Welcome back SAMCRO fans… I hate these long hiatuses between seasons. Here is where we left off… Pope is dead and it’s been pinned on Clay because his gun that he had given to Juice was found at the scene thanks to a tip from Jax. Clay has also been stripped of his colors. Tara has been picked up for accessory to murder of the nurse in prison, Toric’s sister. Gemma told the law that Tara had something to do with that killing. I am back to hating that bitch again and that does not change by the end of the night.
As the show opens, we see a kid sitting on his bed writing or drawing in a notebook. At first I think this is a young Jax because of the voiceover from him. we then see him in Thomas’ room writing in his own notebook. Jax takes Thomas from his crib and out into th kitchen. Gemma and Happy are there with Able. Able wants to know when his mother is coming him. All I can think of is ask your bitch grandmother, kid. We were also shown Tara and Clay in thier new homes. Clay is in protective custody. Jax is going to go see Tara, and tells Happy to go to the garage. Happy wants to stick with Jax but he wants to go alone. Gemma asks Happy to help with the kids.
We are next in Otto’s cell with some prison lovemaking… He doesn’t appear to be enjoying it.. His partner finishes as Toric walks into the cell… Remember, Otto bit off his own tongue so he couldn’t say anything about this RICO investigation he was supposed to testify for. Toric taunts him a bit before telling him he’s run out of favors so he won’t be back. However the regular morning visits from his friends will keep on coming.
Gemma dumps the boys with ‘Uncle Touchy’ (Unser) so she can go whore visit with Nero at Deosa. Jax is meeting with Pope’s number 2 about Clay who is in protective custody for some reason and cannot be touched. They still want him dead. They also still want Tig dead but I don’t think Jax is on board with that.
This kid we saw at the opening kisses (I assume) his mother goodbye and heads off to school. Was that Lila? As he is leaving, Nero drops one of his people off at their house (Dave Navarro?).. Over at the jail lawyer lady is talking to Tara about who could have set this all up. Procecutors are staying very tight lipped about who Tara’s accuser is. Tara doesn’t want to see Jax just yet or at all. Bail hearing the next morning.. As lawyer lady is leaving, Jax is coming in.. She tells him Tara doesn’t want to see him and that Tara thinks Gemma is behind this… Sheesh.. I’ve heard mother in laws can be total pieces of work but this is ridiculous. Jax seems shocked by this… I don’t know why… Gemma is the cause of 90 percent of their problems why not this one?
Over at TM, that hooker porn star who was always after Jax shows up asking for him in panic. She isn’t very welcome there but Lila has been beaten. At Deosa, Gemma is at the bar waiting for Nero who has just arrived. The two of them are exchanging small talk as Jax walks in. He wants to talk to his mother… Nero invites them to use his office. In there, Jax confronts her with the notion that she is behind Tara being in jail. Gemma of course denies it and then half admits threatening her… I think Jax should pull out his gun and shoot the bitch but I am not the story writer. About then the guys arrive with Lila and this convo is put on hold. Lila, beaten, explains what happened to her. Seems she and her hooker porn star friend, were involved with some production that was more brutal than she agreed to. A production with some Persians.
This is where my clean playback ends so by memory….
Jax, Nero, and some of the guys decide to go straighten these Persians out. Problem is the location.. The docks.. which belongs to a crooked cop named Charlie Baraski (Certainly butchered that name).. If they want to go, they have to make sure he has his tribute. They go without doing that though and as a rape film is being made they arrive at the studio… The filmmakers meet them at the door and there are some pleasantries exchanged. Once the guys convince these Persians to give them a tour we see the set up. A girl getting gang banged, another in a cage, some bathtubs of nasty stuff including one filled with piss. Jax tells them what they have done wrong, head persian protests with she was paid, and Jax tells him to let the girls go and pay them… They didn’t sign up for this.. One of them goes to get the money or rather a gun because criminals always do stupid shit like that. In the end of it, Jax and Nero end up with the money and as they are about to leave, the police raid the joint… One of the persians got away during the fight and probably called Baraski…
I am sorry.. Nothing is right this evening for me.. At the end of this episode here is where we stand… Deosa has a new partner by the name of Coulette who has an escort service. 3 way split after house expenses, she is responsible for paying off the crooked cop in the donut shop.
