Here we are outlaw biker fans. The end of season 5 and it went way too fast for my liking. When we last left off, Clay thought he was hopping a cargo to Ireland and had asked Gemma to go with him. Tara had decided to take the Oregon job at Providence Hospital. Jax had agreed to deliver Tig to Pope. Jax also had shot Wendy with a speedball. We were wondering last week if Jax would actually hand over Tig to Pope (the man that had his best friend killed). Would Clay slither away off to Ireland.

So here we are this week. Jax wakes up and there is a note from Tara that she’s taken the boys to day care. Gemma wakes and leaves a not for Nero on the birdcage, “you should name them Carl and Carla” :heart: Gemma.. Awe, how sweet. Clay is at his kitchen table, pistol at the ready, while having his coffee, after having his ink blacked out. Jax leaves to go meet Pope at his Oakland RR yard construction site to hammer out a couple other details. Remember when Jax first connect Hale and Pope, he told Hale he wanted subsidized housing for Lila and the kids. He tells Pope that before he hands over a brother for him to murder, he wants something in writing that both the housing and the contracts for Teller-Morrow will come through, and he wants copies for both himself, and Hale. He says that once he hands over Tig, there’ll be no reason for them to talk anymore and he wants insurance. Pope agrees to it and tells him where to deliver Tig.

Back at the garage, Clay is locking up his belongings getting ready for his planned trip. He goes into the office to talk to Gemma and they give something for Chuckie to do so he excuses himself to take some matts to Tara’s house, in French. Last week, everything he said was in Dr Seuss type rhyme. Clay notes the French Gemma says she threatened to auction his hands on ebay if he didn’t stop it. So there you go. French speaking Chuckie. Gemma tells Clay that her suitcase is in the car. She is going to Ireland with him, so she says (I wouldn’t trust anything this bitch says – Yep, I’m back to calling her a bitch and a whole lot more). He asks her to meet at his place at 3pm.

Earlier, while at the hospital, Tara was having her hand examined. Turns out, no permanent damage. She asks Margret to forward the papers to the people at Providence. Wendy shows up at Tara’s office, tells her what happened and tells her what happened the previous night. Wendy tells her that she HAS to take the kids and get out  of Charming, post haste. Chuckie comes back to the office with a flower arrangement he found on her porch when he delivered the matts. WHY he brought them back to the garage, I’ll never know. Gemma reads the card and learns of Tara’s plans for Oregon. You just KNOW this isn’t going to end well for Tara.

We next see Nero talking to one of the shop keepers in his old neighborhood. Some gangster named Dante is moving in and charging her 3 times what Nero charged. Nero is back with the gang, no doubt about it and has SAMCRO backing him. Dante among other things, runs dog fights. Apparently there is one happening right now and SAMCRO pays them a visit. This is very disturbing to me. We see a bunch of douche bags standing around a dog fighting ring containing two pitbulls, one chewing on the other. Seems like a bait dog situation to me or one that has simply given up.

Sidebar- I once saw a comedian act, I think it was Eddie Griffen commenting about Michael Vic and the dog fighting prosecution, complaining that he got 4 years for it. Saying that ‘white people care more about the dogs than they do people’. Steve, or whoever you were (cause I honestly don’t remember), YOU’RE DAMN SKIPPY we do. I would trade everyone of those people’s lives in that dog fighting scene for the dogs. They Are Scum and their lives mean NOTHING to me. Yeah, I know it’s all staged and scripted for the show but this shit actually happens. It’s a HUGE problem in Detroit. In fact, it’s illegal for anyone under 18 in Detroit to own a pit bull because it apparently is mostly the teen gangsta wannabes who are doing the dog fighting. Out of everything I’ve seen on this show, in all 5 seasons, this is the most disturbing to me. End Sidebar..

The dog fight ends with someone taking the loser out and carrying her away, with Tig following behind. Jax sends a couple of the others after them while they go to find Mr Dante. The guy goes outside with the dog, with Tig behind him, he sets the dog in a kiddie pool, and Tig notices the dead dogs in the garbage cans. The guy pulls out a gun and is going to shoot the dog, Tig promises him he will die next to the dog or instead of the dog. The others stop Tig from doing it and they demand to know from this asshole, where Dante is. He tells them, they tell him to disappear, he does. Tig tells Phil to take the dog inside. As they are going to find Dante, we see this woman at a dumpster talking to a stuffed animal. We’ve seen her before I think. She was the grave yard at Donna’s funeral. We’ve seen her in a couple other places as well.

