Liar, Liar, Nothing on Fire -- This Week

S05E10

A lot of plot points got set up this week, just in time for the back stretch of episodes that will take us to Christmas. Let's review the developments:

Juice, squeezed: Roosevelt breaks the news to Juice that Jax has figured out who is the rat at the table. Juice takes it about as well as can be expected. Back at the club, Chibs reluctantly confesses to Jax and Bobby Elvis that he knows what leverage Roosevelt and the Feds used on Juice: "His old man's black." Jax gives Chibs a look like, Wait, we still think this is a thing? and Bobby Elvis speaks for us all with, "You've got to be kidding me." Anyway, the guys can't really bring themselves to kill Juicy just yet – besides, it will be bad for business – but after things calm down, Jax says, "We bring him to the table, let him hang himself." Jax then has a talk with Juice where he claims he can give Juice a "pardon" for his actions and keep the whole mess from hitting the table, and all it will require is for Juice to get back the legal documents Clay got back from the nomads' "invasion" of his house. This task will be made considerably harder by the fact that Clay's playing Juice like a harp: "I'm exhausted, son. Just watch my back, please."

Mother stands for "comfort": Tara goes completely off the rails this episode. Well, we knew it was going to be bad when she violated the cardinal rule of infant parenting – "Never wake a sleeping baby" – by frightening the slumbering Thomas into wakefulness so she could feel useful/needed/wanted while she comforted him. But then her brainlessness sinks to new depths of irresponsibility. She brings Otto a crucifix of LuAnne's – conveniently forgetting that a cross is basically a collection of sharp points – and Otto uses it in his agreement to make his RICO testimony go away. How, you ask? By stabbing that nice Nurse Karina in the neck, thus guaranteeing that his testimony gets recanted/discounted, coming as it does from a known psycho killer, and that Tara gets tagged as an accessory to murder.

Clay Morrow, criminal mastermind: So not only has Clay managed to figure out all the plot twists from last season – RICO! The Galindo cartel in bed with the CIA! – he manages to plants seeds of doubt with Romeo regarding Jax's honorable intentions and sets up a side deal with Romeo in case things with Jax head south.

(Also, Gemma seduces Clay with a cartload of groceries, and it is awful, because she's crying, and we all know that it's not because she's so happy to be back in Clay's big meaty arms. At this point, I am kind of rooting for Nero to figure out what's going on, and to beat Jax into the middle of season.)

This just in: Jax is a lying liar who lies! So the MC prez is busy lying to all sorts of people, but the most startling one this episode was T.O., because he promises not to kill T.O.'s cousin (who was involved in killing Opie) and ends up shooting the guy in front of T.O. Here's hoping that blowing up a 20-year working relationship was what Opie wanted as part of his legacy!

Lisa Schmeiser is an Oakland-adjacent writer, reporter & blogger. She wishes she could dispatch prospects to go on Costco runs for her.

This episode picks up right where the last left off: Jax is tailing Juice back to his house -- by the way, Juice has a remarkably nice mid-century bungalow -- but he has to ease off when he sees a few cops sitting in front of Juice's house. The uniforms take Juice in under the pretext of questioning him about the attack at Unser's place, and Juice asks, "Now?" I'm sure he'll find the timing very convenient later.

Back at Teller-Morrow motors ("This week's special: Bring in your car and we may get to it sometime in 2015"), Gemma toddles into the garage, makes some small talk with Chibs, and he sweetly rubs her shoulders and asks how she's feeling, "Tired and hated," Gemma replies. Chibs says, "I heard you've been banned. Tara will come 'round." Gemma says obliquely, "We're working on that." Chibs then asks about Gemma and Nero -- "Something happen there?" -- and Gemma snarls, "Who wants to know?" "Just me, love," Chibs says gently, and WHAM! I'm reminded of their conversation in Season Two where Chibs went to Gemma with his concerns about the ATF leaning on him, and how Gemma's instinct was to hold him while he cried. (I must say, Kurt Sutter is not, perhaps, the most subtle writer on the planet, but I love how he's been slowly developing this theme of people repeating cycles of behavior through the series.) Anyway, moving on past the meta-analysis, Chibs moves the conversation to Clay and says, "I think he still loves you," and Gemma asks, "How do you know that?' "Same way you do," Chibs responds.

