Sons of Anarchy "Faith and Despondency" Review: F*** the Pain Away

Sons of Anarchy S07E10: "Faith and Despondency"

You regular readers know the drill: Another new episode of Sons of Anarchy means another Sons of Anarchy-themed powwow as Tim and Kaitlin sit down to compare notes on the latest happenings in Charming. Next up is "Faith and Despondency," so pull up a chair and listen in:

TIM: Wow! What a fantastic and weird episode! I have a heart made out of robot parts, so I never expected a "romance" installment to resonate with me, but something about "Faith and Despondency" just worked. At first I found it odd that in lieu of having a funeral for the dearly departed Bobby, everybody had grumpy or angry sex with strangers/prostitutes/semi-loved ones/goth-rocker cellmates in one of the show's most traumatizing montages ever, but as the great Western philosopher Peaches once said, "Fuck the pain away." So I get it. I get this:

And this:

And why not this:

And some of this:

And sure, this will work:

This too:

This I'm not so sure about, but that's prison life, I guess:

There was a lot of humping! But toward the end of the episode a few of these couplings bared their souls to each other and came to terms with their relationships, for better or worse. I'm primarily talking about Charry (Chibs and Jarry) and Tenus (Tig and Venus, rhymes with penis); each duo's scenes were beautiful in their own way, and Walton Goggins and Kim Coates turned in a particularly wonderful performance. Of course, we know what this means for the future—that any/all of them will die, because that's how television drama works. Build 'em up with some hard-hitting emotion to increase the impact of their loss. Anytime there's a happy ending on the horizon (Tig and Venus walking hand-in-hand down Main Street!), we should be worried. Sons of Anarchy is moving pieces into place for its final act.

KAITLIN: I too have a heart made of robot parts, and I'm sorry, but after watching this episode, it's still made of robot parts. I liked "Faith and Despondency" quite a bit because we finally saw some momentum on several storylines that've been stalled for weeks or longer, but the individual emotional scenes between the show's various couples didn't really work for me. They were oddly sandwiched between the violent conclusion of the Moses storyline—which ended with an ambush—and a cliffhanger that involved Abel blurting out that grandma killed his other mommy. I think Sons of Anarchy bit off more than it could chew in this final season, and that its emotional beats are suffering as a result. I mean, Bobby didn't even get a freakin' funeral, man.

Sons has proven over the course of seven seasons that it knows how to make the most of emotionally charged moments—I can recall several scenes between Jax and Tara that felt genuine and raw and that fit in seamlessly with all the chaos of the SAMCRO universe—but not even Tig's confession reached that level for me, and that's a major bummer. In the wake of Bobby's death, it's absolutely the right time for the show to pull its personal relationships to the forefront so that we can see how everyone's leaning on each other in response to a tragedy, and I like that it's finally allowing Tig to be Tig, but with so much other stuff going on, the character stuff kind of got lost. I'd have felt more moved by that Tig scene, and by each of the episode's romantic entanglements, if the writers had carved out more time to give those relationships the attention they deserve.

TIM: Kaitlin, did you have a horrifying and life-altering experience on Valentine's Day as a child? I will concede that the romance scenes didn't feel entirely earned (I mean really, Jarry and Chibs?), but I loved the words in the Venus/Tig scene, and the fact that Sons played a love story between a violent sociopath and a transgender dominatrix up front and seriously. Their "deviant" behavior put them on the path to find each other, and they're aware that their behavior is exactly what will bring them together and tear them apart. Goggins just sells it, man. He could sell me broccoli, he's that good. And Chibs and Jarry at least recognize that their relationship is doomed to fail, but they're both powerless against boning the other side of the law. I still have hope that there's a decent future in the cards for Chibs and Tig—who, now that Bobby is gone, are the only club members who really deserve it. They've certainly got a better chance than Juice, who's looking at a hot Marilyn Manson injection and terrible poetry readings every day with only thumb-bumps of blow to ease the pain. Sons of Anarchy appears to be rewarding loyalty in that sense.

Speaking of loyalty, high five to Tyler! For a while there I figured he'd backed out of his alliance with SAMCRO to save his own ass. Ditto for T.O. of the Grim Bastards. But they both stepped up and remained faithful to their white brothers. I have no idea when or how this whole plan came together, but I'm willing to gloss over the details, because the slaughter of Moses and Marks' hit squad was one for the fans. I'm just happy to have that story wrapped up, honestly. And it seems like the writers were, too, because the total decimation of Marks' gang (well, minus Marks, who's still in jail or posting bail as I type this) happened so fast and in a way that could have occurred at any time. I honestly can't think of any reason it had to go down now, other than there wasn't anywhere else for the story to go. And who am I to argue against a murder scene that includes a dangling eyeball?

KAITLIN: As the president of my local charter of the Walton Goggins Fan Club, I agree that he can sell anything and that's probably why I wish we'd had more time with Venus and Tig. But it also boils down to the fact that I'm having trouble connecting to many of Sons of Anarchy's characters this season now that there's no audience entry point. A majority of the story threads just aren't as interesting to me as they have been in seasons past. But holy hell am I glad that the show has finally done away with the Moses threat, because it brought some closure to Bobby's death. And to be honest, I'm also not clear on when or how the plan came together, but I'll be forever grateful that it happened offscreen. In a way, it reminds me of the Season 3 finale, when a lot of the maneuvering took place off-screen and you didn't realize Jax's plan until it'd already happened. We don't need to see everything, you know?

