess with Potter. Second step: Offering to help make things right regarding Tara.
Romance Is Dead -- DEAD, I say! After absorbing some uncalled-for insults from Clay after questioning why he needed to clean out the safe, then seeing what became of Tara at the hospital, Gemma puts 2+2 together and gets $25,000 -- i.e. the amount Clay took from their safe and twigs to him putting out the hit on Tara despite him promising he wouldn't. When she discovers him putting the refunded fee back in the safe, Gemma loses her cool and begins shouting a surprisingly accurate recap of the last forty minutes of the episode. When she threatens to tell Jax what the truth of the situation is, Clay heads for her menacingly, but Gemma pulls out the pistol she keeps in her purse and demands that Clay stay away from her family. Then some things are said that can't be unsaid, Gemma takes a shot, but Clay overpowers her and beats the daylights out of her.
I don't even have the words for how heartbreaking the entire scene is. For the last three years, one of Clay's redeeming traits was his love for Gemma. You could always see where his love for his so-called brothers was heavily larded with self interest, but his relationship with Gemma always seemed to bring out what better angels lived in his nature; his behavior at the hospital last year certainly seemed to reinforce that. But this season, everything in Clay that was not completely selfish has been sloughed off, and this latest, largest casualty is sad not only because it wrecks one of the great mature romances on TV, but because it pushes Clay past any redemption whatsoever.
Now it's not a question of whether or not Clay will die. It's a question of who will kill him. The cartel, when they decide Clay's outlived his usefulness? The Mayans, who are probably tired of their soldiers dropping dead thanks to SAMCRO idiocy? Jax, who will probably not shrug off the idea of his stepdad whacking his dad, thwacking his mom and trying to kill his old lady? Opie, who can lay the deaths of his wife and his father at Clay's feet? Unser, who thinks of Clay as a wild animal who needs to be put down? Tig, who so clearly carries a torch for Gemma?
Line of the Night, Runner Up: "I want it clean, I want it painless. Don't mess up her face." -- Clay to the hit man he's just hired to kill his stepson's old lady.
Line of the Night: "It's done, Wayne. Clay can't be saved." -- Gemma, whose face really did get messed up, telling Wayne she'd like to see Clay dead at the hands of SAMCRO.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!The episode opens with a real estate mystery solved. Remember how last week I had no idea where the Sons were meeting because the shot of the kitchen looked nothing like Gemma's? It turns out that Casa Morrow is enormous and confusing, because I totally recognize the plantation blinds that serve as wall dividers between the dining room and the home office. Clay is currently in the home office, opening up the safe and taking out a fat wad of bills. He's trying to be sneaky about it, but there is nothing discreet about a heavy steel door slamming shut, and Gemma hears him from the kitchen.
Clay's subsequent attempt to casually leave the house holding a backpack full of money goes surprisingly smoothly. I say "surprisingly," because given Clay's recent track record at, well, anything, I was half-expecting something to go extravagantly wrong. After a little small talk about how early they're both up, Clay tells Gemma he's off to handle some "Mexican shit," adding that he and Jax have it handled. The two spouses exchange desultory goodbye smooches, and when they tell each other, "Love you," it sounds like something admitted under oath.
Anyway, once Clay's gone, Gemma puts on her reading glasses and opens the safe. The minute the safe's open, she takes them off, then pulls out the cash box. She is somewhat dismayed to find there is only an inch-thin stack of twenties in there.
So, you know how when you go on a road trip you might load up the CD player, make sure the phone's charged in case you want to get chatty and grab some sunscreen? Jax's idea of getting ready for a road trip is to strap a pistol to his ankle. He's just finished this when Tara bustles in with Thomas, excitedly burbling that she's packed a lunch and the family can picnic at the park outside Walnut Grove. (Hands up, all of you who immediately wondered if they'd run into Nellie Oleson there.) Jax is down for that. He grabs the family's bag and kisses Tara; the baby grins up at him and raises his face for a kiss too, and Jax smilingly obliges.
