‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 5 finale review: Jax’s plan, Jax’s pain

“Sons of Anarchy” season 5 has been a crazy ride, but on Tuesday night it all came to a close in an episode that really brought us a little bit of everything: action, drama, surprises, and of course death.

Perhaps to us, the biggest surprise of all was seeing someone who was once so close to Jax really turn on him in Tara. She listed Wendy’s name as the guardian in that custody battle, prepared herself to leave in order to take a job in Oregon, and decided that she was going to take the children with her. In following all this up, she made a challenge to Jax: go with her, or otherwise run the risk of running his life into the ground. In another shocking twist, though, she was not able to complete this quest: Eli instead stopped by her and Jax’s home and arrested her on suspicion of killing Pamela, which goes to show that bad things happen when you don’t follow the letter of the law (or the deal your husband makes with him).

Did Tara getting locked up seem even remotely fair, especially considering all that Jax has done? Not even remotely, but the only real qualm we have with this scene, which closed the 90-minute episode, was that it felt so coincidental. Life isn’t fair, and the good are not always rewarded here. After all, Juice survived despite being proclaimed as a rat and left for dead earlier this season.

As for the body count, quite possibly the biggest name to fall this week was Damon Pope, who went as a result of a tricky plan that made it appear as though we were really about to see Tig die instead. Clay found a way to survive for the time being, even though he is also in handcuffs now after Jax and Tig rigged up Pope’s death in order to implicate him. This probably will not stand forever, but it is a temporary solution to the Clay problem, and there will clearly be a price on his head now. Nero also is still alive, though it looks as though he is looking to get out of the business that he is in (which means we could actually see a character go off into the sunset here). Will he be back? Hopefully, we will learn that answer in the coming days, but the option is open.

What do you think about this episode? Be sure to share your thoughts below, and you can also read more “Sons of Anarchy” news about the finale over here.

Photo: FX