Waaaay back on the first recap for this show, I compared Sons of Anarchy unfavorably to The Sopranos, labeling it as another in a line of anti-hero focused crime dramas with the same narrative arc of ever worsening moral decay. Obviously, I was wrong; the show has deepened and evolved considerably since that opening episode, and what we have here isn't an amoral leading man surrounded by various flavors of sociopath. Instead, Sons has kept the ethical ambiguity on the back-burner, and seriously ramped up the plotting and stakes with each new week. "Falx Cerebri" may not have had any deep lessons to teach us (although who knows?), but it's hard to care about that when you're sitting so far off the edge of your seat you're in danger of biting your knees.
Zobelle's endgame notched into place tonight, but before we get to that, there's a seemingly minor scene I'd like to mention that, for me, points to how neatly Sons deals with both the undeniable bad-ass-itude of its heroes and the questions their impulsive actions often raise. Tara and Gemma are continuing their slow bonding dance, and while the boys are off trying to get some vengeance for Chib's injuries (he's okay, although still in critical condition by the episode's end), Gemma takes her honorary daughter-in-law out for some target shooting. It goes well, and then, since the two of them are parked outside Luann's studio, the porn star who'd been hitting on Jax shows up, and Tara threatens her with the gun. She's been having doubts about the current direction of her life, but underneath her supposedly civilized exterior beats the heart of a woman who likes fucking her boyfriend in public restrooms and shooting up the cars of anyone who throws a glance Jax's way. So that's what she and Gemma do (the latter, not the bathroom sex thing) (you nut).
It's a funny, weirdly touching scene; Gemma and Tara have been at each other's throats since the show began, and the fact that they've got a lot more in common than they'd like to admit has made Gemma's struggles over her own shame and guilt much easier to take. But at the same time, well, this isn't really good guy behavior, is it? Sure, the woman was annoying and insulting towards Tara, but wrecking her car in broad daylight isn't exactly a smart move. It's an exciting mood, and it's gotta feel pretty great, but while I'm sure this will be just fine in the long run, too much of this stuff is what gets the club in trouble; too much of this "pulling the trigger 'cause it feels good" craziness, and you aren't really good guys anymore. You're bullies and morons who can't think beyond whatever electrical impulses hit the brain stem first. That Sons can both give you the thrill of being a sonofabitch—and really, Charming is basically just Disneyland for ass-kicking—but to also keep the edge of unease without falling into dull moralizing, that's impressive.
But really, that's mostly background noise. The big excitement in "Falx" was the aftermath of the van bomb that put Chib in the hospital. Clay wants immediate retaliation, and there's no way a club vote is going to stop him. So Jax tries to run interference by talking with Hale behind Clay's back, wanting to get to Zobelle first to let things cool down before the situation spirals completely out of control. Most of the episode is spent with both groups working to hunt the big bad white man down, and neither having any luck until the end. There are some reveals along the way (whoa, the Irish are with Zobelle? That can't be good), and in the end, even Jax gets played. Everybody walks into the trap you sort of figured had to be waiting there all along, and Clay, Jax, and most of the rest of the crew get arrested, with video evidence of them shooting up a family church meeting.