Gemma lets herself in without knocking -- something that Jax and Tara apparently don't even question anymore -- under the pretext of seeing her grandsons off. This is how she learns that Jax will be accompanying Tara and the boys to Oregon, and boy does this not sit well. "Out of state? You're on release," Gemma reminds her son, but the Knowles/Teller pack has that handled; they'll crash at a hotel in California and day-trip up to Portland. Besides, the Rogue River chapter can keep an eye on Tara once she crosses into the Beaver State. Gemma asks, "Does Clay know?" "He will after you tell him," Jax shoots back. He explains that, owing to the pending meeting with the Irish, he'll be back in two days. Gemma asks, "What about the Mexicans?" Jax shrugs, "Nothing for us to do. It's an internal beef. We've been told to stay out of it." The camera switches from Jax to everyone else and it's an interesting set-up: Abel (AKA the world's most placid toddler) coloring at the table, Gemma standing in the middle of the kitchen, the Tara and Thomas near the door. Speaking of Tara, she breaks the tension by handing Thomas over to Gemma with a sing-song, "Say goodbye to Grandma!"
At the SanWa sheriff's station, Roosevelt is finding out that ATF has spirited Juice away under cover of darkness. We transition to Juice, who is bored out of his mind in a cell designed by the same people who bring you the Design Within Reach catalog.
Cut to Unser doing his best to make Piney's cabin look like a cartel crime scene. His phone rings. Naturally, it's Gemma. Without prelude, she says, "Something's wrong, Wayne." Unser pulls down his respirator, listens to the flies buzzing around Piney's body, and says, "Really? Can't imagine why you think that." Anyway, Gemma's freaked because: A) Clay emptied the safe and B) lied to Gemma about what he needed the money for. Unser asks, "So, uh, what did Clay need the money for?" Gemma pauses, puts "2 + 2" together and gets "My husband is going to get around his promise not to kill Tara by having someone else do it," then orders Unser to abandon the first task she set him to so he can do whatever it is she wants from him now.
We see Clay in the middle of an undeveloped lot near some power lines, handing over a slip of paper with Tara's destination info to a black-haired, olive-skinned man. I mention his appearance because it will be pertinent later. Then Clay maps out the route Tara's likely to drive. He then hands over the backpack full of cash and orders, "I want it clean, I want it painless. Don't mess up her face." Well, that's big of him. Someone polish that Father-In-Law of the Year trophy -- I think we have our winner!
Zoom! Tara's momvan is zipping along the highway and Jax is enthusiastically, if inexpertly, singing, "This Old Man" to the boys. Tara joins in, and Abel giggles delightedly from the back seat.
Clay pulls into Teller Morrow and Gemma saunters out to ask how that Mexican thing went. Clay tells her, "That's not your concern," then asks where Jax is. Gemma's tone is barbed as she explains, "Went up to Oregon with Tara and the kids. Family outing." Clay tries to recover, but as he turns around and walks away from Gemma, he's got a total "OHHHHHHHHHH shitohshitohshitohshit ..." expression playing behind the glasses.
Cut to Clay frantically trying to call off the hit, despite being told repeatedly by Romeo and Luis that such a thing isn't possible. During the phone call between Clay and the two cartel honchos, Romeo and Luis do a lot of eye-rolling and silent miming of laughter to indicate that Clay is totally screwed. Also, they could call off the hit if they wanted to... but they don't. Instead, they figure they'll just let the hitman (AKA "The Collector," per the closed captioning) know that Jax is with the target, and he's armed.
Clay then storms out and dispatches Tig to chase down Jax. This being Tig, he does not ask questions. Chibs then hits up Clay to let him know that Juice is MIA. Clay figures Roosevelt's got Juice, but since the club hasn't heard from Lowen, that's not likely. Opie offers to look for Juice up at the cabin. Besides, he should check in with Piney. It is a good thing Clay is wearing sunglasses because otherwise his eyes would be bugging out like a cartoon character. Instead, he's all, "You should stick around! There's pie!" Actually, there's no pie. Which is a pity. And yet Opie lingers, although he gives Clay a sideways look. (I dearly hope this pays off in a future episode.)
