Recap: ‘Sons of Anarchy’ – ‘Suits of Woe’

Nerves got the better of you during Tuesday night”s nail-biting, reveal-all episode of “Sons of Anarchy?” Well light up them ciggies and let”s get joyriding because we”ve got a lot of ground to cover. 

“Suits of Woe” picked up right where we left off last week, with Jax absorbing the truth about his mother”s hand in Tara”s death during a cold open that featured a montage without music, setting us up for the heavy episode in store. We also saw Gemma continue her one-sided conversation with her ghosts, while Juice completely lost his mind in solitary, talking about how “this gets done.”

Who knew that Juice would be right? For once, there were so many payoffs in the episode that I didn”t even mind it being another extended installment. What has been a mind-numbing and frustratingly slow burn for 10 full episodes finally came full circle in Episode 11, with Jax quickly getting to the bottom of what had happened, the rat being revealed and Unser finally standing up for himself against the club”s constant demands. It was like we had all been holding our breath for a painfully long time, and Tuesday night finally allowed us to exhale.

There was a point in the episode where I wasn”t sure we were going to have that. The chain of events that unfolded from Abel telling Jax about Gemma was quick and shaky, as one would expect them to be. I”m not confident that Jax would have further investigated Abel”s claims with the force and passion that he did had Wendy not stepped up and told the truth about hiding Juice, or had Unser not decided to drop the Chris Dunn bomb on him, but convenient or not I”m happy the truth is out there, and we can finally, finally move on with the story. With two episodes to go after this, it”s about time-right?

Having not seen the preview for next week, I believe that may have been the last we see of Gemma-a broken woman, riding off on the highway all by her lonesome. At least, that would be the perfect poetic ending for her character, no? We know that Jax shouldn”t be the one to kill her, given his broken down conversation with Nero at the end of the episode. If anyone is going to face the wrath of the SAMCRO leader”s new feelings of betrayal, it”s going to be Juice, who is now headed for the infirmary. Death is almost too good for the club matriarch; her having to live with the knowledge that her son knows what she did is a more painful punishment-at least in her world.

And who knows-the series isn”t over yet, and Gemma could very well have helped set a chain of events in motion that are going to end with her son killed. Along with revealing the actual truth, Tuesday”s episode actually addressed the other thing plaguing SAMCRO-Jury”s death and the fact that no one but them saw Jax”s actions as “self-defense.” Now that they know for sure Barosky is the rat (good on all of you out there who called that one in the comments), they no longer have a solid case for those actions. Jax may have the best intentions about setting everything right, but how far is too far, and what will everyone do once they find out the truth behind all that happened? Those are the questions I”m sure we”ll get to in the last two episodes. Somehow, I doubt the answers will be very pleasant for anyone left standing within the club.

All the Anarchy:

*** While I”m over Chibs and Jarry and their constant relationship validation, it was sad to watch Chibs stop himself from kissing his gal on the way out of her house in the morning. It would be nice to see someone at least semi happy on this show.

*** I”ve devoted way too many paragraphs this season to the crooked cops in Charming (and surrounding areas), so I”m just leaving the Lin thing hanging. And yes, you can take that as a pun.
*** Unser as a character has become completely inconsistent. WHY does he continue to insert his big mouth into everything Gemma does, yet has no idea what she”s actually done? The best explanation I have is that he loves her, and doesn”t believe she could stoop so low. Sort of like parents who believe their kids walk on water.

*** Chucky”s sparkly helmet makes me happy, as did his “best friend” talk with Gemma. “I accept that” too, buddy.

*** Jax”s face when he realized Lin was dead was priceless. Did he not think Juice was going to go ahead and kill the person he wanted killed? Really? Either way, it was nice to see the leader take a breath and realize everything that he”d done in a blind rage, I suppose.

*** “I”m really sorry about Abel.” The point where I actually, for one fleeting second, thought Juice was going to let Jax think his son had gone off the deep end. Thank goodness the wind blew the other way there.

*** “We need to patch in another Jew.” Chibs and Tig trying to figure out the books was priceless. 

*** If we were cutting moments, the car chase scene would be my top pick. I hope the flipped cop car comes back to haunt Jax in some way. But, if we were going to go for it, that was the perfect, vaudeville type jazz music to pair it with. 

What did you think of Tuesday”s “Sons of Anarchy?” Happy the truth is out there? Think we”ll see Gemma again? Will Jax be able to get out of this alive? Sound off below. 

Sons of Anarchy airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX. 

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