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Did it really surprise anyone that Jax double-crossed the law?
This week’s Krazy Kaper is, of course, the job to break Clay out of his prison transport so he can begin a new life as Galen’s sales rep for the gun running business. Jax makes the job easier by telling Patterson one thing (oh, the Irish are going to be at this warehouse in Stockton, look for my guys) and does another (breaks out Clay using a gambit not unlike the whole Mini Cooper scene in The Italian Job only with 100% fewer subways and 100% more unpleasant revelation that nobody looks good in the gray jumpsuits they’re wearing).
Getting Clay is the easy part. The hard part is escaping. One of the two guards on the scene manages to fire off several well-aimed shots, pegging Bobby Elvis, and Juice manages to stop the gunfire only by running over the officer in question. This last point proves hard for Roosevelt and Patterson to swallow.
Once Clay’s at the Irish’s well-appointed hanger, he lays a headtrip on Juice, then discovers that he is not going to trip off into the sunset to the strains of Enya. Jax, Chibs and Tig kill Galen and his two underlings, then tell Clay, “We had a vote. This had to happen.” Then we learn that there’s a second vote – and it’s to kill Clay. The club goes back into the office where the Irish bodies are, and Jax shoots Clay repeatedly.
It is notable that the last person Clay chooses to look at before he dies is Gemma, who looks back at him with nothing but sorrow in her eyes.
When Connor comes in, Jax tells him that he can do one of two things: Swallow Jax’s improbable fiction about who killed whom, then work with August Marks, or he can refuse to swallow Jax’s tale and enjoy watching the Chinese take over the gun market in the days he has left before the heads of the Real IRA decide to shake up the personnel. Connor eventually goes along.
And Jax even leaves a parting present for Patterson: the bodies of Clay and the Irish guys, plus a few cases of KG-9s. She has the means by which to spin an ending to the school shooting story. Will she take it – or will she double down on Tara and the shot at getting the club on RICO? We don’t find out this week.
Things to watch out for, part one: Gemma continues with her assumption that she will be the boys’ mother, even as Nero tries to tell her she’ll be happier if she works things out with Tara and moves toward forgiveness and Unser flat-out tells her that raising the boys as her own is absolutely the wrong thing for the boys. After Nero is present for what goes down in the hangar, he tells Jax he’s about hit his limit for crazy murderous shit.
(And later, when Gemma says to him, “You can always marry me,” Nero says, “No thanks, Mama. I’ve seen what happens to your husbands. It ain’t pretty.”)
Things to watch out for, part two: Tara gets dragooned into caring for the wounded Bobby, and while she’s in the hangar, she watches Jax kill the hated Clay (whom she has wanted dead for two seasons) and speechify about how he’s closing the books on the old business and launching the club in a whole new direction. This seems to soften her toward him – well, that and realizing that she’s basically screwed legally if she tries to divorce Jax – and so when Patterson comes back all, “Sooooo … whatcha doing?” and offers a deal, Tara seems really conflicted about squealing on the man who is helping his mother take away the boys. But she promises a bullet dug out of a club member as part of a deal that could lead to witness protection for herself and the boys. She does sew up Bobby. She does pocket a bullet. Now we’ll see if she goes through with giving up the club.
Quote of the week: “This life, it ain’t romantic or free. There’s no path to anything that makes any sense. It’s just dirty. And sad. We both know it’s going to get worse.” – Unser, trying to talk Gemma out of raising a third-generation biker child.Lisa Schmeiser is an Oakland-adjacent reporter, editor and blogger. She regularly tweets here, blathers about comics here, and posts the oddball personal piece of writing here.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We begin the episode with a glimmer of hope: Tara has finally had the brains to use the futon in Thomas’s room as her crash pad. In a welcome touch of verisimilitude, Thomas coos her awake. (Babies are some of the noisiest sleepers around, and I am danged glad someone finally showed that on TV). Tara checks on Abel, who’s asleep in his bed, notes that nobody slept in the marital bed the night before, then sees the pillow on the couch right as she hears Rat reading the paper in the kitchen.
Unsurprisingly, Tara is fairly chilly toward Rat. She asks, "When I drop them off at day care, who do you watch then?" Rat tells her, "You. But no daycare… Jax doesn’t want them at St. Thomas anymore." In effect, Tara’s under house arrest. She either has to cart the boys everywhere under the club’s supervision or she has to leave them with Jax-sanctioned caregivers. This reminds of the treatment Jimmy O gave Fiona back in Season 3 -- how darkly funny that Jax can’t or won’t see the parallels.
