Prashant Gupta / FXBrace yourselves, Samcro fans, because in an upcoming episode of FX's ultragritty family drama Sons of Anarchy, someone close to the club gets dead. Majorly dead. Blood and brain matter dead. And when you learn who it is, your heart is going to break a little.
So is it Chibs (Tommy Flanagan), who just took a car bomb to the head...or could there be someone else on the chopping block? Read on for the clues we can share, plus more scoop from the cast!
The good news is the death ain't Chibs.
The bad news is that it's somebody else about whom the club cares deeply.
The terrible deed is done in episode nine, entitled "Potlatch," and it involves a character known and loved since season one. Another clue? This killing doesn't have a clear analogue in Shakespeare's play Hamlet, which many fans know sets up the general superstructure of the series.
Now who do you think bites the dust? Post your guesses in the comments below, and if any of you guys nail it, we'll give you the nod in Monday's spoiler chat.
Oh, and speaking of Hamlet, show runner Kurt Sutter confirms that Opie (Ryan Hurst) joins several other main characters in having Hamlet roots. Sutter says, "I tried not to identify every character in terms of Hamlet, but if we're lucky enough to continue the series, some of those characters, some of those archetypes will continue to appear. I think, if anybody, Opie would come the closest to the Horatio character...His first name is Harry. Just saying."
So what else is coming down the pike? One highlight in episode eight is a hilarious scene featuring Theo Rossi's Juice. As Rossi tells us, "Let me put it this way, if you think last season was uncomfortable, there's a couple really uncomfortable moments for everyone, including me. Very uncomfortable." The moments in question take place in San Joaquin County's correctional facility, where the majority of the Original Redwood Charter lands after making a major tactical error in their approach to Ethan Zobelle's (Adam Arkin) League of American Crazy Racist Bastards Nationalists.
As Charlie Hunnam told us earlier this year, this visit to jail raises the stakes for Jax and Clay (Ron Perlman), and they get into it. Let's just say that you know a fight is serious business when hitman Happy (David Labrava) calls it brutal. The fight even did some collateral damage to Charlie's face: "On the day we shot that, I ended up getting a tooth knocked out. Bam, slammed face-first into metal bars." Poor baby!
Last but not least, Katey Sagal continues to make her 2010 Emmy nomination all but inevitable. Gemma's pervasive melancholy remains, but she is getting her strength back in the coming episodes, as expressed by her resurgent control over the family and a little Tara (Maggie Siff) torture thrown in for good measure—only a little Tara torture, though. Gemma's tendency to torment the good doctor is balanced by a fascinating, increasingly powerful and damn entertaining alliance between the two leading ladies of Charming.
Don't forget to post your death-poll guesses in the comments!
Sons of Anarchy airs Tuesdays at 10 p.m. on FX (and so far season two is kicking season one's ass). Watch it!
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Don't know Samcro yet? Get to know the club members, their allies and enemies in our Sons of Anarchy photo gallery!