Bobby then rolls in with the express purpose of bringing Chibs up to speed on the behind-the-scenes machinations of the past few months and catches sight of the insomniac Gemma in her office. "She okay?" he asks. "I think our mother is feeling a bit lost," Chibs replies. Man, everything sounds so classy and profound when it comes wrapped in a Caledonian burr. Anyway, they roll off-screen to exposit while Gemma sits in her office and quietly cries over a ledger.

Tara goes rattling around the house -- remember Jax was supposed to be home by now, re-introducing her to his own Mr. Mayhem, if you get what I mean -- and when the silence gets to be too much, she goes into Thomas's room, flips on his light and bangs on his toy piano until the poor baby is frightened awake. She then picks him up and soothes him. And for whatever reason, this is what finally pushes me into the "Tara: THE WORST" column. This may possibly be because I gave birth to the worst sleeper in California and so cannot comprehend why on Earth you'd be so ungrateful as to look a gift (sleeping) baby in the cry-hole. Anyway, the whole thing is probably meant to illustrate three things: That Tara is desperate to connect to someone who will offer her pure and unconditional love; that this is how previously-functional people turn into Gemma Teller types who can't ever fulfill their own emotional needs; and that Tara is THE WORST.

So Juice is escorted in Roosevelt's office and given the 411: "Jax knows it was you who gave up the club. You gotta get out of Charming -- now." Juice is horrified that Roosevelt ratted him out, but Roosevelt says, "Jax already knew it was you. I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do? Juice?" Juice hollowly lies, "No. No. I got it."

Now that Chibs has been filled in off-screen, he can sit in church with Jax and Bobby and have a middle-of-the-night meeting. Chibs looks like, all things considered, he'd rather have remained ignorant and in bed. Jax explains, "I had no choice, brother. The secret protected the MC. I'm sorry." Chibs says hoarsely, "I get it. Well, shit. It's all falling apart, isn't it, Jackie? It's turned to shit!" Jax pauses, puts on his Sincere Face, and vows, "Not for long. I see an end." Chibs reluctantly confesses that he knew about the leverage Roosevelt had on Juice and "I didn't want to say anything 'cause I didn't think he would give us up." Jax asks, "What is [the leverage]?" Chibs reluctantly replies, "His old man's black." Cut to Jax all That's a thing? Really, that's a -- oh, wow. So it is. Bobby Elvis speaks for many when he says, "You gotta be kidding me?" Chibs -- who appears to be the only one taking this very seriously -- says, "No. There's no paperwork. Idiot didn't know any better." Jax manages, "Maybe it's time we change a few by-laws." Bobby Elvis concurs. So! Having recognized that in Obama's America, men with black fathers and white mothers can make something of themselves, the bikers move on: What to do about Juice? (Answer: Nothing. For now. Later, "Let him hang himself," Jax decrees, saying that calling Juice out at the table can wait.)

Jax apparently made it home at some point, because Tara's crawling up him to kiss him good morning. That doesn't get his full attention like saying she'll try and see Otto today does. And then Jax is fully awake as Tara tells him Juice is playing with Abel in the living room.

As Jax rolls into the kitchen, his voice is unnervingly cheery as he asks if Juice would like coffee. Juice would not, probably because his heart rate is already at 200 beats per minute and he's threatening to vibrate through the walls out of sheer anxiety. "So what's going on?" Jax asks, still playing the charismatic idiot, and Juice calls him on it: "I know you know. Eli told me, hoping that I'd split. I got no place to go, Jax. No friends, no family. Things would turn to shit no matter where I went." Jax's I-mean-business voice, which is a full octave lower than his amiable-dolt voice, comes out to play: "I know about the leverage. Chibs. Why didn't you tell me?" Juice explains his entire plotline from last season and his motivations, and long story short, Jax lets him know that Juice can "earn" a "pardon" by doing everything Jax wants him to do. "I'll make sure your betrayal never hits the table. It stays between us." And Chibs. And Bobby Elvis. And Clay, whom Juice has conveniently omitted from this narrative.

