(S01E13) "... there's only one face I see." - Jax
Well that was pretty impressive. Sons of Anarchy went from a show that I really didn't care for (Kurt Sutter admits that the first two episodes were a bit "ambitious") to one of my favorite new dramas of the '08 fall season. I'm echoing just about every critic around the country by saying this, but Sons really did get better each week. As far as season finales go, last night's capper gave us the perfect amount of answers and questions as well as one of the most layered, metaphorical, and nuanced ending sequences I've seen in quite a while.
In the aftermath of Donna's accidental murder, it was inevitable that it would be the lynch pin in Jax's transformation. Everything this season (the questioning of Clay's leadership; reading John's manuscript) has been building up to the moment when Jax would finally say enough is enough.
The revelation that Clay ordered the hit on Opie and Tig bungled it by putting a bullet in the back of Donna's head turned into the ultimate betrayal for Jax. We've seen Jax break down all season, becoming more and more emotional, until it all finally came out when he yelled at Tara for wanting to leave again. His confession to having "slept with hundreds of women" but only seeing one face "while he's inside them" was about as personal Jax has gotten all season and was truly the only moment that we saw him for who he really is. Not a killer and certainly not Clay.
The final sequence (after Jax beat the crap out of Tig) at Donna's funeral was the ultimate transformation for Jax. He drank himself to sleep on the front steps of a tomb in the cemetery. The family name on the tomb? Patmos.
Brilliant.
Jax is no longer Jax. He's his father, John. And not only that, now he's John the Revelator - aka John of Patmos - the widely accepted author of The Book of Revelation. Hence the episode title and the folk tune playing as Jax strutted to the ceremony, risen anew in his epiphany of change. He was the only one wearing white at the funeral until Tara rushed over to him and dressed him in his leather vest, as if to silence the truth on the tip of his tongue. Jax may have stayed quiet, but the looks he gave Clay and Tig said it all. It was a phenomenally well thought out scene; mesmerizing to watch. Time for a change indeed.
More thoughts on "The Revelator" --
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What did everyone think of the scene when Tig admitted to Clay that he had an opportunity to kill Opie but couldn't pull the trigger? The way he admitted weakness reminded me exactly of the moment in the first season of Damages when Ellen asked Patty, "do you regret what we did?" That utterance set Patty on a path to have Ellen killed and I wonder if Tig's moment of weakness will push Clay to do the same in season two.
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While I was hoping for some devastating secrets to be buried in John's manuscript, it really did turn out to be nothing more than a message of peace. Completely acceptable, just not quite what I had been wanting. Hopefully season two will shed some more light on how he was killed though. Was he killed in Vietnam? I'm assuming no, since that's how he met Piney and they founded the club after the war. So was it accidental, natural, or pre-meditated?
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Speaking of Gemma, Katey Sagal had better get some recognition for her role this season. Hands down, the performance of her career. Peg Bundy who?
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We saw that homeless woman twice now - Gemma gave her money in the previous episode and now she gave Jax a blanket. What do we make of this? I think I'm missing something...
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I loved the moment in Unser's office when he told Hale to try and appeal to Jax. It took a tragedy, but Unser and Hale finally saw eye to eye.
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Agent Stahl: "I guess I'm feeling guilty about creating orphans." Great line.
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Is it wrong that I only think of Skitch Patterson whenever I see Tom Everett Scott?
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Piney had a copy of the manuscript too. Jax had burned his and Gemma destroyed it when she found it. But Piney had a clean, pristine copy to give to Jax. Makes you wonder how many more copies are out there and that no matter how hard Gemma and Clay try, another copy will somehow always make its way into Jax's hands.
We probably won't see season two until around August or September of '09, but in the meantime, there are still a lot of loose ends to ponder. Could the witness possibly come back? Will Bobby still get charged without her? What happens when Clay's arthritis takes over and Jax is in charge? Would he even want to? What happens if the rest of the club finds out what Clay and Tig did? Is Tara going to stay in Charming? Could Kohn's charred body be found? I could keep going, but I won't. It took the whole season to have me hooked, but I'm in - FX has done it again.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
11-27-2008 @ 11:45AM
Jastrom said...
Call me Hooked as well, it's the show that gets better and better and the characters are excellent. Hats off to Sutter and crew. This is a must watch show and I believe all of the episodes can be seen on Hulu.
