The moment we have all been waiting for since the final moment of last season’s finale, finally arrived in last nights SOA episode, and it was just as heartbreaking and emotional as we anticipated. Even though we as fans knew the truth so long ago, it didn’t lessen the agony of watching Jax learn the truth about Tara’s murder.
Endless thoughts running through Jax’s head after Abel made a statement about Grandma killing his mommy, prompted him to have words with Unser, but not before learning from Wendy that she and Gemma had helped hide Juice. After Jax told Abel that Wendy was his first mommy, Wendy felt the need to come clean, so there would be no more lies between them. The next piece of the puzzle fell into place, when Unser told Jax that the guy Gemma identified as Tara’s killer was actually in a drunk tank in Las Vegas during the time of the murder. The final piece of the puzzle presented itself during the heart wrenching scene between Juice and Jax, when he visited him in Stockton. Jax’s only hope in finding out the truth was to confront Juice.
Before Juice has his one-on-one with Jax, he fulfilled his job to kill Lin. As promised, Tully put the plan in motion, and Juice came face to face with Lin. Before Lin’s final breath, Juice needed the name of the rat, and Lin reluctantly named Barosky. It appears he’ll be next on the Sons chopping block. With the name of the rat recorded by phone, Juice ended Lin’s life with multiple stab wounds to the neck.
In this monumental episode, Juice and Jax come face to face. I think for a second there was a spark of hope on Juice’s face after he did what the club asked of him. Juice learned quick enough that Jax wasn’t there to discuss Lin, rather to get the truth once and for all about Tara’s death. Juice knows he has nothing left and comes clean about everyone and everything. He retells every horrible detail of that dreaded day to Jax. It was hard to watch the pain and anguish in Jax’s eyes as Juice relives the brutality of that moment, the horrid and gruesome murder by none other than Jax’s own mother. I’m not quite sure I even took a breath during that entire scene. With tears in Juice’s eye’s, Jax thanks him for telling the truth, and ends with, “I’ll make sure it’s quick.” So, all is possibly lost for Juice now. As painful as it was to watch Jax in that moment, it was equally horrific to watch Juice. Juice has always been kind of the underdog and you couldn’t help but root for him. Poor Juice…
Jax out to confront Gemma, tells the club to go look for her without telling any of them why, just that it’s family business. But there is always someone to protect Gemma. When Happy arrives at Gemma’s house, Chucky lies and tells them she hit him and took off. Gemma was tipped off by a call from Juice, he told her he came clean to Jax about everything. Gemma has always been about family and self preservation. She packed a quick bag and left. You would think that she’d be hard pressed to get out of dodge as soon as possible, but she had one more stop to make. Gemma makes a quick call to Nero and asks that he meet her as soon as possible. Gemma, across the street from where she was born, meets Nero and she starts reminiscing about her past. We never get to hear too much about her upbringing, but she confesses to Nero, “Everything in my life, I’ve pretty much torched, … But I was a good mother.” Still perplexed about what’s going on with her, Nero gets a call from Jax, asking him if he knows where Gemma is. Unwilling to tell him, Nero presses Jax to tell him what’s going on. As the camera focuses on Nero’s face, listening on the phone, we never hear what Jax tells him, but Nero’s face just crumbles and the pain and horror consume him. Nero never tells Jax at that moment that Gemma is with him. Even in the heat of the moment, and the shock of what Jax just told him, which is so clearly devastating to him, he protects her. Nero asks Gemma if its true, and she says yes, and he tells her to go. No kiss, no hug, Gemma gets in her car and drives off, leaving Nero on the side of the road in tears. What would have been a happy day, signing over his half of Diosa to Alvarez to start a new life on the farm has ended in misery.
Unable to hold it together, Jax takes his place at the head of the table, and tells the club the truth about Gemma. He takes full responsibility for everything that has happened as a result of his family. Its up to Jax to deal with the repercussion of Jury’s death. He knows he is going to have to address the other clubs, and he plans on coming clean to them. What does that mean for Jax? Ultimately, it means his fate could be a grave one. He asks the club to give him some time to sort things out in his head. In the interim, Nero finds him and they sit down, almost like father and son and Nero suggest that maybe he honors Tara’s wish. Maybe leaving Charming would be the best thing. I don’t know if Jax can do that. I do know that as angry and hurt as Jax is he still loves his mom deep down inside. He can’t understand how she did what she did. In the end Nero is consoling a broken Jax. Where does he go from there?
