Juice has been coming undone since the moment the Sheriff department pulled the race card on him last season. After he turned on Clay (Ron Perlman) in order to save himself in the eyes of the club, or at least those who knew the truth, he’s been steadily unraveling. There’s been a few mentions from members of the MC about it over the course of the season, but he always seemed to pull it together just enough to evade any real investigation into his mental or emotional state.
Voting ‘yay’ for Clay to meet Mr. Mayhem must have felt like the ultimate act of betrayal for Juice. I can’t be sure of the order that the guys voted in, but maybe he even held on to the thought that Bobby would vote ‘nay’ again and he wouldn’t have to be the one responsible for standing in the way of a unanimous vote. Clearly, if that was his thought process, it backfired – not unlike his attempt to quell his guilt.
As a result of that whole debacle, he has now revealed to Nero that Jax had previously lied to him. This causes a conflict of interest between the two of them, and with Marcus (Emilio Rivera) waving the olive branch, it gives him a reason to doubt his stance as the Switzerland of Stockton. It also could lead the club right back into a rivalry that they thought they had extinguished.
The history between SAMCRO and the Mayans has been going on for at least a couple decades now. Although that relationship has had its fair share of ebb and flow over the years, Jax squashed any residual discontent a couple seasons back. It would certainly be ironic if the Sons of Anarchy found themselves in the middle of the same conflict that convinced John Teller they needed to get out of guns in the first place. Actually, that probably wouldn’t be the worst move for the show to make – history repeating itself.
Marcus and the Mayans returning to the scene, I guess technically they never left even though we haven’t seen them in a while, marks event number 3. Anytime there’s been a shift in power on the show, it’s been coupled with a high body count and new allies. SAMCRO might have peace with the Mayans now, but there’s no guarantee that it will survive this paradigm change. Getting out of bed with the Irish might very well turn out to be an unwise choice after all – who knew?
There’s only one episode of Sons of Anarchy left this season and still a lot of ground to cover. Let us know in the comment section below what you want to see before the end and what you hope they’ll put off until next season!
Until next episode.
Random Thoughts
- Patterson paying Jax a compliment was weird, but strangely it probably meant more come from her than most other people.
- There was an interesting game of double-cross going on. Too bad for the Chinese, but at least Happy is ok.
- Is Lyla Nero’s administrative assistant?
- Was Marcus suggesting a patch-over?
- Bobby explaining his decision to Juice, and subsequently providing him advice, was one of the best scenes tonight.
- When was Wendy a lesbian?
- Juice shirtless – Thank you.
- Tara is clearly not a ninja.
- It’s nice to know that Tig (Kim Coates) is now in the clear.