Well, Clay doesn't stay omitted for long. Jax makes it clear to Juice that his strategic value rests in Clay via some monologuing about all of Clay's dirty deeds thus far this season, and Juice lets slip that Frankie tried to tell him all about Clay's actions shortly before he was perforated by his Italian associates. Remember how the nomads stole a safe from Clay's house but he kept the legal papers from it? Jax now wants Juice to go get those papers because, the reasoning goes, if he has the papers from the safe, he has "proof" that Clay set up the burglaries, did the murders, etc. And that is when Juice decides to confess to Jax that Clay knows about last season's shenanigans, because like Jax, Clay possesses both rudimentary deductive reasoning skills and a healthy motivation for using them.

Jax grows perceptively colder and quietly says, "It's a simple choice, Juice. You help me bring Clay down, or you lose your patch. And I think you know what killing another member gets you." Juice is in. So! Coffee, anyone?

Here's what I find interesting about Jax this season: He's got three people up against the ropes and doing deals with him for their lives -- Tig, Juice and Gemma. He's apparently fine with killing at least two out of three of those people when they've outlived their usefulness. How does this make him any different from Clay?

V-Lin and Rat are staking out Stockton, apparently because the mountain of a human being who bashed in Opie's skull is being released today. They are not the stealthiest tail, driving about as they are in the Teller-Morrow tow truck.

Meanwhile, at St. Turn It Over To The Bikers Already, a lady who is identified on the screen as "Karen" is busy pitching Tara on what sounds like a TV show -- Concerned Lady Doctors Who Love Treating Kids -- but is actually the details of the new job offer up in Oregon. Margaret is beaming through the interview, happily swathed in the fog of denial as she imagines Tara taking the job and leaving the stench of felon bikers behind. Anyway, the whole job situation sounds dreamy, and Tara's dithering on it, because, as we all know now, "Tara: THE WORST."

Back at Teller-Morrow, Jax is asking Gemma for Clay's whereabouts, since his mom apparently needs reminding of what her sole value is for him. Then he rolls over to talk to the mayor, who is sporting the kind of messy hair and scruff that would suggest he's just awoken in an alley after a bender and has no idea what day of the week it is. Anyway, it's time to move the Charming Heights plotline along. Mayor Hale looks super-nervous to be at Teller-Morrow and Jax says, "Relax, mayor. You're my landlord. Nobody thinks you're here to buy guns. Which, of course, we don't sell." Then he gives Hale a shit-eating grin, and there's the ghost of Season One's Jax Teller. This only unnerves the mayor further. The point of this meeting? Jax wants the Charming Heights investor relations packet because he has a prospective investor who might be interested. The last shreds of Hale's self-preservation instincts squeak out a desperate protest and Jax overrides that, gets the investor packet and says, "There's a couple of things I'd like us to be clear on: When this goes through, T-M gets the contract to do all the mechanical work on Charming Heights maintenance vehicles. Subsidized housing for Lyla and her kids -- that's Opie's widow. I appreciate it, mayor. I'll be in touch." He rolls off, smirking at a job well done. I have to applaud him here -- not only is he taking care of his own (no doubt making sure he's got a convenient stakeout in the neighborhood), he's also setting up a legitimate business line for Teller-Morrow.

Naturally, it's time to turn to less savory work. The prospects have reported back on "Hightower" (this is evidently the name of the giant), so the club's off to find him and kill him. Also of note: Jax lies to Bobby about the nature of the meeting with Hale. Then Jax lies to Chibs about hearing from Juice. Either Jax is playing a very long con that will allow him to peel his family free of the club, or he's an even sneakier bastard than Clay was. Then again -- who says it's either/or?

