All wrapped up in a bow...

I am kind of glad I neglected to post anything about last week's SOA episode. Last night had way more to talk about than the 90 minute extended episode from last week.

The episode was chock-full of powerful moments and big surprises. Tara and Jax get a knock on their door at night, scared, Jax pulls out his gun to answer the door. When he discovers that it is Clay at the door he invites him inside and promptly hands Tara his weapon. We see Tara hesitate for a split second before taking the pistol and there is a shot of her silhouette framed by the doorway with the gun in her hand. At that moment Tara has chosen Jax and the life that comes with him over the life that she had planned for herself.

During Clay's visit to Jax's house they discuss their next step in dealing with the aftermath of Jemma's bombshell from last week. Jax bluntly states that he wants "kill them all" and Clay's reaction to this is unclear. There is a clear role-reversal in terms of "strategic vision" going on. Initially Jax resisted Clay's heavy-handedness towards the Nazis, but after hearing that his mother had been raped he is ready to go to war. Clay, who for the entire season has been shortsighted and quick on the draw when dealing with his enemies, decides not to immediately spring into action (or violent rage) and to finally come up with a plan to exploit Zobelle's weaknesses, which is what Jax had been lobbying for the entire time.

Wow. What was up with Jemma this week? First we have a scene in which she tells Tara that her relationship with Clay is doomed because "men need to own their pussy" then she goes out and almost bangs Tig. What gives? I don't remember any reference from the past episodes to any simmering feelings between Jemma and Tig, yet that scene made it seem as if they had been pining for each other all along. I guess she just wanted to feel desired, and as for Tig, well, he has just about lost his mind, so who knows what he was thinking.

There had been plenty of scenes in the past few weeks foreshadowing Tig's eventual breakdown/confession, but that didn't make the scene where he finally came clean to Opie any less shocking. More shocking than the confession itself was the fact that Opie restrained himself and didn't kill Tig with his bare hands.

I don't quite understand why Opie was so quick to place so much blame on Agent Stahl. She is a manipulative bitch, but at the end of the day she is just doing her job by bringing down criminals. She certainly put the wheels of Donna's murder in motion but she didn't pull the trigger. Clay, on the other hand, a. didn't trust Opie, b. betrayed him and, c. killed his wife. The dialog in the scene where Opie tracks down Stahl, pulls his gun out as if to kill her and says "The outlaw showed mercy." was downright cheesy but who cares, it still gave me chills.

Last night we also saw another scene of Jemma seeking out religion. This time in the form of a heroin addict priest. Soon after this, we see Jax spreading the gospel of his father to Opie in the form of his manifesto. Are these scenes connected? Is there some sort of biblical allegory playing out here? I am not familiar enough with the source material to tell, but it certainly seems like they are going somewhere with this religious stuff.

The unsettling thing about this episode is that it all seems too convenient. Jemma has gotten her secret off her chest. So has Tig. Jax and Clay are back together (seemingly). Jax and Opie are best friends again. SAMCRO finally has some leverage against Zobelle. Chibs comes clean about his involvement with Stahl with no adverse consequences from the club. Clay shows Jemma that he still loves her even though she's been raped. And on. And on. This season has been too complex and too dark to simply wrap up in a bow. I hope the writers don't try to.