“And another one gone, and another one gone. And another one bites the dust. Hey, August Marks is gonna get to you. Another one bites the dust.” – to be sung in the form of a Gregorian death chant.
Well, Sons of Anarchy has done it again and killed off a character that has been there since the beginning. (Of this series, that is.) Bobby Munson, the SAMCRO brother you’d go to if you needed calm financial advice or a good smoke buddy, has died at the hands of that son of a bitch August Marks. I go into more detail about how this was ultimately the right call here, but that doesn't mean the grief isn't doubled up by having to talk about it again. So we might as well start there.
“It’s just a setback.”
I wanted to jump through the TV screen and slap Jax around when he used the above sentence to refer to Bobby being held captive by Marks and his main goon Moses. Granted, he was only talking to the dead preacher’s stepson and not trying to escalate anyone’s emotional state, but it was still a verbal blow in a way. If there’s any consolation to be found in Bobby’s death – and this is a stretch – it’s that he earned the out-loud respect of his enemy when Moses called him a good soldier before breaking his jaw. It’s really the last bit of communication we get between Bobby and someone else, as I’m not counting his too-late declaration that Marks was secretly packing. Bobby went out in our minds being told that he rode the line of duty right until the end. That serves as a good surrogate audience opinion as well.
Still, it was a pisser of a thing to experience. He looked like a wreck when he was brought out, and that was followed by some insanely backstabbing ass bullshit. It wasn’t at all the best way to go, but then none of the Sons have pushed up daisies in a very peaceful manner. I liked director Peter “RoboCop Barosky” Weller’s decision to let the scene hang on Jax’s spontaneous grief for a few seconds before cutting to commercial.
What his murder really does, besides instigate sadness, is extend the sinister hold that Marks has as the main antagonist. (Unless we’re counting Jax as his own worst enemy.) It bothered me at first that this entire preacher family storyline seemed uselessly cyclical, with Jax ending tonight’s episode by doing the very thing that he said he wouldn’t do when this plot thread was first broadened. Now I’m realizing that maybe this was all to prove that Marks is a bigger and better boss than Jax is, remaining firm and unyielding as Jax scrambles and schemes. Shit, Marks is almost innocent here, considering Jax’s betrayal came in seeking a misguided revenge for Tara’s death. Does it sound like I admire Marks? Because fuck that dude. He killed Bobby, and I hope he and Moses get skinned alive.
Abel doesn’t want toast, guys.
All of the miscommunication that happens in this show, and somehow Abel is the most successful ninja master of gaining information. He starts off the episode by avoiding food and staying home from school so that Jax can spend time with him. (As if any day in Jax’s vice-filled life allows for a child’s presence.) He ends the episode by not spending time with Jax – surprise! – and finding a cookie, probably because he was hungry after a morning of no toast. His snack is followed by the discovery of his grandmother apologizing to Bobby’s dead body, in a scene eerily similar to a few weeks ago, when he overheard Gemma straight-up confessing her big sin to Thomas. But if there’s anything good in this world, Abel will just mentally degrade while the truth behind Tara’s death comes out in any other way.
Juice Lubes Up for Nothing
Juice’s plans to take Lin out have run into a wall. Three of them, actually, and a barred entranceway. He’s now in solitary confinement, despite taking a shiv container in the ass. He has no idea what’s happening, and he stares at his makeshift weapon as if he’s considering using it on himself. Juice: 10. Suicide: 0. But why’s he in there?
Because the guy that Juice and Gemma are fingering for Tara’s murder happened to have gotten himself thrown in a drunk tank on the same night. A little too convenient, but I’ll take it. At this point, Jarry is still kind of clueless to the underpinnings, but she’s at least in the power to make the right things happen with the information she does have. Now we’re going to have Juice in jail with both Lin and Marks, assuming Marks doesn’t bail out immediately. But even then, Jax has all those body parts as leverage. Something is bound to go wrong for everyone, and I have to wonder if Juice is reconsidering his stance to keep secrets.
”What you saw and what I know are two different things.”
A forum is coming for SAMCRO and the other charters, as Jury’s murder isn’t being taken lightly. What worries me here is that Jax isn’t making any moves to continue finding out where the rat is. Even if Jax didn’t believe Jury when he said it wasn’t him, Jax still lied to the club about it, so he’s got to have some doubts. I have no idea what will happen when other people get involved, but I can’t wait to find out. Once again, Jax needs to feel some more heat for ceaselessly reacting with his fists and his gun instead of his brain.
If I’ve learned anything tonight, it’s that this final season makes my stomach hurt far too often. And also that I’m totally into seeing Rat and Brooke’s psycho romance develop. See you next week, when there’s supposed to be another major character offing. Sigh. R.I.P. Bobby!
Stuff That Fell Off the Back of the Bike
How did they not put sunglasses over Bobby’s eyes???
Going to have to start up a Season 1 binge watch now, when Bobby used to have some light in his eyes. DOUBLE SIGH.
I wouldn’t have been shocked or angry if Happy killed that dude for running him off of the road like that. We’ve probably seen him cut people for less.
Let’s make a prequel about Tig’s parallel universe life as a young preacher.
“The birdcage is where it belongs.” I can picture Gemma saying that to herself while rocking back and forth on her knees in a loony bin.
No shit, I hooted as loudly as possible when Gemma knocked Dirty Harriet Jarry horizontal, which was punctuated perfectly by a threat shooting the cop in the throat. That’s how Clay died. Connections.
“We used to have a couple of black heads on the wall, but we took them down, you know. Out of respect.” I would feel so horrible writing the things that Tig says sometimes, but I feel comfortable laughing when he says it. Oh, those crazy sorta-racists.
“This returns the balance. No more bloodshed.” Jax’s Broken Promises should be a brand name of a douche.
Nero is saying that he’s getting out of the game way too many times. That doesn’t bode well for him.
How does Jarry having sex with Chibs in the vicinity of Quinn happen in the same episode as Bobby dying?
I love Sons of Anarchy for so many reasons, and my favorite aspect of Season 7 so far is that it contained not only a porno version of Frankenstein, but also a scene in which Happy is sewing together body parts from different corpses, Dr. Frankenstein style.
