Sons of Anarchy 2.08 Potlatch, Preview and Speculation

So, you might be asking yourself, what the heck is a potlatch?  What does potlatch mean? And what does it suggest about Tuesday night’s episode of Sons of Anarchy?  Well, me too… so here goes.   A potlatch is a type of festival ceremony held by Indigenous groups in the Pacific Northwest.   Not a mere feast, traditionally potlatch ceremonies could be held over a number of days and nights replete with speeches, dancing, and performances marking a birth, marriage, or other milestone.  Sounds pretty cool (Source for the image of a potlatch is here ).

Now, here’s where the rubber meets the road when it comes to Sons of Anarchy:  there is also an exchange of vast amounts of material goods according to rank/status in the group. And, the events of the potlatch hold meaning, or as the  Peabody Museum describes it, “every event during a potlatch highlighted the host's status by demonstrating his wealth or expounding on his inherited privileges. Ownership of such privileges determined status.”  Gift giving also plays an important role, and in some versions of the potlatch it is highly competitive with “hosts bankrupting themselves to outdo their rivals and aggressively destroying property."  Hmmmm.  Sounds like Clay Morrow to me.
And, according to our pals at Wikipedia , a potlatch in inherently about redistributing wealth amongst the families according to their status in the community.   So now you know.  And I was expecting a potlatch to be the clamps that held down the lid of a pressure cooker.  Shows what I know.

So while we are at it, FX’s official synopsis for Sons of Anarchy’s potlatch is as follows: “With an already-dwindling gun supply in question, SAMCRO takes extreme measures to procure weapons for a customer. The revenge that is sought following a theft at Caracara Studios puts one diva at risk. Tara's professional and personal lives begin to collide.” 

Oh, and there are pictures!   We see woeful Chibs and his estranged wife in the hospital with Gemma and Zobelle and Alvarez in some clandestine meeting (yeah, there were totally glimmers of this coming down the pike).

SlideshowSons of Anarchy: Episode 2.08 "Potlatch" Photos

And finally, the teaser trailer for Tuesday’s episode in which, Clay vows that if they see Zobelle’s crew, they are going to take their guns back (which suggests that they were taken in the first place), Jax telling Tara that change in the MC isn’t going to happen quickly or without blood, someone in a SAMCRO cut throws Jax up against the wall in the Crow’s Nest, Alvarez lets Jax know that the truce is officially over, and Jax eggs Alvarez on to put a bullet in his brain.  Fun stuff all.

My track record for speculation hasn’t been the best but I’ll try it again just for the hell of it.

• Clay is going to hold a little potlatch for the chapters of the MC and take what he needs from them to assert his authority (read:  penis) as head of the mother chapter over the other chapters.
• Revenge for a theft at Caracara?  I suspect that Luanne’s skim might come in to play.  Maybe Bobby Elvis sells her out to the MC (which would be good in my book because I think it would decrease the likelihood of him getting killed this season).
• Tara’s personal and professional lives collide?  I’m guessing she gets fired by that Nosy Parker Hospital Administrator.  What for?  Oh, for covering up Gemma’s post-rape exam and taking stuff from the hospital to patch up bullet wounds in Bobby Elivs and the IRA guy.