Sons of Anarchy returned last week with its Season 7 premiere, “Black Widower,” and here’s what you need to know before tonight’s new episode:
- It’s 10 days following the events of the Season 6 finale. Tara has been buried, Jax is in jail, Gemma’s caring for her grandsons, and Juice is in hiding.
- Following an interrogation by D.A. Tyne Patterson, Jax is released. His mom picks him up and she has spun such a web of lies it’s almost like she believes it herself. Scratch that. This is her truth, and what she feels is necessary for her son and grandsons.
- Jax needs to get his club and family back in order, so he leaves the care of the boys to his mom and Wendy while he tries to figure out who killed his wife. Now that the one person who was able to bring out the kinder, loving, more caring side of Jax is gone, he has spiralled into a very dark place.
- Wendy has been away at rehab and returns home to find Juice hiding at her place. He gets to continue hiding there, though, since Wendy’s going to stay at Gemma’s with Abel and Thomas.
- Gemma comes up with a scapegoat to pin Tara’s death on … one of the Chinese gang members. Jax had put so much into brokering peace with the Mayans and Chinese after giving the Blacks the gun business, and with one false accusation by the actual murderer, it’s unravelled. The episode ends with Jax torturing and killing an innocent man.
- The White Buffalo’s cover of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” plays as the events in the song play out with these characters.
Thoughts:
- Gemma has reached the point of no return. She really believes that she’s doing the right thing to protect her family, and will try to keep her son and grandsons at any cost. What will happen when Jax eventually learns the truth behind Tara’s death?
- Is Jax too far gone to ever come back? Is his death the only way for this series to end?
- “Nothing really matters … to me.” By the end of the episode, that line sums up Jax perfectly.
- There’s a new sheriff coming to town, played by Annabeth Gish. I wonder if a fresh set of eyes will put the pieces of this twisted puzzle together?
- Some people referred to it as “stunt casting,” but I thought Marilyn Manson’s portrayal of Tully, one of the Aryan Nation’s power players, was pretty good. To me, it didn’t feel for one second like, “Oh hey, there’s Marilyn Manson pretending to be a character on SOA.” I look forward to seeing more from this character.
Here’s a preview of tonight’s episode, “Toil and Till”
(Canadian viewers, you can watch the promo here.)
Photo and Video Courtesy of FX
