FXDid someone forget to tell Kurt Sutter that the Sons of Anarchy series finale is next week?
Because we're pretty sure that the executive producer of the FX biker drama just about killed everyone off in tonight's penultimate episode, and we are not okay with what just went down. (Sutter, we can send our therapy bills straight to you, right? Thanks!)
This next part goes without saying, people...
SPOILER ALERT. SPOILER ALERT. SPOILER ALERT. We're about to discuss who died, who hooked up, and who survived to live another week in the supersized episode, and if you haven't watched "Red Rose" yet, exit out now and come back when you've seen the episode! You have been sufficiently warned...
We never thought we'd say these next words: RIP Gemma (Katey Sagal), Juice (Theo Rossi) and Unser (Dayton Callie)!
That's right, all three major players, who have been a huge part of the series since it premiered seven years ago, all met their maker before the series finale. And the most shocking part? All three deaths were at the hands of Jax (Charlie Hunnam), either literally or figuratively. After Jax found out the truth about Gemma murdering Tara (Maggie Siff) from Juice in the last episode, we knew he would want revenge, but killing or ordering the deaths of his mother, pseudo-father figure and BFF? This is the lowest we've ever seen Jax, and we're pretty sure he isn't going to make it out of the series alive...or if he even wants to live with his actions anymore.
So how did Sons of Anarchy get to this point in just one episode?!
Jax wakes up in his Mayan hideout with a mysterious and random sore ankle, which we're not sure if it's from his high-speed chase the day before, or if something else more worrisome is up. He spends the rest of the episode limping around, which is never a good sign. He talks with Nero (Jimmy Smits) and has him agree to bring Wendy (Drea de Matteo) and his boys down to the farm for a few days to get them away from the danger, but they never end up making it down there.
The rest of SAMCRO gathers to meet with the Irish, Niners, Mayans and Byz-Lats to renegotiate territory now that the Chinese are out of commission. But the Irish don't agree to the new terms SAMCRO lays out with the gun and drug business with everyone else, and that old racial hatred could ruin everything for SAMCRO, who is just trying to fix the war that all started with Gemma's lie. If the Irish don't agree, war could once again break out between all the gangs, and things would only get bloodier.
Back in Charming, Unser drops his key off at Gemma's place to finally sever ties, unaware of everything that's going down, still sticking true to his word that he's done with the club. Meanwhile, Gemma sleeps at a truck stop overnight far from Charming and befriends Michael Chiklis! Well, she befriends who the surprise guest star Chiklis is playing, aka a nice trucker named Milo. (Way to keep that casting under wraps, FX!)
Gemma tells Milo she's just "a good Christian girl," trying to see her father one last time and he agrees to give her a ride up to Oregon. And cue the end of Chiklis' big SOA role!
In prison, Juice once again gets gang-raped (seriously, our hearts couldn't take much more of watching this poor guy's continued suffering), and this time it's by Chinese gang members as retaliation for killing their boss, Henry Lin (Kenneth Choi). They tell him his death was already ordered by SAMCRO to be carried out by the Aryan Brotherhood.
But what really broke our hearts? Watching Juice steal a scalpel from medical to give to Tully (Marilyn Manson), knowing that if the Chinese killed him, it would impact the AB relationship with SAMCRO, and even after the club ordered his death he's still looking out for the well-being of the club! It's sickening, and yet it's so true to Juice's character. Even after he made all the mistakes that led up to this point, the only thing he ever wanted was to make things right with Jax and the club.
Hope that last slice of prison pie was tasty, Juice...he asks Tully to let him finish it before he gives Tully a silent nod, and Tully instigates a prison riot to cover up what's about to go down. He calmly stabs Juice in the neck a few times and leaves him to bleed out on the cafeteria floor. RIP Juice. We'll miss your puppy dog eyes and head tattoos and literally everything about you, but we're glad you finally got put out of your misery. We're not even sure we're glad you lasted this long anymore, after everything you had to endure this season.
While that death was crazy heartbreaking enough for a whole episode, we were still only two-thirds of the way through "The Rose," and that's when we knew that s--t was really about to go down.