Rat leaves Tara fuming, so much so that she cannot think of the bright side of this situation, which is that Filthy Phil is dead and therefore unable to eat her out of house and home. RIP, you mixing-bowl-full-of-cereal-eating schlump.
Meanwhile, Jax is meeting with Patterson, who is showing him the immunity agreement ("It covers everyone in or associated with the MC") and Tara’s deal -- no jail time, just fines and community service. Jax inspects the paperwork and Patterson assures him, "They’re both signed and approved. They don’t get executed until you deliver Galen O’Shay and the guns." Jax sighs, then gives a location and a time: An old maintenance warehouse on Kilmer Pier, and Galen will be there with the guns sometime between 11 AM and 1 PM. He warns that there will be approximately a dozen "cautious and very well armed" Irish guys, thus guaranteeing that a ton of law enforcement will at that site.
After Patterson takes off, Chibs asks, "Think that helped?" Jax sighs again and says, "I don’t know. At least I’ll know I tried." In the background, a train speeds by. It is in no way a metaphor for the events buffeting the club, I am sure.
Morning at Gemma’s and Nero’s pouring the coffee. Gemma comes bustling out with the breakfast tray she had brought to Wendy. Nero says, “All this stuff you’re doing for her now? Great. Great.” (I take it Gemma has not said, "Funny story! I’m responsible for one of her overdoses, when I suggested she kill herself and gave her a loaded needle. Good times…"). Gemma sips her coffee and Nero presses gently, "Mama? Wendy’s got to get herself into a rehab." Gemma defensively nods and says, "I’ll make the calls. We have a rough history, me and her. I was trying to help her more than hurt her. For a change." Nero smiles, because he loves it when Gemma pretends she’s got a conscience and is capable of repenting her past misdeeds. It fits nicely into his own need to believe that a person’s past sins can be forgiven by present and future reform.
Nero kisses Gemma, then asks, "You think any of this mercy might be able to spill over into Tara’s cup? She’s the mother of your grandson, Gem. That shit ain’t never going to change." Gemma warns Nero to back off and he points out that he’s not unfamiliar with a bone-deep anger toward someone, because he certainly felt it toward Lucius’s mom. “I can chew the hate that I feel for her,” he says. Gemma rolls her eyes and points out, "She’s dead. You’re not.” Nero replies, “Yeah, but I’m the one that’s still got to live with that shit ’cause I never made it right when she was alive.”
Gemma waits just long enough to pretend she’s absorbing Nero’s words) instead of boasting that she’s capable of deep hate, because it’s in the DNA) and then says that she can’t forgive Tara. Nero wisely drops it, then moves to put his coffee cup in the sink. We get a close-up on Gemma’s face, where it seems to be sinking in that she’s no longer with someone who’s going to indulge her ability to hold a grudge. This could seriously cramp her style.
Meanwhile, I’m distracted by that spice rack-cum-dishtowel rack she’s got over the sink. It’s super-cute and looks like something Ikea stocks. And now I’m cracking myself up imagining Gemma trip-trapping through the East Palo Alto Ikea in her killer heels, loading Clay down with all manner of inexpensive Swedish housewares, then hectoring him about hanging up her new Fintorp wall storage just so. Please, someone, work a "SAMCRO goes to Ikea" scene into the series in the season and change we have left. PLEASE.
The scene shows the Sons out in full force, roaring down the highway with all sorts of brothers from different charters. It honestly looks like they’re a modern cavalry riding into war. Or into the credits, at the very least.
Tara pulls into Teller Morrow Motors which, bafflingly, has actual cars and customers. I am dying -- DYING -- to know the state of auto body shops in the San Joaquin county area. Are there just not any other shops? Are the people of Charming terrified that going anywhere else will cause their houses to be burned down and their daughters press ganged into Croweater service? This business’s resilience astounds me.
ANYWAY, the woman who is nuking her own life to keep her children away from the biker culture has to hand off her children to a few random Croweaters and ex-friend Unser. She has to go meet with her new lawyer. As Tara reaches the car, Unser calls out, "I’m sorry the way all this went down. I know your heart was in the right place." Tara does not respond, "Yeah, well, that and two bucks gets me a grande coffee at Starbucks. Which this crap hole dying town doesn’t even have." Instead she replies, "Where my heart is matters very little."
