Kurt Sutter has already announced that this episode of Sons of Anarchy is the beginning of the end, so going into it fans should probably have braced themselves. If you haven’t sat down and experienced it yet for yourself, I would suggest doing so before you read any more of this review, or any other.
SAMCRO has taken viewers on a wild ride over the past 5 seasons, but season 6 has been leading up to something that I can only hope is an ending that won’t break my heart; despite hearing Sutter’s many warnings.
Tonight’s episode, Aon Rud Persanta, marks the first real step the Sons of Anarchy have taken to remove themselves from the gun business in which they have become a integral part of its long-running legacy. Jax (Charlie Hunnam) is leading his club to the promised land, but not without risk, and definitely not without being accompanied by tragedy. I’m sure it hasn’t escaped anyone’s attention that turning on the Irish could have serious repercussions for the club, and everyone associated with them. We’ve already seen what the Irish Kings are willing to do if they simply consider you to be committing a form of betrayal – and that was only based on one man’s word.
Now that man is dead, and the club is closer to getting from point a to point b then ever before. There was no easy solution to the dilemma of how to deal with Galen (Timothy V. Murphy) and Clay (Ron Perlman). The table voted against Clay meeting Mr. Mayhem last season, but with the circumstances changing rapidly, it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise that double jeopardy has no place in the decision making process when it comes to what’s best for the club.
Although Clay has been built up as the villain for so long that Gemma (Katey Sagal) wasn’t the only one surprised by the tears that his death brought on, there was something very somber about the end finally arriving. This isn’t the first time that the death of a club member who we’ve had the opportunity to become invested in has come around. Yet, watching it happen was the only time I remember being shocked by my reaction.
When Opie (Ryan Hurst) was killed early on in season 5, there was a completely predictable outpouring of emotion from fans. Opie was a character that despite his many immoral actions, maintained a sense of purity. He was the guy that we rooted for to do the right thing. He was very much the outlaw version of a hero, and in the end, after he’d suffered through the loss of his wife and his father – both collateral damage of Clay – he gave his own life to protect the club. His departure from the Sons of Anarchy was as expected, a tragic turning point on the show.
Clay, on the other hand, has been responsible for working against the club, in the name of the club, since he decided to kill J.T. It didn’t matter what he did that was positive, after viewers found out that he killed Jax’s father, it was over for him in the minds of a good majority of fans. I can’t count the number of times that I hoped a stray bullet would find its way toward him on both of my hands, but when the moment came to say goodbye, I’m not sure I was ready.
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