Sons of Anarchy Recap: Hitting Rock Bottom

At the chop shop, SAMCRO and Nero’s Crew see McFail trying to leave via a side entrance, but when he sees the guys, he steals a half-chopped car and leads SAMCRO and Nero (in his appropriate-for-a-middle-aged-Mexican but still cool pickup) on a chase through city streets and then on foot down an embankment to another busy road, where Nero chastises Jax not to beat McFail to a pulp unless he wants to be on the evening news.

You white guys take your Amazing Race way too seriously.

Jax tells McFail that he should kill him but can’t.  He takes $3000 out of McFail’s pocket and as McFail calls back to ask if they’re even, Nero tells him, “No, we’re not.”

At Teller-Morrow, Greg rides up on his bike to an angry Clay.  Greg lets him know that Unser stopped by and saw Go-Go’s scratches.  He tells Clay that Frankie and Go-Go realize that both Jax and Unser are on to them and they both want to kill Unser.  Clay thinks that’s a grand idea, since Wayne’s onto him as well, so he tells Greg to get the guys and meet him at Wayne’s trailer in two hours.  He promises to show up to Wayne’s first and prep the scene so Greg, Frankie and Go-Go can put on their masks, break in, and kill Unser without fear of him using any of those fancy rifles on them.

Inside the office, Tara’s still going through pictures and is picking Bobby’s brain for any way to positively connect with Otto on her next visit.  Bobby steers her away from any club nostalgia, since that will just make Otto see red, and suggests she use fond memories of LuAnn to soften Otto’s cold, cold heart.  Since LuAnn’s best friend was Gemma, Bobby tells Tara to talk to her for ideas.  Tara finds Gemma in the shop office, and under the guise of “Jax is putting together a care package for Otto” she gets Gemma to tell her about some hippie perfume that LuAnn wore only because it was Otto’s favorite.  

Patchouli, you say?  Are you sure it didn’t smell of pot and pink tacos?

Before the conversation can get any more awkward, the guys drive up with Gemma’s Escalade.  She is grateful, but Nero can’t even stay for a hug since Diosa Norte has to open in two days.  Jax kisses Tara hello and she tells him she has a few more errands to run before they can go up to the cabin.

Gemma walks back in to the office to cry and feel sorry for herself (Clay did that for the first half of the season; now it’s Gemma’s turn), and Jax follows her in to tell her he still loves her.  They talk about Thomas’s death so long ago, and how it fucked up their mommy-son relationship.

It was all Thomas’s death!  It had nothing to do with murder, betrayal, secrets, lies or hair gel!