‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 6, episode 3 review: A Tara ‘shocker’; Tig in the crosshairs

Somehow, “Sons of Anarchy” finds a way to become even more of a bloodbath as we move deeper into season 3, and we also are starting to wonder more and more just how many characters are going to make it out of this one alive.

One character who sadly may not? Kim Coates’ Tig, who was left in a horrible position at the end of “Poenitentia.” For a word that translates to mean a form of regret or repentance, he is certainly not getting any courtesy of August. This may end up being a tragic story, but it also marks a brilliant move on the writers’ part to circumvent what has become a bad TV habit for other shows: Assuming that a nasty situation is cleared up just because someone like Damon Pope is dead.

His fate is going to hang in the balance until next week, and Tig’s only salvation could be selling out Jax. The key word there? “Could.” Crazier things have happened in this world.

Tough times for Tara – Even though she may be out, Tara is clearly not even close to being out of the woods. She spent this whole episode a step away from falling victim to one of Gemma’s schemes, and did not really seem to notice the “nice” behavior that Katey Sagal’s character was exhibiting as anything beyond the ordinary.

Then, we turn to the shocking news that Tara is eight weeks pregnant. What does this mean for her family, and for Gemma’s plan? Or, ask the question this way: Is Tara just playing Gemma here? She’s gotten much smarter over the years when it comes to dealing with her, and some emotional manipulation may very well do the trick.

Lee Toric is one messed-up man – Just in case you did not know this already about our pseudo-Big Bad this season, the episode opened this season with the sight of him “protecting himself” with a few bullets from his gun, and then proceeded to go spend time with the D.A. and acted as though nothing had happened. The D.A. herself is clearly in a desperate situation to work with him without asking many questions, and while she will probably regret getting him to sign on, she also realizes that the community is out for justice, and sometimes, you need dangerous men to do the job.

But we do still wonder: Did the killing at the beginning really need to happen? It shifted the focus of Lee in such a way that almost made his own struggle almost hypocritical.

Clay continues to suffer – Things are not getting any easier for Clay Morrow; let’s just put it that way. There have already been quite a few prison fights to say the least … but at least he has some friends now on the inside?

So this season progresses, and while “Poenitentia” was entertaining, there were certainly not answers to a few questions. We still don’t know about Tara’s pregnancy (maybe it is real and we’re just being conspiratorial), and Tig’s fate is up in the air.

What was your take overall on this “Sons of Anarchy” episode? Be sure to check out a preview for the next episode here.)

Photo: FX