'It's rare for a show to deliver exactly what you expect'
So, Sons of Anarchy finally met the reaper after seven seasons of bikes, bare bodies and blood and I have to say the final season didn't disappoint. As someone who watched from episode one it honestly feels like a chapter of my life has ended and not just one of my favourite shows. It's because of this that I have decided to write this kind of review of the final episode. Warning, some spoilers ahead!
Firstly I want to say that I am a massive tv addict and not just american drama (though that is a big part) but I also enjoy comedy and documentaries and pretty much anything save for musicals. Never make me watch a musical. Yes it's fair to say I'm hooked and have watched pretty much most of the major series in the last ten years. It started with Lost which remains my all time favourite, with it being more of a way of life than just a tv show for me. One thing that caused this i believe is that I watched it from the beginning as it originally aired on tv the only other show that thisapplies to is SOA perhaps reflecting my love for that series too. Don't get me wrong I still love the likes of breaking bad, mad men, fringe and game of thrones along with the classics sopranos and wire but all of those I came to late along with other shows like Boardwalk empire and Dexter which I didn't carry on with. So it's fair to say, SOA has a special place in my heart.
It's testament to the show that nearly four days after I watched the final episode, it is still on my mind. The final chapter was preceded by controversy due to the official book being released early and some fans learning Jax's fate because of this but I'd like to think that any true Sons fan had already worked it out. As my tagline says it delivers what you expect and I think we all expected Jax to meet his end not only because of the hamlet theme but because of the whole season's plot in general. Lesser tv shows may have been inclined to save the main protagonist but Sutter and co pulled no punches and did what was expected. This is nothing new of course as we have seen with both the demises of clay and Gemma. Fans wanted them to pay for their sins and after all it's what you would expect to happen even in real life. So as Jax drives headlong into the trucks path we have our end and one that satisfies. The episode in a whole tied up lots lose ends, death of Marx, death of baroski, future of the club and the final end to the Irish ties of the club. We also see Chibs finally become horatio and take the lead as well as the amazing redemption of tig. Jax also gets his boys out of charming and probably saves them from the patch.all in all it's what we all expected and probably wanted yet unlike some shows when this happens we are happy. Why? Because in the end the appeal of Jax and SOA is that it could actually happen so for everything to play out on cue makes us feel better. That's what makes it special. That's what makes it addictive. That's what makes it timeless.
In the end SOA should be remembered not for it's blood or for it's sex but for it's ability to to deliver exactly what you expect . It's sad to say that too many tv shows fail to do that but SOA is not one of them.
