Sons of Anarchy 5X3: Laying Pipe

Um, is it crazy that I still feel like it's okay to hold out hope that somehow Opie didn't die? There's no chance they kill him off in episode three, right? I mean, I can't come up with a rational reason why everyone is acting like he died (and I mean, I did see him mostly get beaten to death), but it's possible, right?

Anyway, our boys are in prison and as soon as they get there a bunch of Black inmates (Niners? Niners adjacent?) try to approach them, but are intercepted by some Mexican inmates (friends of the cartel I presume) telling them that they've got their back.

Shortly after, Jax gets called to the warden's office where Pope is waiting for him. He tells him that going forward, he'll be taking half their drug money (so $50,000 a shipment) and as retaliation for his daughter and cop that Tig killed, he needs Jax to choose one of his guys on the inside to die. But, it can't be Tig, as Pope wants him to rot in jail and suffer until he dies.

Jax meets with the guys and informs them (mostly) of the situation. A guard shows up to his and Opie's room asking who Jax has chosen, but when they don't have an answer, he tells him that Jax picks, or he does. Later, Opie choses for him, but head butting the guard and getting thrown into the box. It's him and a pipe vs three inmates. He's not doing too badly at first, but eventually, one holds him down while another bashes him with the pipe. And what's almost worse is that we have to watch Jax and Chibs in anguish from behind a plexiglass room.

Afterwards, Jax meets with Pope again and tells him that he's going to get them all out tomorrow, including Tig, as he needs him, but after he's done with him, he can kill him or do whatever. Jax doesn't care. I'm not sure where he's going with this. Regardless, Pope agrees. Jax meets with Tig to tell him that he's getting out with them tomorrow. Tig is confused as he knows he should be dead since he was the one to kill Pope's daughter, but he's grateful. Jax tells him that going forward he backs every play Jax proposes and he agrees eagerly.

Meanwhile, Tara has kept Gemma from visiting the kids at the daycare at the hospital. Needless to say, Gemma is pissed. And how does she retaliate? But fucking going to see Wendy and trying to get her claim that Tara is on drugs. 🙄 Even Wendy seems to know that's crazy, but when Gemma offers her visitation with Abel, she doesn't really care. Wendy approaches Tara and sort of realizes immediately (not that Tara didn't also inform her) that Gemma is using her and playing them both. But still, Wendy seems to be in this for her kid. We'll see how this plays out.

Clay convinces Juice to tell him where Gemma's been hiding out. So the two of them show up at Nero's escort business. Carla calls Gemma to give her a heads up, and Gemma heads over. Once she gets there, she finds Clay in a room with a girl who he's obviously (or trying to make it obvious) just had sex with. Gemma loses her damn mind and beats the girl down. She quits and goes to another agency. Which, is why we assume the office gets raided (in the middle of the night, at least Gemma was asleep when it happened) and one of the guys is shot (I think it's a nomad who just patched). Either way, we're all being detained for the moment.

I'm so tempted to look and see what the next episode is titled so I can get an idea if Opie is dead. I mean, I know he is, but I'm grasping at straws here! Ahhhhh!