Writer: Chris Collins
Grade: A
This is the episode where Jax’s warnings from previous episodes begin to come back and bite the club in the ass. From the third episode: “You’re talking about blowing something up in our backyard. That’s exposure, Clay.” Indeed. Who would’ve thought that Opie might get caught on camera, especially after Jax warned them that there were cameras? It’s just unthinkable!
I loved how the writers set up the machinations about the retaliation vote. Clay, Tig, and Opie all take Bobby’s support for granted, thinking he will side with them and that Juice is the one they need to work on. Cut to Jax trying to work his mojo on Juice to gain his vote. And in the end, Bobby sides with the good of the club (which a) I saw coming from miles away, and b) is essentially siding with Jax at this point in the game), and Juice sides with Clay.
Clay whining to Gemma about how he keeps “trying to bring [Jax] close” and then losing him was just bizarre to me. Was he lying to gain Gemma’s sympathy, or does he really believe that? Death threats are how you try to bring someone close? Maybe Clay is looking at a bigger picture than I am. Maybe there’s a long term repeating cycle of acceptance and antagonism between Jax and Clay, and we came into the series at the start of a new cycle. Because otherwise, I don’t see how Clay has done much of anything to bring Jax closer to him, at least not in recent memory.
Gemma waiting to see the psychiatrist was both funny and tragic. As soon as I saw Zombie Girl and Crying Woman, I knew Gemma would back out, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her hasty retreat. A rape victim refusing mental help really shouldn’t be funny, but it was so endearingly true to her character that I couldn’t help but be amused.
I had a similar reaction to Jax trying to play peacemaker (“Street brawl ain’t the answer.”) and then almost immediately going apeshit when AJ pushed his bike over. It’s funny because despite his personal growth, Jax still has a remarkably short fuse. But the thing is, he’s got to be able to keep himself in check better than that if he wants to achieve his goal of changing the club into something less dirty and brutal.
Miscellaneous Stuff
-The opening scene was hilarious, with Gemma playing innocent about the missing box to perfection, except that Jax knows her too well and doesn’t buy it for a second.
-I definitely should have known something bad was going to happen to Chibs when he showed up at Jax’s house in the opening scene. Even at the time, I took special notice that they gave his character something to do, but it still didn’t occur to me that it was that old “Oh, nice to see you so-and-so! So when’s the death scene?” TV trope. They get me every single damn time with that one, no matter what show it is.
-Bobby again asks Jax what’s going on between he and Clay, and again Jax won’t tell him—when will Bobby be certain that he already knows the source of the rift?
-Opie noticed a drug vial on Lyla’s floorboard and nothing came of it (yet). Just a bit of shorthand characterization for what will probably turn out to be Opie’s new love interest (way too soon!), or is there more to it?
-I thought Unser betrayed Gemma’s secret in the best possible way. Not that I necessarily agree with her decision to keep quiet in the first place—it’s a tricky situation, and I can understand her reasoning, but I need to see how it all plays out before I decide how I feel about her decision—but even if I agreed with her decision wholeheartedly, I still couldn’t hold it against Unser that he used her rape to show Hale just how ugly Zobelle is under that thin veneer of culture and civility.
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