I feel bittersweet as I come to terms that this is the last Sons of Anarchy article that I’ll have the privilege to write. As such a huge fan of the show, it beyond saddened me that this would be the final season. I only hoped that this final season would do the story and the characters we’ve come to love justice. From start to finish, Kurt Sutter has never disappointed. After the deaths of Clay, Tara and Gemma, questions and theories were raised about the fate of the club’s president Jax Teller. I couldn’t imagine the show ending any other way. It was the perfect ending to Jax’s final ride, and without hesitation I can say it was devastatingly beautiful.
Taking stock of his life, Jax pays a visit to the cemetery to visit Opie and Tara. He places his two SO-NS rings on Opie’s gravestone. This is the first time we see Jax visiting Tara. He kisses her headstone and places his wedding ring upon her grave. But before he visits his wife and best friend, he wakes up next to Wendy, checks in on his beautiful sons, and throws away his signature white sneakers, caked in his mother’s blood. With a pair of old worn boots on, he takes all of his notebooks in a backpack, and takes one final look at his home. Afterwards at his families storage unit, Jax goes through old pictures, and he finds JT’s manuscript. What I found disheartening was that Jax burns his notebooks, and burns his father’s manuscript, which was essentially the catalyst that drove him to rethink what the club should have been about. His sons will never know his thoughts, his vision, or his fears.
Back at Red Woody, Jax sits at the head of the table for the last time as president. They discuss Tyler and the Niners taking over Chinese territory. Then something unprecedented in SAMCRO history happens, they unanimously vote in T.O., thereby striking down that unwritten bylaw about no blacks being allowed in the club. T.O. who ran the Bastards for a decade proudly takes the SAMCRO cut.
Up on the roof, before they start the plan in motion to take care of business with the Irish, Jax has a moment with Chibs, and he asks him that he respects what he’s about to tell him. He comes cleans about what was discussed with the other club presidents, which is the call for a Mayhem vote. It was pretty tough to watch Chibs take that in, and digest it, to accept it. To tie that all in, Jax says, “This is how you learn to be a leader, brother. Doing the shit that hurts the most. hi-t you’d rather make someone else do. It’s part of the gig. It’s how you earn respect. I need your word you’re gonna do as I asked.”
After things get dealt and settled with Connor and the Irish (by that I mean killing an Irish King), Jax continues on his Journey of good-byes. Back at TM, Jax asked to Nero to meet him. This was all around a hard scene to watch and digest as Jax tells Nero that plans are in motion for Wendy to take control of the houses and TM and to sell the properties and set up a new life with the boys, either in Norco or back east where she’s from. With tears in his eyes, Jax let’s Nero know why he’s leaving, and what he’s done. Now the only thing he can do is try to give his sons the life his wife wanted them to have. With tears in my eyes at this point, Jax tells Nero to tell Wendy everything, followed by, “When the time comes, she needs to tell my sons who I really am. I’m not a good man. I’m a criminal and a killer. I need my sons to grow up hating the thought of me.” And just as your heart is crumbling, you hear Abel call out “Daddy.”
Wendy arrives at TM with the boys. Nero donning glasses to hold back the tears, Wendy questions what is going on. Jax takes the boys and walks them to the car, and tells Abel it’s ok to call Wendy Mommy. He also tells him to listen to Nero, because that’s daddy’s best friend. Jax holds Thomas, and he tells them both he loves them, and he looks at Wendy too, and tells her he loves her. At this point, why Wendy hasn’t shaken him and demanded to know whats going on, I have no idea. Jax walks away towards his fathers blue restored bike, and bids Chucky good-bye as well.
Back at Red Woody, sans Jax, the club goes through the painful process of voting for Mr. Mayhem. This had to be one of the hardest decisions the club has ever had to make. It’s a question of the love and respect for their brother verse abiding by the laws of the club. In the end, the club voted as they should have, and it’s what Jax wanted. The camera pans to the empty seat which belonged to Jax, and Chibs bangs on the gavel ever so lightly.
