After the events of last week’s riveting episode (are you reading this Emmy voters?), it didn’t seem like Tara would ever be able to forgive Jax for what happened. But now that she’s had a night to calm down, she certainly seems willing to try, even if she doesn’t look entirely convinced that they’ll be able to leave Charming as promised. Jax still believes that they can get out, though, and now that the hospital in Providence has offered Tara a job despite her recent accident, their plans to start a new life together are still alive. Or at least they were until Tara foolishly broke her hand all over again after freaking out following Wendy’s visit. Personally, I don’t see why it’s such a big deal. Wendy is, after all, Abel’s biological mother, and if she’s completely reformed, then why shouldn’t she be able to get to know her son? Gemma sees the reasoning behind it and agrees to let Wendy into Abel’s life, but only under her rules. That could mean that Drea de Matteo is coming back to “SOA” full-time, but I wouldn’t place any bets just yet.
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.
