If you knew you were dying within 24 hours, how would you spend your last day? If you’re Sons of Anarchy’s Jax Teller, you’re saying goodbye, tying up loose ends, and living in a violent world without consequences.
I like this version of Jax. He’s kind. He’s Zen. And he’s hella productive. He wakes up before anyone else, takes care of all sorts of paperwork (and burns quite a lot too), visits the graveyard, attends a few meetings, and kills some enemies. All before the sun starts to set (literally and figuratively).
That opening scene was strong—we’re watching Jax revisiting old journals, and seeing him tenderly place rings on Opie and Tara’s graves. It reminded me of a young, contemplative Jax, the one who actively tried to improve his club. In the early seasons, Jax was the best kind of antihero—even though he did terrible things, he actively sought redemption, and we cheered him for it. I couldn’t wait to see what he’d do as club President.
Unfortunately, all that antihero business was forgotten after Tara’s death. It’s been a pretty disappointing season, watching Jax play the reactionary fool each week. Instead of rooting for his success, we’ve been reveling in his failures, and his suicide felt like a small consolation prize for the season. Even though I’m a little giddy because I predicted his suicide weeks ago, it hurts to be disappointed by a show I used to love so much.
I hate being negative about Sons; it pains me to root for the deaths of our beloved characters. I’ve been disappointed with Kurt Sutter for wasting this season, but now I realize maybe he’s been doing us a favor this whole time. Maybe these 13 bloated and self-indulgent episodes actually did serve a purpose…
Have you ever dated someone who was too lame to break up with you, so they became really mean in the hopes that you’d break up with them instead? I think that’s what’s happening here. Since Kurt Sutter knows how much we used to love this show, he decided to make it easier for us to say goodbye in the final season. Don’t you see? Hating the show makes it possible to say goodbye—memories of plot holes and poor dialogue minimizes nostalgia. If this is the case, then I say “Thank you, Kurt Sutter,” because you really did make it easy to say goodbye to the series.
This is especially true when we’re stuck with two-hour episodes seemingly filmed by a freshmen film student. How else can you explain the long, lingering shots of Jax’s bloody shoes, his empty seat at the SAMCRO table, the animated crows flying over Jax’s police chase, and—good golly—even the bloodied bread on the road in the final scene. It was all so heavy-handed and obvious, I actually felt like I was a high school film student again, dripping water on my friend’s mascara so it’d look like she’d been crying. I did enjoy the shot of Jax on his bike when the camera pans over his head to the expanded police chase—it was great camerawork, and I wish there had been more like it. In general, I’d like to see more subtle cinematography, and less obvious soap opera-type shots.
Speaking of soap operas, let’s talk about the plot. Jax set things up nicely for his successor Chibbs,and the rest of the club. First, Jax killed Barosky, so the rat problem is taken care of. Then, he kills Marks and Marks’ #2, so that threat is now totally eliminated. The club killed the Kings and set up shop with Connor, so the Mayans and Niners have a piece of the gun business in addition to the drugs. Plus, Jax insists the club votes for his death to assuage the other charters, but then he sneaks away so they don’t actually have to kill him.