While the club voted for Mr. Mayhem, Jax pays Patterson a visit, to tell the truth. The truth behind Tara’s death. He also reveals the address where they can find his mother and Unser. Before Jax leaves, Patterson asks, “Jackson, what happens at the end of the day?” Jax responds with, “The bad guys lose.”
After finishing one more lose end, Jax kills Barosky out in the open. Barosky, who we found out a few episodes back that he was the rat. His final task was all about August. While on the way to the courthouse, we see that homeless woman again. She’s been around since season one, and viewers have always questioned who she is and what her significance is. She hands Jax the blanket she was wrapped in and tells him its time and walks away. Then the camera pans over to something she was drinking and some bread. Symbolic? I think so.
Taking her blanket, Jax wraps himself in it as he waits for August to emerge from the courthouse, and takes him out point-blank. Now there’s only one last piece of business left. Jax meets up with his brothers one last time. He stands among his club, his brothers, his family and cuts his president patch off, and then cuts Chibs VP patch off. He hands his patch to Chibs as the new president of SAMCRO and Chibs makes Tig his VP. Which everyone can agree was the right decision. To honor Jax request, Happy takes a bullet to the arm, and the story will go down that Jax opened fire and got away. For Jax to go out, it would need to be on his own terms and out of their love and respect for him, they honor his request. Each member of SAMCRO say their painful good-byes, and before riding away for the last time, he tells them, “I got this.”
Sitting on the side of the road, where his father died, Jax speaking to his dad, says “I think the struggle I understand best—even more than all the things you wanted for SAMCRO, what we eventually became. The one I feel the most is the war of the mind that happens when you try to get right with both family and patch. That fear and guilt crippled me. I realized, as I think you did, a good father and a good outlaw can’t settle inside the same man. I’m sorry, JT. It was too late for me. It was already decided. And Gemma, she had plans.” He continues, “It’s not too late for my boys. I promise they will never know this life of chaos. I know who you are now, and what you did. I love you, dad.” At that moment a cop car pulls up and he knows his time has almost run out. He jumps on his bike and rides off. Before you know it, there are about a dozen cops chasing after him. As he’s riding along, wind in his hair, there is a certain calm about him. He doesn’t seem at all concerned about the dozen cops trailing behind him. Just then you see a crow flying , and then the truck. Now it’s quite evident how this will play out. The driver of the truck is ironically the guy Milo that had given Gemma a ride just the day before.
With a smile on his face, you know his decision has been made. He takes his hands off the handlebars and his fathers bike starts to drift. It’s too late for Milo to fully break and avoid him, yet we never see him hit the truck. We do however, see a loaf of bread on the road, and finally a pool of blood flowing towards it.
The journey ends with a quote from Shakespeare: “Doubt thou the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to be a liar; But never doubt I love.”
There has been a great deal of buzz surrounding the final episode and Jax taking his own life. I think in that brief moment after he spoke with his father and understood JT a little bit better and what it all meant, that brief moment that decision could not have been more clear. In that moment he had nothing left; no club, no mother, no wife. Yes, he has Thomas and Abel, but all they would know is a man behind bars, a man without his club, a broken man. Nero was right when he told him that killing Gemma would be a wound much too deep and something he won’t be able to come back from. When Jax pulled the trigger he knew what had to be done and he also knew the consequences. I don’t think that Wendy and Nero will honor Jax’s request that his sons grow up hating his him. I believe just the opposite, I think those boys will learn what a great man their dad was and that he was respected and he loved them very much. After all, Jax Teller in his core was a good man, who just did bad things.
When a series ends, as a fan you hope that its done right. Kurt Sutter and all the actors have given us one hell of a ride, and it ended in my opinion the perfect way. Thank you for 7 amazing years, and for bringing to life these incredible characters.
