Nine months ago we witnessed one of the most heartbreaking and shocking season finales in the history of tv story telling; Tara, Jax´s wife was brutally murdered by her mother in law. And if that wasn´t bad enough, Jax found the dead body of the love of his life in the kitchen of their home! After this the speculations started:
Will Jax find out and what will happen to him in the last season? Will he go on a killing spree or will he distance himself from the club? Will he suspect his mother? So many questions.....and on September 9th, we got at least some answers. But before I start, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- like I´ve mentioned before: Gemma was the one who killed Tara (after receiving wrong information from Unser)
- when Sheriff Roosevelt is about to call in the murder, he gets shot by Juice (who later on takes care of the murder weapon and everything else that could tie Gemma to the murder)
- the last scene of S6: Jax holds Tara in his arms as DA Patterson walks in. She is looking around the room and sees a weapon [Jax dropped his when he saw Tara] next to Roosevelts body
- Jax´s deal with the DA: He alone will be held accountable for the school shooting and supplying the gun that killed those kids. Tara will not be charged with anything and is free to go anywhere she wants with the boys.
- Nero seems to cooperate with the Mayans and meets up with the Chinese
- Wendy is off to rehab
- August Marks never truly believed, that Clay killed Pope and it seems like they are still trying to figure out who it was
- Pope enterprises (Marks) took over the gun business with the Irish from the Sons (after Redwood killed nearly all of the Chinese Triad)
Okay, so now that you are up to speed, let´s jump into the first two episodes.....hold on to your seats guys......it´s going to be a wild (final) ride:
The first episode, titled "Black Widower" opens up with Jax in jail, throwing punches on a fellow inmate; his glare is blank and just empty. A few seconds into the episode and you already know, Jax is a changed man. In the opening montage we see where everyone is at: Gemma is with the boys at her house (with Abel sitting at the table with the saddest look on his face...), SAMCRO and the Grim Bastards ride around Charming, Juice is doing naked push ups (for no apparent reason), Unser visits Taras grave (which does not have a gravestone [yet?]; only a single flower and a name tag), back to Jax: he is now carving a swastika into the guys torso; Wendy is packing up her stuff in rehab, Nero is hanging out with the Mayans in Stockton and Lyla opens up the doors to the Sons new porn studio called "Redwoody" (pun intended).
Let´s get back to Jax and his "work" in Stockton: He finished up the carving and is now pulling out the guys teeth....while he is conscious by the way! The new season is only a few minutes old and we already see a changed man; as a committed SoA fan, you kind of thought, that you would find Jax in that exact state of mind he seems to be in in that moment: Full of hate and on the road to destruction! But to see it, and to observe, that he does not seem to mind about what he is doing, is really hard to watch. Next we see him deliver the teeth to Aryan shot-caller Ron Tully (brilliantly portrayed by Marilyn Manson). He just wants to make sure, that the Sons and the AB are good and that they will work together as time moves on. Tully assures Jax that they are willing to work together, but he might need him to "do him some favors in the future" - which does not sound good at all!
Let´s check out the murderers, sorry I meant Gemma´s state of mind....you know; after she murdered her daughter-in-law and didn´t tell anyone!! She is about to visit her son in prison, when she runs into DA Patterson. The two have a very uncomfortable conversation about the state of the investigation of Taras murder. Patterson tells her, that there are no suspects and no leads, because no one is willing to cooperate with the police. And the only person, who could help them is not talking to anyone except his mother. Gemma just plain and simple answers: "He found the woman he loved dead. The women he loved more than anything. What do you want him to say?".......deep breaths Nici....deep breaths. Hm what do I want him to say....well how about: Who killed my wife and how can I help you find that son of a b***? I mean even if Jax does not trust the police, he could try to work together to help find the person who did this and get to him/HER before the cops do. But I am very sure, that Gemma convinced him already, that it is the best option, to do it himself.....and she has no idea what ball she got rolling with that idea!!
Patterson gets the chance to talk to the SAMCRO president before Gemma can get to him. She informs him, that there are no new leads of suspects and reminds him, how important it is for her, that he starts talking. Those two have the most powerful "conversation" about revenge and family in this season premiere. Patterson seems to not only talk to the man on the other side of the table, but also the viewers. Also the DA reveals, that she lost a son and a nephew to gang violence and that her first instinct (part of her grieving) was, to kill the ones responsible for it, just the way, that her boy(s) where killed. But it was only an instinct, in Jax´s world, this is more than likely to happen to the killer.
