When last weeks episode ended, both of the principle bad guys were in jail; A.J. Weston for burning down CaraCara, and Ethan Zobele along with his daughter for being in possession of a brick of heroin.  So where does this leave SAMCRO?  Waiting outside the police department of course.  This kind of surprised me, but I guess at this point there was no hiding the fact that the club had it out for Weston and Zobele.   This is where Kurt Sutter threw the first wrench in the works.  Making Ethan Zobelle an FBI informant made so much sense, but I never saw it coming.  I also love that when Weston was released we got to see just a hint that Deputy Hale thought that maybe Clay’s outlaw justice wasn’t always such a bad thing.

I said last week that I the Mayans were getting involved in this somehow, and I felt a little rise in my heart when I first heard the sound of those Harley’s rounding the corner and I saw Alverez and his charter.  The stand-off on main street was like something out of a western.  A good old fashioned Mexican stand-off.  While it was pretty obvious that there wasn’t going to be bloodshed on Main Street since Clay was going to keep it outside of Charming it was a great scene none-the-less.

I’m pretty sure that Weston knew his time was coming soon when he got out of his cell.  The fact that his main priority was seeing his sons one last time was a touching moment from someone so full of hate and cold-blooded.  When Jax pulled that trigger it was obvious that Weston had accepted his fate.  It was without fanfare, but it was a fitting end to have him sitting on the toilet when he got what was coming to him.

It was interesting that while Clay turned out to be a man of patience, Gemma was the hot headed one that got herself into trouble.  You knew that nothing good was going to come of her following Polly.  When Agent Stahl is able to pin the murders of Polly and Edward on Gemma was the moment that it became clear that things might not be all tied up nicely at the end of the episode.  As my wife and I were watching the scene we both agreed that someone needs to put an end to Stahl quickly.  It’s tough to see her get what she wants again and again.  You’ve gotta assume that when she called in the murders her intention was to have Cameron Hayes hear it, knowing full well that he would enact revenge for his son’s death.  Stahl is a complex character.  She really straddles both sides of the law.  With her it’s personal more than anything else.  She was upset about Zobele being an FBI informant, and must have known that Unser would tell SAMCRO about it.  Did she want Zobele to go down, or was it her way of making sure that the Sons of Anarchy would kill him so she could take them down herself?

Of course Sons of Anarchy is a dark show, but at this point in the episode it got really dark.  I really questioned weather or not Cameron Hayes was going to kill Jax’s son Abel when he busted in on Tara and Half-Sac.  Him killing Half-Sac really upset me.  He was one of my favorite characters, and my hope was going to be that the episode would end with him getting his top rocker.  Never in my wildest dreams did I see him getting killed off and Abel getting kidnapped.

I loved the assault on Zobele.  When the Sons come riding up with Unser’s truck opening fire was plain awesome.  Of course Alverez wasn’t going to risk losing his life to protect Zobele, he’s going to live to fight SAMCRO another day.  I kept waiting for Zobele to piss himself while he was waiting inside that store with Clay and the whole crew outside.  The look on his face when he sees them peal out of the parking lot was priceless.

I’ll admit, I was still hoping for a happy ending when the entire crew was chasing Edward Hayes who had Abel.  I was sure that Jax was going to catch the boat before it took off and save his kid.  Never in a million years did I think it would end that way, but that’s what so great about this show. So not only did Zobele get away, Gemma’s on the lamb with Unser and Jax’s son was kidnapped by a rogue IRA member.  My heart was torn to pieces when Jax sat there on the dock saying that Hayes had his kid.

Wow, what a season.  As I said I never thought this was the way it was going to end.  The Sons go from one enemy to another.  Where will Jimmy O fall in this?  Will he land in support of SAMCRO, or is he going to back his countryman who he suspects might have betrayed him?  Obviously Stahl isn’t going anywhere, and who’s going to be the one that finally puts a bullet in this bitch’s head?  While this might have been the conclusion of the season it was by no means a conclusion.  Way to go Mr. Sutter.  You’ve kept us on the edge of our seat all season long and it looks like we won’t be leaving it anytime soon.  Way to go.  When does season 3 start again?

Thoughts and Observations:

• Just how far can Cameron Hayes go on that boat out on the open sea?
• We’ve heard a lot about the Belfast charter of The Sons of Anarchy, I think we just might get to meet some of them next season.
• SAMCRO versus the IRA?  Can the Sons finally do what the British government has been trying to do for over a hundred years?
• By the way, “Na Triobloidi” is Irish for “The Troubles.”  I looked it up.  It refers to a period of violence in Northern Ireland that started in the 60’s and didn’t end until the peace accord of 1998.
• It was really nice to see Otto get some justice.  What was the book he was listening to?  It mentioned the Sons of Anarchy, but I don’t know what it was.
• It’s rare that we don’t find out the whole story on something, but we still don’t know what Tig’s beef was with the president of the Tacoma chapter in the previous episode.
• When Gemma and Tara were picking up supplies I remember commenting that both women were way under utilized in this episode, boy did I speak too soon.
• Zobele and his daughter live in Budapest?
• If you are a fan of this show you really should be following series creator Kurt Sutter on twitter @kurtsutter and reading his blog. Bravo Mr. Sutter!
• I now understand why I didn’t get the screener for this episode until today.  Let me say it again, WOW!

Looks like the Sons of Anarchy are getting ready for war.  SAMCRO has gotten everyone important to them into the clubhouse and put it on lock down.  They don’t want any of their families or friends hurt in what’s about to happen.  They’ve also brought in some outside charters to help them out.  In the chapel they run down the plan to get their guns, clear Chibs with Jimmy O, and turn Weston and others against Zobele.  They are organized and they are ready.  They briefly discuss Half-Sac after they find out that his body rejected the implant.  It’s good to see Clay with such a clear head all of a sudden.

Jax, Opie, and Juice go to tell Weston about Zobele’s dealings with the Mayans.  Of course Weston is pissed about Jax busting in his house and messing with his sons.  He also has no idea that Jax and the Sons know about what he did to Gemma.

Chibs meets his wife Fiona at a park and he tells her that he wants to get her out since the ATF is aware of Jimmy O and they are planning to take him down.  Clay has arranged for the Belfast charter of SOA to watch out for Chibs daughter.  While the two share a brief moment in the bathroom at the park, she doesn’t seem sure about leaving.  Clay and Bobby meet with Jimmy O and tell him that it’s really the Hayes’ who’ve turned on the Irish, they give him photos that Unser took from the ATF as proof.

Back at the clubhouse Gemma and Tara are sitting at the bar when a “croweater” offers Tara some coffee.  At first she refuses, but Gemma insists that she needs to take advantage of it.  She tells her that people need to show her respect in Charming, since she’s Jax Teller’s old lady.

