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‘Sons Of Anarchy’ Finale: Nothing Left To Do But… Die?

Published on: December 4, 2014 at 10:04 AM
By Toni Matthews

Sons of Anarchy has shown us over the course of its jaw-dropping run that the road to Hell is indeed paved with good intentions.

This impression is felt more strongly with Jax and the actions of this character than perhaps even with Walter White and the impressive Breaking Bad .

But before anyone freaks out, I’m not in any way trying to compare Sons of Anarchy to Breaking Bad or suggest one show is better than the other.

I will say that bringing down the curtain on the consequences of Jax’s actions in a way that satisfies Sons of Anarchy fans will not be easy.

If given the choice, fans would no doubt prefer the ending to be as far removed from the indignation suffered by Dexter and Lost fans as possible.

But what is left for the Sons of Anarchy character Jax Teller do with one episode left before everything goes to black?

The popular consensus seems to be that this anti-hero has committed far too many unforgivable sins to ever receive any form of redemption. Not even a long-term prison sentence would be satisfactory, even if it would perhaps be the most realistic outcome.

This blood-soaked FX drama has held nothing back in its seventh and final season, burning practically every bridge there is to be burned.

And once your anti-hero crosses into matricide (however supposedly justified this action is), it’s a move which signals that perhaps a violent end is the only possible remedy.

When one falls from grace into absolute villainy, the punishment is meant to fit the crime. And Jax’s fall from grace was so swift and extreme that the penalty must be equal to his misdeeds.

Looking back on the past seven seasons, it seems a bit much to ask that Jax Teller live a long life, even one filled with endless guilt. But even a death as “peaceful” as what Jax brought to the resolute Gemma Teller Morrow may be asking for too much.

It didn’t matter if Gemma seemed to forgive Jax for what he was preparing to do in revenge for Tara’s murder. It also didn’t matter that Gemma told him that she loved him.

In a twisted way, Gemma succeeded where her deceased husbands BOTH failed in swaying the Sons of Anarchy lead, in putting an irreversible stamp on the man he would become.

Who he is now is a man so far removed from everything John Teller wanted for SAMCRO, he’s practically walking proof of the tragedy and lost brotherhood that was lamented in the manuscript.

For all of Jax’s initial conflict over the direction of the club his father helped found, it was his father who seemed to understand more so than anyone the inevitable outcome of the club’s foray into crime.

John arrived at this realization without the bloody twists and turns his son engaged in over the past several seasons of Sons of Anarchy .

It may be that Jax will only, at long last, truly realize his father’s epiphany of ruin after he made the decision to put a bullet in the head of the woman who gave him birth.

And that seems to be too much for Anarchy fans to bear at this stage.

There have been calls for the showrunners to execute Jax or even the expectation that karma will come by the unintended consequence of losing Abel.

It’s hard to gauge just how far Sons of Anarchy creator Kurt Sutter intends to go in order to bring his series to a satisfying close.

But if he’s willing to set up the series finale with the once promising anti-hero killing his own mother, then it’s a safe bet that whatever happens will leave Sons of Anarchy fans breathing through a paper bag while in the fetal position.

Do you think Jax Teller needs to die in the Sons of Anarchy finale to “make things right”?

[Image Credit: FX Networks]

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