Well....let´s get this frog out of the throat and get on going: Patterson has nothing on Jax and after being in jail for 10 days, he will be released.
Jax gets picked up from jail by his mother (and I felt sick to my stomach), the following car ride is the most uncomfortable scene of the season premiere:
They talk about Taras funeral and how thankful Jax is, that Gemma is helping with the kids. When he asks if there are any news on Juice, his mum lies to him and says, that she has no idea where he is.
Speaking of Juicie boy; he is going crazy and hiding in Wendys apartment. Her coming home earlier than expected turns up to be a huge problem for the dreadful duo Gem and Juice. Unser picks up Abel´s mum from rehab and brings her to the apartment. She gets in and is immediately surprised, that her furniture is rearranged and cleaned up spotless; she is enlightened just a few seconds later, when Juice walks out of the shower into the kitchen. He explains, that he´s hiding from the club and that Gemma told him, that he could stay there.
After Wendy and Gemma clash, the mother of all Old Ladies makes her way to Juice and there the lost boy asks her the question everyone is asking themselves: "How do you talk to Jax...about Tara?". Her answer surprises me more then anything, because she tells him, that she is NOT a psychopath and that she lives with the truth, that Juice gave her (which by the way means telling Jax, that it was the Chinese Triad who killed Tara) and worked with that. Ehm....Gemma, take a good, long look into the mirror, no better into a encyclopedia!!! You ARE a showcase of a psycho!!! I can not believe how out of this world her thinking seems to be, still thinking what she did was not wrong and keep on lying to anyone who would listen. In her eyes, she is the "thread that holds the family together."; really???REALLY???!!!
Okay, back to Scoops: Since Jax is not able to see his kids just yet, he calls a meeting at the new "clubhouse". It was great to see the guys back at the table with Jax in his president chair. what follows is one of the best camera movements I have seen in a long time, as the camera moves over (and kind of into) the reaper on the table, up to Jax, who tells the club, that he already lost the women he loved and that he is not going to lose his club. After looking around the table Chibs assures his president, that the club is all in. This scene was just pure perfection; the pain in Jax´s eyes and the way he had to swallow, when he talked about the club and Taras death gave me chills. Amazing work Charlie Hunnam!!
When he enters the ice cream shop, a shocked Jax spots Nero sitting at the counter. There is definitely some tension left, after Nero let him know, that he knows about what he made Juice do, this explains that he does not hug Nero, when he welcomes him back. The two go out back to talk business and I gotta tell you, I was kind of nervous, that this would end up with fists flying in the air. Nero delivers condolences from the Mayans and the Chinese and tells Jax, that they want to meet up in the near future to talk about business. Jax jumps this opportunity and lets Nero know, that he wants to meet them that night. There will be a welcome home party and the club president invites the Mayans and the Chinese when he meets them in Stockton....and you just know something smells fishy (and it´s not only Redwoody, where the party is held;))!
Later we see Nero heading down to "Redwoody", where he talks to Gemma, the two make up....and out!Ew! Is it just me or does that whole thing feel rushed? I mean there was this big teenie-ish break up scene in the season 6 finale, and now they are just back to normal???
Oh what I forgot to mention: When Jax was picked up from prison, the rest of the club was busy literally dragging the truth out of a black street gang member, who had information on a hit on the Grim Bastards that left 2 prospects dead and one member in I.C.U.. So now that they have the information on the owner of a blue Impala, they find the house and in that house, they find a black guy having sex with a white dude, who is having sex with a black woman........well, the awkward sex scene of the season is over now ;) Oh wait, I forgot to mention the guy filming it...was wearing stockings! Oh boy Sutter, you have outdone yourself again ;) When the woman grabs a gun, she gets a bullet in the heat and while they are at it they kill the other 2 guys as well. The black man, who filmed the orgy tries to explain himself, when he gets shot. While he lies on the floor, injured, the club and the Grims learn, that 2 of the victims are/where pastors......as the rest of the gang tries to figure out what to do, Jax steps down to the guy lying on the floor and just shoots him in cold blood! Oh man Jax, what are you doing!!! This was such a Clay move....and I hate it!!