Jax is filling up the van at a gas station, sticking his tongue out at the boys to make them laugh. A California Highway Patrolman pulls up right as Tara grabs Abel for a bathroom run. Tara tells him to relax -- "We're civilians" -- and heads out. In the spirit of getting away from it all, Jax then leans into the van and turns off his ringing phone. As he does, a disembodied voice asks, "How'd you like it?" Jax drops the phone in surprise and squeaks out, "Excuse me?" The motorcycle cop says, "My daughter wants one." Jax calms down a bit and says, "Oh! Uh, my old lady loves it. It's hers." The cop nods, as if wanting a minivan is incomprehensible to him. Jax then asks how fast the BMW 1150 the cop's riding is. "Fast enough," shrugs the patrolman. He asks, "You ride?" "Yeah," Jax says with admirable understatement. He and the patrolman talk motorcycles for a bit more, and you can practically see the revelation dawning as Jax realizes plenty of people share his passion for riding, yet do not want to kill him. It is like he has just glimpsed a view into a parallel universe.
Back in this one, Roosevelt is visiting Potter to find out where Juice is. Potter blithely assures him that Juice is in good ATF hands: "Now that he knows of our RICO goals, it's best to keep him sequestered. Until a trust can grow." Because you know what keeps government witnesses safe? Cutting them off from the high-contact, vengeful social group in which they are hopelessly enmeshed. Roosevelt then gives Potter a piece of his mind: "You played me -- worse than the outlaws. All that bullshit about my gang experience, and you just needed a local scapegoat. Let all that shit pile up at my door so you can keep your secret war room concealed. And I jumped in like a goddamn Boy Scout." It's a beautiful piece of work by Rockmond Dunbar, because you can see where his righteous anger at Potter is spiced with a little anger at himself for being so damn trusting and idealistic. Potter's whole attitude -- "You Earth humans and your 'distrest' confuse me" -- only irks Roosevelt further, and he shrugs that Potter's welcome to badmouth him to his superiors, because he's d-o-n-e, done. That bluff blown, Potter then tells Roosevelt that somewhere in the metric ton of paperwork he signed merely to enter the war room, he agreed to do whatever Potter wanted, whenever Potter wanted it. Roosevelt gives him a look that sees right through Potter, then says sardonically, "I guess we play it your way."
The Knowles-Teller family has picnicked in the park, where the boys were fed a light lunch of crackers, juice and sedatives, if their ability to sit around while their parents loll about on the lawn is any indication. Tara is reclining with her head on Jax's torso, probably wishing that it was shirtless. AS DO WE ALL, TARA. Anyway, she's telling him that if she aces the interview at Providence Hospital in Portland, she thinks she should take the job. Jax is down with that. Tara sits up and looks down at Jax, asking, "Are you sure you mean that?" Jax sits up a bit to tell her, "Tara. Take the job. You gotta give St. Thomas, what, two, three weeks' notice? I got one more deal to lock down and I'm good. I'm going to be ready to go before you." Tara begins laughing, possibly in relief, and she collapses back on to Jax. We cut across the park and see The Collector watching them.
Back in Charming, Tig is expressing his frustration that in this, the 21st century, he is unable to reach Jax on demand. "Oh, when will Science invent telepathy implants so we can beam brain-to-brain messages?" he ... does not say at all. Instead, Tig's taking care of business: He's got the name of the hotel where the family is supposed to be staying, and he's got Rogue River waiting for them. Chibs also checks in -- Juice is still MIA. Gemma's hovering outside the church and she volunteers that Juice tends to crawl back to his old girlfriend when he's "wounded." I am suddenly filled with curiosity as to what sort of woman consorts with Juice. Bobby Elvis notes that Precious is still chummy with said ex-girlfriend -- one imagines that perhaps the former ladies of SAMCRO might need some kind of support group, given what havoc these guys wreak on a regular basis -- so he'll ask Precious to give the ex a ring. Chibs walks off, muttering about Juice.
