S07.E03: Playing With Monsters

[look2thecookie]

Can we talk about the weird Oedipal/Pygmalion subtext happening this season? Gemma has created/molded/manipulated Jax in her own image and now she has him all to herself and is completely in love with her creation. On the other hand, Jax seems to be OK with the idea that his mother is the only woman he can have in his life right now. At the end of this episode, the way Jax had his arm draped over Gemma's shoulders as they were walking up to the house of the abusive father was exactly the way he had flirtatiously draped his arm over Tara's shoulders in an episode in season 5 (and others too probably, but that is the one that was brought to mind). If this season is all about "shock value," which certainly seems to be the case after the first three episodes, then I really wouldn't be surprised if there is a cringe-worthy Jax/Gemma scene coming up that takes place either on or near her bed, or worse, has some kind of awkward mother/son kiss or something. I know seems outrageous, but nothing appears to be off limits at this point. Will Sutter go there?

[Empress1]

IIRC, when Hunnam was initially researching the Jax Teller role he was to play, some MC member told him that shiny white tennis shoes were a biker's symbol of affluence, because shoes get dirty very quickly when you're riding a motorcycle everywhere. Bright white shoes means you have the money to replace them every week or so.

He also did an interview on Conan where he said that only "weekend warriors" wear boots, not serious riders, and also that the person after whom he modeled his character wears white sneakers. Hunnam rides in real life and says he rarely wears biker boots.

The kid who plays Abel is really creepy, but I think he's just three or four so likely has never acted. The new Lily on Modern Family was the same way her first season - she'd never been on set before and was four; she was really wooden. She's better with age (ha) and more experience. The kid who plays Abel will probably be the same way.

Re: ages, I actually think they're right. Very little time has elapsed on the show; I do think it's been less than a year since Thomas's birth, and we know Tara died like a week ago.

[henripootel]

Maybe next week Gemma will be reading "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, Murderous, Disgusting, Vanilla-Fudge-Haired Grandma" to Abel and we will have to "get" the "subtle" "message" in the title.

I was grateful that to get across the 'subtle' message that Abel was becoming Jax, Sutter didn't have Otto's ghost float up into shot and say 'DID YOU CATCH THAT?  Abel is becoming like his dad!'.  Grateful mostly because, no doubt, Otto's ghost would be getting ass-raped by some other ghost.

[psychoticstate]

First, I am so relieved that I am not the only viewer who is saying "wait . . . whaaaaaaat?" while watching.  I was beyond confused while watching last night and finally said to hell with it, just assume everyone is going to get shot or shot at because REASONS.  No real explanation is needed when the special Sons snowflake known as Jax Teller is making decisions. 

 

Composition Book of Man Pain

 

 

Kadooz.  This is brilliant.  I have a horrible feeling that the series will end with a grown up dead-eyed Dexter wanna-be Abel reading this CBofMP as he helms the club.  Ugh.

 

Jax must be a pretty convincing guy to get all these people to take him at his word as they do.

 

 

You forget that Jax wears the White Sneakers of Truth.  It is a mystery why no one turns the tables on him seeing as how he appears to be the lowest common denominator in the room the majority of the time.

 

Jeez louise, at this point I'm half expecting Jax to pay his grocery bill by just gunning down everyone in the store.

 

 

Jax shouldn't need to make grocery runs if the Sons are picking up food from every wrong house and apartment they storm into and shoot up.   

 

All that child needs is a clown costume and we've got Michael Myers II. Those are the deadest eyes ever to grace a young face.

 

 

Ha!  Hilarious but so true.  I did LOL over Gemma and Jax worrying about what Abel may have seen.  Let's see . . . he was born a drug addicted baby to two drug addicts (one of whom kills people for shits and giggles), he was kidnapped and dragged to Ireland as an infant, lost two mothers - - one to a meat fork in her head by his grandmother - - and had countless upheavals that include a bomb at the TM Garage and the deaths of the majority of people in his vicinity.  Not to mention being subjected to the porn business on a daily basis.  What could go wrong?

