Major spoilery recap ahead. Don’t read on if you haven’t watched this episode.
This episode opens with a sight we rarely get to see: Kurt Sutter sharing the screen with his wife, Katey Sagal. Gemma is visiting Otto in jail. He has summoned her there to talk about Luann. He fills her in on the intel he received from the “sheriff” (which was actually Potter), about the DNA they found on her body belonging to Bobby and typically the last guy “tapping a bitch” is the one who killed her.
Gemma is surprised and tries to excuse and explain it all away. Otto doesn’t really want to hear it from her, that’s not why she’s there. “I want you to ask Clay a question: ‘What would it feel like to lose the one he loved the most?’ You tell the club, you tell the guy who was bedding my wife, they need to find the scumbag who killed her.”
SAMCRO has just come back from their first drug run to meet up with the Mayans, who don’t quite have their ducks in a row and aren’t ready for the bagging process, which forces them to hold on to the coke for another day. This does not make Jax happy. Alvarez leaves one of his guys behind to watch over the precious cargo, along with Miles, Filthy Phil and Ratboy.
Clay orders everyone home to get some rest. But Juice doesn’t get to catch any zzz‘s, he has to meet up with Sheriff Roosevelt. Juice’s initial reaction is to be tough and loyal, but Roosevelt breaks him down with emotional blackmail about being outed from the club. He says he’ll lock his lips about Juice’s dad as long as Juice filters back information about the Galindo cartel.
Jax happily greets Tara and the boys, then pulls out two thick bricks of cash. She looks slightly perplexed but doesn’t ask any questions. He tells her to put it in a safety deposit box in her name, tells her to ask Gemma since she knows the routine.
Clay is quickly getting on everyone's shit list
Church is in session. Jax and Clay convey the “facts” about Luann’s murder for the guys: that there is an unknown assailant responsible and his DNA is in the system. Bobby looks nervous, but Juice blurts out that it must be Georgie Caruso. “We should have handled this shit when it first happened.” Clay says “Old ladies, they got a way of coming back and biting you in the ass.”
Jax spells it out for everyone. If Roosevelt’s got proof of a suspected killer, the club needs to get to him first so they can get vengeance for Otto. Bobby looks squirmy as Clay says “I want a brother to look him in the eye and tell him it’s been handled. He deserves that.” Juice asks Opie if Lyla can help find Georgie. Opie thinks so and mumbles that she’s on a shoot today. Chibs dreamily reflects about the beauty of two girls in love. “Before we all sail off to the isle of Lesbos…for a job well done.” He then hands out big bricks of cash to everyone.
Piney gruffly pushes his pile away and glares at Clay. He still wants to talk about the past and about JT. Piney sets Clay up to step in a big, smelly pile. “John changed his mind about the guns, remember?” “Yeah, he talked about, uh, getting us out.” Splat. Piney jumps all over Clay, he knows about the meeting JT set up (the one he never made it to) about getting SAMCRO out of the gun-running business.
He informs Clay of the letters and how they pretty much reveal that Clay is responsible for JT’s murder. Clay sticks to the story, “JT laid his bike down on 580, was crushed by a semi. It was an accident.” Piney says, “We’ll never know. Lowell, senior, disappeared the next week, and he was the only one JT trusted to work on his bike.” Clay wants to know what Piney will gain by bringing all this up. “It’s not about me. You kill the drug muling, or I’ll let the rest of the club read the letters.” Clay has a pretty good idea that Piney doesn’t have the letters, but it’s sort of a win-win in Piney’s eyes. Either the truth comes out or the drugs go away. Clay protests that you don’t exactly quit a cartel, but Piney doesn’t really care and gives him a week. “In case you’re still thinking about slitting my throat, I wouldn’t. I have contingencies in place.”
Bobby’s outside with Jax trying to keep it together. Jax tells him that Otto does know it was him banging Luann, but Jax & Clay know that he didn’t kill her. Bobby doesn’t understand why hasn’t he been questioned if the sheriff has his DNA. And since they don’t have enough things to do, Jax decides they’re going to avenge Luann for Otto. Right. Now.
But not before Clay storms into Gemma’s office and blurts out, “Piney says he knows I killed JT. Threatened to tell the club.” Gemma’s job this episode must be coming up with excuses for everyone else. Clay says that Piney found some old letters, that maybe Tara did tell someone. She knows what his point is and doesn’t like it. Even as Clay continues his line of thinking, Gemma defends Tara. But Clay isn’t listening. “The history that Tara and Piney know? Very dangerous.” Gemma says, “You’re talking about the co-founder of this club and the mother of our grandchild.” But Clay is more concerned about self-preservation at this point. “I had John Teller killed while I was bedding his wife. It does not matter what the reason was, Jax finds that out, he cuts off my goddamn head. He sticks it on the Reaper pole. Now we got to stop this in its tracks, you and me. Otherwise we lose everything.” This is all going to get very interesting. If Clay continues with this line of thought, he’s going to lose Gemma’s support. We all know how strong her family bond is and she will do everything to protect it. If he loses her, he’ll lose everything.