Cue the Greek chorus. Chucky comments to Unser, "She seems really sad." "Lot of that going around," Unser replies. Chucky asks, "It’s not going to get any better, is it?" "Not today, Chucky," Unser sighs.
Cut to all of SAMCRO pulling into the beverage warehouse to get the particulars on the transport breakout plan from Connor.
Tara’s meeting with her new lawyer, who seems very no-nonsense. He may actually have a working grasp of how the law works, since he points out to Tara that when she files for divorce, Jax has the right to refute her testimony in court, which makes everything public record and that can be used in the Toric trial. Tara looks nonplussed, quite possibly because she just realized she wrote Lowen a big check for legal services that basically amounted to "Here’s how to screw yourself." The new lawyer, Glender, presses, "The biggest part of your defense is your credibility. If the DA finds out about the doubts regarding the miscarriage, they’ll dig in to get the truth. If what they find comes back unfavorable, I lose my defense."
Tara cuts to the heart of her dilemma: "So I have to choose? My boys or my freedom?" Glender tells her, "There’s no guarantee of either, but essentially, yes."
So now we get to the scene where it turns out Connor is something of a logistical mastermind. Not only has he lined up four unmarked, untraceable delivery-style trucks, he’s also whipped up a huge map that shows everyone exactly where and how each truck will be positioned along the transport route, and then walks everyone through their roles in Operation Surround the Transport With Trucks And Get What We Want. Looking at the quality of Connor’s visual aids, I’m thinking his true calling is as a graphic designer.
We then go to the musical montage where everyone gets ready for these exercises in catering to Irish temper tantrums. The takeaway here is that gray jumpsuits flatter no man, not even ones as well-built as Juice or Jax.
Meanwhile, we learn that Jax has had the brains to have some of his bikers set up a decoy operation down in the Stockton docks. It looks like Patterson and Roosevelt are falling for it. Everyone gets into position for what they think will be the take down of the Irish gun operation.
Gemma pulls into T-M and notices that Abel is being cared for by a few women who probably have "Get Kat VonD to tattoo my neck" on their life list. She walks into her office, where Chuckie is doing paperwork and Unser’s snuggling Thomas, and coos, "My hard-working boys." Chuckie promptly takes off, leaving Unser and Gemma to discuss the state of affairs.
Wendy’s withdrawal is not going well, but Gemma thinks she’ll have an incentive to recover more quickly if she sees Abel. Unser asks if that won’t confuse Abel or be bad for him, and Gemma shrugs that Abel’s going to get to know his “real” mother once Tara’s out of the picture, so why not get started now? Two birds, one stone. Unser sets his face and asks, "Me helping Tara -- you do know it was all about them?" Gemma begrudgingly admits this. Unser says, "Which is still the case. If Tara gets off, all this shit that’s gone down … she’s still their mom. What does that look like?" Gemma says, "That’s Jax’s call," which is code for "I will be telling Jax how to cut his wife out of her children’s lives." Unser presses, "If she goes away, what happens to them? And don’t give me all that ‘club and family’ rhetoric. I’m talking about the day-to-day of it, Gemma. Who takes care of them?"
"I do!" Gemma says, angry that Unser even thinks this is a question. Unser asks, "Really? You think you’re up to that?" Gemma is furious that Unser dares poke holes at the conceit that her divine status as God’s Fierce Mother would be undercut by picayune considerations like age or heart conditions.
Unser asks, "What about the burden on [the boys]? Opie, Half-Sack, Phil … they were all somebody’s sons. If their mothers had a chance to do it over again, lead them in a different direction –" "There are no second chances, Wayne," Gemma says, as she holds the child named after her dead son and defends her decision to raise two little boys just like she did twenty years prior.
Hilariously oblivious to the hypocrisy of her words, Gemma continues, "We get one shot at loving and raising our kids. And I’m going to do this right." Unser’s face is hard. He says, "I have no doubt that you could raise these boys, and I know how much you love them. But you got to realize, this isn’t 1967 anymore, sweetheart. This life, it ain’t romantic or free. There’s no path to anything that makes any sense. It’s just dirty and sad, and we both know it’s only going to get worse."
This is the second man who loves Gemma who’s just told it like it is. Could this be the moment when it sinks into her skull that the path she’s chosen is not going to end well? Is there a chance for this damaged woman to avert the tragic ending that is being foretold in giant, neon lights? Both Nero and Unser are reasonable men with cool heads. Surely that counts for something in Gemma’s world?
