After Gemma learns that Opie has found out the truth about Piney’s death, she begins to worry that he’s going to kill Clay, and even scolds Unser for telling him. If Unser looked a little confused, it’s because Gemma doesn’t seem to know what she wants anymore, and the poor guy was left scratching his head just like I was while watching it. It wasn’t that long ago that she went to Unser demanding that Clay needed to die at the hands of a Son, so why the sudden change of heart? You’ve got me, but whatever the reason, she’s obviously decided that she no longer wants Clay dead, and even makes the effort to warn him that Opie is coming for him with a vengeance.

But before we jump to that juicy showdown, it’s worth discussing the events that occurred right before it. Is it just me or is Clay having second thoughts about killing Tara? The previews for this week’s episode hinted at Clay finishing the job himself, but after talking with Romeo about the botched hit, he didn’t seem too convinced that she needs to die anymore, even after Romeo offers to handle it personally. Instead, his visit to Tara’s hospital room was actually quite diplomatic, even if it was a bit of a threat in disguise. He claims that he’s willing to help Jax and Tara get out of town in exchange for John Teller’s letters, and I actually believe him. All he cares about now is saving his own neck, and if Tara is no longer a threat, then it’s actually in his best interest to get her and Jax out of his way so that he can continue his reign over the club.

Of course, Clay wasn’t expecting a wild card like Opie to interfere. Though I’m a little surprised that Opie could even think that Jax knew about Piney’s murder, he refuses to rely on the club to decide Clay’s punishment and heads to the clubhouse to dole out some good old fashioned justice on his own. Jax’s threat to kill Opie if he shot Clay seemed pretty stupid at the time, but thinking back on it now, I guess you can argue that Jax didn’t actually know for sure that Clay was responsible. Nevertheless, Opie just smiled at the comment and shot Clay twice, although from the look of it, he only hit him in the shoulder, which means that Clay is probably still alive.

Meanwhile, it looks like Otto won’t be reneging on his agreement with Lincoln after all. He’s signed the papers confirming his testimony and, after making Bobby read a list of all the crap he’s done for SAMCRO while in prison, hands him over to the Feds, who throw him into lockup with Juice. You’d think that Otto would have at least want to talk to Bobby before ratting the club out, but since the meet happened after the fact, it wouldn’t have even mattered if Bobby told him the truth about Georgie. Surely Bobby is screwed whether Lincoln takes down the Irish or not, so does he become the new Otto?

Other thoughts from the episode:

* Ryan Hurst has always been one of the best things about “Sons of Anarchy,” and his performances these past few weeks have been nothing short of phenomenal. It isn’t easy to stand out in a show filled with so many great actors, and yet he manages to do exactly that almost every time he’s on screen. It would be criminal if Hurst wasn’t recognized at some point before the end of the show’s run.

* Although it happened prior to the climactic showdown, Jax’s admission that he no longer thinks Opie is ready to lead the club brings up an interesting debate. Granted, I don’t believe for one second that Jax is actually leaving Charming, but it’s interesting to at least imagine how differently the club would operate under the command of Bobby and Chibs, who Jax suggests take over as President and VP when Clay steps down.

* I get that Kurt Sutter likes to have some fun with the show – it is his show, after all – but that offhand comment by Jacob Hale about Charming’s mayor was a little too cute for my taste. Mayor Quimby? Really guys?

Meanwhile, with the rest of the club now aware of Tara’s attempted kidnapping, they’ve agreed to join Jax in exacting revenge on Lobos Sonora by teaming up with Romeo’s men to get rid of the cartel’s presence in Charming. The attack doesn’t go quite as planned, however, and they accidentally wander into a minefield just outside of the Lobos’ camp. During the ensuing firefight, Kozik steps on one of the mines and is blown to pieces – an event that will likely go down as the most pointless death in the history of the show. I don’t really see any reason why Kozik had to die apart from the fact that Kenny Johnson (the actor who plays him) has a new gig on NBC’s “Prime Suspect,” especially when he was just beginning to mesh with the rest of the cast. That whole sequence played really false to me, with Jax and Chibbs even using some rocket launchers (or as Juice called them, “‘Call of Duty’ shit”) like they were seasoned pros.

Apart from that strange detour, the rest of the episode did a great job of getting all the show’s ducks in a row in preparation for the finale. One of the biggest loose ends still looming in the background was the deal that Clay struck with Georgie to trick Hale into thinking he had new investors for Charming Heights. Unfortunately, the plan worked a little too well, and one of the Asian families went behind Georgie’s back and actually made a deal with Hale, ensuring that the property deal would go through. When the Sons learn that Georgie can’t do anything to stop it, Bobby forces him to confess the truth about Luanne’s murder before giving Tig and Opie the go-ahead to kill him like they should have weeks ago. As expected, Georgie was involved in her death, although he claims that it was an accident and she was only meant to be roughed up a bit.

