When we last left off, SAMCRO and the Mayans were in the coke barn realizing that their a brick light. Everyone immediately starts blaming each other for the missing brick of coke. Juice pipes up that he was there at one point in the evening and that it was all there and Alvarez jumps right on Juice, accusing him of stealing it since he was the last one there. And of course, he’s right…But Clay shuts everyone up by firing off a shot. Everyone except the big guns leaves the room.
Clay gets even more devious in "With an X"
Clay says there are cameras to check. Alvarez vouches for his guy, they vouch for their guys and, oh by the way, Romeo will be showing up soon. Before taking his leave, Alvarez says, “We find the bitch who did it? It don’t matter if he’s Mayan or Son, he’s dead.” Jax and Clay deduce that it just can’t be Juice or Miles, so it must be one of the clueless prospects. Jax calls Happy to get the answer.
Tara shows up at Teller Morrow in the loser cruiser minivan. She has to go to a meeting and will leave Thomas with Gemma. Abel is off somewhere with the new babysitter, who is teaching him Spanish. Gemma snarkily says, “Just keep her away from Tig.” A taxi pulls up with a girl we haven’t seen before inside. Gemma sighs and declares that the girl is “Half of Satan’s spawn.” She is Dawn, half of Fawn and Dawn, one of Tig’s twin daughters. And she is quite simply a hot mess of a girl. She informs “mama” Gemma that she’s changed her name to Margeaux, with an x, then hits her up to pay for the cab fare. Dawn blows Tara off when she tries to introduce herself, quips with Chucky about his weird hands. Gemma asks about Fawn, and her bullshit radar must be blazing when Dawn excaims, “That’s why I’m here. She’s bad. I need my daddy!” Gemma tells Chucky to find Tig .
Bobby shows up at the coke barn. Clay asks about Otto and Bobby says it’s all good. Everyone else is tense. Happy is in the house and that usually means an unfortunate end for some poor soul, in this case Miles. But the joke’s are on the prospects because Happy & Miles are putting on a show of fake torture to sweat out either of the prospects into confessing they took the coke. Only problem is that they didn’t really know what they were guarding in the first place. Meanwhile Juice is looking all squirmy and guilty.
There’s a lot of pressuring the prospects. Both are screaming they didn’t take any coke. This scene, for me, is merely a way for Happy to get more screen time as the gleeful homicidal maniac on the SAMCRO payroll. Tig gets a call and says he has to bail since his daughter showed up at the T-M garage. Bobby decides to tag along. I just want to comment here that I’m always amazed whenever one of these guys gets a call for a domestic issue they just run off, despite being waste high in trouble with a drug cartel!
Tig's daughter shows up in "Wtih an X"
Gemma informs Dawn that Tig’s on the way and sidesteps another dramatic hug from Margeaux (with an “x”). Gemma then notices Piney bellied up to the bar shooting back a tequila and scolds him because it’s only 9am. Tara hurries on by because she’s late and Gemma kisses her good-bye. And then Ima walks out, stopping Tara short. Ima smugly says, “Good morning” getting Gemma’s attention. The shot of both of them standing in the same position in reaction to Ima’s presence shows how closely Tara has come to resemble Gemma.
Both of them start charging toward Ima, asking who let her in and telling her she isn’t welcome. Tara is ready to rip her face off but insteadmshe heads outside. Gemma tells Piney to stop drinking so that he can babysit. Tara tells Gemma that she hates dealing with all of this shit when suspicions . Lyla pulls up looking nothing like her porn alter-ego and more like a petite, angelic little thing looking for her estranged husband. She informs Gemma 1 and Gemma 2 that they’re having some problems and as she’s getting ready to take off she sees Ima’s car and makes a beeline for the clubhouse.
Lyla storms in and Piney is there juggling little Thomas in his arms. “Where is she?” “Where’s who, darlin’?” Piney asks. Ima steps out and Lyla demands, “What are you doing here?” Ima wisecracks, “Nobody says ‘Good morning’ any more.” The two blondes have it out verbally. Lyla lunges toward Ima but is grabbed by Tig and Ima pulls out her gun again and starts waving it around. Lyla asks “Why him?” and Ima says, “You want answers, sweetheart? Go ask the cock that was inside of me last night.” Ouch.
Lyla runs off, Tig steps between Ima and Dawn, telling Ima to leave. As Ima takes her leave, Tara says, “Keep that .38 close, bitch. You’re going to need it.” And for the first time ever, I want to give Tara a big fat kiss on the mouth.