T.O. (president of the Grim Bastards) apologises for the misinformation and Jax makes sure, they do him a favor later on. Okay, now let´s take a look at what Wendy is up to:
She went shopping for Juice and let´s him know, that he can stay at her apartment for 3 more days, because she will stay with Gemma. When there is a knock at the door, she tells the fugitive, that it´s Unser, and that he´s there to pick her up. After Juice is hiding, Wendy let´s "uncle cancer" in and tells him, that she just needs to grab some things. While she is packing, the retired cop takes a look around and to his surprise, he not only finds the full shopping bag on the kitchen counter, that she does not want to bring to Gemma (really Wendy??!!), but also a full stacked fridge which is colour coordinated O_o. If those where not enough clues for Unser, that something is up. Wendy asks him, if he could get her coat from the closet. As he looks for it, he notices a Sons backpack on the floor......oh boy, you just know Unser will be back to take a closer look. And that´s exactly what he does.....at night, when everyone else is supposed to welcome Jax home, he comes back to Wendys place, opens the closed door and pulls out a cut from the backpack.....seconds later Juice tells him, to get up....with a gun to his head! Juice.......be cool and think about what you are doing! You can´t kill "uncle touchy"!
Let´s get the party started now....Redwoody is filled with people and it seems like the party is in full swing ;) But you know something is up, when Gemma sits down with a member of the Triad and starts talking family. A few minutes later, Jax asks the Grim Bastards for that favor earlier. He points out the Chinese guy, that his mother talked to earlier and tells them to bring him to an address, that's on a piece of paper, he just handed to T.O.. When he asks the SAMCRO prez, what he did, Jax tells Gemma to join them. And there it is....."Gemmas truth": The Old Lady tells T.O., that the night that Tara got murdered, she was about to drop by Jax´s place to pick up some stuff for the kids (why....I don´t know!) and she saw a guy running out of the house, jumping into a BMW. The guy she is talking about is the same, she just talked to. Oh my.....I´m speechless....she has the guts, to let an innocent person pay for the things she has done?? I am scared!
Insert the 9 minute (!!!) long, epic final montage of the episode, accompanied by a beautiful version of "Bohemian Rhapsody"!
And now the moment we kind of knew was coming.....well like I said: Kind of!
We see Gemma, standing at the exact same spot, where she killed her daughter in law. She is talking to someone....and that someone is TARA!!! Okay the ones that really thought Sutter would bring back Maggie Siff; all I have to say is: Really guys?! Nah, Gemma is just talking to her "ghost", telling her, that she did not know, that Wendy would come home this early. But she does not think, that she is trying to replace Tara. The camera opens up and we see the poor Chinese guy (his last name is Dun by the way.....how cruel;) ) sitting gagged and bound to a chair in the middle of the kitchen. As the whole club arrives, Gemma kisses her son goodbye and let´s him do his (totally wrong) thing. Jackson takes his cut of and kneels down in front of Dun, telling him, that he knows, that he killed his wife and that he will suffer. Jax walks to a kitchen drawer and pulls out various torture items and you just know that this will be brutal.After that, he slowly starts to open up his shirt (is it wrong, that I had to smile and break out into a nervous sweat at this time?).
In the meantime, we see Wendy taking care of Abel and Thomas; Nero and Gemma playing happy family; and Unser who is held hostage by a very distressed looking Juice. When we see the club and Jax again, Dun is covered in bruises and Jax (without his shirt on <3), covered in Dun´s blood! Jax steps to the counter again, grabs the salt and wipes it into a fresh wound! After that, he stands before the poor guy, takes Chibs cigarette, inhales deeply and gives it back. After taking a final deep breath and assuring Dun, that it is over soon, he hold his victims head and we see, that Jax holds a freaking carving fork in his hand!!!!! He walks around Dun, stops at the back of his head, feeling for a good spot and rams the fork into the poor guys head! Just writing about it gives me a major headache! This was one of the most brutal scenes, that I have ever seen on Sons of Anarchy and the sound, that we hear, when Jax rams the fork in even deeper into the guys skull does not make it any nicer! I´ll have nightmares for months!! Thank you Sutter :P
Now that this is out of the way....let´s recap episode 2, titled "Toil and Till" and get ready for some tears:
The episode starts with Jax waking up in the bed he once shared with Tara, there is not much to hear, other then a braking dog and someone, who is mowing the lawn. He turns around and looks at the side of the bed, where his wife used to lie.....did you hear that? That was my heart breaking in a million pieces....give me a second to pick it up:(
Jax walks into the kitchen, a place that will forever be a crime scene; as he stares at the spot, where he found the lifeless body of Tara and lits up a cigarette.....and so the opening montage starts:
We see Juice grabbing a kitchen knife and then walking into the bathroom, freeing Unser, who is sitting in the bathtub. They sit down in the kitchen and after some reservation Juice kind of tells him why he is hiding at Wendys place. It´s the story he told Wendy: He is hiding from the club.....and if Jax would find him, he´ll kill him because of some old sins. Surprisingly Unser offers to help him...
