This week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy was titled, “Poenitentia,” is a pretentious way of saying “repentance” or “regret,” and that theme ran through several of the plot threads last night, whether it was Clay feeling regret for the actions that put him in prison, Tig perhaps feeling regret for killing the Persian in a temperamental fit of anger, or perhaps even Tara’s decision in last week’s episode to file for divorce against Jax. We also found out a lot more about Toric, and why he’s not a good guy to be rooting for this season, after all. We also got out first glimpse of Eli Roosevelt this season.
Let’s step right into the bloody muck:
“I’m so sorry.” — I guess that’s the least you could say after you accidentally shoot a prostitute, er, escort in the gut, as Toric did last night. The bullet to the head, however, was no accident. Toric is a f**king monster, y’all. He’s crazy bananas. I had kind of hoped to have a rooting interest in his Toric (because at this point, there’s not very many people on this show worth rooting for), but Toric obliterated that hope when he not only killed the escort and left her in the bathtub, but later pulled her hair and ripped clothing off of her and planted it in Nero’s truck, leaving the escort’s body where the police could find it. It’s a good frame-up job. Toric has also been made special investigator by the D.A., and it’s basically his job now to connect SAMCRO to the weapon used by Matthew Jennings in the school shooting, and clearly Toric will do whatever it takes.
Never trust a man who wears briefs.
He’s a stone cold vicious motherf**ker to, as he demonstrated by using someone else’s teeth to open a beer bottle. DAMN. I’m thinking that Toric could be as fun to root against as Agent Stahl was.
I’m afraid of how bad it gets if I stop — After the death of his cousin and his cousin’s old lady, Nero turns to religion, and does a little confessing. Besides that, and later being framed by Toric, Nero’s time on screen this week was limited. He’s not all bad, though. Maybe Nero is someone we can root for, after all.
“It’s My Call” — Meanwhile, Bobby is given his obligatory two minutes of screentime. He has finally assembled enough men to form a Nomads gang, although he’s doing it without the permission of Jax. He plans to have it up and running within the week. How will this play into the rest of the season? I have no idea. Will Bobby form a rival gang? Will he be Fortinbras? I miss Bobby being a part of the action, although at this point, if he were still part of SAMCRO, he’d just spend every second of his screen time shaking his head at Jax’s actions.
I’m not involved here — Look! Eli Roosevelt spotting! He is still around, although as he says here to Jax, “I’m not involved.” The escort’s body that Eli found later in the episode would beg to differ. I just want Eli and Toric to share some screen time. It’s the closest thing we may ever get to a Terriers reunion.
“Spending my twilight years in a trailer next to a used oil bin.” That is an apt description of Unser’s role in this season, so far. He’s been reduced to a babysitter. I like Unser, but if Sutter needs someone to kill off, Unser seems really expendable right now, and for the last several seasons. BRING BACK OPIE.
“It’s not about me anymore.” Meanwhile, over in Tara’s camp, her character seems to be sliding backwards. She told Gemma that she was pregnant, because secrets are not meant to be kept for more than an episode on Sons of Anarchy. Later in the episode, Jax also found out, and Tara seemed to have a moment with Jax that suggested that she may not be done with him yet. Also, can I just ask: Tara is a doctor. If anyone should know about birth control, it’s Tara. Did she really think that NOW was a good time to get knocked up? It feels like an unnecessary complication to an already complicated subplot, with Tara already contemplating divorce.
“I’m not buying the mea culpa” — Clay somehow, once again, found a way to spare himself. After talking to Jax and giving his apologies for, you know, taking a hit out on Tara, turning members of SAMCRO against the club, killing Piney, beating the sh*t out of Gemma, etc., Clay decided against turning state’s evidence, refusing to sign off on being a witness for Toric. Clay was admitted into the regular prison population, and somehow spared himself again by killing a skinhead (I think) on behalf of the One-Niners, or something. Jax apparently needs him alive to navigate the break up with the Irish, so Marks spared him. One of the One-Niners was even nice enough to give Clay a shiv, in case he needed it. You never know when those will come in handy.
“I can feel how personal this is.” — Meanwhile, Jax tells Toric that his sister’s death was all Otto, who is a broken guy a few steps from insanity. “I don’t care what you do to him, but if you come after my wife, try to tie her to this murder, you’re going to feel how personal this is to me.”
“You blow first.” — Honestly, I have no idea what the f**k is going on with Wendy. She set up this entire rouse, whereby she faked being threatened with rape, in order to elicit the help of Jax, who — I believe the last time he saw Wendy — beat her up and injected her with drugs. What kind of messed up relationship is this? Was the end game just to get a gun from Gemma? Why? This plot thread is a total mystery to me.
Well, I didn’t say we were even — Meanwhile, the Persians (also known as Iranians) pulled off a drive by at Robocop’s bakery shop in retaliation for Tig killing one of the Persian rape porn filmmakers, and despite the fact that everyone was sitting right in front of the damn window and that Persians sprayed about 150 machine-gun bullets inside, only one guy was injured. Nevertheless, Robocop and Jax had a conversation with the Persians on their boat, killed one of their men, and told the rest to skedaddle.
Robocop is also screwing Collette, and Jax is jealous. Honestly, I did not need to see that.
I love you, brother — Finally, Jax asked August to be a silent partner in SAMCRO’s new porn business. But more importantly, after Tig clearly lied to Jax about letting loose the Persian, Jax gave him up to August Marks. The episode ended on a cliffhanger: Will Marks kill Tig?
I actually don’t think so. I figure if Sutter is going to kill Tig, he’d have done it at the end of the episode.
SPOILERS FOR UPCOMING SCENES FROM NEXT WEEK
If you stuck around and watched the “Next week on …” scenes, there is clearly a burial, and we’re probably supposed to believe that it’s for Tig. However, check this out.
One of those images is from the second episode, and one is from the “Next on …” scenes. Clearly, it’s from the same burial, so it’s likely that they’re just trying to throw us, and let us believe that Tig is going to die next week. I don’t think so, Sutter.