Gemma heads into church and asks Clay why he took all the money out of the safe. Clay blusters, "What'd I tell you about digging into club business?" "It's not club money!" Gemma shoots back. Clay snarls, "That's right. That's my money. And as long as you got enough to take care of the house and amuse yourself, you don't really need to worry about it." Gemma's head snaps back in shock and an expression of pain flickers across her face before she goes on the offense: "Did you really just say that to me?" Clay, who has decided he's in this mess because of bullshit promises he made to his old lady, says, "Maybe I should be saying shit like this to you more often, reminding you that you are not a member of this club, you're an old lady. And don't forget it!" Gemma's voice says, "Okay," but her face says, "So that's how it is, then."
Tara's buckling Abel into his car seat, so Jax wanders across the park to get rid of their picnic trash. As he reaches the can, he sees the homeless woman he met in the cemetery in season one, right before Donna's funeral. They exchange a look of recognition.
Just then, a gray windowless van zooms up to the minivan. The passenger side door slides open, and a masked man grabs Tara and tidily lifts her into the van. Her screaming, "Oh my God! What are you doing?" alerts Jax. She's fighting, so the door's not yet closed, and Jax quickly whips out his ankle piece and begins chasing down the van. He aims a few shots at the van, which causes it to swerve. Tara's fighting her captors inside, and she gets her hand on the doorframe, bracing to fling herself out, when the van's momentum causes the door to slam shut on her hand. Tara screams in pain. The van pulls over for some reason, and there's a lot of screaming in Spanish, but it's very slow Spanish, as if the people speaking it just learned the words by Googling them. Jax pulls Tara out, there's some gun-pulling, he shoves Tara behind him, and the van takes off. Tara's hyperventilating in pain and fear, and we see her hand, crumpled and black with blood.
Inside the van, the kidnappers pull off their masks. They are definitely not Mexican, not unless northern Europe was annexed by Felipe Calderón some time last week. So the question is: Who are these guys and were they with The Collector? Or did a completely different crew try to nab Tara?
Tara's being loaded into the back of an ambulance, and she's pleading to go to St. Thomas. Since the hospital is out of the emergency services' jurisdiction, it looks like that's not going to happen, but Jax pleads, "She's a surgeon at St. Thomas? You can't take her?" The CHiP from the gas station rolls up and orders the EMT to take Tara to St. Thomas, promising to clear it with the dispatchers later. Jax is suitably grateful for a little help from the long arm of the law. The CHiP then quietly notes that Jax happens to be on federal release, and inquires as to whether the recently paroled Jax might be the source of the gunshots in the park. Jax lies. (But this does make me wonder: Where is his piece?) He then blows Tara a kiss and sprints back to the minivan.
The shot is of Tara being wheeled into the hospital, Jax holding her hand. "The boys..." she says weakly. He assures her they're fine, then tells Tara she's about to go to X-Ray, then get a consult with Dr. Balian, whom one can presume is Charming's resident hand guy. No sooner does he see her off then Gemma appears, hovering around him like a particularly fretful crow. Jax has to go to talk to the cops, but before he goes, he whispers to Gemma that someone attacked Tara and tried to abduct her.
