Writers: Kurt Sutter, Jack LoGiudice, Brady Dahl, and Cori Uchida
Grade: A
I wasn’t expecting that liaison between Tig and Gemma, but woah, that was intense. And complicated. Gemma has obviously been feeling incredibly anxious about her desirability and her sexuality in the wake of the gang rape, but I would never have expected that to manifest in seducing Tig. Tig is, in many ways, a misogynistic creep, and though I know he loves Gemma—looks up to her, even—I can’t help but think that Gemma being a rape victim turned him on. His drunken open-mouthed kiss took her by surprise and made her think he might just find her attractive, and in her insecure state, I can see why she wanted to test that out. And it sort of had to be Tig. I honestly think that any of the other guys would have told her no, or at least stopped a lot sooner. Tig, on the other hand, was not only drunk but also twisted enough to go along with it. To be fair to Tig, he’s the one who put a stop to it, but between the initial kiss and turning her to face the wall, there’s plenty of evidence that he was turned on by her victimized state.
And yet Tig was able to take that gross little tryst and turn it into possibly his finest moment by having the guts to tell Clay what Gemma needed. Not only that, but his guilt about Gemma also led him to finally confess Donna’s murder to Opie. He took something incredibly ugly and made something beautiful out of it. I found him rather loathsome in the first season, but he seems to have achieved some personal growth, and he’s certainly grown on me over the course of this season.
The resolution to Opie finding out about Donna was true to his character, and while my first reaction was to feel like it wasn’t worth a season’s worth of build up, I’ve since realized that the build-up was the whole point. Sure Opie didn’t go apeshit and kill anyone over it, but they all suffered for months from the weight of keeping that secret. I thought it was a nice touch that the resolution to that storyline hinged on Tig and what happened with Gemma; if Tig and Gemma hadn’t tried to screw each other, Tig may not have confessed to Opie. I’m also relived that Opie joined forces with Jax rather than holding Jax’s knowledge about Donna’s murder against him, if for no other reason than that I was tired of watching Opie be a dick to his best friend.
Miscellaneous Stuff
-A minor detail, but it was nice to see Tara and Lyla hanging out peaceably. Looks like they resolved their issues off-screen.
Quotes
2 comments:
Tig was so sweet when he was with Gemma. That was for me the best scene in this episode. And also at the end when he told Clay he should show Gemma that he loves her, that was just as good.
I loved Tig in the first season, but in the second I love him even more...
Yes, at first I wasn't sure how I should feel about that scene. Disturbed? Turned on? Sad? Lots of complicated layers there. But once Tig confessed to Opie and basically told Clay to get his head out of his ass re: Gemma, I was almost proud of him.
It's nice that he's not just one-note. He has a very ugly side, but he's got his redeeming qualities, too. I think the writers did a great job fleshing out his character in Season 2.
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