There’s also the IRA feud. Poor Phil.
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And something about Gemma and Tara and their Byzantine custody struggle, but it’s hard for me to maintain interest in that.
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Can anyone explain to me exactly what’s going on with Tara, Wendy, and Gemma with the kids and wills and custody and all that? I half-watch those scenes, and have no idea what’s going on.
Yeah, I forgot about them. I suspect in part because they always seemed so arbitrary - the Sons want to kill Clay, but the IRA will only deal with Clay… now that Clay’s in jail, the IRA demands to deal with the Sons… The Irish characters are just there to be jerks, it seems.
Tara, for someone with an MD, is pretty determinedly stupid. She should have run for the hill years ago, but she just luuuuuurrrrrves Jax so much… At this point, I’m inclined to say she deserves whatever she gets. The character Maggie Siff played in early episodes of Mad Men was far more respectable.
I watch this show for the same reason I watched Oz - the violence is compelling, there are some occasionally funny moments, and I have little or no sympathy for any of the characters.
They still have 1 more season to go.
At least they lampshaded some of that, by having Jax state that the reason Galen will only work with Clay is that the two of them work gun deals off the books to siphon a little extra cash away from the IRA and the Sons. How Jax came across that information, and indeed whether it is true or not, remains unclear.
I’m guessing the season ends with the Sons getting the IRA implicated in gun-running by tipping off CCH Pounder’s state’s attorney, so they take the fall for the fully-automatic KG-9 from the school shooting, and the Sons exit the gun business for good. Clay stays alive, to return in season 7.
Yeah, Tara’s a fool, and burned through any sympathy I had for her some time ago. The worst traits a fictional character can have - passivity, indecisiveness, and just plain ineffectiveness - are her character’s foundation. She’s unable to really affect the story in any way, and has no agency.
It’s just habit for me now. I really enjoyed the first two seasons, then the show fell off a cliff. By the time I realized that the anti-climactic nonsense of season 4 was the new normal, and the quality and meaning of the first two seasons were the fluke, I decided I may as well stick it out.
IIRC, it was the SoA that converted the guns to fully auto.
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Oh, do they do that? The actual nuts and bolts of the gun trade have been pretty well glossed over. We know they stash the guns in a warehouse, and deliver them via motorcycle in convoys, but that’s about it. Any idea which members do the conversions, or where?
I have a question about last night’s episode. My hearing is going away and I have a problem with the dialog on this show. What exactly was the deal Jax made with the Irish Kings? They seem to agree to it too easily when the SOA really wasn’t holding any cards.
I dunno, but it’s funny that a motorcycle gang finds the Irish to be too racist.
It truly warms my heart to see Walton Goggins doing that Venus Van Dam thing.
I had to call my wife in to see if she could recognize him, and even though she’s a big Justified fan, that scene went right past her.
The club (all chapters, not just Redwood) is going to pave the way for the new gun trade deal by transferring their contacts to Clay’s new venture with Galen. They will get no cut for any work required on their part.
Jax sweetened the deal a bit by telling them that the club had not killed their captives and will set them free. This seemed to surprise the Irish kings. Still, I would expect at least one more double cross from Galen at least, if not the Kings. As another poster mentioned, a double cross from the club might also be in order to pin the school shootings on the Irish.
This is pretty much how I feel. Although, last night’s episode reminded me of season 1 and I actually enjoyed it for a change. Of course, I’m sure that it was just a momentary reprieve from the unrelenting violence of this season.
I did have some hope that the Tara intrigue could be interesting but when she put her “love” for Jax above a deal, she lost me. That just made no sense considering the plan she seems to be putting together.
At this point I dont care for Tara or what happens to her in the future. Last weeks episode “Salvage” was great & had that feel of the early seasons of the show. Jax seems to be leading with a clear head now. Bobby’s back, & with a few new guys. Hopefully with this season already halfway over it ends with a good ending. Iv been very disappointed in the last few season ending episodes.
I share your positive feelings about the episode, especially Bobby Elvis coming back. But I fully expect Sutter to be setting up the last season as a dark and pessimistic environment. This season’s ending may be the biggest and darkest cliffhanger yet. I’m just glad Tig is still around, but I sense something hanging over him.
Sooner or later Tara is going to go ballistic and take Gemma out. And Juice is about ready to do something to upset whatever peace there may be. And I predict whatever happens to the Irish will be along the lines of how Agent Stahl left this world.
Called it. Not sure she is going to get away with it though. Gemma is surely gonna have her killed for this. I guess the point was to get Jax to sign the papers.
Is she still going to divorce Jax, or was that a ploy to keep people from going to him about custody of the kids?
Last nights episode was good. The back story of the homeless lady that Jax & Gemma see during emotional decision making process was interesting. Tara is just stupid.
The last 3-4 episodes, I get the feeling the show is devolving into the Tara-Gemma Soap Opera. I realize they represent the main conflict in the story, but everything else seems to be fading into the background.
Thanks for putting into words the thing that has been nagging at me for some time. The pace has moved into the molasses zone and one might suspect that Sutter is saving his big surprises for next season.
The scenes with Clay seem almost tacked on for a little variety, but ring hollow in light of Clay’s earlier behavior.
And I have yet to see the point in the girl banging on the bike and smashing the window except to demonstrate that Jax has more humanity than just exploding in rage at every provocation.
The scene with CCH lacked the oomph they might have hoped for. It’s very hard to like her!
The part I don’t get is why Tara doesn’t simply take the kids and run… staging this entire scam on Jax is obviously dangerous, so calling the police and reporting him for something, then taking off would be much easier…