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Recap: Sons Of Anarchy - ‘The Caregiver’

By Ian Cullen Sep 25, 2010, 4:43 GMT

The most fun in the episode is Stephen King’s cameo as The Cleaner. King obviously missed a calling, because he is so deadpan in his role of the cold and uncaring Cleaner that you just can’t help but laugh.

Thus far, the third season of "Sons of Anarchy" has opened up a varied can of worms while simultaneously continuing storylines from the previous season.

This episode starts with Clay (Ron Perlman) and the boys meeting up with the friendly biker gang that they met last week, and promise them some MP5’s in exchange for their aid, at which point a representative of Jimmy O (Titus Welliver) meets up with them.

When Jax (Charlie Hunnam) pushes him for information on Cameron, who has his son Abel, the rep says the fault lies with the soldier and not the IRA, but adds that they are being diligent in their search for his son.

Meanwhile back in Ireland, our IRA priest (James Cosmo) tells Maureen (Paula Malcomson) that they’re going to take Abel to a good Catholic family. We learn here that Maureen probably had a thing with Jax’s father John Teller.

Back at Nate’s (Hal Holbrook) place Tara (Maggie Siff) is dressing Tig’s (Kim Coates)wound, and Gemma (Katey Sagal) has just realized that her father has driven off with a hunting rifle. To figure out where Nate has wandered off too Gemma proceeds to do a bit of an interrogation on her "greedy Guatie.”

Amelia, aka the greedy Guatie, tries to persuade Gemma to cut her loose in exchange for her help to find Nate. Gemma is not playing and tells her to take a hike.

Meanwhile back in Charming, Clay and Jax go to the Chinese in order to do a deal to get hold of some MP5’s in order to arm their Biker friends. A deal is struck via SAMCRO’S connections to the porn industry. The Chinese want themselves a bit of a sex party for some very special visitors.

Jax asks Opie (Ryan Hurst) to ask his girlfriend Lyla (Winter Zoli) to reach out to some of the girls. The deal being that they get five Grand each, and SAMCRO will make up the difference for the guns.

Still in Charming, Sheriff Unser (Dayton Callie) meets, once again with Jacob Hale (Jeff Kober), and agrees to back him on the proviso that he sticks to his side of the bargain and allows him to choose his successor as Sheriff of Charming PD. Hale agrees and the two shake hands.  Piney (William Lucking) who is in the Barber's having a haircut witnesses Unser’s deal with the devil.

Jax and some of the boys meet up with their bounty hunter friend who tells them that he has tracked Cameron, who is going under the alias of Timothy O’Dell as far as Canada, but doesn’t have to much beyond that.

The bounty hunter says, that if it were him, he’d get hold of another ID to keep the trail cold. When asked what he’d do to hunt someone down in Canada, the bounty hunter suggests that they hire a mercenary, and happens to know just the right guy for the job.

Back at Teller-Morrow, Clay meets with a lawyer, who tells them that they are all to stand trail. The hearing being called for thanks to Jacob Hale working the system.

During one of their meetings, Jax says that he’ll go to Vancouver by himself to try and find Abel, and adds that the others should stay behind so as not to cause more trouble with Charming authorities given that they have to stand trail for their criminal activities. Clay rules against him and gets the gang to rally round Jax and continue to help him in his search for Abel.

They agree that they should take Gemma, who is still on the lam to Vancouver, and Clay tells Jax that they’ll tell her about Abel being kidnapped together.

Meanwhile the search for Nate continues, and Gemma is becoming more and more frustrated. Nate meanwhile is by a lake with shot gun contemplating suicide, but can’t go through with it.

Back at Teller-Morrow, Opie asks Lyla to help with the porn party for the Chinese. She agrees to rally some of the girls, but also says that she’d like to do it as well pro bono in order to help the club and Jax. Opie doesn’t like this, but reluctantly agrees.

Back at Nate’s place Tara lends some medical aid to Amelia, who is still tied to a chair, but not for long. After a little persuading Amelia gets Tara to cut one of her hands free in order to restore some circulation. Amelia then asks for the bed pan and while Tara’s back is turned she belts her across the head with a gas cylinder. At which point Nate pulls up in his car.

While Gemma is trying to ascertain where he went. Nate asks her if he killed someone, but Gemma tells him that no one was harmed. A heart-to-heart follows in which Gemma tells her father that he is going to have to go to a care home where he can be better looked after.

Back in Charming, Clay meets up with Elliott Oswald to tell him about Hale and his plans. Oswald asks about Abel, and expresses his concerns over the gang jumping bail due to him having a stake in it. Clay convinces him that they’ll get back in time for trail. Oswald expresses concern that Jacob will use the fact that he paid SAMCRO’s bail against him in the elections, and asks for some distance between him and SAMCRO.

Back at Nate’s place our “Greedy Guatie”, who is now free of her restraints attacks Gemma with a knife, but is then attacked by Tara who is barely conscious. At which point Gemma stabs Guatie by accident.

Gemma tells Tig about the accidental killing, and he suggests that they call Bachman, ‘The Cleaner Guy’ (Stephen King) to come and dispose of the body before Clay, Jax and the boys arrive.

Back in Ireland, Maureen gets news of Cameron’s death. When asked by one of the local bikers if she knows anything about his death. Maureen doesn’t commit. At this point Maureen asks Rita (Taryn Manning), who was shipped to Ireland in season one to avoid the US authorities, to get hold of a cell number for Gemma.

Rita agrees, and says she’ll call Half-Sack, who we know died at the tail end of the second season, but she soon learns of his death.

Back in California, the porn party is going full swing, and all seems well until Lyla wonders off with one of the Chinese into a room. Opie soon breaks it up though when he sees Lyla with one of the business men in a compromising pose, and goes a little wild.  This forces Clay to make a fresh deal for the MP5’s.

Back in Ireland, a grief-stricken Rita gives Maureen Gemma’s number, but is evidently shaken up by the death of Half-Sack. Maureen calls Gemma, but gets no answer.

Back at the clubhouse in Charming, Juice (Theo Rossi) runs in with his laptop, and informs Jax and the others that Cameron is dead, and that he found out via the Belfast VP of SAMCRO in Ireland. Which has them asking, “If Cameron’s in Ireland. Where’s Abel?”

This episode built on much of the drama from last week and again though lacking in action does have a few humorous moments to make up for it.

The most fun in the episode is Stephen King’s cameo as The Cleaner. King obviously missed a calling, because he is so deadpan in his role of the cold and uncaring Cleaner that you just can’t help but laugh.

Groping the corpse of our “Greedy Guatie” was one of the sickest, but funniest things have seen in a while, and I was amazed at how Katey Sagal, Kim Coates and Maggie Siff kept a straight face while filming this scene.