Sons of Anarchy Series Finale Review: “Papa’s Goods” (7×13)

Depending on how you look at it, Sons of Anarchy leaves on one of two notes. The primary note, the one that I ultimately think the series intends, is one of tragic regret, the weight of the characters’ history coming down to bear upon those left alive. But there is a secondary note here, one borne of the tonal miscalculations that have plagued the show’s final arc for some time now. For the bulk of its running time (which, yes, is still too long), “Papa’s Goods” treads carefully enough, but when it does make missteps, they’re enough to make you apoplectic.

After seven seasons, amounting to about five years of the characters’ lives, Jax Teller is finally made to answer for his many sins. But he does it on his own terms, and he dies regarded a hero by basically everyone else on the show (again, those who are actually left alive). This is a tricky spot, to say the least, though I don’t doubt that the show’s nigh-religious final moments ended up connecting with the bulk of the audience. I’m not nearly so convinced that that final shot works, with Jax meeting Michael Chiklis’s semi truck head-on, arms outstretched, a literal Christ figure, dying for the sins of SAMCRO.

The finale itself is concerned mainly with tying up loose ends. After all, the major emotional beats have by now been resolved, an all that’s left is Jax’s final fate. There is absolutely no question that we did not require two hours to get to it. “Papa’s Goods” suffers from the same overwritten, undercooked plottiness that has been such an issue throughout the past several seasons. One would think, for instance, that the writers would have remembered the show’s ill-advised sojourn to Ireland and decided the finale should not spend so much time with the IRA once more. On a significant stretch of the episode, Jax is off on a murder spree, clearing the way for the gangster’s paradise he plans to leave behind.

Now on the one hand, there’s something to the idea of Jax running around, his mind focused solely on club business, while Nero loses his mind and is left alone to deal with the fallout of every terrible decision the Teller family has made. But the finale is too concerned with sending the club, and Jax, on what amounts more or less to a victory lap. If I have one complaint about this finale, it’s the way it underserves the remaining members of the ensemble; and not just Drea de Matteo, whose Wendy is left to stand around, mostly silent, but also Kim Coates, whose Tig I think has gotten less attention this season than even Rat.

At times it seems the show is trying to have things both ways. After all, the episode opens with Jax burning all of John’s papers and photos. He visits the graves of our dearly departed Opie (where he leaves his SONS rings) and Tara (where he leaves his wedding ring). This is a man who has embraced the fact that he is a criminal. As he says to Nero, “The lies caught up to all of us. This is who I am. I can’t change.” In watching this episode and considering Jax’s arc to this point, something occurred to me that I hadn’t considered until now: in my frustration with the show, with the idea that Jax should have just left with Tara, should have gotten out of the club, is inherent the notion that Jax could be redeemed at all. In other words, in wanting Jax to wise up and leave Charming, the audience is giving him more credit as a moral human than the show or the character himself is willing to give. “Papa’s Goods” may make Jax a martyr, but it’s not to justify his actions. The finale is a condemnation of Jax Teller, of John Teller’s legacy, of the whole shebang, really.

Or rather it would be, were it not for that troublesome final sequence. Jax is finally brought to account for his sins, yes, but what has changed? SAMCRO goes on, still slinging guns, still trafficking drugs; Chibs’s veiled threat to Jarry before the Mayhem vote might be for show (so much of this episode, after all, is smoke and mirrors), but it also might be a final restatement of these men’s dangerous attitude toward women. Jax tells Patterson that at the end of the day, “the bad guys lose,” but Jax dies in communion with his father and with a smile on his face. I don’t see any bad guys losing here. Hamlet ends in blood, in the total ruin of an entire family; there’s blood to spare in Sons of Anarchy, but it pulls that final tragic punch, to the show’s detriment.

In the end Sons died as it lived, in a patchwork of cool action sequences, occasionally affecting drama, long-winded plots, and portentous symbolism, shot through with some of the best dramatic acting you’ll find on television. That is an insanely frustrating legacy for a series, and I imagine that I will shake my fists at the sky for years to come, imagining what a four or five season run of the show might have looked like. But ultimately when we look back on “Papa’s Goods” we will look back on the tremendous pas de deux between Charlie Hunnam and CCH Pounder. We’ll look back on two great car chases, and some really great camera work during the last bike chase. We’ll look back on a Mayhem vote that, though it turned out (like so many climactic moments on Sons of Anarchy) to be a ruse, did manage to put a lump in my throat after all.

And when we look back on Sons of Anarchy, we can remember a great second season, with a heart-stopping finale that is still one of the best in recent memory. We’ll remember episodes like “Hands”. (We’ll forget all about Romeo and the CIA, hopefully.) We can remember the miracle of an acting performance that Katey Sagal turned in, remember the moments that shocked but that didn’t make us roll our eyes. There was plenty to like about Sons of Anarchy, even here at the end—and with it all behind us, it’ll be that much easier to remember it fondly.

Episode Grade: 7.5/10

Stray Observations:

• In a moment that comes more or less out of nowhere, the club patches in T.O. I understand the impulse to address the club’s stance on race one last time, but considering that 1) I barely know who T.O. is, and 2) he vanishes from the episode after getting patched in, the impact is perhaps not as great as the show thinks. Plus considering that Juice’s long journey to a gruesome death began with his own race anxiety concerning the club, it’s also a pretty sad moment.
• How many tremendous guest actors has Kurt Sutter attracted to this show over the years? I can’t think of one off the top of my head that I disliked (I know that Ally Walker’s June Stahl was not so popular, but even she brought a demented psychosis to her role that was fantastic to behold). This season alone has highlighted CCH Pounder and Jimmy Smits, but even actors with smaller roles, like Annabeth Gish and, astonishingly, Marilyn Manson of all people, have done some good work with what they’ve been given.
• Much has been made of Abel’s fondling of Gemma’s ring in the car. I met the shot with a shrug; file it away under “portentous symbolism”. If the idea is to indicate that the kid is permanently fucked up from all this, well, that point’s been made sufficiently by now. Making it again with such a trite shot, in a scene where the kid is being (somewhat unbelievably) carted away to safety, is gilding the lily a bit.
• Seriously, what an up and down journey watching this show has been. I wouldn’t recommend anyone watch it straight through again, but it sure has one hell of a highlight reel.