Clay and Jax meet with the Niners and the Asians.  They explain that they have a common enemy, Zobele.  They hatch a plan to wipe out Zobele and the Mayans wich is good business for all.

Weston finds Zobele’s drug house and busts in killing the two workers and Ule after he tells Weston that the guns went to the Mexicans, corroborating what Jax told him.  Back at the club house Chuckie has resurfaced with burns from the Cara Cara fire.  He agrees to file a report that Weston torched the studio and is sent outside while the grown-up talk shop.

Over at the IRA safe house Polly is leaving and Agent Stahl heads in to talk to Edward.  She warns him that if he doesn’t give up Jimmy O she will “bury him.”

Polly arrives at the cigar shop and Weston bust in with some of his Aryan Brotherhood goons and pulls a gun on Zobele for betraying the cause.  Polly pulls a gun on Weston and Zobele is able to calm them all down enough to at least put down the guns.  Weston is pissed and is starting to get a little irrational.  He’s playing right into SAMCRO’s hands.  Zobele tells his daughter to call Hale and get some cops over to watch her and the store while he goes for more new protection.  Weston arrives at the Charming PD as his sons are being taken away by social services since he left them alone in a house with loaded firearms.  Jax, Opie and Juice show up and set up a time for a fight between the ten best of Weston’s crew and the ten best of Jax’s, no weapons.

Inside the police department Hale tells Chief Unser about the killings that Weston committed and he thinks it’s SAMCRO’s work.  Unser tells him that it isn’t, and it doesn’t matter anyway since it didn’t take place in their jurisdiction.  At that pint Hale notices Chuckie and asks why he’s there.  Unser informs him that he witnessed who burned down CaraCara.  Hale has a tail put on Jax and Clay.

Gemma and Tara are out running errands and have a little heart to heart about their roles in life.  Tara’s role is healing and Gemma’s is to be a fierce mother. 

Over at the safe house Jimmy O shows up to pick up the guns, at least that’s what Edward and the ATF watching the house think.  Jimmy and SAMCRO trick both of them into leaving and get their guns.  After the guns are loaded up in the van Clay, Jax, Tig, Bobby and a few others head to the Army-Nay surplus store to continue the ruse.  Of course Jimmy O isn’t there, and neither are the guns.  When Stahl asks where Jimmy O is the Sons plead ignorance of who he is, and Stahl hits Chibs.  They open the create that is supposed to have the guns in them  but contains only two dead rats, meant as a message for the Hayes’.

Over at the hospital Tara is catching up on her charts when Margret Murphy, the administrator who suspended Tara walks in.  Murphy starts to bully Tara, and Tara turns on her.  Telling her just how much she pity’s her.  When Murphy calls Gemma a whore Tara goes after her and assaults her, warning her that if she does anything about it that she will be in big trouble.  Oh and while Murphy is keeping quiet she should drop the claim against Tara.  Murphy is scared, and it looks like she’s done bullying anyone.  Way to go Tara, looks like she’s embraced being an old lady after all.

The crew heads off to meet Weston, and  Gemma consoles both Tara and Lyla as the guys ride off being tailed by the cops that Hale put on them.  The Sons wait on Weston to show up, and when he does his guys are armed to the teeth.  At that point Both LaRoy and Lin show up with their crews tilting the scales in SAMCRO’s favor.  After Weston’s guys put down the guns, they fight goes as planned until the cops show up.  When Hale gets there it’s only the Sons and Weston left.  Hale arrests Weston for burning down the studio, and Clay and the crew call Unser and head over to Zobele’s cigar store.

Unser send the cops watching the store away and waits for Clay to show up.  When Clay shows up he tells Polly to call her dad.  At that point Zobele walks in.  Clay tries to get him outside so he can take him outside of Charming to kill him.  At that point Hale and the two cops that Unser sent away come back in and see what’s going on.  Unser tells them all to leave since he’s the ranking officer there.  As Hale and the other two cops begin to leave Zobele tells them that he and his daughter are in possession of some heroin and it’s under the counter.  Smart move.  He realizes that they will last longer in jail than they will on the street with SAMCRO after them.  As he’s being arrested Jax tells Zobele that they are still going to kill him.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Wow, I mean WOW.  Sutter and crew really out did themselves.  I loved season one, but man this season has blown it out of the water.  No sophomore slump here.
• I was a little creeped out when Zobele left Polly at the cigar shop.  That kiss he gave her was a little more than a father should give a daughter.
• Zobele left to find new protection.  I can only assume that he was going to enlist the Mayans.
• With Weston and Zobele behind bars I guess the attention turns to clearing out the Mayans.  SAMCRO made a promise to the Lin and LaRoy to help clear them out.  Wonder how long it will take before the Asians and the Niners turn on each other?
• Looks like Half-Sac is going to get his top rocker.  I’ve been waiting for this.  He sure as hell has earned it.
• Tara’s turn in this episode was AWESOME!  “No THIS is assault!”
• What was that whole thing with the guy from the Tacoma charter and Tig?  There is some sort of beef there, I hope it get’s explained in the finale.
• Jax is responsible to Weston’s kids being taken away.  “At least I didn’t gang rape them.”
• During the fight Tig bit one of Weston’s guys ear off.  This is why Tig is so great.
• I’m not making any predictions for the finale, but I do think that Unser will step down at the end of the episode, and next season will be all about Hale vs. SAMCRO.
• I can’t wait for next week.  FX isn’t sending out the preview screeners until the day it airs, so don’t ask me what happens.  I don’t know any more than you do.

After leaving Clay and Gemma’s house Jax and Tara are sitting at the kitchen table while Jax is sewing his patches back on his cut when there is a knock on the back door.  It turns out to be Clay.  He and Jax go into Abel’s room to talk.  They both apologize for the way they’ve been acting and Clay asks Jax what he wants to do.  Jax replies simply with, “Kill ‘em all.”  For once Clay realizes that they retaliation has to be smart, and he can’t just rush in guns blazing.  The next morning at chapel Clay and Jax break the news that Zobele’s crew raped Gemma to the club.  THey are outraged and call for blood, but Clay and Jax tell them they they must be smart.  They can’t take on Zobele head on and win, they have to find a weakness.  Either way, Bobby recommends that they get some guns.  With the Chinese pipeline not up yet the begin to raid their own personal stashes.

