Season Five: What a Long Strange Ride It's Been
#1
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 5:59 AM
On one hand, I was disappointed that Clay didn’t end up dead, but I have to say I’m looking forward to seeing him deal with being a dethroned King. The humiliation from his new-found impotency, and the scheming which undoubtedly will result, will be entertaining. He’ll be second-guessing Jax every which way from Sunday.
Gemma will have a new status to adjust to as well.
As for the club itself, it looks as if Tig has set them up for a gang vendetta, or a racially fueled war between the clubs.
#2
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 6:29 AM
#3
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 10:21 AM
Additionally, I want to know what's going to happen with Otto. At least Jax knows that Otto ratted on them. Will it have repercussions?
Finally, when will the rest of the club learn about Piney?! He wasn't given a nice funeral. There's no marker for him. I know that's how it sometimes goes in the MC (see Miles), but it seems like Piney would be grieved by the rest of the MC.
On one hand, I was disappointed that Clay didn’t end up dead, but I have to say I’m looking forward to seeing him deal with being a dethroned King. The humiliation from his new-found impotency, and the scheming which undoubtedly will result, will be entertaining. He’ll be second-guessing Jax every which way from Sunday.
Yes this I agree with totally. The fall out of Tig not becoming Jax's SAA will also be there I think. But I do like Chibs a lot so I'm glad to see his promotion. (And maybe Happys? I've never fully understood if the seats around the table had special meaning, like the closer you are to pres, the higher your rank?)
#4
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 10:52 AM
It would be awesome if somehow Tig could find out the whole truth about Clay, but I don't think the writers will let him because they'll have to give Clay at least one ally for dramatic tension. It will be interesting to see how Tig handles the coming estrangement between Clay and Gemma though. As much as he's loyal to Clay, he adores her. And how will he handle Bobby's absence? They seemed to have really bonded in Stockton.
And if/when Bobby gets out, will he still be as anxious to get out from under the cartel? And how will that play with Jax since Jax has a new reason why they can't, but that he can't share? Maybe Bobby will be a reluctant convert to the Clay side of the equation?
Mostly, I just hope we get more Tig. He's complicated in really unexpected ways besides just being comic relief. I'd love to see him get more screen time next year.
#5
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 1:52 PM
Gemma is in a very precarious position - Jax won't be run by her - Tara has her number - Clay has no power. I think she telegraphed that when she saw Tara taking her place behind Jax.
Every time Gemma's in a precarious position, she lobs a bomb to unsettle everyone else even more.
I'm not sure if she's going to reconcile with Clay -- "baby, I couldn't see what a threat Tara was, but now I get it" -- and try to get him to take back the gavel with an argument that "Jackson's not ready -- he needs you to step in." Or if she's going to somehow decide that she'll see SAMCRO disbanded than under Jax and Tara's control, and get Tig to kill Clay. Or what. The point is, I think Gemma's the new Clay -- cornered, furious, willing to burn the village to save it.
That said, I am trying to figure out how on earth Clay and Gemma could get back together and not have my head explode from it.
#6
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 2:06 PM
1. Agent Grad sticks around to help Roosevelt deal with the impending arrival of Damon Pope and come up with a way to bring down SAMCRO, fuck the CIA and their corrupt gangster ways.
2. Gemma and Tig hooks up.
3. Tara failing miserably at being "The Queen" as far as going after Wendy and having Jax having to sacrifice Abel (via giving him to Wendy) in order to keep Tara's fuck-up from hurting the club.
4. Opie on the road, leading a full-on revolt of the other charters against the Charming Branch by spreading the truth to everyone who will listen and both Clay and Jax being impotent in terms of being unable to lie their way out of the backlash.
5. Anthony Anderson or Forrest Whitaker as Damon Pope.
#7
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 5:47 PM
Do Unser and Clay switch places? That shot of Unser at the table was weird. He's smoking at Gemma's table and Clay is the one in bad shape now.
Clay has every reason in the world to delay the Irish/cartel hook-up now. Once the deal is done, Jax is gonna have Clay's head on the reaper pole.
#8
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 8:06 PM
I expect we will see Roosevelt tempted to cross over to the dark side. It would not be in the least surprising to see him go that way, only to have the reveal at the end that Potter was using him on his next case.
There will have to be some arc about adding new members. Perhaps a merger? Here again, Jax' "new way" will be seen, trumpeted, and admired. (Retch)
I know two things that will not happen under any circumstances, in any universe: Clay and Gemma will not be killed off. KS has flat out guaranteed they live through season six. Alan Sepinwall was dead on: KS lacked the courage to follow through on the magnificent set-up in season 4.
