6.8 Los Fantasmas This week saw Nero sacrifice himself to save SAMCRO and to protect his son. “I’m responsible for the death of those children.” We should have known that Nero was no Judas and his constant association with Christian imagery pays off here. If we’ve been paying attention, this revelation from Nero is anything but shocking, it makes perfect sense. Additionally, as martyrdom is the entire basis for the Christian religion one can argue that on some conscious or subconscious level that this is in fact something that Nero has always longed for. I remain unbelievably impressed by Jimmy Smits’s portrayal of Nero, a character who constantly proves to be an intriguing ally for SAMCRO and fits perfectly into the role of club martyr. It is also worth giving Sons of Anarchy credit for allowing minority actors to actually develop emotionally complex and compelling characters which is certainly not the norm on mainstream American television. (In fact the quality of the acting on this show comes close to rivaling the absurdly outstanding acting on HBO’s The Wire, which remains the only drama in the history of American television to have a multitude of minority actors break every preconception about the scope of their roles.) Jimmy Smits, CCH Pounder, and Rockmond Dunbar have been wonderful additions to the show and their story arcs have progressed in fascinating ways. CCH Pounder is the newcomer to this group but she has brought a previously unforeseen inner strength and determination to her role that none of SAMCRO’s other adversaries have quite been able to match thus far. Gemma had a slight chance in this episode if she had taken Wayne’s advice of actually heading down an enlightened path toward redemption. Naturally, she decides that instead of redeeming herself she should do what she does best and that is manipulate every one around her into bending to her vengeful will. In particular, she will prey on the absolute weakest person that she can use. Poor, poor Adrianna (Sopranos reference). Wendy is at least smart enough to realize that she is completely doomed and when Gemma assures her that if she helps her destroy Tara that she will make sure Jax doesn’t kill her we can never again think that there is any hope for Gemma’s soul. In regards to Wendy, whether she has an overdose or not near the end of the episode is not the point. Symbolically she is already dead and has been ever since she crossed Gemma in the pilot episode of the show when Gemma gave her “a fix” to kill herself. Never underestimate Gemma Teller is the moral of this week’s episode. In regards to Tara, we see that her conscience is still there but as Wayne basically told her it is about to completely dissolve into the ether. Tara staring into the mirror and forcing herself to stop crying and toughen up was a powerful moment from this week’s episode because we get to see how much emotional pain Tara is truly in. Visually speaking, the iconography called to mind the wicked stepmother looking into the mirror in Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs but in a twist could Tara be becoming the very thing that she hates? Clearly, the endgame is underway for SAMCRO and I would argue that this may be one of the last quiet episodes of the seasons. Yes only in the world of Sons of Anarchy can an episode in which a man gets run over by a car and then the man driving this car commits suicide by stabbing himself in the throat be considered quiet. In the opening moments of this week’s episode, Jax is shown shutting off a tea kettle. If that is not enough of a visual metaphor for all hell being about to break loose then I do not know what to tell you. This is the calm before the storm and one of the fascinating things about Sons of Anarchy is that it never goes exactly in the direction that you expect it to go. Nero was going to become a Judas then he was completely let off the hook and then he is immediately pulled back into the fact that he may have to turn on SAMCRO. There is still a possibility that he can become Judas number two. This week focused a lot on the relationships between the female characters on the show as well as on the lives of Nero, Wayne, Patterson Wendy, and Eli. The antics of the club pretty much took a back seat this week and this will serve the overall narrative of the show better for the rest of its run this season because the third act of this season is set up with enough intrigue to support most shows for an entire season. Read Matthew’s review of the previous episode, Sweet and Vaded, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
