hello, kait

Knowing what Clay becomes makes watching the early seasons of Sons of Anarchy rather difficult.

I don’t understand how anyone could hate Winona Hawkins.  She’s a strong female character who had the common sense to do right by herself. Yes, she left Raylan, but as we’ve all seen, Raylan isn’t necessarily the best husband, or person for that matter. Yes, he is a US Marshal and lives by a code. Yes, he aims to do the right thing and tries to create a sense of justice in this far from perfect world. But his code seems to often veer off course from what I imagine the Marshal service decrees as the right course of action.

Raylan is an angry person. He is stubborn. He never listens to people, even when they’re trying to help him or have his best interest at heart. He doesn’t do anything by the book. And he will shoot someone if he thinks it’s justified. I can’t imagine being married to a man like Raylan was easy for Winona. Is he a bad person? Hell no. He’s a damn good man, doing good things, but in a less than admirable way sometimes. And you can see that everything he is and everything he does is in part a reflection of who his father is. Raylan is not Arlo. Raylan is a good man, but a man who makes a lot of mistakes. But for some reason, we let Raylan’s (and even Boyd’s) transgressions slide, but hold Winona accountable for the things she’s allegedly done wrong. 

I think Winona is an intelligent, independent woman who wants to be happy, and she recognized that she wasn’t happy with Raylan the first time. But that doesn’t mean she’s a bitch or a slut or a terrible waste of human flesh like some people make her out to be (and I think a lot of this hate is people projecting some misplaced hate for Natalie Zea on to her character - which again, is not right either). I’m sorry if you preferred Ava to Winona, or if Winona is getting in the way of your Boyd/Raylan slash preference, but she’s not going anywhere. She’s a strong woman who loves, and is loved in return, by Raylan.

I think a lot of people confuse the idea of personal strength with being physically strong. And that’s not what it means. You can be strong emotionally and mentally as well as physically. I think Winona is definitely strong mentally. She stands her ground with Raylan, and you better believe that I don’t for one second think she’s forgotten about his assurance that he would get out of the field. Especially with that baby growing inside her.

Being a strong woman doesn’t necessarily mean you have to also be a violent woman. Do the two sometimes coexist? Yes. Look at Ava. Look at Gemma Teller Morrow on Sons of Anarchy. These are two strong females who also tend to rely on violence to prove their strength in this world - but that character trait is also a reflection of their environment and their presense in very misogynistic societies. Yes, we look at them and call them badass when they take various objects to the faces of their foes, and we chant their praises for not taking shit lying down. But there is no denying that their strength comes from a very violent place. It is a defense mechanism born out of living in an unjust world in which women are treated as weak and unequal to their male counterparts.

But then there’s another side to that; there’s a side where strength is not a reflection of your environment, but comes from within. And that’s where we find Winona. And if Winona is Ava’s counterpart on Justified, Tara Knowles is Gemma’s counterpart on Sons of Anarchy. I don’t think many people could successfully argue that these are not strong women. They’re both independent women with respectable and steady careers who value and place importance on things like happiness, honesty and love. I think both of them had the strength to leave situations that were toxic to them, and even if they’ve both returned to the men and the situation, it’s clear they’re strong woman who speak their mind and refuse to be walked on. They both recognize that these situations are poisonous to their families, but have chosen to stay - for now - because of the love they have for these men who are trying to do right in their respective worlds, and because they have more at stake than just their own happiness now. They have families to think about. 

Winona isn’t Ava, nor is she Aunt Helen. Is she going to shoot her husband because he beat her? No. She’s going to leave him and have him arrested. Is she going to take a frying pan to someone’s face to prove a point? Not unless it’s Raylan’s face. Is she going to take on two intruders in her house alone in the middle of the night? Probably not, because that’s just not the type of woman she is. But she is going to stand her ground when it comes to Raylan, especially when she’s worried about his safety, and the safety of their unborn child. I think anyone who has the common sense to recognize their problems and actively try to fix them or rectify them in some way, is a smart, intelligent person worthy of admiration, both by the fictional characters they exist with, and by us, the viewers. 

