Sons of Anarchy: Red Rose
December 3, 2014 2:15 AM - Season 7, Episode 12 - Subscribe

"Is Jax capable of matricide?"

Nope.

So wrong.

Couldn't Wayne have been spared though. Jax is totally out of order there.
I'm a bit puzzled about how Unter got to Gemma at her childhood home before Jax though.
Jax found out, set out.
Nero found out Jax knew, drove an unspecified time to find Unter (must have been driving fast though, that was some screechy tires), spoke with Unter. Unter sets out.
Poor Juice. I know he had to go but man that was tough.
Oh boy! is Wendy consolidating her position.
posted by unliteral (38 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
No, he Wayne made himself un-sparable. He knew what he was doing, just like Jemma. It's also plausible that Wayne got there first, because he knew she'd go to her father then wait at the family home, and he had a small headstart on Jax (busy with club businesses) , and Wayne would have guessed about the family home before Jax, given his cop-credentials.

But in the end, Jemma knew she had to die to avoid any more (than necessary) bloodshed. Also the last three episodes have been about how she's all about family, so I guess she finally made "good"on that.

But Juice, wow. Just such a waste. A well-framed and filmed one, but a huge waste.
posted by digitalprimate at 1:27 PM on December 3, 2014


One criticism you cannot make against this show: sidestepping the issue of prison rape.
/understatement
posted by The Gooch at 2:44 PM on December 3, 2014


Oh my good lord Jesus and all the saints in heaven above FUCK!

Having got that off my chest, man what an episode, what a ride. I was really hoping Jax wouldn't kill Gemma. Her speech at the end encouraging him to do it because 'it's who we are'. I just wanted him to turn around and walk away and say actually, that's not who I am, despite your best efforts to turn me that way, I'm off to be a goat farmer and I'm just gonna leave you here to live with the knowledge of what you've done. See ya. But no.
posted by roolya_boolya at 5:43 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


I love these prestige-network (well, and FX) crime shows, but, by the end of the run, I often run into the problem that I no longer care about any of the main characters. It happened with 'The Sopranos,' it happened with 'The Shield' (didn't even finish watching that one), it halfway happened with 'Breaking Bad,' and it's absolutely happened with 'Sons of Anarchy' (I guess I'd still like to see Nero get out of the life, and Chibs not get murdered--after last night, though, I might be done with Wendy--shoulda stuck with lesbianism, girl!). Big props to 'The Americans,' where it hasn't happened so far, and to 'The Wire,' where the this-is-America everybody-gets-shot-at-redemption thing really resonates with me.

A question for the SoA fans, and I include myself in that group: at this point, what would you like to see happen, and what do you think is going to happen? For me, in both cases, I don't really know.
posted by box at 5:57 PM on December 3, 2014


About prison rape. I'm wary of even saying this because it's such a sensitive topic and who knows if a tv thread is the place to discuss it but what I thought was very powerful about the depiction in SoA was how in Juice's final scene he walked past some of his rapists and right up to another rapist and he had no shame. He had dignity and agency. He walked through that room and did what he wanted to do. I can't think of similar scene in popular entertainment where I've seen a person who was raped depicted like that.

Juice had a lot of really shitty things happen in his life and for sure the rapes were right there up there with the shittiest of them but the show didn't make it like they took away his personhood and his ability to walk in the world as a man. I thought that was pretty unique in popular portrayals.
posted by roolya_boolya at 6:03 PM on December 3, 2014 [5 favorites]


What would I like to see happen? Them all chilling out on the farm and being nice to one another. Or maybe Jax waking up in the shower and pondering that crazy dream he had for the last seven seasons while soaping his back.

What I think will happen? I dunno, maybe Nero or Chuckie to kill Jax and deny him a club death? Some consequences play out from the moves against the Chinese - maybe something that hurts the kids? I'm baffled really. Finished the episode thinking what the hell are they going to do next week.
posted by roolya_boolya at 6:19 PM on December 3, 2014 [1 favorite]


This show is crazy and not well made. Jax is a worse and more unrepentant serial murderer than Dexter and the show does not really acknowledge it. The best thing that can happen for his family is for him to die and for them never to have anything to do with his organized crime ring in the future.

Yet, I keep watching.
posted by Drinky Die at 8:09 PM on December 3, 2014 [3 favorites]


Honestly, at this point, if the whole lot of them aren't taken out in the finale, I'll be hugely surprised. And probably disappointed.

I'll freely admit to having an on-again-off-against attitude to this show. I can take only so many unrelentably irredeemable characters for so long, and then I have to walk away for awhile. And there were just no redeemable characters in this show, which, in the end made me just not care. The only character that even came close to being sympathetic was Tara, and, well, her extremely brutal death was as much a "fuck you" to the audience as anything. Once she was gone there really was no one else left to give even a tiny shit about.

So...the best way for Jax to go out? I think something mundane like getting hit by a bus or something. Having him go out in a heroic blaze of glory in a gang war would be utterly wrong. After all the violence and mayhem, he needs to suffer an innocuous, mundane end, as if to say his life meant bupkis.
posted by Thorzdad at 8:56 PM on December 3, 2014 [2 favorites]


I think his asking about the whereabouts of the papers is leading to something. Maybe he's going for some sort of publishing deal that he can retire on the proceeds of.
posted by unliteral at 11:45 PM on December 3, 2014


Why was Jax dragging his foot early on? I assumed it was going to mean something, either symbolically dragging his feet over having to kill Gemma (but I think not) or is he going to stroke out in the last episode? (And I thought of Clay's dodgy hands and now Jax has a dodgy foot but eh.)

