‘Sons of Anarchy’ Review: “Small World”

‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 5 rides again with its sixth episode of the year, “Small World,” as Jax enters into yet another new business venture with Damon Pope, as Nero and Gemma find themselves in a deadly situation and the truth of the mysterious home invasions is revealed.

Last week’s ‘Sons of Anarchy’ episode “Orca Shrugged” saw the club making a bold blackmail gambit to get themselves in the companion business with Nero, Jacob Hale Jr. (and a very special cameo!), while Gemma and Tara bonded over the difficulties of life in SAMCRO.  So how does “Small World”  keep things running?  What more damage can season 5 of ‘Sons of Anarchy’ do?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 5 episode 6, “Small World!”

After the events of the previous episode, Gemma and Tara take care of the children in the morning, as they read the paper to find that Sheriff Roosevelt’s wife is in intensive care.  Over in Oakland, Pope swears to Jax the home invasions have nothing to do with his people, but changes the subject to a new business venture: if the Sons double their cocaine haul, at no additional risk to them, Pope will stop taking half their profit, and throw in an additional $100,000.  Little will change, but wary of getting into the drug business, Jax needs to run it by the MC first, to which Pope replies that he learned a long time ago how to make drugs lucrative for him without any risk.

Back at the hospital, Unser catches up with Roosevelt about his wife’s condition, offering his services, though Roosevelt refuses to step away from the investigation.  Both agree that the attacks seem more tied to the MC than Pope’s crew, but a doctor interrupts them to share news that Roosevelt’s wife has died.  Bummer, dude.

In another part of the hospital, Clay gets a surprisingly clean bill of health, supposedly freed from the oxygen tank, but the former president covers it up and lies to Juice about it outside.  Running into Unser, the former sheriff shares his suspicion with Clay that attacking the sheriff’s wife doesn’t’ seem like  a move Pope would have made, that the conflict feels more local-based.  Unsure of what to do with this revelation, Clay asks that he be sure to check in on Gemma later.  Speaking of Gemma, she walks through her kitchen to find Carla sitting at the table with a gun, and ordering her into the bedroom while she calls Nero!

Back at church (the clubhouse), Jax explains Pope’s proposition to the group, though Clay objects noting that people like Pope tend to end up with more servants than business partners.  Jax presses that while they still want to get out of the drug business eventually, the move makes sense for the moment, and the club votes it in 6-5.  Bobby notes the increasing divide in the group, while Clay observes a suspicious scratch on one of the nomad’s necks.  Meanwhile at Gemma’s , Unser sees Nero rush into the house and drives off in disgust.

Jax meets with the heads of the other gangs to announce Damon’s inclusion in their drug-running plans, being sure to point out it won’t change things much on their ends.  The various heads satisfied, August Marks arrives with a gift for Jax.  He doesn’t have any update on the home invasions, because the streets know nothing about it , but he does have the name and address of the prison sergeant who orchestrated Opie’s murder!.  They scope out his house to confirm his identity, before plotting how best to surprise him.

Back at Gemma’s house,  Carla has her and Nero naked in bed together at gunpoint, ordering Gemma to go down on him.  When she cries through it, Nero dresses and defies Carla, refusing to go through with it and offering his chest if she wants to shoot him.  Resigned, Carla merely says that she wanted to go out “watching you do your thing,” and shoots herself in the head!  Shortly after, Nero covers up the body and explains that Carla was his half-sister who helped him launch his business, and even if she may have been in love with him, she didn’t deserve to go out like that.  Gemma resolves to take care of the body, leaving the cops out of it, as Nero goes to check on the other girls of his outfit.  With few other options, Gemma calls Unser, but he doesn’t pick up.

Back at the prison guard’s home, the Sons burst in and detain the sadistic man, almost taking shotgun blasts when his not-supposed-to-be-home wife bursts in shooting after them.  While Tig secures her, Jax and Chips chase down and tie up the guard.  With both bound and gagged, Tig blithely shoots and murders the man’s wife for making too much noise, as Jax asks him to find a pipe.

Elsewhere, Tara pays a visit to Otto Delaney in prison under the guise of a nurse, begging him to reverse his testimony lest RICO destroy the entire club.  Tara offers him anything he could want to reverse his testimony and forestall execution a while, but refuses to get on her knees when the man asks.  Otto claims he doesn’t want to get on his knees either, before leaving threatening to do something horrible if she should return to try to sway his mind.

Over at Gemma’s Clay surveys the body Gemma has asked him to clean up, which he agrees to do under the condition that he be allowed to visit later.  A visit sounds lovely compared to matters at the guard's household, as the man begs for his life, and Tig returns having only found a snow globe.  To the tune of “Small World,” Jax ignores the man’s pleas and bashes him to death with the globe, reclining in a chair as blood drips down and the snow globe finishes its haunting tune.  Afterward, Tig agrees to dispose of the bodies noting how good the incident made him feel, while Tara ignores Jax’s call.

Jax meets with Pope again, still unsure of the man’s claims that he has nothing to do with the home invasions, but to announce that SAMCRO has voted in their new deal.  Pope points out that the home invasions are likely coming from within, given that all the blow-back lands on Jax himself as President, and explains that fear and greed keep his people in line.  Back at the hospital, Gemma gets a cold reception from Unser, who calls her out on stringing people like himself along in order to do favors.  Highlighting her relationship with Nero, Unser posits that Gemma has no friends, and will die alone just like him.

Riding back toward town, a furious Eli Roosevelt pulls up alongside Bobby, Chibs and Jax, running Bobby off the road out of anger.  Once things have calmed down, Jax apologizes for what happened to his wife, but insists that given their ties to Pope the home invasions have nothing to do to them.  Roosevelt vows to destroy the club, but Jax insists they work together to discover the truth.

Over at Gemma’s, Clay arrives to see her at the same time as Nero, but find the house empty.  At Clay’s urging that they talk man to man, Nero admits he isn’t sure where the relationship is going , after Clay explains that he cleaned up Carla and will provide him the ashes.  Across town, Gemma drinks at a bar, before an attractive younger man (duh, ‘Community’s Joel McHale) flirtatiously offers to buy her a drink.

Jax returns home to Tara, who lies about getting to see Otto just yet, when Jax suggests after their rough couple of days they take a few personal days to head up to the cabin.  Meanwhile, Clay has Juice drop him off, ripping off the oxygen tank as Juice drives off, and entering his home to find the Nomads waiting for him.  Punching one out, Clay exclaims that they weren’t supposed to kill Roosevelt’s wife.  Twist!

The cat finally seems to be out of the bag as Clay is revealed to be behind the home invasions, though the reveal certainly makes the story crowded for potential villians.  About halfway through the season, we have to wonder how much longer Clay's threat can realistically be carried through further seasons, while simultaneously pondering where the Nero and Pope stories have left to go.  "Small World" is certainly a busy episode, bound to be distracted going forward by Joel McHale's appearance, but still remains at least engaging.

Did you get your fill of road-rashing ‘Sons of Anarchy’ drama?  What did you think about the episode? Join us next week for another all-new ‘Sons of Anarchy’ episode recap of “Toad's Wild Ride” on FX!