Writers: Dave Erickson and Stevie Long
Grade: A-
Piney’s words to Jax about how going nomad was a reaction and not a solution couldn’t be more true, and we saw the reasons why throughout the episode. For one thing, Jax has a baby at home, one that he already doesn’t seem to spend enough time with. And of course, Tara was correct that if it was the right decision, he wouldn't have been so reluctant to tell her (and of course, no one wanted to tell Gemma, not that I think she would have been accepting even if it was a good decision). And Gemma was also right: the former VP of the original SoA charter going nomad would be suicide with their list of enemies.
It’s to Jax’s credit that he admitted he was wrong about the fire to Clay, apologized, and asked if Clay still wanted him gone. It’s also to Clay’s credit that telling Jax yes broke his heart just a little bit (well-played, Ron Perlman).
I’m still not sure how I feel about Gemma using her rape to heal the rift between Jax and Clay and fire up the club against Zobelle. It was a moving, beautifully-acted scene, but it still felt a bit anti-climactic. Still, revealing it when she did, in such a calculated way, made a lot of sense for Gemma’s character, and that’s more important than making the reveal “exciting” (like giving her a sobbing catharsis or revealing the rape in the middle of some dramatic violent conflict).
Between Jax deciding to go nomad, the Jimmy/IRA storyline, the Indian bullets, Opie and Lyla finally doing the deed, and Gemma revealing her rape, this was huge transitional episode full of development, change, and climax. And yet, for an extended episode, it wasn’t terribly exciting (granted it was called “Balm,” which in retrospect should have made that obvious). It ended up feeling like 90 minutes of Jax and Clay acting like pissy brats, and the Jimmy/IRA storyline feels a bit tacked-on, despite being interwoven with the Zobelle storyline. The events of this episode just weren’t worth the extended length.
I actually wish they’d made the nomad storyline a two-parter and split some of these events between the two different episodes, because that might have actually allowed them to make each episode more exciting and dramatic, rather than cramming it all into one incredibly slow, tedious episode. The following episode is fucking fabulous, though, so I really need to see the pace of the extended finale to see if splitting this one into two would have been better. Whatever the case, I can forgive the bizarre pacing here because every episode up to this point has been riveting, plus this bloated extended episode may have been a necessary evil in order to a) set up the remaining three episodes, and b) allow them to fit everything into 13 episodes.
Miscellaneous Stuff
-Did Tara’s superior figure out what she did for Chibs just from seeing Jax tell her “Thank you” and give her a smooch? That seems a bit of a stretch to me (Tara knew the guy and had a hand in his treatment, so why wouldn’t Jax thank her?), but it looked like that’s how both actresses played the scene—dawning realization on the boss’ part, and worry on Tara’s part.
-It bugs the shit out of me that Chibs is supposed to be Irish, because this American knows the difference between an Irish accent and a Scottish accent. (Or maybe he's supposed to be a Scotsman who somehow got mixed up with the IRA, but it's a bit unclear, especially considering that his wife is Irish.)
-That pre-sex scene between Opie and Lyla might have been sexier without Op’s unfortunate hair…
Quotes
Piney: “Now you think about this move, son, because it’s just a reaction. It’s not a solution.”
Opie: “You gonna start weaving beads?”
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