Tara stops by to check on Gemma.  Gemma is convinced that she did the right thing, but it will be the end of her marriage as Clay will find other women who haven’t been raped and torn up.  Jax is at home getting his guns when Tara walks in on him.  She comes clean about being suspended from the hospital.  She then gets a bad case of diarrhea of the moth spouting out that cheating is a deal breaker, their relationship better be moving forward, and that she is going to want a kid maybe two, all withing about five seconds.  Jax reassures her, but he can’t deal with all this right now.  Over at Clay’s Tig is picking up guns when Gemma walks into the room in her robe.  She offers to get her guns out of the closet and they all fall on the ground as she pulls them down.  Tig bends down to pick them up and is met with Gemma’s leg.  Things get heated between the two very quickly until Tig pulls away and says that what they are doing is wrong.

Tig pulls back into the clubhouse feeling all sorts of shame for many things.  He see’s Opie working on the bike he got at the beginning of the season.  He approaches and asks Opie why Donna was in the truck the night she was shot.  He then spills the beans and tells Opie everything.  Tig just sits there and takes it while Opie beats the crap out of him.  Before Jax can break it up Tig goes on to blame Stahl for the misunderstanding since she made Opie out to be a rat.  Opie takes off quickly to find Stahl with Jax following behind shortly.  Tig tells everyone outside that he told Opie that he killed Donna, which was news to most of them.  Inside, Bobby warns Clay that this is bad news.  It doesn’t look good that the president of the mother charter and one of the first 9 ordered the killing of a brother but killed his wife instead. When they look at the gun supply they’ve amassed they realize they are in trouble, and need to reach out to Jimmy O and the IRA.  Tara shows up to patch up Tig, and Half-Sac shows her his swollen infected implant.  She tells him to get to the emergency room right away.

Opie waits for Sthal outside the police department and he follows her.  Jax arrives too late and misses Opie so he goes inside to warn Hale about what Opie’s planning to do.  After Jax leaves Unser walks out of his office, and tells Hale that he’s going to help SAMCRO, and that Hale is acting chief.  Opie follows Stahl to a small building and waits outside.  Turns out she is inside with Chibs trying to get him to rat out Jimmy O.  The problem is that she didn’t deliver on what she promised him.  She wasn’t able to get immunity for the Sons, only protection for his wife and daughter.  Chibs won’t sign the papers but does take them with him to think about it.  Opie sees Chibs leaving the office with the papers quickly followed by Stahl leaving.  He tracks her to a marina where the ATF is watching Cameron Hayes deliver guns to Weston and his crew.  Hayes tells Weston that the guns have dried up and it might be a while before there are any more coming.  Stahl leaves and is sitting in her car when Opie approaches and puts a gun in her face.  He tells her that he knows she is responsible tor his wife’s death.  Just when he knows he has he feeling just as he wants he shows her that the gun wasn’t loaded, “The outlaw had mercy.” 

Clay, Bobby, Chibs, and Juice meet with Jimmy O and tell him that they need the gun business back.  They are upset that he sold the guns to Zobele, but he agrees that The SOns can have Zobele’s next shipment, which we’ve already learned might not be coming.  Jax, not able to find Opie starts following Zobele and he tracks him to Alverez’s (the Mayan president) record shop.  Inside they two make a deal for Alverez to supply Zobele with heroin for him to distribute.  Jax notices that Weston isn’t involved in this deal, and since Zobele is working with the Mexicans Weston must not know.  There is the weak link in Zobele’s chain that the SOA can exploit.

Back at the clubhouse Jax admits that he knew the truth about Donna all along but he couldn’t tell Opie.  Opie seems to understand and the two discuss Clay.  They are both in agreement that they made Clay who he is, but not sure of how to unmake him.  Jax gives Opie John’s manuscript to read.  At Chapel, Opie says that he’s not leaving SAMCRO, and that his business is his business.  He says that he didn’t kill Stahl and tells Clay what he saw with Chibs.  Chibs and Gemma are outside having a heart to heart and she tells him to just be honest with everyone and they will listen.  Chibs walks inde the chapel and tells them what Stahl wants him to do.  He’s not in trouble because he didn’t rat.  At that point Piney walks in gun drawn and fires at Clay.  He misses and is subdued.  Obie asks to be left alone with him in the room.  Eventually Opie emerges and asks for mercy for his father.  Piney felt like Opie would try to kill Clay, and figured it would be better if he did it since he’s old and dying anyway.  Clay agree to grant him mercy and forget about the attempt.  As they leave the club house Tig tells Clay to go to Gemma and that she just needs reassurance that he still loves her.  He does , and they do the deed right there on her desk.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Who really is more responsible to Donna’s death, Clay or Stahl?  There is a big part of me that thinks it’s Stahl since she knew how Clay would respond.  A tiger can’t change it’s stripes.
• The look on everyone’s face when they saw Half-Sac’s implant was priceless.  I loved that Tig even threw-up.
• Tara asks Jax what his dad would have done is Gemma had been raped when he was still alive.  HE responds with, “If Gemma had gotten raped on John’s watch, he’d have written a whole different book.”
• How bad a shot is Piney?  He was about 3 feet away from Clay and still missed.  Crazy old man.
• With only two episodes left there is a whole lot left to happen.  The previews of next weeks episode look very exciting.  This s the first time this season I don’t have a preview screener to watch, and I’m actually going to have to wait for the actual episode.  It sucks!
• When is Half-Sac going to get his top rocker?  This guy has done a lot for the club this season, and I think he deserves it before season end.  That would be a good way to end the season with a patching in ceremony.

This show never ceases to amaze me.  I watch a lot of television for this blog, and it never fails that even the best shows have an off-week.  Sometimes it is necessary to move the plot along, and other times the episode just misses.  Throughout it’s two seasons this cannot be said about Sons of Anarchy.  Week in and week out it is consistent.  The recap is going to be a bit long since the episode itself was so long, but it was so good I don’t want to leave much out.

With Jax intent on going Nomad after the burning of Caracara the charter prepares to vote.  Before that can happen, they have to get Chibs from the hospital.  Half-Sac, Bobby, Happy and Jax show up and give him his cut back.  He rides home with Half-Sac in the van, and finds out what’s been going on with SAMCRO.  Chibs is angry when he finds out that Jax wants to go nomad, and forces Half-Sac to turn off the road and away from the rest of the guys.  Jax’s peels off to follow them.  The van pulls up to the Army/Navy Surplus store that serves as a front for the IRA.  Chibs walks in gun drawn and puts it to the head of the younger Hayes, Edward.  Chibs asks why the Irish didn’t honor their deal with SAMCRO and were selling guns to Zobele the man who blew him up.  Edwards father comes out of the back and trains his shotgun on Chibs.  Jimmy O, the IRA boss, also walks out of the back about the same time that Jax walks in gun in hand.  Jimmy O is able to calm everyone down and Jax, Hal-Sac and Chibs leave, but not before Chibs gets in some choice words to Jax about him going Nomad.  Across the street, Agent Stahl and other ATF officers are watching and listening to what when on inside with the IRA and the Sons.  They realize that Chibs might be their new connection to help with the Irish problem, but Stahl wants to give it one more shot with Jax.

