By Sobell
This episode felt subdued, as was fitting for an episode dealing wholly with the aftermath of Opie's death and Gemma's feckless personal life. I suspect when we look back later on this season, this will be a pivotal point, however. Let's count the ways.
Even King Solomon would have lost patience with this nonsense: Wendy continues to remind people that she exists, something that threatens Tara to no end. The former and current Mrs. Teller do manage to have a civil conversation in which Wendy makes the very salient point that Tara can continue this “There can be only one!”-style method of mothering for only a few more years, because Abel will eventually go digging on his own once he's a teen. Mindful of the damage that's unspooled over the last four seasons as Jax excavated his own family's history, Tara decides that they really should say something to Abel about Wendy. Some time. The point is, the Wendy threat gets neutralized in this episode and Gemma loses some leverage there.
Nero, may I sleep with danger? Following the bust of the Best Little Cathouse in Charming, Carla and Nero face total ruin. They're looking for someone at whom to point fingers, and the blame gets bounced from Gemma to Clay to Emma Jean. (Everyone thinks she called Vice; Emma claims she did not.) Nero attempts to placate everyone by sending some vatos to kill Emma (per Carla's wishes) but asks Jax and Chibs to find Emma first and get her out of town. They do so, but because this is SAMCRO, the entire caper is beset with bad luck and many shouty postmortems. After the dust settles, Jax recognizes that Nero is a) motivated to make lots of money and b) short a brothel, so he ropes him into a new business deal: set up a new type of escort service with the Caracara roster. This deal serves all parties: the guys rake in money from the sex workers, Nero gets a business back, Jax moves the club away from guns and toward other lines of revenue. (Shades of season two here …) But here's the most significant development: Jax is tired of the business and personal being all mixed up, so he asks Nero to consider which he prefers: a business opportunity or banging Gemma. It takes Nero less than a minute to decide he'll always regard Gemma fondly as he's counting huge wads of money.
When you're bad to Carla, Carla's bad to you: Nero's business partner has been engaging in some rudimentary logical deduction, and all her conclusions seem to point to the following: Everything bad that has happened to her in the past two weeks is Gemma's fault. Which is probably true, but that's not going to stop Gemma from goading Tara – who is carrying around a lot of rage over the whole Wendy thing, as well as the whole my-operatin'-hand-is-basically-a-collection-of-broken-pretzels-in-a-rubber-glove thing – into putting the hurt on Carla under the pretext of Carla putting Jax in peril. The brawl is disgusting, Tara ends the episode sulking in a garage and smoking pot, as opposed to being sober and home with the children she so rigorously claims as hers, and really, who would have thought five years ago that Wendy would end up the model of stability?
Farewell, Opie: He's sent off in a manner many primitive tribes would recognize, as everyone affiliated with SAMCRO tucked something into the coffin so as to help Opie hold a yard sale in the afterlife. Lyla is understandably freaking out over the prospect of her single-mom workload tripling, and Jax assures her that the club will be there to pick up the slack. Given the track record we've seen among the patched-in guys so far, I feel confident that little Piper, Kenny and Ellie will be well tended if Filthy Phil is on the case. (I also feel that Filthy Phil is the most logical choice, since the children are already used to freakishly large men in leather jackets.) In what is possibly the greatest sign of love and respect SAMCRO can give to one of their own, the wake and funeral are drama free.
Two boys are biking down a dusty path when they hear the rumble of motorcycles. They stop to watch as Jax and his crew go by. Jax turns to look at them and for a moment, time slows: all we see is Jax staring at the two friends, impossibly still as the trees slowly blur around him. Then the moment passes and Jax leads his club back to the first day of their post-Opie lives.
Meanwhile, Gemma awakes to find herself locked in a jail cell and about to be conscripted into an all-hooker number of "He Had It Coming," if the way Carla's prowling around is any indication. Carla lays out why she's so unhappy and it's not because she's been the same bandage dress and hooker heels for 24 hours straight now and body parts are going to begin falling off due to lack of circulation. The reason? Someone called the cops on the Best Little Cathouse in Charming and, according to amateur logician Carla, it had to be either the young woman Gemma beat up or the old man she's ditched for Nero. Either way, it's all Gemma's fault. Before things get tricky, Gemma's been bailed out. She is not particularly gracious in her goodbyes.
