One of my favorite lines from 'Phantom of the Opera' by Andrew Lloyod Weber is 'It's over now, the music of the night', in case all y'all are wonderin' why that line is so familiar. . .

First, and foremost, Tig survived! I gave up tryin' to figure out where Sutter is goin' with the series and just enjoyin' the ride. Everytime I think - as a writer - that I know where he's goin', he throws a curve ball. During the first airin', when that scene came up, I was on the edge of me seat, and nearly stopped breathin'. It SO looked like Jax was sellin' Tig out for a maintenance contract and a house for Lyla and Opie's kids (and her kid)! Then Jaxass goes to save the day. Can't blame Tig for bein' upset by Jaxass waitin' til the last moment to do so. . .what IF Pope hadn't taken his time???? Tig gettin' to pull the trigger on Pope, especially aftere the prejuidicial comment Pope made about Dawn/Marguax, was poetic justice in my book. The fact that it was Clay's gun, and the only prints that would be on it would be Clay's (Tig, Jaxass and Juice used gloves to handle it) is even more poetic and shows to me just how betrayed Tig felt by Clay.

So, yes, I'm relieved! The pit bull fighting has some of the FB/Twitter community's drawers in a wad over the animal abuse. I loved Rippin-Kitten's tweet that there wasn't such a hue and cry over Gem's holdin' a gun to a baby's head in S3! My take on it is that most people don't see or know just how vicious dog fightin' can be. Sutter went ballz to the wall to put that out for all to see what it really is. And unfortunately, when a pit - or any other dog - doesn't perform as well as it should've, the owner WILL outright kill it. Tig's reaction not just to the wounded dog's fate, but to the dead dogs is one of those reasons we love him.

Otto is one sick fuck. Who would've guessed that he'd bite off his own tongue so he wouldn't have to give a statement? And takin' that piece of meat and throwin' it at the window where Torric was watchin'? Talk about one showin' defiance? Wowser. More on this in a minute.

Wendy seemed a little rocky from the speedball Jax gave her. That was a nasty ass bruise on her shoulder, and Tara needs to take that into consideration somewhere down the road. I hope that the fact this was intramuscular as opposed to intravenous doesn't make Wendy go off the wagon.

I had to wonder why in Hell Chucky would take the gift basket from Tara/Jax's house to the garage. He had to know that Gemma would get curious! When I heard him say it had perishables, it kinda made a little more sense. Unfortunately, this set the stage for two fierce mothers to go to combat. Tara stood up to Gemma, but Gemma struck back as only Gemma can. Thank Gawd she didn't have a skateboard!

Was anyone else a little let down that we didn't see much Mayan action this season? Especially Alvarez. But it was great seein' the Mayan Calvary come to the rescue in the showdown between SAMCRO, Nero's group, and Dante's group. Let's hope for more Alvarez next season, eh?

Bobby has withdrawn from bein' VP, but is still in the club. This was kinda inevitable. He was not happy with Jaxass' behavior and removin' the VP patch was his best way of showin' it. Bobby's line to Jaxass about havin' the potential to be better than Clay was right on the money. The gavel is not what distorts a person, it's the secrets one keeps from his crew that distorts.

Both Clay and Tara were brought to the pinnacle of hope for a new start, only to be plummeted into the valley of dispair and arrested. I actually felt sympathy for Clay. He knew he'd fucked up last season (a few weeks ago in SOA time), but the only thing he really seemed to regret was losing Gemma. Both she and Juice gave him up; Gemma by out and out lying to Eli about Clay's whereabouts, and juice by stayin' silent. Gemma has really gotten her revenge for the smack down. Clay is now a marked man; Pope's successor has put the $5 million bounty on Clay's head, and he's going to be basically unprotected. Is he emotionally broken so that he'll be glad for Death? As for Tara, she was all set for Providence, only to be arrested on a murder warrant for her part in Pamela Torric's murder by Otto.

Now, there are two possibilities as to who spilled the beans. The popular thought is that Gemma contacted the investigators at Stockton and told her tale. My DH brought up another possibility; that Otto gave a written statement naming Tara as his co - conspirator. Granted, Otto can't talk, but he did say that Sons live, Redwood bleeds. Somehow, I don't see just killin' the nurse was the only bleedin' goin' on. What better revenge against the club than havin' the current Prez' old lady go down for murder?

So we end the season with a tableau very nearly like the ending last Season. In this case, Jax is sitting at the kitchen table with his son, the legal papers re: the kids, the houses, and the life insurance policy are torn in half in front of him. Gemma walks in after seein' Tara in the back seat of the police cruiser, touches the kid first, then places her hand on Jax's left shoulder (Tara's hand went over the right shoulder). Interestin' juxtaposition.

Like any pregnancy, it's gonna be a LONG 9 months before Season 6. Anyone else gettin' weird cravin's?