‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 6, episode 11 review: Clay’s release plan; Katey Sagal’s finest work

When “Sons of Anarchy” creator Kurt Sutter tweeted out today that “Aon Rud Persanta” was going to be a game-changing episode for the show, we were expecting something to blow our socks off … and even still, we didn’t expect this. The events tonight have to be up there with Opie’s death in terms of the biggest devastating moments in the show’s history, and let’s start here with a massive SPOILER WARNING just in case you haven’t it watched it yet.

Now, let’s try to pick up the pieces. We knew that there was a plan to try and bust Clay out of prison, since he would prove to be invaluable against the Irish. But his role in the plan was more of sacrificial lamb, and Jax got the opportunity to do something he has probably fantasized about so many times before: Shooting Clay multiple times, many of them unnecessarily. Clay was a horrible person most of the time we knew him, but this death did not feel satisfying. It was instead sad and tragic,, much like the rest of Clay’s season this year. We’re at least pleased to see he was not gunned down by the police at the escape, and his death really meant something rather than an unjust way to send Ron Perlman out.

Thanks to Clay’s death, we saw Katey Sagal somehow give what may be her finest performance of the whole series as she tried to explain how she hated the man, but yet could not stop the tears. This was almost like going into a time warp all at once to see all of her biggest moments with the character over the series’ run. Then, you have to consider that Jax is the new Clay, and we wonder how much Gemma is really aware of it. But that moment of her watching Clay be brutally gunned down? Devastating. We knew that Clay was going to die from almost the very beginning of this series, but we probably still were not prepared for it.

While we were worried at times about Tara’s storyline being shelved temporary thanks to the death of Clay (and we should also mention that Galen O’Shay is gone), but she may have found a new inroad into working with the D.A. courtesy of Clay’s release. The fact that there is so much bloodshed already involving members of SAMCRO may make her a little less interested in working with Jax; after all, this was not a part of her deal with him. We feel horrendous for Tara just going through and reading Twitter’s reactions to the character. Why are we so against a woman who is trying to actually protect children? Her methods may not always be wise, but it feels like she is at least working towards a proper end.

All of these events, plus Bobby seeming to make it through his injuries, set the stage for the final two episodes to really show us just where Jax Teller and the MC are really going to go from here. They seem to be in a somewhat better place when it comes to their dealings in the gun trade … but circumstances can change in a second. All we can say is that Kurt Sutter and the writers outdid themselves again, and this should go down as one of the best episodes ever. There’s so much more here to think about, ponder, and reflect, but this is one of those episodes that needs some time and distance. Hopefully, we’ll find that before next Tuesday rolls around. Grade: A.

What did you think about “Aon Rud Persanta,” and where to do you think that “Sons of Anarchy” goes from here for their final two episodes of the season? Share some of your thoughts below, and click here to check out even more scoop. We’ll have a preview for the next new episode “You Are My Sunshine” up there before midnight on the East Coast.

Photo: FX