Clay has decided to cooperate with Toric in order to save his own life as he’s moved from ATF sponsored protective custody to general population. Tara lets it be known she isn’t going to take any crap from any of the heifers in her cell block after one steals her blanket and Tara kicks the shit out of her after lights out to get it back. Toric offered her witness protection to hand over Jax but she told him to stuff it.
I am sure this wasn’t supposed to happen but Tig kills one of the Iranian guys after he said something about using Tig’s daughter in one of their special films. Tig Drowned the guy in the tub of piss and then peed on him for good measure.. Then he stuffed the guy into one of the small steel cages they were using for the girls in the movies, and pushed it into the bay.
Juice and Bobby are back from where ever they went but only Juice has returned to the garage. Bobby is considering going Nomad, patching out of Redwood, Juice is considering same it seems. Chibs, now the VP, beats the shit out of Juice as powerless Gemma looks on. Club business and all.. This is part of letting Juice earn his way back in… Chibs then stitches him up..
That kid? Was seen in just about every scene… In the last one we see him in… he’s outside a church, I assume his school. He takes off his blazer, pulls his notebook from his pack and it’s full of crazy stuff. Inside the pack, he also has a machine gun and an extra clip.. He takes them into the classroom and unloads them… The gun, likely came from a SAMCRO connection.
Looks like Toric is a junkie… Seen shooting himself up.. then for some odd reason, standing nekkid in front of the mirror.. That isn’t the only nudity we get though.. Once again we see Jax’s ass as he is screwing Coulette, the madame he went into business with. That’s after the disappointment of Tara not wanting him at the bail hearing.
Bobby has moved into an apartment and is planning his next moves. Nomad or new chapter… Oh yes, Gemma threatened the Lawyer if she told Jax what’s going on… Somebody shoot that bitch and half their problems would go away.
That is the best I can do tonight. Hopefully better next week. See you then.
realhousewifeofaiken 
Great recap…I hoped you would explain who the danged killer kid is….why did SOA have to go there? As Divalicious said last night ” that was dark, even for SOA”….and no, seeing Jax’s pretty behind at the end (pun) did not placate me one bit. He has one disappointment and boom must jump on the Madame. Poor Jax. Poor Jax my a$$. One sympathetic character please. Is that too much to ask? Apparently, it is.
I agree, My heart wishes that Jax would take the HIGH road and be loyal to Tara….but he is only loyal to his club and more likely his lifestyle. Sad, because you want to see his as sympathetic…not so much
You know, even though I was disappointed in Jax’s lack of loyalty to Tara, I am still intrigued to see where things go – so I will keep watching. I really do want to like Jax, you are so right about that. I want him to be a her or sorts. Not too realistic, I guess.
hero of sorts
We always love a “Bad Boy”…especially the hot ones like Jax….but want him to have that redeeming side too…..
You know who I am liking? Tig… Yeah he’s a psycho but his affection for the innocent kind of gets to me..
I have always liked Tig, even when he is leaving his DNA in places he shouldn’t….there is something about him
Happy is growing on me – they’re developing his character more. I liked his interactions w/Abel. He’s a tough guy, but he knows how to make a kid laugh. 🙂
Lainey – The boy is the son of Primo’s (Dave Navarro) girlfriend. He kisses his sleeping mother goodbye, leaves the house and then you see Primo get out of Nero’s truck and walk into the house. I think Primo called the boy “hijo”, so I don’t know if he’s Primo’s son or if that was just a term of endearment.
tHANK YOU, i didn’t know who Primo was…I didn’t get why he called him “hijo” and then did you notice the dark pick up truck who appeared to be following the boy as he walked down the sidewalk. I might have imagined that. Has “primo” been on the show for awhile? I was confused; but I normally have to watch SOA a couple of times due to the mumbling.