Okay, now that we’ve all stopped laughing, let’s resume recapping. Gemma goes on the offense and tries to make Unser seem morally complicit: "If you really don’t want these boys here, why are you still helping me?" Unser looks at Gemma with a mixture of pity and self-loathing, and says, "For the same reason I find myself still here, no matter what the upset or damage. Because I love you. I’m in love with you." In the deafening silence that follows, he takes his leave. (By the way, Dayton Callie killed it in that scene. Nobody does "anger at the follies of the human condition" quite like he does.)
And now, time for the caper of the week. Before the club (split into its attendant vans) can do anything, they have to wait. Juice is silent and tense, off in his own world, and Jax calls, "Hey! Juice! You here?" Juice says so, and then adds, "I’m not having a breakdown, man." Jax says patiently, "I didn’t think you were." Juice says, "Chibs and some of the other guys, I know they’re worried." "Should they be?" Jax asks. Nope! Juice is no way having an emotional crisis! He’s naturally pop-eyed with haunted regrets like any other normal young man. Juice adds, "I got to feel like I’m doing something right, Jax. Not like 'right or wrong' kind of right, but I’ve got to feel like I’m … I’m…" "Like you’re one of the good guys," says Jax. Why, yes! But before either of them can bemoan how hard it is to feel like a good guy when you’re wantonly murdering people all over the place, the phone rings and it’s go time on the caper.
So the good news, this doesn’t turn into forty dead bodies and two hundred guns going off. It’s actually fairly straightforward: Tig and Bobby crash into the follow vehicle (that provides security for the transport van) and the remaining delivery trucks box in the prison transport vehicle. The guards recognize that they’re badly outnumbered and outgunned, and it’s a moment’s work for Jax to open the door in Clay’s van.
When Clay sees that it’s Jax who’s freed him, it’s the first time he’s shown any surprise at any of this. "Where the hell are the Irish?" He asks. Jax pulls down his balaclava and quips, "In Ireland." (Which, haaaaaaaa!)
Meanwhile, Roosevelt and Patterson are only now realizing they’ve been watching a decoy operation that was meant to divert resources from the prison transport.
Speaking of which … the getaway is almost clean, but a sheriff manages to fire off a couple of shots at the truck that has Bobby Elvis, Jax and Juice in it. Bobby Elvis gets hit, Jax shouts, "Shit!" and Juice responds to the mayhem by running over the deputy. Well, that has just elevated this operation to a whole new level of "really nasty charges if anyone is ever apprehended." But nobody’s worried about that -- they’re fretting over Bobby’s shoulder, which is filled with glass and lead. Chibs shouts, "This is way beyond me!" We go to the front of the truck, where Juice is looking like this is way beyond him too. "Mowing down a cop to save my own life during a prison breakout" is not really going to help his issue of feeling as if he’s not really working on the side of the angels.
Now, the uncomfortable moment where Tara has to fetch her children from Gemma’s house. She keeps her cool, even when Abel tells her he’s making lunch for Wendy because she’s sick, and Nero tries to defuse things by saying cheerily, "Maybe you’re going to grow up and be a doctor like your mom someday!" Tara gives him a look like Don’t even try, buddy. Gemma gets the phone and walks into the other room, and Nero tries again with Tara. She shoots down his lunch offer and asks what Wendy’s doing, and that’s how she finds out Wendy is now enrolled in the "Use Again And I Rip Your Tits Off" Institute. I, personally, am curious about the relapse stats. Is the success rate as good as the anti-smoking program in Quitters, Inc.? Nero says Wendy could probably use a doctor to look at her, and Tara shoots back that Wendy can find one, as Tara’s lost her license.
Gemma comes back in and tells Tara that Bobby’s been shot, it’s bad, and they’ve got to go. Tara laughs and says, "So, what, we just pretend nothing happened and I’m Mob Doctor again?" Gemma snaps, "I’m willing to pretend if it’s going to save his life!" (Hands up, everyone who thinks Gemma is scrambling for a way to back down from her anti-Tara crusade without losing face). Well, Tara certainly doesn’t want Bobby to die, so she hands his kids off to Unser again and follows her in-laws out the door.
Roosevelt and Patterson are now at the transport breakout scene. They are both super pissed at the MC, and Roosevelt is sure the Sons are behind it, but Patterson stalls him from rounding anyone up because she wants to rethink her options.
