When are secrets the characters are carrying effective tension-builders? When is it good for the audience to know something that the characters don't and vice versa? The show's extra-long season finale caused me to ponder these topics once again.

Overall, there was a propulsive sense of forward movement in the episode, and some excellent character moments as well. However there was a twist at the end of the episode, one that both worked and didn't work.

Was the twist entertaining on one level? Sure. But it was also indicative of some of the problems of this uneven season.


On one level, it was pleasing (and a relief) to see Jax pull out a win. Anticipating that Agent Stahl would betray him in any number of ways, Jax wriggled out of the ATF agent's trap and got exactly what he wanted. Gemma is clear of all serious charges, the club will do short time for the church raid and he managed to both deliver Jimmy O'Phelan to the ATF and kill the Irish gun-runner as well. That was one hell of a to-do list, but the Sons checked off every item on it, with ingenuity and a well-coordinated team effort.

The club's future is solidified, or so it would seem. Once the members of SAMCRO are out of jail, they can resume business with the Irish council and expand the reach of the club. New charters are on the horizon and now that Jax has apparently accepted his role as the club's president-in-training, the future for the Sons looks, well, not bright (it can't be when there's danger around every bend in the road), but the Sons post-jail life looks prosperous, at the very least.

So the well-paced finale wrapped up a bunch of stories and gave Season 4 something of a clean slate, and it also gave the show some potentially intriguing story lines for the future.

Yet the finale left me with a very big question, and it's like an itch in a hard-to-reach spot. It's driving me a little crazy, and it meant that I couldn't fully enjoy the outcome of Jax's slick moves. And though I'll be the first to say I love a good twist, this one deprived us of something the season as a whole has been missing.
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