 

If Abel DOESN'T grow up to become a serial killer, all these bitches in prison have ZERO argument about why their childhoods were so sucky. 

 

Loved how Gemma told Abel his daddy was a good man (pains me to even type those words about Prince Jax) and then immediately panned to Jax and Company getting ready for their Tuesday night annihilation.  Has no one else recognized that when Jax loses his cuts and dons black gloves, there's gonna be some killin'?  To quote Whoopi Goldberg, you in danger, girl.

 

As far as the lady sheriff goes, unless there is an ad on Craiglist for underhanded sneaky cops on the take needed for Charming, no more bad cops!  I hope she's getting dirt to take the Sons down although I hate that she's going to screw over Chibs. 

 

Nero - - he is roundly and completely fucked.  Everything Gemma touches gets poisoned.  Not the Nero was the most stand up guy pre-Gemma and her killer vagina but he may have been able to walk a more straight line without her and the Sons coming to the picture.

 

As others have said, this season so far is pissing me off - - I just can't with these people and I just don't know -- but I'm in it for the long haul because I MUST see Gemma and Jax have their stupid asses handed to them.   

[metalchik]

 

First, I am so relieved that I am not the only viewer who is saying "wait . . . whaaaaaaat?" while watching.  I was beyond confused while watching last night and finally said to hell with it, just assume everyone is going to get shot or shot at because REASONS.

Haha omg this is exactly how I feel!  I was telling my boyfriend that I'm so lost and there is NO ONE to like anymore.  I guess at this point I could root for Wendy but hell who knows where she'll end up.

 

ETA:  And even after the explanation of the white tennis shoes....I still hate them and think they look so dumb.  lol

Edited September 25, 2014 by metalchik

[Artsda]

 

JT would have been alright had he not been married to Gemma and in business with Clay.   Those two relationships did him more harm than anything else.

JT was still a hig ranking member in SAMCRO before that, and he had a secret life/2nd family in Ireland. Clay and Gemma are responsible for a lot, but not JT's bad decision making. They wanted to stop him before his breaking up with the IRA back then.

 

Everything Galen and the IRA has done to the club since Jax said they wanted out, like blowing up a full club house showed that not wanting out from the IRA was the safest thing.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Artsda

[Febgirl]

I think someone alluded to this earlier, but do we dare think that Jax is smart enough to pull off a long con? Could he really be the biggest rat of all?

[leisawoo]

I wonder if Sutter gave JT that backstory so people might feel more sympathetic to Gemma going into the last seasons.

[Guest Accused Dingo]

I think someone alluded to this earlier, but do we dare think that Jax is smart enough to pull off a long con? Could he really be the biggest rat of all?

It wouldn't be the first long con. Wasn't there that thing he pulled on Stahl way back when? Jax isn't stupid. I am not sure why everyone thinks he is. He is vilolent as all hell especially now but that is in large part because he is in pain and every filter he has and every reason he has not to be has neen turned off. Rage and pain is all he is right now.

As for the white sneakers. It reminds me of the third Back To The Future wher Marty went to the old west dressed in what he thought people wore back them and everyone called him a dandy. We all think we know what these types of people would wear but do we really? I can see new sneakers every year being a status symbol and yeah sneskers eould work better then boots simply for the soles.

Edited September 25, 2014 by Accused Dingo

[glitterpussy]

I'm only watching now in the hope that Chibs might finally have a sex scene.

 

[monakane]

 

Let's see . . . he was born a drug addicted baby to two drug addicts (one of whom kills people for shits and giggles), he was kidnapped and dragged to Ireland as an infant, lost two mothers - - one to a meat fork in her head by his grandmother - - and had countless upheavals that include a bomb at the TM Garage and the deaths of the majority of people in his vicinity.  Not to mention being subjected to the porn business on a daily basis.  What could go wrong?