• Lorelai Gilmore (for the laughter and indescribable amount of fun)
• Veronica Mars (in case we were got in to trouble with local law enforcement)
• Buffy Summers (in case we were attacked)
• Gemma Teller Morrow (for her guns and general badass-ery)
• Tami Taylor (for everything)

Not a lot really happened in this episode, but at the same time, everything happened in this episode.

Jax finally knows, after what seems like a decade of waiting (on our part), that Clay killed JT. And he knows this because Gemma finally decided he needed to know. But of course, because she’s Gemma, she left out the part about her involvement in JT’s death (and Unser’s too for that matter), as well as removed the letters that implicated her.

Part of me is pissed at Gemma, but part of me also knows that when Jax finds out about her involvement in JT’s death, the show will be over. It will be the final straw that forces (or is it allows?) Jax to leave SAMCRO and Charming behind for good. And we simply can’t have this. I cannot live in a world where I don’t have new SOA episodes to look forward to. (I’m still in mourning over losing Friday Night Lights, just let me have this, OK?

Gemma claims everything she does is out of love for her remaining son. She loves Jax fiercely, but she never acts simply out of love. She wants to control Jax, she wants to control everything around her. And she too, like Clay, will look out for her own ass. Now, I’m not saying she’d ever go and put a hit out on Tara. No, Gemma isn’t as evil as that, but the woman still knows she has to look out for number one. And it’s her greatest flaw. She’s going to lose Jax because of it.

Katey Sagal may have played the fuck out of that revealing scene in the chapel, but this episode belonged to Charlie Hunnam and Maggie Siff. Katey deserves every award and nomination she gets, but Charlie and Maggie (and Ryan Hurst and Theo Rossi, for that matter) deserve recognition for their outstanding work this season.

Jax and Tara now realize that they’ve become Clay and Gemma. Jax is conspiring to kill a club President, just like Clay did. And Tara is helping him to do it, just like Gemma did. They’ve officially become the two people they never wanted to become. The moment that Tara handed Jax the syringe, we saw it; she knows that she’s doomed to repeat history. You could see it in Tara’s eyes; she’s given up fighting. She’s no longer the moral compass of the show, she’s no longer better than these men and women around her. She’s fallen to their depths and it seems like she doesn’t even care. She’s dead inside, and the only thing she wants is Jax and her sons.

But it can be argued that Clay and Gemma did what they did out of greed and general asshole-ness, and that Jax and Tara are reacting to pain and to being wronged by people they’d trusted and loved. Jax just learned his step-father killed his father. He just learned that this man also killed Piney. And most importantly, he just learned that Clay tried to have his wife (soon to be) and the mother of his two sons, murdered.

And sure, everyone in the world right now is going, “GO JAX, GO JAX. KILL HIM! KILL HIM!” We’ve all be chanting for Clay’s death for weeks. And poor Tara, she knows who really tried to kill her. She knows that the only way out of Charming is to kill Clay. I’m not saying these are legitimate reasons to kill someone. Instead of killing out of greed, they’re killing out of revenge, which is no better. But it’s also about self-preservation, kill or be killed. You know, as I am writing this, I realize that it’s hard to have any sort of moral or ethical code as a viewer of this show because these men have always been criminals, and we’ve always been on their side. It’s hard to draw a line when it comes to this show. But I still know that Jax and Tara have to kill Clay, while I still want to scream, “DON’T BECOME CLAY AND GEMMA.”

And did you see Gemma’s face during that entire last scene? It just screamed, “Damn. She really is smarter than me.” Tara knew that Gemma would give the letters to Jax, and Tara knew that she’d remove the letters implicating herself in JT’s death, but Tara also knew that Jax wanted to leave Charming just as much as she did. She knows that Jax loves her, loves their sons, more than he’ll ever love SAMCRO. I cheered, and possibly did a really embarrassing dance while screaming, “Go Tara, go Tara!” and doing some fist bumps when she sternly told Gemma, “He’s mine.”

