I can’t start writing about this episode without mentioning Lee Toric. He’s had a lot to do in these past few episodes, and this one really pushes him to the forefront. At the end of last week’s episode, he expressed interest in hooking up with one of Nero’s Diosa girls. At the beginning of this one, she’s with him in his hotel room, and not much time is wasted before he (accidentally, or so it seems) shoots her in the belly.
His casual apologies almost make the scene comedic at first, but the district attorney is coming to visit him, and he’s in a hurry to cover up the situation. With a pillow and a quick bullet to the girl’s head, he brushes her out of sight and meets with the DA like nothing happened. He tells the DA that if they want to find out what happened to Darbany and Arcadio (who were killed in last week’s adventures at the cabin), they’re going to have to look at Nero.
Later on, after his first meeting with Jax (more on that soon), Toric’s clipping hair and strips of clothing off the girl’s body, promising her that he’ll make it mean something. And at the very end of the episode, he plants that “evidence” in Nero’s car. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Toric is one messed up dude and he’s only going to be bringing a lot of trouble to the show.
Jax finally agrees to visit Clay in prison, after a brief visit to Sheriff Roosevelt (glad to see that this character wasn’t forgotten– I was worried about him after not seeing him in the two episodes so far). Clay tells Jax that he doesn’t plan to flip, that he was just using Toric to give him the opportunity to attempt to make amends with Jax. Jax doesn’t necessarily buy it at first, but I personally am super glad to see that Clay is holding true to the club. Even after everything that’s happened, and all his treachery, it wouldn’t sit right if Clay were to give anything to the police. Last week, I was hoping that this was Clay’s plan, and I’m glad that it turned out to be true. It’s a little victory for a character that is very easy to hate.
The best part of this scene, however, was Jax’s confrontation with Toric. This is the first time that the two have met, and while Jax didn’t actually see Toric (the scene was beautifully shot through a one-way mirror), it’s the first time he says anything to him. Jax’s threat to Toric is, simply, cool.
Most of the rest of the episode centered on Jax and his crew dealing with the repercussions of their attack on the Persians (sorry, Iranians) from the premiere.
In my review of that episode, I spent a long time writing about Tig and his murder of one of the Iranian brothers. It seems that this is coming back around, when the Iranians shoot out the windows of Barosky’s deli (and one of his guys). It leads to Jax and his crew, with Nero, going out with Barosky to meet the Iranians on their boat for a little “social visit”. Jax denies knowing anything about the dead Iranian brother (which is true, because as far as he knows, Tig let the guy free), and Barosky backs him up, lying to the surviving brother telling him that he was there when he was released. In typical Sons of Anarchy style, the meeting ends with bloodshed.
Jax knows that Tig killed the Iranian, though. He confronts Tig, in private, and Tig denies it. Jax appears to believe him at first, parting with a brotherly kiss and and “I love you.” It feels almost like a goodbye– and as we learn soon, it very well may be.
Tig’s too uncontrollable. As Barosky points out, Jax needs to be able to trust his crew. After realizing that Tig murdered the Iranians– and lied about it to Jax’s face– Jax realizes that it might be time to finally hand him over to August Marks.
August, the man who took over Pope’s business, still wants Tig dead, and Jax slips him a piece of paper that leads to Tig. We don’t see Tig’s fate at the end of the episode, but we see August and his guys corner him. I hope Tiggy survives this one, though I really can’t see how he could. What I do know, though, is that this will lay heavily on Jax.
The other big story of the episode involved Wendy and Gemma. Wendy comes to the club looking for Jax, finding Gemma instead. Wendy claims that someone attacked her and threatened her, showing Gemma a nasty bruise on her Neck. Instead of getting facetime with Jax, however, Gemma gives Wendy a gun.
The fascinating part of this story is revealed in the montage at the end of the episode: Wendy wipes the bruise off of her neck, and it was just makeup. Her story of the attack was false, and I can’t help but wonder if this is part of some scheme to gain custody of the boys. Does she want to get Jax in trouble? One thing this show doesn’t lack is danger for its heroes. Seems like there’s never an end for problems for Jax to deal with, and now Wendy’s making another one.
Overall, this was a strong episode. Some scenes were particularly memorable (Jax and Toric’s face off through the mirror, for example), and for the most part things continue to move forward.
What did you think of this week’s episode? I loved it. Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Worth Mentioning
– “Making friends the Gemma way.”
– Toric has to sign papers to protect the DA “in case he goes rogue”. Ahahahha.
– That beautiful white fur rug ruined by all that blood. :(
– Maybe it’s because I loved HBO’s Oz, but I love prison scenes. Clay Morrow’s prison scenes in this episode were some of my favorites, even if they may have seemed a little tangential. Wished there was some more depth to them.
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