Stunner! It's Wendy who bailed out Gemma. After some tart words about which charges have been dropped (prostitution) versus which ones are still alive (assault), Gemma tries to pull the poor-me act with "I don't know who else to call," and Wendy chortles, "You must be really running out of friends if I'm your emergency contact number." Gemma deflects, asks how much she owes Wendy, then thanks Wendy. The other woman acidly says, "No problem. It's the least I could do after you helped me with Tara. I should have known listening to you would just make things worse." Gemma does not look thrilled to have been called out for that little stunt, but she does correctly note that as a grown adult with free will, Wendy always had the option of not listening to Gemma. She asks, "So why'd you help me." Wendy says philosophically, "Putting coin in the karma bank. Come on -- I'll give you a ride home."
Gemma decides that she'd rather get a ride home with Nero and since she's no longer dependent on Wendy for a ride, Gemma can now swipe her claws at Wendy by reminding her that Tara's not the only parent of Abel's to whom Wendy must make a case and that so far as Jax is concerned, Wendy's the woman who tried to kill his firstborn. Wendy sighs, "I know," and heads out, presumably to sit in her car and repeat the Serenity Prayer for an hour or so.
Meanwhile, Gemma's learning that Nero's companionator obligations mean he won't be taking her for a post-bail Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity, as he has to bail out the rest of his ladies. Gemma tries to lay the foundation for the damsel-in-distress play with a wide-eyed "They blame me!" and discovers, much to her chagrin, that Nero's all, "Well? Should they?"
Meanwhile, Gemma's learning that Nero's companionator obligations mean he won't be taking her for a post-bail Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity, as he has to bail out the rest of his ladies. Gemma tries to lay the foundation for the damsel-in-distress play with a wide-eyed "They blame me!" and discovers, much to her chagrin, that Nero's all, "Well? Should they?"
The guys have rolled up to the clubhouse, where Tara is waiting with both the boys. There is a sweet little family reunion and then Jax eases Tara into her old lady obligations by asking her to check in on Lyla. You will recall that the Tara of yore used to recoil at the idea of being lumped in with the likes of porn actresses and hookers; this one merely promises to reshuffle some patient appointments for Lyla. As if we need more proof that Opie's death will be cementing the passing of the torch from one generation to the : Gemma doesn't even know about Opie's death yet and Tara's in the middle of making arrangements for the evening's memorial.
Then it's time for church. Jax fidgets at the table as he says, "I think Opie's been looking for a way out since Donna died." Flash to Tig, who is suddenly aware that he may have helped push Opie to his end in more ways than one and cut to Clay -- who was forcing Tig's hand every step of the way -- and Jax concluding, "Opie's never been right since. He went out a warrior." Chibs adds, "We wouldn't be sitting here if it weren't for him."
Clay then craps all over the moment by saying, "No doubt Ope made his own choice -- it's Pope forcing that choice that concerns me." Tig immediately replies, "Jax did all he could -- all he could -- to push back the threat. Two of the former nomads don't really see how a short-term 50% cut really falls under the rubric of "doing all he can" and Jax quells them with, "We never rubbed up against a guy like Pope -- an OG sitting at a table with judges, senators, CEOs." Bobby Elvis -- who really should be wearing a patch reading, "BRAINS OF THE CLUB" -- says, "He could kill us as easily with a phone call as with a bullet. We're just white smoke to this dude." Jax proposes, "We agree to his terms. Maybe we can even use this guy to our advantage." Clay is all, "'splain, please?" and Jax points out that being in good with Pope will surely help erase any lingering race problems the club has. In a business capacity, anyway. Everyone is free to continue seeing other ethnicities as a problem within the privacy of their own thick skulls. Happy begins pushing for retaliation against the four guys who killed Opie and Clay gleefully continues to stir the discord by claiming that surely, this is all related to some hateful wave of race-motivated home invasions. Jax shuts that down, pointing out that he's already raised the issue with Pope and eliminated any of his crews as the suspects. Greg the Peg immediately throws shade on Pope -- don't worry, son, I'm betting you have at least one more episode before anyone twigs to you being part of the home invasion crew! -- and Jax finally tells him to shut it because right now, everyone should be soiling their britches in fear over what Pope can do. What Jax is proposing is to take the Pope deal until they can figure out a tactical advantage of some sort. Then it's on to the line of business: "The body should be here this afternoon. Let's do this right."