Of course, that particular piece of intel isn’t going to mean much to Otto since Bobby already lied to him about killing Georgie once. And now because of it, he’s decided to rat on SAMCRO after Lincoln agrees to a list of demands that include giving Lennie the Pimp back some of his prison rights and moving up his execution date. Oh yeah, and he also wants to be the one to tell Bobby that he gave up the club, although that last one is going to blow up in his face as soon as he learns that Georgie was responsible for Luanne’s death. Then again, as long as Otto doesn’t sign off on his testimony, there’s always a chance that he’ll be able to retract his statement in time. And from where I’m standing, that’s SAMCRO’s only hope of getting out of this whole mess in one piece.

Other thoughts from the episode:

* Otto’s traitorous decision wasn’t even the biggest talking point of the night, but rather it was Opie finally discovering Piney’s body in the cabin. I’m not sure why Unser didn’t go finish the frame-up job immediately after speaking with Gemma, but now Opie knows the real truth, and Unser’s warning that Clay needs to die before he “kills someone else you love” suggests that Opie will indeed be the Son who puts him down for good.

* But it’s entirely possible that someone totally unexpected will be the one that pulls the trigger instead. If Tig killed Clay, it would continue in the tradition of the show’s other Shakespearean influences, although it would be more “Julius Caesar” than “Hamlet.” And after confronting Clay about being shut out in recent weeks and then turning over his Sgt. at Arms patch after seeing what he did to Gemma, Tig certainly has motive.

* And then there’s Juice, who’s trying to save the club and his brothers by essentially going against everything they stand for. If he would have just went confided in Chibs in the first place about the whole race issue (who claims that it isn’t an issue at all because his birth certificate says he’s Hispanic), he wouldn’t be in the difficult situation that he’s in now, which only makes it that much harder to swallow.

Though last week’s cliffhanger may have tried to play coy about whether Clay was actually moving forward with his plan to order a hit on Tara, it was confirmed within the first few minutes of tonight’s episode. I found it a little strange that Clay demanded Tara’s death to be handled cleanly, however, because if he was planning on blaming it on the cartel, isn’t that the complete opposite of what they would do? Regardless, it didn’t take long for Gemma to realize that Clay was up to no good when she discovered that the money was missing, but I don’t think she knew what he had done just yet.

The look on Clay’s face upon learning that Jax and the kids were joining Tara on her trip up to Oregon was priceless, and although he tried to call it off, Romeo said that it wasn’t possible. What he doesn’t know is that Romeo could have easily canceled the hit if he wanted to, but now that he knows that Tara is a potential liability, he’s going to do whatever it takes to protect the cartel – even if that means killing her himself. Of course, as soon as Romeo does come after Tara, that’s surely going to spell the end of the cartel’s relationship with SAMCRO, which is exactly what the club wants anyways.

Still, for as much as that guy was paid to kill Tara, you’d think that he would be a little better at his job. Though he successfully got her into the van, Jax was able to shoot out the tires, prompting Tara to try and escape only to have her hand crushed by the door. As soon as that happened, I immediately knew where the story was headed. With Tara’s career as a surgeon pretty much finished (save for some miracle recovery), Jax will be forced to stay in the club in order to support her and the family. The fact that I didn’t even consider that possibility before is a little embarrassing, but I have to applaud Sutter for doing what was necessary without making it feel like a jumping the shark moment. The emotional ramifications are going to be huge, because I can’t really see how Jax and Tara will able to be continue their relationship when she already resents him for what happened.

There may be a dearth of strong female characters on television, but “Sons of Anarchy” has two incredible ones in Tara and Gemma. The latter really showed her fortitude tonight when, after confronting Clay about breaking his promise to stay away from Tara, she pulled a gun on him and threatened to tell Jax everything. But while Gemma certainly got a few good punches in after he attacked her, Clay did most of the damage, beating her up so badly that she looked even worse than she did after the rape in Season Two. I honestly don’t see how Clay is going to make it out of this season alive, and now that Gemma has finally admitted he’s beyond saving, she’s ready to let him go. Unser would prefer he’s delivered justice by the law, but Gemma believes he has to die, and only at the hands of a Son. But who will it be? Jax, Opie or someone else?

