After much anticipation, Kurt Sutter’s gritty drama returned last Tuesday night for its fourth season. Viewership was up 20% from last year’s premiere. The episode, aptly titled “Out” centered around Jax, Clay, Tig, and SAMCRO members, being released from Stockton after being imprisoned for 14 months. The 90-minute premiere was full of reunions, new characters, and shocking twists.
(Spoiler alert: it’s been a week but if you have not seen the episode by now I’m giving you fair warning….NOW)
Anyway, the theme of this week’s premiere went perfectly with the episode title…”Out”.
- The boys got out of the clink.
- Two-year-old Abel outted his mama’s secret letters to Grandma Gemma.
- Sheriff Roosevelt welcomed Jax and the guys back to Charming by whipping it out in a figurative “mine’s bigger than yours” confrontation. Chucky whips out his new fingers and Tig is absolutely excited about it.
- Jax proposes something more permanent to his lady love; marriage and getting out of the club and out of Charming for a fresh start.
- Also on the marriage front, Lyla was halfway out of her wedding dress (not calling that thing a gown…lol) before the wedding even started. Makes sense though. The dress and wedding completely fit her porn star status.
- And FINALLY the Russians found out exactly why they shouldn’t screw around with the Sons. Jax and company got payback and full control of the guys again by taking out the unsuspecting Russians. Among them an undercover agent.
So much to cover. The boys were released and that same morning we see Otto on deathrow enjoying his breakfast…a boiled egg and the razor that someone slid inside. The next thing you know there is a pool of blood coming from under his cell door. Oh no, right!!! I love that grungy-looking one-eyed bastard. He’s in for life for offing the guy who took his eye but Sutter shouldn’t off the character (played by Sutter himself) at least not until Sons of Anarchy is in its final season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzfALKwIzCA&feature=player_embedded
Sutter has always said that he has a vision for the total arc of the show that spans seven seasons. Here’s hoping that Otto receives as many stays of execution as possible until the final moments of SoA. So I panicked attacked big time when I saw all of the blood (there was a lot!!! We’re talking buckets and The Walking Dead here…okay maybe not). No worries though. There was a larger plan in place that. Otto wasn’t taking that last ride and meeting up with his murdered old lady, Luanne. Nah. With the help of a kindly prison guard, he was just getting into place for a plan that played out by episode’s end. Brutal and beautiful.
While Otto was getting into place, the boys were returning home to Charming to find many things different from when they’d left. Hale’s plan to bring the small town the 21st century was moving full steam ahead. The new sherriff’s office made their presence known.Before she could get any ideas about showing Maureen’s letters to Jax, Piney reminded Tara that it was best for all around to leave the past where it belonged. Tara and Gemma appeared tighter than ever, the younger woman thanking the SAMCRO matriarch for helping her get through the long separation from Jax. Gemma couldn’t be happier. All of her boys are finally back, safe and whole. Later after she’s welcomed Clay home though, she lets him know that she can’t take anymore long stretches of him doing time. Clay tells her that he thinks he only has two more years before his hands give out and he’ll be forced to step down as club prez. If he can’t ride, then he can’t vote. Jax knows all too well that Clay’s time as prez is running short.
As VP, Jax has been groomed to take, but fourteen months in Stockton seems to have given him a new outlook on life. That or the stab wounds he took less than 30 days inside. A message from the Russians that the club had double-crossed in the season three finale. Either way, after proposing to Tara, Jax tells her that he wants a different life for himself and their sons. The only way they can have it is if they get out of Charming and though Tara can support their little family, Jax refuses to live off of his wife-to-be. He just needs to bide his time. Once Clay steps down and he has enough money, Jax says he’s out. Now, Jax has lived and breathed SAMCRO from the day he was born, likely sporting a reaper beanie, similar to the ones we’ve seen on Abel and now baby Thomas. Is Jax’s desire to get out sincere? Absolutely. Will it happen? Probably not but if it does he would be back in Charming within months.
With Stahl dead (ding dong…that *@tch…well you know the rest) it seems that there are new players in town looking to bring SAMCRO down. AUSA Linc Potter, Sherriff Rossevelt, and their taskforce are looking to bring down SAMCRO, the Russians, and their Irish counterparts using RICO charges. They even have an undercover agent getting them inside information.
That’s actually bad news for said agent when he’s cut down along with the rest of the Russians in a well-played doublecross. As Jax said after stabbing Putlova, “It’s just business”. That’s what he said anyway, mimicking the words spoken to him as he lay bleeding back in Stockton. Vengence mixed in with business. Otto back at Stockton, slipping a scalpel into the ear of the same Russian thug who’d stabbed Jax.. A beautiful moment, intertwined with Opie and Lyla’s wedding song, “What a Wonderful World” playing softly in the background.
Next we see Jax, he’s back on the dance floor, holding Tara close in a tender moment. Two sides of the same coin. Cold-blooded on one side and a sweetness that makes this a completely different show than it could be. Those two sides that is apart of each of these characters (yes, even Happy) is what gives so much depth. That is what drew this series high ratings. Now, wondering what Gemma will do with that letter that she found from Maureen is one of many things that will keep many of us coming back for weeks to come.
