The Sons of Anarchy haven’t exactly had a lot of wins in their corner lately. In fact, every episode this season seems to bring about its own metaphorical downpour of extenuating circumstances that forces the club to reinvest in their outlaw ways. It’s hard to imagine the MC not relapsing to their former means (mostly because we’ve never had the opportunity to see it). Jax may be going about things differently from his predecessor, but the more he tries to be aristocratic in his new role as king of SAMCRO, the more his court finds themselves cleaning up new messes.
In order for Jax (Charlie Hunnam) to exert himself as the leader everyone wants him to be, he needs to cut ties with treacherous elements that threaten to engulf the club (literally). Before that can happen, he needs to find a way to keep the past in the past. With the school shooting still a prominent theme this season, always hovering just within the periphery, Jax isn’t going to able to lead his club to the promised land (which in this case is populated by loose women and ample supplies of booze) if he can’t outsmart a very determined district attorney.
Ultimately, that’s really the biggest question this season of Sons of Anarchy is asking. It is no longer zeroed in on getting SAMCRO out of criminal enterprises – although that still appears to be the endgame. It’s about whether Jax can pull off another June Stahl moment and give the club enough breathing room to have a chance at their version of happily ever after.
The longer the club continues to resort to cleaning up by way of a growing body count, the more they risk allying themselves with someone that lacks the strong will and loyalty we saw on tonight’s Sons of Anarchy from Nero (Jimmy Smits). As the noose tightens around Barosky (Peter Weller), realistically it’s only a matter of time before he makes a decision that’s in his best interest. He may be rebelling against the man now when the odds are still mostly in his favor, but he could turn into a major liability for the Sons of Anarchy very quickly. Although he appears to admire Jax’s style, not only does he has his own crew of sorts to look out for, he also has the benefit of knowing enough to end the MC and get himself a nice retirement package courtesy of the federal government. Not a bad card to have up your sleeve, right?
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