‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 5, episode 12 review: Between life and death
We already know that there is something rather remarkable about Ron Perlman, and we are learning with each passing episode that the same can really be said for his “Sons of Anarchy” character of Clay: after all, this guy keeps finding a way to survive week after week, despite seemingly having his back up against the wall every step of the way.
The latest example of this? Take this week, when it looked like he was finally going to be knocking on death’s door. SAMCRO had stripped him of his honor … but then Bobby would not add to the unanimous vote that he should die, and by the club’s charter, he gets to keep breaking. However, Jax found a way out courtesy of Damon Pope, who agreed to give him Clay’s head on a plate in return for Tig. The problem with this? Thanks to some work with Romero (the always-awesome Danny Trejo), Clay now has some more people at his side in the Irish. This man is a cockroach: no matter how many times he seems dead, he finds a way to crawl in the other direction. This time around, the other direction may even be out of the country, as he is pondering an escape to Belfast with his newfound friends.
What made this episode in particular so enjoyable was its focus: there were not a million stories going on, and the primary plots can be digested with just a small group of characters (even if others played supporting roles). Take for instance the story with Wendy this week, who had seemingly devised a plan to get Abel back for good seeing that Jax is hardly the best example of a stable parent at the moment (with some help from Clay, to an extent). Did it work? Not exactly. Jax, once again showing that he is really off the rails now, injected her with enough drugs to ensure that any testimony she tries to give will be null and void, since she has lost her credibility.
Overall, the setup for the finale is wonderful. You have more stakes the ever to take down Clay, and everyone from Pope to Nero is someone involved in this mess. (Nero is more around still due to Gemma.) We have no idea how season 5 is going to end, but can this guy find a way to survive yet again?
What did you think about the way this episode played out, and is there any way in your mind that everyone makes it through next week’s episode alive? We want to hear your thoughts below!