Everyone heads outside after the meeting, just in time for Unser to roll up and provide exposition on Gemma's night. Clay winces when he hears that Gemma was part of the raid on the brothel -- this, to me, suggests that perhaps Clay is the one who called in the tip. Jax and Chibs decide they can go see if Nero wants their particular brand of help and Tig says, "We'll take care of everything for Opie." This opens the door for Unser to ask what exactly needs to be taken care of. Clay tells him, "He never made it out of County." Unser winces and replies, "Oh, Christ -- how?" "How do you think?" Clay snaps, but his heart isn't in it. Unser is left to blink and take in the loss; Bobby gently tells him to come by later and say goodbye.
Carla and Nero enter the Best Little Cathouse in Charming, followed closely by Gemma. Carla seeks the chaos the raid left and nearly breaks down; Nero is far more subdued. Oh wait, I spoke too soon. He's not taking the news of the eviction too well. Gemma stands there silently, not even trying to tidy anything up.
Wendy is in the hospital when she runs into Tara taking the boys to day care. She visibly falters when she sees Abel, but schools her voice to sound normal and says, "I was just on the way to your office." Tara, who is also faking normalcy for the boys, says brightly, "I'll meet you there, okay?" As Wendy watches Abel walk off, she fights off tears.
Tara lets Wendy into her office and Wendy is apologizing with, "I'm sorry -- I didn't know you had them in daycare here." "Don't sit down. You're not staying," Tara interrupts. Wendy says, "I hope you never have to experience what I just felt in that hallway, having your own son walk by you and have no idea who you are." Tara points out, "That's not my fault." What I'm more interested in here is how Gemma so clearly sees Tara as an alienating force between herself and Jax, and Wendy unequivocally identifies Tara as the alienating force between herself and Abel, and Tara is wholly unrepentant in both situations. This makes me wonder what dreadful thing awaits her relationship with her sons in the two seasons. ANYWAY. The point to this scene is that Wendy owns her past behavior, she is sorry for the prior day's conversation, and "I understand what you're doing. I would probably be reacting the same way. But there has to be a part of you that knows that what I'm asking for isn't just for me. It's about what's best for Abel." Tara says she's the judge of that and Wendy points out that her tenure in that position will be coming to an end once Abel's a teenager. "You can stop me from getting to him, but you can't stop him from wanting to find me. He's going to want to know the truth. He's going to want to know about me. So please, just think about that," Wendy says. Tara looks stricken, perhaps because every ridiculously awful thing in her life from the past few years has stemmed from Jax trying to uncover the truth about his dad against the wishes of his mother.
Jax and Chibs arrive at the Best Little Cathouse in Charming, much to Nero and Carla's general eye-rolling. Jax asks what happens and Gemma's forced to admit she lost her cool all over a former Disney star and now Carla thinks that Gemma's beatdown is responsible for the escort going straight to the Vice department. As Gemma protests, "We don't know that for sure," Jax groans, "Jesus Christ -- go home, Mom." Nero fails to jump to her defense -- funny how a relationship cools in the wake of a little losing-your-livelihood incident -- and Gemma mutters, "I'll let myself out."
Jax offers to do whatever he can to help and before Nero can take him up on it ("How are you with alphabetizing paperwork?"), he's distracted by a conversation with two of his vatos, who exposit about a third who's in the hospital and establish that they adore Carla and will happily go kill Emma Jean on her say-so. Nero indirectly gives the nod to these guys going and killing Emma Jean, but the minute they're out the door, Nero calls Jax and Chibs over and says, "You want to help? Save the chick your mom almost killed before my guys finish the job." The bikers exchange a look like, time, we'll just offer to bring over a Swiffer and a cross-cut shredder, and Jax asks, "How's your crew going to feel about you moving behind their back?" Nero assumes a pious expression and begins splitting hairs: "No treason... I'm thinking out loud here. I'm hoping someone's listening." Chibs sighs as he asks where Emma Jean might be found; it will surprise nobody to learn she's holed up at some fleabag doing a little freelance work. Look for the little cardboard hearts hanging from the door. "How romantic," Chibs mutters. Jax promises that he'll call when they have her and that is Carla's cue to call the vatos. Two can listen in on Nero and come to their own conclusions, after all.
