I didn’t want to revive the old thread for this.
What a great episode. The executions by Chibs and Opie were the highlights. When they came out of the school bus you could tell what was going to happen by look in their eyes. The actors managed to make their characters look a lot more frightening during that scene.
Remind me never to steal Chibs’ wife and children.
Thoughts?
Just before Chibs goes all medieval, he’s riding a school bus and drinking a juice box.
The twist was somewhat satisfying, but it was unnecessary to structure it as a twist by keeping the audience in the dark. The story would be better served by letting the audience view all the interactions that were needed for that plan to work. The way classic heist films were structured. The plan is laid out, and the tension and drama come from the audience sitting on the edge of their seats hoping they can pull it off. This show, like so many others, went for the more modern Ocean’s 11 structure. The audience is kept in the dark about the plan, and tension and drama have to stem from the audience guessing at what comes next. The classic way is better storytelling in my view.
A juice box of Jameson. Which, as far as I can tell, is both fictional and awesome.
Somebody answer me this question:
When the ATF sets up the roadblock and the SOA rides the bikes through, what was the logic that allowed the members to think that they would be allowed to ride through? And what was the logic for the ATF knowing that they would allow them to ride through? The club supposedly didn’t know that they were turning Jimmy over to the ATF, and the ATF supposedly only knew that Jax was friendly to them.
Other than that making me go “huh” I thought it was a good episode. And I didn’t know Stahl was going to killed until Unser offered her a drag on his joint and then said “you really should”.
They were all already in on the entire deal. That’s the only explanation. The only problem there is that Stahl should have wondered what was in their heads.
Yes, they obviously all knew about it except Gemma and Stahl. But that doesn’t explain the behavior at the checkpoint.
I presumed that Jax had a plan all along, he always does. But this reminded me of a non-comedy version of Hogan’s Heroes.
SOA was supposed to think ATF was only after the Russians.
This season has been beyond embarrassing for Sutter and his stable of hack writers. I had begun to doubt they were serious when they introduced the whole incest angle. It was just too ridiculous to be true. So out of left field. Just really out of context with everything the show had been doing up to that point. I was secretly hoping Sutter was pulling some kind of Andy Kaufman-esque prank on the viewers and the executives at the FX network. My hopes were dashed when the whole incest angle was dropped. All that awesome potential wasted.
There was almost zero foreshadowing of the double-agent thing, too. It would have been less contrived if Jax had woken up in bed just after his arrest and announced, “all a dream, a horrible, horrible dream,” and turned and winked knowingly at the camera. The writers were trying to sell that Stahl and Jax had a legitimate deal even as the SoA members were being loaded into the back of the police van. Did you see the look of guilt on Jax’s face? And the looks the other members were giving him? Where the hell was that coming from if they had been planning this all along? And then they started laughing?! Are you fucking kidding me? I was honestly shocked that the writers thought it would be appropriate to pull out that old bromide - the whole laughing after pulling off the big plan shtick, which is just so, so tired at this point that the only way you can use it successfully is if you’re doing it ironically or otherwise being subversive with it. Jesus. Awful, awful writing.
Also obnoxious: We know Stahl was supposed to be an evil character. You don’t need to show her smiling as she touches the empty spot in her bed where her partner would have been. Real subtle, guys.
The Jax and his half sister thing was hilarious. Trinny: “Imagine how I feel, I almost shagged my brother!”
Jax’s reaction was even better.
Here’s the song from the episode: Joan Armatrading - This Charming Life.