Primo was introduced as one of Nero’s men during the last 2 episodes of Season 5.
OK, that makes sense, my season 5 viewing has been a bit spotty
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh… To me that kid was some Dream sequence.. I didn’t realize it wasn’t until he pulled the gun out of his backpack… Thanks for filling me in on Primo’s name too.
LOL! I think Sutter wanted us to be confused about who the boy was – that he could be a young Jax. As for Primo, well, I was wasn’t sure either, so I Googled it. Now I hope that Wikipedia was right. 😉
Wikipedia was right….”hijo” is Spanish for son, but he could be just his girlfriends son and that’s what he calls him….the exact lineage to Primo is unclear at this point. Having said that, Primo means cousin…so I am also guessing that Dave Navarro’s character is Nero’s cousin. I think that I am going to start a family tree business…..I am starting the sister wives……lol
I read something on Yahoo about this episode. The author had planned that kid shooting up his school before the CT tradedy, so he wouldn’t consider changing it. He said it’s important to this season’s plot. Looks like he’s connecting how all the illegal (and immoral) stuff the club does creeps into our lives & causes problems. Yup. Harder to like these guys when you see what they do does have an affect on us.
http://tv.yahoo.com/news/sons-anarchy-postmortem-creator-kurt-sutter-defends-controversial-033400918.html
It’s about time, because glorifying a motorcycle gang was starting to get to me. I like the show, but it horrifies me too.
I am not sure that the point is to glorify a motorcycle club….I think it is designed to demonstrate that the social problems, hierarchy, mores etc. are the same in any culture…the motorcycle club no different. I also believe that even though what happened in Newtown CT is/was horrific…school violence has been going on for a long time. I honestly did not find the school shooting of last night any more horrific than Opie’s murder or Gemma’s gang rape by white supremists. This show feeds on the shock value of current issues.
Sutter did an interview talking about what he is trying to do w/this shooter story line. It goes back to Jax’s narrative in the beginning (his journaling to the boys) about how his actions impact others. He’s showing how the club’s criminal activities impact innocents and the rest of their community (while for the club, it’s just business). I think it will be a good story.
Great way to put it, ” I like the show, but it horrifies me, too. “
I think that subplot was completely out of place in the show.. I get that the gun ending up in Jr’s hands is a consequence of their business and now that I know who Primo is, I am betting the gun was his. The show has always been about consequences though, not glorifying a biker gang. IMO.
OMG, mth, Sutter threw everything but the kitchen sink into this episode – you had some seriously heavy lifting writing this recap. I have to disagree about the school shooting storyline, though. The club and their various business partners haven’t really cared about where their guns went, who used them or how. They’ve just sold the things and never gave a thought to the ramifications – much like drug dealers who sell their products but don’t lose a minute’s sleep over the damage they do. I’m not sure that Sutter intended the shooting to be a political statement only because he’s never used the show to make any kind of statements, but he covered a lot of gun issues by including it – right down to the kid’s obvious and unaddressed mental problems.
I don’t think that the show glorifies biker gangs either, but we, the viewers, have sympathized with them to a certain extent – sort of picking the least of the evils. If we just hated them from the get go, we would have stopped watching after the first season.
I think, if I saw the preview right, Jax realizes that the gun came from the club. I guess we’re going to have to wait and see what they do about it.
I do think the motorcycle club is glorified somewhat. The brotherhood, the coolness of it, the “freedom” of it, the beautiful scenery (cinematography) while they are riding, the loose or non existent sexual mores. (I’m not talking about moray eels here,…or am I?). My point is, yes we see the consequences, we see both sides…but there has been a level of glorification of SAMCRO. Nevermind that Jax is the only cute one. But how else are we going to fully appreciate and understand the fall of SAMCRO without it having been built up for us.
Lainey!!! OMG, Did you just mention sexual mores and eels in the same sentence? 😉
Okay, I can see where you’re coming from with the “glorified” thing. It’s all an illusion, but sure, there’s a certain amount of the coolness and the fantasy of “hot” bikers that make what they really do look almost, oh, I don’t know…a benign afterthought, maybe.
