Sons of Anarchy Season 7 Premiere Review: Ugh, Gemma

Sons of Anarchy S07E01: "Black Widower"

Over the course of six turbulent seasons, FX's biker drama Sons of Anarchy has been a series I've loved, admired, and even hated at times—especially in recent years. Sometimes, I've experienced all those feelings at once. The show is a violent whirlwind of testosterone, blood, and the anarchy in its name, and many episodes have left me feeling as if I'd been chained to the back of a bike and dragged for several miles—kind of like what transpired in tonight's Season 7 premiere. And then I have a week to catch my breath and patch my wounds before the emotional, adrenaline-fueled process begins again.

At first this cycle was fun—a total rush—but now the aches and pains of years of abuse are settling in. I didn't dislike "Black Widower"; it set a lot of things in motion for SOA's seventh and final season, including one last battle with the Chinese thanks to Gemma's false allegations. But while I still get excited when I hear the show's familiar theme song, I'm also ready for this wild ride to come to an end.

Tara's horrific demise at the end of Season 6 left a bad taste in my mouth. I'd spent the majority of her outgoing arc on the show hating what the writers had done to her character, but I also understood her motivations. I see why her death was a necessary catalyst to push Jax past the point of no return. But since Tara was the audience stand-in, the lone outsider in this world of outlaws and one of the few SOA characters with a conscience, her death makes it difficult to continue justifying the time we're spending in Charming and accepting its characters' actions. The show's moral compass died when Gemma stabbed her daughter-in-law in the head with a BBQ fork, and there's no coming back from that.

SOA has always been a violent show, and generally that's never truly bothered me, but watching Gemma murder the mother of her grandchildren filled me with a horror that ensured I spent the entirety of the hour-plus "Black Widower" muttering, "I hate Gemma" and wanting her to die every time she appeared onscreen. And to make matters worse, Gemma doesn't appear to feel any remorse for her actions. She pays lip service when she needs to, but it rings false. Gemma's never cared about anyone but herself. She claims that everything she's done, she's done for her son, but she killed Tara because of what she thought Jax could do for her as the head of the club. She's lived vicariously through the power he wields, and the scene in which she spoke to the lingering but unseen spirit of Tara with her Chinese scapegoat tied up behind her made me shiver, because for all the unnecessary violence that Jax and the club commit on a weekly basis, Gemma is guilty of far worse, at least in terms of how her actions affect Jax.

In "Black Widower," SAMCRO murdered four people—three of them pastors—as retaliation for the deaths of several Grim Bastards, only to discover that the man they were looking for wasn't one of the deceased. Jax didn't hesitate before shooting the last of the four men as he lay on the floor wounded and shaking, and by episode's end they were corpses dumped in a shallow grave as if their lives didn't matter. Jax is no longer the man we once knew, the man with a plan to save his family and his club; this is a guy who's lost nearly everything he loved and it's because of his association with the Sons. I like knowing that Tara is buried next to Donna and Opie in the cemetery, not only because she'll forever be among the few people who understood her struggle, but because it's a subtle reminder from SOA of the harsh reality of this life, of those we've lost to unnecessary violence since the show began. And because of this, Jax is throwing all of his energy into holding on to the one thing he thinks he has left, not realizing or admitting that it's the real problem.

"I already lost the woman I love, I'm not going to lose my club," Jax told the guys as they sat around that great Reaper table, and without Tara to tether him, Jax is a wild, violent man with no conscience. Most people would keep their children close after losing their spouse, but Jax is out making deals and alliances and exacting what he thinks is justice, trusting that Gemma and various friends of the club (but Wendy, in reality) will raise them. He's a leader who's hell-bent on avenging his wife's murder, and every second that passes with Gemma still breathing is another second that I want to slap the shit out of Jax for being so blind. If he'd just take a step back and examine his life, he'd realize that the common denominator of all his painful experiences is the one person he thinks he can always count on. And that's made even more frustrating by the fact that he knows his mother had his father murdered, and yet he thought nothing of it when she pinned Tara's murder on the Chinese. I mean, if it walks like a duck and it quacks like a duck, it's probably a murderous bitch, ya know?

Sons of Anarchy asks a lot from its fans, promising pain but also a thrilling ride. We spent several seasons waiting for Jax to put a bullet in Clay's brain as punishment for his numerous sins, but the payoff was a little underwhelming by the time it finally came to fruition. And now I worry that we're going to have to suffer through a similar fate with Gemma. Are we doomed to a whole season's worth of misplaced anger and aggression as we wait for Jax to discover the truth about Tara's death, about the poisonous cancer that is his mother?

Gemma has always been an overbearing, manipulating meddler, but she also used to be at least somewhat sympathetic. Her rape in Season 2 was a disgusting, horrifying experience, and after so many TV shows have resorted to rape storylines that emphasized shock value over emotional fallout, that arc stands out as one of the most important things SOA has ever done. It was incredibly painful to watch, but it also led to great moments for several characters and humanized Gemma. That's not to say that she needed to be raped or deserved to be raped or anything of the sort—but from that moment on, we saw her strength and we saw how she coped, and she felt like a real human being in this larger-than-life setting. Of course, in the years followed, we learned the sickening truth that Gemma is actually the source of most of Jax's problems. We all thought Clay was the villain, the mastermind who needed to be stopped at all costs, but we were wrong. He was just another one of Gemma's puppets. He's not blameless, of course—he had Tig murder Donna thinking she was Opie, and he put a shotgun blast into Piney, among other things—but at least he was honest about being a giant douchenozzle. Gemma hides her true form behind a façade of sadness and empathy, and that's a greater sin.

At least Juice is struggling with a guilty conscience. It's no secret that I have a soft spot for the character, but I know he's absolutely 100 percent guilty of murdering club members, betraying Jax, and shooting Sheriff Roosevelt—probably one of the best lawmen the series ever had—to cover up Gemma's transgressions. But still I dislike what's become of him. He's hiding out in Wendy's apartment, struggling to survive as he battles his inner demons, and it's made him even more volatile. He's got Unser locked up, and I honestly have never been more concerned about Charming's former sheriff than I am at this moment.

There's no telling when Juice will finally snap, and I know lots of people expect Juice to meet Mr. Mayhem by the time SOA ends, but a worse fate would be for him to live out the rest of his life behind bars or alone without the brothers he betrayed, constantly looking over his shoulder in fear. And maybe that's what Gemma deserves, too. Even though it'd mean that Jax wouldn't be able to avenge Tara's death by killing his mother, maybe she doesn't deserve to be released from her guilt (if she even has any). Dying would be too clean of an ending for a woman who's caused so much trauma in her son's life. If he really wants to punish her, he'll cut ties with her and force her live out her remaining years alone—without Jax, without her grandchildren, and without the power she so desperately craves.

SKIDMARKS

– "Maybe I would make a good politician." Stop it, Jimmy Smits. I just stopped associating you with your West Wing character like a week ago and now you're bringing politics into this?!

– Marilyn Manson made his debut as a new white supremacist character. What did you think? I don't understand a lot of SOA's guest-casting, but so far I think this one is great.

– I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I think I might actually like Wendy now? She might be the sanest person within Charming city limits these days.

– HOLY NAKED JUICE. Kurt Sutter has been reading my Tumblr!

– Red Woody Inc. Hahahahaha.

– I'm not too enthused about the war Jax has started, but here's hoping we get all the bloody action we want without having to wait too long for the truth to come out.

– That cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" over the closing montage: Y/N? I'm voting no.

What'd you think of the premiere? What are your hopes and dreams for Sons of Anarchy's final season?