This week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy, titled “Small World,” can be summed up in all of three words: Lies all around. Sutter’s series, which is about to enter the back half of its season, has always dealt primarily in deceit, but now the lies are becoming more plentiful by the second.
To start, there’s the reveal that viewers have been expecting and that I’ve been clamoring for, that of Clay as the man behind the home invasions. Beginning with Clay’s conversation with Unser at the hospital, where his reaction to the death of the sheriff’s wife spoke of disgust as opposed to sympathy, his involvement could be clearly seen on his face. So much so that the raising of the curtain on his dealings at the end, with Clay blowing up at the Nomads for their stupid and needless killing, wasn’t quite as much necessary as it was just a welcome affirmation of the obvious.
Now we get to watch as this particular deceit unravels until it’s laid bare for all to see. Even if the DNA test of the skin found underneath the sheriff’s wife’s fingernails turns out a dead end, that won’t deter the sheriff in the slightest. Though a man of the law, his wife’s death has blurred the line between him and the club significantly enough that he’s prepared to pull what Jax calls some “outlaw shit,” running Bobby off the road when he and the others wouldn’t pull over.
Similar to Jax and Tig with the murders of the prison guard and his wife (“collateral damage”), the sheriff has nothing but revenge on his mind. Jax pleads that he let them work together to find who’s really behind this, but he’s done going about this like a man of the badge. Now, he might as well be a man of the patch, no different than Jax.
Knowing how revenge storylines such as this usually play out in television, the sheriff will likely go too far and wind up either dead or out of the picture in another way, but not before he (and Unser) unearth the truth. Except, with how deep the lies go, that’ll be difficult.
It’s not just the home invasions that Clay is keeping from the club. He’s also playing up his weakened state, keeping up appearances with the oxygen tank despite the doctor telling him he can readily toss it. With him looking and acting like Piney reincarnated, he’s the last person anyone would guess is behind this recent string of home invasions. Okay, perhaps not the last person, as his list of sins is long and well-documented, but his ruse is more than enough to keep the others in the club from seeing what’s literally right under their noses.
Unser doesn’t appear to be quite as blinded by Clay’s act, though. When he tells Clay of his suspicions about the home invasions, Unser looks at him with a seemingly knowing look that worries him and causes him to ascertain whether he’s simply speculating or if there’s more to it than that. Luckily for him, Unser has no hard proof. That is, he doesn’t have any yet.
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