Anyway, they find Dante, counting money and the fight is on. Most give up without a fight while the guys collect all the money (likely from the dog fight). However that’s when the chase begins, ends up outside when Nero and his guys come crashing through the gate. Dante and one of his partners run back into the warehouse, the rest try to escape through another gate and that’s when the Calvary arrives (Was this the Mayans or the rest of SAMCRO?). Anyway, Nero chases Dante through the warehouse, catches up to him, and pushes him through a window. Since Justice was handed out to the S1 Clown, and Agent Stahl at the end of S3, the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen happens. I don’t know what she was doing there but some woman is getting into her SUV and Dante tries to car jack her. He gets in and he gets to say hello to her little friend..  Her Own Pit Bull who is doing his job, quite nicely ripping him to shreds, as Nero blocks the door so he cannot escape. WELL DONE FIDO! They discuss letting him out of the truck (jokingly), Chibs says that would be the good Catholic thing to do.. They continue laughing about it, commercial break.

Now we are back at the garage when the guys arrive and Tara is waiting in the office for Jax. She greets him rather coldly. Tells him that she saw the neurologist and that her hand is going to be fine. She questions him about Wendy without telling him that she’s seen Wendy. As far as he’s concerned she doesn’t know about what he’d done the night before. Oh, BTW, they too, asked Chuckie to go someplace else. He walks over to the picnic table where Unser is sitting. After Jax does his best at reassuring Tara everything is going to be fine, he goes out to talk to Unser. The once again, excuse Chuckie.. Part of Unser’s rent for parking his trailer there at the garage was he was to dig up info on Toric. Toric, is an ex highly decorated special forces guy who became a US Marshall. He was forced in to early retirement for the way he ran shop. Intimidation, racial profiling, things of that nature. You know the stuff you police officers are accused of in certain situations. The person Otto (who is about to give his statement) killed, was Pamela Toric, his sister, and his only family.

I don’t have to watch this next part again to recap it. Somehow, it stands out in my short term memory. We are at the prison in one of those interview areas where folks sit behind a 2 way mirror (Why anyone bothers with this anymore is beyond me. The convicts or convicts to be KNOW there is always someone else watching these ‘interviews’). Toric is sitting behind the mirror. Otto is brought in and cuffed to the table. The interviewer comes in, gets set up, and asks Otto to state his name for the record. Otto then, sticks his tongue out, bites it, and slams his chin on the table, severing his tongue so he can no longer speak. He then throws it at the 2 way window (I’m sure he knew who was behind the glass). Toric says, ‘Well, Way to commit, Otto’.

Over at the hospital, Tara comes in and is heading to her office, with Gemma out in the waiting area. Gawd I hate this woman. She follows Tara into her office, confronts her about Oregon and Providence Hospital. Tara says whether Gemma likes it or not, she’s leaving, With the kids. Gemma goes into Super bitch mode and promises to give Tara up to the police with some cock and bull story about how Tara knew what was going on all along. Tara goes for the throat, Gemma his her in the stomach and says ‘hope you weren’t pregnant’. Whadda Bitch.

At the club house, Jax calls Pope and tells them to head to the meeting place, he’s may be a little late. In the chapel, the guys are patching up the chewed up pit bull (Yes, she’s still alive). Jax comes in and tells them he has intel on the breeder supplying the fight dogs. Tig promises to gut the son of a bitch. Chibs want to come along but Jax says Tig only (we all know why). Earlier, we saw Juice putting something into the saddle bag either in Jax’s or Tig’s motorcycle.

They get to the meeting place and as Tig takes out his gun and prepares to go in, Jax pulls a gun on Tig. Time to pay the piper. We then see Pope and his security squad pull up in their fancy cars. Both Jax and Tig give up their guns, Jax suggests to Pope that they take Tig inside to do their deed. Jax also gets that letter of intent from Pope in exchange for delivering Tig. Jax takes Tig’s cut and the Popes escort him inside of the building.. You know, for a little privacy. Well, as Pope is savoring the moment, Jax takes this package that Juice put in the saddle bag, it is Clay’s SAMCRO gun, loaded, with a silencer. He then shoots Pope’s bodyguard, and goes inside and shoots the others. Then, he frees Tig and hands him the gun. Tells him to shoot that piece of shit who set his daughter on fire (Yes the dog fighting scene was still more disturbing to me). Pope asks Jax if he remembers the bit about the $5m insurance policy.. Jax says he counting on it. Tig shoots Pope twice in the face, can’t believe what just happened and, is pissed that he wasn’t let in on it. It’s all good though, I guess. Meanwhile, Gemma arrives at Clay’s house. She says her bags are in the car, Juice goes out to get them. Clay asks if she took care of everything, she says yes, she’s ready (it is here that Jax and Tig are arriving at the warehouse to meet with Pope).

So what has just happened? Jax has taken out a large part of Pope’s security and Pope himself, and used Clay’s gun to do it.

