I totally agree, I know the show feels it has to do something to make sure people tune in next season but I thought the show was so good we would have even if it ended without a huge cliffhanger. I'm also very happy to see we have all gotten back to "discussing" the show and not making silly predictions and comments about what would happen next. I don't mean predicting on who would die, that is just irresistible. Now besides wondering about Jax's son I still have to know what happened too: 1. LuAnne 2. Darby 3. Tom Arnold
Sutter tweeted the following the other day: Would be cool if this happened. Maybe provide a little backstory on some of the characters.
I kinda agree, but come on, family or not how hard would it have been for Clay to go: 'Have to go, Irish have my grandson....Tig you go kill Zobelle' This just didn't work for me.
While I agree that physically works, I have a feeling that Clay wanted to enjoy killing Zobelle himself, possibly make him beg for his life, beat him a little first, etc.
But for that too hold true Clay would have to have backed himself to find Zobelle again. The same guy he knows to have large amounts of money and was on his way to a chartered plane out of the country. Hell you could even have Tig or whoever kidnap Zobelle for Clay to have his revenge. It just seems if the intention was to let Zobelle go to fight another day this was done in a pretty poor way. Why not have Zobelle escape somehow, be it into a sewer, into the woods whatever. Just some situation where it will take time to find him. Then Clay has to make the call between the time contraints of finding him and the need to go after beanie head. How they wrote it just came off as sloppy. I really hate to pick apart any TV show, I am usually happy to sit back and just go with it. What frustrates me with SOA is 80% of it is brilliant writing but then 20% of the time they just totally phone it in. There seems to be no middle ground.
Clay wanted to kill him himself. Remember in the standoff with the Mayans, one of the Sons asked Clay why he didn't tell Alvarez (Mayan Pres) that Zobelle was and FBI informant. Clay said something to the effect that the Mayans would kill him and he wanted to be the one to do it. I thought about the kidnapping angle too, but remember they were all on bikes so that wouldn't have really been feasible (someone would have had to go for the van, etc). There's a good interview with Kurt Sutter here that talks about it and a lot of other things that happened and will happen. I'll put the section about Zobelle below in spoiler quotes, just in case. Spoiler Finally, because I know people will ask: why doesn't Clay leave Tig or Happy or somebody like that behind at the convenience store to take care of business with Zobelle while the rest of the club goes off to help Jax? I thought about that, and there's a couple things. One was, I wanted to make a statement: I do believe that guys like Zobelle f--king get away. And also, I felt like him saying, "They took my grandson," that ultimately, Clay doesn't have the foresight to say, "Hey, you stay behind." Again, there was that notion that this was completely out of the rule book. And they're in as much shock as they are rage. At that point, nobody is going to desert the club. It's not about that thing now; it's about this thing. We can always come back and take care fo this. It's about helping take care of family, and that ultimately, family is more important than revenge.
They had the van there, remember it was used to shoot the Mayans. Even ignoring kidnapping and Clay wanting to kill Zobelle himself, he still had to have realised his chances of getting Zobelle again were low. Bird in the hand worth two in the bush and all. Even reading Sutters rationale I still just don't buy it.
They used one of Unser's trucks to ambush Zobelle and the Mayans. I remember it said "Unser's trucking" or something like that on the side. Whatever the case, it happened how it happened because Sutter wanted it to. I wonder if we'll see Zobelle pop up again in the future.
I'm not sure that anyone but Sutter is allowed to say what Clay would've or wouldn't've done. I mean, you can say that you don't buy it -- no one can argue with that -- but if you believe that the show is as brilliant as you've stated, doesn't it make more sense that it's a flaw (or whatever) in character, not the writers? Doesn't it make more sense that it's a mistake Clay made? That he wasn't thinking clearly or logically? I don't know. You're certainly entitled to your opinion. I just feel like this show has earned the benefit of the doubt.
You are getting into semantics here, I was pointing out what Clay should have done, not what a character would have done. I also think in Titanic Leo should have revealed he was a Soviet Spy and a Sniper, I accept this is probably not what he would have done. I still maintain he was both. If you read my post I am all for it being a mistake Clay made, fine. My issue was how it was written with Zobelle boxed in a convenience store. I just think there was so many other ways to do it. This just felt weak.
The only reason the Sons didn't catch Zobelle way before Jax called was because he ducked into a crowded convenience store, with lots of collateral damage. They were stuck waiting outside for what, at least 30 mins waiting for the kids to clear out? I mean sure, they could have had Zobelle just disappear into the woods or something, but that would just have made the club look inept at chasing someone down.
I was kinda confused when they didn't turn to the people driving the bus full of kids and say, "It would be a real good idea for you to leave now." I'm surprised the people didn't take that initiative on their own. It was one of the few moments on this show that I believe to be sort of weak and contrived.
I'm not sure what your missing. I understand where you are coming from but you are also expecting a man to make a rational decision when his infant grandson was kidnapped. He reacted, he didn't think. In hindsight (put beside this is a fictional character) he will regret not leaving happy behind. This man raped his wife, he wants to kill him himself. It may take patience and time but it need's to be by his hand. The point your missing is that Clay killing Zobelle is more important to him than Zobelle's death. Otherwise he could have had the Mayan's do it. I do agree with your 80/20 point, on one side the show blows you away then they end the show with a kidnapping and Gemma on the lam. I also was a little confused with the shootout on the highway followed by Zobelle being trapped at a convenient store scenario, the show used the old "no cop's for miles around here" logic I guess. I know Zobelle called Hale but I thought the carnage on the highway may have gotten some attention. Still it's the best show on TV. Sorry icc, but I think I like it more than Lost!! (thank god you really can't get neg comments anymore!!)
I'm not sure what YOU are missing. He had the chance to brutally kill (which I'd be ok with) the guy that fucked up his club, and ruined everything he holds dear. In a real world, he finds a reason to deal with that, even when his family is in danger.
Finally watched the finale and I hated it. The first 2/3s of the episode were good but then it all started falling apart. The perfectly packaged way Gemma gets pinned for both murders, the way that Tara did fuck-all to intervene with Cam when he was stealing the fucking baby and stabbing Half-Sack, and Jax + entourage just sitting on the dock in a marina full of boats as Cam takes off with Abel instead of commandeering one and going after him. I was praying that the camera would show the little baby blue SOA beanie floating in the water, and that when we see Abel next season he's rocking a tweed cap.
] I'm not sure what YOU are missing. He had the chance to brutally kill (which I'd be ok with) the guy that fucked up his club, and ruined everything he holds dear. In a real world, he finds a reason to deal with that, even when his family is in danger.[/quote] You must not have kids. He would drop everything to make sure the child is ok. Even if it means leaving behind the man who raped his wife, any father or grandfather would. In a real world he does exactly what he does, leaves and help's his family. If you were Jax you would have been ok with Clay saying " I know this is an emergency but I finally have Zobelle where I want him, be there in an hour" I doubt it. I know the man had Jax's mother raped, at that point he could care less. Enough with all the scenario's of sprinting in the store shooting Zobelle and going to meet Jaz. Zobelle was going to do whatever it took to survive, fight, hide anything. Clay knew that, he was going to be patient and smart and absolutely brutal.
Is there any way I can catch up on the past two seasons without getting the DVDs or watching online? Like a marathon FX might be running or something?