Meanwhile, in an undisclosed location, Juice is killing time by watching cartoons. Potter comes in and makes small talk with, "I'm a Hanna-Barbera fan myself. Quick Draw McGraw was always my favorite." (Interestingly enough, the cartoons are showing a character digging a hole through the floor of his prison cell.) Juice turns off the cartoons and gives Potter a "WELL?" look. Potter sets down a clipboard and says, "My promise. When we take down the Irish at this meet, we'll need to prosecute the club members present. But that's where it stops. I will not use RICO to dismantle the Sons. It's all there, just awaiting my signature." Juice shrugs that he knows nothing about a meeting. "Then go and find out," Potter says. He continues, "Here's the deal, Juice. We give you a cell phone. It acts as a monitoring device. We know where you are, 24/7. You check in every four hours. You don't check in, I get wind you exposed us, we rip [your deal] up, we come crashing in. I settle for the Mexicans and the Sons. SAMCRO and all its charters will fall to RICO. I'll give you until after The Jetsons to decide." Then he takes off, leaving Juice to wonder how he's supposed to get a decent eight hours of sleep if he's got to call in every four hours. As Potter leaves, the cartoon shows a prisoner being beaten by the guards. But hey! It's animals! So it's funny, right?
Back at St. Taxpayer's, Clay and the rest of the boys have descended upon the hospital. I am so disappointed none of them are using their ill-gotten cartel cash to get a lounge dedicated for their exclusive use, what with them being in the hospital so often. Gemma says carefully to Clay, "Someone tried to take Tara. They hurt her real bad." Clay feigns righteous anger and sorrow, but Gemma is looking at him with a mixture of sorrow and disappointment. She's seen right through him.
Fortunately for Clay, his brothers in the club aren't nearly so perceptive, and when Jax mentions that Tara's abductors were speaking Spanish, everyone quickly assumes it was Lobo retaliation. And now we know why Romeo refused to call off the hit. Not only does it send a message to Clay about using cartel resources, it gets SAMCRO making Lobo's life a little more difficult. This will weaken the club, which will, in turn, make it a more useful Parada tool in the long run. Jax then proposes that they go visit Laroy, on account of him being so cozy with the Lobo Sonora until last episode. In the meantime, prospect V-Lin will hang with Elyda and the boys at home, and the other two prospects will stay at the hospital. I am not sure having Rat's cadaverous visage anywhere near patients is a good idea; too many might confuse him for the Angel of Death and die of fright.
Cut to Tara looking at her hand. We get a shot of the X-ray, and several bones in her right hand are snapped in half. Tara breathes, "Three broken metacarpals. Median nerve?" Dr. Balian says there's damage from the trauma, and he'd like to operate right away. Margaret, who is standing by Tara's bedside, says she'll schedule it. Dr. Balian emphasizes that he'll do everything he can. As Tara drops back to the pillow, Margaret strokes her hair.
Oh, look! It's a Niners bar. And evidently if you want to tend bar there, your bust measurement must end in nine, such as the young woman with what looks like a 49-inch rack. She's bending over the bar to wipe it. Well, no wonder. She looks like she needs help to stand up straight. So SAMCRO walks in and it's no big deal, but the minute Alvarez and his crew walk in, someone pops out from a back room and begins firing, and it's time for this episode's edition of "Why the hell are we all shooting at everything again?" A Mayan goes down on account of having his brains decorate one wall of the bar. Anyway, the shooting eventually ends thanks to Jax screaming that everyone should stop, and then Jax screams the question on everyone's mind: "What the hell, Laroy?" Laroy is all, look, we're all skittish on account of the Lobo Sonora killing three of our guys this morning. Alvarez is all, son, your nerves aren't my problem -- my problem is that you killed one of my best soldiers, and then, BLAM! He drops a guy. Alvarez is like the Getting Things Done life-hacker of gang leaders; he sticks stuff on his to-do list and turns it around in mere seconds. Anyway, Jax is not successful in getting any contact information for the Lobo. So! That Mayan died for nothing.
Anyway, the scene has Clay conspiring to get Jax nowhere near Romeo, but since Jax is really half-crazed with fear, worry and fury, it's no work at all to get Opie and Chibs on the "Really, it's for your own good" wagon. Since those two tend to be slightly saner than the other club members, Jax concedes. Clay then feeds him lines about finding out who could have done such a dark deed and hurting them, and unless this season ends with Jax holding Clay's hand and thwacking him with it in the face all, "Why are you punching yourself? Why are you punching yourself?" we know that's a load of hoodoo.