 

Wow!  So true!  When you think about everything that has happened to that kid, he has to be dead inside.  Either the little guy playing Abel hasn't learned how to emote or he is a genius thespian mirroring the nothingness that is Abel's life.  He also looks like he could be Charlie Hunnam's son.  At this point, the only people I care about are Thomas and Abel.  I hope they get out alive.

[Pickles Aplenty]

With all the shit Abel has been through, I find it hilarious that Gemma thinks preschool is going to be the thing that messes him up.  That woman has some crazy ass blinders on.

 

 

Can we talk about the weird Oedipal/Pygmalion subtext happening this season? Gemma has created/molded/manipulated Jax in her own image and now she has him all to herself and is completely in love with her creation. On the other hand, Jax seems to be OK with the idea that his mother is the only woman he can have in his life right now. At the end of this episode, the way Jax had his arm draped over Gemma's shoulders as they were walking up to the house of the abusive father was exactly the way he had flirtatiously draped his arm over Tara's shoulders in an episode in season 5 (and others too probably, but that is the one that was brought to mind). If this season is all about "shock value," which certainly seems to be the case after the first three episodes, then I really wouldn't be surprised if there is a cringe-worthy Jax/Gemma scene coming up that takes place either on or near her bed, or worse, has some kind of awkward mother/son kiss or something. I know seems outrageous, but nothing appears to be off limits at this point. Will Sutter go there?

Terence Winter did, but I'm praying that Sutter doesn't.  God, I don't think I can take much more incest on TV.  It's one of the last sexual taboos, and writers are using it for shock value a little too much, IMHO.

[psychoticstate]

I think someone alluded to this earlier, but do we dare think that Jax is smart enough to pull off a long con? Could he really be the biggest rat of all?

 

Sutter may think that Jax is smart enough but I vote the evidence says the contrary.    In the beginning I would say that Jax seemed relatively intelligent but lately . . . maybe he's just too angry or maybe he's just so deep in that life.  I don't know.  I do think it would be an interesting twist if Jax was pulling a long con but it almost seems that if that was so, Sutter has tipped his hand a little too much.  Meaning being that Jax has become OTT aggressive, violent and indifferent.  It's hard to reconcile that this is the same guy that wanted out of all this just a few seasons ago.

 

Wow!  So true!  When you think about everything that has happened to that kid, he has to be dead inside.  Either the little guy playing Abel hasn't learned how to emote or he is a genius thespian mirroring the nothingness that is Abel's life.  He also looks like he could be Charlie Hunnam's son.  At this point, the only people I care about are Thomas and Abel.  I hope they get out alive.

 

I think the child is too young to be able to do anything other than repeat back a line or two.  So in essence his wooden affect is perfect for playing a child that has probably had his conscious smothered. 

 

Frankly all the Sons and their cronies should be throat punched a few dozen times for seeing what the kids (Abel, Thomas, et al.) are exposed to and thinking nothing of it.  Sure, you can "worry" all you want and debate over whether the child saw anything but none of that truly matters if that's not a wake up call that The Life isn't advisable for children.  I'm very disappointed that Nero didn't even say anything about it, not even a throwaway remark that he's upset  the Whorehouse Beatdown went on in front of Abel.  He seemed more concerned about the welfare of the toxic and resilient Gemma - - you know, the same Gemma who bitch slapped a chick with a skateboard a few seasons ago. 

[Lonesome Rhodes]

The show has repeatedly demonstrated that it is relatively easy to kill whomever you choose to kill.  The issue is always the ramifications.  If you can live with the retribution attempts, killin ain't even a thing. 

 

What has become laughable is any notion that August or the Chinese, or any rival charter would fear what is left of SAMCRO.  Nobody would care.  There ain't no NATO treaty here.  Hell, they might even get a medal from law enforcement!