The getaway truck (the white one) pulls into a pristine hangar and when it opens, Clay hops out. Jax ignores him in favor of asking how Bobby’s doing (the answer: not well) and everyone just kind of positions themselves all over the place as Clay gradually ambles over to the office.
We switch perspectives to Juice, who is not yet in his cut and is trying very hard to pretend he doesn’t notice Clay is here. Unfortunately for him, Clay has other plans. He walks right over to Juice, says, "Thank you, brother, for today," and then gives him a hug and kiss. And while I am about 90% convinced that Clay is all about making amends and wrapping up loose ends, I can’t help but suspect that he did this just to mess with Juice’s head a little. Because whether or not that was his intention, that’s what happened.
We get another lovely shot, this one of Clay and Jax circling one another warily, while Chibs and Tig hover near them like electrons uncertain of which nucleus to orbit. Then an Irishman calls, "He’s ready for you," and they all go into Galan’s office.
Galan and Clay hug for a moment, and then as Galan extends his hand with a "Good job, Jackson," Jax whips out a gun and blows out Galan’s brains. Chibs and Tig follow suit with the other two Irish in the room. Clay untangles himself from the fichus he jumped behind all, "What the … oh." Jax is giving him a hard look, practically begging for Clay to say something, but all Clay can come up with is the club standard: "Jesus Christ."
Jax says quietly, "We had a vote. Decided this had to happen." There’s a faint horn honking (indicating the arrival of Gemma, Nero and their doctor-cum-quasi-hostage – doc stage? – Tara). The bikers, current and former, leave the office and Jax orders Clay, "Shut the door." As he walks off, Tig asks quietly, "How’s this going to play out with Tara and Gemma here?" "Same way," Jax shrugs.
Within moments, Tara’s come in to assess the situation, and what is striking is how everyone drops whatever issues they have with her when she assumes the authority of a medical professional. Bobby catches Jax’s eye and gives him a look like, "What in the sweet f**k-all?" and Jax nods before dealing with his mom’s interrogation. Nero only has eyes for Clay.
Speaking of whom … let’s all take a moment to marinate in the awkwardness when Clay comes over and both Jax and Nero step back from Gemma, indicating that she needs to deal with this on her own. Gemma walks over to talk to Clay:
CLAY: I didn’t think I’d see you this soon.
GEMMA: Guess I’m just lucky. [pause] They carting you off to Belfast?
CLAY: I don’t think so.
GEMMA: I thought that was the plan.
CLAY: [takes a moment to compose himself, almost smiles.] I think there’s another plan.
Clay sees Nero watching them and nods his head slightly, then says, "I’m glad you’re not alone, Gem." He leans forward and kisses her once on the cheek. Reader, I am not too proud to admit that I got a lump in my throat here. One of the reasons I got into this show in season one was because I loved watching Clay-and-Gemma as a couple, and the unraveling of Charming’s king and queen has been such a tragedy. More specifically, it has been Clay’s tragedy. We’ve seen over and over that the best and finest parts of who Clay was came through in his love for his wife. And we’ve seen how that love was fruit from the poison tree. After all, he murdered for Gemma. She brought out the best and worst in Clay, and the tragedy was that he could never tease the two apart.
Gemma realizes what’s about to happen and freezes in shock.
Jax confers with Nero and tells him, "Now you know everything, brother." "I wish I didn’t," Nero says. Jax glares at him. Nero continues, "This your way of getting out of guns? Taking down a prison transport, killing a sheriff? 'Cause that shit is all over the news, mano." Jax nods, "It’s more than that.” “More, really? ‘Cause I don’t know if I could take much more, Jax," Nero replies.
Jax decides talking to his estranged wife is more pleasant than continuing this conversation, and goes over to see how Bobby’s doing. Answer: not well. She needs to swing by St. Just Stop Pretending This Hospital Matters, Please to pick up her bag. Chibs comes over to mention that Connor’s 15 minutes out. Clay speaks up.
CLAY: What do we do now, pres?
JAX: We settle with the Irish.
CLAY: How do we do that with three dead bodies?
JAX: How would you do it?
CLAY: Well … the smart plan would be to blame it on a bad relationship. You know, two guys with a history get into a beef, one thing leads to another. [softly] Couldn’t be helped.
JAX: [also softly] Sounds about right.
