I am currently binge watching the last three seasons on DVD, and every episode deserves a positive review. I'm just focusing on this one because I was so impressed by the death of Otto. Damned fine lion, as Hemingway might say.
For years I thought Otto was an embarrassing character. I mean, come on! Kurt Sutter is the series creator, and he casts *himself* to play the baddest biker of them all. And then every other episode he turns up and does something gruesome or terrifying to remind everyone how great he is.
But this season was different. The writers managed it brilliantly so that you actually see Otto broken down, bit by bit, like Winston Smith in George Orwell's 1984. But of course in this episode there's a stunning reversal. Otto has the most powerful last hurrah I've ever seen. The way he charges the drawn guns of the guards in the last second of his life is the way Hemingway describes the wounded lion meeting his fate in "The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber."
Damned fine lion.
And can I saw a word about Clay? It caught me totally by surprise the way he sets Otto up for his final moment of glory. If there was ever a guy who only looks out for Number One, it's Clay. But look at what he's risking, turning over his last weapon to Otto when he's a marked man himself. And when he says "no more, brother" you really feel it's a double message. No more torture and humiliation for Otto. But also no more cowardice and compromise for Clay.
Damned fine lion.
Oh, and about the title. "The Mad King" could refer to the IRA jerk who keeps trying to push Jax around. But I think it really refers to Otto, who's a king (with the heart of a lion) right down to the very last second of his life.
Damned fine lion.
For years I thought Otto was an embarrassing character. I mean, come on! Kurt Sutter is the series creator, and he casts *himself* to play the baddest biker of them all. And then every other episode he turns up and does something gruesome or terrifying to remind everyone how great he is.
But this season was different. The writers managed it brilliantly so that you actually see Otto broken down, bit by bit, like Winston Smith in George Orwell's 1984. But of course in this episode there's a stunning reversal. Otto has the most powerful last hurrah I've ever seen. The way he charges the drawn guns of the guards in the last second of his life is the way Hemingway describes the wounded lion meeting his fate in "The Short Happy Life Of Francis Macomber."
Damned fine lion.
And can I saw a word about Clay? It caught me totally by surprise the way he sets Otto up for his final moment of glory. If there was ever a guy who only looks out for Number One, it's Clay. But look at what he's risking, turning over his last weapon to Otto when he's a marked man himself. And when he says "no more, brother" you really feel it's a double message. No more torture and humiliation for Otto. But also no more cowardice and compromise for Clay.
Damned fine lion.
Oh, and about the title. "The Mad King" could refer to the IRA jerk who keeps trying to push Jax around. But I think it really refers to Otto, who's a king (with the heart of a lion) right down to the very last second of his life.
Damned fine lion.