The aftermath of one child’s decisions will make or break the Sons of Anarchy as they get pulled farther into the drama of the gun business that Jax (Charlie Hunnam) has been so adamant about getting the club away from.
It doesn’t take long before Jax realizes the connection between the club and the school shooting, and his reaction is significantly less emotional than you might have expected. As a father, presumably he would have been outraged by his peripheral role in the tragedy. Instead, he immediately passed over the emotional response and directed all his attention toward protecting the club.
Damage control is unavoidable in a situation like this since the Sons of Anarchy aren’t exactly going to show up at their local police station and proclaim their guilt. Instead, Jax jumps to protecting the club. Great plan. Yet, no one has the forethought to remove the guns conveniently located near the recently relapsed junkie. This is another example of how Jax’s decisions are inadvertently being undermined during execution. All this does is lend more credibility to the appearance that he is inept in his role as president. Every decision he makes lately is poison.
This entire situation will continue to put more pressure on the club too, which is already in turmoil. There’s member on member violence – or, what Jax calls “brotherly love.” There’s members on the verge of mental instability. There’s members lashing out. It’s like a cluster of disgruntled employees, all encouraged to bear arms. Isn’t it time for Jax to follow through on his promise to turn the club into a legitimate enterprise instead of continually cleaning up after their mistakes? If he doesn’t do something soon, there might not be a club left to turn around.
Jax may seem like the lesser of two evils when squared off with Clay (Ron Perlman), but his decisions are becoming more like his step-father’s as he gets deeper into his leadership position. Members of the club that he historically would confide in or bounce ideas off of, are becoming increasingly disposable when their opinions conflict with his. We’ve already seen the evidence with Bobby (Mark Boone Junior), and now with Chibs (Tommy Flanagan). The more Jax takes everything on himself and essentially isolates his decisions from the table, the more he’s going to see disharmony among the other members.
Bobby has taken Jax’s decisions and the new direction of the club very personally. He has not only separated himself physically, but it looks like he’s re-establishing the nomad charter of Sons of Anarchy as a means of setting himself apart. This would mean another member of the Redwood charter stepping away from the table. If Jax loses Bobby permanently, and gives up Tig (Kim Coates) later in the season as retribution for Pope and his daughter’s murders, that doesn’t leave him with enough members to handle club business.
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