By definition, I think everyone in last night's episode of SONS OF ANARCHY was a rat. Abel told on Gemma, Wendy told on Gemma, Juice told on Gemma (you see where this is going?) and then on himself to Gemma, and eventually Jax told on Gemma to everyone who was left. Don't get me wrong though, I was all for the ratting (is that a word?) this time around. The end is only two episodes away and there were too many secrets. Rats were needed.
After Abel's Grandma-Killed-My-First-Mommy confession, Jax spent the night in his bedroom considering whether his son was a liar or if his mother was a murderer. When he saw Wendy that morning, she thought that on the heels of Jax's telling Abel that she was his bio-mom, it was a great time to tell Jax that she and his mother had been helping Juice hide from SAMCRO for a good chunk of the season. I suppose the timing was right. Since Jax had recently purged to Abel about her Mommy status, the chances of Jax freaking out and killing her were pretty slim.
Jax put on a fresh white t-shirt and went to confront Unser. He pounded on the aluminum foil door of his mobile estate, woke him up and forced him to put on pants. None of this things are a proper start to a day. After getting Unser's version of what happened the night Tara died, he demanded that he have Jarry get him a meeting with Juice. This was one of my two favorite Unser scenes that night, because he was DONE. He called Jax out; asking why he should jump through hoops to help him and the Club when all they do is flat out lie to him? Jax promised (as he often does) that he just wanted to talk to Juice and that Unser could watch the video footage of it afterward. Unser eventually agreed, but warned him that he would not be fooled again. So of course Jax set it up so that there would be no surveillance during his meeting.
Juice had a little one-on-one time with Lin. He told Lin that he just needed information about who betrayed SAMCRO and revealed the location of the guns (this was about 14 plot lines ago). They wanted confirmation that it was Jury, because getting confirmation AFTER raging out and murdering a man for the crime makes sense. Juice assured him he'd be unharmed. Lin, who had this dapper salt and pepper thing happening in his beard, told him that it wasn't Jury, and then Juice stabbed him in the neck. He was a self-proclaimed rat and liar now.
Jax met briefly with Tully, who told him that Juice had successfully killed Lin. Jax kind of looked like someone killed his puppy. Hello, Guilt. He then look like he was told that someone unburied his dead puppy and left it on his doorstep, when Juice told him Jury wasn't at fault. Everything was unraveling. The acting, Charlie Hunnam. THE ACTING!
Jax was teary eyed as he prompted Juice to tell him the truth about the night of Tara's death, which only got more intense when Juice (also crying) acquiesced. Afterward, Jax got a little indignant as he told Juice about Bobby's death. Apparently much fault rested in Juice's lap since the whole thing started when he tried to protect the Club's matriarch. I'm paraphrasing, of course. He did thank Juice for fessing up though, and told him that he's "make it quick." Thanks, Jax. I just can't wrap my head around it. Juice literally did everything the Club asked of him, they spat in his face, and he still wanted back in the fold. After being physically assaulted in prison, he still managed to fulfill a Club-decreed task, but since Jax found out his part in the death of his beloved, he could go straight to hell? I spent the rest of the episode wondering when Jax would accept responsibility for so readily believing every line of nonsense that came his way this season. His white tee was stained with blood because of decisions he ultimately made. Juice. JUICE! His days were numbered.
Juice called Gemma and told her about his confession. She hung up on him mid-sentence and started packing, because although she was a sociopath, she wasn't a fool. Chucky, with his wooden Geppetto-made hands, helped Gemma escape the SAMCRO guys who were sent to find her. He didn't know why she was running, but he wanted to protect his bestie. His loyalty is commendable.
My second favorite Unser scene came when Jax tried to "ask" for another "favor." Unser reminded him that he had said that if Jax screwed him once more, that he'd be through. Where was the surveillance video, Jackson? He basically told Jax that he sucked as a dad and that maybe he should've spent more time with his sons, then riding around Charming and killing people. He dared him to add him to his body count. It was very "Come at me, Bro." I loved it. Jax punched him. The other SAMCRO guys, who were still in the dark as to what the heck was going on, were stunned. Unser was over it. He had Jarry put out an APB for Jax. The streets weren't safe with him on them.
Gemma had Nero meet her at her childhood home. She was a broken women. Life, as she knew it, was figuratively (and possibly soon to be literally) over. Nero wanted to know what was going on; why it felt like she was saying goodbye, but she wouldn't say. Cue Jax's phone call. At first Nero didn't answer, but her silence forced him to. You could see the dream of them running off and living on that farm fading from his eyes. He didn't tell Jax he was with her, but said he'd let him know if she contacted him. He did this little kid stomping thing as he forced himself to ask Gemma if what Jax had told him was true. Had she really stabbed Tara in the head with a fork and lied about it all this time? Come ON! She said it was true and he told her to go.
The cops tried to arrest Jax, but Chibs and Tig intervened. He ran outside, narrowly escaping being creamed by a car, which he then stole at gun point. He traded the car for sanctuary, and had a meeting with the Club. He explained what he had learned over the course of the episode and apologized for not being more forthcoming. He also ACCEPTED BLAME for everything that happened. He was aware that all the blood was on his hands.
There was a really great moment between Jax and Nero when Nero told him that he couldn't turn Gemma over to him. He asked Jax what he planned to do, although you know he knew what the next step was. Tearfully Jax told him how conflicted he was. He wanted to kill his mother, but he still loved her and he didn't know how to deal with that. Nero told him that he couldn't come back from that act. It was a real father/son moment; a variation of ones he could've had had his father not died and Clay (Ron Perlman) not been insane.
So Gemma's on the run. Jax wants to/doesn't want to kill her, and he's wanted by the police. Juice's ready for his impending death. Maybe Tully will save him? Unser's done being a patsy. What will happen in two weeks when SOA returns? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
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