A television show usually places a few months, sometimes even a year in between seasons. It allows for the characters within the world to gain perspective on the events of the prior season and necessary setup for the new season. The adrenaline from the final few episodes of last season drain so that the new season can start a new boil on new conflicts. Season three of SoA took a different route. The events of S3 take place almost immediately after S2. We find Jax devastated by the knowledge that his son has been kidnapped and we gain a rough outline of where the season will go with the Sons tracking down all leads on Abel in the first few episodes.
June Wedding, the penultimate episode of S3, picks up with the Sons returning to Charming. They've just risked their lives in Belfast retrieving Abel, and aren't even afforded one day of rest after Jax learns the night prior to their return home that Tara has been kidnapped by Salazar. It isn't long before Gemma confronts Agent Stahl at gunpoint and threatens her career if she doesn't end the deal with Jax. Meanwhile, Jimmy has worked out a deal with the Russians to get him to South America for three quarters of a million dollars and a sweetheart deal on guns for the foreseeable future.
The episode comes to a head toward the end when Salazar takes Tara to Jacob Hale's office and holds them both hostage in exchange for safe passage to Mexico. His grudge goes deeper than that, as he wants to cut Tara into pieces in front of Jax. Hale stabs Salazar with a pen before that can happen. Salazar is able to bolt from the room. Jax gives Tara the gun and tells her to shoot anyone she sees who's not a cop. He chases after Salazar with the knife Salazar had intended to slice Tara with. Salazar ends up at a door at the end of a long hallway with an axe in his hand and Jax right behind him. Jax convinces him to drop the axe by telling him that the Sons don't want him dead, they want him to rat on Hale about being hired by him to intimidate Lumpy into selling his business, actions which led to Lumpy's death.
Jax doesn't keep his promise. The moment Salazar's axe drops, Jax jams the knife into his abdomen and kills him. Outside Stahl devises a plan to keep her job safe. She really goes off the deep end and kills her partner, later completing her plan to frame her partner for the dirty kill she committed by pinning the murder on the now dead partner.
I remember this season as the weakest of the bunch. Too many sacrifices are made by picking up right where S2 left off. Neither the characters nor their conflicts are allowed to breath. SoA loses much of its focus on the dissension within the MC in favor of a simpler find Abel season. The Belfast excursion provided for an interesting setting and some fresh conflicts, but I was always disappointed that the season didn't have enough meat on the bone. The final two episodes of the season are quite strong, though. I'll discuss a couple points I find most interesting.
Isn't it fascinating that Jacob Hale materializes as the greatest threat to the Sons in S3? David Hale's older, less scrupulous brother. His gerrymandering of city council pushes out Charming PD and puts the Sons on track for jail time. Jacob Hale takes a page from Zobelle when he realizes the way to hurt the Sons is to bend the will of Charming against them.
Another thread I've followed is the way Jax seems to have an epiphany in Belfast upon finding Abel's adoptive parents murdered. Protect your own by any means necessary. His father's memoir never seems further out of reach than now. Jax's qualms with violence, with the MC running guns, never seem more distant. Jax is billed from the beginning as a big picture guy. Clay is the in the moment, shortsighted one. Ironic then that Jax succumbs to his need for revenge on Salazar rather than letting him take down Hale, the real threat to the Sons' future.
Isn't it just fitting that the rift between Tig and Kozik is over a dog? A beautiful German shepherd named Missy. They spend half the season immaturely beating the other to a pulp and bickering like a couple of old grandmas. We'd be giving these guys too much weight if Missy were anything other than a dog. Tig's storyline consistently throughout S3 was the highlight in my book. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Abel's safe. But we knew he would be from the get-go.
June Wedding, the penultimate episode of S3, picks up with the Sons returning to Charming. They've just risked their lives in Belfast retrieving Abel, and aren't even afforded one day of rest after Jax learns the night prior to their return home that Tara has been kidnapped by Salazar. It isn't long before Gemma confronts Agent Stahl at gunpoint and threatens her career if she doesn't end the deal with Jax. Meanwhile, Jimmy has worked out a deal with the Russians to get him to South America for three quarters of a million dollars and a sweetheart deal on guns for the foreseeable future.
The episode comes to a head toward the end when Salazar takes Tara to Jacob Hale's office and holds them both hostage in exchange for safe passage to Mexico. His grudge goes deeper than that, as he wants to cut Tara into pieces in front of Jax. Hale stabs Salazar with a pen before that can happen. Salazar is able to bolt from the room. Jax gives Tara the gun and tells her to shoot anyone she sees who's not a cop. He chases after Salazar with the knife Salazar had intended to slice Tara with. Salazar ends up at a door at the end of a long hallway with an axe in his hand and Jax right behind him. Jax convinces him to drop the axe by telling him that the Sons don't want him dead, they want him to rat on Hale about being hired by him to intimidate Lumpy into selling his business, actions which led to Lumpy's death.
Jax doesn't keep his promise. The moment Salazar's axe drops, Jax jams the knife into his abdomen and kills him. Outside Stahl devises a plan to keep her job safe. She really goes off the deep end and kills her partner, later completing her plan to frame her partner for the dirty kill she committed by pinning the murder on the now dead partner.
I remember this season as the weakest of the bunch. Too many sacrifices are made by picking up right where S2 left off. Neither the characters nor their conflicts are allowed to breath. SoA loses much of its focus on the dissension within the MC in favor of a simpler find Abel season. The Belfast excursion provided for an interesting setting and some fresh conflicts, but I was always disappointed that the season didn't have enough meat on the bone. The final two episodes of the season are quite strong, though. I'll discuss a couple points I find most interesting.
Isn't it fascinating that Jacob Hale materializes as the greatest threat to the Sons in S3? David Hale's older, less scrupulous brother. His gerrymandering of city council pushes out Charming PD and puts the Sons on track for jail time. Jacob Hale takes a page from Zobelle when he realizes the way to hurt the Sons is to bend the will of Charming against them.
Another thread I've followed is the way Jax seems to have an epiphany in Belfast upon finding Abel's adoptive parents murdered. Protect your own by any means necessary. His father's memoir never seems further out of reach than now. Jax's qualms with violence, with the MC running guns, never seem more distant. Jax is billed from the beginning as a big picture guy. Clay is the in the moment, shortsighted one. Ironic then that Jax succumbs to his need for revenge on Salazar rather than letting him take down Hale, the real threat to the Sons' future.
Isn't it just fitting that the rift between Tig and Kozik is over a dog? A beautiful German shepherd named Missy. They spend half the season immaturely beating the other to a pulp and bickering like a couple of old grandmas. We'd be giving these guys too much weight if Missy were anything other than a dog. Tig's storyline consistently throughout S3 was the highlight in my book. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Abel's safe. But we knew he would be from the get-go.