This is the episode fans have been waiting for and fearing: The club has been punished for its blind faith in Jax. And poetically, it's an eyeball that Bobby loses when Marks doesn't respond well to Jax's blackmail attempt. We all knew Bobby should've said something when Jax admitted to Jury in episode 2 that he had no vision. Executive producer Paris Barclay, who directed the episode, confirms Bobby is still alive at the end of the 90 minutes. Update: Read what he has to say about the episode's big moments—including Abel overhearing Gemma confessing to Thomas—in our postmortem. Let's dig in.
Juice lives... for now: We open with Jax and Juice standing near the spot where John Teller's fatal accident took place in November 1993. All you can hear, aside from Juice's "I'm sorry," is the wind and birds. It sounds like a Western, but this isn't the standoff we were expecting. Jax hands Juice back his cut, and Chibs turns around when Juice looks his way. Juice rides off while the guys, one at time, pay their respects to JT by putting their hand on the date. Bobby goes last, takes the longest, and hugs Jax afterward. When you watch the episode again, knowing how it ends, that moment will make you tear up. What's the significance of that spot now? JT wanted the club to be all about the brotherhood—so presumably, it's symbolic of Jax counting on Juice's loyalty now since, as we later find out, he asked Juice to shoot out some cops' tires and get himself arrested so he can eventually get close enough to take out Lin. If Juice chokes and turns on the club again to make a deal inside, Jax will rely on Tully to kill him, so there is a backup plan. It's a risky game, but like Bobby says at the table, Juice had a lot of chances to run and he didn't (until that time he went to the Mayans, of course). Do the cops not wonder why Juice randomly shot at their tires—or why he has a van tailing him? Juice hesitates when the cops finally catch up to him: If we hadn't seen him thrown down his gun earlier, you'd think maybe he was debating whether to reach for it to make the cops kill him and end this. But he was just steeling himself for what's to come. We ultimately saw Juice wearing County Jail orange. Instead of being in general population, he's isolated. Juice hates to be alone, which we know. He finally gets a cellmate, one of Tully's guys.
Eglee's alive... for now: Unser goes to see Jax at Red Woody, where Cocks and Bagel is currently in production (not the last Red Woody original we'll see, Barclay says!). He tells him that Eglee told him what happened that day with the AB and SAMCRO—and that she won't be telling anyone else as long as she's not in anyone's cross hairs. Unser wants Jax's word because he still thinks that means something. Jax promises she won't get hurt, and while you believe he won't let SAMCRO harm his old high school classmate, he can't speak for Leland and the AB. Of course, Jax then lies to Unser's face and tells him that he hasn't seen Juice. He is his mother's son.
Tears at the table: Jax's speech detailing the ways Marks is more dangerous than your average street beef seems to be directed at viewers, too. The show is moving into a new chapter with Marks as the Big Bad, and even though Jax respects his reach enough to use leverage as his weapon instead of blood, you get the feeling that Jax still underestimates him when he says Marks isn't Pope. Jax warns the guys that this plan will put them and their families at risk, but the guys are still with him. Jax thanks his brothers for their unwavering loyalty and faith and for allowing him to make his personal vengeance club business. "You're my family," he says. "I love all you." Seeing Bobby fight back tears made my eyes well up. Jax's eyes are misty, too. This could be the last time we see Bobby at that table. After Chapel, Unser tells the guys about Juice being picked up by the CPH. When they don't act surprised (or worried) enough, he knows they're using Juice for something. Smart Unser is the best Unser.
Nero makes a decision: With the rest of the season probably taking place over a whopping six days, odds are he won't be leaving Charming anytime soon, but the Companionator has, in fact, decided to buy his uncle's farm. He comes to T-M to tell Gemma he can have it for $1 million, if he can come up with $150,000 in cash for a down payment. He's going to sell Jax his half of Diosa and take his son and, he hopes, Gemma with him. Gemma first says she can't go, but god, seeing Nero's tears when he asks her to think about it—"Take into consideration all the bad s--t that's happened here. We deserve something better, Gemma"—how do you not want to run away/to someplace with him. "Do we?" she asks in one of her more honest moments. You're thinking he does, but once he says, "I have serious love for you," you're willing to let her live if it'll make Nero happy.
The way Gemma hugs Unser when she tells him that he doesn't have to move his Airstream off T-M because she doesn't want anyone else leaving her makes you believe she's already made her decision to stay. Then again, she could just be feeling fragile and full of love. After all, she'd given Wendy the option to skip town out of fear that Juice had told Jax about them hiding him, and Wendy's staying. Gemma was even nice to Chucky when he made sure she knew that although the guys think of him as a mascot and a joke, he's a good listener. "You're not a joke, Chucky," she told him kissing his head. Both Jax and Gemma have been sweet to Chucky: He's dying soon, right?
NEXT: Jax makes a deal
