Roots in Tragedy
The series finale of Sons of Anarchy aired last week after seven seasons, following Jax Teller and the story of a motorcycle club in California. In the final two episodes, I saw outrage in my Twitter feed and Facebook news feed at the deaths of so many characters, but I was surprised that there was not a higher body count. The whole series was set up as a modern day tragedy, so I thought it was strange that some viewers had the opinion that the finale was not great. I think the creator, Kurt Sutter, got the ending right. Sutter has been clear that the inspiration for the story is Hamlet, which becomes obvious through the characters of Jax/Hamlet, Clay/Claudius, and Gemma/Gertrude, and the route the plot follows.
Gemma Needed to Die
One of the biggest complaints I kept seeing was that Gemma died in the second to last episode of the series. Gemma is a stand in for the queen, Gertrude, who dies in the play, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise to any viewer familiar with Hamlet. I think there are many parallels between Gemma and Gertrude, although they do not meet their end in the same way.
Atonement
Gertrude dies in a passive death, by inadvertently drinking poison meant for Hamlet, which atones for her sins of potentially being complicit in her husband’s death and the incestuous marriage with his brother. However, Gemma’s death comes at the hands of her son, who shoots her because she murdered his wife, Tara. Jax is conflicted about killing his mother, but she encourages him to do it, knowing that she has to atone for her crime.
Jax Had to Die
When there are rabid fans, it is hard to please everyone, which is true with Jax’s death at the very end of Sons of Anarchy. There were fans who had issues with the ending because Jax died and they did not want him to. There were people who thought that the ending was obvious, that Jax had to die, but they did not want their expectations to be met. Just like Gemma, he had to die to stay true to the story.
Fate
An important idea in Hamlet is that Hamlet is full of indecision, but it is when he finally allows fate to take control that the story can be resolved. Hamlet finally understands that he cannot force everything to happen when he says, “When our deep plots do pall, and that should learn us / There’s a divinity that shapes our ends, / Rough-hew them how we will” (5.2.9-11). Like Jax, he can try to shape his destiny, but in the end, it is up to fate. Jax tries to force everything to happen at the beginning of the season, but he caused more harm than he could have imagined, based on Gemma falsely identifying Tara’s killer. It is when Jax learns of Gemma’s deception that he has to stop trying to force things to happen.
Suicide
If you are familiar with Hamlet, then you know that Hamlet and Jax die in different ways; Hamlet dies from being wounded by Laertes poisoned sword and Jax rides his motorcycle in front of a semi-truck. Just because the characters die in different ways does not meant that they both did not want to die. Hamlet mistakenly kills Polonius, which he feels terrible about. He kills a father, which is the same thing that happened to him. By the end of the play, his love interest, Ophelia, his mother, and his stepfather are all dead. He does not want to live, but since he is conveniently killed by Laertes, he does not have to commit suicide, but death is what he seeks.
Jax has had a death wish the whole season, following the death of his wife. He sees the opportunity to ride in front of a truck and effectively end his life, so he takes it. For the viewer, it feels like fate because the driver is the same man who gave Gemma a ride. What if he had not given her a ride? Would he have been delayed enough by something else so that he would be driving on that road at that moment? Jax’s suicide plays right into the idea of fate that is seen in Hamlet.
A Satisfactory Conclusion
One of the biggest things that when concluding a television show is whether the end is satisfying to the viewers. That being said, I do not think that the viewer satisfaction should be the only criteria on how to rate an ending. Personally, as a viewer, I do not think that any television show can have as satisfying of an end as Breaking Bad. That show had the ultimate satisfying conclusion, so I do not expect any other shows to have as great of an ending, including Sons of Anarchy. Maybe it is an unfair bias to have, but not having the highest expectations usually makes for a better viewing experience.
Expectations
My expectations going into the last two episodes were that Gemma and Juice needed to die, and Jax was going to die, but not before doing everything he could to protect his family. I was right, but that does not make me disappointed that the show ended in the way it did. There are more things to consider, like how events happen, that can still make the ending surprising. I loved that Jax took out bad guys on his final day of life because it worked well for the plot. I was not expecting Jax’s death to happen the way it did until he was leading a police chase. The obviousness of his final moments did not bother me because it is a fitting end to the story, which makes it satisfying. Jax went out on his own terms, which fate played a role in. It is an ending that makes sense in the scope of a tragedy, staying true to the story. Does is really matter that it was predictable? I know I would have probably felt some sort of outrage if Jax lived happily ever after because it is not a realistic ending, so maybe the predictability of the end result should not matter. While the ending may not have had the same effect as Walter White’s end in Breaking Bad, I know I am happy with it.