Gemma reminds him that neither one of them has any idea what’s in those letters and they just need to find them. If they can get their hands on them then no one will have any proof of Piney’s claims. She tells him, emphatically, that she will find the letters. “Until I do, Clay, nothing happens. You understand? Not to Piney, not to Tara. You hurt them, you hurt Jax.” And you hurt her, most of all, the Fierce Mother. He promises and they hug, but their faces show that they can’t trust and won’t back each other.
Next stop: Clay visits Unser. He delivers a beautifully restored Sportster and an assignment: find the letters that Tara has, bring them to Clay and Clay will dispose of them. And just as he’s about to leave, Gemma pulls up. We know that she’s there to employ Wayne to help her with the same task, but she plays her visit off as a pot delivery. When Clay leaves she grills Unser about why Clay was there. He tries feebly to lie, but she knows better and stresses that Clay cannot get those letters, that he needs to deliver them to her when he gets them.
Jax and Opie visit Lyla at “work” and she informs them that Georgie is out of the business and now making high-end sex toys, but her current producer Dondo, might have some info. Jax goes with her to meet Dondo, while Opie stays behind in her dressing room. He discovers her stash of birth control pills and has a tantrum.
A brilliant tactic in casting: David Hasselhoff is Dondo. He explains that Georgie wanted to make a line of real life sex dolls (much to Tig’s horror-remember he has a “thing” about dolls) based on one of his best selling movies, which happens to feature Lyla. They decide to lure Georgie in by telling him that she’s changed to mind to be forever cast as a love doll, in the name of avenging Luann, and Dondo begins to froth at the mouth. He loved Luann and won’t help unless they promise to kill Georgie, which they agree to do.
Unser breaks into Tara’s office and steal the copies she’s made of JT’s letters.
Off to Lincoln Potter’s war room and the info on the walls has exploded and he gives Roosevelt a quick download about the cartel. He wants to know how things are going with Juice. Roosevelt explains that Juice will need assurances before he proceeds. He can’t wear a wire so the only other solution is to get a sample of the cocaine to test where it came from, but Roosevelt knows this could get Juice killed. Potter explains, “That’s the point. It proves the risk of getting outed for color is greater than the risk of working with us.” The sheriff doesn’t like the idea if word gets out that he got someone killed playing the race card. Potter makes a promise (with his fingers crossed behind his back) that the sheriff’s involvement with Juice will be stricken from the record. Liar, liar pants on fire.
Unser has read the letters and is in the process of burning them when Clay pulls up and runs over to attempt to retrieve them from the fire. “I wish I had never found them! The lies were easier to stomach.” Clay’s reply is, “Save the pain and sorrow for my old lady.” “That’s the difference between you and me, Clay. I actually feel bad for some of the shit I’ve done. The lie you fed me about why John Teller needed to die…you told me JT’s weakness was going to bring violence to Charming. JT wasn’t weak. He was conflicted. He wanted to end guns, go legit. That’s why you killed him and had me cover it up.” Unser goes on to say that JT described two previous incidents where Clay attempted to murder him. He asks Clay if Gemma knows the real reason he killed her old man. “What’s the matter? Are you afraid the love of your life betrayed you too?” Clay spits back. Oh man, the truth hurts.
Georgie and Ima are back in "Brick"
At the porn studio is Georgie, with Ima at his side, fast and furiously trying to sell the real life doll experience to Dondo. SAMCRO emerges to “talk” but stupid Ima whips out a gun. Georgie grabs it, tries to shoot his way out but Jax tackles him. Bobby catches up and tries to choke Georgie out, but Chibs and Tig pull him off.
Clay and Unser watch the letters, or rather the copies of the letter burn. Unser explains that he doesn’t have the originals, that Tara still does. Clay says he’s going to protect both of them.
The boys have Georgie bound and gag-balled. Juice gets a call and excuses himself.
Gemma pulls up to Unser’s house and notices that he’s burning a bunch of copied letters. He lies to her by saying, “The shit John wrote, too painful for you to read. Sorry.” Gemma looks panicked for a moment, then she thanks him for helping.
