Sons of Anarchy opened on Tuesday the morning after Abel revealed to Jax (Charlie Hunnam) that Gemma (Katey Sagal) had a hand in Tara’s murder.

Sons of Anarchy Recap

Before Jax confronts his mother, he wants to get more proof that she had anything to do with his wife’s death than just his son’s odd question. He learns from Wendy (Drea de Matteo) that Gemma had asked her to help protect Juice (Theo Rossi) and that Unser (Dayton Callie) ended up getting involved as well. Wendy doesn’t know exactly why Juice went to Gemma, so that’s the next question Jax needs to answer.

Jax takes the information Wendy gave him and tracks down Unser. From Unser, he learns that Gemma called him almost immediately after finding Tara and was an absolute wreck – but she never mentioned spotting any Chinese gang members around the house. Adding to his own suspicions, Unser reveals that the man Gemma fed to him as the culprit, whom he killed, was not even in the state on the date of Tara’s death. With that tidbit, Jax decides he needs to talks to Juice and has Unser help him get a meeting with him at Stockton’s prison.

By the afternoon, Jax gets his face-to-face with Juice. Juice tells Jax that it was Barosky (Peter Weller) who ratted out the location of Lin’s stolen guns – not Jury – and that he’s killed Lin after getting a taped confession. Jax then asks Juice for the truth about Tara’s murder and Juice doesn’t hesitate to tell him exactly what happened the night that led to Tara’s death. Jax struggles through the retelling of the unbelievable story and then notes how much harm the lie about the Chinese has caused. He then leaves, ominously telling Juice, “I’ll make sure it’s quick.”

After his meeting with Jax, Juice calls up Gemma to tell her about the conversation. Gemma, already worried after feebly attempting to shrug of a suspicious Unser, decides it’s time to pack up her getaway bag. She manages to get out of the house before SAMCRO comes by and also manages to evade the club for the remainder of the afternoon all while staying in Charming. Before leaving, she stops by Abel’s school and then her father’s old church, where she meets up with Nero (Jimmy Smits). As she’s discreetly trying to say goodbye, Nero gets a call from Jax, who says he’s looking for his mother and the reason why.

When Unser learns that Juice killed Lin (Kenneth Choi) in jail, he starts to think that Jax’s story about Gemma may have just been a ruse to get in to see Juice. He thinks that Jax double-crossed him and the two have it out. Unser eventually has Jarry put out an APB out on Jax, who successfully avoids getting arrested, losing the cops in a car chase and settling in at the Mayan headquarters. Eventually, the rest of SAMCRO shows up and they have a meeting in which Jax tells them their quest for vengeance against the Chinese was all for naught. It was Gemma who killed Tara.

Later on, Nero comes by the Mayan HQ to chat with Jax. He knows what a terrible thing Gemma did, but encourages Jax not to kill his own mother to avenge Tara’s death. “That’s going to swallow you up,” he tells him. “That’s going to destroy you man.” Jax reassures Nero that he still loves his mother, despite the terrible thing she did. Jax, who had remained stunningly calm, finally breaks down in tears, questioning how his mother could have done this. Meanwhile, Juice is getting a violent beating at the hands of prison guards back at the jail.