Stahl is waiting for Jax when he returns home.  She offers him one more chance to rat on the Irish and keep SAMCRO off the ATF radar.  While she’s there she also spills the beans about Jax going Nomad to Tara and tells Jax that she’s pretty sure she knows what really happened to Agent Kohn.  When she leaves Jax comes clean to Tara about going Nomad and tells her it’s the only way he sees of doing things that doesn’t involve either he or Clay ending up dead.

Back at the garage, the rest of the crew comes out to great Chibs, but he’s really in no mood for a homecoming.  Opie and Half-Sac are sent to a local Indian reservation to pick up a repo vehicle, and when they return with it they find that it’s full of freshly pressed ammo.  They show Clay what they found, and he decides they need to make a trip back to the res.  As they talk Chibs gets in the van and drives off.  Chibs is stopped by the ATF and Stahl gives him her card and tells him to give her a call when he wants to talk.  We also learn a bit more of Chibs’ back story here.

Chib’s goes on to what he beleives is a meet up with his estranged wife Fiona, but it turns out he’s been set up and it’s actually a meeting with the man he hates most in the word, Jimmy O.  Jimmy O tells him that selling guys to Zobele was a mistake that the deal was made without his OK, and he wants Chibs to set up a meeting with Clay to reestablish the IRA/SOA gun connection.  At first Chibs refuses, but Jimmy O has leverage, Fiona and Chibs’ daughter.  Chibs leaves and agrees to set the meeting. The only meeting Chibs sets is one with Agent Stahl.  He demands that the Sons get full immunity from the assault charge filed by Zobele, and that they get his wife and daughter somewhere safe, in exchange he will help them.  Stahl agrees and Chibs gives them the location of the IRA safe house.  At the safe house Stahl finds Edward Hayes and while he can’t pin anything in Jimmy O he tells them  his dad can.

At the reservation Clay sees the bullet operation and agrees to bring in LaRoy not only to see the bullets, but also to check out the psychedelic mushrooms the Indians have been growing.  Tig and the prospect agree to taste test the mushrooms to see if they are all that the Indians claim them to be.  While they wait for LeRoy, Opie and Clay have a little heart to heart and Opie tells Clay how similar he and Jax are.  Clay tells Opie he can go home while Clay waits.  LeRoy is happy the product when he shows up, but tells Clay he needs guns.  Clay promises LaRoy will get his first order when the new pipeline with the Chinese starts. 

Back at home Opie and Lyla finally do the deed, but Opie can’t do it on he and Donna’s bed, choosing the floor instead.  Despite being a porn star Lyla does really seem like a good person, and good for Opie and his kids.

At the hospital Tara finds out she’s been suspended for helping Chibs stay on the critical list longer than he should have been.  She heads to the garage and breaks the news to Gemma about Jax going Nomad.  “Nomad is MC purgatory. No family, no roots … look, you don’t want Jax in a charter scattered across four states, on the road alone. The list of enemies we have? You want that phone call telling you where to pick up the body?, ” she tells Tara.  When Jax shows up later that day he and Gemma have a heart to heart about his decision and about his father John.  She tells him that he was lost towards the end and that she thinks he wanted to die.  She fesses up to stealing John’s manuscript from Jax and tells him to read a certain page

At chapel that evening the vote is unanimous to let Jax leave and go Nomad, despite not everyone thinking it’s a good idea.  After the vote Jax takes off his cut and removes the Redwood Original and the VP patches from it with his knife and gives them to Clay.  Tara meets him outside and tells him she has some time off and they agree to get out-of-town.  They are approached by Gemma and she tells them both to meet at her house.  Jax and Tara and waiting when Gemma and Clay walk in.  She recounts the story of what really happend to her the night they beleive she was in a car accident.  She revels the rape, who did it and why.  As she does we see Opie with the new family he has formed, we see Half-Sac still being effected by the mushrooms, as well as Tig feeling the same effects but in a completely different way.  When Gemma is done talking, Jax walks to her and then to Clay.  On his way out with Tara he grabs his patches that he took off his cut.  Looks like Nomad can wait.

Such an amazing episode.  With three episodes still left in the season there is a lot more that has to take place to put SAMCRO back on track, and I think that’s what Gemma realized telling her story would do, put things back on the right track.  Despite being a horrific tale, it didn’t seem to set Clay and Jax off they way I would have expected earlier in the season.  It acted as more of a balm, no coincidence that Balm was the name of the episode.  I think this might have been the reason that Gemma waited.  She hasn’t gotten to where she is by being stupid and rash.  She new that if she revealed her secret too soon it would just split the club apart even further.  Katy Sagal is just amazing as Gemma.  All the actors are great, but this seems to be the role she was born to play.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Will Stahl really leave SAMCRO alone after she gets the Irish?  What’s to stop the Irish from turning on SAMCRO after they get busted?
• Despite being a pretty rough scene I could have listened to Jimmy O and Chibs, played by Titus Welliver and Tommy Flanagan talk the whole hour and a half.
• We learned that Chibs was ex-IRA.  Jimmy O kicked him out, stole his wife and daughter, and gave him the scars on his cheeks, or his Glasgow Grin.  No winder Chibs hates Jimmy.
• We still don’t know if Darby died in the fire.  It appeared that was Weston’s intent last episode, but no mention has been made of any bodies being found inside the Caracara fire.
• The song that ended last nights episode was another example of how great the soundtrack is for this show.  Top three musical moments for me all came at the end of an episode, with “Son of a Preacher Man” sung by Katy Sagal, “Forever Young” sung by Audra Mae , and last nights “Mary” by Patty Griffin.  No surprise that they were all sung by women with amazing voices.  Glee be dammed (I actually like the show), but SOA has the best music of any show on TV right now.

Clay is up early with a lot on his mind.  Gemma ask him about the beef with Jax, and it’s obvious he doesn’t want to talk about it.  SHe tells him she is going to have a dinner that night for everyone to help mend fences.

Half-Sac is back after having his prosthetic put in.  Bobby, Tig, Smiley, and Opie are filling him in on what happened in prison and discussing the beef between Clay and Jax when Jax walks in, so they shut up.  Jax is heading over to CaraCara the porn studio.  When he gets there he Luann tells him that they were robbed of a camera and a laptop containing some rough cuts.  The girls are afraid and Lyla wants Opie.

