It was always going to come to this, but I don’t think anyone wanted to admit it. After his showdown with Father Ashby last week, Jax is seriously considering leaving Abel behind in Ireland so that he may grow up in a life that doesn’t involve guns, pornstars and murder. But before he makes his decision, he at least wants to make sure that his son is in good hands. When Jax arrives at the orphanage, however, the head nun tells him that Abel has already been adopted and refuses to reveal any information about the couple. Gemma isn’t particularly happy about this revelation and decides to hold one of the other babies at gunpoint until she gets some answers. It was a pretty sadistic thing to do, but the nun clearly believed that Gemma was capable of following through on her threat, so she gave Jax the couple’s name and the hotel they’re staying at in the interim.
Jax convinces Gemma to let him stake out the situation on his own, and when he follows the couple from the hotel to an outdoor market, he gets a chance to observe just how well they’re caring for Abel. It’s probably the first time we’ve seen Jax smile all season long, and although the thought of letting Abel go brings him to tears, he ultimately decides that it’s in his best interest. Of course, Gemma doesn’t agree, and will do whatever it takes to convince him otherwise – even if that means revealing Tara’s little secret.
Unfortunately, he doesn’t have much control in the matter, as the decision is pretty much made for him when they learn that Jimmy O has murdered the couple and taken Abel hostage after torturing (and then killing) Sean Casey for information on his whereabouts. Jimmy just wants safe passage to the United States and is offering Abel’s return in exchange. The IRA council agrees to Jimmy’s deal, but on one condition: that SAMCRO kills him when they get back to the States. And as an added bonus, the IRA offers the Sons the chance to expand their gun trade by making them their main contact for the Northwest region. And apparently, Father Ashby is also part of the deal, as he’s agreed to go as Jimmy’s hostage in trade for Abel. Jax seems to think that means Ashby has signed his death sentence by getting in the car with Jimmy, but I feel like we haven’t seen the last of him yet.
Meanwhile, back in Charming, Chief Unser has Jacob Hale brought down to the station to inquire about city council’s unanimous decision to essentially shut down the local police department. Hale claims that there was nothing he could do about the vote, but Unser has bigger fish to fry – namely, his involvement in the development deal connected to Lumpy’s boxing gym. You have to give Hale some credit for maintaining his cool and casually brushing off Unser’s allegations, but now that Hale has screwed him over, you can bet that Unser will be devoting all his energy into taking him down.
Of course, the one person who can connect Hale to the attack on Lumpy is Salazar, so when Unser learns that the ex-Calaveras president is also responsible for Tara and Margaret’s kidnapping, he asks Tig to keep Salazar alive so that he can use him against Hale. Surprisingly, Agent Stahl also agrees to help in the rescue attempt, if only to ensure that Jax isn’t distracted from his business in Ireland, but when the money drop goes south, Tig fears that they may have lost their only chance to save Tara.
But Tara has plans of her own, and after stabbing Salazar’s girlfriend in the throat with a broken piece of glass, she makes a deal to save her life in exchange for Margaret’s freedom. The cut is too deep, however, and when Salazar’s girlfriend bleeds out, he puts a gun to Tara’s head just as Jax receives a call from Tig informing him of her kidnapping. The episode ended on a cliffhanger, naturally, but I seriously doubt that Tara was killed. More likely, Salazar shot her in the stomach and Tara will lose the baby as a result, but I guess we’ll just have to wait until next week to know for sure.
