Sons of Anarchy, “Suits of Woe” (7.11) - TV Review

Sons of Anarchy, Season 7, Episode 11, “Suits of Woe”

Tuesday, November 18, 2014, 1o pm (EST), FX

The truth hurts, and it always finds a way of rearing its ugly head at the worst of times. After last week’s surprise ending of Abel telling Jax about Gemma killing Tara, it was even more startling how quickly the truth came out in the open for this and many other secrets.

It had been some time since Gemma’s decent into madness had reared its ugly head, but the timing seemed right for it to do so again. Faced with the possibility of not seeing her grandsons, Gemma babbles off to ghost Tara again about how much she loves her boys and how sorry she is for everything. The truth is, Gemma is only sorry she’s going to be caught. She couldn’t care less otherwise, and has done everything in her power to make everyone look the other way. Fortunately, more and more people are starting to see through her illusions.

Wendy’s confession to Jax seemed like the right thing to do, both for her and Jax’s sake. She’s finally going to get a chance to raise Abel as her son and finally have a clear conscious about everything that’s gone down. It also allowed Jax to surprisingly put together that something wasn’t right about Gemma and Juice helping each other out, especially after talking with Wayne. I was truly hoping Unser would be the one to figure it out then use it to his advantage. It was nice to see him finally give Jax an ultimatum about keeping Unser in the loop or he’d stop protecting the club and his family. Wayne’s ethics have been questionable at times throughout the series, but he’s been one of the more morally honest people in the show.

Juice killing Lin after finding out Barosky is the real rat seemed rather pointless, and it only complicates things more for Jax. In fact, upon hearing of Lin’s death, Jax seems shocked and regretful that it’s done. When Jax sits down with Juice and tells him what Abel said, Juice finally confesses to Jax about everything. Jax is speechless, to say the least. As much crap as Juice has put the club through with his lies and backstabbing, he still had a conscious, and it seemed to get the better of him. It also brought about his downfall, as Jax seems to insinuate he’ll make Juice suffer a quick death. After all, it was Juice and Gemma who came up with the lie about the Chinese that put Jax on this warpath in the first place that has stacked up a massive body count.

Juice continues to act strangely when visited by Unser and Jarry. Even with Jarry pressing to get Juice to confess so they can protect him doesn’t help, as he knows he’s dead no matter what happens. It’s still frustrating that he’d rather Jax know everything than the authorities. Juice can’t guarantee Jax will kill Gemma for what she did. His conscious seems cleared, and his accepts his fate. His comments about Gemma being the gatekeeper to all lies and truths was spot-on. She always manages to get in the middle of things, whether she’s wanted or not.

Nero is a victim in all of this. While he had some dealings in the past, he was ready to put it all aside. After signing the papers for Diosa over to Alvarez, we had a sense things would look up for him. After meeting up with Gemma and learning the truth from Jax was heartbreaking to watch. The look on his face went from horror to shock to sadness. He truly loved Gemma, as she did him. They had a future planned together to live in peace, but that all changed. He’s not getting his happy ending, but he also can’t bring himself to give Jax her location as she drives off. Gemma is losing everyone around her, and her walls are closing in fast. Her comments about being a good mother above everything else she did in life seem trite. If she was such a good mother, how did Jax turn out the way he did? She’s partly to blame for his violent outcome.

Unser confronting Jax and calling him out for being a thug instead of taking care of his family was one of the best scenes of the night. No one in SAMCRO is willing to tell Jax he’s in the wrong, but Wayne has had enough. After getting punched by Jax, he has Jarry put out an APB on him. Jax is almost caught while waiting for Barosky, but somehow manages to escape the sheriffs. In fact, Jax’s inability to tell Chibs and Tig what’s going on until the very end seems very dangerous and irresponsible of him. He keeps asking his club to jump at a moment’s notice and do the impossible. Jax can’t expect them to keep following blindly for much longer. When he does come clean about what Gemma did, the look on everyone’s faces is disbelief. Jax surprisingly takes responsibility for starting the war with Lin, which led to the deaths of the girls at Diosa as well as Bobby. He says he’ll go to the other presidents and come clean about Jury, though it will surely end with a mayhem vote for Jax.

With two episodes left until the series finale, we’ll see how things turn out with Gemma. As we saw Jax sobbing in Nero’s arms at the end, he still loves his mother after all the crap she’s put him through. Could Jax bring himself to kill her? Will he even survive long enough to get there? Check back in a couple weeks to find out.

[The Roundup]

• I’m surprised Gemma was able to get so close to a church without bursting into flames.
• Gemma’s world must be small if Chucky is the only one that is willing to help her.
• Gemma giving Abel a SON ring to wear when he’s patched into SAMCRO is laughable. It’s unlikely SAMCRO or SOA will exist by that point.
• Why do we need to keep seeing scenes of Jarry and Chibs together? There’s two episodes left, so unless Chibs magically turns against SAMCRO to be with her, this relationship has been a huge waste of time.
• It’s a moot point, but Sutter needs a better editor. These 90 minute episodes are mostly unnecessary, as they have too much filler.