What neither of them realizes, however, is that Juice isn’t depressed – he’s just nursing a guilty conscience, which he hopes to remedy by getting out of the spy game with Roosevelt. But Lincoln believes that he can still be useful, so he brings Juice into the secret RICO room to show him just how deep his investigation goes. Though he claims that he’s only after the Real IRA and promises that SAMCRO won’t be dragged into a federal case (thereby saving the club and all of its charters from certain extinction), he can’t guarantee that some of its members won’t be punished for their involvement. All Lincoln wants in return is the details of the upcoming meet between the IRA and the cartel, but Juice probably couldn’t get that information even if he wanted. In fact, if he’s so adamant about helping the club, his best bet would be to just call Lincoln’s bluff, because it’s pretty obvious the investigation hinges on whether or not he cooperates.

SAMCRO could sure use the old Juice on their side, especially with increasing pressure from Lobos Sonora, who they discover have been working with the Niners to expand their coke business into the States. Though it’s hard to blame the Niners for cutting a deal with the Lobos while the Sons were still in prison, Jax convinces their President that’s in his best interest to stay out of the middle of a cartel beef and join them and the Mayans in working for Galindo. Part of that deal means luring the Lobos into a trap so that Torres can take care of them once and for all, but when the surprise attack goes south and a few manage to escape thanks to some handy grenade launchers, Jax persuades Torres not to take out his anger on the Niners by ensuring him that they’ll be more useful alive than dead. All in all a pretty worthless subplot in the grand scheme of things, although it did provide Torres the chance to give Clay a cell phone that would solve his “doctor problem.” And just to emphasize the gravity of the decision, he tells him that once the assassination is set in motion, it can’t be stopped.

Clay just wants to make sure it doesn’t blow back on him or the club, because after killing Piney the night before, he must be starting to worry about what might happen to him if anyone finds out. (Which begs the question, why didn’t he just have the cartel kill Piney to make it look more legit?) Thankfully, he has Gemma on his side, who will do just about anything to protect her husband – even if it means planting a suspiciously seductive kiss on Unser’s lips. Though Unser initially wanted to call the murder in to the cops after he realized that Clay had officially lost control and was beyond saving, he suddenly changed his mind after that kiss, which admittedly made him look pretty weak.

In defense of Gemma, she’s doing her best to clean up Clay’s mess. You can tell from her reaction upon discovering Piney’s body that she never expected it would come to this, and she wants to make sure the same thing doesn’t happen to Tara, who Gemma believes is no longer a threat after admitting she would never show JT’s letters to Jax at the risk of how it would affect him. But while Gemma makes Clay promise to her that he won’t hurt Tara, he’s already proven to be cold-hearted and an adept liar, and I wasn’t very surprised when he opened the cell phone in the final scene and dialed the contract killer’s number. Fortunately, Jax has decided to drive Tara up to Oregon for the hospital conference, so at least he’ll be there to protect her. I just can’t wait to see Clay’s face when he finds out that Jax is with Tara and he can’t cancel the hit. What will he do then?

Other thoughts from the episode:

* The whole scene between Lincoln and Otto seemed pretty redundant. I mean, didn’t he try to turn him against the club already? Okay, so Georgie Caruso might have an alibi that places him in Thailand during the time of Luanne’s murder, but that doesn’t exactly exonerate him of her death. He could have easily hired someone else to kill her. Plus, what exactly could Otto give Lincoln on SAMCRO that would be of any substance?

* If Tara doesn’t plan on telling Jax about the letters or the truth behind JT’s death, then why is she being so damn secretive? She could have easily prevented Piney’s murder if she had just given them to Gemma in the first place. How much do you want to bet that Jax discovers the letters on his own?

* The discussion between Bobby and Jax was perhaps one of the most telling moments of the season thus far. Though Jax claims that he wants out of the club, Bobby is adamant that the President’s chair is not only his birthright, but his fate. And from the way that he handled the situation with Torres and the Niners, it’s hard to argue that he’s not the best man for the job.

It’s definitely one less distraction the club could do with at the moment, especially after the vote for the president challenge was delayed following the attack by Lobos Sonora, who shot up the clubhouse and delivered a bag filled with the heads of members from both SAMCRO and the Mayans, including Tucson president Armando. Dirty Phil was able to shoot one of them before they got away, but he wasn’t a very cooperative hostage – at least, not until Galindo’s right-hand man gave him a dose of truth serum and he fingered one of the Mayans as a spy feeding the cartel information. But while Alvarez wanted the traitor killed on the spot, Jax suggested that they use him to set a trap for the Lobos at the warehouse instead. Unfortunately, it didn’t go as planned, with the Lobos managing to stay one step ahead by taunting them with a truck containing the bodies of the headless victims in the back. Could there be another rat in the group?

Who knows? But with the lives of the Sons and their families now officially in danger (and Roosevelt sniffing around the clubhouse), the last thing that Clay should be worrying about is the looming threat of John Teller’s letters. Though Piney tells him that the recent string of attacks is a great excuse to pull the plug on their new business venture, Clay refuses to believe that Romeo will let them just walk away. But if Clay doesn’t think that they can free themselves of the cartel now, then how does he plan on ever getting out? Or does that become someone else’s problem after he steps down?

