The Televangelist: ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Season 4, Ep. 9

• FX
• Awww, I really hope my wicked step Dad doesn’t kill you

Do you react physically to TV shows? A friend of mine was recently diagnosed with stress-induced shingles, and he quipped, “I’m in the middle of ‘Breaking Bad’ marathon — coincidence?” I cannot begin to tell you how many Tweets, emails, texts and frantic chat windows I receive (and send!) emoting desperately about television. Whether (to use internet comm speak) “flailing” (out of happiness) or “shaking and crying” (out of sadness or terror), there are so many well-wrought shows out there that, as many of us joked regarding this last season of “Breaking Bad,” they all require Xanax for viewing. What has happened is that certain television shows are really taping in to what sports have been giving us for a long time - engaging our basal ganglia and giving us a vicarious rush related to what’s happening on screen. And when those include shoot outs and double crosses and fighting for one’s life and one’s family … it’s of little wonder our heart rates are up!

“Sons of Anarchy” has always been an intense show, but this season has taken the squirming-while-watching to a new level. “Kiss” was not, for once, about the shoot outs and club double crossings (in fact, the entire Niners plot’s purpose seemed to be to show Jax as an emerging leader), but about Clay’s final steps into completely irredeemable territory, and appearing to take Gemma with him.

There are really only two women on the show, let’s be honest, and people all seem to have a “story” about their initial reactions to them. I’ll go ahead and say that I always liked Tara - I thought she was sensible and rational, and I thought that the way she handled being back around Jax felt very real. Gemma, on the other hand, was not someone I initially warmed up to. As a latecomer to the show, I had already heard friends gushing about how badass and what a great character she was, yet in the first season I mostly found her to be petty and cruel. In the second season she went through some personal trauma that showed not only her true inner strength, but her human vulnerability, and the tables began to turn for me. By the third season I was all aboard the Gemma train, but last night stopped me cold. Not only did Gemma sexually manipulate Unser (let me repeat that. No, in fact, I don’t want to), but she, once again, over estimates her power with and over Clay, and basically handed Tara to him on a platter. I, like Unser, had chosen to believe Gemma did not know the truth about JT’s death and Clay’s involvement in it, but that seems less and less likely. Her frantic pleading with Unser regarding saving Clay (“I love him!” she says, getting choked up. Choked up … did Clay try to choke her a few episodes back? Right, just checking) was awfully sad. It’s a terrible relationship those two have, and though we have some respect for how Gemma manages to stay sane (and alive) as the club’s de facto matriarch, we must not forget that she fully and willingly inserted herself into this position with a man she knew to be, well, bad.