Welcome back to Charming, everyone. We left off season five with Tara being hauled off to prison, Clay also getting hauled off to prison, Juice trying to earn his way back into the club, and Gemma protecting her remaining boys like a feral cat. Bobby gave up his VP position, and Chibs is now Jax’s number two. I’m going to assume that we’re in for a rough ride for season six, so let’s go.
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Clay Who Must Not Be Named
The episode begins with Jax as the narrator. He’s writing to his boys, no doubt. Looks like he’s going to leave them with the full story of his tumultuous time at the head of the table. Leaving no questions unanswered. Gemma is working overtime between her duties with the club, her role as grandma helping Jax with the kids, and peacefully cuddling up to Nero. No news on Clay in prison. The plan after Pope’s death was to have him killed before his court date. That hasn’t happened yet. Everyone is still on egg shells until that happens. Especially Tig, since he was the one to kill Pope using Clay’s gun.
He’s in protective custody at the moment, which means he’s temporarily protected from those that want him killed. Jax goes to meet August Marks for an update and after learning that Clay is in PC, they try to figure out a way to take him out. Until that can happen, August is trying to bring some peace of mind to the Pope family. He expects Tig to be turned over once the situation with Clay is handled. Jax agrees to these terms.
Meanwhile, in a slammer across town, Clay gets a visit from the US Marshall whose sister was murdered by Otto. He’s wise to the whole framing of Clay. He doesn’t suspect Tig, he thinks Jax killed Pope. With some silence from Clay at first, he explains his motives for putting him into protective custody, and wanting to take down SAMCRO. Clay takes his business card and uses it as a bookmark as the Marshall exits his cell. He gives Clay until the guard shift change to reach out. Just before Clay is put into Gen Pop, he asks the guard to tell the Marshall that he wants to take the deal.
Orange is the New Tara
Tara is wearing standard orange and a short new ‘do. She’s frazzled and miserable. She meets with her attorney and it looks like they’re running into some obstacles trying to figure out what the DA wants to charge her with. She has a bail hearing the following day, but refuses to speak to Jax before then. She doesn’t want him to see her like this. When the lawyer leaves, she tells Jax that Tara still isn’t ready to see him. He then learns about Gemma threatening Tara about leaving the state with the boys. Jax doesn’t think Gemma would ever go to the cops. The lawyer thinks she’d do whatever it took to keep the boys close.
Tara gets a visit from the US Marshall. He has a very interesting offer for her. She turns Jax in, and her and the boys get put into witness protection. Anywhere she wants to go. “This isn’t how you wanted to do it, but the end result is the same.” he says. Because of her determination to give her sons safety from the club before her arrest, I’m actually surprised that she turns him down. He tells her she has two weeks to decide. She says she doesn’t need two weeks and the answer is ‘no’.
All Pain and No Pleasure
Over at pimp central, Gemma and Nero seem as happy as can be. But before they can get all PDA, Jax interrupts and wants to speak to Gemma privately. He confronts her about threatening Tara. Gemma admits that she did, but would never go to the cops. Then, just as they start to get into it, Nero pulls both of them into the main room as Lyla enters looking like a corpse. She’s in tears, mumbling about Opie, and has wounds all over her body.
And holy crap, that’s just the intro. Because here’s the theme song…
Lyla’s wounds are from a job she took with “some Persians” that tortured her. She knew there would be torture, because that was part of the gig. But these guys wanted to hurt her. Really hurt her. Jax won’t stand for that [insert obvious Fifty Shades joke here] and is ready to track them down. Lyla admits that with her gun shot wound, she can’t book her regular gigs anymore and she’s struggling financially. Gemma offers to take her back to the club to get her cleaned up while the guys formulate a plan. The slutty friend that had tried interfering with Jax and Tara years ago, gives them an address for the Persians. Before leaving the brothel, Gemma takes a moment to slam slutty friend’s head into the counter. Team Gemma.
Then we’re introduced to the twisted Persians and their chamber of pain. Jax, Nero, and the boys muscle their way in. Jax makes it clear to the perverts that they need to pay the girls that are currently caged and tied down, and let them go unharmed. Just as the shady second in command goes for the money, he grabs a gun instead and bullet battle begins. The leader gets away. The rest of them get shot or beaten. Before they can get what they need and go, the cops show up. Now SAMCRO looks like they’re the ones running the pain porn operation. Great.