And there I go again, writing way too fucking much about this show. I’ll make the rest quick bullet points:

• “He’s gotta die. Like, a LOT.”
• JAX SHOT OPIE. In the arm, but still. I was a little shocked.
• Tig just started a damn feud with the Niners because of another god damned lie told to cover up Clay’s fucking shit. FUCK.
• Why did Romeo tell Jax that everything was good for the meet? Is he an informant? Has he had enough of SAMCRO and wants to be rid of their bullshit forever? I don’t know.
• No Juice. Not OK.
• Holy naked Charlie Hunnam. Good God, man, how do you exist?
• AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD CAN WE PLEASE TELL THE REST OF THE CLUB THAT PINEY IS DEAD. JESUS CHRIST, MAN.

• As much as I wish Clay dead, those didn’t look much like fatal shots to me. This is the third time this season we’ve had a character’s life on the line in the final moments of an episode. With Juice, we all heard the branch snap. With Piney, we knew he was dead (moment of silence, again), but with Clay there really wasn’t a hint about anything. Was he wearing Kevlar? Did Opie hit non-vital organs? We don’t know. And it’s killing me. Clay needs to die. He does. I don’t want to see Ron Perlman go because he’s a great actor and a great presence on this show, but this season has been about all of Clay’s lies and his sins and the lengths that he will go to to protect his own ass. He’s this season’s villain and I don’t think it’s possible for him to survive this season and have this show stay true to itself. Gemma said it. Clay has to die.
• I did a full on Anakin Skywalker as a newly dressed Darth Vader “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO” of agony when Otto signed that document stating everything he said about the illegal dealings the Club has been involved in are true. Otto. Otto. Otto. I get that Luann died. Sorry, bro. But you turned rat? Really?
• And Bobby and Juice are both locked up. And neither of them know that the other is right down the hall. WHAT IS HAPPENING
• Potter would have a reclining table, back stretcher-outty thing in his office. He would. Also, I hope he’s the figure we saw thrown through glass next week. They seemed to have long-er hair. And I will cut someone if it’s Tara or Gemma. Though, I could also be happy if it’s Wendy. It was WAY too small to be Opie.
• Speaking of Opie, why, in that last scene, didn’t he go, “CLAY IS THE REASON TARA WAS ATTACKED.” Unser did tell him that last week, right? I mean, I know Opie feels abandoned and betrayed by Jax too at the moment, but if you’re going to kill someone, don’t you want your best friend there next to you with a gun as well? I’d have preferred it if those two shots in to Clay came from both of their guns. I mean, Clay killed both of their fathers. He tried to have Tara killed. And he is the reason Donna is dead. What really cements your bromance more than killing the man who stole everything from you and didn’t even give a fuck?
• And by the way, NO CLAY. DONNA’S DEATH IS NOT OLD BUSINESS. MOTHERFUCKER. (I liked seeing her grave tonight. Not in a morbid way, I just really miss her.)
• For the record, I fully support any club that has Chibs as VP and Happy as Sergeant at Arms. Chibs is arguably one of the sanest members of the club (if not the sanest), and well, who doesn’t want a Sergeant at Arms as trigger happy as Happy.
• “And Miles and Kozik are dead.”
• I’ve really enjoyed seeing Tig’s abandonment of Clay this season. He was always the guy who stuck by Clay, never asking questions, doing what he was told, and I love that he’s finally seen that Clay is a son of a bitch and not the person he thought he was. GO TIG!
• Why the fuck would Tara go home? Girl, you know someone was after you. And sure, I’m betting Jax said it was all taken care of, but I’d be far more worried than she appears to be. I’d have Tig there watching over me. 
• I hate this custody/Wendy story. I mean, yay, Drea de Matteo is on my TV again. But I hate Wendy. But she’s right about not lying to your kids. YOU HEAR THAT GEMMA?
• Ryan Hurst deserves an Emmy.
• Katey Sagal deserves an Emmy.
• Charlie Hunnam deserves an Emmy.
• Maggie Siff deserves an Emmy.
• Theo Rossi deserves an Emmy.
• Ron Perlman deserves an Emmy.
• Kurt Sutter deserves an Emmy.
• SOMEONE GET THIS SHOW SOME FUCKING EMMYS ALREADY.
• I’m hoping the SAG awards will honor them with the Ensemble award.