If one of the primary themes on this show has to do with the brutal way in which power is seized from one generation by the next, the necessary counter-theme is this: The old eat the young – either by killing them outright or forcing them into the situations where they become old by necessity. Tonight, two of the younger SAMCRO members got eaten.

Making Hobson's Choice look like picking out a dessert at TGIFriday's: Let's get to the main plotline of the episode. Jax, Tig, Chibs and Opie are behind bars and everyone quickly learns they're under the protection of the Galindo cartel. Insofar as Pope is concerned, this is heresy. He has a guard on his payroll and the guard arranges a meeting wherein Pope delivers the doctrine of payback to Jax: From now on, 50 percent of the take from the Galindo runs belong to him. In addition, the two deaths related to the whole unpleasant Dawn Traeger business are bad for Pope's organization, so to soothe the worried minds of his underlings, one of the four Sons in prison has to die before the changing of the guard's shift. Actually, one of the three who is not named "Tig," because Pope wants him alive and behind bars for life, where he will presumably be used as a pincushion/lovedoll for whichever Pope-related felon deserves a toy with his Happy Meal.

The method by which the Son is going to die is particularly brutal: He gets put in "the box" with several of Pope's thugs, and the Son fights until he dies. Also, there is a betting pool on how long it will take. Jax learns this last part when he gets the boys all landed in solitary, per Pope's directions. He finally comes clean with Opie about everything from the last four seasons – ev-er-y-thing. Jax finishes with, "I had to make a choice, brother: Kill Clay or save the club." Opie immediately replies, "You made the wrong choice."

The two friends are pressured to decide who goes to a horrible death, and Jax shrugs that he'd rather not choose, but try to fight the guards. He and Ope meet up with the other two, and Jax briefly sketches in the deal, then decides that they won't make said deal. Opie, however, has noticed the guard's itchy trigger finger and decides he's going to go into the box. By the way, the box has a big glass window, so Chibs, Tig and Jax get to watch Opie get his head bashed, then have his body repeatedly battered by the thugs sent in to kill him.

That Opie – who has been looking for an excuse to die for a while now – should choose to throw his life away for Jax, after Jax chose the club over making things right for Opie last season, says something about how desperate and dumb some kinds of love are. And his death says something about SAMCRO as a whole: The club was introduced in season one as a loving gestalt for its members and their loved ones (recall, if you will, the sequence in which we see the club having a convivial feast at the Morrows' while Opie and his family eat their scanty dinner in cold silence), but over the last four years, we've seen that whatever SAMCRO gives, it takes twice as much. Nobody embodied that like Opie Winston, who never had a chance thanks to Piney and who deserved so much more. Rest in peace with Donna, Ope.

Watching his brother from another mother die as a result of Tig's ongoing homicidal impulses seems to have made an impression on Jax. He calmly promises the guard that he'll be killing him later, then goes in for a meeting with Pope, saying, "There's a new plan. I just watched my best friend get beaten to death for you. Now, I'm going to get the club to sign off on your cash. But I need Traeger outside. Him knowing I saved his life gives me an internal advantage I'm going to need. And when I'm done, you can send him out the same way you did his kid, 'cause I really don't give a shit." Pope replies almost approvingly, "There you go, finding a hidden advantage in an unfortunate circumstance; using pain to take you to the next level. Those are the things that turn players into kings."

Remember: It ain't easy being king.

Meanwhile, over in the B-plots, which would have been riveting in any other episode …

Ain't no in-laws like outlaws<: Gemma – who has reached the getting-hickeys portion of the relationship with Nero, which means that wearing his class ring surely can't be far behind – learns the hard way that she is not on the approved visitor list at the hospital daycare. Not having carte blanche with Jax's kids puts her in a meddling sort of mood, so she drives out to see Wendy and lies blatantly about Tara turning to hillbilly heroin to ease the stresses of single motherhood, and gosh, wouldn't this be a swell opportunity for Wendy to waltz in and rip her biological son from the only mother he's ever known? Wendy is desperate enough to fall for the play and visits Tara's office, where Tara quickly discerns what's prompted this round of "Who's Abel's momma?" She then channels Gemma by reminding Wendy that she is a surgeon and Jax's legal wife, while Wendy is an ex-junkie biker whore, and she won't hesitate to blatantly exploit every societal prejudice attached to those profiles when the custody case goes to court. Then Tara heads down to the daycare to deliver an implicit threat to Gemma: Leave her family alone, or she'll start every conversation with Jax with, "So! Have we talked lately about how your mom conspired to kill your dad, then slept with his murderer for decades? Do we really want her around the family?" Gemma considers herself served.

Won't someone think of the hookers? Because sweet, dumb Juice is a total sucker for Clay's lion-in-winter act, he drops the dime on where Gemma's been spending her ample free time, so Clay decides to check out the Best Little Cathouse In Charming. He ambles off to debauch a former Disney teen star turned hooker, as one does, and Gemma loses her shit. Perhaps not coincidentally, the Best Little Cathouse in Charming is busted later that night. If Nero and Carla are planning a long con on the Sons, they may discover that these hoopty bikers are more trouble than they're worth.

Lisa Schmeiser is an Oakland-adjacent reporter and blogger. She'll always talk with you about this show on Twitter and she blogs at Penny Wiseacre.