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11-27-2008 @ 4:43PM
BHcolin said...
It really is a great show. I wasn't sure if I'd like it -- I mean it's about a biker gang. Well, that's what I thought. But it's so much more. Katey Sagal as Gemma is amazing. I can't get enough of her on screen. She brings the show to another level. Everyone is great, but god I love watching her. I can't wait to see where they take Jax. He's been a great character to watch over the past season.
No one I know is watching this and I hope they catch it on reruns or DVD cause it really is worth it.
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11-28-2008 @ 11:45AM
J-ride said...
I realize that this show is about the character interactions and not the trappings, but give me a break. This is, after all, about a biker club. I have yet to see an interesting bike, anyone working on a bike or even talking bikes. Go hang out in a biker bar for a night or two and see if the same is true.
11-28-2008 @ 11:47AM
D-Bo said...
J-Ride:
Of the top of my head, there have been numerous episodes where guys in the Teller Morrow shop are working on bikes. Jax and Opie have a convo while working on one and Jax and Bobby lured the guy whose tat ended up getting burned off by telling him to come look at a certain kind of bike.
11-28-2008 @ 11:46AM
susannah said...
Thanks for the analysis ... I, too, wonder what the homeless women is supposed to be representing because I can't imagine her presence being a capricious thing. As far as the fate of John Teller is concerned, in the first episode Gemma was trying to convince Jax that Abel had a good chance to survive because the Tellers were strong. She stated that "your father was hit by a goddamn semi, dragged 178 yards and that bastard lived for 2 more days." Hmmm, now to figure out what that was all about. (Do you think Tig knows how to drive a semi?!)
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11-28-2008 @ 11:46AM
Jeff said...
Its about time!! Ive been calling for reviews of this show for weeks. I cant wait until next year...how does F/X keep doing it?? Im glad Jonathan got the task because he doesnt miss much with his reviews and they are always well written....thanks TVS for reviewing a good show and we can discuss it. Now if we can just get rid of the dancing shows.............
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11-28-2008 @ 11:46AM
MERVE-THE-PERVE said...
John Tellers tombstone said born in 1940 and died in 1993 i think. I'm sure there is something fishy about his death too. Maybe Jax will start looking into the deaths of everyone to see who else Clay may have killed.
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11-28-2008 @ 11:47AM
Tman said...
Excellent review! I agree with everything said (minus J-ride)... this show is great. Jax's fathers death was definitely the work of Clay and Gemma. Will be very interesting to see what actually happens. She said in this episode something about not being able to do again what they did to John (talking about Jax). In response to the homeless woman, I think it was there to show more about who Jax really is and his commitment to change.
Bravo FX
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11-28-2008 @ 11:47AM
KenMo said...
I think it's a testimony of how well the show gets into the "feeling" of being in/with a club like this.
Every time I watch the show, I get the smell of stale cigarettes in my nose.
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11-28-2008 @ 11:47AM
Jeannie said...
I watch SOA every Wed. and if I do have to miss it than I pick it up on Sun. or Tues.
This IS the best drama I have seen in a long time. SOA is The Soprannos biker style and it ROCKS.....
As for Jaxs' dad I bet Clay & maybe even Jenna had something to do w/h his death...
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11-28-2008 @ 12:31PM
Adam said...
In response to J-Ride: I too wondered why a show about bikers had so little to do with bikers, but then I realized that the show is aimed at a much wider audience. Most people have never ridden a motorcycle, much less owned/worked on one. So wile a biker would appreciate the guys bitching about how it's easier to wrench on a carbeurated machine, technical talk would be utterly boring to a non-gearhead. I'm just glad that none of the guys have studded leather seats or leather tassels hanging off the handlebars. I think Ryan Hurst deserves major props. While the difference between Gemma and Peggy Bundy is stark, how about the difference between Opie and Bertier from remember the titans. Hurst was such a affable guy as Bertier, and the quiet intensity he brings to Opie is remarkable. On minor problem I had with the episode is that the gang leader should have at least snatched the oxygen tube out of that old bastards mouth. They are willing to engage in a firefight with several gang members in broad daylight, but he let a fat racist call him the n-word in his own club? I don't think so.
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11-28-2008 @ 1:42PM
Ric Kaysen said...