Clay, Tig, and Opie are paying a visit to the Chinese who want to buy guns from them and are willing to pay double for them.  As a sign of good faith Lin even give them back Chuckie the masturbating accountant.  When they leave, Opie heads to CaraCara to help Jax and he takes Chuckie with him.  Clay tells him to stay in touch.  Once Bobby and Opie arrive they leave with Jax to go visit Georgie Carruso in order get back the computer and the camera they stole.  Of course Georgie is pissed, and it’s pretty obvious this beef isn’t over yet.  Since they are in Oakland already they decide that they will drop in on LeRoy to see how things are going.

Clay is with Oswald and he thanks him for putting up bail.  Oswald need Clay’s help.  He wants to run for mayor against Jacob Hale and he need SAMCRO to back him.  Turns out Clay need something too.  He asks Oswald for a piece of land off the grid, presumably to assemble guns.  As a sign of god faith he give him back the bloody knife that has Oswald’s fingerprints on it.  They are now even.

Over at the hospital, there is a woman we’ve never seen before in Chibs‘ room.  He doesn’t seem happy to see her when he wakes up briefly.

Clay then takes Tig, Smiley and Half-Sac to go visit the Irish to find out about their guns.  Obviously the Irish sleep late because they are waiting for Edmund when he wakes up.  They ask him where the guns they were promised are and he tells Clay that they sold them.  Of course he won’t tell them who they sold them too, and Clay and the crew leave.  They know the guns are actually still inside the house and Clay leaves Half-Sac to watch the house for Zobele or Weston.  Inside Edmund calls his dad to tell him about the Sons showing up.  While he’s on the phone Zobelle’s daughter walks in from the bed room and he quickly gets off the phone.

Back in Oakland Jax, Bobby, and Opie arrive and the 9ers HQ and walk inside only to find out that the 9ers aren’t in charge anymore.  The Mayans seems to have taken control and they hold the three until Alverez gets there.  When he does he tries to take their cuts, and Jax tells him that they only way its leavig his back is if he’s dead.  They end up walking out alive, but with a serious warning from the Mayans.

Back at the hospital Gemma shows up to check on Chibs and she has a brief exchange with the mysterious woman who is Chib’s Irish wife Fiona Larkin, and Tara.  Outside the room Gemmas explains just how scared of Finoa she really is and how important it is that she doesn’t get her claws back into Chibs.  Tara says there is nothing she can do because the adminstration is all over her about the club.  Gemma decides to intervene.

Half-Sac sees Weston pick up the guns and follows them.  He’s met by Clay, Tig and Smiley, but they can’t get the rest of the club on the phone since they don;t know they are being held by the Mayans.  The get the jump on Weston, but reinforcements show up and there is a shootout.  The Sons have to abandon the guns to save themselves.  When the shipment is picked up afterwards, Weston is told that he won;t make the drop off.  Turns out Zobele is selling the guns to the Mayans himself.  Well he’s not selling them he’s giving them away.

Over at Clay and Gemma’s house Tara shows up first with a letter from the hospital administrator that Gemma threatened.  Turns out a complaint has been filed against Tara and she’s angry with Gemma.  At that point Lyla and Opie’s kids walk in and that only upsets Tara more.  Lyla storms out and finds Opie outside.  They all walk back in and Jax consoles Tara while OPie does the same with Lyla.  Tara agrees to cut her a break.  When the rest of the crew walks in it erupts into an all out war with Bobby and Tig going at each other and Clay and Jax at each other’s throats.  It’s at that point that Hale walks in and breaks the news that they found Luann’s body beaten to death.

Thoughts and Observations:

• I said early on that things would get worse before they would get better.  Seems like SAMCRO’s problems are as be internally as they are externally.
• Tara had two great lines at dinner.  “Oh great are we serving hand-jobs for desert now?”  “If I stay with this family I’ll be sucking cock to support myself.”
• Fiona is one of the three women Gemma is scared of.  The others are her grandmother and her 3rd grade math teacher.
• I think Clay’s days are numbered.  His allies are slipping away.  He even is starting to push Tig away.  I think we are in for a big Clay blow up where he might just step down.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the season ends with Jax taking over as president.
• What happened to LaRoy, and why hadn’t the Sons head about something as major as the Mayans taking over?
• Whats Weston going to do when he finds out that Zobele isn’t loyal to the cause?  I’m pretty sure that Weston isn’t nearly as concerned about Charming or the SOns of Anarchy as he is about white supremacy.

So much going on in this episode it’s hard to know where to start.  With everyone but Opie in prison the clubs in real trouble.  Not just from the league outside of prison, but from their Aryan brothers inside.  Clay knows he’s got to find some protection, and he reaches out to LaRoy for help.  Before “black has their back” SAMCRO has to do a few things for the 9ers.  First they must set up a snitch on the inside by using Juice as bait.  This works out fine, but Juice is stabbed by the Aryans once he’s back in the yard.  The second part of the 9ers’s favor is a little harder.  Opie has to set up a tranny drug dealer.  He shakes down Lyla’s (his porn star love interest) drug dealer and steals his stash.  Opie then plants the drugs only to have Trammel get shot while trying to arrest the she-male.

Turns out Agent Stahl is back in town and she heads over to the prison to stir up a little trouble with Clay and Jax.  She tells them that the Irish are working with Zobele in hopes that one of them will rat them out.  Jax ends up outsmarting Stahl and realizes that she’s got nothing on SAMCRO anymore.  All Stahl does succeed in doing is causing a brutal fight between Clay and Jax, that no one breaks up in hopes that it will actually help mend the club.

On the outside, Gemma and Tara are going all they can to hold it together.  Gemma goes to Oswald in hopes that he will bail the crew out.  At first he refuses her, but eventually comes around as they talk about Charming, and wonder if they really can keep it the same.  After Opie’s Mom bails Gemma and Tara help out by watching their kids.  When Opie sends Lyla to pick them up they refuse to give the to “porn girl.”  Opie eventually comes himself, and explains that Lyla is just a single mom doing what she has to do.

The final scene of the episode has the club members that were in jail pulling back up to the clubhouse.  All but Jax walk toward the clubhouse while Jax heads to the garage.  Looks like he might be alone here.

Thoughts and Observations:

• Damn, there were a lot of orange jumpsuits in this episode. Speaking of wardrobe, how many different SOA shirts do you think Jax has?
• Opie and the porn star can’t end well, for anyone.  I assume that he hasn’t heard the last of the Chinese drug dealer either.
• “Bobby telling Jax, “This club needs a healing brother, and you gotta be the one to deliver it.”
• This might have been the best episode of the season thus far.  No surprise that Kurt Sutter wrote it.
• Opie was so nice when he expressed his disapproval of the way that Gemma and Tara treated Lyla.  I’m rooting hard for Opie to get in a good place.

