‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 6, episode 4 review: The meaning of ‘no more, brother’ in ‘Wolfsangel’

First of all, we have to give a hearty round of applause to “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter for the ultimate fake-out with tonight’s episode “Wolfsangel.” Going into this, it looked almost like a certainty that Tig was going to be the person in a body-bag. Kim Coates, like every other actor on this show, is aware of what you sign up for. This is a dark and dangerous program, and one where terrible things happen almost every week.

But, Tig was still breathing by the end of the 91-minute bloodbath, but there were quite a few others who definitely cannot say the same thing. Let’s go through three of these casualties bit by bit, but we’ll start off with a MASSIVE spoiler warning. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, don’t ruin it for yourself. Just stop now, since you will be much happier that you did.

Filthy Phil – He was a beloved Prospect in the early days, and his death will probably be missed the most from a likability standpoint. Unfortunately, he mostly fell victim to just being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and didn’t deserve what happened to him in the midst of a nasty battle between Jax and SAMCRO to extract himself from the gun situation.

Lee Toric – Who saw this one coming? We had assumed that Donal Logue was staying longer, and Sutter even said initially that this was the plan. Maybe there were changes, or it was all devised to make this all the more shocking. The moment that Clay slipped Otto the weapon, you knew that this was coming.

Otto – Finally, Sutter actually killed himself more or less. Otto is a guy that somehow lasted this long, despite the multitude of horrendous things that he did. Clay’s words “no more, brother” to him as he handed him the weapon were perfect as a mode of farewell; Clay knew it was time to end the suffering. For Otto, he probably sees this death as victory. He got to go out how he wanted.

The best scene for this entire episode was anchored by Jimmy Smits, as Nero told Gemma on the ride home from the police station that he was going to cut ties with everyone bringing danger into his life. He had just escaped from that world, and had no interest in getting himself involved in it again. The “I love you’s” here were perfect, and this actually to us was just as powerful as anything involving death this week. We know that this is a violent show, but the subtlety is underrated.

In the end, there is a great deal of confusion now as to what happens next. Is Jax actually going to be able to separate from the Irish and get SAMCRO out of the gun business, and what was Lee Toric’s purpose on the show in the end? Chaos is a good thing at times for “Sons of Anarchy,” and maybe that is why there were so many shockers dropped in this hour. It made for a magnificent showcase of violence in the final ten minutes, and we are certainly even more excited for episode five than we were before.

Were you stunned by the end of this “Sons of Anarchy” season 6 episode? Sound off about the deaths below. Click here if you want to take a look at what is coming up next week in “The Mad King.”

Photo: FX