10 Moments That Proved Sons Of Anarchy Was The Best Show On TV
2. A Mother’s Work Part II
If season six meandered a little before reaching its climax, then that climax would blow everything else away. We’d already seen Jax finally achieve the bloody vengeance against Clay that he’d worked so hard to achieve, and with the removal of such a large part of the show’s history, the audience had relaxed a little, lulled into a false sense of security.
And then Gemma, Jackson’s own mother, attacked and brutally murdered his wife Tara in her own kitchen, half drowning her in the sink before stabbing her in the skull over and over with a freakin’ barbecue fork. Mirroring the events of ‘The Sleep Of Babies’, Gemma had formed the impression that Tara intended to rat on Jax and the MC, cutting a deal to keep herself and her sons safe… and no one threatens Gemma’s family except Gemma herself.
Tara actually had brokered a deal – but Jax had already fixed the problem, taking ownership of the consequences of his actions, and setting up a further deal that saved his wife and sons in exchange for his own freedom. Gemma’s impulsive loss of temper and subsequent cover-up of the crime directly lead into the climactic events of season seven, causing untold death, grief and carnage. The bloodbath that follows is her responsibility, as she not only removes her son’s only lifeline to the man he wishes he could be and the life he wishes he could live, but also provides him with a spurious path for vengeance that leads to his undoing. Plus… dude. A barbecue fork.