‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 5, episode 10 review: Is this what you call pain?

Revenge has long been a theme of “Sons of Anarchy,” but even with that, Tuesday night’s new episode somehow took this to a whole new level. Jax and SAMCRO got themselves some revenge on Opie’s death, but did so while blindsiding as many outsiders as possible in the process.

The rough news for this episode really extended all around to every character this week. While Jax was making threats to Juice and merely using him for the time being, Tara fell victim to a scheme from Big Otto. The man found a way to hurt SAMCRO even under police protection, as he tricked her into believing over several episodes that he was going to offer testimony, only to instead stab a nurse in cold blood right in front of her. Now, there’s no way this will happen, and Tara, in her own words, is a metaphorical “accessory to murder.” Neither Jax nor Tara exorcised any demons at all really this week, as the body count really did not compensate at all for the work still left to be done. There is still the issue of what to do with Juice, and the menace none as Clay is still alive and free.

In other potentially frightening and/or terrible news related to that very subject, Gemma and Clay actually seem to be back together. Should we be concerned about this? Definitely. Luckily, Jax has an alternate plan now courtesy of someone who is willing to negotiate with him again, even in spite of what happened with Frankie Diamonds: Eli Roosevelt. The two are clearly stronger together than they would be apart, but that does not mean that a lawman and and outlaw are going to find any synergy. As a matter of fact, we only predict more bloodshed and pain … something that both of these men know quite a bit about at this very moment.

What did you think about this episode?