The cops bring the boys to man in charge in Stockton. He seems miffed by the drama, but once he hears them out, he’s happy to let them go and make sure the Persians are done with their torture porn gig. It seems they also have an opportunity to bring the escort business to a new location, but Nero seems hesitant.
As Tig is in charge of letting the last Persian out of the cage, he tells him to leave and not come back. The response he gets is one that he is not expecting. Something along the lines of, “I hope you see your daughter in one of our films. I bet you’d like that, huh?” and then, “oh, daddy, that hurts.” This obviously brings Tig back to the moment of seeing his daughter burned to death in front of him and he loses it. He ends up drowning the guy a giant tub of urine. Quite an unpleasant way to go, if you ask me. Tig throws him back in the cage and tosses him into the water.
Jax and Nero meet with a local madame to discuss a new partnership. After seeing that she’s bringing a lot to the table, they reach a deal. Jax agrees to go with her to see her place and meet the girls. As he’s leaving, the little blond boy is sitting out front. Their eyes meet. WHO IS THIS KID? And what does Jax see when he looks at him? Another kid that has clearly lost his way? Over at the Stockton Brothel, the madame gets flirty with Jax. He tells her he’s not interested, in his own subtle way. As he leaves, the Tara’s lawyer calls him to tell him that Tara doesn’t want him at the hearing the following day. He’s visibly crushed.
Wendy, Bobby, and Sad Juice
Wendy shows up to spy on Abel for a bit before Gemma finds her. She had no knowledge of Tara naming her as guardian in her will. She agrees that she doesn’t want to fight for Abel anymore. It’s not worth the risk to anyone involved. Gemma is surprised. Wendy walks away with resolution. Is this the end for her?
Juice and Gemma talk back at the club about Bobby. He has recently moved and it looks like he might try to go nomad. SAMCRO is seriously running low on members at this point. Juice is exhausted, stressed, and not his usual self. I miss the old Juice. The goofy grin and childlike enthusiasm have been gone too long.
Chibs gets back to the clubhouse and gets Juice alone. He beats him to a pulp and Juice lets it happen. He even tells Chibs that he loves him before the first punch is thrown. He knows how he deeply he deceived the club, and their bromance has reached a breaking point.
Little Blond Mystery
Throughout the episode, we see short shots of an unknown blond boy in a school uniform. We have no idea who he is or what his role will be. He kisses his beautiful sleeping mother in the beginning, and since then, has been roaming about town. Crossing the street just as the Sons ride by on their bikes, reading a book at a local bakery, what next? I’m very curious about this little dude.
We get to the end of the episode and finally see the blond boy again. He stops at a bench, takes off his blazer and rolls up his sleeves. There are scars on his arm. Self-inflicted wounds, perhaps. He opens his backpack and pulls out a notebook. He scribbles some notes just as the school bell rings. The next thing out of his bag is a gun. A large one. As he walks away, we get a close up of his scribbled notebook. There are religious notes, graphic drawings of death and violence. This little boy is deeply disturbed. He walks into the school. Screams. Shots fired. There are several. The episode ends with ambulences surrounding the school. Parents frantically looking for their kids as they run out with terrified faces.
As the closing song plays, we see Jax taking comfort in the calming minutia of housework with the madame. She gently touches his face. The mother of the blond boy sits at the kitchen table and Nero’s number two sits down with her. Clay stays in PC. Tara gets her blanket stolen by an inmate. The madame and Jax get a little closer. Gemma and Nero share a kiss. Tig snuggles with baby Thomas. Chibs cleans Juice’s battered face. Lyla takes a shot at the clubhouse bar. Bobby marks a map with the places he’d like to visit as a nomad. The Marshall shoots up and dances naked in his room. Tara punches the inmate who stole her blanket. Jax gives in to temptation and ends up in bed with the madame.
Sons of Anarchy airs Tuesdays at 10pm on FX.
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(Image courtesy of FX)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
