Review:  Sons of Anarchy – Season 4, Episode 12, “Burnt and Purged Away”

Air date: Monday, November 22, at 10pm ET/PT on FX

Rating: ★★★★★

A determined and angry Opie (Ryan Hurst) is on the hunt for his father’s killer. Surprisingly, he exercises significant self-restraint by waiting until the next day to go around asking questions, but his passive/aggressive behavior reveals his deep resentment and distrust for the people from the only world he’s known.

Tara (Maggie Siff) draws great benefits from taking a step away from the cycle of lies that has been perpetuated within the SAMCRO family circle and tells Jax (Charlie Hunnam) what his ex-wife Wendy (Drea de Matteo) is up to. “I will deal with my ex-wife and my mother,” Jax assures her, speaking like a real man should. His resolve is formidable in this episode but so is Hunnam’s portrayal of a man who is being put to the test. Not only does Jax goes on ahead to outline the succession strategy for the club’s leadership but he finally lays down the law to the two women in his life who have dragged him into unwanted situations: Gemma (Katey Sagal) and Wendy.

Similar to the First Triumvirate in Rome, the uneasy alliance between the IRA, Galindo Cartel and the Sons moves forward with their plans while remaining distrustful of one another. I like the Irish and their no-nonsense smarts; they know something isn’t right with the Sons and the Galindo Cartel situation. However, I have difficulties with some of their scenes and it isn’t because of their accents. The Black Market baby selling scenario is another emotionally charged scene but seems force-fed into the storyline and quite frankly, it’s an unwelcome distraction. With confidence, I can say most of us got the memo stating Jax is already on the edge. However, my laughter after seeing a baby-friendly SAMCRO enforcing ‘decency’ via a full-blown brawl with the American IRA due to their ‘selling-babies-for-cash’ program justifies the scene’s inclusion in the show.

AUSA Lincoln Potter (Ray McKinnon) has his eyes set on SAMCRO and the IRA.

Just like Sheriff Roosevelt (Rockmond Dunbar), I was also disappointed at Juice (Theo Rossi) for singing like a bird regarding the details of the Cartel-IRA meeting to USDA Potter (Ray McKinnon). I suspect Juice believes he can help out the MC to get some lenience from Potter but one can never be too sure the AUSA is going to live up to his word. Somehow, I’m also sensing Roosevelt is going to exercise significant discretion in how much (or should I say how little?) he intends to assist Potter in these matters.

Dayton Callie deserves some ink love but Sutter’s continuous firing away of twists and action makes me forget it. Callie’s timing and the delivery of his lines allow him to make the most of his scenes, and my favorites are Wayne’s flirting with sarcastic humor, bluntness and avoidance of confrontations.

There are some key game-changers introduced in “Burnt and Purged Away” that are worth mentioning: Otto rats to Potter putting in jeopardy the MC and Bobby’s chances of becoming the next immediate SAMCRO president; then the eternally entertaining Tig (Kim Coates) decides he’s done doing Clay’s (Ron Perlman) bidding. And speaking of changes, have things changed for Gemma or what? This is the episode where she’s going to get the memo she no longer has the special glue which keeps the family together.

Otto (Kurt Sutter) finally signs his confession which secures additional privileges for Lenny 'The Pimp' Janowitz.

Clay replies in a strange manner when Romeo presses him for Tara’s hospital release info to finish the ‘job.’  Did Clay develop a heart in the 30 minutes since the show started or is he going to take care of it himself?  It turns out he’s decided to go about this in a different way and what happens should be a red flag for what unfolds in this episode. The sirens ring louder when Gemma warns him Opie knows about Piney and she surprisingly gives him a kiss.

We can all agree it’s been a rough day for Gemma, who is still trying to keep twelve balls up in the air as Jax finally cuts the umbilical cord. But the unfolding of events is far from over and Gemma and Tara know they should be concerned when Jax unexpectedly takes off after receiving a text message.

“Where did he go?” Gemma and Tara hilariously ask simultaneously, further stressing the only thing that unifies them—Jax.

“Burnt and Purged Away” isn’t an explosive episode until its second half. It actually feels quite segmented until one realizes it’s the culmination of a series of moves which ends up in a check-mate situation. The ending is what I consider ‘Classic SOA’ as it involves an action sequence with unanticipated elements, accelerated by great music (the song “David” by Noah Gundersen) whose meaningful lyrics increase our anxiety for what is to come. The quickly edited sequence mirrors the urgency we see of SAMCRO members and their families in a state of suffering as Jax desperately tries to catch up to a hell-bent Opie. My brain tries to shush what my gut already knows and what my eyes register: it’s not Jax’s destiny to stop what needs to happen.

Sutter’s brilliance slaps us in the face when the action takes us back to the opening sequence in which Gemma tells Opie all he needs to know to find Clay. What comes after is a scene in which Hurst’s voice and body language formidably pour out all the “historic shit” Opie has been bottling up. As he settles a personal score, will his actions purge the club from its sins and disarray?  And let’s put aside all the Clay-loathing that’s been going around online. I’m putting it out here that Perlman is deserving of an Emmy^® nomination for the portrayal of a man who’s in a vulnerable corner and, with resignation and military discipline, he intends to fulfill his goals regardless of the collateral damage.

And how puzzling is it seeing Jax, the one-foot-out man, intervening in this mess even after learning the truth? As things are shaping up, he has a higher chance than Wendy of not going anywhere. Speaking of which, who would have thought the former ‘junkie whore’ would say the wisest words of the entire episode: “Secrets ruin kids.”

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