Stockton prison hospital. Nurse Karina exposits two handy pieces of information: the prison infirmary lab is this close to figuring out that Otto doesn't have meningitis, and Otto's being a pain in the ass -- even by Otto standards -- so he's all strapped in. Tara heads in, Otto gives her a spiel about the special (FREAKY) moment they shared in the last episode, claiming, "I haven't cried like that since I was a kid," promises, "I'll make my part of RICO go away," then asks for another boon: LuAnn used to have a big, pointy crucifix of his, and it's got real sentimental value to Otto. Might Tara bring that to him today so he can hold it and contemplate the sorrowful mysteries of the cross? Because she is Tara: The Worst, she sees nothing wrong with this.

Meanwhile, in another wing of the prison, Clay is having a sit-down with Lenny the Pimp for the sole purpose of seeing if Lenny might be able to kill Otto and make this RICO thing go away. Also, Lenny inadvertently lets slip that Jax already knows about the RICO case. This is news to Clay, who was counting on a tactical advantage with the RICO information.

Unser rolls into T-M, here to do Gemma's bidding as per usual. Gemma asks where he's been, as the Airstream is no longer in the Unser trucking parking lot, and Unser dryly says, "I've been asked to vacate the premises. Apparently double homicides are bad for business." Gemma decides that Unser can't be homeless, so invites him to park his trailer in the T-M lot. Then they get down to real talk: Gemma reveals that Clay's the one behind the nomad attacks and Rita's murder, but because Jax can't prove it, he wants Gemma to find "something, anything; that he can take to the table to hang Clay. Is there anything you can think of?" Gemma's doing everything she can to avoid the inevitable with Clay. Sadly, this time, Unser can't help her out.

SAMCRO's pulled up at the club where Hightower is. V-Lin reports that there are bikes in the back, and the minute the club sees the bikes, Bobby moans, "Oh man. Those bikes look familiar." Once inside, we find out why: They belong to the Grim Bastards.

Jax explains to T.O. why they're there -- "We're looking for a guy named Hightower." "Large, black fellow," Chibs helpfully clarifies. "Looks like the word 'obey' should be pasted under his head," Tig adds, and who knew he was a fan of street art? Moving on... T.O. is more than familiar with Hightower for two reasons: Hightower's his cousin -- obviously from a much larger branch of the family tree -- and the man's just hired the club for protection. T.O. had not realized that the reason Hightower asked for protection was because he had killed Ope. Before this discussion can go any further, Hightower's shot at a few people -- felling a Grim Bastard, so it appears he's only got good aim when he's using a pipe -- and then headed out of the club. He hightails it in a van, knocking over all the Sons' bikes, and speeds off.

We transition to the prospects picking the bikes back up and T.O. sorrowfully stating, "We had no idea he was involved in Opie's death, man." Jax, who is incandescent with rage, shouts, "Well! Now you know!" T.O. protests, "He's blood, man. I can't just turn him over. There's got to be some way we can work this out." Jax gets shouty again and Bobby is all, "Jax, a word, please?"

Tig is all for "finding Fat Albert bashing his skull in," which should be Jax's first sign that the club should do the exact opposite of that since Tig is nothing if not a master of non-strategy. Bobby Elvis then provides the second sign by pointing out that the Sons have enjoyed a fruitful and productive business relationship with the Grim Bastards for twenty years, and throwing that away because Jax can't get his kill on at the exact minute he wants to would be a really bad idea. Jax appears to listen, and goes back to T.O. to say, "There were a couple of other guys with your cousin when he took out Opie. Why don't you let us talk to him? We'll get those names, throw him a beating, but we'll let him live." Because T.O. is not acquainted with the Season Five Jax who lies like a fine Persian rug and casually kills everyone he blames for anything, he agrees to this deal.

And now, the long, bald arm of the law! Unser stops by Roosevelt's to say, "You got a minute?" "For what?" Roosevelt asks. "The last piece of the puzzle," Unser says. Roosevelt's got a minute now.