The IRA shows up at Zobele’s HQ, a church and it appears that he’s going to be buying the guns promised to SAMCRO.  Polly, Zobele’s daughter and the Irish Edmund hit it off.

Both Clay and Jax’s respective searches lead them to the same place, Weston’s house.  Jax get’s into a Mexican stand-off with Weston’s kids, who are just as full or hate as their father.  After the search turns up a dead end, only Weston’s computer, Clay trashes the cigar shop.  Hale decides its best to enlist Gemma’s help, and tells him that Unser told him what really happened to her.  She is furious, but she does give Hale the description of Polly.

Gemma and Tara are both worried about their safety.  Gemma give Tara a new gun and takes her out to the porn studio to learn to shoot.  They end up blowing a few holes in Ima’s car.  Hale shows up to the cigar show to talk to Polly.  She tells him that her dad is talking at a Christian center for a big Aryan Rally that evening.  Hale shares the information with Jax.  Hale plans to have the sheriffs pick up Zobele and Weston and bring them in at the rally.

Back at the clubhouse, Juice found the same information on Weston’s computer, so Clay plans to head to the rally to have the club deal with Zobele and Weston.  Clay and the rest of the Sons head off without Jax, and he follows them on his Dyna.  Meanwhile back at the police department Gemma storms in to find out just why Unser broke his promise.  Gemma is starting to feel guilty for not sharing what happened to her.  She’s wondering if Otto and Chibs being hurt could have been avoided.

At the Moreno Christian Center SAMCRO is accessing the situation.  Jax is urging Clay not to go in blasting letting him know that the cops are on the way.  This doesn’t stop Clay, only urges him to work faster.  The club busts in to find not the Aryan Brotherhood rally they thought they would find, but a room full of families and video cameras.  Weston take a couple of pot shots at the Sons and the club makes a run for it only to be greeted outside by the cops, who promptly arrest them all but Opie who was on lookout duty outside.

Thoughts and observations:

• I like that Tara and Gemma have done a complete 180 on their relationship.  I don’t know if Gemma is helping Tara cope with the club, or if Tara is helping Gemma realize that things have to change.
• Second week in a row that Tig has had a funny one liner.  Last week it was “Get off your high horse.”  This week was, “Irish love a car bomb.”
• Opie is going to have to get himself straight soon.  Now that he’s the only member of the club not going to prison he’s going to have a lot on his shoulders.
• What is Zobele going to be doing with those guns from the Irish?  Is he going to start a race war?
• Speaking of the Irish, do they really believe getting in bed with the Aryan Nation is lower profile that being in bed with SAMCRO?
• When is Clay going to learn that he is playing into Zobele’s hands and EVERY bit of information that he has found out about Zobele has been leading him right where Zobele wants him?
• I’m having a son in about a month and a half.  Where do I get one of those Sons of Anarchy beanies for my baby?

On to what I did watch last night, Sons of Anarchy.

Let’s face it, not all is well in Charming and not all is well with SAMCRO.  The episode opens with Gemma showing up at Jax’s house where she and Tara talk briefly about how Gemma is doing.  She is having issues, most noticable what she refers to as the “Mojave Vagina.”  Jax walks into the kitchen where the two women in his life are and asks Tara if she had seen an old box of clothes in the garage.  She hasn’t and Gemma admits to throwing away a box full of old t-shirts and underwear.  She ask’s Jax what it is he is looking for and he lies to her and says there was a hard to find Harley manual in the box.  IN reality he is looking for the manuscript his father left him.  Of course Gemma is lying as well since she has the manuscript, and knows exactly what Jax is looking for.  Chibs shows up to meet Jax and the two head off to meet Clay.

Opie is working at the garage when a Prius pulls up being driven by one of Luann’s porn stars with her son in the back seat.  The tire is flat and Opie tells her he can fix it, but it will take time.  When he pulls it inside he notices the drug vials on the floorboard.

As the Sons show up outside of Zobele’s smoke shop Hale’s older brother, Jacob is inside talking to Zobele about a land deal that he wants The League to invest in.  Zobele tells him that if he joins The League he is much more likely to get his investors.  Clay walks into the shop and in no uncertain terms let’s Zobele know that he’s going to have to pay SAMCRO protection money if he wants to stay in Charming.  Clay walks out after giving his warning with a few boxes of cigars that he helped himself to and he, Tig, and their new ally Opie head off to meet with Oswald.

Zobele and AJ visit Deputy Hale and continue to try and woo him.  They give him two DVD’s, one with video of SAMCRO blowing up the meth lab that clearly shows Opie’s face.  The other DVD has what appears to be images of Hale taking a bribe.  In actuality, it’s Hale taking a welcome package to the cigar shop, but that’s not what it looks like.

Back at home Gemma opens up the manuscripts of her dead husband that she stole from Jax.  I think she is starting to understand where Jax is coming from.  She read’s John Tell’s words to his son from beyond the grave, “When relationships become a ledger of profit and loss, you have no friends, no loved ones, just pluses and minuses. You are absolutely alone.” We are starting to see a softer side of Gemma as she buddies up with her one time enemy, Tara as well.

In Stockton, Otto is mopping the floors when he is attacked by some Aryan brothers.  He holds them off momentarily, but the tide eventually turns and the Aryans poke out Otto’s one good eye with the mop handle.

Jax busts into Hale’s office and want’s to know what Hale is doing about Zobele.

Gemma and Tara are leaving a pharmacy as Gemma sees the young woman who tricked her the night she was kidnapped and raped leaving a parked van in the parking lot.  As the woman sees Gemma she takes with with Gemma in pursuit, gun in hand.  The young woman hops into a truck driven by AJ Weston, and Gemma starts to see all the pieces of her rape fall into place.  Tara walks up to Gemma, who is still on the offensive and the accidently elbows Tara hard in the nose.

At the porn studio, Jax is talking to Bobby Elvis and Piney.  He tells them that he wants to act on Zobele, but it is best to be prudent and gather as much information as possible.  Piney asks after Tara and tells Jax what happened with her and Gemma, Jax heads over to the hospital.

We see the young girl that Gemma was chasing pull up to a church with Zobele outside.  It turns out that it is his daughter.  She tells him the van is all ready.  Nice family.

Tara has set up a appointment for Gemma to speak with a shrink, telling Gemma she has to talk to someone about what happened.  When Jax arrives at the hospital, Tara convinces him it was an accident.  He walks off and the same hospital administrator gives her another warning which makes her think more about her relationship and her place in Charming.  Jax sees Gemma, and asks her what is her deal with busting chicks noses?  She asks him for a ride home.