Speaking of scheming women on the north side of 40, here's Gemma! She's stalking through the clubhouse and toward the fitness room and our first takeaway in this scene is that Theo Rossi has apparently given up carbs for religious reasons. Also, should his character ever get written off the show, he could probably make a living as an artisanal cheese grater; simply lift the T-shirt and rub a rind of parmesan up and down those abs.
Ahem. I have drifted beyond the point to this scene. Gemma comes in and asks everyone who is not named "Clay" to kindly interrupt their workout so she can talk to her ex. Bafflingly, instead of reminding Gemma that Clay is the one who patched in and not her, the guys exit. Gemma gets to the point: "Nero lost his place. Looks like that little skank you tapped ratted him out to Vice." Clay correctly points out that this is not his problem. Gemma wants to know why Clay visited the Best Little Cathouse in Charming in the first place and Clay replies, "Why do you think? I needed to know you were safe. Now I know." This infuriates Gemma, who snarls, "I need distance, Clay. Stop checking up on me." Clay replies, "You want to drink yourself stupid, you want to lay down with spic 'bangers, knock yourself out. You want distance, you got it. I don't even know who you are anymore." The idea of Clay gaining the moral high ground in this grudge match infuriates Gemma and she sasses, "Why don't you bounce my face off the floor? Then maybe you'll recognize me." Clay seethes for a moment and then dismisses Gemma with, "I gotta get ready for Ope's thing." "What thing?" Gemma asks. Clay stills a moment, wipes his face, then: "Jax didn't tell you." Gemma presses, "Tell me what?" Clay seems to age another five years before he wheezes, "Ope... got killed in county. The wake's tonight." Cut to Gemma, all her protective hardness stripped away. You will recall that Opie used to call her "Mom." She probably helped "raise" him -- inasmuch as any second-generation SAMCRO rider was raised -- once Mary left Piney. She's know him since he was boy. Gemma crumples and when Clay heads over, she clings to him desperately for a moment before pushing away and heading into the bathroom for a long howl. "What the hell's happening to us?" she asks.
Jax and Chibs have found Emma. Using only a small amount of subterfuge, Jax manages to get Emma to open the door to him and he tells the john to go. (The john does. Amusingly, Chibs smacks his bottom as he runs out the door.) Jax then tells Emma what happened over at the Best Little Cathouse in Charming and that she's been fingered as the prime suspect for calling Vice. Emma protests that it wasn't her and Jax is all, "It doesn't really matter at this point, as nearly everyone on this show is prone to killing people based on half-baked assumptions. Time to get you out of town!"
Alas, just as Emma gets on the back of Jax's bike, the vatos pull up. Fiasco and Lupe assure Jax they can "take it from here," which is surely one of the more oblique euphemisms for "we'll murder a woman in cold blood" this show's trotted out and Jax replies by peeling out. And now, the episode's obligatory exciting chase scene set to loud music!
At one point, Emma's foot slips off the pedal and she burns her ankle on the exhaust pipe. Which, owwwwwwwwwch. (I spent a few years in the '90s dating guys with bikes and that happened to me once. I still have the scar.) It's enough to make Emma flinch, the bike bobbles and Jax ends up wiping out into someone's front yard, knocking over their bathtub Virgin Mary and everything.
