After a very hit and miss season so far, this week’s episode builds on the relief that I felt last week when things started picking up. Furthermore, a lot of reader feedback on the previous reviews has displayed unified disdain for the Belfast plot arc, and all of you will be thankful to hear that there is barely a whisper of it this week. To kick off the episode we get a nice big scrap between Kozik and Tig. There are reasons why Tig doesn’t trust Kozik and doesn’t want him back in SAMCRO, but we aren’t told why, or at least not yet. The main order of business is that the Sons need money to get to Belfast. And, obviously, if you have a large chunk of your business involved in the criminal world, the quickest way to do this is to sell some drugs. The first way in which they do this is to hijack a Mayan drug shipment and then give it back to them. Through this, a truce is agreed and the Sons get a $25k cut from the protection offered by the Grim Bastards to each shipment. It is due to this that Charming’s most inept thug, Darby, is returned to us. Assumed dead after the Cara fire in season two, Darby returns a heavily scarred and heavily bandaged man, and, as always, he is causing trouble for the Sons. Shortly after the sale of the drugs, the SAMCRO clubhouse is raided by the police. It seems pretty clear to the viewer that this is because Darby saw the deal and reported it to Jacob Hale. However, none of the Sons know this, and as a result, it looks to them like the doctor at the clinic told the police. Whilst the police didn’t find any drugs at the clubhouse, the thought of Tara losing her medical license and ending up in jail is too much to bear for Jax, and he ends up breaking up with her. There has been a lot of strain on the relationship for the whole season and the break-up isn’t at all surprising. There still is, however, the issue that Tara is pregnant and Jax doesn’t yet know about it. This is something that I’m certain will become a huge arc later in the season. Stahl acts with disbelief throughout the scene and convinces her lover that there is no evidence to support what Gemma has said. While Stahl’s choice to make her partner the scapegoat to the crime is shocking, it’s hardly surprising given her track record. Stahl is quickly becoming a favourite character of mine. She’s ice cold and is the kind of villain that you can consistently love and hate, often in the space of an episode. As I said at the start of the review, there has barely been a mention of Belfast throughout the episode, and it is better for it. It also looks like we are finally getting our promised visit to Belfast for the Sons. Oswald makes a return in this episode, and after being convinced by Clay that things in Charming are getting back to normal, he agrees to help the Sons onto a cargo flight to Manchester the next day. The season finally seems to be building some real momentum with the last two episodes being particularly enjoyable. There are enough arcs to keep the season going for another seven episodes without it feeling as cumbersome as it did at the start of the season. Read our review of the episode 5, Turning And Turning, here.
