Really? I don't think it does, a mid-teen girl who's father fathered a child with another woman, left the family, and from her persecptive puts her in danager pretty often who revolts and does these things. Seems actually pretty realistic and I like the way it has developed. As a result of Vic fighting so hard to 'save the world' he has overlooked doing his duties as a father.

I agree with Blinden about what caused Cassidey's disruptive behavior- I just don't really care about it and would rather see that screen time go towards any of the following:

-Tina (doing anything)
-Julian
-Billings


Once we found out Cassidey is Chiklis' real life daughter, we began referring to her as Michael Dickless.

blinden,
I don't think the plot to have her rebel/revolt is bad. I think having her as this mastermind of a party where they do X is. It's possible I am judging this incorrectly because I think the character of Cassidy is younger than she really is.

The Dutch/psycho killer kid storyline is pretty awesome. I keep thinking back to that scene from a while ago where Dutch strangles a cat and how he mentioned cruelty to animals as one of the "symptoms".

Think it would be pretty funny if the kid started tormenting Dutch in some way.

I think when I was the age I perceive her to be, there were a few kids my age that were doing stuff of this nature. These were troubled youth, which I think she very much is, she'll be preggers soon too. I think they have to be sure to cross the line between typical bad youth and totally spoiled goods.

The return of Claudette as a focal point was great. Dutch has honestly been the most interesting character in the series, by far. He's the only one that's consistently grown and developed as his life has progressed. That title used to be given to Julian but after the past two seasons, he's pretty much become non-existent. I am a big fan of Dutch boy and am thrilled to see him in Sons of Anarchy.

I liked this episode too, though I find the whole ICE woman's story a bit far fetched and whatnot, it works. I also found the whole setup of the need to find the girl w/o being the police a bit far fetched, but it was still very enjoyable. The deputizing scene was solid -- "raise your right hand ... now pat your tummies". Hah -- back to the good ol' days of Vic.

Shane is really showing his true colors -- saying aloud what all his actions point to -- basically that he's not there to clean up the streets, he's there to look out for #1. Vic still has some morals left. But when his family is the one doing the destroying (ala Cassidy) I'm not sure how he's going to react. Not well, I'd guess.

Danny and Vic is an interesting side plot and further exposes Vic as kind of a jerk. You always want to like the guy, despite it all, then he disrespects someone who's a good person, like Danny. It makes the show interesting, I like it and it's pretty close to what I'd imagine his personality would be like in real life.

This is spot-on... I thought that scene with her where he got aggressive with her was awesome. Vic is a monster when he lets his testosterone take over. And I can't really root for him to survive all of this because he truly is a monster.

I'm ok with no Tina when they replace her with that chick that steals cars.

The Shield deserves better than this... if you are wondering why this got bumped and you've never seen an episode of The Shield, I absolutely urge you to get a hold of the 1st season of The Shield and I guarantee you will be surprised that you have missed out on one of the most amazing TV series of all time!

Yeah, the pilot episode of The Shield may be the greatest series premiere ever imo.

I tell all my friends who haven't watched Shield to start at the beginning, that episode is sooooo good.

Really excited to see what becomes of the situation with Dutch/ crazy serial killer kid. Dutch has gone from being one of my least favorite characters to probably the most interesting.

Wow, awesome last scene. That would have been a great season ending cliff hanger.

Yeah... that whole episode had some mega tension!!! Nice to see Tavon get his due... he was a great character and I'm glad he came back! Shawn Ryan is making this a fanboys dream with all the return characters and stuff.

Interesting to see how much more Armenian/Mexican stuff we see, as obviously this season is going to end with the Vic/Shane showdown.

Also... mad props to Walton Goggins... he has truly come into his own in the last few seasons and is completely hitting this season out of the park as an actor! I hope he gets some Emmy love for this.

So that this show is going to end.

Way to go Tavon!

I have to believe that Vic and Ronnie don't really think Shane's dumb enough to not know something was up there. It should be interesting to see how that dynamic develops now.

Pros:

1. Possibly seeing the Armo/Mexi plotline wind to a close, although, something tells me there is more to come. As many of us have stated already, this is really bogging down the show. Although, last night was a pretty good pay-off for it all.

2. The hint of more Dutch/Billings interaction. Dutch is one of my favorites, and the annoying yet hilarious Billings is a great foil. Hopefully, these two will get a little more screen time, but probably not much, as the series winds down.

3. The return of Tavon. Yeah, I know, his fate had previously been discussed off-screen, but it isn't the same as seeing him come back to settle things.

4. All things "Shane". He's one of several interesting characters on this show. You knew he wouldn't die last night, but I like that he not only made Vic and Ronnie for the set-up, but that he made off with the $100,000. Go Cletus!

