10 Amazing TV Episodes (That Doomed Great Shows)

Loosely based on Hamlet, Sons of Anarchy showcased the considerable writing skills of Kurt Sutter and his ability to take a bad situation and not only fail to improve it for the heroes, but make it worse. Much worse. In a similar move to The Shield, the enjoyment of watching SOA was seeing Jax Teller get tantalisingly close to achieving his ultimate goal of legitimacy for the motorbike gang and his personal freedom, only to be forced deeper into the life of crime again and again.

In A Mother's Work, the inevitable fatal confrontation between Jax's mother Gemma and the love of his life Tara, is predictably brutal. When Gemma becomes convinced that Tara is going to rat out the club and destroy Jax's life, she does the only thing a protective mother can do in these situations - she drowns Tara in a sink full of dirty washing-up water before plunging a two-pronged carving fork repeatedly into the back of her head.

Jax's reaction is covered in the final season but this one act alone was depressingly final. With everything we know about Jackson Teller, what else was he supposed to do but gun his own mother down in cold blood? It makes for great viewing but this one event set out his road to inevitable destruction - after Tara's death, there's no coming back from that, for Jax or the entire show. RIP SOA.