I’m actually a little surprised that Piney didn’t say anything about JT’s death to Jax when he visited him at the cabin, because he had to have known that Clay was never going to follow through with their deal. He was thisclose to telling Jax, and for some reason, I had this bad feeling that it would be his last chance, because he seemed so vulnerable to a Lobos Sonora attack up there in the woods all alone. Instead, it was Clay who took advantage, shooting him dead in the chest after Piney refused to give him the letters and painting a bloody “LS” on a picture of the club to make it look like the cartel was responsible. It’s not going to take long for someone to figure out that the murder doesn’t follow their MO, however, and I can think of a few people who would have reason to believe that Clay was behind it. And now that Piney’s dead, this could have major ramifications on the outcome of the president vote.

Other thoughts from the episode:

* Clay might have been able to take care of Piney, but Tara is going to be a lot harder to silence if she decides to skip town, which is looking more and more likely after Jax gave her his blessing to accept that job opportunity. Of course, she may feel obligated to stay in Charming if she suspects foul play with Piney’s death, especially now that she has Roosevelt’s protection.

* Chucky has always been a pretty offbeat character, but tonight’s episode was one of the weirdest and most darkly comical subplots involving him yet. You have to respect his quick thinking when it came to hiding the decapitated head in the chili pot, but actually feeding it to a few of Roosevelt’s men reached new heights of disturbing. And to think, I was actually looking forward to winter for the sole reason of eating some chili.

I have to admit that I was a little surprised how Gemma handled the discovery of the death threat left in Tara’s car, because I thought for sure that she would either rip it up or take it directly to Clay demanding an explanation. Instead, she doesn’t even seem to consider that it might have anything to do with Clay, and instead shows it to Tara, who characteristically freaks out. Of course, when Clay hears about the death, he knows immediately that Unser is responsible and warns him to stay out of his way. But now that Unser knows that he was used by Clay in order to cover up John Teller’s death, I think that he’s willing to accept the consequences of the truth coming out if it means that an innocent life will be saved in the process. Granted, I’m not really sure how informing Tara’s supervisor Margaret is going to help protect her, but maybe Margaret will be able to transfer her to another hospital for a while until all this blows over.

And at the rate things are going, it could be sooner than later, especially now that SAMCRO knows that the Galindo cartel’s main competitors are targeting their associates – namely, the Mayans and the Sons – in an attempt to force Romeo and his crew out of California. Bobby has been trying to tell Clay that getting into bed with the cartel was trouble from the start, and he’s so disgusted with how everything has turned out that he’s decided to challenge him for the presidency. That’s a pretty bold move on Bobby’s part, but while it might seem like an easy win for Clay considering he got the majority vote over the last decision involving the cartel, now that the club has seen just how much danger they’re in after only a few weeks on the job, there’s a pretty good chance that at least one person will jump ship.

Of course, Juice might not even be around to cast his vote if Lincoln has anything to do about it. After Roosevelt informs him that Juice won’t turn over the coke sample until he meets the guy pulling the strings behind the operation, Lincoln orders Roosevelt to set up a fake meeting and bust him for possession instead. Though Roosevelt refuses to play dirty in order to get Juice’s cooperation (a statement even Lincoln finds ironic since he was more than willing to destroy the Sons’ clubhouse with a fire axe), he’s eventually coerced into going along with Lincoln’s plan. But for as much of a pain that Roosevelt has been to SAMCRO since his arrival, you could tell that he felt really bad about the situation that he was putting Juice in. After all, if Juice doesn’t cooperate, he’ll be thrown into prison and likely killed. And if he does cooperate but SAMCRO finds out, he’ll be killed well. Either way, he’s a dead man walking, and Juice’s expression as he left the police station implied that he knew as much.

I’m actually quite shocked that Chibs isn’t more suspicious of Juice after the way he’s been acting lately, but you’ve got to love that he’s at least looking out for the guy when no one else seems to notice that something is wrong. I’m sure that Juice would have rather Chibs didn’t go to Clay to voice his concerns about him, however, because after that very fatherly speech by Clay about how proud he was of him, it only made Juice’s guilt that much worse. My stomach was positively tied in knots during that final sequence as he sewed on the Men of Mayhem patch and then hung himself from the tree, but I’m confident that he’s not actually dead. In fact, if you listen carefully, you’ll hear what sounds like a tree branch breaking just before the episode cuts to black, so make of that what you will. Regardless of the outcome, you can bet that it’s going to make Roosevelt think long and hard about what he’s done to push Juice in that direction.