Oh, good, it's a house where small children live with their mother! That will not make the alfresco confrontation between SAMCRO and the vatos freighted with awkwardness or anything! The vatos pull out their guns as they walk toward SAMCRO plus hooker, and so the SAMCRO boys draw in response and Jax hollers, "Not here! Not here!" Lupe drawls that they only want the girl, and that is when the mom whose yard is now being used as a parking lot comes out to see what all the fuss is about. Jax turns and waves her back inside, thereby demonstrating the leadership skills that explain why he gets to wear the president's patch. Oh, wait, Chibs is stepping up too: "Look around. I don't think we want to be doing this for an audience." Lupe and Fiasco develop an extremely prudent case of the stage fright and everyone puts away their guns. Fiasco tells Jax he's making a mistake and Jax bluffs, "This whore shit all over our club. Got my mom locked up. This is our get." Ah, but Lupe has some strategic concerns: they want to use Emma as a warning to any other would-be Vice squealers. Jax says, "Use us as your message. Tell your crew you sent the biker boys to do your bitch work." Chibs adds, "We all want the same thing here. No sense in us all killing each other over a piece of gash." Chibs, you silver-tongued devil, how you do go on. The vatos demand proof that SAMCRO will follow through on the killing; Fiasco says, "I want her thumb. And her tit." Jax asks, "Really?" and you can see the thought bubble appear reading, "How has this become my life?" Chibs gives a patently insincere smile, no doubt wondering how they're going to swing the thumb-and-tit job. As they take off, Jax whispers an apology to the family whose front yard he just wrecked with his drama.
Back at the clubhouse, Nero pulls up with Carla and acts all confuzzled about why Chibs and Jax are radiating irritation. Chibs explains: "Your boys showed up at the hotel the same time we did." Jax steps in: "Almost ended up in a 'hood slaughter. We convinced them that we'd finish her off --" "So what we need now is a digit and a tiny titty to prove it!" Chibs finishes. He seems especially outraged by that request. Nero seems taken aback by the vatos' new trophy-gathering hobby. Then he musters his wits and realizes that Carla must have set Lupe and Fiasco on SAMCRO. Carla nods and owns it like a boss, saying, "I was protecting you. If your crew found out what you did, they'd crush you. They'd ruin everything that we've built." Nero is all, "'We,' kemosabe?" Jax looks at his mom and says, "Sounds like a move someone else would pull. Let's call it even." Jax assigns Rat to Carla-watching duty -- presumably, this is what the patched-in members do when they can't hang with the sippy-cup set a la Filthy Phil -- and then turns around to get a face full of Gemma.
His mom demands to know why Emma's on the property and Jax tells her that's none of her business. Gemma huffs, "No, it's not. But it should be yours." Jax steps right into Gemma's personal space and says quietly, "You know what, Mom? I kind of have a few things on my plate today, like burying my best friend. So your need to be loved, worshipped and adored is a little low on my list today." He stalks off, and Gemma blinks because her brain has short-circuited. The man I'm having relations with isn't bowing to my every whim? I'm the last to know about major club news? My son isn't even pretending to placate me? Did I wake up in some alternate universe? That would explain so much.
Emma steps forward and chirps that nothing happened between her and Clay; all she did was give him a shoulder rub. She also reiterates that she didn't call the cops. Nero is all, "Welp, that's that! I gotta go get this girl out of town!" He gives Gemma's hand a quick squeeze -- something that does not elude Chibs' narrow-eyed notice -- and takes off with Emma. (Start the pool now on whether Nero actually does deliver her out of town or merely finishes her off himself. I will go on record with my crackpot theory: Nero wants out of the Best Little Cathouse in Charming and/or Carla, and he called Vice himself. And because Emma is a tad too believable, the only way suspicion does not blow back on Nero is if he kills Emma.) ANYWAY, Chibs is now tasked with asking the SAMCRO-friendly coroner if he can spare a thumb and a breast. I really feel for whatever Crow-eater is going to have to sleep with him to get the job done. (See also: Season 1, where Jax seduces a Crow-eater with the express purpose of whoring her out to the coroner.) Chibs sighs all, This is my life. Then he heads over to console Gemma: "You know he loves you more than anything, Mom. Just give him some room."
Inside the president's office, Jax is looking at a picture of himself with Opie; they're boys and they're sitting on their bicycles. Tara knocks and Jax lets her in. He lies about how he got his injuries and Tara leans over to see the stack of photos scattered on the desk. They all center around Wendy and Jax. They're remarkable in how it is screamingly evident that these two had no business having a conversation with one another, much less intercourse. Jax assures Tara he'll be tossing the photos of his ex and Tara muses that perhaps they need to keep them so that Abel can have evidence of where he came from. She explains that "We have to tell him the truth, Jax." In a mordantly hilarious display of whatever the opposite of self-knowledge is, Jax replies, "No, we don't." He justifies it by claiming that Abel's neonatal medical challenges plus the kidnapping make for an inordinate amount of trauma and he doesn't want to confuse him more. "We can talk about this again when he's older, but until then, no other woman is going to call him 'son' but you," he promises and Tara melts all over him right there. Too bad Opie's corpse shows up to kill the mood.
