When we first met Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam), back in season 1 of Sons of Anarchy, he was blissfully naive – as far as outlaws go. He hadn’t crossed over into the secretive, ‘whatever it takes’ territory established (and dominated) by Clay (Ron Perlman). He hadn’t read his father’s manifesto (which I’ve heard is a real page turner). And, if you asked him, his beloved MC was the end all, be all – and it wasn’t due to lack of exposure, either.
The Sons of Anarchy was more than a club he wanted to join because all the cool kids were doing it. It was more than just something to do after his mediocre day job, or to fill his lackluster social calendar. It was the family he’d grown up in, and the lifestyle he always wanted to inherit. It was the only thing he ever knew, and that was just fine with him.
As we’ve watched him grow as a character, there have been trace amounts of that innocence that have somehow managed to survive the bloody past few years. Despite everything he’s been through – almost losing a child (twice), jail time, losing Opie (Ryan Hurst) – Tara (Maggie Siff) still brought out that teenage spirit of rebellion in him. Even after all this time, part of him has refused to wake up and accept the truth about what his life has essentially become – a crap shoot.
All of that was true until last week’s episode of Sons of Anarchy, John 8.32, when Jax realized that the one person that he couldn’t talk himself out of loving or trusting, no matter what the circumstances were, had betrayed him.
To put that into context – he’d just written off his mother, Gemma (Katey Sagal), his last living relative, and Clay (his step-father) is only still alive to salvage what is left of the only chance SAMCRO has to go legit. His club is still in recovery mode after the Irish’s attempt to quite literally blow them to pieces. And, let’s not forget the tragic school shooting that started the season off, and ultimately can be traced right back to their front door – which is now an ice cream parlor?
I have to admit that I was caught slightly off-guard by how composed Jax managed to be when approaching the situation. It was obvious by the way the last episode closed that Tara was expecting a full-on Jax backlash. Even though I doubted he would be so blunt to just kill her, it wouldn’t have been out of character for him to shoot first and think later. The fact that he didn’t immediately declare war was infuriating for her. Even more so, when she discovered that not only was he not giving her his full attention, but he was entertaining himself in another woman’s bed.
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