Throughout six seasons, there have been plenty of shocking, disturbing deaths on Sons of Anarchy. The ones that spring to my mind are the innocents: Opie’s wife Donna, the Irish couple that adopted Abel, Tig’s daughter, the nurse who turns out to be Lee Toric’s sister. This episode adds yet another to that list and forever alters the way we view Toric (Donal Logue). As he’s waiting in his hotel room for the DA (CCH Pounder) to show up for their meeting, he gets a little paranoid and has his gun at the ready. Then when the hooker he was with that night comes up behind him and startles him, he accidentally shoots her. She’s understandably hysterical and Toric, seeing no other avenue to quiet her down, puts a pillow over her head and fires two more rounds. But hey, he said he was really sorry.
With that, Toric goes from righteous avenger to twisted murderer. And his carnage doesn’t stop there as, after being emboldened by the DA’s inclusion of him in the SAMCRO task force he visits a pair of Nero’s soldiers and proceeds to brutally interrogate them. When they won’t answer where the mother of the shooter is, along with her boyfriend Arcadio (remember them?), he uses their mouths as bottle openers.
It’s also an eventful episode for Jax, who has his long-awaited meetup with Clay in prison. Clay does the same thing he did with Gemma, apologizing and saying he understands why Jax did what he did. Clay also reveals that he told Toric he would turn on the club, but tells Jax he has no intention of doing so, that he only said that so he could bargain to see his wife and stepson. Jax isn’t that impressed, but he does address Toric through the one-way mirror, saying he empathizes with his anger, but that the Sons had nothing to do with his sister’s death. He then warns Toric not to mess with Tara (Maggie Siff) or else it’ll get real ugly.
At a business meeting in Barosky’s donut shop, a quiet meeting between Jax, Barosky (Peter Weller) and Collette (Kim Dickens) is cut short by a drive-by shooting. No one is killed, but after Barosky’s cop friends determine the shooters were from that torture porn outfit they all roughed up in the first episode this season, they all head to the main guy’s boat to talk it out. That’s where they learn about the guy’s brother who never made it home after the Sons trashed the studio. Jax pleads innocence, but he knows deep down that Tig must have offed the guy. None of it makes much difference to Barofsky, who slyly pulls out a knife and cuts a henchman’s throat, then telling the main brother to keep sailing his boat out of town, and threatens to kill him should he return.
Jax decides that Tig has messed up his last assignment, and gives some information to Marks (Billy Brown) letting him know where they can get the drop on him. He also discusses with Marks why he needs Clay alive for the time being, as he looks to break ties with the Irish and their gun trade. Yes, Clay escapes certain death yet again by agreeing to shank an Aryan shot-caller during a fight out in the prison yard, earning him some protection. The old man even gets another shank provided to him while he’s in solitary confinement. To protect himself? To kill himself? We shall see.
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In less violent matters, Jax finds himself feeling a little weird when he overhears Barosky and Collette having sex at the brothel. Later on, when Collette tries to call him he ignores his phone. Not that he has much time to think about calling her back, as he finds Tara’s positive pregnancy test. While he’s tired from a hard day, he appears happy to have this news, and he goes and tells Tara he loves her. She hugs him tightly, still tortured by her plans to take the kids away.
On that front, Wendy (Drea de Mateo) shows up again, this time telling an odd story to Gemma (Katey Sagal) about a guy at an addicts meeting attacking her and then threatening to rape her “bloody.” This leads to Gemma comforting and hugging the woman she once tried to kill in the hospital. Oh, what a difference a few seasons — and a common enemy in Tara, or so Gemma believes — makes. Later on, at Gemma’s place, she even gives Wendy a gun for protection. At the end of the episode we see Wendy wiping off that supposed injury on her neck and are left to wonder what exactly she’s up to.
Toric’s last bit of scumbaggery this episode is taking some hair from the woman he murdered and planting it in Nero’s car. This is not long after he makes a point to tell the DA that Nero is known to be tough on his girls. The body is discovered by police and the search is on.
At episode’s end, we’re also left wondering if Tig (Kim Coates) has finally run out of luck. He’s out waiting for a shipment from some prospects when Marks and his crew walk in, looking serious. Tig mutters an “Oh shit,” and then we fade to black.
Photo: Credit: Prashant Gupta/FX
