Let’s Dissect the Crap Out of These ‘Sons of Anarchy’ Season 5 Images

The fifth season of Sons of Anarchy kicks of on September 11th. Before we get to the images, let's recap what we know: (SPOILERS) The intensely plotted season four was almost perfect until the disaster of a finale. Kurt Sutter teased us through much of the season by dangling Tara's death in front of us, only to yank it away at the last minute (damn you, Sutter!). Then, after Clay killed Piney and beat the crap out of Gemma, Sutter set up a confrontation between Clay and Jax that seemingly could only be resolved with one of them dying. It was Opie that ultimately shot Clay, hospitalizing him but not killing him. Jax decided in the end to punk out and keep Clay around for ultimately silly reasons. However, Jax did take Clay's seat at the head of the SAMCRO table, offered the VP slot to Opie, and in the process, elevated Tara above Gemma.

Everything about the weak-ass deus ex machina in the season finale -- just as Lincoln Potter and Eli Roosevelt were about to close in on the Irish, the cartel, and SAMCRO, we learn that Romero (Danny Trejo) and the Galindo cartel were actually a division of the CIA, which pulled the plug on Linc's investigation -- was anticlimactic, frustrating, and maddening. However, the finale did set up a nice dynamic for the fifth season: Clay vs. Jax, Tara vs. Gemma, Opie vs. SAMCRO.

How's that going to go down? From what we understand from interviews with Sutter, the fifth season will be about Jax taking control. He'll have to deal with Romero. He'll also have Jimmy Smits' character as a mentor. We do know that Jax won't die in season five because, as Sutter noted, the series is about him, and Sutter plans to take the series through season seven.

So, that's where we are at, and these are images from the first two episodes of the upcoming season. Random observations about them: It picks up at least a few weeks after last season's finale because Clay is no longer in the hospital. Romero will be involved in the opening episodes. It looks like someone beat up Gemma. Again. Someone will show her bra (is that Ashley Tisdale?), it looks like Jax is going to get beat up. Again. It looks like there may be a wedding between Jax and Tara, it looks like Gemma and Jimmy Smits' character might be involved, and potentially, Tig doesn't look too happy about it.

Of course, I don't know if any of the above is true. Check out these images and let us know what you can surmise about the first two episodes.