Gemma's hanging out in the chapel, and Margaret tries to open the door angrily, but she's thwarted by the very nature of the swinging door, so she's left to bat at the door and glare. It is very funny in a "Oh, I shouldn't laugh at this" sort of way. Then Margaret sits down behind Gemma. She starts: "It's awful -- this attack on Tara." Gemma, who is busy chewing over the reality that, 1) her husband's the one who put out the hit and 2) her son is likely to kill him if he finds out, can only say, "Yeah. I know." Margaret continues, "You have no remorse about what happened." Gemma looks back at Margaret, then turns before trying to discomfit the other woman: "Sounds like you do." Margaret says she does. She continues, "I've been trying to get her to leave for over a year." Gemma rebuts that Tara belongs in Charming, and honestly, that sentiment is the kind of thing that leads one to wild, Stephen King-ian flights of dark imaginings, like Gemma being the living avatar of an unmapped town which refuses to let people leave. Margaret says bitterly, "You see what [belonging here] got her." Gemma protests, "It got her a beautiful son." Margaret leans in and hisses, "She's blinded by an adolescent bond. You know she doesn't belong with your son." That has to sting, because it's pretty much what Gemma was saying all through Season One. But Gemma staunchly defends her position: "What Jax and Tara do is their business." Margaret calls BS: "The way you bully and manipulate her, use those babies' strings? --" "You better watch what you say ," Gemma threatens. But Margaret's not too afraid of getting slugged, nor is she afraid of Gemma. She continues: "You're an awful woman, and all this suffering landing on Tara -- it's because of you." Margaret can't see Gemma's face, but it looks like Gemma agrees with her. (That scene's going in her Emmy reel.)
Juice has made it back to Teller Morrow, and he tells Chibs and Opie a big ol' lie about needing to clear his head by way of Yosemite. Opie rumbles, "Probably should have stayed in Yosemite. Shit's hit the fan, brother. Lobos tried to take Tara this morning." Juice is suitably taken aback.
When Clay meets with Romeo, he and his people are arrayed by their Range Rover in such a way as to suggest an album cover -- it's ridiculously arty and theatrical, and probably meant to intimidate by pointing out that these criminals are far cooler and more successful than a bunch of hairy, dusty bikers could hope to be. Clay walks over to Romeo and sighs all, "What the hell happened?" "Your VP happened," Romeo says coolly. He then asks about the fallout, and Clay is suddenly all worked up about Tara's hand being crushed, mostly because it's put Jax on the warpath. Romeo, however, is delighted that the club thinks the Lobo are behind the debacle. Clay begs to differ: "It's a goddamn disaster. I paid $25K for a clean job." Luis hands over a wad of cash and Romeo assures him, "Here's a refund. We'll take care of the hit personally. No more middle man." Clay's all, "I... have changed my mind," but the cartel reminds him that you cannot cry "Threat!" one day and take it back the . Tara's been named a threat, and so she must die. Clay sighs, takes the money, and takes off.
Tara's got a positively medieval contraption wrapped around her arm. She's propped up, asleep, and Jax is curled around her, stroking her cheek as she wakes. Dr. Balian comes in and gently breaks the news: Her bones were set easily, but Tara's looking at severe nerve damage in that hand. Jax asks, "What does that mean?" "It means I won't have full use of my hand," Tara says, fighting to stay calm. Jax asks Dr. Balian if it's permanent, then says angrily, "You need to do more surgeries and fix it." Dr. Balian says he's doing all he can, and he's got calls in to the West Coast's top hand people down at Cedars-Sinai. Tara thanks him. After Dr. Balian leaves, Tara begins crying.
