Sons of Anarchy Recap “Greensleeves”: What’s In the Box?

In the latest Sons of Anarchy recap, Jax tries to gain leverage over August Marks, but the monster strikes back first with a member of SAMCRO getting cut down in the process….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

There’s a line that’s stuck with me all season long watching the final ride of Sons of Anarchy — sometimes the monsters we don’t see are scarier than the ones we do.

August Marks has been missing in action largely since the second episode of the season where he reminded Jax in not so kind terms that he got his reputation by being the deadliest man on the streets. He laid it out plain and simple — he had no problem killing Jax or any member of SAMCRO if they got in the way of his business. As witnessed on tonight’s episode ‘Greensleeves’, August doesn’t cozy up to blackmail or threats and his bite is far worse than his bark.

And there’s still no sign of August making an appearance just yet. That might be the scariest thing of all because he will eventually rear his ugly head and when he does, hell will follow with him.

Bobby found that out the hard way tonight.

With that sorrow filled line, let’s get into tonight’s recap for Sons of Anarchy.

Fear the Reaper

I’ve got to give it to Kurt Sutter and the creative team at Sons of Anarchy/FX because the promo video for this episode gave the indication that everything was going to swirl around the fallout of Juice finally being captured by his former club and what was believed to be his eventual execution. As it turns out that couldn’t be further from the truth. Juice was here, but his story moved in rapid fire fashion.

As the club convened at the spot in the road where John Teller died in 1993, Jax handed Juice back his cut before the wayward son said ‘I’m sorry’ for about the hundredth time. He hopped on his bike and rode away with Montez and Ratboy following close behind in the van. Juice stops at a local diner where four local California Highway Patrol officers are getting dinner. He shoots out their tires, drops the gun and speeds off in great haste.

When a road block finally slows him down, Juice hesitates for a moment but then puts his hands above his head and surrenders. The thing you have to remember about Juice is above everything else, the club is the only family he’s ever known. Good or bad, that’s who he’s going to be devoted to until the day he dies and that time may be approaching rather quickly with the plan that’s about to unfold when he arrives at county jail.

It seems Jax has offered Juice one last way of getting back in the club’s good graces.

Jax: “I know this is a big risk”
Chibs: “But our boy will do what he’s told. This (holding the reaper) is all that he wants”
Bobby: “He did have a million chances to run”
Jax: “If he stays on plan, Tully will set him up to finally kill Lin”
Happy: “And if he chokes? And we becomes his leverage”
Jax: “Then Tully will kill Juice”

Juice can find a home at the SAMCRO table if he kills Henry Lin inside county jail. At the tail end of the episode after being locked away in isolation away from general population, he meets with one of Tully’s guys inside. This is all there is for Juice now. It’s either kill or be killed. Either Henry Lin dies or Juice never makes it out alive.

This also sets in motion the last play for the Sons against August Marks. They’ve got the Mayans on board and the One-Niners are in their pocket. The only piece of the puzzle still remaining is to eliminate August Marks, but it can’t be done through bullets in the street. That’s a way the Sons might win, but it will probably cost them a lot of lives in the process. The better approach according to Jax is to find something to use against Marks.

“That’s why we need to handle him with leverage, not blood.”
~ Jax

As we find out later in the episode, Marks doesn’t respond well to blackmail, but it sounded like a good idea at the time.

She’s Not Talking

Last week, Deputy Eglee woke up from her coma after being shot several times while watching her partner die a few weeks back. She told her story to the only person she could trust — Wayne Unser, her former boss.

Unser shares this news with Jax and while they never actually say much of anything, everyone knows the SAMCRO was there when both cops were shot. Unser isn’t there to threaten Jax or give him intel. Actually, Unser is there to protect his former deputy and ensure her safety so long as she doesn’t talk.

Jax promises no harm will come to Eglee by his hand or one marked by a swastika as long as her memory stays just as fuzzy as it is right now. If word of her survival leaks out, it’s hard to imagine Leland or Tully being quite as forgiving with Eglee staying alive, knowing she could identify them at any moment.

Before the Sons race off, Unser also lets them in on the news that Juice has been captured by the highway patrol after shooting at a few of them near a diner. The Sons don’t seem to care about the news too much, which only lets Unser know that they already saw this coming. Something tells me, Unser really is going to be the cog that either determines the survival of this club or it’s ultimate destruction because by the end of the series, he’s going to know everybody’s secrets.

