'Sons of Anarchy' Season 4, Episode 2 Recap (VIDEO)

Does anyone else think there is something not quite right with Opie's new wife? When the new sherriff insinuated they had people everywhere, I immediately thought of her. Don't trust her one bit, especially after the close up on her and Opie dancing at the wedding.

Generally enjoyed this episode and didn't have much problem with the sticky plot points others have brought up. Give the power of the Cartel, I can believe they would have a mole inside a major competitor's operation. What I find harder to believe is that they would need a relatively small-time gang like SAMCRO as their broker to the Real IRA guns. But I can let that slide.

What Clay and Jax didn't seem to hear from was Romeo's message, "We have contacts everywhere." They probably don't have someone in the club yet, but suspect they'll be looking for an inside line soon enough. The question is who will it be? The easy choice would be one of the new guys, but it would be a lot more interesting if they made an attempt at turning one of the major members or an old lady. My money would be on Lyla or Tara who would do it to keep their families safe and let the club fall. What do others think?

And Mo, I'm going to disagree with you about the sheriff's "rampage". I think the Roosevelt was completely calculated in what he did. It was very in your face, but he was not driven by rage or any loss of control. It was very cold and methodical. Go back to the look he flashes Clay when he's about to enter the Chapel. There was no apparent anger, just cold, hard determination. Taking down the rogue's gallery and attacking the meeting table are calculated actions to provoke SAMCRO. Clay's almost amused look tells me he understands exactly what the sheriff is doing. The challenge for him, as head of the club, will be to keep the members from acting rashly in response. He may be forced to exact some kind of retribution sooner than he'd like, in order to nail down all the votes he needs to move coke for the Cartel.

The most intriguing development of the episode for me is the revelation that Gemma and Unser are somehow connected through JT's death. We know the story of SOA follows the general outlines of Hamlet -- the question is did Gertrude and Claudius, err Gemma and Clay, plot together to kill JT, or did Gemma set him up on her own. I could see Gemma acting on her own, then getting Clay go along. Clearly there is a lot more to learn about the mystery of John Teller's death. The accident report Gemma found mixed in with JT's letters to Maureen is signed by Deputy Chief Unser. Gemma, Clay and Unser clearly worked together to cover up the truth behind the death. But how and why?

Definitely a twist with Gemma and Unser.. I wouldn't doubt Gemma killing JT, but I wouldn't think that Unser would be alright with that. He always seemed like a decent guy. Gemma is definitely more worked up than Clay over the letters, but then again Clay has alot on his mind. Gemma and Unser have a very strong connection though..always have, wonder how that all started??

Interesting points. At our house we actually enjoyed a little more action this week.

I wonder about this, did the cartel set up the 'hostage/rescue" with the Russians to enforce their point to the Sons or perhaps there was just a small renegade faction of the Russians out to get their revenge?

More awkward than Gemma going crazy looking for the letters, for us, was the pause before the applause when Tara announced their engagement...

I have to say, I'm not surprised to read this review and find the opinions that I did. Basically, I'm expecting every week to be 50% complaints about things that aren't what you wanted to see, 30% compliments about good plot advancement/acting/character stuff, etc., and 20% miscellanous. The reason I expect this, is that I think you are disappointed in the way the show is going (as evidenced by your strange argument at the end of S4 E1 recap about their retaliation against the Russians), and now find the need to over-criticize every minute plot-detail (i.e., Russians going after the Sons...that happened about an hour after they met Danny Trejo...this is just a guess here, but the Russians and the Colombians probably aren't on some OC Twitter feed, just a guess).

Apart from that (and my complete confusion surrounding your distaste for the "Old Lady" storylines) I agree with the rest of your review. I don't know what the purview of a TV critic is, and if I'm wrong here, let me know...but complaining about a show not doing the things you want seems pretty pointless. Especially since, in my useless opinion, the show has managed to increase tension and comraderie (spelling?) while adding new interesting characters and complex situations...the stuff I generally look for in good TV.

To me, the cartel riding to the rescue felt like a reminder to other interests of their power and a warning to SAMCRO about how quickly they can retaliate if they feel like they've been crossed.

I felt like the Gemma / who killed JT? story line had sort of a new twist with her conversation with Unser towards the end. It almost made it sound like Clay was out of the loop about something related to it, which was kind of interesting. To this point, I'd always assumed that he and Gemma were in it together. I'm interested to see where that goes. I do completely agree with you about the OLST, though. It's gone on way to long and I'd much rather see Gemma and Tara with something new and interesting.

I was also intrigued by certain other club members realizing that they're not really in the inner circle anymore.

Love Danny Trejo and Benito Martinez. But yeah, the cartel-to-the-rescue bit was hokey. And really, the conflict between what SOA has always been -- the gatekeeper keeping drugs out of Charming -- and the new role as mule for the cartel is a real stretch.

The new sheriff is intense but the situation is badly set up; he would be an idiot to be that confrontational right out the gate. And to say to Clay he had wanted to work things out? That was hilarious. And then the rampage in the clubhouse? The sheriff is acting like a rookie, not a seasoned pro. For whatever reason the writing hasn't hit a rhythm yet, but I'm hopeful.

Don't stop the weekly reviews - I am a big fan of them and I like the fact you express your disappointment when you think the show's doing something wrong. I appreciate it (probably because I agree with you most of the time) and I look forward to coming here after watching the show.

I'm concerned that Gemma and Tara (and other women) are going to fail the Bechdel test bigtime this year. I understand that it's all about the men and the club, but they--at least Tara--have other parts of their lives that take up a lot of their time.

So you were wondering last week about doing reviews every week. This weeks already seems like a forced review and a hatefest of the episode. I get it that it's your review and your opinion but I've seen this play out here numerous times with other shows getting reviewed, hopefully this won't turn to that.