“Sons of Anarchy” recap: Smite

By Stacey Harrison

We’re definitely reaching the midpoint of the season, since it’s time for the classic episode that doesn’t contain a whole lot of action, but focuses more on sidelong glances and secrets being slowly revealed.

What better way to start with one of the ickier scenes of the season. The sight of Tara walking around in nothing but a shirt emblazoned with a big SAMCRO logo was nothing I needed to see. Ugh. She looked far less like a doctor and more like Adam Sandler’s skanky girlfriend in The Wedding Singer. It only gets better from there, with Gemma coming over and them discussing the soreness and dryness of her nether regions. Suffice it to say, the term “Mojave vagina” is used. Had to be written by a guy. Do women talk like this?

Jax learns that his mom pitched the box full of his dad’s memoir (you remember, the anti-violent manifesto that serves as the series’ raison d’etre?) but it’s unclear whether he knows she knew what it was when she threw it out, and whether she knows that he knows.

Gemma’s bad day continues when she spies the tricky gal who lured her into the rapists’ trap on the street and runs after her. She doesn’t catch up before the girl gets into a truck with Weston (she’s Zobelle’s daughter, it turns out) but still has a lot of pent-up rage. Poor Tara finds this out when she taps Gemma on the shoulder, only to be greeted by a startled elbow to the face. At the hospital, a newly bandaged Tara says Gemma either goes to a shrink to talk out her problems, or she tells Hale Gemma assaulted her. Well played, doc.

Clay walks into Zobelle’s shop cockier than thou, letting him know the ground rules in extortion — er, protection. Little does he know that as they speak, Zobelle has arranged for Otto to get a beat-down by some Aryan brothers in prison. Otto fights back for a while, but all he gets for his effort is a whooping and a broomstick in the eye. Clay wants immediate retaliation, but Jax thinks patience is in order. Not knowing the scope of the League of Nationalists’ reach, citing their videotaping of the meth lab that clearly identifies Opie as the explosions artists. Jax suspects another trap, and thinks more recon is in order. They put it to a vote, with Bobby’s surprising support of Jax deadlocking it at 4-4, meaning no majority, no retaliation.

The good part about Tara’s injury is it finally might have knocked some sense into her. She starts to think there’s no place for her in Jax’s violent world. He’s able to rein her in, revealing his dad’s journal, and his plan to steer the club into legitimate territory. Sure. Worked great for Michael Corleone. Tara also loses out on her plans for Gemma when the doctor’s office proves to much for the old lady and she splits.

While the club doesn’t get immediate retaliation on Zobelle, they do get some measure of satisfaction in an impromptu street brawl when they come across Weston and some of his goons. It starts out harmless enough, but before you know it, Weston is pushing over Jax’s bike and it’s on. Everybody gets hauled down to the clink, only to be let out with a warning. But Hale pulls Jax and Clay aside to give them some valuable intel. Perhaps eager to prove he’s not on Zobelle’s or anybody’s payroll (other than the law’s, of course) he turns over some evidence of an eminent-domain scheme being run by his own brother, who was hoping to include Zobelle and the league in his dealings. Turns out the scheme has been run before, but the evidence was suppressed by a judge who was none other than the Hales’ father.

That still doesn’t answer how Hale will handle those pictures the league has of him accepting an envelope from Darby. Yeah, it only contained a cigar-store gift certificate, but it sure looks like a payoff. One of the most entertaining scenes in the episode is when Hale and Unser finally have it out, with Unser revealing that he chose Hale as his successor because of his infallibility. He also tells him that Gemma was raped by Zobelle’s people.

We don’t get out of the episode without some stuff getting blowed up real good. As Chibs gets into a car, he realizes it’s been wired to explode, and he makes it a good distance before it goes up. In a regular action movie, we’d assume he was fine, but when everyone gets to him, he’s on the ground, with blood running out of his head. One might be inclined to think it’s Zobelle, but I seem to remember some throwaway lines about some old associates of Chibs’ maybe being back in play. In either case, SAMCRO has some powerful enemies mad at them, enough to maybe make them wish for the good old days when all they had to beat was an ATF rap.

Stray bullets:

— Opie makes baby steps toward another relationship, taking a shine to one of Louanne’s girls, Lila, who pulls into the shop with a car problem. A glance at her floorboard, however, shows him what he might be in for. Along with her child’s toys are a few vials of drugs.

— Tig tells a guy on a horse to “get off your high horse,” eliciting a “That’s pretty good” from Clay.

— I’d always wondered what Henry Rollins would look like in a fight scene. Can’t say he was too intimidating.

— I’m thinking of starting a drinking game every time someone utters the term, “this shit between you and Clay” (or Jax, depending on which one they’re talking to). Tensions are high. I get it, screenwriters!

— Clay pours his heart out to Gemma, saying he just wants Jax to love him. Maybe he should start by not threatening to kill him.