A Mother’s Love

To get the necessary leverage against August Marks, Jax needs to make another call to the family of disgraced minister Jonathan Haddem from Piedmont Grace. He convinces Leticia Haddem’s son Grant that they are only there to help and when he goes inside and talks to his mother it’s clear she’s really strung out from far too much heroin. He needs her clean and sober if this plan is going to work. Jax reassures her that everything he’s telling her is the truth before then revealing that he saw August Marks’ men kill her husband and bury him on a piece of his own property (a lie).

What Jax needs is a signed statement from Leticia stating that August personally made threats against her and her family, which then gives the club leverage to hold over his head. If August makes a move, they send this information to the cops and he goes to jail. He plays ball, the evidence stays hidden.

At the same time, Jax and Chibs are dealing with the Piedmont Grace folks, Tig, Bobby and Quinn are reburying Pastor Haddem at the newest Marks construction site. They snap a few pictures of him in the ground to send off as evidence, and the plan is up and running. Leticia agrees to sign the form to give Jax the leverage he needs to keep August at bay and as an extra bonus, he will even send her and her son up to the club’s cabin a few hours away where she can sober up and stay out of harm’s way.

There’s one more problem that has to be dealt with, however, because Pastor Haddem was a busy man when he wasn’t preaching or making land deals. It seems a local pimp named Greensleeves got some snap shots of the good pastor and some little boys engaged in lewd activities at the family cabin and he’s been blackmailing them for cash or he’ll expose the pictures, thus ruining the church for good. Jax agrees to take care of the blackmailer while Leticia and Grant head to the cabin.

“Do you believe in God?” Grant asks Jax as they are about to exit the church
“What’s important is that you do,” Jax says in replay to the preacher’s stepson.

Outside, Jax sets the next phase in motion. He’s got the evidence he needs against Marks, but to make sure his witness stays squeaky clean and out of the press, they need to silence Mr. Greensleeves. He tells Happy and Ratboy to go pick up Gemma and take her to the cabin to help clean up the junkie. Both are resistant at first and with good reason. Telling Gemma to do anything never seems to go well for any of the club members outside of Jax.

Jax: “Are you afraid of my mother?”
Happy: “We all are”

If Happy is scared of somebody, that’s a person you do not want to mess with. He instills them with the confidence to go get Gemma and take her to the cabin. If she asks for details just tell her it’s a ‘mother-son’ problem.

When the boys arrive at the garage to get Gemma she’s already so nervous she’s shaking like a leaf. She knows Juice was picked up by the club and she has no idea what he told them. Gemma’s already convinced that her days are numbered. When Happy shows up demanding she go to the cabin (the same place where Darvany was killed and where Piney met his final end), Gemma is very hesitant but she eventually complies. First things first, she has to go pick up some stuff from her house.

Gemma’s most essential road trip item is a gun. She’s so distraught she doesn’t even have much time to hear Wendy’s explanation about how Abel got sent home early from school for pushing another kid. It’s no big deal. Not like the warning signs are all over the place that little Abel is not adjusting well to life without his mother or father around, especially considering all the heinous shit he’s seen these past few weeks.

Teary-eyed and convinced she’s about to meet her demise, Gemma goes to Thomas’ room to say goodbye to her grandson. He’s the only one that deserves to hear what she’s about to say.

“But accidents, sometimes sweetheart, accidents just happen. They happen for love. They happen for reasons we don’t understand. Killing your mommy was accident. It was such an awful accident. I didn’t want to kill her. I didn’t mean it. I loved your mommy so much. I’m so sorry”
~ Gemma

Gemma’s lack of attention fails her once again because as she’s explaining how she accidentally jammed a carving fork into her daughter-in-law’s head, Abel is standing in the doorway hearing every awful word. He runs away before she notices he’s there, but later that night after Wendy tucks him in bed, Abel wakes up and blankly stares at the wall. I’m starting to wonder if the damage done to this poor kid isn’t too much already? He’s seen things no kid should have to see. He’s heard things no kid should ever hear. And now on top of it all he has to process that he just heard his grandmother admit to killing his mommy. If this kid goes Michael Myers by the end of the series, I won’t be surprised one bit.