Clay looks around ruefully at the people who all used to tell him they loved him. Then he says, "I guess you had another vote I wasn’t privy to." Jax confirms and twists the knife, "This time it was unanimous." "Fair enough,” Clay says. Tig says to Clay, "Let’s go," and everyone turns to walk back toward the office. Cut to Tara standing there all, "So this is happening …" and I honestly think that’s more of an all-in from Jax’s old lady than anything else she may be doing for or against him and the club right now.
As the club walks silently into the office, we see that Tara and Nero have ambled closer to Gemma.
SAMCRO walks back into the office. You’ll all be relieved to know that none of the bodies have turned into zombies and begun shambling around. (Though I have my suspicions that SAMCRO would thrive in a zombie apocalypse. They’d probably even find a way to keep their walking dead brothers on bikes). Clay turns to face the five men arrayed against him -- Tig, Juice, Chibs, Jax and Rat -- and says, “It’s good.”
Chibs hands Jax a loaded gun. Jax looks at Clay with cold murder in his eyes. Clay looks back with a calm sadness. He turns once to look at Gemma -- we see her looking at Clay, eyes enormous in grief and regret -- and Clay smiles gently at his wife.
And that is the moment Jax shoots him in the throat. Clay falls, drowning in his own blood. Outside, Gemma’s jaw works soundlessly and she reels into Nero. Chibs looks stone-faced. Juice looks like he wants to cry. Jax looks down, his face curdled into hate, and shoots Clay’s body another four or five times. We cut to Tig closing his eyes and turning away. One more shot of Jax’s ugly expression, then a shot of Clay, quiet in a pool of spreading blood.
When Jax comes out, he asks Gemma, "You okay?" Of course Gemma says she is. Ever-helpful, Gemma will take charge of ferrying Tara wherever she is supposed to go; giving Tara access to independent transit is unthinkable, even now. Gemma kisses Jax and we see Nero walk by, looking disgusted. Still, he opens Gemma’s door for her.
As Jax strolls over to settle things with his current surrogate father figure, Tara rounds the end of the SUV to eavesdrop.
Nero says, "Now I know what you meant by 'more'." Jax replies, "I’m glad you were here. What went down today was us burying the last piece of a very broken past. What you and me are doing together, that’s SAMCRO’s future." Jax looks like he believes what he’s saying, but Nero gives him a Ese, please and dismisses him. Tara, meanwhile, looks like what Jax has said is some great revelation. I am betting this is the moment when she decides to let herself hope that it’s going to work out like Jax promised so she won’t have to make any awful choices about her future.
Jax opens the door for Tara in a hollow parody of the courtship courtesy Nero shows Gemma, and as Tara gets in, he thanks her. She wordlessly squeezes his hand. Jax looks down, surprised, then back at Tara’s face. Oh, these two. In the words of the old Ladies Home Journal feature, "Can this marriage be saved?" In the words of this recapper: Should it be?
Jax watches everyone pull out, just sort of staring into space, and it takes Chibs to pull him back on track.
Meanwhile, in the SUV, Nero is trying to process the events of the last few minutes. His mind is positively blown that the guys in SAMCRO voted on someone’s murder. Tara pipes up from the back seat: "A few months ago, Clay killed Piney Winston, one of the original members. Then he ordered the cartel to kill me, because I knew what he did to John Teller. Jax stopped them, but that’s how my hand got crushed. Ruined my career." Nero responds, "Jeeeeeeeeesus." (On the couch, my husband cracked, "It’s like Jimmy Smits just read every single one of your recaps at once!") Tara finishes with one final judgment: "Clay Morrow should have been dead a long time ago."
This is when Gemma breaks down into sobs. She tries to pull herself together – "I hated him so much" -- and Tara shifts uneasily. Things get even more awkward when Patterson calls her right then all, "I need to speak with you." Tara manages to get off the phone and Gemma asks, "Jax?" Tara says shortly, "No. Lawyers." Gemma says tiredly, "Sorry. I know that’s probably –" "You okay?" Tara asks abruptly, putting a hand on Gemma’s shoulder, and Gemma clings to Tara’s hand.
SIDEBAR: Among the many, many tragedies on this show, the Tara/Gemma relationship ranks in my personal top five, because if each of them could get out of their own way and they could genuinely support one another, they would be freakin’ unstoppable. I suspect in this case, Tara’s supporting Gemma in a play-nice move – which would make her even more of a cold-hearted monster than Gemma is – but I still kind of hope that she’s genuinely moved by the pain of someone she loves (however grudgingly). And that Gemma grabs Tara’s hand … she loves Tara still, I think. Nero looks at the linked hands, possibly hoping something good can come out of today’s bloody mess.