Okay, let´s see what everyone else is doing:
Bobby, Chibs and Jax meet up with August Marks (I´m always happy to the the Pope Enterprises signs ;) )......Marks assures Jax, that they will help him to find the person responsible for Taras death and starts a powerful little speech about revenge: He says, that the most important thing he learned from Pope was, to sit on it and wait until the right moment has come (I only hope this was not some foreshadowing since Jax does not know that Marks never really bought, that Clay killed Pope).
Hmmmm we haven´t seen Happy in a while....let´s check on him....and the Breaking Bad moment of this episode: He´s wearing riot gear and pushing a big barrel around. When he puts it down, he drops a box of"fortune cookies"......well not exactly, in that box we see the severed head of Dun and now is the time, we know, whats in the barrel.
A classic Happy scene...I loved it!
Rat and Tig seem to be this seasons comedic duo....while they steak out the Chinese, they have a "Tig off":
And when the Chinese pass them Tig does this:
Jury (quick reminder: President of SoA Indian Hills) meets up with Jax and wants to know, what his game plan is. Bobby tells him, that they want to unravel all of Lin´s business-relationships, but now one can know that it is them...yet (because of Marks little revenge speech). Jax continues Bobbys explanation, telling Jurry, that at the end of it, Lin won´t have any friends left and that he will then get his trust, then he will let him know, it was him and sit at his table and ask him, who he wants spared. The person he points to first, will be the first one to be dead, after that everyone else Lin care about. Jax will then let Lin life with that pain and then kill him as slowly and painful as possible. There is no remorse or any emotion in Jax´s voice, as he exposes his plan and you kind of know as soon as you hear it, that there is no possible way, that this will work. Jury reminds him, that the last time they met, Jax´s vision was to "cut the ties to the things that where killing them". And Jax´s answer gives you chills, he reveals, that he does "not have a vision anymore". My eyes went straight to Chibs and Bobby and I was asking myself, why none of them where reacting to anything Jax was saying....they where always the "good guys" in the club....what happened????? Jury´s "local muscle" arrive and they get on going after Tig calls Chibs.
In the meantime, we will take a look at how the kids are holding up:
Before she takes them to TM, she has a more then uncomfortable chat with Abel, who asks her, if she was there when his mom went to heaven. And she does, what she does best: LIE. Okay, okay, telling your grad child, that you killed his mother is not the best thing to so, but it still is terrible to see, how she kinda breaks down. I hope the face of this sad little boy is burned into her psycho brain and will haunt her forever!
>>"Because your mum was an angel...."
Okay time to get the action going: As the Chinese Triad meets with a business partner Jax and the gang arrive and open fire. All but one drop dead and Jax and Chibs follow the Chinese guy, who is cruising away in a delivery truck, stacked with guns. After Chibs almost falls of the truck, they finally manage to turn over the delivery truck. When the driver tries to escape, a pretty dizzy Chibs shoots him in the leg. With Chibs boot in the fresh wound jax wants to know, if the drugs belong to Lin, which would mean, that the Chineses trade weapons for heroin. When he gets his answer, we are the witness of the next cold blooded killing by Jax Teller. They are back with Jury and he wants to know what will happen with the guns and the drugs. Bobby explains that they will call Burrowsky and make sure they can store the guns and drugs at the docks; they will split it 50/50 with Indian Hills. So far, so good...but when we see Jury putting away the gun he used (remember, they show stuff like this for a reason on SoA) and a few seconds later, Jax asking the local muscle for their address, to deliver some money for today, you just know this means trouble.