Cons:

1. Corrine's pills. Sometimes this show is worse the pro wrestling with the brief and unfullfilling angles. Yeah, I know that one at least closed with their conversation outside the station, but again, its an angle that comes out of nowhere, and has about a 30 minutes shelf-life.

2. Vic's consciense. I know he's always been morally ambiguous, but how do you go, in the course of one day from setting up the death of your former friend, to trying to pull the plug at the last minute. I didn't buy Vic's reasons at all. "I'm not Shane." Frankly, he IS Shane, and sometimes he's a lot worse.

3. The ICE-lady angle. Dammit, this BETTER have a big payoff. Yeah, she gave Vic a huge tip, regarding Rios' surveillance, but she really feels like a useless character and a waste of limited time in the series.

Overall, I'd give the season-to-date a solid B, which compared to what many shows become as they conclude, is pretty damned good.

I've been looking for one of these shirts in teh US for a while, but can't find one:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Cletus-Van-Dam...742.m153.l1262

I want that shirt! Badly! You've never found it widely available?

I guess you could order it from the UK. I ordered a shirt from Israel one time that said "Guns 'n Moses" and had a picture of a couple of machine guns on it for my friend named Moses. But it took like 3 weeks and shippign was a good bit. It looks like you could get that shirt, probably cost you about $30 after all said and done,but it would probably be a really crappy quality, $5 t-shirt.

I didn't mind this. It didn't really come out of nowhere, its based on all the **** that Corrine is dealing with.

Vic always tries to justify what he does (something that Shane doesn't really). Seeing the way his actions had affected Cassidy and Corinne and with Corinne's comment about them both knowing what kind of guy he his, I think his actions about Shane made sense.

I really thought Shane's last line was gonna be something like "the worst part is I don't blame them for trying" or something.

Best episode so far this season.

This season is getting back on track. I like where it's going now. This past episode was very intense.

I don't really buy Vic's whole "hey let's kill Shane ... Noooooo - I am too good for this" BS -- it's just not really how he's been throughout the entire series. Despite this being one of his biggest decisions, he still almost always has a clear choice and is adamant about his righteousness -- and the fact that he backed out seems out of place.

Shane really came through too. I didn't really like the whole Cammie side plot, even though it did bring back Tavon which was cool. It was such a ploy to be like "hey, look at Shane -- he's not such a bad guy after all and Vic and Ronnie are gonna kill him. You better feel bad about this, audience". Meh -- Shane's always been an ass and his good side has shone through very rarely. Maybe he does have a late conversion but I still honestly would rather have seen him dead. It's just how it had to be.

That being said, I absolutely loved the episode. Especially the Tavon encounter with Shane, as well as pretty much all of Shane's scenes. Agree that ICE lady is becoming a weird distraction -- nix her or something. Still a bit complicated but this season is feeling more like a real season and not like a throwaway now.

I don't remember the Tavon backstory that well - can someone refresh my memory?

Last night = awesome, awesome episode. Looks like **** is going to get crazy to finish this off.

This.

The season is starting to flesh itself out with its strongest aspect -- character. This week's episode really focused on making sure it investigated who these people really are and what makes them tick. Instead of the plot determining how people act, it's the people who determine where the plot goes. That was made incredibly clear in the first season, especially when they fleshed out Danny and Julian, and now it's the new focus of season 7.

Dutch started to ask himself who he is and how good he can be at his job; Corrine questioned herself as a mother; Vic looked in the mirror and discovered at the last minute he can't kill Shane for the same reasons he hates Shane for killing Lem. And Shane, most complex of all, truly came to terms with who he will always be -- his angle-shooting always trumps his remorse. I've never seen someone hate themselves so well on TV before. Tavon really got to him. Bad seeds never turn good, they just mess around for a while before the true colors are revealed.

I absolutely cannot wait for every single Tuesday of the next couple months.

I think it went like this:

Shane and Tavon weren't getting along on the Strike Team. For some reason Tavon showed up at Shane's house to try to straighten things out. At some point Shane made a racist comment that pissed Tavon off and they started fighting.

Maura came back to see them fighting and smoked Tavon in the back of the head with an Iron. Tavon gets all messed up (he has a serious concussion) and tries to leave. Gets in his car and is driving where he loses control and plows into another car.

Shane and Maura lie about what happen. When Tavon comes to in the hospital they don't want him to start problems with Maura so they tell him that he hit Maura (who was pregnant) and that they only fought back. I think it might have been during the Money Train thing so they didn't want the heat from an Internal Affairs investigation. They convinced him they were doing him a favour by covering up him hitting Maura.