Jax Teller's Shakespearian tragedy ends in predictably catastrophic style on "Sons
of Anarchy." This is Jax's rocky road from acting as vice president of SAMCRO
to enacting revenge upon his stepfather, Clay, and his own mother, Gemma, for his father's murder.
Jax's father, John Teller, was an idealist, Vietnam vet, and founding member of the Sons.
He hoped that the Charming, California biker club would have a positive influence on the world.
After losing his youngest son, Jax's little brother Thomas, to a heart defect,
he fell into a deep depression and began putting the history of the club down in his memoir.
While John was constantly running off with his mistress,
Gemma was left to deal with Thomas' illness and subsequent passing alone.
She agreed to help Clay put an end to John in a staged road accident. Clay quickly became
club president and began entangling the club deeper with other organized criminal elements.
And that's just the backstory!
Jax is in turmoil when the show opens. The club's warehouse is mysteriously burned down.
On the same day, his pregnant ex-wife Wendy overdoses on heroin and is rushed to the hospital
where Jax discovers his high school sweetheart, Tara, will be one of his child's surgeons.
"I want to help your son."
"His name is Abel"
Abel Teller is delivered via c-section and, thanks to Tara's surgical intervention,
beats the two-to-one odds against his survival. Tara and Jax, reunited for the first time since
high school, begin to fall into a relationship in spite of themselves. While looking for baby
clothing for Abel, Jax finds his father's writings in a storage crate and becomes inspired by the
old man's vision for SAMCRO, which the club is decidedly not living up to under Clay.
The Sons ultimately find themselves divided when Donna, the wife of Jax's best friend and
trusted lieutenant, Opie, is accidentally killed by Tig, Clay's Sergeant at Arms.
The bullet was intended for Opie, whom Clay falsely believes is informing on the Sons
thanks to information planted by June Stahl, an ATF agent trying to take down the Sons.
SAMCRO soon finds themselves in a turf war with the League of American Nationalists,
a militant white supremacist group. As Clay and Jax vie for control of the club,
Gemma is kidnapped, beaten, and sexually assaulted by the League. United by a desire for vengeance,
Clay and Jax combine forces to remove the Nazis from Charming for good.
"How do you want to handle it?"
"We kill them all."
Just as the coast seems clear, Jax learns that Abel has been kidnapped by the head of the True
Irish Republican Army, who believes that Gemma is involved with the death of his son. Jax and
the Sons head to Belfast to recover the boy, where Jax meets his father's mistress, Maureen,
who gives him more of his father's letters to add to his collection.
After Jax returns home, Agent Stahl offers him legal immunity for Gemma
and lighter sentences for the Sons if he turns on them. Upon learning that Tara is pregnant,
Jax takes the deal. Stahl informs the club of their negotiations,
but instead of turning on Jax, Opie takes out Stahl, avenging his wife's death.
Jax soon learns that Stahl has set them up, and the club ends up in prison.
After a 14-month prison sentence, Jax and the gang are released.
Jax plans on exiting the club and making a better life for himself,
Tara, and his children, but gets drawn even deeper into club business.
Gemma discovers Maureen's letters from John among Jax's things,
detailing his suspicion that Gemma and Clay were conspiring to kill him. Clay kills multiple people
to suppress the truth — including Opie's father. Clay and Gemma begin to come apart at the seams,
their relationship exploding after a particularly ugly fight. Gemma has the letters altered
to remove proof of her involvement in John's death, then informs Jax that Clay arranged his
father's murder. Clay gets voted out of the club presidency, with Jax assuming control of the Sons.
The club soon runs afoul of a gang seeking revenge after Tig killed the daughter of their leader,
Damon Pope. Tara and Jax finally marry, and the Sons find themselves imprisoned once again.
To pay off their debt to Pope, they're forced to trade the life of one of their imprisoned members.
Opie volunteers, and is brutally beaten to death in one of the series' most gruesome scenes.
Jax later kills Pope and pins the hit on Clay.
After a gun connected to the Sons is used in a school shooting,
Jax decides to get out of their IRA-related gun trade, but Clay — imprisoned for the murder of
Pope — relies on the IRA, and a few of his SAMCRO buddies to break him out of prison.
The resulting mess concludes with Jax finally shooting Clay to death and pinning it on the IRA.
"Fair enough"
Tara is given the chance to turn state's evidence against the Sons,
and Gemma believes she's already turned on them. Though Jax and Tara have reconciled,
Gemma takes it upon herself to protect her son. She stabs Tara to death,
and absconds before she's discovered, leaving Jax alone to find his wife and mourn.
With nothing left to lose and the love of his life now gone, Jax goes on a roaring
rampage of revenge, eventually catching up with Gemma at her father's house.
He kills his mother in her garden, entering a dark place from which he can't return.
Jax says goodbye to his sons and entrusts them to Wendy. He also gives Wendy all of his possessions
and instructs her to take the boys and leave Charming, ensuring they won't grow up in the Club.
"I need my sons to grow up
hating the thought of me."
He leaves his club ring at Opie's grave and kisses Tara's headstone
before visiting the place where his father died, announcing his forgiveness.
Leading the police on a chase down the same highway where his father died,
Jax drives his motorcycle head-on into a semi truck, ending his life in the same place and
in the same way his father died years ago. Just like the ending of "Hamlet," it's a bloodbath.
Unlike the ending of "Hamlet," however, two small boys get a chance at a peaceful life.
Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
even more Looper videos about your favorite TV shows are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.