Speaking off, the pool beneath Clay’s head has only gotten bigger. How is it that a bunch of different bikers can tromp in and out of this office and not one of them has stepped in any blood? There are four bodies in there leaking all over the place, and nobody in SAMCRO is known for the delicacy of their dancer-like stride. Instead, everyone’s monkeying around with the crime scene so it looks like Clay and Galen shot each other, and the bikers are banking on nobody in the San Joaquin County having ever watched an episode of CSI, much less heard of "gun powder residue"
And now, the scene where poor Connor discovers he got a promotion. Jax basically performs the equivalent of a Jedi mind trick on him all, "You WILL tell your bosses that August Marks is their distributor, or else the Chinese will jump into the market in your stead," and a stunned Connor agrees to call Belfast in the morning.
Jax then cleans up another dangling end: "We’re going to need to leave the KG-9s here. Take the rest of the guns, store them in the beverage warehouse … I’ll cover the cost of the [KG-9s]." He offers to shake with Connor, and after a minute, the other man takes his hand. And thus the iteration of Clay and Galen comes to pass…
Gemma and Nero pull up in front of the hospital and leave the motor running while Tara goes inside to "get some supplies," i.e. meet with Patterson in her office and then scramble for a bag.
Nero tells Gemma, "That was rough, Mama. I’m sorry." Gemma sighs and says, "I don’t know why I’m so goddamned sad." Perhaps because you’re trying to get over a twenty-year marriage in twenty weeks? Nero says as much, but Gemma is irritated by these stupid human emotions and so deflects by making sure Nero’s totally okay with the club. Nero is not. He says ruefully, "The Godfather paradox: The more distance I try to create, the closer I get." Gemma multitasks, pushing Nero’s paternal buttons while trying to find a new father figure for her boy with, "Jax loves you, Nero. I see how he looks at you, how he listens to you."
And here is where things get interesting: Nero explicitly rejects what Gemma’s suggesting with "I’m a little too old to adopt." Are we going to see some distance between Nero and Jax now? The "joke" falls flat. Gemma sniffles and then turns back to Nero and says, "You can always marry me." With a grave face and a voice stripped of all jocularity, Nero says, "No offense, Mama, [but] I’ve seen what happens to your husbands. It ain’t pretty." Gemma starts choking back sobs again with, "No, it’s not." She then tries again: "I’m so glad you’re in our lives." Nero says he is too, but he honestly looks like a man who wishes he could rewind the last three months and spend his evenings home looking for love on Catholic Singles.
Tara edges into her office, and after Roosevelt and Patterson heavily imply Tara knows more about the prison transport fiasco than she lets on, Patterson says, "Those other considerations I had are now off the table, so I’ve decided to take you up on your offer. In exchange for your cooperation against the MC, you’ll get immunity for Pamela Toric’s murder." Tara does a double take, then stares at Roosevelt. He looks back at her, his face hard. She asks, "What about my boys? And protection?" Ah, but that would require a RICO case, and to make that, Tara would have to provide the office with a federal crime, i.e. gun-running, extortion or murder. "Tell us who broke out Clay," Roosevelt urges. Tara looks like she wants to, but instead she asks, "What would I have to do?" "Provide us with irrefutable evidence," Patterson says.
We reach another inflection point in the episode -- and possibly in the series -- as Tara looks heartbroken, but asks calmly, "If I pulled a bullet out of a club member from today’s shooting, a sheriff’s bullet, it would have DNA on it. Would it be proof?" Provided Tara testifies, yes, as it puts them member at the scene and proves the Sons were responsible for the breakout and the sheriff’s murder. Tara fights back tears and asks for everyone to hold their horses for a day. She is noncommittal as she leaves: "I have to go, Gemma’s waiting outside."
As Patterson and Roosevelt discuss their steps, Deputy Cane knocks and delivers exposition: Acting on an anonymous tip, a colleague has just found several cases of KG-9s and a few dead bodies in an airplane hangar nearby. As luck would have it, two of the dead bodies are Galen O’Shay and Clay Morrow. Will Patterson and Roosevelt take the bait and write off the school shooting case as "solved" now? We shall see.
