Sons of Anarchy Recap: Accessories are Key

Bobby’s got nothing, so they break to get ready to ride.  As the rest of the club prepares to leave for Tahoe, Gemma drives up and oh-so-casually comes up to Clay and asks him if he’s riding to Tahoe, worried about his hands freezing up on him.  He’s mildly amused/touched by her concern and tells her he’s got Juice in the van if he has to abandon riding the bike at some point during the trip.

Don’t worry, pretty lady.  My Bandana of Power will protect me!

He follows Gemma to the office to let her know that Skeeter has Carla’s ashes ready, and Gemma thanks him for cleaning up Carla.  The bikes ride off, with Juice and CFP following in the van.

 At the prison infirmary, a nurse comes in and introduces herself to Tara and asks why she needs to see Otto again, since her notes tell the nurse that the last time Tara was here, she saw Otto, diagnosed him with a staph infection and prescribed meds.  Tara thinks quickly on her feet and tells the not-so-dumb nurse that Otto exhibited a sensitivity to light during his check-up, so they’ll need to follow up to test for meningitis.  As the nurse walks away to get Otto, Tara gives the camera her second bitch face of the ep.

Yes!  Watching all those old House episodes finally paid off!

At a pit stop on the way to Tahoe, Clay admits to the guys that his arthritic hands are acting up and he won’t be able to bike it for the rest of the trip.  Jax makes a quick executive decision:  CFP will ride his bike the rest of the way, and Clay will ride in the van with Juice.  He gets to the van and gets a call from Cacuzza as the bikes drive away.  Cacuzza tells Clay that Frankie’s at a fishing cabin on the lake.  Clay tells Juice they should go check it out and Juice wants to call Jax and tell him the news.  Clay uses his powers of persuasion to convince Juice they should check it out on their own, without telling Jax, in case it turns out to be a false lead.  Apparently, The Bandana of Power is really The Bandana of Hypnosis, since Juice buys it and consents to take Clay directly to the cabin.

Or Juice is just really stupid gullible.

Its purpose served, Clay removes his cheesy headgear and climbs in the van.

While Gemma and Nero wait at the kids’ home playground to visit with Lucius, they ask each other why they made the not-so-law-abiding choices throughout their lives.

But what the viewing public wants to know, Nero … why the shades on the back of your neck?  Melanoma?

Nero says he didn’t have a lot of options to go straight after he left prison, and Gemma tells Nero she was “all in” with the old lady lifestyle after her first ride with JT.  I thought, at first, she was talking about a motorcycle trip, but when she says she found out she was pregnant two months after the first ride, I realize it’s a euphemism.  Lucius rides up in his wheelchair (I’d prefer the crutch-walking, but that’s probably very tiring for the poor kid) and makes nice with Gemma.  I don’t want to make fun of Lucius, his fauxhawk or his wickedly cute overbite.

At the Fishermen’s Poker Club in South Tahoe, SAMCRO is greeted by a giant of a Nomad, Quinn.  I thought Opie was a big guy but this guy must be ex-NFL.  Quinn tells them that Pirelli is inside.  Leo Pirelli sees them enter and has one of his big henchmen (though not as big as Quinn) run interference.  A fight ensues, and after commercials, things have calmed down.  Leo asks SAMCRO what the hell is going on.

Leo, this just a regular Wednesday early bird special for us.  Good thing you didn’t piss us off on a Saturday.