Not sure what you're saying with this, but I'll take it and run with it in my own direction. This premiere was very, very lacking. I like how some of the story arcs feel like they're going to play up, but the execution of some of the scenes just wasn't right to me. I don't feel like getting into the whole thing right now, but there was one part in particular that I thought was especially terrible: Spoiler For whatever reason, I thought the scene where they burned Tig's daughter alive was absolutely horrible, and not in the way that makes you identify or feel for the victim(s). I legitimately thought the scene was horribly executed. For whatever reason, it looked like Pope and Tig (I forget the actors' names) were just entirely uncomfortable and forcing the scene. I could be missing the mark on my analysis there, but the fact remains that I thought the scene itself was not well-executed at all. That said: Spoiler I feel like Nero as a character is going to be one of the highlights of the season. I didn't like his interactions with Gemma, but I'm interested in seeing how connected he is and how he impacts the story beyond just being a safe have for the Sons.
I think Sutter crammed a lot of plot lines into the episode and they came like snippets, but overall, I still enjoyed the hell out of it.
Yeah, I... I didn't think I was shockable any more, but that was fucked. Anyone else get the feeling Nero might have a connection to the 9ers? Just a weird vibe I got. Nice move, Clay. Admit to parts of the truth, making it harder when Jax wants to reveal the real truth.
The character who plays Tig isn't exactly Daniel Day Lewis, but I agree.. that was horrendous acting and an awkward scene when his daughter was burned. I have high hopes for Pope, though, I really liked the actor as Augustus Hill in Oz, and I think the dynamic with the upper-echelons of the One-Niners will only get more interesting.
I thought burning Tig's daughter was about as brutal as it was going to get, but my god episode three changed all that. Jesus. Spoiler I knew that it had been said that a character was going to die this episode, but I was expecting Unser or Juice or something along those lines, not Opie. That said, I'm not entirely shocked that he was killed off, after all, the club had basically cost him everything, but I did not expect it to happen so early on, and I certainly didn't expect it to go down like that.
I'm not even close to on board that the scene with Tig's daughter was that bad, mostly due to how shitty Tig was in that scene...but this episode was something else. Spoiler My heart was pounding the entire time they were in the box. This show catches a lot of flack for always having a wild card in the background that can save the day or prevent any severe upheaval within the group, and I fully expected that to happen again this time. Nope. That said, I don't think Jax is going to go after Tig in the end. I'm sure at the moment he thinks he will, but in the end something else will win him over. Him letting Tig die after what Tig went through kind of sets him up as the villain. Now that I type that, I suppose that it's very possible he gets the Walter White treatment. That was a horrific scene, and you can tell Jax is going to be on a war path once he gets out. Phenomenal episode, and it's really set up the rest of the season for all the shit that's about to go down.
Spoiler Goodbye to probably my favorite character on the show. The show started with him having made the sacrifice and not turning on the club and doing his time. Then that is re-payed by his wife getting killed by the club. Nobody ever seemed to be honest with him ever about anything. All he wanted to do was support his family. Then his father gets murdered and he's still not told the truth. Finally, Jax lays it all out and then what does he do. He sacrifices his life for the club. The lying last year let to Tigs reckless stupidity, which has now cost him his daughter and the death of Opie. I believe Opie was the voice of reason. He was the one person who could talk Jax down and one of the reasons Jax has been trying to hold it all together. With Opie gone and his anger at the level it seems to be, watch out. That guard and probably his entire family are going to be brutally murdered by Jax in the next episode and by the end of the season, he's going to find a way to get the upper hand and Pope is going to be dead. Sad thing is the way this show is going, a whole lot more pain and death and sadness within the club will happen first. I've long given up any hope that there will be any redemption or happiness in this show. That's my only complaint about this show at this point. Regardless of what was happening, there was always hope. There is no more hope for any single character in this show. The three characters that I felt had the most heart, Half-sack, Piney and Opie are gone. Jax had the most heart and hope but he's broken beyond repair after last night. Of all the shit that's happened, that was the true tipping point.
Mine too. I set all future episodes to record for an additional five minutes, but I missed everything after Jax called Tig to come over and talk to him. I feel like Tara's new jail gig is going to come back and bite her in the ass later this season. Just a hunch.
Or Jax is going to use her in that position to off an enemy in lock up. Maybe in exchange for Jax offing Gemma? Jax doesn't know that she knew Clay was going to kill JT, right? I think Jax, Tara and the boys are going to be the only one's left to walk away at the end.
My buddy has a different (and, in my opinion, very plausible) idea for how the Tig-Jax-Pope story might play out: Spoiler Tig backs Jax knowing he fucked up but Jax still resents him for what happened to Opie. Tig goes out of his way to prove his loyalty, but with limited success. While this happens, they work on dealing with the home invasions and dealing with the prison guards. The season's climax will be a sort of Tig vs Pope duel - Jax will play them, and send Tig in with one goal, which is to deal with the Pope problem once and for all. Either Tig shows up and lets Pope kill him, or Tig finds a way to waste Pope and get him out of the picture that way,thus reaffirming his status within the Sons, or at least to Jax. Either way, the problem basically sorts itself out and Jax comes out on top. I actually like that idea. Thoughts?
I'm intrigued by this home-invasion thing that has only barely been touched on in the series so far. Think it might have a big impact (maybe something to do with Nero?)
The home invasion thing is an interesting twist, when they broke into Gema's place I am pretty sure one of them had a prosthetic leg/foot. Looked to me that Wayne got a good look at it before getting his ass beat, might be the reason he was asking about common factors of the invasions and why he is going to be poking around. Definitely gonna be a darker season, Opie was a favorite character of mine, sad to see him go.
And Wayne's comment that the beating seemed more "white" than black was also interesting and opens a lot of possibilities.
The home invasions are the nomads they introduced in the first episode. The guy with the prosthetic leg is "Greg the Peg". Clay has his hand in this somehow, just not sure how or why yet.