This show is a shell of its former self. I think the biggest problem is that you have episodes that are good in a vacuum, but when you put them all together it's just a huge mess; none of the storylines make sense, the characters and their actions aren't believable, and they're forcing too much to happen in a short period of time.

This season easily could have been about stopping corrupt development in Charming while the Feds try to catch the Sons. It would have given us a reason to root for the Sons and for Jax and Opie to once again put their beef with Clay on pause because it's in Charming's best interest to go undeveloped. And Hale would make for a good villain. But instead, that's only an afterthought, even thought it was a big part of the story last season. And the new sheriff really hasn't done anything to shake things up.

Instead, they give us a lot of interesting plots that are underdeveloped coupled with totally illogical plots.

I love how Juice confesses to Chibbs and the response he gets is, "So what?" That's such a big insult to everyone that watches this show since it's been a ridiculous motivation for his betrayal of the club all along.

This is a show with a lot of potential and very capable actors, but it totally lacks focus. It also doesn't help that Sutter is way too self-absorbed to ever look at his work critically.

I think the stuff with Opie and Tig is great, but neither are going to go anywhere or they'll ultimately be resolved in a ridiculous way.

I thought this and the last few episodes were great.

For those of you who are complaining about Tara. She's a surgeon. Her hands are her livelihood. I can totally understand her being upset and losing it because of the possibility she may never work again. However, I didn't like briging back Wendy. What was the point of that? Just to stir up some kind of girl fight with her and Tara?

at Kenny Johnson losing 2 jobs in 1 week (although this episode was shot well before Prime Suspect got the axe)

I read Kurt Sutter's Tweets and he said there is an outtake where Johnson said...."Shane???" and then gets blown up. I would love to see that on the Blu-Ray.

The shootout in the mine field was pretty awesome. I get why Sutter called this episode "Call of Duty" as sort of an ode to the video game with that crazy shootout.

I love how Clay has basically gone off the deep end. I hope there will be a big confrontation between them when Jax hopefully learns the truth that he tried to have Tara killed.

Frankly I'm enjoying this chapter of Sons, which to me is basically the self destruction of the club.

at Tig and the real doll.

kind of heartbreaking the scene where Opie transitions from calling Piney "Pop" to "Dad".

Yeah, I noticed that as well. That scene was really well done and emotional. One of the highlights of the season for sure. Similarly, I thought Tig's conversations with Clay and him turning in his patch/badge was another high point.

Which is a shame, because while there are lots of things that work within the context of an episode, I still think when you put it all together it makes for a letdown of a season.

Closed Captions my friend. We have a toddler so anything that suitable to watch (that isn't cartoons or whatnot) has the CC turned on. So we watch this after the kiddos are in bed and I just leave them on. You'd be surprised what is said during the episode that you don't even hear on screen.

I was being a bit sarcastic.... it's taken a while for Opie to get retribution for something that occurred during season 1 as emergency after emergency pops up and it gets put on hold... maybe now is the time? While he did get vengeance and placed a lot of the blame on Stahl, I never got how he basically let Clay and Tig's involvement go.

It probably bothers me more how Jax has essentially forgotten it too as he talked to Piney and Opie(maybe?) about waiting for the right time to deal with it. It seems like he is basically ready to walk away from the club once things with the Irish and the Cartel were dealt with and it didn't sound like he was intending to make good on his promise (to at least Piney) to make Clay pay for what he did to Donna. I think this was in Season 2(?) when Piney came in to the clubhouse and tried to take a shot at Clay for revenge? ( I could be completely remembering this wrong though)


BTW - you should spoilerize stuff that is in the previews... a fair # of people intentionally avoid them.

Yep, smashing her hands even more because she's worried they'll never fully recover is perfectly understandable.....not.

I really like that Tara is going batshit crazy over the crap the club has put her and her family in and not just thinking things would be alright because Jax and Her have found love. This rings truer than any plotline going on right now.

Also, great to see Wendy again. I always thought the writers really dropped the ball on her.

Yeah, cause she was obviously thinking reasonably at that moment.

This is the stupidest complaint yet.

I still don't buy it.
There's being distraught and therefor unresonable and then there's ridiculously
fucking stupid.

I liked a lot about his episode even though it felt cramped even at 90 min.
Unser telling Opie was an awesome scene, as was Otto getting ready to squeal.
Too bad we all know none of it will lead to anything satisfying.

If Sutter actually wants to keep Kenny Johnson working, they did mention that his character had a brother... could be a TWIN brother who is coming for revenge on the club that got his brother killed in season 5.

Did Tig turn in his own patch, or was it Lem's patch?

I'm pretty sure it was Tig's own patch. Basically telling Clay he was done with all the bullshit.

It was definitely his own because you could see the bare spot/threads on his jacket

Why did Ophelia climb the willow tree? Tara lost her life's passion and possibly a child within a few hours of each other, on top of all the other pressure in her life. People often do stupid things as a result.

You might be going over some people heads with that reference

Although I do view the show as a modern representation.

What is the red worm like stuff around Otto's left eye? Is it some sort of liquid stitching they use for delicate areas of the body?

I think it's a nasty keloid scar.

Is Otto supposed to be executed? I was a little confused about him telling the AUSA that he wants his execution date moved up.

It's not like she purposely wanted to wreck her hand more. She was upset and it was a reflex. Her personal and professional livelihood is threatened. She has raised Abel as her own for the last 2-3 years and Wendy all of the sudden walks back in saying she wants to be part of his life. And I've already talked about how the injury to her hand is threatening her professional career. There is nothing stupid about how she reacted. It's normal human emotions.

Yeah, I think he was originally in for a five year stretch or something, but the things he's done behind bars for the Sons earned him the death penalty.

Yep, and Tara's broken hand symbolizes the broken tree branch, and Tara is drowning emotionally like Ophelia drowned literally....or maybe not.

I wonder why he was seen as an expendable brother, and tasked with these chores?

I thought i heard my sister's barber's cousin's girlfriend say something about Otto being a lessor brother because he had a messed up eye and couldn't ride, therefore couldn't vote, and was almost seen as an associate rather than a full member.

He's on death row because he killed the Aryan that attacked him and tried to blind him. The panel found that he still exhibited aggressive tendencies and thus couldn't be returned to the general population, much less society.