I also hoped when Gemma said, "That's who we are," that Jax would say that's not who he was and he'd walk away.

I can't imagine how the series is going to end, but after losing Gemma, Unser and Juice, I don't really care any more.
posted by kinetic at 3:13 AM on December 4, 2014 [2 favorites]


Chuckie's going to use his single finger to pull the trigger on Jax. That's my prediction.

Or Jax is going to kill himself right at the spot his father did, in a headon collision with a truck.

However it ends, I'll be kind of glad it does. It's been a lot of interesting twists and turns, but it stopped feeling realistic early on. Things like Jax firing a gun twice in a residential neighborhood and then not being particularly worried that cops are going to come. After he shoots the former sheriff and his mother. (But doesn't matter, he gets laid, right?)
posted by Catblack at 8:42 PM on December 4, 2014


I dunno. I'm only hate-watching this show now, the main characters are all so wilfully stupid. Especially Jax. Christ Almighty I couldn't say enough about his stupidity. Have a feeling the gammy leg and his father's bike will play some role in the finale, but really, who cares?
posted by northtwilight at 8:24 PM on December 5, 2014


There are a ton of spoilers out there right now because a book that was going to be a retrospective on the series went out early. Just a warning to people who want to avoid them, or a head's up for those who want to read them. :P
posted by Drinky Die at 8:27 PM on December 5, 2014


Northlight: I'm only hate-watching this show now...

I've never heard this term before and I'm stealing it with your permission.

I'm going to hate-watch the finale. I'm guessing Jax is going to die and I've been thinking about how Sutter will make it interesting, and since pretty much everyone hates him and he hates himself, the only way Jax's death could be a mind-blower is if Abel kills him.
posted by kinetic at 5:17 AM on December 6, 2014 [2 favorites]


Why was Jax dragging his foot early on? I assumed it was going to mean something...
Yeah, that stuck out like the proverbial sore thumb, didn't it? This buff young man-of-action suddenly has a gimpy leg after sitting on his ass for a little bit? Not exactly the writers' most subtle moment, to be sure. Marconi couldn't have telegraphed anything more obviously.

...the only way Jax's death could be a mind-blower is if Abel kills him.
Honestly, I think that's really the only way he can die and stay true to the show. I kind of expect it.
posted by Thorzdad at 10:13 AM on December 6, 2014


I could also go for the ghost-y homeless lady, and/or Courtney Love, tampering with his brakes or something.
posted by box at 6:53 AM on December 7, 2014


Honestly the only thing I'm learning from this show is that continued exposure to shitty situations really, really does impact your ability to think of solutions.

So many of the problems faced by Jax and his family could have been sorted out by just a smidgeon of rational thought and the tiniest inkling that killing people isn't a damn solution.

I predict Jax has amended the club rules to prevent his boys from being able to join. He finally sees what Tara was saying about needed to get them out of this life. It isn't the just the club, it's the people all around him. He get the mayhem vote and be killed, Wendy'll raise the boys and the show will close with Abel sitting at the head of the table of another MC.
posted by teleri025 at 1:32 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


I thought that Jax had agreed with the other chapters to get rid of the rule keeping black people out. He has promised to let that other crew join with his and also, I suppose, in recognition of how screwed up that rule is as evidenced by the Juice situation.
posted by roolya_boolya at 1:40 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Aaand, here comes the finale.
posted by box at 7:05 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Burn that book, Jax!
posted by box at 7:06 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Last time I hear this song!
posted by box at 7:09 PM on December 9, 2014


CCH Pounder!
posted by box at 7:14 PM on December 9, 2014


GB patched in, who called it?
posted by box at 7:18 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Social Distortion wannabe Elvis cover--wack.
posted by box at 7:24 PM on December 9, 2014


It's part of the gig.
posted by box at 7:34 PM on December 9, 2014


You ready for this?

Always.
posted by box at 7:36 PM on December 9, 2014


Find the matriarch, put out an APB.
posted by box at 7:38 PM on December 9, 2014


What just happened?

(This is not the first time I'll ask this question this episode.)
posted by box at 7:43 PM on December 9, 2014


You know why.
posted by box at 7:50 PM on December 9, 2014


The lies caught up with all of us.

You know who I am.
posted by box at 7:52 PM on December 9, 2014


Just reminiscin'.
posted by box at 7:54 PM on December 9, 2014


Abel is not going to kill Jax. Plan B:
posted by box at 7:56 PM on December 9, 2014


Yeah.
posted by box at 8:12 PM on December 9, 2014


Aight, I'm done for tonight.
posted by box at 8:25 PM on December 9, 2014 [1 favorite]


Seriously, done with this show. Brother.
posted by box at 8:29 PM on December 9, 2014


I got this.
posted by box at 8:33 PM on December 9, 2014


Multiple homicide.
posted by box at 8:34 PM on December 9, 2014


It's been a great series but it's so exhausting to watch. I just don't have much more energy for it. I really thought Jax wouldn't go through with it at the end.

I really loved that Nero said "it's about saving Jax". He was a bad guy but at least kept trying to be better.
posted by Beti at 11:11 PM on April 10, 2015


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