(this is where my viewing online puked on me so I’m doing the rest of this from memory. I’m counting on you all to fill in any blanks I leave. If it’s a little out of order, sorry)..

A phone call comes in to sheriff Eli’s office about a homicide. Eli says it isn’t in their area but the one that made the phone call, suggests it’s in his best interest to check on it for himself. Eli and several deputies get to the warehouse and see the mayhem that has occurred. When he arrives, he gets a phone call from Jax. Jax tells him where to find the gun and that he’s welcome. Remember it was Clay who set the nomads in motion, who killed Eli’s wife, and Eli wants revenge. Eli finds the gun and will later learn, it is registered, to Clay. Juice is still helping Clay pack his SAMCRO and other belongings to be put in storage. The two chat in the garage and Clay says he knows it was Juice who found the legal stuff in the ceiling vent (I still don’t know why those papers were so important). He thanks Juice for everything he’s done and as Juice is telling him to leave, NOW, there is a knock at the door. It’s Eli and his deputy. Clay is shown his gun and told that it was found at the scene of Pope’s murder. He asks Clay where he’s been during the afternoon. Clay gives his legitimate alibi, suggests it be confirmed by Gemma. She says he went out for a couple hours but she never thought it would turn into Murder… Clay cannot believe what has just happened. Remember he gave the gun to Juice and he Thought he was on good terms with Gemma. Both just fucked him. I’m sure it happened later in the episode but we see Jax talking to Popes right hand guy. Remember him? He notes that he knows who owned the gun that killed Pope (to enact the insurance policy), also notes that it’s mighty convenient that the man who burned Tigs daughter, orchestrated the death of Opie, was killed by Clay who Jax wanted dead. Motive, weapon, opportunity all wrapped in a nice neat little package. He notes to Jax that if it turns out it was not Clay, someone else will be the target of the hit. Jax assures him that he’s after the right guy. Remember last week when Jax was feeling out Pope’s right hand guy? I guess I’m going to have to learn his name now because this guy apparently, is now the head of Pope Enterprises. He orders the hit on Clay.

At the hospital, Tara is meeting with the lady lawyer, Lowman (I think that’s her name) who has drawn up papers for life insurance, guardianship, and I guess a will in case something happens to Tara and Jax. She signs the papers without reading them. We’ll leave that there for now.

Next we find outselves over at Deosa where Nero and Gemma are getting comfy and discussing the events of the day. Nero wants to know where it’s going, as does Gemma. He tells her he’s heading in a different direction (with his old gang) than before and assures her that he loves her. She answers Men need love, women don’t. They need to be wanted. (Really?). There is a knock at the door and it’s Lila telling them that Jax is there. Essentially, Nero and Jax each remind each other of their original end games. To get away from these lives, with Gemma eavesdropping from inside the office (Jax is unaware of this). We’ll leave that there until next season.

Over at the clubhouse, Jax takes his place at the head of the table. Bobby walks in and points out that Jax has become exactly what he was there to replace with a better direction for the club. I don’t remember what if anything Jax said in return but he leaves the meeting room. The last we see of Bobby is him removing the Vice president patch from his cut. As Jax is leaving, he embraces Juice.

Jax arrives home. Sits down at the table and notices the papers that Tara left for him to sign. He spots that Wendy is being named guardian and he questions Tara as to why. She tells him that part of her job as ‘an old lady’ is to help tie the loose ends for their men. Make sure everything along the way runs as smoothly as possible. There is a knock at the door. It’s Eli and his deputy. Jax asks if whatever he’s there for can wait until the next day, Eli says no. Jax asks if they’re good regarding Clay, the Nomads, and all that stuff. Eli says yes but that isn’t why he’s there. He’s there to arrest Tara which he does, for conspiracy to commit murder (with Otto). Remember that promise Jax made to Tara that everything would be fine? It doesn’t look very fine to me at this point. That psychobitch Gemma has turned Tara in (likely when she went to give her statement about Clay). Gawd I hate this bitch.

So, what are the Cliffhangers? 1. Will Clay survive season 6 or will he just rot in jail? 2. Will Tara be convicted? 3. Will Jax find out what that psychobitch mother of his has done and will he finally whack her once and for all? I hope so. 4. Juice appears to be back in Jax’s good graces. Is he really? How about Tig?

There you go my biker fan friends. 13 episodes with a not so neat bow on the season, because, we are left with a few questions and storylines for season 6. I hope you’ve enjoyed taking this ride with me as much as I’ve enjoyed sharing it with you. You’ve all been fantastic with your support and comments and I hope to be doing this again with you, very shortly. I’m sure I’ll come up with other stuff in the meantime but definitely, see you next season for the 6th round of SAMCRO.

Peace.

MTH