#9
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 8:54 PM
A war with the law and the lawless. The CIA/RICO, the Black gangs, the Irish gangs. Juice's father is going to come into play again real soon.
I see a nice cold war brewing between Jax and Opie. Not sure how its going to work but it might the cold war might get....uh heated.
Edited by Nightmare Logic, Dec 7, 2011 @ 8:56 PM.
#10
Posted Dec 7, 2011 @ 9:13 PM
- More Opie. Lots more. Perhaps the first 1/2 of the season working through his issues (of which he has many) and then the back half taking his place at Jax's left hand, hell bent on turning the club around and finding some measure of peace.
- I'd like to know more about Tiggy and Clay's back story. Tiggy clearly loves Clay. I think, black as his heart might be, Clay loves Tig right back. I'd like to find out the whys of that relationship.
- Some mention of Piney would be nice, other than what we already know. Because, hey, some folks know he's dead and the rest of the club has no freakin' idea. And I'd like to know just what "contingencies" he had in place that he made mention of to Clay.
-Tara truly embracing her newly-discovered powers as queen and making Gemma very uncomfortable. Gemma needs to be uncomfortable. I understand most folks hating on Clay, but Gemma is just as evil as he is. And Tara knows it.
-Jackson embracing his place at the gavel. If he's going to do it, it can't be half-assed. He has to throw himself into it: body and soul. And then pray he can at least keep his soul in one piece.
- The marginalization of Clay and Gemma needs to be given lots of screen time. I'm really curious how the situation they're facing, individually and as a couple, will play out. Because ...
That said, I am trying to figure out how on earth Clay and Gemma could get back together and not have my head explode from it.
I'm convinced these two aren't finished with their dance quite yet. I can see some form of an uneasy alliance springing up between them. And I can see that alliance healing the wounds this season inflicted on them. Their relationship has always been a passionate one and there's a very thin line between love and hate. I'm interested in seeing if they can find a way to straddle that line convincingly. If anyone can pull it off, it's Segal and Perlman.
#11
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 1:13 AM
- Some mention of Piney would be nice, other than what we already know. Because, hey, some folks know he's dead and the rest of the club has no freakin' idea. And I'd like to know just what "contingencies" he had in place that he made mention of to Clay.
His "contingency" was Tara and even that was Piney lying as part of a dangerous bluff he was playing with Clay, one that when everything went south, he ultimately backed down from as far as trying to protect Tara from Clay.
There will have to be some arc about adding new members. Perhaps a merger? Here again, Jax' "new way" will be seen, trumpeted, and admired. (Retch)
Ten will get you twenty that they will have a bunch of new prospect characters pad out the roster.
#12
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 1:23 AM
Oh, and Miles and Kozic are dead. That can’t be said enough.
#13
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 2:17 AM
That said, I wonder if Sutter's going to be on the phone trying to get Michael Chiklis to sign up for season five as a cast member, presumably a guy being transferred over to Charming from a different charter. Or if the dropped plot point of Kozik having a brother means an out to bring Kenny Johnson back as Kozik's twin brother, the world's oldest MC prospect....
#14
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 9:44 AM
#15
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 10:17 AM
#16
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 10:48 AM
His "contingency" was Tara and even that was Piney lying as part of a dangerous bluff he was playing with Clay, one that when everything went south, he ultimately backed down from as far as trying to protect Tara from Clay.
I always thought that Piney's contingency was that he didn't care if he lived or died. That's a pretty solid contingency, imo. Gemma told him early in the season, when he was laid up in the hospital, that he should watch out or he'd end up dead and Piney said something like, 'That's part of why I'm doing it". He's a sickly alcoholic old curmudgeony biker and he don't give a shit about nothin' except stopping the cartel deal Clay is dragging the club into. Piney telling Clay he had contingencies would, of course, make Clay think he had the letters or had read them and knew where they were. That buys Piney a little time but in reality, Piney doesn't care if it all ends up with him dead. And, maybe, he felt that if he did end up dead by Clay's hand it would lead to revelations in the end. It almost did. But, Sutter suddenly rendering Opie a crap shot and brewing up this stupid cartel/CIA device has caused Piney's death to be in vain. For now, at least.
