I’m so torn about “Red Rose,” the penultimate episode of Sons of Anarchy. On one hand, it’s easily in the top five most impactful episodes the show has ever done, and was a great showcase for the demented hive mind of Kurt Sutter and longtime SoA director Paris Barclay; they just get each other and the material, and “Red Rose” wouldn’t have worked half as well with someone else behind the camera. On the other hand, it was a typically overstuffed episode of SoA‘s seventh season, and if I didn’t care about who’s double-crossing who about gun distribution in Stockton five episodes ago, I’m sure as shit not about to start now, with one episode left of the entire series.
The cold open, for instance, was pretty boring. Gemma is on the run, sleeping at truck stops, aaaand that’s about it. It picks up a little after the credits; I thought the sit-down between all the gangs was actually pretty cool, almost like a 21st century version of a similar scene in The Godfather. This show has stacked its roster with great character actors, and they all get a chance to shine, even if Ivo Nandi (as Oscar Ramos) still looks and acts like one of those Homies you buy for a quarter at the grocery store.
Long story short, Jax has to run everything up the flagpole with the Irish, which of course is a nonstarter, because in the entirety of this show’s run, the Irish Kings have not liked a single plan that Jax has come to them with. The more I think about, the more frustrated I am by it; how long do you put up with this shit before you just say “fuck it”?
But none of that wheeling and dealing is the most important part of “Red Rose.” No, that would be the deaths of three characters who have been with the show since the pilot. Those are Game of Thrones numbers, and to stick with that comparison, “Red Rose” was, in many ways, this show’s Red Wedding episode. Granted, some of these characters (well, one in particular) have stuck around long past their sell-by date, but that didn’t make their demise any easier to watch.
Let’s talk about Juice first. This writing has been on the wall since season four, but it was still a shame to see him go, because Theo Rossi only started getting good material this season when Juice went behind bars. Still, at least he went out on his own terms, slipping a shiv to Tully and asking only to finish his pie first. He managed to salvage more dignity than Otto, even though Sutter seemingly can’t help himself, and had Juice raped by Triads (after Tully had raped him in previous episodes).
Obviously, I – and all Sons of Anarchy fans – will miss Theo Rossi’s performance. He was always a team player; no matter what ridiculous routes Sutter set him down, he was game, and he always gave it his all (remember his whole convoluted plotline in season four started because he was – gasp! – half black). He was by turns funny, vulnerable, and tough, and when the show devolved into the pitch-black passion play it is today, he always managed to give viewers something to look forward to.
Son of a bitch, I just realized I’m gonna spend 1,000 words writing obituaries. I’m so sorry.
Jax and Unser find out, almost simultaneously, that Gemma has gone to Oregon to visit her father (a returning Hal Holbrook, devastatingly good – how does this man not have an Oscar?). They catch up to her within minutes of each other, and when Unser won’t move out of the way, Jax shoots him dead. It’s not pleasant to watch, and the scene of Unser’s corpse in the room with Jax and Gemma is a pretty unsettling tableau. Thanks for everything, Dayton Callie. You died with your soul intact, which is more than most characters on this show will be able to say.
But, this being Sons of Anarchy, it gets worse! Jax and Gemma both know that this is the end of the line. They walk out to the garden where Gemma tells him she’s ready, but she’s not and neither is he. The entire season has been building to this moment, and Charlie Hunnam and Katey Sagal don’t disappoint. They are fucking fantastic here, and “Red Rose” might be Hunnam’s best work of the last few seasons. For a second it looks like Jax won’t go through with it, which I imagine upset a lot of people, but keep in mind, if you are one of those people, you were rooting for someone to kill their own mother – it’s not supposed to be easy, jackass. But easy or not, it happens. Gemma dies, and the last shred of Jax’s soul goes with her.
You see why this is such a hard episode to grade? The acting, writing, and directing was top-notch for most of it, but the rest was just the confusing filler than has unfortunately come to characterize season seven. Regardless, I know next week is going to be brutal. I might get frustrated with Kurt Sutter from time to time, but episodes like “Red Rose” show you why you started trusting him in the first place.
A Few Thoughts
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Jax confesses that he murdered Jury. Per SoA regulations, that’s an automatic mayhem vote. Honestly, I can’t think of a better way for him to go out
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I hope at least Nero gets a happy ending
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Oh hey, Micheal Chiklis, nice to see you!
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So does Tig just, like, take phone calls all day? Half of “Red Rose” featured him in the background, either answering or hanging up a phone. It seems like secretarial duties should fall to prospects or the newest patch
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