Skeeter promises the guys that "He's all dressed. He looks good," and then everyone hoists the coffin. Amazingly, it only takes six men. Granted, one of them is Filthy Phil, but still... them SAMCRO boys is wiry strong! Jax heads over to deal with Lyla, who's got the faintly concussed look of someone who can't believe what her life has turned into without any notice. Jax tells Lyla that he's so sorry and folds her into his arms. It's a nice moment, one where Jax is embodying another facet of club leadership.
So, despite being beaten to death with a lead pipe, then having his body abused for minutes at a time by four feral felons, Opie is apparently having an open casket wake. And he looks remarkably good. (Whenever there's some character's funeral on television, I always wonder if it's just a life model of the actor or if some poor soul had to show up for work and spend all day lying still.) Lyla goes in to visit the body with Jax at her side, and Bobby ushers everyone else out. Jax tells Lyla to take as much time as she needs, but it turns out Lyla's not just wracked with grief; she's panicking at the prospect of her parenting load tripling. "How am I supposed to care for those kids and earn a living?" Lyla asks. Jax mansplains, "Just like every other single mother. You get help. Friends, family --" "My mom lives two hours away. I don't have family up here," Lyla clarifies. Jax draws back the room's shades and points to the bustling scene out in the clubhouse's main room: giant bikers coming in with the girlfriends, their girlfriends carrying covered dishes or giant funeral bouquets. Jax says, "That's your family. You need anything, just ask. Anyone says no, they answer to me." Lyla merely nods, perhaps wondering if this is the kind of help and family she really needs.
Further underscoring how removed Gemma's become from the club, she's stuck in her office while the business of grief commences across the yard. But when Nero pulls up, she's careful to walk right out and mack on him in plain sight of Bobby, Chibs and Clay. Why she is allowed anywhere on the grounds is simply baffling; by cutting ties with Clay, she's ceased to be his old lady and so shouldn't be hanging around the club, right? This is just contrived and awkward. Also, Nero needs to stop wearing earth tones because they do nothing for him.
Jax catches this display and he catches the older bikers' reaction to it too. He rolls over and asks if Nero got Emma out safely. Nero claims, "She's on a plane. Back to the heartland," and again, I'm betting that "she's on a plane" means "She's bleeding out" and "Back to heartland" means "Her body will be discovered in San Leandro Bay during low tide." Jax then asks Nero if he's got a minute, as "I want to bounce something off you." Gemma looks piqued by this and watching Carla smoke in the garage doesn't do anything for her mood.
So! Here is what Jax would like to discuss with Nero: the economics of prostitution in the San Joaquin valley. Nero says his girls do "On average, three to five dates a day, take in a minimum of a few hundred a client. A touring girl like Emma Jean, she can do triple that." Jax asks if Nero's happy with that return. He should damn well be -- he's not the one who's buying Astroglide by the barrel, the girls are. Nero reveals, "I got an endgame here, mano. $1.3 million. I'm going to buy my uncle's spread down in Norco. Twenty three acres. My kid loves animals. I'm going to give him a goddamn farm." Jax smiles benevolently, "I like that. How close are you?" "Not nearly close enough," Nero says. Jax says, "Maybe I can help you get there a little faster. [Caracara] is a porn biz we used to handle. Most of these girls, they gotta supplement [their work] with the porn star experience, $1500 to $5000 a date. They need a booker." Nero's hands shake with excitement as he asks if Jax still has access to all of them. Jax does. He leans forward and says, "There's an old Elks lodge for rent out on Route 88. It's the perfect location -- no neighbors, close to major highways. I'll cover all the new start-up costs. Then we split everything 50/50." Why is Jax being so generous? Because Opie's made him assess the future: "I gotta start moving us away from the shit that's killing us." (And good luck with that while you're still on the hook to the CIA, but let's put a pin in that complication until a later episode, eh?) Nero says, "If we were to do a deal, it would have to be completely clear of all of your other traffic." Jax is down with that. He's also got a condition: "I can't mix business and family. The shit with [Gemma], Clay and Tara -- it's deep, man. It will bleed all over us." Nero asks, "You sure that's a business request, not some twisted Mommy thing?" Jax purrs, "I untwisted my Mommy thing a long time ago. You gotta stay clear of Gemma." It takes Nero all of ten seconds (I counted) to agree. The men are shaking on it.