[ToniG]

Can we talk about the weird Oedipal/Pygmalion subtext happening this season? ... Will Sutter go there?

Oh, god, I hope not!

[henripootel]

Can we talk about the weird Oedipal/Pygmalion subtext happening this season? ... Will Sutter go there?

If he does, not only will I cancel my season pass and take a hammer to my tivo, I'll pluck out my eyes (vile jellies!) and throw them to the ground.  Totally serious.

[CatMomma]

 

Frankly all the Sons and their cronies should be throat punched a few dozen times for seeing what the kids (Abel, Thomas, et al.) are exposed to and thinking nothing of it.  Sure, you can "worry" all you want and debate over whether the child saw anything but none of that truly matters if that's not a wake up call that The Life isn't advisable for children.  I'm very disappointed that Nero didn't even say anything about it, not even a throwaway remark that he's upset  the Whorehouse Beatdown went on in front of Abel.  He seemed more concerned about the welfare of the toxic and resilient Gemma - - you know, the same Gemma who bitch slapped a chick with a skateboard a few seasons ago.

 

I think this is what bothers me the most. Not just Nero, but every character has become a victim to the plot.  Sutter seems to be sacrificing these characters for the story.  And, violence has become the main plot. This isn't the same club or the same people. They have all become mindless psychopaths.

 

I know that Breaking Bad is the gold standard for anti-heroes, so it isn't fair to compare the two shows, but damn, I wish Sutter would remember characterization. Some bad guys have a little humanity.

Edited September 26, 2014 by CatMomma

[Turtle]

I've always thought that Gemma had a super creepy attachment to Jax.  Not sexytimes, mind you, but she clearly has a weird obsession with him, and puts him on a pedestal more than even the craziest of moms.  It's always been somewhat unsettling.  

 

Why hasn't anyone in the club said "Hey, Jax, your wife was just pretty brutally murdered.  Maybe you take a few days, or even a week or two, and kind of deal with that and support your motherless kids, and we'll circle back to all this gang and killing stuff?"  Why the need for everyone to go on this big murder rampage *right this second*?  

[Guest Accused Dingo]

Why hasn't anyone in the club said "Hey, Jax, your wife was just pretty brutally murdered.  Maybe you take a few days, or even a week or two, and kind of deal with that and support your motherless kids, and we'll circle back to all this gang and killing stuff?"  Why the need for everyone to go on this big murder rampage *right this second*?  

 

Bobby Kinda did.  He told Jax that if he wanted to take a step back and slow things down the Club would understand.  That is the closest these guys are capable of saying what you asked.  They are not touchy-feely, lets hug it out kind of people.  Pilot episode:  Jax had found out who sold drugs to his pregnant Ex-wife (Wendy) and that is kid (Abel) was born premature ad was probably going to die.  What did he do?  Did he have a good cry?  No he beat the shit out of the dude and a couple of the guys went a long as backup.  

 

 

I've always thought that Gemma had a super creepy attachment to Jax.  Not sexytimes, mind you, but she clearly has a weird obsession with him, and puts him on a pedestal more than even the craziest of moms.  It's always been somewhat unsettling.  

 

 

I don't think it is sexytime either.  I think Gemma is a Narcissist.  People use that word too easily (especially for tv characters) but Gemma seems to fit.   Wikipedia defines Narcissistic Personality Disorder as "a personality disorder in which a person is excessively preoccupied with personal adequacy, power, prestige and vanity, mentally unable to see the destructive damage they are causing to themselves and to others in the process."  And that fits Gemma to a tee.   I loved her talking first to the Chinese guy and now to her birds and making excuses why the killing of Tara was "a good thing."  It fits with NPD.  

 

Jax isn't a Narcissist he is a man with power who is pissed off and unable to control his temper.   If anything he suffers from lack of impulse control.  For better or worse Tara was his chance at a normal life.   You can say what you want about Tara.  She wasn't perfect but she was his chance to get out of Charming.   They could just never quite make it.  

