‘Sons of Anarchy’ Review: “Poenitentia”

‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 6 roars out its third episode of the year “Poenitentia,” as Lee Toric steps ups his game to incriminate SAMCRO and Nero, while Jax and Barosky (Peter Weller) deal with fallout from the Iranians, and Clay faces his fate behind bars.

Last week’s ‘Sons of Anarchy’ episode “One Six Six” saw Jax and Nero taking steps to avoid police learning their guns caused the school shooting, while Clay prepared to turn on SAMCRO from behind bars and Tara plotted changes after her release from prison, so how does “Poenitentia” keep the season rolling?  Will ‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 6 finally mark the end for SAMCRO?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 6 episode 3, “One One Six!”

DA Patterson leads a press conference explaining that they don’t yet have a lead on the weapon that Matthew Jennings used, nor have they located his mother or Arcadio. A short while later, Lee Toric hears someone pulling up to his motel room, so he grabs his gun and looks out the window to find Patterson and her associates. Toric is startled from behind by his Diosa hooker and accidentally shoots her in the stomach, apologetically finishing the job with a pillow over her head to keep her quiet.

Keeping the girl out of sight, Toric answers the door and gets an assignment from Patterson to investigate Nero’s Byz-Lat crew in search of Darvany and Arcadio. Meanwhile, Jax visits Sheriff Roosevelt to see if he has any knowledge of what’s going on with Clay, or Toric’s involvement in the case, but Roosevelt denies any connection. Elsewhere, Tara drops the boys off at TM and goes to the hospital for another appointment.

Jax sits down with Clay inside the prison, immediately seeing through his "mea culpas" to get to the heart of the matter. Clay admits that Toric approached him to turn, though he refused to give up the club, and will likely die in general population. Jax approaches the glass to apologize to Toric for the loss of his sister, something the club itself had nothing to do with, though he threatens that should Toric go after Tara again, Jax will make certain Toric knows how personal the matter is for him. After Jax leaves, Toric makes one last press for Clay to sign the papers, though he still refuses.

Jax returns to TM to bring the matter to the table, reasoning that they’ll learn whether or not Clay turned by his survival the following day. Elsewhere, Bobby recruits two more wayward Sons to complete his new Nomad chapter, while Toric gruesomely interrogates Nero’s men about Darvany by using their teeth to open a beer bottle, though they refuse to talk. Back at TM, Wendy arrives looking for Jax, claiming to have been repeatedly threatened by a menacing man at her AA group, and Gemma resolves to speak to her son on the matter.

Over at Barosky’s bakery, Jax, Collette and the man discuss how best to legitimize Collette’s brothel before the meeting is quickly interrupted by a drive-by shooting. No one important sustains injuries, while the plates are identified as those of Amir Ghanezi, the Iranian torture pornographer. Reasoning the man might still be upset about the loss of his business, Barosky and the Sons venture down to his boat in Stockton, with Jax and Barosky leading the charge in disarming themselves to broker peace.

Amir accuses Jax of having his brother Kia killed, given the man hasn’t checked in since the groups saw each other last, and Kia’s jacket washed up by the studio. Barosky vouches for Jax that no such orders took place, but the tide quickly turns when Barosky slashes one of Amir’s guards’ throats in retaliation for the drive-by. Afterward, Barosky reasons to Jax that someone in his crew might have disobeyed orders to release Kia, something Jax resolves to handle from within.

Released to general population, Clay gets as far as the prison changing room before three of Marks’ men arrive with a shiv. Clay puts up a valiant fight, but ends up beaten down and asking for the deed to be done quickly, though the lead thug surprisingly offers him a different choice. Back at TM, Tara returns to find Gemma asking about any developments with Wendy, something Tara stifles in revealing herself to be pregnant. Once Gemma turns however, Tara flexes a momentary look of panic about her face.

Returning to the bakery, Jax waits for the other Sons to depart before asking Tig about Kia, though Tig insists he let the brother go as ordered. Jax sends him back to the studio to begin moving all the leftover Ghanezi equipment to their warehouse, with plans to reboot Cara Cara. Meanwhile, Clay enters the prison yard and brokers a meeting with an influential white gang member named Carson, at which point Marks’ lead thug begins a riot in the yard and allows Clay time to shiv Carson in the confusion. Elsewhere, Toric removes a hair and clothing sample from his dead hooker, and assures the corpse he’ll make the death matter.

Jax arrives to Diosa looking for Collette, but instead finds the woman mid-session with Barosky, something Barosky notices and flashes Jax a menacing smile over. Afterward, Jax meets with August Marks to reveal that they purposely allowed Clay to live in order to help broker SAMCRO’s exit from the gun trade, while Jax offers Marks a silent partnership in Cara Cara. Marks inquires about their other business together, to which Jax reluctantly hands over a piece of paper containing Tig’s location.

Wendy arrives to Gemma’s disappointed to learn she hasn’t had a chance to speak with Jax, though Gemma offers Wendy a gun to protect herself in the interim. Elsewhere, Clay is thrown into solitary for the night, where another of Marks’ men smuggle him in a blade to protect himself. Collette bids Barosky farewell and calls Jax, though he purposefully doesn’t respond, and finds Tara’s positive pregnancy test on the kitchen table.

Toric follows Nero to Gemma’s house, stealthily dumping the evidence from his hooker in Nero’s car, as Roosevelt and his officers find the girl dead by the roadside nearby. Meanwhile, Wendy wipes her neck of makeup used to fake her bruises, while Tig is surprised to find August Marks and his men entering the studio to confront him. Jax shows Tara that he found the test and assures her he loves her, though Tara’s private expression again seems nervous.

So... remember that school shooting that took place on the series two weeks ago, a matter of days by story time, for which the boy's mother was just brutally murdered? Nope, we didn't either. We're starting to see behind a bit of the outrage from creator Kurt Sutter's inclusion of the shocking event in the premiere, as the only real consequences of the heinous act have been portrayed as an inconvenience for SAMCRO, while the mother barely merits a mention.

Elsewhere, "Poenitentia" suffers a bit from a lack of advancement, already returning to the torture porn story as a means to action, and to a lesser extent moving up Tig's departure date. Given 'Sons of Anarchy''s propensity to follow through with fake-outs and last-minute reprieves however (much in the manner Clay survived the night), we wouldn't hold too much stock in Tig being dead by the opening credits next week.

It certainly seems as if both Tara and Wendy are up to something, though it remains to be seen if the stories have any relation, between Wendy faking her injuries from an attack, and Tara seeming so nervous anytime someone learns of her pregnancy. The positive test seems as if it might act as confirmation, but Tara could also easily manage a fake, given her line of work. It was good to see Sheriff Roosevelt again as well, as Toric's villainy certainly needs a new outlet besides pressing Clay, or committing his next heinous act of cruelty.

What say you? Did you get your fill of road-rashing ‘Sons of Anarchy’ action?  What did you think about tonight’s all-new episode, “Poenitentia”? Join us next week for another all-new ‘Sons of Anarchy’ recap of “Wolfsangel,” and stay tuned as we bring you additional coverage on tonight’s episode with series creator Kurt Sutter!