Of course, nothing is ever that easy in the world of “Sons of Anarchy,” and although the Irish Kings seem open to working with the cartel, they’re only willing to do it with Clay as the intermediary. That puts Jax in a bit of a bind, who openly admits to Romeo that the club is already way over its head on this whole cartel business. Though he didn’t want to have to bring Jax into the loop on their CIA connections, Romeo’s hand was forced by the prospect of losing the IRA gun deal, so he explains to Jax that if the deal goes bust, the RICO case will be reopened and the club will be destroyed. All in all, it was a pretty clever way of keeping Clay alive and ensuring Jax remains in Charming. I also found it interesting that Romeo never intended to hurt Tara, but was instead going to put her into protective custody. That at least explains why the kidnappers didn’t just shoot the both of them when Jax came to her rescue in the park.

I don’t think we’ve ever seen Jax more pissed off than when he went to go visit Clay at the hospital (except perhaps at the end of last week’s episode), because despite every bone in his body telling him to kill the traitorous bastard, he had to keep him alive for the sake of the club. It’s hard to imagine a show where Clay can co-exist alongside Jax, Opie, Tara and Gemma now that they all know the truth, but Jax really has no other choice. Though he’s stripping him of the President patch, Jax is allowing Clay to keep a seat at the table and his vote for the sake of appearances, but what will the Irish think when they realize he’s no longer in control of the club? And while Clay may wish that he was dead now, that’s not going to stop him from putting up a fight when he recovers.

Whatever happens, you have to commend Kurt Sutter for crafting a finale that offered a satisfying sense of resolution while also laying the groundwork for the next season. Tara’s decision to stay in Charming is undoubtedly going to create some tension between her and Gemma as she takes over the role of queen bee, and she’s already been entrusted with a pretty big secret. Though Romeo warned Jax not to say anything about the CIA’s involvement, he pretty much had to tell Tara in order to explain why he wasn’t leaving as promised. Whether or not that decision blows up in his face remains to be seen, but you can be sure that she wouldn’t have stuck around for very long if he didn’t tell her the truth. That was a really great scene between the two of them, and it was a little saddening to watch Jax leave her to go take his spot at the head of the table when he clearly doesn’t want to be there, even if we knew all along that it had to happen in order for the show to continue.

For the most part, everyone seemed to embrace the sight of Jax claiming his rightful throne, although Tig didn’t look too happy about being replaced by Chibs as the new Sergeant of Arms. Of course, that’s going to be the least of his worries if Roosevelt’s reaction to Laroy’s girlfriend being killed in the hit-and-run is as serious as he made it sound. Apparently, she’s the daughter of the most dangerous gangster in Oakland, which means that SAMCRO might be headed for another war. Opie is exactly the kind of guy that Jax is going to need at his side if things get bloody, and though he’s yet to accept his invitation to become VP after learning that Clay will be spared for reasons Jax can’t say, he hasn’t turned him down either. And I really hope he doesn’t, because the prospect of seeing those two guys run the club is simply too good to pass up.

A few other thoughts from the episode:

* Though I’m still holding out hope that Michael Chiklis will been given an actual role on the show at some point (after all, several other “The Shield” alum have already made an appearance), the cheeky TV cameo was a nice touch.

* I’m going to really miss the enigmatic and oddball Lincoln Potter, but at least he went out in style by taking down Mayor Hale in front of city council, exposing his Asian investors as a bunch of sex toy sickos and pretty much guaranteeing that the Charming Heights project would be shut down. Even his explanation to Hale about why he did it was great: “Because I don’t like you. And the good guys need a win.”

* The only thing better than that line of dialogue was the reason Roosevelt gave to Juice for helping him clear his name: “You’re a criminal. You do bad things. I’m a cop. I stop you. I just want to get back to that.” I can’t wait to see what part he plays in the imminent war between SAMCRO and the Niners, because while he’s clearly not crooked like Unser, I think that he still sees some value in what the club does for Charming.

It probably wasn’t the best idea for Jax to pin the shooting on “some black guys,” but no one could have expected that Tig would take the news so personally. I can understand why he feels like it might be his fault after turning his back on Clay, but to just retaliate on the Niners like that without any proof they were even responsible was really stupid. Tig was lucky to get out of that situation alive, because you can be sure that’s not the last we’re going to see of the Niners. Though Laroy made it out in one piece, his wife/girlfriend/someone important was killed in the initial attack, and two more of his men died in the ensuing chase. Geez, just when all the gangs in Charming we’re starting to play nice with one another and Tig had to go and mess it up.

Meanwhile, Gemma looks like she’s finally done protecting Clay (either that, or she just wants to be on the winning side) and decides to open up to Tara about all the horrible things that Clay has done lately. It was obviously just a ploy to make her feel guilty about using John Teller’s letters as leverage, but it worked, because Tara gave Gemma the key to the storage unit where they were hiding all along. After reading through the letters, however, Gemma took out the ones that implicated her and Unser and handed the rest over to Jax, which ultimately led to her spilling the beans on years of secrets – from Clay’s initial attempt to kill JT by sending him into a Mayan ambush, to rigging his bike to crash, to shooting Piney in the cabin and even putting out the hit on Tara.

All in all, it was a pretty clever attempt at getting Jax to stay in Charming and take over his rightful place at the head of the club, but Gemma wasn’t expecting Tara to outwit her. This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen the good doctor evolve as a result of spending so much time around Gemma, but it is the first time that she’s let her know it. Tara knew all along what Gemma was going to do with those letters and even had the gall to brag about it. In fact, she’s so confident that Jax will keep his word about leaving town that she’s willing to help kill Clay (using a blood thinner, natch) and allow him to wrap up business with the IRA and the cartel before heading off on their merry way, and Gemma definitely wasn’t happy about it.

What neither woman realizes, though, is that Jax is about to walk in to a world of trouble. Forced to take Clay’s place at the meeting due to his (ahem) condition, Jax is given assurance by Romeo that despite what Lennie the Pimp may have told him about Otto striking a deal with the Feds, his inside source has confirmed that it’s not true. Now, either Romeo knows something that the Sons don’t or they need to find better sources, because if Jax and Chibs get caught at the meet, they’ll be arrested as part of the RICO case. And when you think about it, that only makes Juice’s cooperation with Lincoln that much worse, since those are the two guys (particularly Chibs) who were there for him after his suicide attempt. Kurt Sutter always has an ace up his sleeve, however, and I can’t wait to see what he comes up with this time around.