Sons of Anarchy - To Be, Part Two (Season Finale)

Did you watch the season finale of Sons of Anarchy this week? What surprised you the most? What are you still wondering about? And how are you going to pass the time between now and the beginning of Season 5?

Probably the biggest surprise for me was when Romeo & Company revealed their association with the CIA. We knew that Romeo had “a guy inside” the CIA—he’d told Jax that in the prior episode. What we didn’t know was that Romeo was working with the CIA. That was a great plot twist because it complicated everything enough to tie Jax’s hands and prevent him from killing Clay.

Because of Romeo’s connection to the CIA, the RICO sting that would have arrested many of the Sons was thwarted because the CIA needs the gun/drugs deal to go down between the Sons, the Irish, and the cartel. But the Irish will only deal with Clay. They want nothing to do with Jax. When Romeo revealed the truth of it all to Jax, it became obvious to Jax that Clay had to live to make the deal go down. If Clay died, the Irish would walk away from the deal, the RICO sting would be back in play, and Jax and his brothers would go to prison. Jax was forced to stay in Charming.

We wondered here at home if Jax would tell Tara the truth about the CIA and the RICO sting. We were happy when he told her everything, but we expected her to leave. (And yet, we couldn’t really see Maggie Siff leaving the show.) When Tara walked into the chapel at the end of the show and put her arm possessively around Jax, staring Gemma down, the juxtaposition of Tara and Jax with Gemma and JT was a great effect. Jax is at the head of the table; Tara’s his old lady; Gemma’s looking on from the periphery.

I loved, loved, loved it when Jax prevented Tig from taking the Sergeant-at-Arms position to his right and instead asked Chibs to take that place. It was a brilliant move—Tig is way too loyal to Clay to take that seat, and Chibs is an upstanding dude. The noticeable hole at the table was the empty VP seat. Will Opie show up? Will he take the office? I think he will, but it was cool that they didn’t wrap that up for us in this episode.

We all knew that Jax wouldn’t really be able to kill Clay this season. Ron Perlman’s portrayal of Clay Morrow is much too integral to the whole plot of the show to lose him. But it wouldn’t have been true to Jax’s character to just have him change his mind and not do it. The disclosure of the CIA’s involvement in the deal and the threat of RICO arrests hanging over the Sons was a perfect vehicle to prevent the murder. Jax would never sabotage his club.

The next best thing to killing Clay, though, was Jax stripping the president’s patch from Clay’s cut. It was even better than the minor slice he gave to Clay’s neck. Gemma almost got everything she wanted—Jax is staying in Charming, and he’s sitting at the head of the table. But Clay isn’t dead, and I can’t wait to see what that means for Season 5 of the Sons of Anarchy.

Sons of Anarchy - To Be, Part One - Gemma plots!

Did you really think part one of the season finale for Sons of Anarchy would answer more questions than it asked? I actually thought we’d know … something. Ha! That’s what I get for thinking!

I suppose it did answer one of the biggest questions left hanging in the air from the previous episode—Clay’s not dead. The sadistic part of me that is thrilled by his evil ways is happy he’s still with us. The side of me that sympathizes with all of his victims thinks, “Really? He’s still alive? Really?” We’re led to believe it’s a temporary state of affairs as Jax is determined to do away with his stepdad—with the help of Tara and her medicine bag. But things never seem to go the way you think they’re going to, and I just can’t imagine Sons without Ron Perlman. Can you?

The jewel of the episode, though, was Katey Sagal. Oh my gosh! Gemma is the most manipulative, scheming bitch I’ve had the pleasure to watch on TV. Would she know the truth if it came up and bit her on the ass? I’m thinking not. Last week, we were wondering what was up with the kiss she gave Clay and her telling him that she loved him when only the week before she’d told Wayne that Clay needed to die. Now, this week, she tells the surgeon to keep Clay alive—with about as much interest and enthusiasm as I show for a bologna sandwich (not much)—so that she can manipulate Jax into killing him. It didn’t surprise me that she wanted Jax to kill Clay, but what a convoluted path we took to that point.

Then, we also have Gemma and her double-dealing with Jax and Tara. First, she convinces Tara to cough up JT’s letters and promises Tara that she’ll give the letters to Clay so that he’ll calm down and stop killing people. When Tara asks Gemma if Gemma understands that she and Jax are taking the boys and leaving Charming, Gemma says yes. And she says it without a hint of anger—only resignation evident on her face as if she knows there’s nothing she can do to prevent it.

