‘Sons of Anarchy’ series finale review: Jax’s fate, the homeless lady’s meaning, and inner pain

Tonight, the “Sons of Anarchy” series finale looked to do just about everything that it could to paint the picture of just who Jax Teller has become. He is no longer a young man hiding in the shadows of his past, whether that be JT, Clay, or anyone else he has looked to for guidance.

Instead, he was a killer. He knew he was a killer, and tonight, he killed almost because he saw no other choice. With his back against the wall, he went on an epic spree like no other, taking down Barosky, August Marks, and more in an attempt to clean up the streets of Charming once and for all. This was about legacy, and in his own twisted way, we feel like he thought that all of these bodies on the ground would make the world a better place.

With that being said, Jax did not want his family to stay anywhere near this town. He convinced Nero to go with Wendy and children, presumably to Norco where they could be away from everything.

While all of this was happening, the rest of the SAMCRO chapter was deciding on what his fate would be: A meeting with Mr. Mayhem. They stripped him of his badges, and he handed the charter over to Chibs. Then, it turned out to be one final twist: A setup, just so that he could get on his bike and take off.

In the midst of all the pain, one mystery was (sort of) solved: The identity of the homeless lady. The easy interpretation of her was the Angel of Death, and we actually feel like she didn’t need to say anything for that to be clear.

With this warning-of-sorts, and the heavy body count, in mind, how far did Jax think that he was really going to go? As it turns out, it was to a familiar spot to vent out his feelings, and reconcile once and for all who he was.

This is where we could feel that this could get polarizing. What was the point of Jax running from the police at this point? We knew at the time the cops were on him that there was only one way it could end, and rather than just accepting a fate like Gemma or Juice, he ran.

Hopefully, some of these sentiments were washed away by the end of the episode, where we saw why Jax ran: He wanted to end this on his own terms … which apparently involved getting hit by Michael Chiklis in his truck. It makes sense on some ways for him to die while riding, and that image of him arms wide, allowing himself to die, may be ingrained in our memory forever.

There is no doubt to us that “Sons of Anarchy” was a brilliant show, and this was a pretty brilliant finale that closed the door on Jax’s journey. It was a long ride to Jax’s end, but it was the end he chose. Maybe some will see tonight as a victory for him. We don’t have enough perspective for that just yet. We just know that despite him being a pretty horrible person, we teared us as the truck was gearing up to hit him. Grade: A+.

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