Tara's idea of gussying for the ceremony is putting her hair up and uncapping a tube of lipstick. She doesn't even look up when Gemma makes her dramatic entrance, asking coolly, "You looking for me?" "Yeah," Gemma says. As Tara puts on her lipstick, she asks (or gloats, your call), "It's not how you planned, is it?" "Not being invited to my son's wedding? No, it's not," Gemma says, in a voice that could wither plants. Tara says, "I meant the idea of Jax marrying me. You hated the idea 14 years ago." The way this shot is framed, we see Tara applying her makeup, absorbed in the act and Gemma watching her with an almost palpable sense of regret. (One wonders if she sees her younger self in how Tara's acting.) Gemma says, "Life moves on. We change. I hate different things now." Tara scoffs and says, "Just say it, Gemma." Instead, Gemma walks forward and pulls out two rings on an oversized safety pin. "These were mine and John's. I figured you didn't have time to get rings." She folds her hands and waits for however Tara will reject this gesture. But Jax saves the day by opening the door and making sure the two women in his life aren't about to kill one another. "We're going to lose our john judge," he says. Gemma rolls her eyes at this, her life where her son's getting married in a whorehouse.

Once Jax is gone, Gemma says to Tara, "You've got to put distance between us, own your place. I get it. But there is no one else who understands what you are going through right now better than I do. You remember that." Tara has finished putting an orchid in her updo and she turns to Gemma with an almost soft expression. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The relationship between Gemma and Tara is endlessly fascinating, because you're looking at two women -- both of whom have deep-seated issues over being unmothered, both of whom are mothers now, both of whom let their anger get in the way of happiness -- who really do love one another and fear the damage each could do to the other. It is heartbreaking. Gemma asks, "I would like to stay and watch you marry my only son. You okay with that?" "Yes," Tara whispers through her tears.