Honestly? I think this was Nero's endgame all along. He wanted out of his partnership with Carla and he wanted access to name-brand hookers (i.e. porn actresses) and he knew that he could get the latter by ingratiating himself with SAMCRO. So it's a matter of whoring himself out a little to Gemma, using the chaos the club generates as a cover for destroying his business and now he's got a whole new venture that he doesn't have to outlay capital to launch, and all it cost was a few hours of companionator charm. I will be pleasantly surprised if I'm wrong.
Gemma's actually paid Wendy back and she takes the opportunity to tell Wendy about Opie, then rubs it in that Wendy's persona non grata in the clubhouse so she can't go pay her respects. Then, weirdly, Gemma pulls Wendy in for a hug with "Come here, honey." Wendy manages not to pull away immediately, but peels off, biting back tears as she goes. Gemma watches, stone-faced. As Wendy walks off, she passes Tara, seeming not to see her. That does not work both ways, alas, so Tara comes over to Gemma breathing fire. Gemma dismisses her with, "Relax," and when Tara grabs Gemma's arm and says, "Do not ignore me," Gemma gives Tara the full force of her attention in the form of a shove up against a wall. Tara pushes Gemma off with a reflexive, "Get your hands off me!" Gemma looks out her office window and sees Carla; we see the giant light bulb go off over Gemma's head and she coolly manipulates the angry Tara into getting into a massive, bloody, hair-pulling brawl with Carla. Complete with Carla taking off her earrings before she begins putting the hurt on anyone. It is just... did anyone here have any respect left for Tara? Because if you did, I'm sure it's on the floor to Carla's earrings.
While Tara's brawling with hookers, Jax is on the rood of the clubhouse, alone in his grief. We see the members of the club -- and their friends and hangers-on -- leaving items of significance in Opie's coffin. Chibs leaves a rosary, for example. We also see Nero helping the battered Carla into the truck. She gets in and gives Gemma an oddly triumphant look. Then Nero turns to look at Gemma and his gaze is flatly reproachful. Gemma watches him go, realizing that once again, she should probably look up the definition of "Pyrrhic victory." Tara's hiding in the machine shop, cradling her blood-drenched cast and sparking a doob. (Hey, where are those children she is so adamant are hers? Come to think about it, where are Opie's children? Or his mom?)
Jax looks at the photo of himself and Opie. The bigger, redheaded boy -- Opie, one presumes -- is looking at the camera with a clean and sunny grin, while his little blond friend is sitting slightly behind him, observant and amused. It takes Bobby Elvis to pull Jax down to the business of saying goodbye to Opie.
As Jax walks into the clubhouse, everyone rises and follows in his wake. Lyla's standing by Gemma -- Tara's fallen down on the job here -- but Jax passes them both to go in and look at Opie laying in state among the items he'll be carting into afterlife. Jax fights tears as he tucks the picture of the two of them into Opie's jacket, just above his heart, then whispers, "I'll see you later, brother." Clay watches Jax and fights back his own tears. (For whom do you suppose he grieves? For himself at the moment he killed his own best friend? Or for the man he calls "son?") Gemma watches Clay and her face softens slightly.
Then Jax leads the process out of the clubhouse. Opie's borne up by the regulars, ex-Clay (who is clearly too weak) and Gemma and Lyla follow immediately after. Tara finally comes drifting out of the garage to bear witness. The men slide the coffin back in the hearse as Clay and Jax watch, and then everyone stands around and stares significantly. Opie's sent off in a sea of silence, with Jax finally closing the door on his body. As Jax does, the soundtrack sings, "I will not let the future go on/without the help of my soul." Opie had been the soul of the club, free of any overly thinky agenda. Let's see what the future holds for SAMCRO now that its soul is gone.
Lisa Schmeiser is an Oakland-adjacent reporter and blogger. She'll always talk with you about this show on Twitter and she blogs at Penny Wiseacre.
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