A couple scenes later, though, we have Gemma walking into the chapel at the clubhouse where Jax is sorting through Clay’s paperwork. She hands Jax the letters and tells him everything—well, almost everything. She conveniently leaves out the part about JT’s death that implicates her and Wayne. After she tells Jax about Clay killing JT, about Clay killing Piney, and about Clay putting out the hit on Tara, there’s nothing left for Jax to do but kill Clay. And then, Gemma says, after he does, he has to take his rightful seat at the head of the table. So much for being resigned to Jax and Tara leaving Charming, right?

Next week—the season finale—will hopefully answer some of our questions. Will Jax kill Clay? I don’t think so. We need him around. Will Jax and Tara leave Charming? Jax won’t, but I think Tara might. Will the ‘Niners retaliate for Tig’s rogue attack that killed Laroy’s woman? What’s gonna happen to Opie, Bobby, Juice, and Otto? And what will my favorite bitch do for kicks next week? Gemma is the epic mother figure, isn’t she? Don’t mess with her family and don’t try to upset her happy home. Hell truly hath no fury as a pissed-off Gemma.

I don’t know what I’m gonna do when Season 4 of Sons of Anarchy ends next week. I guess I’ll have to re-watch the earlier seasons to get me through until next year and Season 5 begins. Maybe we should form a support group or something—share our favorite scenes, lines, murders, laughs. But I digress … we’ve got one episode left and I’ll bet Kurt Sutter’s got a helluva story planned. See ya next week!

Sons of Anarchy - Discussion, Part 1

OK, so I can tell I've got a lot of people reading my Sons of Anarchy blogs, but hardly any comments. I'd love to know what you're all thinking, so I'm inviting you to share your thoughts, your hopes, and your fears for the end of this season as well as into Season 5.

Do you want Clay to die? Why or why not?

Do you want Jax to leave Charming? Why or why not?

What do you want for Gemma and her relationships with Clay, Jax, Tara, and Wayne?

How do you feel about Otto ratting out Bobby and the Sons?

What do you want for Opie now that he knows about what Clay has done and has shot Clay?

Do you want Tara to stay with Jax if Jax decides to stay in Charming? Why or why not?

Anything else on your mind about the Sons of Anarchy? Please feel free to share. I'm eager to hear your thoughts!!

Thanks for reading. Please keep coming back!

Sons of Anarchy - "Burnt and Purged Away" Opie Shoots Clay

Did Opie kill Clay this week on Sons of Anarchy in the “Burnt and Purged Away” episode? The show has been building up to Clay’s demise for weeks now, but I never really believed they’d kill him off. How does the show go on without Ron Perlman’s Clay? The ending definitely didn’t make it clear—Opie shot Clay twice, but were they fatal wounds? I didn’t think they were until we watched the previews for next week. Did you see them? Clay looked dead.

Are you mystified by Gemma’s actions this week? A couple weeks ago, she told Wayne that Clay couldn’t be saved, that he had to go by the hands of a son/Son. Then, this week she tells Wayne to recant the tale he told Opie about Clay killing Piney and she tells Clay she loves him. Does she want personal revenge? Has she had a change of heart and decided she wants to try and save Clay? I love it that I don’t know, that the show constantly keeps me guessing.

Why did Jax try and stop Opie from killing Clay? Did he do it for Clay or did he do it for Ope? Did he really want Clay to have to answer to the club, or was he just worried about what would happen to Opie if he murdered Clay in cold blood? Jax doesn’t know about the letters, so he probably does have a hard time believing Clay would shoot Piney.

I’ve enjoyed Drea de Matteo’s return to play Wendy in the last two episodes. She’s a great actress, and Wendy is interesting now that she’s sober. But could Jax and Tara have any more complications in their lives? Death threats, damaged hands, warfare with rival gangs and cartels, and now the ex-junkie ex-wife is back and wanting to spending time with her son, Abel.

How did you feel about Bobby’s arrest? I can’t make up my mind about how I feel about it. I really like Bobby. As far as the Sons go, I think he’s one with a lot of integrity—MC integrity to be sure as it’s all relative—but still, he’s a good guy. Yet Otto has done so much for SAMCRO while he’s been inside and he was right—he only asked for them to protect Luanne. Not only did they not do that, but Bobby had carnal knowledge of Otto’s old lady. I guess I’ll say that I don’t blame Otto one bit, but I feel bad for Bobby all the same.

Where’s this wild ride gonna take us next week. We only have two episodes left this season. Did Clay die? If he didn’t, how will Gemma react to all of this? What’s gonna happen to Opie for shooting Clay? What’s gonna happen to Bobby inside and how long are the feds gonna hold Juice? Will Wendy get to see Abel? Will Tara stay with Jax in Charming—because I don’t see him leaving anytime soon now, do you?