Back at the coke barn, the prospects are now being forced into playing some Russian Roulette. Filthy Phil goes first and click. Nothing. Opie gets a call on his phone. Jax hands the gun to Rat. He screams, pulls the trigger and… nothing. Filthy Phil vomits. Opie pipes up “Yo, we got a problem.”
Jax in "With an X"
Jax and Opie and Chibs make their way out and Clay wants to know what’s going on. “Psycho porn star pulled a gun at the clubhouse on Gemma and the girls.” Jax explains. Juice jumps on the opportunity to tell Clay that he thinks the prospects are telling the truth and Jax agrees. Jax and Opie head back to the clubhouse. Miles, with his hands and head still in tact also head back to the clubhouse to check the surveillance footage. Chibs and Juice stay behind to keep an eye on things.
Tig is listening to Dawn as she dramatically tells him about how Fawn’s in danger of doing serious damage to herself because of an eating disorder. Bobby is hanging around close enough to hear the conversation. Tig seems a little surprised as this behavior doesn’t seem to fit his other daughter. Dawn goes on to say that their mother is too self-engrossed to lend a hand and it’s up to her to get her sister to a recovery facility, but that Fawn would never go if Tig went with Dawn. And by the way she’ll need $12,000. Bobby sees through the BS but Tig jumps up to go gather the cash.
Outside the boys pull up and Gemma immediately starts laying into Opie for his indiscretion and when Jax tries to cut her off she reminds everyone that Ima pulled a gun on her. Opie acknowledges that it’s his fault and walks right into Piney’s fist. “Your dick almost got people killed. I don’t even know who you are anymore.”
Tara gruffly patches up Opie’s face. When Opie’s done Jax asks her if she’s ok and a Pandora’s Box of emotion comes flooding out of her mouth before she stomps away. Jax sparks up and he and Opie have a discussion about their love lives. Opie admits that having another kid is not going to fix his marriage or get Lyla out of porn.
Jax goes to smooth things out with his baby mama, who is still projecting lots of anger. She holds up her ring and asks if he knows what that means. He does and goes on to say that this is all Opie’s fault but she shuts him up before he can go on. “This isn’t about Opie. It’s about…this. How you guys treat women.” Talk about opening up a can of worms…We’re talking about a club who is still very antiquated in their ways, that would toss Juice on his ass for being half-black. But Jax is part of a new world order when it comes to club business and he (and Opie) should know better. “I’m the mother of your son. You hurt me, you hurt all of us.” she says before she leaves. Gemma comes over to tell him, “The sting of that betrayal ain’t going to fade.”
Unser and Clay in "With an X"
Clay is watching the security cameras as Tara leaves and notices that Unser’s truck is parked outside. Clay heads outside, wakes up Unser and he threatens to set SAMCRO on the ex-sheriff if anything happens to him. But Unser doesn’t seem too upset at the threat. He really has nothing to lose at this point.
At the coke barn, Chibs is loading a gun telling the prospects that he’s going to figure out which one of them is lying. They look at each other nervously. At the clubhouse, Miles tells Clay that he checked the security footage and no one but their guys were near the barn the night before. Clay acknowledges the info and tells Miles to head back to the barn.
Lyla is sitting on the roof of the clubhouse. Opie comes up and she is trying to make sense of his actions. He admits, “I found the birth control in your dressing room.” He tells her he knows she doesn’t want another kid and she tells him about the abortion she had. He is less than pleased, says he’ll make arrangement for Mary to take the kids and he’ll stay at the clubhouse until she figures out what she wants to do.
Back at the barn and a pretty telling conversation between Chibs and Juice takes place. “Do you ever push back against the rules? Some of them are pretty hardcore.” Juice asks. Chibs says that they knew the rules when they signed up. Juice nods and asks, “The black thing ever bother you?” Chibs shoots a look at him and Juice clarifies, “With Fiona and all.” Chibs blows it off because Fiona was just an old lady. “The rules have been around since day one. Different time. I’m not saying I agree with them all. But you know, if I start picking and choosing which ones to follow, then the whole thing just falls apart.” Juice goes back to being glum and Chibs watches him and I swear I saw a lightbulb starting to glow over his head.
Romeo’s impending arrival has everyone’s wheels turning, especially Clay and Jax. They come to the conclusion that they’re going to have to kill one of the prospects to placate the cartel. Juice doesn’t like that idea and is feeling super guilty at this point. He asks to give the prospects one more chance (and to open up the opportunity for himself to be able to put the brick back). “We’re going to step outside and have a smoke. And whoever took that brick? We know it’s got to be around here somewhere. Just put it back. No questions, no repercussions.”