Gemma and Tara meet up outside the prison. Gemma's hopped to on Tara's phone call and has gone through LuAnn's items in storage -- I swear, this club must have rented out an entire block at their local self-storage facility with all the dead people's belongings they apparently cling to -- and she hands over a magnificently ugly rosary. (Would now be a bad time to say how much I miss my childhood glow-in-the-dark rosary? I used to be convinced that if I was ever threatened by the minions of Satan who surely lived under the bed, all I'd have to do was wield my awesome glowing green beads and they'd recoil in holy terror.) Tara thanks Gemma and Gemma points out that the prison guards aren't going to let him have the rosary. As she holds the giant, pointy-stabby end of the cross, Tara blithely says she knows, but it's obvious she's not thinking like a deranged widower biker with a chip on his shoulder. Gemma also notices the doctor's coat and badge, which gives her just enough information to be dangerous later when she decides she's done dancing to Jax's tune. I, for one, think it will be glorious when from Hell's heart, Gemma strikes at Tara: The Worst. But for now, relations between Tara and Gemma are still on the chilly side of cordial.

Clay's set up a meeting with Romeo and Luis to let them know he's on to the RICO case and he's figured out the exact particulars of the Season Four denouement, including the CIA involvement. "What Federal agency could be that devious and that manipulative?" Clay asks. "Education!" Luis shoots back. I kid. BUT OH HOW I WISH IT HAD BEEN SO. Clay then outlines Jax's current scheme: "I think Jax is pushing to kill the RICO case. Which means I go away, the guns go away, and you go away. He's getting to Delaney, the guy who gave 'em history." Romeo and Luis assess this and ask Clay what he wants: "I want protection. When the MC gets out of the picture, you're going to need me. I've got the Galen connection. Him and me will put together a crew, we'll keep the guns flowing your way. Then all you'll need is a mule for your cocaine." Romeo says the MC stays in the picture, on account of their fine work, but Luis cuts in, "But you're right -- if push comes to shove, we'd need you more than Jax." Romeo shrugs, "Out with the new, in with the old. Jax goes away, you get the MC back, everything stays in place." Clay's not having it: "I ain't gonna make that deal." "Sure you are," Romeo says cheerily. He walks off and Luis says, "We'll be in touch." Well, there goes Clay's bid to make a big, showy retirement from the club, then take out his erstwhile "brothers." The cartel has spoken.

Since Jax is in the Oakland neighborhood, it's time for his latest MBA seminar with Damon Pope. He passes over the Charming Heights prospectus and casually mentions that the principle backer is indebted to him. "Good for you," Pope smiles as he pages through. Jax does a self-deprecating pitch -- he doesn't know if it's a good investment so he wanted to run it by Damon, but the mayor is desperate, which is good for leverage. Pope approvingly says, "Thinking beyond the street." "Taking your lead, man," Jax says. Pope is done with the mutual admiration portion of the meeting and inquires as to when he might be able to lay his hands on Tig, as Christmas is drawing near and he finds himself in need of a Yule log. Jax makes the sadface about this, then fills Damon in on another development: "I found out who the insider is who's trying to hurt us: Clay Morrow... my stepfather. I'm still putting together the pieces on how to bring him down, but it's going to be soon. When that happens, you can have Traeger. You have my word." Pope warns, "I'm expecting 'soon' to be soon. If not, I intervene and that's bad for everyone. Oh, yeah -- the guy you're looking for, the one who killed your friend? He's at the boatyard. Canal and Hayward." Having successfully punched all of Jax's buttons regarding guilt, escape, obligation and fear, Pope disappears, presumably to prep his fire pit.

By Sobell

Clay's set up a meeting with Romeo and Luis to let them know he's on to the RICO case and he's figured out the exact particulars of the Season Four denouement, including the CIA involvement. "What Federal agency could be that devious and that manipulative?" Clay asks. "Education!" Luis shoots back. I kid. BUT OH HOW I WISH IT HAD BEEN SO. Clay then outlines Jax's current scheme: "I think Jax is pushing to kill the RICO case. Which means I go away, the guns go away, and you go away. He's getting to Delaney, the guy who gave 'em history." Romeo and Luis assess this and ask Clay what he wants: "I want protection. When the MC gets out of the picture, you're going to need me. I've got the Gaalan connection. Him and me will put together a crew, we'll keep the guns flowing your way. Then all you'll need is a mule for your cocaine." Romeo says the MC stays in the picture, on account of their fine work, but Luis cuts in, "But you're right -- if push comes to shove, we'd need you more than Jax." Romeo shrugs, "Out with the new, in with the old. Jax goes away, you get the MC back, everything stays in place." Clay's not having it: "I ain't gonna make that deal." "Sure you are," Romeo says cheerily. He walks off and Luis says, "We'll be in touch." Well, there goes Clay's bid to make a big, showy retirement from the club, then take out his erstwhile "brothers." The cartel has spoken.