I love Sons of Anarchy. I love the twists, the turns, and the characters that are so well written and so well played that I feel as if I know them. I’m glad Opie shot Clay. But I want Clay to live. He’s too bad to lose.

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?

The Walking Dead: Lori pregnant in "Cherokee Rose"?

This week’s episode of The Walking Dead (“Cherokee Rose”) wasn’t as exciting as last week’s, but I guess they can’t all be quite as intense as that one.

I think my favorite part was when they were trying to get that zombie out of the well. First—hats off to the dude playing the zombie. He was both highly entertaining and disgusting at the same time. But the best part of that scene was—if you saw it, you know what I’m going to say—the part where the zombie, well, ripped apart. Did you see the maggots that flushed out of his abdomen and lay squiggling on the ground? They do revolting well on that show, don’t they? I loved it!

My next favorite part was Daryl’s scene with Carol in the RV when he brought her the flower the episode was named for and told her the story behind it. When a redneck like Daryl shows a sensitive side like he did, it strikes a chord with me. And I’m feeling optimistic too—I think they’ll find Sophia, and I don’t think she’ll be bitten when they do.

When Glenn and Maggie got busy in the pharmacy, I didn’t really like it and here’s why. I like Glenn. He’s a good guy. He’s always helping people and he never loses his temper. We know he likes Maggie—they’ve been giving us those clues for a couple weeks. Glenn deserves better than to be used, and I think that’s what Maggie was doing. I almost think that’s why she took Glenn with her. I’m wondering—and so is my husband (in fact, he wondered first)—if she didn’t plan the sex in the hopes of getting pregnant. There were some interesting looks passing between her and her father before and after she and Glenn went to town. I know, sex is sex is sex. They’re both adults and they’re lonely and they got lucky. But I still want more for Glenn.

Then, finally, we have Lori and the pregnancy test. I’ve lost track of how much time has passed since Rick found her and Carl, so I don’t know if she’s wondering who the daddy is, but I think the writers want us to wonder. Was the distraught face she showed us at the end of the episode caused by her confusion over the paternity of the baby, or is it her fear about raising another child in the world they live in? Remember how she talked about not saving Carl because the world is so horrible? Remember how she said maybe he’d be better off if they just let him go? How would that mother feel about trying to care for a baby in the world of The Walking Dead?

Looking forward to next week. And still wondering if we’ll see Otis as a zombie. Shane should have shot him in the head.

Dexter Can't "Just Let Go"

Did you think that Brother Sam was going to be able to help Dexter leave his Dark Passenger behind? I did. I really did. And then, sadly, in this week’s episode (“Just Let Go”), Brother Sam died, and put Dexter to his most rigorous test yet.

Brother Sam asked Dexter to tell Nick, the man whom Brother Sam had tried desperately to save from a life of crime, that he forgave Nick for shooting—and killing—him. That’s not how Dexter operates—forgive the pun. Dexter knew before Brother Sam made his dying request that Nick was the one who pulled the trigger. He’d already begun to plan how he was going to get Nick onto his table.

But Dexter liked and respected Brother Sam, and he wanted to believe—I think—that there was a lightness inside him that Sam could see and that could maybe, eventually, be brought out to shine over the Dark Passenger Dexter carries with him. So he tried to carry out Brother Sam’s wish.

When he took Nick for that walk on the beach, I didn’t know how it was going to go with Dexter. I did believe, though, that when Nick found out Sam forgave him before he died, Nick would convert and be the person Brother Sam thought he could be. I think maybe that’s what Dexter thought would happen too because he was giving Sam’s request consideration.

And then Nick laughed because Dexter was the only person who knew of Nick’s guilt. Nick was jubilant that he’d gotten away with the murder.

Dexter, as he told us, hit his fork in the road. Nick’s laughter was more than Dexter and his darkness could handle, and he drowned Nick there in the knee-deep surf. And I think he also drowned any hope he had of finding the light inside himself. It made me really sad for Dexter.

Then, when Big Brother Brian shows up at the very end of the episode, I got really worried about Dexter. On the same day that he loses Brother Sam—someone who saw both the light and the dark in Dexter and believed in the strength of the light—the darkest figure in Dexter’s life comes back.

The trailer for next week’s episode of Dexter promises a reconnection with Trinity. Will Dexter ever be able to separate himself from his Dark Passenger? And is he even going to want to anymore, now that Sam is gone?