Smallscreen News
Sons of Anarchy turns a corner, Juice, Clay, the burden of truth, some thoughts
By April MacIntyre Oct 12, 2011, 15:11 GMT
This has been a great season for Dayton, his work has consistently provided a real emotional response to the truly awful things the club wreaks upon the town, all in the name of SAMCRO business as usual.
SPOILER ALERT
It's been a long four years following the FX tale "Sons of Anarchy."
Showrunner Kurt Sutter's tale of family, loyalty and preserving the income stream, no matter how illegal, has taken an eye-opening turn.
Specifically with Juice (Theo Rossi) and Clay (Ron Perlman), both men committing heinous actions that seem almost unnecessary in some regards.
Clay elects to put a hit on Tara (Maggie Siff), who came into possession of the Maureen Ashby/Irish tell-all damning documents accidentally. These letters speculate on who killed Gemma's first husband John Teller.
Juice's response to being blackmailed over his racial purity - and not letting the club know that the hated Sheriff Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar) is trying to jam him - bothered me.
Why wouldn't Juice go to Piney (William Lucking) and Bobby (Mark Boone Junior), the two level-headed brains of SAMCRO to get counsel?
If anything, the guys - as we have come to know them all - would have cracked wise and busted Juice's cojones over the half white - half black revelation, while sticking it to Roosevelt.
The old race law in the SAMCRO charter - like any rule in life - is open to be broken for the times.
Juice is beloved. SAMCRO has a racially mixed bag of characters (Happy, anyone?) and have no issue doing business with the all-black biker gang the Niners or the Mexican clubs.
But the story churns onward. We now have elevated the status of the new members, Filthy Phil (Chris Reed) and Ratboy (Nico Nicotera) who are put in untenable positions of near suicide by direct order over Juice's actions. Miles (Frank Potter) is the sacrificial lamb of lies spiralling out of control. It was gruesome, being shot near point blank range.
Juice is now burdened with the lies and a murder of a fellow brother in the club. Because of who he is, this cannot play out well. He is not Tig, and the weight of it, if he is written true to his character, will see the dramatic fallout.
So the women of SAMCRO have reason to fear the Machiavellian decisions made by Clay. First, Opie's (Ryan Hurst) dead wife Donna, the housewife who Opie now misses after the novelty of being married to a sex worker has lost its charm, was the first lethal Clay mistake.
Now, Doctor Tara is in peril, and Unser (Dayton Callie), forever the Jiminy Cricket of the club, is frantic to keep her safe, knowing the stone cold murderer that Clay is.
This has been a great season for Dayton, his work has consistently provided a real emotional response to the truly awful things the club wreaks upon the town, all in the name of SAMCRO business as usual.
Clay's actions will once again pit Jax (Charlie Hunnam) with the old lion of the club, but how Jax learns of the hit will be enjoyable to see played out. Even more interesting will be to see if Tig remains blindly loyal to Clay's plan, or pulls away and finally throws his considerable weight behind Jax once and for all.
Previews:
Episode 7 – “Fruit for the Crows” (Airs October 18, 10:00 pm e/p) – SAMCRO deals with the fallout from a death threat made against Tara. Written by Kurt Sutter & Liz Sagal; directed by Gwyneth Horder-Payton.
Episode 8 – “Family Recipe” (Airs October 25, 10:00 pm e/p) – An important club vote gets side tracked when SAMCRO is forced to deal with dangerous external threats against the club. Written by Dave Erickson & Brady Dahl; directed by Paul Maibaum.
Episode 9 – “Kiss” (Airs November 1, 10:00 pm e/p) – SAMCRO gets word that the Niners have made a new alliance that directly impacts their own agenda. Written by Regina Corrado & Marco Ramirez; directed by Billy Gierhart.