At their meeting with Oswald, Clay learns of a plan to buy Oswald’s land to turn it into a residential development.  Clay does some digging and takes the letter to Unser who is getting a shave at Floyd’s Barber Shop.  He, Tig, and Opie see AJ Weston and some of his Aryan goons walking across the street and head outside.  As Opie heads out to confront them, Jax pulls his bike between them, and tries to stop the street flight from occurring.  Of course when AJ shoves Jax’s bike on the ground, a street fight is exactly what happens, and Clay, Jax, Tig, Opie along with AJ and the Aryans are arrested.

After the arrest, Unser storms into Hale’s office and asks him what’s going on between him and Zobele.  Hale get’s defensive and can’t believe Unser is accusing him of being crooked since Unser has been in SAMCRO’s pocket since he was a uni.  Unser explains that the reason that he choose Hale to be his number two was to balance things out, and Hale is supposed to be the bad guy.  He then sits Hale down and tells him the truth about what really happened to Gemma in the warehouse and that while he couldn’t make an arrest if he wanted to, they know if was Zobele and his crew that did it.

Hale cuts the Aryans and The Sons go, but asks Clay and Jax to stay behind.  He gives them the DVD of the meth lab explosion, and tells them that his brother and his friends have been involved with similar land scams before.  I guess he decided the devil you know is better than that devil you don’t.

Clay and Oswald break up a meeting Jacob Hale is having with potential investors and tell him that they know his deal is dirty, and that his little brother has a good memory about such things.  Jacob leaves, presumably to go find his little brother.

The porn star shows back up to pick up her car, and she gives Opie her number.  Is Opie ready for a new woman in his life?  This could be more problems for the already troubled Opie.

Jax walks into Able’s room and finds Tara obviously upset and explains to her what his goals for the club are, and tells her she doesn’t have to worry.  “I’m going to get us out of all those things that you’re afraid of. You stay with me, I promise: you’ll find your place.”

Back at the clubhouse, Clay tells those seated at the table that there has to be quick action on Zobele to enact revenge for Otto.  Jax agrees that the club has to act, but he suggests caution since they are going in half blind.  He argues that they may be walking into a trap.  The club votes with each member voting the way that Clay thought, except Bobby who sides with Jax.  Since there is no majority they wait to enact revenge.  After the rest of the club leaves Bobby and Clay stay behind.  Bobby tells Clay, when you want immediate action you go to Tig, when you want the truth you come to me.”  He also tells him that whatever is going on between Clay and Jax has to be settled for the good of the club.

After the vote, Gemma and Tara show up and Jax tells them that there was a tough vote.  Gemma walks inside to console Clay.  She assures him that Jax still loves him, but he’s not so sure.  He walks outside and hugs Bobby.  Around the same time, the van that Zobele’s daughter is being brought in by tow truck.  Chib’s gets in to try and start the van and can tell by the sound that it’s been rigged with an explosive.  He gets out of the van, but is thrown hard by the explosion.  He lies on the pavement bleeding from his head and Tara and the rest of the crew try to help him.

Well I bet the vote would change now.  I’m assuming that now that the danger is on their front doorstep SAMCRO will act right now.  Another great episode.  Here were some of my favorite moments:

• Gemma reading John’s manuscript.  I love anytime this thing shows up and we get to hear John narrate it.
• The entire scene with Unser and Hale in Hale’s office.  Unser has become the unsung hero of this season.  He knows he’s done wrong and he looks at Hale as his chance to redeem himself.
• I worry about Opie.  His fallout with Jax, who at one time was his biggest support system, and his new alliance with Clay and Tig scares me.
• What a trooper Kurt Sutter seems to be.  He’s willing to put his wife in that horrible situation, and now his character is blind.
• How long before the club finds out about Gemma’s rape?  I assume it’s coming soon since she will obviously recognize the van that blew up.

The club is looking for a way to transport the guns for the Irish, so they are holding a charity run.  Bobby “Elvis” shows up with an older Fat Boy that the other club members hassle him over.  They claim that there is no way that it makes it on the run in the condition it is in.  As the guys head off they make a quick pit stop to pick up the guns from the Irish.  They each carry multiple guns hidden inside a bedroll.  After they are on their way, Bobby’s Fat Boy backfires and he ends up running Tig off the road.  He has to be taken to the local hospital.  At the hospital a receptionist calls some bounty hunters reporting someone suspicious.  They end up grabbing him outside the emergency room as the club is about to take him back to Charming.  It turns out that Tig has an outstanding warrant in Idaho for “assault and indecent exposure inside a livestock transport.”  Jax send Half-Sac to follow the bounty hunters to see where they are taking Tig.

Clay and Jax are divided on what to do.  Clay thinks getting the guns moved is the most important thing, while Jax argues that if they don’t get Tig now it may be their last chance.  Jax asks Clay to call for a vote and instead Clay shoves Jax and a shoving match ensues in front of the club.  Clay tells them to do what they want and tries to leave.  As he does, he drops his bike and can’t pick it up due to his ever worsening arthritis.  He ends up walking off and is followed by Opie.  Opie tells him that he doesn’t know what’s going on between Jax and Clay, but no matter what he has Clay’s back.

Around that time Piney shows up, he didn’t go on the run, with the flat bed to pick up Tig’s bike.  A group, including Jax, Half-Sac, Happy, and Chibs jump in the back and prepare to go bust Tig out.  They head to the motel where the bounty hunters are holding Tig and back the truck up right through the wall.  They grab Tig and head out.

Tig heads back to Charming with Piney and the rest of the club head off to finish the run with the rest of the charters.  When they finally reach their destination the guys are all sitting around drinking and messing around with the girls that are there.  Jax heads off to be alone, still upset about the confrontation with Clay.  As he leaves the guys all comment that this business with Clay and Jax has to be settled soon.  Opie comments that Jax just needs to work out his “daddy” issues.

Jax sits alone on his bike with a smoke and a bottle when Clay walks up.  I thought this would be the moment when they make amends and things start to go the right way.  I was obviously wrong.  Clay tells Jax that if he brings up the Donna murder again, then Clay will kill Jax himself.

Of course not all the episode took place on the run.  After the club leaves, Gemma receives a package that has one of the masks of her rapists in it.  She recognizes the bag that it came in and heads down to the store to investigate.  Of course the store is no longer there, but has been replaced with Ethan Zobelle’s smoke shop.  She heads inside to check it out, but leave without any confrontation.  She see AJ Weston on the street and recognizes him as the one leading the gang that raped her by his Aryan Nation tatoo.