Gemma has headed home and straight into the home office, where Clay is busy putting the money back in the safe. She says sharply, "What's the matter? Change your mind? Get a refund because they didn't kill her?" Clay plays dumb, but Gemma is ready to go: "You promised me. You looked me in the eye and you promised me you wouldn't hurt Tara!" Clay again pretends he has no idea what Gemma's talking about, so Gemma shouts a surprisingly accurate recap of the morning's events. Gemma concludes by screaming about her grandsons, "Jesus Christ, those babies could have been hurt!" Clay kicks a chair across the room and shouts, "Enough!" Gemma then threatens to spill the beans to Jax, and when Clay heads toward her, she pulls her gun out of her bag and trains it on Clay with, "You stay away from me, you son of a bitch. You stay away from my family." Clay looks stunned. Well, being disowned by your family of 20-odd years will do that to you. He then goads Gemma: "You gonna kill me, Gemma? Like you did your first husband?" Gemma is so angry she can barely say, "You killed John." Clay begs to differ: "Nah. Baby, you killed him. You played me for a chump, and I was. I was no match for that tight pussy and broken, angry heart. Yeah. Maybe Jax needs to read some of that truth." BLAM! Gemma shoots, but it goes whizzing past Clay's shoulder. Cut to her looking slightly panicked, as Clay is the type of person where, if you're going to shoot at him, you better make sure your aim is good. Clay looks shocked. He recovers before she does, and the two of them cease to be married people right in that moment as he heads after her. Gemma lands the first punch, but it barely registers with Clay; he then lands a hit to the jaw that sends her across the dining room table. There's more tussling and she ends up on the floor scrambling to get away. Gemma gets up, heads to the kitchen door, but it's locked, and Clay picks her up and throws her to the floor. The camera shows Clay backhanding her repeatedly and then gives us the sickening view of his angry face and his fist coming down.
We then come back up on Tara, staring blankly ahead. She declines to say goodnight to Abel over the phone (via Jax), and stares up at the ceiling as Jax sits down. "Tell me what I can do for you," he says. "Nothing," Tara says. Jax begs, "Please -- get mad at me, Tara. Scream at me or something. I know this is all my fault." Tara says dreamily, "No, it's not, Jax. This had to happen." Jax asks, "What are you talking about?" and Tara says, "Fate. We're supposed to be together, right? But you can't leave here." Jax reminds her, "I am leaving here. With you." Tara begs to differ: "No. The club won't let you. Gemma won't let you. Charming won't let you." Jax assures her that's just the drugs talking, and Tara lets 'em speak: "The only way I can be with you is if I lose my way out. I lost that today, baby. I have a dead hand. No one will want me now. No one... I'll never save another life again, never fix a tiny heart. It's okay. We can now be together -- you, me, Gemma. Here in beautiful Charming. A happy family. Maybe I should smash my other hand. That way I can just stay home, be a mom, raise your babies..." Jax begs Tara to stop, and Tara tearily asks him to leave now. "I can't see you. Anyone. Please, just go." That is the last thing Jax wants to do, but Tara screams, "Go! Go! Go!" with the last "Go!" trailing off into a huge sob. Choking back his own tears, Jax heads out -- and right into Roosevelt.
The sheriff comes by to offer his sympathies, but Jax whispers, "Not now, bro," and heads off. Roosevelt watches him go, frowning sympathetically. When he ambles out of the hall, he runs straight into the rest of SAMCRO, and is greeted by Bobby's "Ah, Christ." Roosevelt calmly notes they found Juice. "No thanks to you," Chibs notes. Roosevelt makes eye contact with Juice and asks for a moment. "Back off!" barks Tig. Juice says it's cool, then makes his way out of the protective clutch of bikers to talk to Roosevelt.
The sheriff gets to the point: "I want to apologize. I'm getting tossed around by this DA just as much as you are. The way I've conducted myself ... I'm sorry." Juice looks furious, and he says bitterly, "A little late for that now." Roosevelt says, "That doesn't mean I can't man up and tell you I was wrong." Juice nods imperceptibly. Roosevelt then adds, "I know what happened to Tara. If you need anything, let me know, OK?" Juice sounds surprised as he says, "Thanks."
