"Jax goes to Belfast, stones get unturned." - Gemma to Clay
"Members from the original charter are coming out here soon. You'll have more truth than you can handle." - Maureen to her daughter
Where much of this season has been about the club's search for a not-so-missing Abel, tonight's "Turning and Turning" got back to the character driven show Sons of Anarchy has established over its first two seasons. And though SAMCRO is a boy's club, tonight was really the tale of four women and how their interconnection pieces together the past, present and future of the MC.
For the last two seasons Agent Stahl has offered a sort of outlying evil that SAMCRO, and even possibly the show writers, have struggled to totally grasp. It's one thing to have a guy like Zobelle roll into town with the Arian Brotherhood looking to rid Charming of the Sons by any means necessary. His actions were merely par for the course in a glorified turf battle between two rival gangs. Stahl on the other hand embodies a completely different kind of problem. She's a conniving and relentless federal agent motivated almost solely by her need to destroy the club and establish a career (although I think the former has often trumped the latter). She doesn't want money. I don't think she wants glory. And yet each time she gets close to breaking SAMCRO, she ends up a little more bloodied and completely morally compromised. While we can't absolve the club completely at any point, Stahl's actions led to Donna's murder, Abel's kidnapping, Half-Sack's death, and Gemma possibly headed to the death sentence.
She's been close to taking the club down before, but never this close. Whether Jax's machinations at the end of the episode (more on this later) rid the club of the Stahl problem remains to be seen, but she still knows how to push buttons. Look no further than Gemma's reaction to Stahl's threats (fear and anger) and how the matriarch of SAMCRO treated Tara about Abel's kidnapping right after the ATF agent's visit.
If Stahl seeks power over a situation, Gemma consolidates it. By basically blaming Tara for Abel's abduction and almost accusing her of being pregnant, Gemma reverted quickly back to season one form. Even tied up in a hospital bed Gemma makes it undeniably clear who is in charge. While this might be a move to prepare Tara for the time ahead (doubtful), where she'll take the reins over a family, it's a also a clear indication that Gemma needs control at all times. Control she's losing piece by piece. And a trip by Jax to Ireland could serve to completely unravel any balance she's brought to the club after her late husband's death. That she might be connected to, or even at the center or his demise, is an implication the writers have played up since season one. This could be the fall of Gemma, which could leave Tara as the matriarch of the family.
As willing as the good doctor's been to play up the old lady role, tonight's episode furthered the idea that a future on the back of a bike might not be in the cards. Yes she's pregnant with Jax's baby (we thought as much) and yes she's willing to stand up for the club. But she's no Gemma. Gemma is ruthless and instinctive where Tara is relatively cerebral. And old ladies aren't thinkers. They're doers. When Tara performs surgery at the end, coupled with Jax's possible move away from the club, we see a couple maybe trying to get out from under the weight of the Sons of Anarchy.
The weight that's been sitting on someone like Maureen Darby for who knows how many decades. Maureen's between a violent rock and deadly rock with her connections to both the Sons and the IRA. But I think its clear her allegiance lies in only one place: with John JT Teller. No character stands to effect the Sons of Anarchy world more than Maureen. And though she has ties with both gangs, she is only working to help the family of the man she once loved. John Teller's book is titled The Life and Death of Sam Crow: How the Sons of Anarchy Lost Their Way. Maureen very likely represents the path John Teller wishes he'd taken.
For a show about a violent motorcycle club, tonight was about how the women in the SAMCRO world control its destiny. And don't be fooled by Jax's power play at the end. That was just him spinning his wheels until he gets finds a way out from Stahl, or answers from Gemma, or a revelation from Tara, or the real truth from Maureen.
A few other thoughts:
- Jax seems to understand Jimmy O's and the IRA's motivation behind the Abel business, but I am just not seeing clearly. Is it a move to weaken an already sapped gang? Is it to send a message about who's really in charge? Does it go deeper than that?
- Did we know Juice's name was Juan Carlos? Doesn't it seem like he got off pretty easy compared to the ringer SAMCRO ran the rival charter president through? They almost killed the guy while Juice walked himself into the hospital.
- Will Jax get a loaner bike when he goes to Belfast?
- Poor Unser. How far down into the abyss can a guy be when he has to apologize to a gang leader about having to go back to work doing actual police duties? The guy just looked so sad.
- Another terrific job by Charlie Hunman. This is is best work yet.