By Sobell

Naturally, the bikers have immediately decamped to the boat yard and tracked down the Grim Bastards. T.O. is not thrilled to see everyone and says, "I talked to him about Opie. The order came down from Pope to take you guys out in county. The GN recruited Hightower 'cause of his size. It was the guards who set up that kill. Cuz had no choice, man. He was in too deep." Jax wants to hear from Hightower his own self, and T.O. asks for Jax's word that he won't kill Hightower. Jax sighs, "Yeah, okay." Cut to Bobby looking incredibly skeptical.

Hightower, who is no idiot, immediately sees them and begins running. Both biker gangs run after him and eventually corner him. T.O. calls, "Randall, they gave me their word, man. Put down the gun." Hightower does. Chibs asks who else was in that room, and Hightower admits that he doesn't know anything beyond their first names -- Aldo, Vox and Mace. (Like a lot of really big men, he has an incongruously soft speaking voice. It makes him seem quite vulnerable despite the fact that Chibs looks like a toddler to him.) Jax listens to this. Then he looks at Chibs, who casually executes Randall. Well, technically speaking, Jax didn't kill Hightower, but it's still close enough for T.O. to look at Jax in disgust and ask, "Who the hell are you?" And once the club's back at T-M, Bobby Elvis has Words with Jax about all this, pointing out, "You just shit on two decades of brotherhood. What you did back there was wrong, but it hurts all of us." Jax screams about how Bobby Elvis wasn't there so he can't say anything, and Bobby just lumbers off in disgust.

Juice pulls up at T-M, Jax menaces him about finding those papers ("Ticking clock, Juice. Soon.") in a manner not unlike that in which Pope threatened him, and as he goes to roll away, Juice calls, "What happens when I do (find the papers)? To Clay?" Jax comes over and says, very quietly, "The same thing that happens to you if you don't find it." This really seems like a dumb negotiating strategy, if only because it's screamingly obvious that Clay has a very strong hold over Juice, and thus Juice is not going to be what anyone could call "all in." Jax should be asking himself instead what it is that Clay has that Juice wants, and working to provide that, not saying, "Help me kill your father figure or I'll kill you." Because I don't think Juice values his own life to the point where he's willing to kill someone he obviously loves.

Anyway, after Jax displays that stunningly bad judgment, he and Unser exchange some small talk along the lines of "So, have you found me anything I can use to kill Clay?" "No. You found anything on Frankie?" "...No." And then Jax says, "You know I'm going to expect some labor in exchange for space." "I'll work on my pole dancing," Unser promises.

Whoosh! We're at Gemma's. She comes out of her bathroom in black satin pajamas, but Clay's sitting on the bed fully dressed. He says, "I know how bad I hurt us, Gem. I guess, uh, I guess I'm just surprised I'm even back here at all." Gemma sits to him and he takes her hand. Gemma's face tightens up again. Clay continues, "You don't have to believe this, Gem, but it's true. The only good that came out of all the chaos I created is that it showed me the one thing I cared about, the only thing I cared about, is you, baby." Gemma is not quite sure what to do with that. (Remember: she was also not quite sure what to do when Nero was so honest with her about his feelings. I would love to know if JT was also prone to bouts of awkward honesty.) Clay continues, "I don't want to do this, be here, unless it's really something you want." And that statement cracks Gemma's reserve and her face softens. Clay says, "I can't handle losing you twice, but judging how Gemma's attached herself to his face, he may not have to." I'm wondering if Clay's speech just pushed Gemma onto Team Clay Will Kill My Son And His Wife And Give Me Custody Of The Kids.

