Seeds (''Sons of Anarchy'')

"Seeds" is the second episode of the first season of the FX television series Sons of Anarchy. It originally aired on September 10, 2008.

Plot

Despite the incident happening outside of his jurisdiction, the Deputy Chief of the Charming Police Department David Hale gets a warrant to investigate the warehouse explosion. He claimed that the warehouse's security guard was found dead by his men inside Charming, meaning he was given the investigation.

Tig confesses to Clay that he was sleeping with both the Mexican women found burned alive in the warehouse, and that his semen is inside them. With his DNA in the police database, he says he'll remove the bodies before the police excavate them. However, he is too late and Hale finds them instead. Clay goes to Chief Wayne Unser, who cooperates with SAMCRO, and warns him to keep the dedicated Hale off of their backs. Unser says there is not much he can do because he is being forced into retirement due to him suffering from cancer, but he will try if the Sons protect one of his trucks from hijacking on the way to Mexico.

Hale catches up with Jax on the road and warns him that he will not turn a blind eye to SAMCRO's activities like Unser when he becomes Chief. Jax then visits baby Abel at the hospital, and Tara tells him he'll make a full recovery. She also says that Wendy is being put through sedated detox and will be unconscious for a couple of days.

Opie, who is now working at a local lumber mill, and Donna are struggling to pay the bills, so Opie goes to his father Piney, a club elder, to borrow money. Piney instead tells him to "grow a dick" and suggests he go along on that night's protection run to make some easy cash.

At Chapel, Clay suggest murdering a member of the Nordics to distract the forensics team that Hale has requested from Lodi. Jax suggests a less violent alternative instead; they head to Skeeter, a funeral director, and request two bodies. Skeeter offers up the bodies in return for SAMCRO helping him score a date with a woman named Emily Duncan, a biker hanger-on dubbed a "Crow-Eater". However, Emily wants to have sex with Jax before dating Skeeter.

Meanwhile, Ernest Darby, the Nords leader, and Marcus Alvarez, the Mayans boss meet and discuss teaming up to force SAMCRO out of Charming. Alvarez disagrees, but still offers the Nords extra muscle to protect their drug dealing.

Gemma and Tara talk at the hospital, with Tara implying that she knows Gemma gave Wendy the needle which led to her overdose. Gemma tells her that she won't win Jax back through accusations, while Tara warns Gemma that she won't be able to run SAMCRO forever.

That night, Jax, Chibs and Half-Sack set the bodies up in a fake shoot-out. The set-up shooting is made to look like a racist murder involving the Nordics. On the way back to town, they are cut off on the road by a man driving a red muscle car. They catch up with this man at a petrol station and beat him up. The driver then pulls out a pistol and attempts to shoot Jax, but is wrestled to the ground and then killed by the Pakistani shop keeper who hits him with a fire axe. The trio then steal the CCTV tapes and flee the scene. Later, Opie joins the rest of SAMCRO for the protection run. They hijack the truck instead, however, and give the contents to the Mafia as a good will gesture as their guns were late to be delivered.

Unser is angered at Clay's betrayal, and Clay tells him that he's only doing it to rebuild SAMCRO before Unser retires in the next few weeks. He also threatens him to hold off his retirement or more of his trucks will be hijacked. Unser then removes Hale's surveillance team from the burned warehouse site and informs a clearly agitated Hale about his plans to stay on as police chief for the next six months.

Gemma spots Donna struggling with money at the supermarket, and she pays for her groceries instead. Donna rejects her help, but Gemma tells her that SAMCRO is a family, and that she is part of it. She invites her, Opie and their kids over for dinner.

Tig and Bobby finally remove the corpses of the Mexican women from the police site and burn them in a furnace at the morgue. Unexpectedly, Tig says a heartfelt prayer over the bodies. Hale threatens Clay after he discovers the bodies have disappeared, telling him he will make sure SAMCRO become nothing but a distant memory. Gemma discovers an old photograph from her first wedding and burns it. Jax leaves flowers by Wendy's bedside. The members of SAMCRO have dinner at Gemma's home, but Opie and Donna decided to reject their invitation.^[1]

Production

"Seeds" was written by Kurt Sutter and directed by Charles Haid.

Reception

"Seeds" received positive reviews from critics.^[2] Film School Rejects stated "While it may not have been as action-packed as the first episode, this second frame seemed to serve its purpose well. We now have a much better idea as to who is headed in what direction, and where those directions will cause some conflict down the road. But that’s not to say that the show has lost any edge — there was still plenty edgy elements — digging up graves, for example — that’s always fun. And while some viewers may be growing tired of the way that the show seems to be generically lumbering along, it is clear that there are many layers to it — layers that could pay off in droves down the road. For now, I’m still watching and holding out hope."

Music

• "Don't Take Advantage of Me" by Lonnie Brooks
• "If I Could Change" by Big George Jackson
• "Mongoose" by Fu Manchu
• "Son of a Preacher Man" by Katey Sagal

References

External links

• "Seeds" on IMDb
• "Seeds" at TV.com