Edited September 27, 2014 by Accused Dingo

[Captanne]

When Gemma talked to the guy she led to the slaughter based on her lie -- she was (imo) really checking to see if he had family.  He, unwittingly, affirmed her suspicion that he was on his own.  So, if he has no family, to Gemma he's fair game.  She need feel no regret when she causes his death.  He is nothing more than a tool for her to use.  By merely making small talk with Gemma, that poor jamoke signed his own death warrant.  Talk about "wrong place at the wrong time," sheesh.

[spaceytraci1208]

They are not touchy-feely, lets hug it out kind of people.

I beg to differ on that point...these guys are hella touchy-feely, but only with each other lol. The last couple seasons especially, they seem to be all hugs and "I love you"s within the club. It's the rest of the world they give no fuck about

[DrSpaceman]

I still can;t see a way this show doesn't end with the club gone because they all died. They seem to be just killing any enemy they can now, and lying about it to anyone and everyone.

The Sons seem to be backstabbing, sometimes literally, every gang in Southern California somehow

[henripootel]

The Sons seem to be backstabbing, sometimes literally, every gang in Southern California somehow

I was down with that when it was a well-crafted slow burn, chess rather than kickball.  Now these guys look like Rafi and Dirty Randy just capping off rounds for fun.  Bro-love or not, I can't believe even Happy isn't shaking his head at Jax being out of his damn mind.  Jax is gonna get Sons killed for (as near as I can tell and certainly as far as they can tell) no damn good reason.  

[Kel Varnsen]

I know that Breaking Bad is the gold standard for anti-heroes, so it isn't fair to compare the two shows, but damn, I wish Sutter would remember characterization. Some bad guys have a little humanity.

Not only that but back when it first started SOA was sort of referred to as The Sopranos with motorcycles. But it really isn't anything like that show or Breaking Bad. I mean the writers on both those shows realized that less is more. I mean Tony Soprano and his people weren't gunning down a crazy amount of people every episode. So when someone did get killed, even if they were a secondary or tertiary character or even an extra, it actually meant something. In this show there is a massacre just about every week. Considering that the Sons are on the radar of just about ever law enforcement agency how does that happen? I mean just put a cop or an FBI agent and have them follow Jax everywhere he goes, and in an afternoon you would have enough to arrest him and put him away for a long time.

 

Also I am kind of surprised, with the amount of coverage the show got for guest stars this season including Marilyn Manson and Courtney Love how is it that I have seen essentially no coverage on the fact that Theo Huxtable is a hardcore outlaw biker and at the very least an accessory to murder.

[terrymct]

 I mean Tony Soprano and his people weren't gunning down a crazy amount of people every episode.

 

Tony Soprano and the other mob leaders were also primarily about the business.  Killing was a result of something affecting the business or an issue of loyalty.  In SOA, killing and screwing are the primary activities.  Business is secondary.

[NoWillToResist]

They really picked a good young actor for Abel, because as others have said, those eyes of his are just dead. Gemma's telling Jax, "He really couldn't have seen anything," and Jax asking Abel, "You okay, little man?" and accepting Abel's monotone answer as if that meant Abel was okay were perfect examples of how oblivious these two are to what good parenting is.

 

I don't even understand what the fuck is up with carting these children around to totally child-inappropriate places. What the actual fuck??

 

And frankly, a pox on the Niners. You have Jax - an ally of August and the Chinese - approach you about sabotaging his allies and then he offers to become your ally? Ummmm, how fucking dumb do you have to be to say 'yes' to that? HE IS ASKING TO ALLY WITH YOU WHILE HE IS FUCKING OVER HIS CURRENT ALLIES. I had so hoped that the guy was going to out them to August; August already smells a rat and that kid will solidify it. He could increase his standing in August's operation yet his loyalty is to broke-ass, confimed ally-breaker Jax Teller? Fucking seriously???

 

This is too much to believe.