Jax pulls up at his house and notices Roosevelt parked in the front. He asks about Juice, and Jax says, "He's at the clubhouse with the guys." "How? You suddenly struck with a conscience?" Roosevelt asks. "No more than you, sheriff," Jax smirks. Roosevelt says, "Don't compare our guilt!" and Jax points out, "Hey, brother, once you cross that line there is no comparing. There's just that side of the line. Don't worry about Juice. I'll take care of him too." Roosevelt rolls his eyes, because he is all too aware that "take care of" does not mean "bring a six pack over and sit in noncommittal silence until Juice feels comfortable enough to hug it out." Then the two agree that Clay's awful, but Roosevelt warns, "I'm not going to let this one end up back in the dead of a Ford, okay?" Jax says, "I'm open to suggestions," pats Roosevelt's shoulder, and heads inside...

By Sobell

Then Clay heads over to where Gemma's unloading groceries and embraces her from behind. Gemma stiffly turns around and Clay kisses her hands before whispering, "Thank you." We look at Gemma, who is now weeping -- probably not for the reasons that Clay thinks -- and the sexual assault survivor barely manages to hide her recoil from Clay as she braces for more sex she doesn't want, covering with, "Not here. Let's go home."

We're back at prison with Otto and Tara: The WORST. Otto asks Tara to hang the rosary around his neck "just for a few minutes, to my heart," and Tara does, because she is high on the idea that she can get through to Otto and help her man. Otto then asks for a minute alone, and Tara heads out the door with the lab work. The minute she goes, Otto presses his call button and demands of Nurse Karina that he wants out of the infirmary. The orderly uncuffs one of Otto's hands. Tara comes back as Otto's been freed, and THAT is Otto's cue to leap off the bed and junk-punch the orderly, then incapacitate him. He goes after Nurse Karina , pins her to the ground, and holds the crucifix at her throat. Tara takes a knee to him and -- still under the mistaken impression that she had any control over this situation from the moment she began talking to Otto -- asks, "Please. Don't." Otto's response is to feel for Nurse Karina's carotid, say, "Sons live. Redwood bleeds," then stab Nurse Karina in the repeatedly as Tara screams, "No! No! No!" over and over. Otto is eventually wrestled away. Of note: the crucifix is still in his hand.

By Sobell

...To where Tara is smoking the kind of joint that would make Cheech and/or Chong say, "Damn, girl." Not at all alarmed that his sons' primary caregiver is more stoned than a farmwall in New England, Jax asks, "How'd it go today?" Tara says, "Otto reversed his RICO statement..." and Jax asks how. Tara says, "He killed a nurse. Brutally. Now the Feds will have to throw out his testimony." Jax is appalled that Otto did that around Tara. Oh, but it gets worse, Jax. Tara continues, "With a crucifix he gave LuAnn. He asked me to bring it to him. I did." Jax is appropriately horrified. Tara says, "He had it all planned, Jax. He saved the MC, but he needed to hurt you the way you hurt him, someone he loved. They're going to find how he got that murder weapon, who I am, why I was there. [tearily] He made me an accessory to murder."

Jax takes a moment to let this all sink in, then promises, "Babe. I'm not going to let that happen. Okay? We're going to get through this like we do everything else." Tara -- whose day has included waking up her son for no good reason, fielding a dream job offer she doesn't really deserve anymore, getting played for a fool by a homicidal maniac with a grudge, and now this -- leans in and takes Jax's face in her hands. She replies, "That's what scares me more the most." Then she gets up and weaves back toward the bedroom, and I hope like hell Thomas is on formula at this point, because the THC levels in Tara's breast milk would be enough to make pot brownies seem like real brownies.

Jax sits alone at his table, contemplating his move.

Lisa Schmeiser wrote this recap, but she thinks your clicky-clicky time this week would be better spent skipping her Twitter stream in favor of checking out Staten Strong, per Staten Islander Theo Rossi.