Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Sons of Anarchy - "Hands" Clay beats Gemma


I can’t believe Clay didn’t kill Gemma in this week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy. Leaving her alive is signing the death warrant for one—or maybe both—of them. He has to know that she’s done with him and his lies and his greed. He has to know that she intends to tell Jax everything, and that, once Jax knows—about JT, about Piney, about Tara, about what Clay did to Gemma—he won’t rest until Clay is dead. And Gemma isn’t safe just because she's still breathing.

Who’s gonna move first—and fastest?

The episode was aptly named—“Hands”—don’t ya think? Clay’s hands are in everything except he’s holding on to less and less with them. His power is crumbling, and in that scene with Romeo after the botched hit, he’s beginning to realize it. Romeo’s pulling Clay’s strings now, and all the pres can do is dance when told.

Then we have Clay and Gemma putting their hands on each other. I thought Gemma’s rape was brutal to watch in the second season, but the beating she took at Clay’s hands in this episode was at least that bad. This was someone who was supposed to have loved her. I flinched away when his fist came down at the screen and it faded to black for a commercial. Ron Perlman and Katey Sagal are phenomenal actors. Hats off to them, always.

As the episode opens, the attempt to steal Tara away is botched, and the van door slams shut on her hand, the obvious reference to the title is clear. She’s so bitter after her operation, trying to deal with the news that she may never use her hand—at least for surgery—again. She has every right to be pissed about her hand, to be bitter, to be depressed. But I hate it that she blames Jax. I hate it when women on shows like this (think Carmela on The Sopranos) get involved with a bad boy and then get all righteous when the bad boy’s lifestyle incriminates or harms them in some way. Jax is who he is. He’s still living the life he was living when she got together with him, got pregnant by him, got engaged to him. She saw him and the MC with her eyes wide open. Who’s surprised she’s been in danger and gotten hurt?

There are lots of other people’s hands getting dirty too. Poor Wayne. His hands are all over Piney’s murder scene, trying to clean up what Clay left behind. Roosevelt’s hands are dirty in the way he’s dealt with Juice and the feds, but at least he knows it and tried to apologize for it. Opie’s reaching out his hands to Jax, begging his friend not to leave SAMCRO. Poor Ope. I’m still wondering what’s gonna go down when he discovers his dad’s dead. I don’t think Jax will be able to leave Opie (and the MC) then.

I can’t decide what I want to happen to Clay. He’s so bad, and that’s what makes the show so much fun to watch. He’s growing more and more evil with time. I can’t imagine him ever coming back from it. Like Gemma told Wayne, “Clay can’t be saved.”

But what happens to the Sons of Anarchy—the show and the fictional MC—without him? I don’t like the pain he inflicts on the others, but I don’t want him to go.

Tune in next week—the episode is 90 minutes long. What do they have in store for us in Charming?

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