For the past four seasons now, Jax Teller has wrestled with facing his destiny within SAMCRO. He alternated between struggling against Clay to reluctantly working with him during the various pursuits and endeavors of the club. But that all changed last week when the truth that was revealed to Jax made him realize that Clay’s continued existence was of detriment to his club and his family—it was up to Jax himself to eliminate this problem.  Instead of making this episode’s plot an easy A leads to B which causes C route, Sons of Anarchy decides to make quite a tangle out of the potential deal with the Irish and Galindo cartel. The Sons of Anarchy Season 4 DVD Boxset is all the better for it, as one twist manages to help force Jax to finally come to terms with his fate in the club.

The Bad Guys Won Today, Sheriff

Just as Lincoln Potter and his team were preparing to enact the RICO bust on the Irish, the Sons, and Galindo, the audience might have been preparing for an hour full of violence, busts, and severe consequences that had been teased all season long. What happened instead consisted of Romeo and Luis showing up in league with the CIA to promptly close the RICO bust down. It turns out the CIA plans to subsidize the cartel and they need the coke money and Irish guns to do it. Essentially, the Sons have unknowingly gotten themselves into bed with the government, but not at all in the prime position. Conceding his loss of the RICO charge, Lincoln gives the file information on Juice’s parentage to Eli and the two shake hands and part ways.

Just as Potter said before he walked away from something he worked thousands of man hours putting together, the Sons are truly on the losing end of this and they don’t even realize it yet. I was beyond pleased with this development, it put a brand-new spin on so much from the season, including the supposed attempt on Tara’s life. Even before Romeo said it to Jax in private later on, I knew that it just meant that once again Tara suffered for nothing all because of club business.