We heard, that there will be a new Sheriff in town, so lets meet HER!! Her name is Althea Jarry and one of the first people in her office is: Unser! He agrees to be a consulting investigator and warns her:
"Jax Teller is formidable. He is as smart as he is dangerous."
After that Unser heads to TM and has a chat with Gemma...he tells her he knows about Juice and that she is hiding him, because she "put friendship before the club.". REALLY Unser??!! Really?????!!!! How blind can an old cop be? I just don´t get it. When Gemma later on drops by his caravan to bring him some tea, she finds him fast asleep. She finds Tara´s file in the middle of the freaking table (again....really??!!) and under it Unsers new "badge". So now this Old Lady is concerned: She heads over to Wendys place, where he lets Juice know, that she chose Dun to take the hit for Taras death....all because her son needed "closure". Yeah right Gemma, tell yourself that!!! Now that some of the walls are closing in, she wants Juice gone, so she gives him the keys to her dads old place, some money and tells him to take Wendys car. Later we see Juice, on his way through Charming, calling Chibs, but when he picks up, Juicy Boy hangs up...by the time, we see the ending montage, Juice is back in Wendy´s apartment. I really hope, he finally has a plan otherwise it´s bye bye Juice!
We haven´t heard from Nero in a while......he has some bonding time with Wendy, while the two of them are on their way to Abels new pre-school. Later Nero meets up with the president of the Mayans Stockton president and Borrowski...boy those two really don't like each other. On his their way back from Stockton, the duo gets stopped GTA style by Lin. He wants Nero to bring him Jax and explain to him, where his missing (as we already know dead) guys, his guns and his weapons are.
As they wait for Lin to arrive, Bobby tells the Stockton President, that they know about Lin's guns from FoxNews...and we get a classic SoA line:
When Lin arrives, Jax lies him straight in the face, telling him the Sons don't have anything to do with it. A veery angry Lin gives Jax a deadline: They have until noon the next day, to get him back his guys, his drugs and his weapons, or there will be war in the streets of Charming.
In the next scene Jax, Bobby and Chibs meet the "local muscle" and after they ask them if they are alone, they kill both of them and stage the scene; making it look, like they are the ones, who took the hit on Lin´s delivery.
Cut to the last montage of the episode:
Tig talks to Happy, how they are running out of space to bury bodies.
Meanwhile Jury finds the bodies of the two guys, that Jax and Bobby killed. When he spots the guys, lying on the floor, he knows it was the Sons. The way that Jury holds "Gibby" in his arms it suggests, that he has a very close relationship to him. That sparks the question, why he introduced him, as "local muscle", that one of his whores introduced him to? If Jax would have known about their connection, I´m pretty sure he wouldn´t have chosen them to take the blame......This will definitely be coming back to bite SAMCRO in their ass!!
Okay, that was it....two action packed episodes, that leave us wondering, if Jax will be going down this destructive road until the very last episode. Just think of all the innocent lives, that are at risks because of one woman's huge lie. i don´t think, that it will take Unser that long to figure out Juice and Gemmas involvement in Taras death; the only big question will be: What will he do once he figures out, that the love of his life killed Jax´s wife??
Jax fans seem to need very strong nerves (and a lot of alcohol) this season, after 6 seasons of hoping and rooting for this president, who could have made a difference it is more than difficult to see him going full outlaw, not caring about what he does and how he does it. Right now there is not one character on the show that you can roote for and this is what will make this final season so hard for die hard fans. There is no indication (yet), where it will all end.....who will life? Who will die? Will the big secrets of the last 7 seasons be revealed? Will Juice be a part of SAMCRO again or will he die bloody? Will Chibs and Bobby be the ones who bring Jax back to his old was or could it be Abel, who shows his dad, that the way he was on will only bring him more heart ace?
To be honest, I think Jax´s thinking and debate of the way the club was going started with Abels birth. He wanted to be a good father, be the man he could (kind of) look up to one day. His oldest son could also be the one bringing him back; back to realize, that his actions have huge and very serious consequences! It will be very interesting to see how all of this plays out...
What do you guys think? Let me know about your predictions in the comment section!
Let´s talk tv!
xoxo Nici
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