Gemma finally grabs her things and heads off to the cabin where she’s sure things are going to get bloody in a hurry.

Exit Strategy

Following a week where he saw his escorts get slaughtered and he ended up living in a closet for an entire day, Nero’s had enough of this whole ‘playing gangster’ thing. Last season with a chance to get out, Nero pulled himself back in because the streets were all he knew. Running a crew and making ends, that was the life Nero inhabited for decades. Maybe he just thought he’d wither up and die without it. Maybe he needed the action. Whatever the reason was, Nero stuck around, but no more.

He’s been a part of too much this season and Nero is looking to get out and away from the Sons of Anarchy and Charming, CA. He’s going to finally buy his uncle’s farm but only after he sells off his piece of Diosa. He asks Gemma to come with him, but she’s not ready to leave her family behind. He convinces her to think about it, but there’s little doubt that Gemma is a Charming girl, through and through. Nero asks Jax to buy him out, but the SAMCRO president isn’t ready to lose his partner. He ‘promises’ that all the bad things are over and done with. When Jax says promise it sound suspiciously like a four-letter word.

As if Jax is trying to further Nero’s resolve, he calls on his friend to help him track down the pimp known as Greensleeves so he can lean on him so he’ll back off from the threats against Piedmont Grace. When they finally happen upon him, Greensleeves is every bit the scumbag you’d imagine a street pimp being — he’s rough on his girls, makes them think they need him more than he needs them, and if they get out of line, there’s a dumpster with their name on it. When Jax and Chibs show up and demand answers, Greensleeves can’t put up much of a fight, but his four girls nearby certainly will. They jump on the Sons and allow him enough time to getaway. Loyalty knows no bounds.

The one girl left behind is named Winsome — she’s the girl who Greeensleeves told doesn’t have a choice to turn down a customer. She doesn’t have a choice to turn down pain. She does what she’s told or what he will do to her is much, much worse. It’s safe to say she’s willing to listen to other offers.

So Nero and Jax tell Winsome if she gives up Greensleeves, he will never bother her again plus she can upgrade and begin working at Diosa. No more pimps. Only an employer (who looks like he’s about to ask for a freebie on your first day of employment mind you). Winsome agrees and gives Jax the address.

When the boys arrive it doesn’t take long for them to overpower Greensleeves, despite his best efforts to hold one of his junkie girls hostage. They get the evidence against the pastor’s family, but Greensleeves just doesn’t know when to shut up. Instead of just biding his time and eventually looking for revenge, he mouths off and it ends with him going (sort of) out a plate glass window. It was supposed to be a suicide, but he got impaled by the glass instead. I guess this is just how stupid pimps die?

Later in the day with Greensleeves handled, Nero pops back up at Diosa North with a new business partner in mind. He’s offering Alvarez and the Mayans to buy out his half of the club. Alvarez scoffs at first thinking that his old friend is just getting nervous after everything that’s happened recently. It’s clear, however, Nero is done. Alvarez promises to take this decision to his table and vote on it. Nero wants out and wants out now.

This kind of urgency only leads me to believe, Nero isn’t getting out of this series alive. He’s one of the good guys who does bad things. Those bad things will eventually catch up to him even if he doesn’t deserve it.

The Cabin in the Woods

When Gemma arrives at the cabin, she’s convinced that Jax will be waiting inside with Juice tied to a chair as he gets ready to slice up his own mother. Walking in, Gemma is ready to pull the trigger on anyone, maybe even her own son. For all of Gemma’s talk about family, she’s always been the most selfish person on this show and I don’t have a doubt in my head that if push came to shove, she’d sacrifice her own son to ensure her survival.

It doesn’t come to that because Gemma is finally introduced to Leticia and Grant, who are there for protection and so the lady of Piedmont Grace can get cleaned up from her heroin addiction. When Wendy calls Nero and tells him that Gemma is being hauled off the cabin, he thinks the worst as well. After last week with Gemma falling over in his arms, worried about what Jax will do if he finds out that she helped Juice escape, he’s more concerned than ever before. It doesn’t help matters much that Gemma was muttering about what Juice might have told Jax as well.

Either way, Nero rushes to the cabin, but when he arrives, Gemma’s in good spirits and safe as can be. She explains to Happy and the guys that to fix a junkie she needed a junkie, thus why Nero was invited along on this little woodsy intervention. Nero is relieved, but still knows that his little mama is walking a very fine line right now. If only he knew the whole story. He might be the one brandishing the gun instead.