Roosevelt squeezes Juice in "Brick"
Roosevelt and Juice meet up and Roosevelt requests a sample of cocaine. “If it’s uncut, it has markers and the lab can isolate the region,” Roosevelt explains. Juice tries to play dumb, but Roosevelt wants him to spill who’s pushing the coke in Sanwa, to connect it back to the cartel and leave the club out. “Look, I just want things to get back to normal. Your MC out of drugs, your daddy back in the closet.” And that’s essentially what Juice wants, too.
Clay shows up at Dondo’s studio and removes Georgie’s gag. He proceeds to plead with Clay to talk sense into these psychos but Clay explains these are the rational guys. “I get Happy here, ‘ball gag’ takes on a whole new meaning.” Georgie says that he didn’t kill Luann, but Jax loses it. Ima seizes an opportunity to cling to Opie. Georgie starts bargaining for his life with cash as the ultimate motivator. “I got Asian backing. Billionaire sex freaks. I’m serious!”
The wheels start turning, Clay confers with his guys about using the Asians to say they’re interested in investing in Charming Heights, then have them pull the money at the last minute to screw over Mayor Hale. Everyone goes along with it, even if it means keeping Georgie alive. “What the hell do we tell Otto?” Bobby asks and Clay is all like, what’s this WE stuff? Jax states it simply, “Tell him the truth. The club needs Georgie alive for a minute. That’s a post-dated check. As soon as we shut down Hale, we cut Georgie’s heart out.”
Juice pulls up to the drug barn and the only one around is Phil. He sees an opportunity to dart in unnoticed. As he’s getting ready to grab a sample Filthy Phil pops in because he’s lonely. Juice panics and shoves the brick down his pants, then commences in small talk with Phil. But then the the Mayan left by Alvarez comes back, so Juice has no other option than to leave with a brick of uncut cocaine stashed in his pants. The Mayan eyes him suspiciously. Juice is crouched in the woods holding the brick and trying not to freak the F-out. Next thing we know is that it’s morning and Juice realizes he’s royally screwed.
Lies, lies, lies yeah.
At Clay and Gemma’s and she is already up and at ‘em, asking where Clay was the night before. He explains that he was dealing with Otto’s request. She plops down a bag of full charred paper. “The letters. I found them in Tara’s office, locked in a desk drawer.” Uh oh, this is the beginning of the end for them. He looks at her a little shocked, betrayed. She continues on to explain, a little unconvincingly, that they were mostly love letters to Maureen and it hurt her so much that she burned them. So let’s move on, forget about Piney and Tara. It’s over. But looking at Clay’s face and we all know better. The love of his life just lied her fine ass off to his face. He kisses her hand. “Yeah. Thank god.”
Juice decides that his best course of action for the moment is to bury the brick of coke in the woods.
At the clubhouse, Jax finds out that Opie spent the night in the apartment…and not alone as Ima saunters out of the bathroom. Jax scurries away but Opie finds him outside whacking back a butt. But it doesn’t take Jax long to start scolding him, reminding him that he has a family and a new wife. Opie admits that he found Lyla’s birth control. “All this time I’ve been trying to have kids, she’s been killing it off.” Oh yeah that really does suck, Jax agrees, but points out that this probably isn’t the best way to handle it. And then Opie says, Hi Pot. I’m Kettle. You’re black. No, what he really means is, “I miss Donna.”
At Jax’s house, Tara puts Thomas’ car seat in her loser-cruiser, I mean minivan (what happened to her Charger? I love that car). Unser is stealthily following her.
In Stockton, Bobby is visiting Big Otto (by the way, visiting days are numbered as once Otto gets out of the infirmary he goes back to solitary, with no visitation rights). Otto gets to the point: “You got something to tell me?” Bobby comes clean with a straight apology. Otto wants to know things that he really doesn’t want to know: how long and did he love her? Bobby explains that they didn’t love each other, Otto was the only man she loved. But then Bobby lies about killing Georgie. Why, oh why did he do that? More trouble ahead.
In the last scene the boys are counting all the bricks of cocaine before final delivery. And of course they’re a brick short of a full load. (Thank you, goodnight. I’ll be here all week. Try the veal!) They all start to freak out and Juice is standing there looking as guilty as a politician caught sexting.
Next week’s episode: With an X
The fallout from the missing brick of cocaine is the focus of this week’s Sons of Anarchy. Clay, meanwhile, makes a major move.
Be sure to read all my extensive Sons of Anarchy coverage here.
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Rippin-Kitten visits the set of “Sons of Anarchy” (prior to season 3 airing)
Sons of Anarchy: episode 4.01 “Out”
Sons of Anarchy: episode 4.02 “Booster”
Sons of Anarchy: episode 4.03 “Dorylus”
Sons of Anarchy: episode 4.04 “Una Venta”