Sons Of Anarchy Season Premiere Review: “Black Widower” (Season 7, Episode 1)

The new, and final, season of Sons of Anarchy picks right back up only ten days after the shocking season six finale. Jax (Charlie Hunnam) is behind bars for suspected murder of his wife and Sheriff Roosevelt, Juice (Theo Rossi) is in hiding from the club, Gemma (Katey Sagal) is holding everything together in the aftermath of Tara’s (Maggie Siff) murder, and everyone else is sort of scrambling to make heads and tails of the recent tragedies.

Kurt Sutter left fans with their collective jaws on the floor after Gemma brutally murdered her daughter-in-law in a miscalculated attempt to protect her son. In the season seven finale, Gemma is extremely comfortable reintegrating herself into the role of matriarch of the family in an attempt to fill the void left by Tara’s death – despite being the cause of it. Juice briefly, but directly, confronts her about her ability to switch off any remorse she may feel when interacting with Jax, but frankly, she doesn’t appear to be carrying around too much guilt despite her plea to the alternative.

Whether or not she actually regrets her spur of the moment decision remains to be seen. In the meantime, Gemma seems to be attempting to make amends in her own way. For fans of the show, it’s pretty clear that she is on borrowed time at the moment. After a long and ugly road, she cemented her fate when she killed Tara and it’s only a matter of time before Jax discovers the truth, which if I had to speculate, will probably result in Gemma’s death – or at the very least, some form of banishment. Although, the former seems more likely considering the morbid undertones that this season of Sons of Anarchy is already strongly exhibiting.

We’re only one episode in and there’s already a body count – partially thanks to some misdirection from Gemma. The remaining members of SAMCRO haven’t wasted any time exerting themselves as power players once again in the overall scheme of things. Since Jax is convinced that it was his vision for the club that led to the death of his wife, he is quickly moving away from his dream of a legitimate club and veering toward regaining Sons of Anarchy’s former glory.