The biker atmosphere is done just about right. As another poster said, I'm glad they avoided the studs and tassels that would stink of poor technical advisors. Been hanging at biker bars for years and basic transportation without all the show bike bling shows the realism of this show. And I agree, too much tech talk would alienate the average viewer. What I'm looking forward to is how the writers will reconcile the deadly schism they created without loosing any of the principle characters next season.
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11-28-2008 @ 1:43PM
Lois Levy said...
My favorite show this year and I'm 62. And I liked it immediately.
Gemma is a great character and she said to Clay in this final episode "I don't want him to die like his father." Or words like that. So they definitely killed John Teller off when he wanted to go the "Peace" route. All the symbolism at the end was beautifully done. I loved the white teeshirt. The homeless woman will be important.
Without a witness how can they charge Bobby?
The club is falling apart, but they are pretty fractured. I don't think Tig could go straight or the Irish guy. They are really thugs.
So it will be a long wait until they are back.
FX really is amazing. The only thing that will make the wait bearable is a new season of Damages!
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11-28-2008 @ 1:43PM
Tom said...
Fantastic ending to a season that, as many here have said, got progressively better. What a great show!
First things first: The Gemma-Clay confrontation in the tiny offense. Damn. Gemma doesn't flinch once with Clay, a large man, angry and up in her face. Yes, let's have some awards-show love for Katey Sagal, shall we? Amazing.
I think the Niners leader knew he was sitting on a powderkeg, which is why he told Piney to knock off the N-word crap rather than getting physical with him.
Nice catch on the symbolism of the white T-shirt, Mr. Toomey. Nothing wrong with thinking of Skitch, either. That's who I think of, too.
I find myself rooting hard for Jax to end up with Tara. Maggie Siff is excellent. Although Drea de Matteo has done really nice work here at the end of the season, making Wendy into a sympathetic character.
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11-28-2008 @ 1:43PM
Tom said...
That should read "in the tiny office," of course. Sheesh.
12-01-2008 @ 10:04AM
Lily said...
The "Patmos" reference was clever and in keeping with the episode...but the storyline seems more Shakespearean than Biblical? Jax, the prince, is discovering that his stepfather/"uncle" and his mother conspired to kill his father. Which of course makes Unser Polonius....
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12-01-2008 @ 3:18PM
Rob said...
I know this is a bit late, but I just caught up on the finale. And yes Lily,.. you are right. It's not biblical except for the concept of revelation and the tie in to the song at the end. In fact, the writers have admitted that SOA is a modern adaptation of Hamlet (with loose ties to Macbeth), and when you think about it, they've done a fantastic job - Not too specific, and not too loose. I'm actually surprised that no one has mentioned SOA is rooted in Hamlet before on here. It really lends another layer of complexity and interest to the show. The only problem with that is if they stay true to Shakespeare, everyone will have to die,.. even Jax.
12-01-2008 @ 10:04AM
Rose said...
Thanks FX, you hit the nail on the Head ... At first I was like uh a biker show, my Husband is a biker so naturally we watched... but let me tell you, by episode (3) I was hooked... I haven't seen drama like this seen the Sopranos... my husband get's his action and bikes.. And I get Tara calling her Man(JAx) to save her from that agent ex ... after making it with the dead guy there... it's freakin awesome, 60 minutes of rush... it's got me wishing it was Wednesday on friday ,,,,,
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12-01-2008 @ 10:05AM
Lisa Dreyer said...
Kurt Sutter is a genious! He gave us so many wonderful episodes of The Shield...we are now blessed with "Sons". A couple of points....the fact that Jax was sitting at the head of the table while waiting for Clay...in Clay's chair. The homeless woman for the second time and the cleansing of the hands...possible implies washing his hands of the bad...The emphasized comment "we DON'T kill women...the looks at the funeral towards Jax and then from him..blantantly said "no more" and who could forget the look from Gemma and Clay when they see Jax standing at his fathers' grave. I too cannot wait for next season...meanwhile we are watching all of our taped episodes.
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12-02-2008 @ 5:04PM
derek jolliffe said...
Tig told Clay he couldn't get a clear shot at Opie. He wasn't admitting weakness when he said that, at least not to Clay. He did have to admit weakness to himself because he knew he had a clear shot.
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