Nothing like draggin this shit out. Grrr
#17
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 1:20 PM
I see the whole Damon Pope/Niners/SoA Feud as being a big part of the initial Season 5 storyline, but I am still not buying into it as a serious threat. Now that we know that the CIA/Galindo cartel have tied themselves to SAMCRO, they're not going to sit on the sidelines as Jax and the crew get potential destroyed by the Oaktown crowd. One thing I have learned in Season 4 is that I would seriously not want to have a freakin Mexican cartel as an enemy. Especially one in bed with the CIA.
[snip] Damon Pope is a grieving father and as such, [I expect] his revenge against SAMCRO will be swift and brutal and without mercy.
As for Pope affecting the Cartel deal, maybe he can slaughter the whole lot of them (Romeo included) and force the CIA to abandon ship? It would undo the cop-out ending (say, the CIA plan was contingent on Romeo being the head of the cartel and without him or Martinez's character, the CIA is cutting the remains of the organization loose and disowning them) and rid the show of the cartel*. Bonus points if Potter/Agent Grad, giddy at the fact that they can now arrest SAMCRO, find out that the CIA is refusing to hand over the files pertaining to the cartel dealing and them having to start all over again in rebuilding their case.
*[I can] also handwave that Pope too has cartel connections (granted, a different one from Romeo), as far as why Romeo's people wouldn't seek revenge. Pope can also have the rest of Romeo's people slaughtered off-camera via the cartel he is connected to, too tie up that loose end. Or if they need a new comic relief aspect, have Romeo survive the hit but have Pope and his allies wipe out Romeo's group, costing him the backing of the CIA and basically having him become the house guest from hell as far as SAMCRO having to give Romeo room and board in order to ensure some sort of protection from is left of Romeo's forces.
It would be like the Russians this season; also it would create all new sorts of angst for SAMCRO. Jax gave up everything for nothing, Tara gets to whine again and continue the cycle of "Let's get the hell out of Charming!", gives Clay a leg up to reclaim the throne, and leave Otto/Bobby still a sword hanging over their head.
Edited by TWoP Howard, Dec 8, 2011 @ 11:20 PM.
Opinion as fact
#18
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 3:03 PM
Kurt says next season will be a lot slower than this one was. Man, I hope he changes his mind. The fast pace of the last couple episodes made the comparably slow finale acceptable to me. The power of the finale came through in the scene I've been waiting for for so long; seeing Jax take the gavel. Although the photo change/fade-out was a bit much.
I'd much rather be out of breathe after an episode than losing interest because of a drawn-out story.
#19
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 9:41 PM
If Jax can convince Otto that Bobby didn't kill Luanne, and that the club eventually did avenge her death by killing the Tom Arnold character (Georgie?), perhaps Otto will refuse to testify against SAMCRO and repudiate his depositions.
Once Clay gets out of the hospital, I expect him to start trying to gain an advantage over Jax from his knowledge that Gemma is guilty of complicity, if not more, in JT's murder, and his knowledge that Tara is hiding Gemma's guilt from Jax.
I really hope that Eli sticks around to serve the "smaller good."
#20
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 9:44 PM
Kurt Sutter's Sons of Anarchy Season 4 Interview
#21
Posted Dec 8, 2011 @ 11:39 PM
Clay and Jax are going to butt heads alot. Clay will have to be reminded over and over that he's not the club president, and Jax will have to do the reminding. Lots of questions from the club will be on the table too. Why Clay stepped down...why he isn't an officer...and that type of thing will be a huge part of the clubs business.
Membership is waning. We've got three dead, one wounded, and one in limbo. Phil and Rat are probably likely to be called up into the ranks. Honestly I like both guys and they both earned their cuts in my opinion. Phil especially. Maybe a nomad or two will ride in and take up some slack.
Tara and Gemma...yeah I know everyone is expecting them to have troubles this upcoming season, but how much trouble could they really have with one another. Gemma wanted Clay out of the way and he's no longer the Pres. She wanted a Teller at the head of the table and she got that too. Her son runs the club and she is still going to have some influence on him. I spose the only question is who will have more influence.
This whole CIA thing...im trying to pretend that didnt happen, but I would imagine Clay is going to put off that deal as long as he can. It's the only real power play he has left. Trying to leverage Jax into something...
#22
Posted Dec 9, 2011 @ 10:37 AM
I would be okay with some nameless nomads being at the table if it means Opie, Chibbs, Happy, Tig, etc., get more storyline in Season Five.Membership is waning. We've got three dead, one wounded, and one in limbo. Phil and Rat are probably likely to be called up into the ranks. Honestly I like both guys and they both earned their cuts in my opinion. Phil especially. Maybe a nomad or two will ride in and take up some slack.