Jax has Chucky (Michael Ornstein) call Unser for a regular Teller-Morrow pickup, and he shows up not suspecting anything, but all of SAMCRO is there waiting for him instead. Jax finally tells Unser the truth about Gemma, Tara, Juice and everything else to get the charges on him dropped so he can get his business done without outside pressure from cops. Unser wants to call in and report Tara's murder officially, but Jax warns him that if word gets out that everything SAMCRO did in retaliation that turned Oakland and Stockton upside down was all based on a lie, the peace they're currently brokering gets shattered and violence returns to Charming. Jax leaves after dropping that bomb and Unser breaks down crying in his car.
The club heads back to Red Woody for the meeting of all the Sons of Anarchy presidents who have traveled to Charming to vote on how to deal with Jax (since he killed another charter president). They ask to hear Jax's side of the story of why he killed Jury White (Michael Shamus Wiles), and he opens up to the table and reveals that he lied about Jury confessing to ratting them out, knowing the other presidents will be forced to a Mayhem vote. He's sealing his own fate and his own club doesn't even know it!
But he makes one final request to the other presidents before giving up the gavel: to have an "unwritten bylaw" in the charter thrown out. But the camera cuts away before we can hear what law he's talking about! The other presidents agree, and after the meeting, Jax keeps Chibs (Tommy Flanagan) and the rest of the club in the dark that he just signed his own death sentence, promising them that everything's going to be okay. Does Jax have another crazy complicated plan up his sleeve to save himself, or is he really about to meet Mr. Mayhem willingly?!
Meanwhile, after Milo drops Gemma off at the facility where her father lives in Oregon, lo and behold, Charisma Carpenter is the woman working reception! Since Tara is the only name listed for Gemma's father's visitors, Gemma is once again confronted with her dark past, even as she's trying to escape it. How poetic!
While she waits to get cleared to see her father, the nursing home calls the only number they have—Tara's home phone number—to get permission for Gemma to visit her father, and Wendy calls Jax to let him know where Gemma is, not realizing what she just put in motion. Nero finds out from Wendy immediately that Jax knows where Gemma is and rushes over to Unser, begging him to get Gemma in custody to keep her safe, and Unser heads up North to get her. And cue the race to get to Gemma first!
While all this family drama is going down, the club minus Jax takes care of a little problem. Due to some Irish infighting, SAMCRO is forced to hunt down an Irish traitor in order for the Irish Kings to approve their new business model of selling guns to the Mayans and Niners, and the rest of the club helps Tyler take out the remaining Chinese on the streets to free up his new territory and to get his help in finding the Irish traitor. Quid pro quo and all that!
But back to the real drama: Unser beats Jax up North and finds Gemma going through old pictures in her dad's home. She refuses to go with him quietly to get arrested (and to be kept alive!), and while he gets up to call the local cops for help, Jax arrives. When Unser refuses to leave Jax alone with Gemma, Jax shoots and kills him! One shot, straight through the chest! RIP Unser, we knew your deep involvement with the club would only end one way: death. And it would come via SAMCRO or the cancer.
But with two major casualties, the episode still wasn't over yet...and while we had a feeling we knew what was coming next, that still didn't stop the full-on heart attack we got from the last two scenes.
Jax and Gemma proceeded to have a calm heart-to-heart—Right beside Unser's dead body, no less!—where Gemma finally confesses that she's to blame for everything that's happened since Tara's death. She asks to go out to the garden, and once they're both outside, she turns her back to Jax. He then raises his gun to shoot her but can't bring himself to pull the trigger on his own mother, and breaks down in tears.
Still with her back to her son, Gemma says she loves him and knows that he needs to do this. "It's who we are, sweetheart," she tells him. "It'sOK, my baby boy. It's time. I'm ready."
And Jax shoots her in the head! Whoa. Whoa. RIP Gemma. After everything you've done over the past seven seasons, there was no way you were going to make it out alive. All the deaths, mayhem and violence you caused, you most certainly did not deserve a happy ending. But to die by the hands of your only son?! That's cruelty we wouldn't wish on our worst enemies.