What’s In the Box?

Following the incident with Greensleeves, the club reconvenes before enacting their plan against Marks. Unser is worried about Gemma after she was so distraught before heading to the cabin. The guys think it must have something to do with Happy’s way of delivering the news. Unser gets extra verification from Jax that Gemma will be safe, which he gives with no problem. Unser, much like Nero, believes Gemma’s danger stems from helping Juice.

With Gemma in near hysterics, Bobby decides to take the station wagon up to the cabin to check on her while the rest of the club goes with Jax to sit down with Marks. Tyler confirms the time and place and it seems this is the final stand where SAMCRO and the Mayans finally go head to head against August Marks.

Except it’s not. At all.

Bobby’s trip to the cabin is cut short when he’s forced off the road, crashing his car over a ravine. Jax, Alvarez and the rest of the club members sit in a park and wait for over an hour for Marks to arrive, but he never does. Chibs places a call to Tyler, but we never find out if he answered or not.

Finally a car arrives and out steps Moses Cartwright — the head of August Marks’ security team. He’s there for the meeting. Moses has August’s personalized message to the Sons gift wrapped in a box.

“His reply to your request is in the package. I really admire your level of camaraderie. Brotherhood is important to all of you.”
~ Moses Cartwright

When Jax opens the package he finds two patches sitting inside saying ‘Redwood Original’. Below that there’s an iPad with a video just waiting to be played. Like something out of a horror movie when Jax presses play, the club sees Bobby being tortured as his eye is literally ripped from his head with a pair of pliers. Disgusted by the video, Chibs and Tig can barely watch. Jax can’t stop looking.

Under the iPad is a bowl and inside is the eye of their fallen brother, Bobby. It might as well have been his heart, because Bobby Munson has been the life of this club since the first episode. He held it together while Clay and Jax fought tooth and nail while tearing it apart. He was the one who gathered new members when the table was feeling awfully thin. He stuck by Jax through thick and thin and now because the president had the hubris to believe his plan was infallible, Bobby is as good as dead.

August Marks didn’t get where he is in life by crumbling in the face of adversity. He got there by being the one willing to pull the trigger when others wouldn’t. Jax didn’t want to get bloody. August was already dripping in it.

Notes of Anarchy:

— The featured song on tonight’s episode was a cover of the classic folk song ‘Greensleeves’ as sung by Katey Sagal and The Forest Rangers. You can pick it up on iTunes right now. A haunting version of the song.

— The other notable track tonight was from the promo for next week’s episode titled ‘The Separation of Crows’ — ‘The Wicked’ from Blues Saraceno is the song that played during that preview.

— The song Bobby is singing before being taken off the road is “It’s Only Make Believe” by Conway Twitty

— Did anyone else notice the long shots used in tonight’s episode by director Paris Barclay? Especially in the scene where Tig and gang re-bury Pastor Jonathan Haddem at Marks’ construction site. The view was somewhat shaky as if they were being watched. It also reminded me of another scene in the grisly film ‘Seven’ where helicopters are circling over head when Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman take John Doe into the middle of nowhere awaiting a package to arrive. Seven came up again when Moses delivered the video and body parts belonging to Bobby Munson (what’s in the box?!?). A sick savagery shared in both scenes, played out quite brilliantly tonight.

— New character Winsome is played by Israeli actress Inbar Lavi, who also recently starred in the criminally underrated series ‘Gang Related’ where she acted opposite Emilio Rivera, who also plays Marcus Alvarez. Moses Cartwright is played by Mathew St. Patrick, who is best known for his role on the HBO series ‘Six Feet Under’.

— The title to tonight’s episode ‘Greensleeves’ obviously was directly referenced by the lowlife pimp who Jax eventually killed. It was also the song played at the end of the episode. There are several interpretations about the lyrics of the song, but one of the most popular theories involves being about a promiscuous girl or possibly a prostitute, which also references back to the girl we met tonight, Winsome. Maybe she will pop up again after all.

— And in case you didn’t catch all the promo for next week’s episode, Bobby is still alive although how long he stays that way remains to be seen.

Make sure to come back next week for the eighth episode of the final season of Sons of Anarchy titled ‘The Separation of Crows’ at 10pm on FX