#23
Posted Dec 12, 2011 @ 4:00 PM
Finally, when will the rest of the club learn about Piney?! He wasn't given a nice funeral. There's no marker for him. I know that's how it sometimes goes in the MC (see Miles), but it seems like Piney would be grieved by the rest of the MC.
I hope the truth about Piney comes out, or at least questions start being asked, if not from the club then at least from the general public. I mean is Opie going to keep collecting Piney's military pension for the rest of his life?
Lots of questions from the club will be on the table too. Why Clay stepped down...why he isn't an officer...and that type of thing will be a huge part of the clubs business.
Jax said he was going to explain everything at church in the final episode. I want to know how much he is going to explain, especially about the CIA. One thing I would love to see is Lincoln Potter sticking around and maybe leaking to the press that the CIA is funding and arming a Mexican drug cartel. I mean with the number of people in that field when the Hummer pulled up how would they even know who leaked it?
I see the whole Damon Pope/Niners/SoA Feud as being a big part of the initial Season 5 storyline, but I am still not buying into it as a serious threat. Now that we know that the CIA/Galindo cartel have tied themselves to SAMCRO, they're not going to sit on the sidelines as Jax and the crew get potential destroyed by the Oaktown crowd. One thing I have learned in Season 4 is that I would seriously not want to have a freakin Mexican cartel as an enemy. Especially one in bed with the CIA.
Seriously, how much of a threat would Oaktown gangsters be to a Mexican cartel armed with RPGs? Those guys wiped out another cartel and the damn russian mafia.
#24
Posted Dec 13, 2011 @ 4:29 PM
Reveal that Pope has his own Cartel connections and have him neutralize the Galindo folk, effectively neutering Romeo and BM's character's ability to help SAMCRO against Damon's force. Having the two die (or kill Romeo and have BM's character seek sanctuary with SAMCRO) would go a long way to level the playing field and wipe away the bad taste of having the CIA be a deux ex machina for season four's finale.
Also, I have an even weirder plot point I'd like to see: what if Tig's daughter is involved with Damon Pope? Say, she's working for Pope (hence why she scammed the money off her dad, say she owed the money or volunteered to scam the cash off her dad for him to finance some scheme of Pope's) and agrees to help Pope get revenge against her dad? If Pope is a right bastard of a villain, having Tig's own daughter help him kill him could make for a twisted form of revenge.
#25
Posted Dec 13, 2011 @ 8:16 PM
I'd like to see Juice visit Mile's grave.
Piney to have a proper memorial.
Margaret be really disappointed in Tara.
WORD!! I realized after finally getting a chance to see the season finale that I'll miss C/G a lot. I'm quite sad now that their relationship has changed and that it's probably impossible to go back to that loving couple they were. So I want them to be together but not necessary be together unless it makes a hell of a lot sense and doesn't make Gemma look like an ass for taking Clay back. I don't want them scheming to unseat Jax because (1) Clay was going to step down anyway and (2) Gemma got mostly what she wanted - Jax at heading SAMCRO. She needs to be grateful for that.That said, I am trying to figure out how on earth Clay and Gemma could get back together and not have my head explode from it.
If this is a way to avoid some long drawn out unnecessary custody battle, so be it. I so don't want a custody battle. I'd like for Jax and Tara to stop being hypocrites and give Wendy a chance. Maybe even Tara and Wendy be friendly. It'd be weird for them to be friends but it could work. Besides it would bug the crap out of Gemma.3. Tara failing miserably at being "The Queen" as far as going after Wendy and having Jax having to sacrifice Abel (via giving him to Wendy) in order to keep Tara's fuck-up from hurting the club.
Along with, Jax and Opie repairing their friendship.More Opie. Lots more. Perhaps the first 1/2 of the season working through his issues (of which he has many) and then the back half taking his place at Jax's left hand, hell bent on turning the club around and finding some measure of peace.
I don't want the Damon Pope/Niners thing to be drawn out. It's unnecessary. Tell the guys the truth and Tig have to suffer the consequences.
#26
Posted Dec 13, 2011 @ 9:23 PM
Despite the "reset" that seemed to put everything back in place by the end of the finale, that's really not true. Everything is different now. Clay, Gemma, Jax, Tara, the club; their enemies, their loyalties, their law enforcement nemeses: everything's different. In a different place, a different chair. A new patch, a blank space where a patch used to be. Father figures wiped violently out of sight but by no means out of mind. A new queen rises, the old one clinging to her throne. A new king in the place of the boy prince, the old usurper sitting to one side. Old written words read by new eyes, hidden in new places. Children growing and parents emerging from the woodwork where they'd been thought safely tucked away.
