Sons Of Anarchy : The Greatest Episodes
Kurt Sutter’s hard hitting crime drama chronicled the exploits of the Sons of Anarchy motorcycle club (aka SAMCRO) across seven blood-soaked seasons. At the show’s centre in Charlie Hunnam’s Jax Teller, the heir to the proverbial throne and son of deceased founder member John Teller. John’s ex wife and Jax’s mother Gemma (Katey Sagal), is the show’s domineering matriarch married to the club’s current President, Clay Morrow (Ron Perlman). The series follows Jax as he seeks to protect his loved ones from the increasingly brutal impact of the club’s dealings. Jax struggles to balance his unwavering commitment to SAMCRO alongside his desire to give his kids a better life. The episodes selected here represent the show at its very best - tense, brooding and unflinchingly violent.
*WARNING – SPOILERS APLENTY. DO NOT READ ON UNLESS YOU ARE HAPPY TO SEE MAJOR PLOT POINTS REVEALED.*
The Sleep of Babies (S1 E12)
A great deal of the show’s first season focused on Jax struggling to reconcile his feelings towards the club’s current direction after he finds a more peace-driven manifesto written by his late father. The season includes plenty of gang warfare and gun-running, but it’s in its penultimate episode that things take a truly shocking twist which then sets the stage for so many events which ultimately follow. When Clay authorises Tig to kill fellow club member Opie after he is wrongly assumed to be a rat, a terrible mix-up leads to Opie’s wife Donna getting shot instead. This is not only a big shock to us as viewers as we see for the first time that this is a show where nobody is safe, but also the characters themselves feel the repercussions of this seismic event for seasons to come.
NS (S3 E13)
There are very few happy endings in Sons of Anarchy. Rarely did something good happen without something utterly horrific following immediately after. At the climax of season three however, there was something that could genuinely be seen as a cathartic ending. Loathsome ATF Agent Stahl and leader of the Real IRA, Jimmy O’Phelan have both been major antagonists throughout the season. The former is also responsible in part for Donna’s death in season 1 and the latter gave Chibs his facial scars and forced his banishment from Ireland. In a show that became synonymous with elaborate double crosses, this episode is perhaps the finest example of Jax’s unique cunning as we learn he has always been playing the long game and somehow gained a shot at revenge for both Opie and Chibs.
Laying Pipe (S5 E3)
Comfortably the hardest hitting moment in the show’s entire run is the brutal slaying of a beloved character in this episode. When Jax, TIg and Opie wind up in prison and at the mercy of mob boss Damon Pope, one of them is required to be sacrificed in a fight to the death. Opie steps up to protect his brothers and after telling Jax, “I got this”, we see him get ferociously slugged with a lead pipe across the back of the skull and then get beaten to death before Jax’s eyes. Jax was responsible for bringing Opie back into the club fold several seasons earlier, and this marked the culmination of his friend’s turn from reluctant soldier to fully fledged hero. Opie was a fan favourite and this death hit us hard, just as it does Jax, who remains scarred from the experience for the rest of the show.
Aon Rud Pearsanta (S6 E11)
Clay’s luck finally ran out here as after six long seasons in which he murdered fellow club members and involved them all in dangerous drug deals, he finally met Mr Mayhem. He’s long since stopped being the club’s leader, but after getting out of jail and aligning himself with the Irish, you almost think for a second he might get away after all. However at the episode’s climax, after much manoeuvring and a tense standoff, Jax finally gets revenge for all the wrongs perpetuated by his step-father over the years by delivering a vicious gunshot through the neck.
A Mother’s Work (S6 E13)
Gemma’s presence throughout the show shifted from protective matriarch at its outset to vicious psychopath by the close of its sixth season. Since day one she has proven herself to be fully committed to protecting her son and keeping him and her grandkids close by under the control of the club. In direct opposition to this, lies Tara, who is equally determined to get her kids away from the outlaw life and their domineering grandmother. It all comes to a head at the climax of season 6 as Gemma convinces herself Tara is making a deal with the DA and so goes to Tara’s house and brutally murders her. Not only was this a truly shocking and horrific moment, it also marked the beginning of the end for Jax. Any concept of a happy ending went out of the window. You always kind of hoped he and Tara would make it out of Charming, but now a distraught Jax has lost both his best friend and his girl and with it any notion of getting out clean is duly abandoned.
Red Rose (S7 E12)
With the saga nearly complete, we witness Jax tying up a final few loose ends and demonstrating beyond doubt that he no longer cares about his own future. Driven past the point of sanity upon learning it was his own mother who murdered his wife, he sets off to confront Gemma. He’s already admitted to killing a fellow club member and therefore faced a mayhem vote, so his fate is all but sealed. His last order of business is taking care of Gemma. Their intense relationship was a vital piece of the show’s broader arc and it was a relationship born of unwavering love and unequivocal devotion. It’s as a result of this that once he tracks his mother down, Jax struggles with what he must do. Luckily, Gemma herself reassures him that he must go through with it, calmly telling him “it’s who we are”. With that, Jax shoots her in the back of the head. It’s an incredibly powerful moment that was seven twisting seasons in the making.
(Image Credits : FX)