So all the SAMCRO people except the one who tried to kill Tara are clustered around Jax and, as per guy code, he is not letting anyone know that she's gone mad with sorrow and his heart is breaking for her. There is the requisite amount of manly hugging, and then everyone takes off except for Opie. Jax says he needs to talk to him.
"I've been lying to you, Ope. That deal I made with Clay about the cartel, it was to get me out too," Jax starts. Opie's all, "Come again?" and Jax states, "I'm leaving SAMCRO, Ope. I was going to jump when Clay retired, but now... I'm out when we get done with this deal with the Irish." Opie is stock still; it's another person who's leaving him. When he speaks, it's to point out, "After my five-year stretch, I wanted out too... you talked me into staying." Jax says plainly, "Yeah. I did. I love you, Ope. You're my best friend." Opie is in tears and says, nearly pleading, "I need you in this club." Jax whispers apologetically, "My family needs me more. You were right, man. I should have let you get out. Donna would probably still be alive. I'm so sorry, bro." Opie can't even speak. Jax urges Opie to make things right with Lyla and his dad -- "hold on to that shit, Ope." He walks out of the waiting room, leaving Opie (again!) to pull himself together alone.
Back at the clubhouse, Juice heads to the parking lot. He sits on a picnic table and watches Clay -- whose face looks a tad bruised -- roll up and then silently stalk into the clubhouse. He then opens a cell phone. "Checking in," he tells the correspondent on the other end. Oh, this could get interesting. If Juice were smart, he'd try to use this Irish meet as a way to get Clay behind bars and get out of the cartel business. I'm betting, however, that we'll see a plot complication where Chibs is likely to go down in the RICO bust.
Chibs and Bobby Elvis are getting busy with some croweaters in the bar area, but they look up when Tig calls out to the bruised-up Clay, "Yo, what happened to you?" Clay doesn't answer, merely heads back to the apartment.
Back at the house, Gemma's smoking some mary jane to handle the pain. The house is darkened, and Unser does not miss how disheveled it is. He asks what's going on, and when Gemma turns to look at him, her face is swollen like Joan Rivers after a fresh surgery, and she's covered in livid red splotches. Unser squeaks, "Clay did this. Goddamn him!" Gemma orders Unser to sit and he splutters, "Sit, hell! We gotta get you to the hospital." Gemma's had enough of that place for the day, and says through her pulpy lips, "Nothing's broken. Just... sit. Please." Unser can't even bear to look at Gemma -- he's nearly in tears. But he asks gently, "What do you need, sweetheart? Just tell me what I can do." "Nothing else to do," Gemma says sadly. She continues, "It's done, Wayne. Clay can't be saved." Unser figures they can point Piney's murder at Clay, but Gemma has a far more literary punishment in mind: Clay will be killed by that which he created. "He's not going down by law. He's going to die by the hand of a Son."
Y'all, I rewound the last 40 seconds of that episode twice to verify the article there. Gemma says, "A Son," not "THE Son." So start your bets as to who does it here. Will it be Opie, as revenge for Clay murdering his wife and his father? Will it be Bobby Elvis, as a desperate attempt to save the club? Will it be Tig, who loves Gemma and will probably not be too cool with this? Will it be Jax? We have four episodes in which to see.
Lisa Schmeiser lives Oakland-adjacent. She's a reporter/editor/blogger. And on the off-chance anyone reading is a literary agent, drop her a line at lschmeiser@gmail.com, would you?
Think you've got game? Prove it! Check out Games Without Pity, our new area featuring trivia, puzzle, card, strategy, action and word games -- all free to play and guaranteed to help pass the time until your show starts.
What are people saying about your favorite shows and stars right now? Find out with Talk Without Pity, the social media site for real TV fans. See Tweets and Facebook comments in real time and add your own -- all without leaving TWoP. Join the conversation now!