YES!! YES!! that’s what I’m saying.
I’m thinking that the show doesn’t really glorify the MCs, so much as it humanizes them. I look at the story here and don’t see the violence as excusable, but I get the bigger picture around it – I think he’s showing the suffering that goes around on all sides.
Also, I know zero about MCs, but this story isn’t supposed to be a typical MC, is it? Isn’t only a small number of them that are criminal and violent?
I agree Empress….this show has never been a political commentary, although it is a HUMAN commentary…even though the “housing” of the story line is the “biker gang”, I think that some of the themes are universal……loyalty, friendships and family issues….of course most of us on a much smaller scale ( and not breaking the law of course) can relate to some of the struggles. I am more specifically speaking about toxic parental relationships, wanting your children to have more or be better than you….struggling with where you came from and where you are going….impact of your choices, consequences of those choices….
Hey doc!!! Exactly. We have to feel some sort of empathy for the characters, just like we do for Walter White or even Jesse Pinkman on “Breaking Bad”, or these series wouldn’t be worth watching. It’s a matter of being able to relate to them on some level.
Jeff I liked your re cap. From the previews for the next episode, it looks like Jax figures out who is using Clay to take down the club. I’m wondering how long it takes before they kill Toric? And where does Toric get his drugs?
I read something else about Kurt Sutter talking about how his morality play (his words) is going to tie up in the final season. It will be sad when this show is over.
Glad you enjoy the recaps, Bluesky 😀 I think Toric will last a few more episodes…
So glad that SOA is back! And happy that you’re still blogging it here, Jeff.
So much going on in this first episode, hard to wrap my head around it.
Clay: I’m not convinced that he will turn on the club. Last season he seemed to be making an honest effort at the end to redeem himself. I’m not sure that I can see him selling out the club. I predict that he will end up double crossing Toric.
Jax: dude’s weak. Doesn’t deserve Tara. He talks big talk about wanting to do the right thing, but he consistently does the wrong thing. I predict that he will end up becoming everything that he hated in Clay.
Tara: I think I’m loving her – and I used to find her hard to tolerate. I’d love to see her scoop up her boys and leave for OR at the end of the season – w/o Jax.
Gemma – She’s trash.
Yay for SOA! Thanks so much for the recap, Jeff, and to you, Empress, for hosting it. 🙂
Lady C, It was great watching Tara straighten up her spine and take things into her own hands with her roomies. ITA, Jax doesn’t deserve her – he’s so tangled up in his mother’s apron strings.
Sutter has alluded on several occasions that SOA is Hamlet with motorcycles: Gemma = Gertrude, Clay = Claudius and Jax is the Prince of Denmark. Given the arc of the play, SOA is going to get more violent and much sadder before next Season ends it all.
It is a tragedy in a classic sense. I love the writing – great respect for Sutter.
I’m starting to think that the end will be the demise of the club. I think the story arc will be all about the price that they have all paid to protect the club, and coming to the realization that the club wasn’t worth the personal (and collective) sacrifices.
I admire Sutter as well and, as I said to a friend last night, I trust him and his scripts. I also hope that your prediction comes true – it’s time for the club to pay the pipers.
I don’t think Clay will turn on the club… He is using Toric for protection. I don’t know if he understands the number of people who want him dead though nor if he knows about Pope’s $5mil insurance policy..
I agree about one thing… Jax is married and he should keep his dick in his pants unless he is with his hand or his wife.
You already know what I think of Gemma 😉
There is one part I forgot to mention that I wanted to… Gemma gave Nero’s son a gift. A toy gun, water gun, that sort of resembles a machine gun. Nero looked pleased as punch about that… It didn’t strike me like he thought it an appropriate gift for his son.
Yes, and it wasn’t it the next scene when the kid shot up the school?
Pretty close. First we got to see Toric stick the needle in his arm.. Something else I forgot. It looks like the kid may have been a cutter.