“It wasn’t about being smart enough to hurt him, it was about being smart enough NOT to hurt him.” – Bobby
We finally have come to the end of the wild ride that has been Sons of Anarchy Season Five. After watching the episode, my jaw hung open for a good little bit. Season Five has left me hating Gemma more than ever, feeling a little sad for Clay, relieved for Tig, and disappointed in Jax.
“J’ai Obtenu Cette” begins with Jax meeting Damon Pope and discussing Jax’s plan to give Tig up. Jax wanted to make sure all his affairs were in order before and wanted in writing the Charming Heights deal, SAMCRO’s percentage of the deal and housing for Lyla. Pope agrees and they decide to meet later that day.
Jax has other business to take care of before meeting with Pope. He goes to help Nero with a rival gang and they end up at a dog fight, which definitely goes on the “most disturbing scenes of the season” list. Tig was very affected by what he was seeing and threatens to kill one of the gang members when he sees him about to shoot the losing dog. Tig has Phil take the dog away and Nero shows up to help. They find the leader of the gang, Dante and take care of business.
Jax goes to see Unser about information obtained regarding the US marshal that visited Tara. Unser tells Jax that the nurse that was killed was the only family that the marshal had. Cut to Otto about to give testimony about the murder and the marshal, Lee, at the prison waiting behind the glass of the room Otto is in. When Otto was asked to state his name, he decided to slam his own face on the table and bite his tongue off instead. He then picked it up and threw it at the window knowing that Lee was watching. Well done Sons of Anarchy, I think this may be the grossest thing I have seen on TV or at least it comes close.
Tara receives good news that there is no permanent damage to her hand and she should be back to surgery in six months. Good news is short lived when Wendy comes to see her and tells her what Jax did to her. Instead of making more threats, Wendy tells her to get out of Charming. Tara meets with Jax later, but he says nothing about what he did to Wendy after she gives him a chance to come clean.
Tara gets more bad news when Gemma confronts her about the job offer in Portland after a flower basket from Providence arrives from Providence Hospital. Tara tries to take the upper hand, but Gemma threatens to tell the cops that she gave the crucifix to Tara and will say that Tara told Gemma what was going to happen. Tara took it as an idle threat and told Gemma she was leaving Charming no matter what. Tara meets with her lawyer later and is informed Otto can no longer talk so she should be in the clear. The lawyer also gives her all the papers Tara had drawn up regarding guardianship for the boys.
Back at the clubhouse, Jax informs Tig they need to go help Nero. They ride to a location where no one is around and Jax pulls a gun on Tig. Pope shows up and Tig realizes what is happening. Tig is disgusted with Jax, who gets all the paperwork he was promised. As Pope takes Tig inside a warehouse to kill him, Jax pretends to be leaving but instead gets a gun from one of the bikes. He kills the henchman outside, and then proceeds inside to free Tig. He lets Tig do the honors of killing Pope and when it is done Tig realizes it is Clay’s gun he did it with, courtesy of Juice.
Clay’s life began to unravel as Jax tipped the cops off to the bodies and gave the whereabouts of the gun to Sheriff Roosevelt. When the sheriff showed up to arrest Clay, he tried to get Gemma to tell them he was with her but she went along with the plan and lied. Jax met with August and told him he had nothing to do with Pope’s death, spinning a story that Clay must have followed them to the meeting place. August tells Jax that if the police are wrong he will retaliate. After Jax leaves, August tells his men that he wants Clay dead before his hearing.
Jax returns to the clubhouse to be confronted by Bobby who tells him he had a chance to be different. Bobby thinks that Jax has turned into Clay. Jax later meets with Nero who offers him some of Dante’s money. Jax declines, making it payment for the money that Nero provided to save Wendy from Galen. Nero offers Jax a way out of everything, but he seems to decline the offer.
Jax returns home to find the legal documents and confronts Tara. She tells him Wendy is the best fit for the boys in case something happens and he shouldn’t have done what he did. She then goes on a rant that being an old lady means she needs to be strong when he can’t be and gives him an offer to go to Portland with her. She knows that if they stay in Charming they will become the two people they hate the most and the boys will suffer too. As he ponders this, there is a knock at the door. Sherriff Roosevelt is there to arrest Tara for the involvement in the murder of the nurse. As they cuff her, Jax has no reaction.
The season ends with Bobby cutting his vice president patch off of his jacket, Tig had a happy ending with the dog he rescued, Clay was being taken to jail, Nero went to bed with a gun by his side and Gemma came to the house as Tara was being taken away. We were left with the same scene as the finale of season four, but this time Gemma was the one standing behind Jax.
What a crazy end to a crazy season. I was not expecting for Clay or Tara to be arrested for crimes they did not commit. Jax’s plan for Clay was a little disturbing and I couldn’t help but feel bad for Clay. He does deserve to be punished, but not for something he didn’t do. Jax’s plan turned Bobby against him and if August finds out it was Jax all along, this could bring even more trouble. The only thing I was glad about was the fact that Jax saved Tig and gave Juice a chance. I can officially say that I hate Gemma more than I hate Clay. If she was the one to turn Tara in and Jax finds out, then she is really done. Definitely feeling sorry for Tara since everything she does is for Jax and even though he claims he can fix stuff, he really can’t. I don’t even know what to make of his reaction at the end. That is a wrap for season five and now on to the nine month wait until season six!
Some stats and info about Sons of Anarchy, “J’ai Obtenu Cette”
TV SHOW – Sons of Anarchy
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 5, Episode 13
AIRED ON – December 4th, 2012
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas
CREATED BY – Kurt Sutter
CAST – Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi, Dayton Callie, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, David Labrava, Jimmy Smits, Drea de Matteo
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.