Sons of Anarchy recap: “Sweet and Vaded”

Last week’s episode included a memorable line from DA Patterson (CCH Pounder) where she takes off her wig, looks in the mirror and says, “Time to go hood, sister.” Tara (Maggie Siff) was on the receiving end of the tirade that came next, and she looked about as shellshocked as we’ve ever seen her. But it looks like she might have gleaned some inspiration from Patterson’s maneuver, because as you’ll see in this Sons of Anarchy recap, Tara goes all-out gangsta as her ultimate plan to separate her boys from SAMCRO.

But first things first. The cleanup continues at the clubhouse, now with Bobby (Mark Boone Junior) and the new guys in tow. They set up shop in a strange new place, a shuttered sweets shop owned by embattled Mayor Hale (Jeff Kober), who isn’t as bold as he used to be, fairly certain that the fallout from Charming Heights will cost him his job. But the top floor of the building makes for a decent meeting room, and Jax (Charlie Hunnam) convenes a meeting at which they confirm Bobby’s recruits to be full members, as well as a last-minute addition — via Jax — Ratboy (Niko Nicotera). They all pass unanimously, but they make Rat sweat a bit before giving him the good news.

Jax also gives Connor some good news, namely that he isn’t killing him and instead letting him go. He makes him a messenger to Galen (Timothy V. Murphy) that SAMCRO will honor Galen’s demands to run the guns through Clay, but that if something goes awry, Marks (Billy Brown) is still willing to pick up the slack.

But Jax is about to see his day take a big detour as he gets drawn into the increasingly strange world of Venus Van Dam (Walton Goggins). He’s not too keen on the idea, but Gemma (Katey Sagal) convinces him to look into it after Nero (Jimmy Smits) implores her to get the club to help. Venus’s mother Alice has custody of Venus’ nephew, Joey, and Nero says Alice will hurt the boy if he’s not taken out of her clutches. Once Venus unspools the whole tragic, sordid story — involving Venus’s past where Alice would film him having sex for a child-pornography ring, and that she no doubt plans to do the same with the nephew — the Sons can’t help but want to intervene.

When they get to the house, Alice (Adrienne freaking Barbeau!!!) proceeds to demean and ridicule Venus, or Vincent as she calls him, prompting a confrontation that leads to some shooting and Alice fleeing with Joey. But an offhand comment (i.e., shout) from Alice’s man reveals that Joey is not Venus’ nephew but his son. Venus then confesses, during a high-speed car chase no less, that Joey came about as the result of a drunken sexual encounter from when Vincent/Venus was still figuring things out. The high-speed chase ends when Venus loses control and starts firing a gun at the car that’s chasing them, shattering the Sons’ rear window. But while they don’t catch Alice or her loser male compatriots, they do grab a license plate number, which they have Barosky (Peter Weller) run for them. That leads them to an address where they find the signs of an amateur porn studio, and a shirtless Joey lying passed out from having been drugged. The Sons, along with Barosky, check out some of the footage and are rightfully repulsed. This is just about the right time for Alice and her droogs to walk in. Venus puts a gun to her mother’s head, but eventually backs down after Tig (Kim Coates) sways her. But then Alice has to go running her mouth. After her idiots flee as they’re told, Alice just can’t help but lay into her son with a withering voraciousness that is difficult to watch, even for an audience used to unspeakable violence after six seasons. It’s too much for Jax to even take, as he cuts Alice off by unceremoniously blowing her brains out.

This time, nobody gets on Jax for his impulsiveness. Barosky, in fact, offers to clean up the mess, “my treat.” While Venus seems relieved to finally be rid of her mother, she’s certain that once Joey learns the truth about who his father is, he’ll want nothing more to do with “Aunt Venus.” But Jax tries to assure her that after the boy realizes what she did for him, nothing else will matter.

As satisfying as that storyline is, thankfully this episode doesn’t end without advancing the overall plot fairly substantially. All along, we haven’t been given much of what her bigger picture is, but it all becomes shockingly clear soon. Lowen (Robin Weigert) tells her that the document that will keep Gemma away from the boys needs Jax’s signature, and Tara is confident she’ll get it. Then Tara casually, almost sweetly, mentions to Unser (Dayton Callie) that she will need a restraining order. Odd that she would take this step, as it clues Unser in to her premeditation, and knowing how conflicted he is about the whole thing, it could have ill effects later on.

All right, so now for the big event. Tara has Wendy (Drea De Matteo) tell Gemma that she heard Tara is divorcing Jax and plotting to leave the boys in the care of Margaret Murphy (McNally Sagal), which we all know will set Gemma off on a horrible rampage. True to form, Gemma storms into the hospital and causes a ruckus, assaulting Murphy while Tara escapes to a side room. While she waits for Gemma to enter, we see her psyching herself up for something big, and placing a bag of blood down her pants. Hmm. When Gemma does come in, they exchange insults, slaps, and Tara gets a good right hook in. Then Gemma tells her that she’s lucky she’s pregnant, after which Tara screams an unholy scream and rams her stomach into a nearby table.

Yeah, she did that.

That’s when Murphy, Wendy and Unser storm in and see what looks like a scene where Gemma just attacked her pregnant daughter-in-law. Gemma is led away by the police and Tara screams for Jax. Eventually he gets there and like everyone else can’t believe what he’s seeing. The diagnosis comes later that Tara lost the baby, and she tells Jax then and there that she can’t be around Gemma, or have Gemma around their kids ever again. That’s when Jax most willingly signs those no-Gemma papers.

Sons of Anarchy has always had a healthy dose of The Godfather DNA coursing through it, and this can’t help but remind you of Godfather Part II where Kay brutally informs Michael Corleone that she didn’t lose their child, but that she had an abortion. Not just to punish her ruthless husband, but in an effort to stop the endless cycle of violence their lifestyle brings.

Well there’s certainly no going back now. Whether she goes to jail or not, Tara has inexorably begun her path out of the club. Whether she’ll make it out alive remains to be seen. If this were any other series, we might be inclined to believe she’ll make it, but as we all know by now, nobody is safe in Charming.

 

Credit: Prashant Gupta/FX
Credit: Prashant Gupta