Unser walks into the sheriff’s department and meets his replacement for the first time. He gets a civil but not totally friendly acknowledgment from the sheriff, then warns him that Tara’s in danger, but he doesn’t have any more on details. Roosevelt pokes at Unser, saying that he was in Clay’s pocket so he should have more details. “I was never in nobody’s pocket! I learned how to work with the club. It was about what was best for Charming, not me.” Roosevelt tells Unser that he can’t keep an eye on Tara unless there are more details.
Juice gets the brick he’s stashed and tucks it in his pants. Unfortunately he runs right into Miles, who just happens to notice the brick tucked openly in Juice’s waistband. Incredulous, Miles asks “You took it?” and pulls out his gun. His intention was to bring Juice back to face the music. Juice throws the brick in his face and Miles shoots him in the leg. They dust up, Juice gets to the gun first and obliterates Miles’ head (Was Miles wearing a red shirt?). Stunned and covered in blood, Juice recovers his wits and tucks the brick under Miles’ arm. Chibs and Happy come up on the scene and Juice fills them in on what happened, “I came out to take a piss. I spotted him pulling something out of the leaves. He saw me and he freaked out. He tried to kill me. I took one trying to get the gun.”
Everyone else shows up and Chibs fills them in on the turn of events according to Juice. Opie’s very surprised, the prospects are stunned and relieved, but they get the grim task of burying Miles. Jax is just happy to have the missing brick back.
Dawn and Tig are reminiscing about stuff that he can’t remember. Gemma and Bobby call him over while she’s distracted. They tell him they called his ex, Colleen. Bobby says, “Fawn is fine. She’s in Chicago with her boyfriend for two weeks.” Gemma adds, “No bulimia. Dawn’s playing you, sweetheart.” He’s a little surprised and wonders why she needs the $12k. Gemma watches him go and says, “This is why mothers should drown baby girls.” I’m trying to figure out what purpose this story line serves, other than providing an episode title.
All is well at the coke barn. Romeo is pleased, as is SAMCRO despite being out of sorts with what just happened with Miles. Clay asks Romeo for a moment of his time. They step outside and Clay tells Romeo about an internal threat, pointing his finger at Tara. Romeo is aware of who she is and the fact that she’s the VP’s old lady, so it must be a difficult decision for Clay to make. Clay agrees that it is and stresses that it’s a chore that has to be tackled from the outside. Romeo says he can do it with time and money and bids farewell. Jax walks over to Clay to see if everything is ok and Clay, that snake, smiles genuinely and says everything is peachy. He pats Jax on the shoulder, puts his arm around him in a half-hug, making the rest of us cringe at how deceitful he is.
Cue the montage: Someone writes a threatening letter that says “I’m going to hurt you, then kill you doctor bitch.” Tig is hugging his daughter before she jumps in a cab. He’s given her the cash she wanted. “She’ll just be back for more,” Gemma says. Tig knows and seems very amused at the thought. Opie settles in to the apartment at the clubhouse.
Ima and Jax are chatting. “What’s the matter? You jealous?” He nods. “So I can only be your bad girl?” He nods again. She kisses him and pulls him into her dressing room. I already know where this is going and I don’t feel sorry for her at all.
Tara is patching up Juice. The prospects are digging Miles’ grave while Happy oversees. Tig is happily sharing photos of his girls with Bobby. Gemma tells Opie that she’s changed the sheets on the bed. Always taking care of her boys, that Gemma. Clay comes in, silently walks by everyone and heads into church closing the door behid him. Piney is flipping through family photos of himself, Mary and Opie. He’s drinking and most likely regretting the fact that he suckerpunched Opie. Or maybe reflecting on time that has passed and where they find themselves today.
Ima is pulling off her clothes as soon as she closes the door. Jax puts his hands to her face like he’s about to kiss her, then slams her face off of the table. “You ever flash that rancid pussy around my club or my family again, I will kill you. You understand?” He spits in her face, then calls her “Whore” for good measure before he walks out. Do you think Jax knows how to spell misogyny?
Someone sneaks up to Tara’s minivan and leaves the threatening note on the driver’s seat. It’s revealed to be Unser and with that note he’s stacking the deck.
Next week’s episode: Fruit for the crows
SAMCRO deals with the fallout from a death threat against Tara while confronting another implication of the drug-mule deal with the cartel. Meanwhile, Potter pushes Sheriff Roosevelt to pressure Juice even more.
Be sure to read all my extensive Sons of Anarchy coverage here.
Related posts:
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”
Sons of Anarchy: episode 4.05 “Brick”