Note: Full spoilers for the episode follow.
Like most shows with a big cast and a ton of storylines going on at the same time, Sons of Anarchy is usually busy jumping from plot to plot, making sure that everything is moving forward. This week’s episode, “Laying Pipe”, directed by former guest star Adam Arkin, was more focused, which set the right tone considering the significance of what happened. There’s a spoiler warning at the top of this review, but this is another warning: if you haven’t seen the episode yet and don't want to be spoiled, go watch it and come back here afterwards.
Let’s discuss the less heartbreaking items first. First up: Gemma’s bad day. If trying to undermine Tara by working with Wendy wasn’t bad enough, pretending to Tara that she hadn’t tipped Wendy off ended up making Gemma look a tiny bit silly. As Gemma herself pointed out, Tara is the smart one. And then there was the fight with the prostitute (Ashley Tisdale) who was with Clay at Nero’s. Clay’s sly smile confirmed that this was exactly what he was going for; it was disappointing to see Gemma gave him what he wanted.
Of course, all of this was completely in character for Gemma, who has been known to go off half-cocked when things get her riled up. Katey Sagal put a great tone into all of her lines, especially with Tara (“Where is this sad song going?”). Even when she knew she didn’t have a leg to stand on, she was feisty. Tara’s declaration that she loved Gemma but wouldn’t put up with this was the perfect response. My question is how long Nero is going to be ok with the chaos that accompanies Gemma everywhere. Their discussion afterward was another example of the great chemistry between Sagal and Jimmy Smits; the ease they have with each other makes it fun to watch the relationship unfold.
It was just last week that I was looking forward to seeing what would happen when Clay and Nero met up, and I got my wish pretty quickly here in just the third episode of the season. I should have known that Nero would be cool as a cucumber, unwilling to let Clay get him worked up. Although there was no violence between Gemma’s men so far, I think Nero will prove to be more than capable of holding his own if Clay decides to take him on.
After all the angst with Juice last season, it was like a breath of fresh air to see him more lighthearted again. In this episode Theo Rossi brought out the humor every chance he got, and it was a great way of easing some of the tension from the other storylines. Juice’s reluctance to take Clay to Nero’s was cute, but it was when Carla called him “white trash” and he made the correction that he was Puerto Rican that made me laugh out loud. It was good to see the old Juice back.
Diana was too sad to write a funny caption this week
And now to the heart of the episode – what happened to Jax and the other three Sons in county lockup. To start, Harold Perrineau and Charlie Hunnam’s scenes together were great. They started off on unequal footing, with Jax trying to keep things from spinning out of control. The change in Jax by the end of the episode was profound, and Pope recognized it right away.
Charlie Hunnam and Ryan Hurst also made the most of their time together in this episode. As glad as I was to see the heart to heart where Jax came clean about the events of last season, I knew it didn’t bode well for Opie. But even if we could sense it coming, it didn’t make it any less painful to watch that scene unfold. It was brutal, made more so by Opie’s resignation and Jax’s horrified reaction. Sons of Anarchy has a history of being unafraid to show shocking violence and this was no exception.
Opie (and Hurst) will be missed. The impact on Jax was immediate. He was already struggling to keep things together and it will only be more difficult without Opie as backup and moral compass. The way he “held court” at the end with Chibs and Tig showed us the change in him as he used Tig to solidify his control of SAMCRO. If I had a complaint about the episode, it was that I wanted to see the conversation when Jax called Tara in the end. We got to see Jax’s reaction to what happened to Opie, how it affected his dealings with Pope, and how he dealt with Chibs and Tig. When the scene ended without showing us how Jax explained things to Tara, it felt like we were missing something. Maybe they will give us some of the fallout in the episodes to come, we will have to see.
Source : ign[dot]com
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