She sits in her car for a long time watching Weston and Zobelle talk outside the smoke shop, eventually pulling her gun on some woman who wanted her parking spot.  Unser shows up and tells her that the woman called the police about Gemma and he takes her gun away.  He is generally concerned for her, telling her “I ain’t gonna let nothing else bad happen to you”.  It might be a promise he can’t keep, but I really do believe he means it.   She tells him that she won’t do anything stupid and he leaves.  Obviously she does the opposite.  She pulls out another semi-automatic from her purse and follows Weston when he leaves.

She follows him to a work site where she sees him talking to other Aryans.  When he goes into a  port-o-john she grabs the gun and intends to shoot him.  She waits for a while and then changes her mind when she hears him talking on the phone to his kids.

At the hospital in Charming an administrator tells Tara that Chief Unser is here to see her, and comments that she has a lot of visitors from both sides of the law.  Tara find Unser in the chapel and the two talk for a minute about Gemma.  She comments on the fact that he cares a lot about her.  He tells her that they have been friends for more than 40 years and how Gemma left town and came back with a motorcycle gang.  She also asks Unser what he thinks about she and Jax.  His advice to her is, “Come across something that don’t make you miserable… enjoy it.”

Obviously Jax and Clay are on a direct collision course that I’m sure won’t reach maximum velocity until the end of the season.  I think their one opportunity to come to some sort of understanding could have occurred when they were sitting alone at the end of the episode, and that didn’t go so well.  The fact that Opie has clearly sided with Clay is bothersome as well.  Jax is one of the three that knows the truth about Donna, and Jax is keeping that secret to protect both Opie and the club.  I worry that as long as Jax and Opie are on the outs, Jax is all alone with only Piney as an ally, and Piney doesn’t have much pull.  Things are going to get a lot harder for Jax before they get any easier.

A few of my favorite moments from the episode:

• Half-Sac telling the club about his new prosthetic testicle, or “crystal ball” as Chibs refers to it.
• Tara telling Jax about her realization, “I’m your old lady.”
• The fact that Tig has an outstanding warrant for assault and indecent exposure inside a livestock transport.  No big surprise there considering that he like corpses too.
• I was surprised that Jax went so far to get Tig after the problems that the two have had in the past.
• I like any time that Happy is in an episode.  He seems like such a likeable guy for a cold blooded killer.

I’ve got to tell you that I’m sad right this morning.  I’m sad because I realized there were only 11 episodes of Sons of Anarchy left this season.  It seems like such a shame that we can’t get a full 22 episodes like other prime time dramas, but I guess we are just going to have to live with it.

A lot happened last week.  We learned about the new group in town that wanted to shut down SamCro’s gun running.  Opie killed who he thought was Donna’s killer, and left him with a SOA mark that Jax covered up instead pinning the murder on the 9ers.  Bobby was released from prison.  Jax and Tara agree to full disclosure.  And of course Gemma is kidnapped and raped by Henry Rollins and his white power crew.

This week, of course SamCrow is left to begin dealing with those issues.

Unser, acting on an anonymous tip finds Gemma and her car and takes her to Tara’s house where the three hatch a plot to get her into the hospital and agree not to tell Clay or the SOA what really happened to Gemma.  Unser intentionally crashes Gemma’s Cadillac to make it look like she was in a car wreck.

The fall out from Jax’s decision to pin the Mayan murder on the 9ers comes back hard when Alverez calls Clay and asks for guns.  Clay lies and tells him he doesn’t have any to sell, but does offer 2 dozen AK-47’s to LeRoy and the 9er’s.  Clay and LeRoy meet in Charming to discuss the details.  They are interrupted by Chief Unser who asks what the 9er’s are doing in Charming.  LeRoy answers with his own question, “Isn’t a black man allowed to get gas in Charming?”  To which Unser answers, “As long as he heads straight back to the hood he is.”  Unser tells Clay that Gemmas car was found and that she was in an accident.  Clay and the rest of the club head to the hospital to see Gemma.

AJ Weston (Henry Rollins) goes to the hospital to check on the aftermath of what he did to Gemma.  He reports back to Ethan that their message never got to Clay.  Ethan tells AJ that they might have underestimated Lady Morrow.  This won’t be good for Gemma.

At the hospital Gemma informs Unser that Clay can’t know what happened, because it is what the white supremacists want.  Clay is told that Gemma is ok, but he can’t see her right away. The Sons learn that LuAnn’s porn studio has been raided and everything seized by the ATF.    Clay tells Jax to take Bobby and go talk to Otto in prison.  Jax refuses to take Bobby and goes by himself, standing up to Clay.

Otto imforms Jax that the ATF is picking on LuAnn because of what Otto did to Agent Stahl’s face.  He also tells her about Georgie Caruso, played by a very well cast Tom Arnold who must be on retainer to FX, another porn producer who is threatening LuAnn and stealing her “talent.”  Jax promises to pay Georgie a visit and tell Otto that SamCro will take care of LuAnn.

The boys head to Georgie’s studio to talk to him about leaving LuAnn and her girls alone.  Despite the fact that Bobby vomits on one of Georgie’s goons the message that they send doesn’t get through, and Jax soon finds LuAnn with one of her girls who was beaten up at the hospital with LuAnn.  Jax then takes the Reaper Crew back with baseball bats and send a much more serious message.

Clay, Opie, Bobby, and Tig all meet the 9ersto deliver the AK’s when they come under fire from the Mayans who were tipped off by the new local bigot Ethan Zobelle.  The Mayans get the guns and Clay gives LeRoy his money back.

In the aftermath, back at the clubhouse Jax proposes a new revenue stream since the gun trade has become so hot at the moment.  He proposes that the SOA partners with LuAnn in her porn production.  The club all enthusiastically agrees, and just like that the Sons of Anarchy are in the smut peddling business.  Jax and Clay have a real tense heart to heart.  Clay informs Jax that no matter what he feels that he always puts the best interest of the club first, no matter what.  When Jax stops doing that he will find that he’s all alone because these guys won’t follow him anymore.  I don’t think it takes a genius to realize that it won’t be too long before this relationship blows up in everyone’s face, and I think it will be interesting to see where loyalties really lie.

All in all another great episode.  I really think FX needs a lot of appreciation for allowing Sutter to push the envelope on this show.  Sure they’ve never been afraid to show things other basic cable networks wouldn’t dream of, just look at Nip/Tuck, but some how Sons of Anarchy is different.  It’s grittier and more realistic, or at least more attainable.

I thought that the show wouldn’t waste much time going straight to the show-down between SamCro and the Neo-Nazis, but I think we are going to have a slow build here.  Which will make the pay off all the better.