All the hype about a special 90-minute episode amounted to 55 minutes of actual show with really long commercial breaks. Weak. This did, however, allow them to stretch out Gemma’s subdued disclosure to Jax and Clay about the rape through an emotional montage at the end (was Piney really contemplating suicide?!). That a show filled with so many badass moments can deliver hefty emotion like we saw here…it’s just another reason to love it.

And bravo to the writers (Dave Erickson and Stevie Long in this case), because Gemma doesn’t finally squawk about the rape because she wants revenge. She told them because it was the only way she knew to bring the family back together; her confession acts as the “balm” to SAMCRO’s wounds. At the end we see Jax taking back his Redwood Originals tags, and judging by the footage from next week he has no intention of going Nomad anymore. Not gonna lie, when Jax puts his hand on Clay’s shoulder I welled up a bit.

Chibs, who has essentially been a background character for two seasons, came to the forefront in this episode, and even turned stoolie for Stahl to protect his wife and daughter. We got to learn where he got his Glasgow Smile – an injury actor Tommy Flanagan suffered in real life.

Now that SAMCRO is basically surrounded on all sides by enemies (including each other), it was nice to see them at least make a new business ally with the Native Americans. I liked how the mushroom slinger stated that there is no jurisdiction on their land – it’s the only place SAMCRO has left.

- Oh Mars