Sons Of Anarchy Review: “Some Strange Eruption” (Season 7, Episode 5)

Sons of Anarchy is moving ahead at full-speed, and if we’re lucky, this momentum will last all the way until the end. Unlike the first few episodes of the final season, “Some Strange Eruption” kept the pace going with the MC targeting the heart of Lin’s organization after the massacre at Diosa. Tears were shed, hugs were had and blood was spilled, but in the end, the MC rolled back into Charming with smiles on their faces knowing that it could have always been worse – and very shortly, it probably will be.

The massacre had a weird effect on the entire club. Although Jax (Charlie Hunnam) can’t escape his part in the tragedy, as he realized pretty early on in the episode, it’s triggered something in him that is long past due to surface – a sense of conscious. He isn’t willing to abandon his plan for retaliation just yet (and probably ever), but he also seems to be going about it in a more deliberate way – if pegging the entire thing on August Marks counts. That new derivation to the plan will probably come back to bite him in the end, but it was a line just believable enough to buy him the temporary trust he needed for his latest plot twist to become a reality.

With the help of their “crooked cop,” SAMCRO sent a message to Henry Lin (Kenneth Choi) and his crew that they won’t soon be forgetting. For the first time, the big switcharoo wasn’t reserved for the final scene of a season. Jax managed to outdo himself by flipping the tables. He didn’t have a chance to finish what he started, which is only going to make it more difficult now that Lin has a heads up about what’s going on. But, for the moment, Jax has got to be feeling pretty smug about the whole thing.

Just when you put your hands up and decide that Jax couldn’t possibly make a comeback, since he’s fallen so far from grace and it will be impossible to manipulate his way out of the hole, the writers create an elaborate storyline where he once again outshines, outsmarts, and outmaneuvers everyone else. As the main character, Jax has played the victim, but never really been the victim. Until the very end, he’s untouchable. That has always added a predictable touch to every story arc (how will Kurt Sutter talk his lead out of another situation that appears impossible to win?), until now.

With the finish line in sight, Jax is no longer safe. The lingering question all season is going to be whether or not Jax will survive. If what he said to Abel in their heartbreaking father-son conversation has any bearing on the events that are about to unfold, Jax is gearing up to put everyone he cares about before himself, for once.