Unavenged bodies lie scattered, in ashes, in peices, in an unmarked grave. Two men in prison, one who gave up and turned, the other waiting to see what can possibly happen next. A young man declares his loyalty to mayham even as a picture of his father lies quietly in an easily opened drawer.
Charming seeming more suffocating and stifling then ever before even as darker, greater forces converge upon it. A new sheriff in town, having to forcibly mold a recognizable life out of the insanity about to storm his streets in the form of a Pope's vengance. A desperate mayor with nothing to lose and angry investors asking pointed questions. No matter how isolated the players may feel, the board has stretched out expodentially.
Edited by Snookums, Dec 13, 2011 @ 9:27 PM.
#27
Posted Dec 14, 2011 @ 2:51 PM
I really don't give a damn what happens to any surviving SAMCRO members, save two. It doesn't matter what kind of a corner KS writes the characters into during season five, because they will always squirm out of it, no matter how much illogical contrortionism the writers have to practice.
There are only two stories I care about:
1. I'd like to see resolution of some sort with Otto and Bobby. they are the only members I have any sympathy for, and that's because they have come to realize that they've sold their souls to the devil and the bill has come due.
2. Roosevelt's my guy. The best scene in the S4 finale was when he apologized to Juice. I was ambiguous up to this point, but now I'm watching the show to see how Eli nails SOA. I'd love to see more of him next year.
#28
Posted Dec 15, 2011 @ 2:13 PM
If this is a way to avoid some long drawn out unnecessary custody battle, so be it. I so don't want a custody battle. I'd like for Jax and Tara to stop being hypocrites and give Wendy a chance. Maybe even Tara and Wendy be friendly. It'd be weird for them to be friends but it could work. Besides it would bug the crap out of Gemma.
Me too - that would be awesome. I'd love to see Tara and Wendy form an alliance. Plus, that would really be the best thing for Abel anyway.
#29
Posted Dec 18, 2011 @ 7:35 PM
4. Opie on the road, leading a full-on revolt of the other charters against the Charming Branch by spreading the truth to everyone who will listen and both Clay and Jax being impotent in terms of being unable to lie their way out of the backlash.
I would love to see this more than anything which means it won't happen because it would require Opie to grow a spine and stand up to Jax, which will also never happen. If Opie actually made an adult decision on his own without Jax or Gemma telling him what to do, I think his brain would explode from an aneurysm. I would have loved it that when Jax offered Opie the VP spot, Opie would have told him to take that patch and his false charity and shove it. Of course that didn't happen because no one is allowed to question the "golden prince" or his decisions. Yeesh. If S3 made me hate Jax then S4 took that hatred to a whole another level.
I bet Jax is going to be just as bad a ruler (if not worse) than Clay. Clay was too ruthless, greedy and power hungry while Jax will be too indecisive and ineffective. Clay already has used one trick against Jax to make his rule difficult before it even started (basically making Jax look bad in front of Galaan) but don't think it'll end there. That chair is all he has left and he'll do anything to get it back, bad hands or not.
I also want the rest of SAMCRO to know about Piney ASAP. I also want Piney to get a damned good funeral. He's earned that much. Of course, this being SOA, they'll drag it out for all its worth and make the others ask questions to which Jax, Opie, Clay, Gemma and Unser will have to lie and make things worse. Opie just got back on my good side (more or less) by shooting Clay. This nonsense will just drag him right back to my bad side if they don't remedy it ASAP. If Opie wants to prove he has a spine, the first thing he'll say when he comes back is tell the others what happened to Piney in front of everyone-if nothing else than just to piss off Jax and Clay.
And finally, please give Tommy Flanagan something of value to do now that Chibs is Sgt. At Arms. If not, jut let him go to be Game Of Thrones or some other show where he does more than just stand around and be the shoulder to cry on. Since that Juice story line became one big let down (at least for now), Chibs' involvement was the highlight of that story arc for me.
Truth be told, this season was such a bust for me that I'll find it really difficult to care what happens next. That finale (plus the awesome Boardwalk Empire finale) ruined what expectations I had since nothing important won't happen until S7 or S6 at the least. I may just skip S5 all together unless something really good happens to get my attention again.
#30
Posted Dec 18, 2011 @ 8:50 PM
[snip]
Edited by TWoP Howard, Dec 18, 2011 @ 10:06 PM.
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