We’re up at the cabin and Tara’s removing assorted bits and pieces of detritus from Bobby Elvis’s abundant torso. Chibs is assisting, and after she pulls out the bullet, he says warmly, "That was beautiful, Doc." Six seasons in, and it still unnerves me how easily and quickly these guys switch between warm collegiality and murderous hostility. It makes you wonder about the nerves of anyone who’s actually living this life.
Anyway, we move to Gemma, who has recovered from the emotional rigors of the afternoon and is now back to playing house in her castles in the air. She’s reading Abel a bedtime story while Nero lounges to them. Unser comes in with Thomas and literally reels at the domestic tableaux he sees before him. Nero comes over to take the baby, and Unser awkwardly makes his exit. Gemma says formally, "Thank you, Wayne," and then Nero hands her Thomas. Unser’s forgotten, and Gemma can go back to pretending she’s got her adoring man and two little boys all to herself.
Bobby Elvis comes to, and everyone is generally relieved.
Now we’re at the hangar. Cane is looking over one of the cases of guns, and Patterson walks in and gives the whole thing her best What the WHAT? look. (CCH Pounder does the best furious incredulity in the business). As she walks into the office, where beleaguered crime-scene techs are running off to get more bullet markers because they’ve already run out, Roosevelt remarks a tad cynically, "Teller kept his promise. Gave you Galen and the guns." Patterson looks at Clay and says, "No, he didn’t. The deal I made didn’t include a stack of dead bodies."
(Well, it didn’t NOT include a stack of dead bodies. I wonder if Jax was making all his deals under the assumption that they’d fall apart. He certainly did with Stahl back in Season 3).
Back at the cabin, Tara’s washing up afterward in the small bathroom off the bedroom; Jax is on the bed, smoking away. She comes out of the bathroom and very carefully sits down a few feet away. Jax still avoids looking at Tara as he opens his mouth and begins managing his wife like he does every other complication in his life: "I know you didn’t have to help us today. Thank you." He looks over, but Tara’s staring straight ahead as she mumbles how glad she is Bobby will be okay. Jax is still staring at Tara as he says, "I understand why you did everything you did." Tara finally looks over at Jax, albeit warily. He sits up and says, "I’m sorry being with me took you to that place." They look at each other, both angry and hurt and clearly hoping the other will say something that will somehow fix this, but when the silence stretches on too long, Jax gets up and leaves.
Tara locks the door behind him, then collapses against it. We see her take out the bullet and a bloody gauze square, and the episode ends with her holding the bullet and looking torn about whether or not she wants to go through with Patterson.
TOKEN RECAPPER SPECULATION, WHICH YOU CAN SAFELY SKIP BECAUSE WE ARE AT THE END OF THE RECAP: I think tonight’s episode was "shocking" not so much because Clay bit it (we all knew that was coming this season) but because it showed so clearly how Gemma has created, directly or indirectly, nearly every foe the club faces. We already know she embraced the gun running, whether because it was a nice fuck you to the philandering first husband or because it personally profited her to have a second husband who was powerful and wealthy from dealing arms. And look how many problems for the club have stemmed from that.
Nero is not the asset everyone seems to assume he is -- he’s a guy with a conscience who made that plea deal not because "the club” meant so much to him, but because he sussed out (correctly) that an ex-junkie OG pimp had the system stacked against him, and if he was going to go down for a bullshit murder rap he would not have even FACED had it not been for SAMCRO, at least he’d provide for his son. The minute anyone goes after Lucius, Nero’s going to react. And that vulnerability Nero brings to the club? That wouldn’t exist without Gemma.
And let’s talk about Tara’s entire plot arc this season. As she had tried to play it, she merely wanted to get herself and the boys free of the club. Jax and the rest of SAMCRO wouldn’t feel any real, legal consequences if Tara’s scheme had worked. But Gemma worried at it, then made her death threats, then pushed Jax’s sense of betrayal until he put his wife under virtual house arrest and made her turn over her children to the very people she wanted to keep them from. So now Tara’s in a position to really hurt her husband and the club, and she just might go through with it because she believes Gemma has left her no other options.
Gemma sees herself as the matriarch protector of the club and its members, but she’s really the thing that’s going to kill it. The only question I have now is whether Gemma will realize this before the end of the series… or if she’s been in denial about this all along.
Lisa Schmeiser is an Oakland-adjacent reporter, editor and blogger. She regularly tweets here, blathers about comics here, and posts the oddball personal piece of writing here.