1. Sons of Anarchy
The criticism of the recently concluded season of Sons of Anarchy has not escaped my attention, but I still believe that this series is deserving of far more accolades than it ever receives. Kurt Sutter has continuously given his devoted fans (and everyone else that tunes in) 13-episodes a year for the past six seasons, and this one gave fans even more of what they wanted. Over half of the episodes were longer than the hour time span we’ve become accustomed to, and even though more is not always better, with the final season looming, it doesn’t hurt matters.
Jax (Charlie Hunnam) may have inherited his leadership role in SAMCRO, but this season he earned it. After what seemed like an endless string of poor decisions and refusal to admit any personal responsibility for the state of the club (which drove me to utter my fair share of 4-letter words), Jax managed to pull off (or give the illusion of) the separation between the club and the Irish. Getting out of guns has been on the top of his priority list since before he took the head chair, and it looks like he will finally see it come to fruition. Whether or not he’ll do so from behind bars or the comfort of his own home still remains to be seem.
This season also took a closer look at the reality of his personal life and the toll his lifestyle has taken on the people closest to him. Tara (Maggie Siff) folded under the pressure of being an old lady. Under the threat of jail time, she began to plot a way out of her marriage, and Charming. Even though Tara and Jax were able to come to an understanding in the end making her a slightly more appealing character, her death, as violent as it was, paled in comparison to watching Gemma (Katey Sagal) reach her breaking point.
For the most part, the show makes it an easy task to categorize Gemma as someone who rolls with the punches, but ultimately just like everyone has a price, everyone also has a limit to what they can handle. On the cusp of losing Clay (Ron Perlman) and being dumped by Nero (Jimmy Smits), under the impression that her son is the next to exit her life, she commits a crime of passion that will haunt the final season of Sons of Anarchy (and, will probably ultimately be her death sentence).
Kurt Sutter has made no secret about the fact that he intends on wrapping up the series in a very unconventional way without giving fans the fairy tale ending they might want, and I would expect nothing less.