Sons of Anarchy, “Faith and Despondency” (7:10) - TV Review

Sons of Anarchy, Season 7, Episode 10, “Faith and Despondency”

November 11, 2014, 10 pm (EST), FX

Tonight’s episode of Sons of Anarchy finally felt like the show we grew to love, while at the same time holding onto some grievances that have plagued this final season. The episode’s title couldn’t be more apropos.

The opening montage was certainly a sight to see. This love fest showed the many ways everyone was dealing with Bobby’s death. It was surprising to see Jax and Winsome, especially since it’s been a month or so since Tara’s death. Jax crying after sex was also unexpected, as it was another rare human moment he’s shown this season outside of his rage and sadness over Bobby and others. Winsome even looked like Tara for a few shots, perhaps further fueling Jax’s emotional reaction. Rat cheating on Brooke really only served to show he’s on par to be just another member of SAMCRO, getting laid wherever and with whomever possible. Happy gets with a hooker because of course he would. Jarry and Chibs continue their crazy relationship, although they seemed to be truly enjoying each other. Tig and Venus were the only other couple like this. More on their emotional scene later on. Gemma/Nero and Juice/Tully’s scene was an interesting juxtaposition to the rest of the group. Gemma just seems numb with Nero as they have sex to forget about what happened, though both clearly can’t let it out of their mind. Perhaps it’s because they’re worried about their own mortality. Juice also has the same numb look as Gemma while Tully rapes him. Juice looks as though he’d wish he was dead.

One of the scenes that stands out as a positive is with Unser. Wayne has always been sitting in the background, silently maneuvering his way before deciding right moment to reveal himself. He certainly did that in ambushing Leland, ultimately killing him. The heartbreaking part is his reveal to Jax that this is the first person he killed in 40 years on the job. You can almost see the despair in Unser’s eyes as he’s ashamed he had to resort to these tactics to protect SAMCRO yet again. Let’s just hope he’s eventually the one to figure out about Juice and Gemma.

Jarry and Chibs’ relationship is beyond screwed up at this point. They’re great lovers, as we’ve been shown and told on multiple occasions. The problem is Jarry flip-flops every other week, even several times in an episode as it happened tonight. Her role in this season has been completely pointless, other than to force drama that otherwise wouldn’t be there. While Annabeth Gish is a good actress, her talents seem wasted on a role that could’ve gone to almost anyone. With only three episodes left, I can only hope that either we don’t have to be subjected to this insane relationship anymore. At this point, Jarry is far too corrupt and in bed with SAMCRO to be of any real use. It’s just a real shame the writers couldn’t get another strong female character other than Gemma.

While it’s been a slow build, the revelation of Tig and Venus’ relationship has been one of the sweeter moments of the season. Tig finally comes out and SAMCRO surprisingly accepts him. The end scene between Tig and Venus was filled with heartbreak, as Venus assumed Tig was too ashamed to be seen in public with her. After confessing that she loved him, Tig assured Venus that he did in fact, love her too and was tired of hiding who he is. Their relationship is so genuine, and it’s nice to see a couple truly happy with each other. So many relationships in Sons have been fake or ended in tragedy, and while it’s unlikely we’ll see much more of them onscreen, we can at least be hopeful they’ll be ok together.

Abel features prominently in the episode again, with mixed results. The actors that play him are pretty terrible, but so are most child actors. That aside, Abel injuring himself then trying to pin it on Gemma was either an act of genius on his part (he does come from the same genes of Jax and Gemma) or just another cry for help after the death of Tara. After child services is called, Jax moves Abel and Thomas back to his house and asks Wendy to stay and help as he won’t allow Gemma to be alone with them anymore. Jax revealing to Abel at the end was another surprising move for him. He finally sees the work Wendy has put in to make sure he’s taken care of and that she’s finally cleaned up and is fit to be a mother to him. Of course, none of this would’ve occurred if Tara were still alive, but it’s pointless to dwell on what may have been. The biggest surprise came at the end as Abel asks Jax if Gemma killed Tara so he could be with his “first mommy.” Jax’s face as the screen fades to black says it all: a look of shock and disbelief. We know Abel is telling the truth, but after his lies about Gemma hurting him, how serious will Jax take him? It seems like Unser will be providing some answers to Jax next week so it’ll be interesting to see how this all goes down.

[The Roundup]

• Winsome telling Jax he’s a decent man is laughable. She clearly doesn’t know him well enough. Also, it seemed a bit odd/insensitive for her to make the comment about the murdered Diosa girls so soon.
• Jax gets another Father of the Year award for getting pissed about being inconvenienced due to Abel injuring himself.
• The fact that SAMCRO was able to take out Moses and his crew so easily seemed a bit far-fetched. Weren’t they para-military black ops? It’s disconcerting that they end up being taken out by SAMCRO and a white supremacist group.
• While I get Jax’s need to exact revenge on Moses before killing him, the lingering shots of Moses’ eye hanging out the socket were a bit much. I know Sutter pushes the envelope with the violence, but I almost had to fast forward that part.
• Courtney Love continues to be distracting and annoying. At least the character did slightly more, but like with Gish’s Jarry, the role could’ve been played by anyone else.