Tonight, Kurt Sutter’s new series Mayans MC, a sequel and the next chapter of the Sons of Anarchy saga, premieres on FX. In honor of the premiere, this week’s Top Ten Tuesday goes over the top ten moments from Sons of Anarchy. It’s nearly impossible to narrow it down to ten and order them, so feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below.
10. Juice tells Jax that Gemma killed Tara
Juice was one of the most tragic characters in SoA, and his final scene with Jax was one of the best of the series. The big standout from the scene was the emotion on Jax’s face (with a masterful performance from Charlie Hunnam)—particularly in his pain-filled eyes—as he came to grips with the fact that his mother killed his wife and has been lying about it—causing many other issues in the process.
9. Clay meets Mr. Mayhem
There were many great Jax-Clay moments throughout Sons of Anarchy—from their coming together after Gemma’s misfortunate to Jax taking the gavel—but Clay’s end is what makes the top ten moments of the series. “This time it was unanimous,” Jax said of Clay’s meeting Mr. Mayhem.
8. Abel gets taken
The Season 2 finale was one of the craziest episodes of the series, as “Half Sack” was killed by Cameron, who then panicked and took Jax’s son, Abel. It was a mind-numbing moment, with everyone in complete and utter shock, and it left a cliffhanger for the next season before the club went over to Ireland.
7. Funeral shooting
The next episode, the Season 3 premiere, seemed like a harmless event during Half Sack’s funeral, but things quickly turned after a drive-by shooting led to the sudden and shocking death of a major character: David Hale. Jax absolutely lost it, mercilessly beating one of the assailants before his guys got him off.
6. The death of Tara
Gemma clearly cared a lot about Jax and her grandchildren, but she had the propensity to take things too far when doing what she thought was best for them. Tara was not going to rat, but Gemma thought she was and that was enough to lead to the death of her daughter-in-law. The ramifications are felt throughout the final season. In the same episode, Jax’s goodbyes to the other club members was one of the most emotional scenes in Sons of Anarchy.
5. Jax turns on Damon Pope, Tig survives
Kurt Sutter gave excellent misdirection leading up to this moment, as it appeared Jax, who had an up-and-down history with Tig, was going to give his member up to Damon Pope. Tig was clearly flustered when Jax took out everyone and allowed him to have the final kill, but it was a satisfying moment after what Pope had done, causing the death of Opie and burning Tig’s daughter Dawn alive in front of him.
4. Opie’s death
One of the saddest moments of the series suddenly happened in the third episode of Season 5. Opie was Jax’s best friend, and it obviously affected Jax tremendously throughout the rest of his life.
3. Jax kills Gemma
The final scene of the penultimate episode of Sons of Anarchy was a long time coming with Gemma, who caused a ton of destruction throughout her life, finally meeting her end at the hands of Jax. A son killing his own mother is about as heavy as it gets, and as Nero warned, it’s not something you can really live with.
2. Jax’s last ride
Jax wasn’t going to have to live with killing his mother for long. Sons of Anarchy had an amazing final episode in which Jax tied up all loose ends for the good of the club before saying his final goodbyes and going on one last ride. Jax was completely at peace with his decision, and it was a scenic and fitting end to his journey.
1. Season 3 finale
The end of Season 3 was misdirection at its finest, as the episodes leading up to it were setting up Jax being a rat to protect Gemma, knowing that he would be dead if SAMCRO found out about it. Knowing Stahl was not to be trusted, it allowed the club—who all knew about Jax working with Stahl to give her Jimmy—to put on a great performance before they were sent to jail, with everyone acting like they had no idea and were going to kill Jax for being a rat. But Stahl had no idea she was being double-crossed herself, and it led to the death of Jimmy at the hands of Chibbs before Opie had the honor of killing her.
Great show.
Mayans is dope..