Written by David Oliver
PLOT: Shady dealings lead to interesting alliances for SAMCRO. Meanwhile, Juice (Theo Rossi) and Gemma’s (Katey Sagal) secrets catch up with them.
Going to make a bold statement here: Sons of Anarchy is sort of like Mean Girls. Every clique has its internal struggles that lead to chaos within the clique as well as with other cliques. Replace high school with a chunk of California and motorcycles and you have this episode.
We catch up with Gemma walking on the highway, some time after Juice confronts her. She meets Gertie (Lea Michele), a waitress at a diner, who is kind to her. Gemma opens up to Gertie, even to say “My son lost his wife recently. We were close.” Gertie even offers to let Gemma take a nap in her car, which seemed a little strange for someone she just met. I love how Sons treats guest stars: casting them in non-traditional roles. It was nice seeing Lea Michele not so dolled up or theatrical.
SAMCRO works with their alliances this episode to mend some fences: the Nazis, Mayans and One-Niners, Jax’s (Charlie Hunnam) goal to shut down August Marks (Billy Brown). Though the overarching plot is that of Juice. We see him rob a convenience store and apparently murder a store clerk, then later meet with the Mayans seeking safe passage to Mexico in exchange for SAMCRO intel. The Mayans let Jax in on the betrayal, who decides to make a deal with the Mayans, part of that truce being to hand over Juice.
Before this happens, the Mayans lock Juice in a closet with Nero (Jimmy Smits). I found this scene very powerful – for a show that plays with such wide highways and warehouses, this compact space was just as large with story and hinted at future confrontations – but more on that later.
Sons of Anarchy is sort of like Mean Girls. Every clique has its internal struggles that lead to chaos within the clique as well as with other cliques. Replace high school with a chunk of California and motorcycles and you have this episode.
Wendy (Drea de Matteo) – who earlier admitted to Bobby (Mark Boone Junior) that she still loves Jax – and Unser (Dayton Callie) come to get Gemma. Unser intelligently doesn’t buy Gemma’s story about Juice abandoning her on the side of the road out of nowhere. Gemma’s lies may be getting the best of her.
And it turns out they are for sure – Nero confronts her about helping keep Juice hidden, to which she breaks down. Will Juice reveal the truth behind Tara’s (Maggie Siff) murder? So help me if Jax never finds out the truth – though I trust Mr. Sutter to finish the show his way, at all costs.
Side note: fantastic one-liners this episode, my favorite the growing chemistry between Jarry (Annabeth Gish) and Chibs (Tommy Flanagan).
Jarry: “Thanks for yesterday.”
Chibs: “For the sex or the heads up?”
It’s cheeky, but great comic relief.
Rating: 9/10
http://youtu.be/4xKzooGzzp0
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