Sons Of Anarchy season 3 episode 6 review: The Push

3.6 The Push

After a very hit and miss season so far, this week’s episode builds on the relief that I felt last week when things started picking up. Furthermore, a lot of reader feedback on the previous reviews has displayed unified disdain for the Belfast plot arc, and all of you will be thankful to hear that there is barely a whisper of it this week.

The Push feels a lot like the episodes from season one. It’s a lot more fun than the ones previous to it and, instead of throwing new minor characters into the mix like the show has been doing all season, it (for the most part) sticks with the ones we know and love as well as bringing in a few old faces. 

To kick off the episode we get a nice big scrap between Kozik and Tig. There are reasons why Tig doesn’t trust Kozik and doesn’t want him back in SAMCRO, but we aren’t told why, or at least not yet.

The main order of business is that the Sons need money to get to Belfast. And, obviously, if you have a large chunk of your business involved in the criminal world, the quickest way to do this is to sell some drugs. The first way in which they do this is to hijack a Mayan drug shipment and then give it back to them. Through this, a truce is agreed and the Sons get a $25k cut from the protection offered by the Grim Bastards to each shipment.

The second way they go about procuring money through drugs doesn’t go so well. The Sons still have a large amount of prescription drugs to move and the only way to do so is to sell them to drug clinics. Naturally, a group of mean, dirty bikers can’t do this, so Jax ropes in Tara to help, as she is a surgeon and happens to know clinics that would benefit from the drugs. So, with that, the drugs are sold on and surely another payday is on its way.

It is due to this that Charming’s most inept thug, Darby, is returned to us. Assumed dead after the Cara fire in season two, Darby returns a heavily scarred and heavily bandaged man, and, as always, he is causing trouble for the Sons. Shortly after the sale of the drugs, the SAMCRO clubhouse is raided by the police. It seems pretty clear to the viewer that this is because Darby saw the deal and reported it to Jacob Hale. However, none of the Sons know this, and as a result, it looks to them like the doctor at the clinic told the police. 

Whilst the police didn’t find any drugs at the clubhouse, the thought of Tara losing her medical license and ending up in jail is too much to bear for Jax, and he ends up breaking up with her. There has been a lot of strain on the relationship for the whole season and the break-up isn’t at all surprising. There still is, however, the issue that Tara is pregnant and Jax doesn’t yet know about it. This is something that I’m certain will become a huge arc later in the season.

Jax is already reaping the rewards of last week’s confrontation with Stahl. She has managed to pull some favours to keep the Sons out of jail for another ten days, giving them enough time to (hopefully) return to Belfast and get back Abel. Stahl also prepares a statement for Gemma to memorise, in which she says she killed Polly Zobelle in self defence and that Stahl’s co-worker and lover killed Ed Hayes.

Stahl acts with disbelief throughout the scene and convinces her lover that there is no evidence to support what Gemma has said. While Stahl’s choice to make her partner the scapegoat to the crime is shocking, it’s hardly surprising given her track record. 

Stahl is quickly becoming a favourite character of mine. She’s ice cold and is the kind of villain that you can consistently love and hate, often in the space of an episode.

As I said at the start of the review, there has barely been a mention of Belfast throughout the episode, and it is better for it. It also looks like we are finally getting our promised visit to Belfast for the Sons.

Oswald makes a return in this episode, and after being convinced by Clay that things in Charming are getting back to normal, he agrees to help the Sons onto a cargo flight to Manchester the next day. 

The season finally seems to be building some real momentum with the last two episodes being particularly enjoyable. There are enough arcs to keep the season going for another seven episodes without it feeling as cumbersome as it did at the start of the season.

The episode ends with Jax having sex with one of the porn stars, while in the shot previous to it, we see Tara lying awake, implying that she is considering her pregnancy. I can imagine, as we go into the final stretch of the season, this is going to take up a lot of the screen time. Provided the season keeps up current form, we should have plenty to keep us occupied until we get there.

Read our review of the episode 5, Turning And Turning, here.