TIM: I wish you'd said that to Kurt Sutter before he decided we needed to see Juice getting ramrodded by Marilyn Manson, but now it's too late and no amount of bleach can erase that image from my brain. However, I think we can agree that one thing we did need to see was Abel telling Jax that Gemma killed Tara. Kids can't keep secrets, and it was obvious after the first time Abel eavesdropped on Gemma's guilt-ridden, one-way conversations with ghosts that Jax would eventually hear the truth from his son. But even though we knew it was coming, I loved it, and I especially loved Jax's "Exsqueeze me?" face. And it also coincided nicely with Jax telling Abel the truth about Wendy being his mother. No matter how many Tara lookalikes Jax bangs at Diosa, a family unit is slowly forming at Jax's house. I can't be the only one who thought that Jax and Wendy were going to do something more than hug it out, and I found myself actively rooting for them to get back together even though that's the last thing I wanted at this point last season. Sons' writers have really put a lot of effort into turning Wendy's character around, and while that required having her act completely different from the irresponsible, strung-out gal we knew before, she's Season 7 Wendy now, and she's officially Abel's mother. If she comes into the picture as a caretaker and the foundation of a family unit for Jax, that opens up the option to kick Gemma out, doesn't it?

KAITLIN: I've been actively rooting for Wendy since the start of this season, but I'm not sure I'm ready for Jax and Wendy to rekindle any relationship beyond the one they've currently got going. Tara just died like a month ago in Sons of Anarchy's timeline and I didn't even really like the idea that Jax was banging his feelings out with Winsome, so right now, I can't even entertain the thought that Jax and Wendy could be something more. But that's not to say that they're not being set up to eventually go down that path (if Jax even survives at all). Wendy has turned her life around. She still struggles with her demons, which shows that Sons hasn't completely forgotten about her past, but she's come out the other side a stronger woman.

As I've said before, I think it's a nice touch that the person who was the most messed up when the show premiered is the most stable and well-adjusted character in the end. Wendy's had a crazy journey these last seven years, but she's been a rock this season, stepping in and taking care of the kids while Jax was off revenging and Gemma was off feeling guilty about killing Tara. I think it's never been clearer that she's going to be sticking around for the long haul, and I don't think there's anyone better suited to be the boys' mom.

But the question that remains is this: What will Jax do with the information he has about his own mother? I mean, Abel just cut himself with a fork and blamed his dear old grandma, which everyone realized was a lie. So why should Jax believe Abel now, other than the fact that what he said is so f-ing insane that it HAS to be true?

TIM: Snitches get stitches, Abel! Gemma is going to have to deal with this pint-sized problem, right? Heck, she can even keep her methodology consistent and use a regular-sized fork, instead of the oversized one used to murder Tara. But seriously, I have no idea. Abel's already lied about Gemma, so if you ask me, people will have a hard time believing him. But even unbelievable truths have a way of lingering once they're out, and I fully expect Jax to mention it in passing to Gemma, which should result in another "Gemma freaks out" scene. And I can't wait for that tension to build as it's the endgame for the series.

In fact, I found "Faith and Despondency" to be full of tension in all the right ways. Abel developing psychopathic tendencies, Leland sneaking into the hospital to kill that lady cop, and Moses' trip to the countryside were all great alternatives to Sons' typical in-your-face action. Maybe those developments weren't appropriately balanced with the relationship stuff, but I didn't mind them rolling out in tandem. We've only got a few episodes left in the series; it's time to start knocking stories out. Sons of Anarchy has never been all that well-paced, so I don't expect it to change its ways now.

KAITLIN: Touché. For all my complaints about the various bits and pieces not lining up, this episode really got the ball rolling on many of the season's ongoing storylines, and for that reason, I enjoyed the heck out of it. Did it need to be four hours long? Maybe not, but Gemma finally broke down and asked Nero why he still loves her, which is something I've been wondering myself lately, so I'll put this one down in the win column. Especially since I can't wait to see what comes of the bomb that Abel doesn't even realize he dropped. I think this might be the first time all season that I actually wish it was next Tuesday already. Gemma's gonna get what's coming to her soon, and it's going to be f-ing beautiful.

SKIDMARKS

– Is Unser the strongest cancer patient alive? He somehow overpowered that other dude and then shot him three times. I still want to know when he's going to piece together the Tara and Gemma stuff, too.

– It'll be kind of funny if nothing at all comes of Juice's storyline and he just lives out his days as Tully's weird little pet. I could definitely see taking over the role that Otto used to fill.

– Happy was keeping Moses' fingers as pocket-sized trophies, and even offered one to Rat. I'm not even sure the "normal" Tig would approve of that.

– Did you catch Wendy's battery-operated lover in the opening sex montage? You go, girl!

– How often do you think Jax cries after sex?

– Jax took the news that Nero sold his half of the whore business to Alvarez pretty well, didn't he? Shouldn't he be more concerned?

– How did those hicks just stand there while SAMCRO shot a guy in the wiener and another in the head? How does SAMCRO get away with this stuff without opening themselves up to retaliation?

– T.O. had the line of the night: After someone said, "We got a pile of dead black dudes here," he said, "What, was LAPD here?" Jokes about racist cops on a corrupt police force never gets old.

– The tip-off that the conversations between Tig/Venus and Chibs/Jarry were serious was that the women were calling the men by their first names, Alexander and Phillip.