Half-Sack Epps

Kip Epps
First appearance	"Pilot" (episode 1.01)
Last appearance	"Na Trioblóidí" (episode 2.13)
Created by	Kurt Sutter
Portrayed by	Johnny Lewis
Information
Nickname(s)	Half-Sack, Prospect, Sack
Gender	Male
Occupation	Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club Member, mechanic, gun runner, former Marine
Spouse(s)	Cherry (Old Lady/Girlfriend)
Nationality	American

Kip "Half-Sack" Epps is a fictional character on the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, played by Johnny Lewis.^[1][2] He is a prospective member of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, which often results in hazing and him being given undesirable tasks. The other members generally have a good-natured attitude towards Half-Sack when giving him these difficult tasks.

Biography

Kip Epps served in the United States Marine Corps during the Iraq War. He lost a testicle while serving in Iraq, prompting the nickname "Half-Sack". A surprisingly formidable fighter, he was also the Junior Lightweight Champion of the Armed Forces boxing competition. After leaving the military, he began prospecting for the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club and worked as a mechanic at Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair. He was also a vegetarian.

Season One

To distract the police from their activities, Jax Teller, Chibs Telford, Juice Ortiz and Half-Sack acquire two dead bodies from the local morgue and set them up in a fake shoot-out. The set-up shooting is made to look like a racist murder involving the Nordics, a local skinhead gang. On the way back to town, they are cut off on the road by a man driving a red muscle car. They later catch up with this man at a gas station and beat him up. The driver pulls out a pistol and attempts to shoot Jax, but is wrestled to the ground and killed by the Pakistani shop keeper who hits him with a fire axe. They steal the CCTV tapes and flee the scene.^[3]

While working at the auto shop one day, Half-Sack tells Tig Trager that Clay Morrow's wife, Gemma, is a MILF. Unknown to him, however, Clay is in ear shot. Later, at the Devil's Tribe's patch-over party, he meets a woman named Cherry and the couple seem to be in love. Clay pulls rank, as he is the club president, and sleeps with Cherry as revenge for earlier.^[4]

The club enters him into a bare-knuckle boxing competition to raise funds to buy weapons. During this time, he is trained by Chibs, who insists that he has "no booze, no weed and no pussy". This means that Cherry is kept away from him. To test Cherry's loyalty to Half-Sack, Bobby tries to have sex with her at his house, but she refuses his advances. At the competition, he reaches the final but is then told to take a dive by Chibs and Tig because they bet on his opponent. He agrees, but then sees Clay and Cherry hugging at ring-side. This brings on a sudden surge of rage and he knocks his opponent out. He is then told that he owes the club $35,000.^[5]

In a bid to pay back the money, help the club and earn his patch, he steals an ambulance, which he plans to sell. The club dismisses this stunt as pointless and unnecessarily risky, however. The ambulance eventually does come to good use when Cameron Hayes of the True IRA is shot and wounded by the Mayans.

His girlfriend, Cherry, is arrested, but later broken out of jail. She is then smuggled into Canada by Happy (eventually ending up moving to Belfast with the Belfast charter of SOA).^[6]

After Piney Winston's daughter-in-law, Donna, is killed by the One-Niners (or so it seemed), Piney travels to Oakland to get revenge. Jax sends Half-Sack to follow him and to stop him from doing anything unnecessary. However when they get to Oakland, Half-Sack is unable to stop him going into a Niners bar and starting a fight. It ends in a hostage situation, with Piney holding a Niner at gun-point. When Jax and Chibs arrive and try to stop Piney from causing any more trouble, Half-Sack helps Jax disarm him. They hold a meeting with Laroy, the Niners leader, who tell them that it is not he or his gang who killed Donna. The season ends with Half-Sack and the rest of SAMCRO attending Donna's funeral.^[7]

Season Two

Half-Sack is still a prospective member trying to get into SAMCRO. He seems to have a more prominent role in some of the club's dealings and is often seen going on runs/errands with the other members. However, he remains the most likely member to be given surveillance duties.

After a short absence, Half-Sack returns to the clubhouse, revealing he had surgery to receive a prosthetic testicle. Soon after the surgery, Half-Sack begins feeling discomfort. He eventually cannot take it anymore and enlists Tara's help; she informs him that his testicles are severely swollen due to infection, a possible side effect of the surgery.

In "Culling" Half-Sack reveals that his body rejected the prosthetic. Soon afterward, Clay and some of the others discuss how they feel about patching Half-Sack into the club; all agree he would be a good addition to their ranks. Clay remarks that he has "Half a sack, but a whole lot of balls". Half-Sack later participates in an organized brawl with L.O.A.N. as one of SAMCRO's ten best fighters.

In the season two finale, Half-Sack is tasked with watching over Gemma and Tara, but he cannot prevent Gemma from exacting revenge on Polly Zobelle. He returns to Jax's home, not knowing that he was followed by Cameron Hayes. After Hayes threatens to kill Abel Teller with a kitchen knife, Half-Sack rushes at him, only to be stabbed and killed. His death is discovered by Jax, Opie, and Chibs.^[8]

Kurt Sutter, series writer and creator, said that Half-Sack was killed off because Lewis wanted to leave the show due to creative differences; "We decided we'd find some noble way for him to go. It wasn't my intent to try to be sensational and kill off a main character." ^[9]

Season Three

In the season premiere, SAMCRO bury Half-Sack with over 50 full-patch members from California, Washington, Nevada, and Oregon as well as numerous former military colleagues in attendance. A three-piece kutte is draped over his casket during the service showing that SAMCRO posthumously patched him in.

References