“Why are you telling me this, Mom?” – Jax
It’s pretty common on television, particularly in the case of “prestige dramas,” for protagonists to be manipulated by forces outside of themselves. Often, it’s the “system” or some kind of “invisible hand” that guides these characters toward one decision or another. The Wire is the clearest example of this. Everyone on that show is a cog in a broken wheel – a wheel that operated on autopilot, independent of the control of any one individual. On “good” shows, rarely are the main character’s strings pulled as firmly and as obviously as Jax’s (Charlie Hunnam) are on Sons of Anarchy. Logically, this makes sense. Lack of agency implies weakness, and very few shows can function with a weak character at their cores.
Jax’s situation is simple – Gemma (Katey Sagal) wants him to stay in Charming, Tara (Maggie Siff) wants him to get the hell out as fast as his Harley will take him – yet I’m struggling to conceptualize it. He’s trapped in a game of tug-of-war that he (seemingly) has no control over and yet the show is arguably as good now as it’s ever been. On one hand, this is a testament to the strength of the supporting characters, particularly Gemma. On the other hand, putting your protagonist in a position of weakness is a risky proposition in the long run. Making a main character sympathetic is one thing but making him impotent is something different entirely. Some shows, like Breaking Bad, can pull it off. But, as great as it is, Sons of Anarchy isn’t Breaking Bad. (Nor does it try to be, though).
One could make the argument that Kurt Sutter is putting Jax on the ultimate path toward empowerment by allowing him to be the one to finally murder Clay (Ron Perlman). After all, Clay’s the man that “killed (Jax’s) father, stole the seat that belongs to (Jax’s) family, gunned down (Jax’s) father’s best friend, and tried to killed (Jax’s) wife.” But despite the look of determination on his face, the man that gets on his bike with at the end of “To Be, Act One” doesn’t come across as a man empowered. He comes across as a man manipulated.
It’s interesting (and mildly ironic) that a show as “manly” as Sons of Anarchy – about motorcycles, and guns, and drugs, and porn stars – would make its leading man so powerless relative to the women in his life. Once Jax kills Clay (which pretty much seem inevitable at this point), he has two choices: He can “take a seat at the head of the table” and stay in Charming, or he can pick up Tara and the boys and “get out of this poisonous town.” Regardless of his choice, the options are dictated by someone else. If I select two items and put one in each fist, hold them up, then ask you to pick a hand, you might feel like you’ve just made a decision. But you haven’t, I did. I picked which two items to put in my hands, I dictated the terms.
Late in “To Be, Act One”, Tara claims that she’s “smarter than Gemma.” I don’t know about that. But I do know one thing: both Tara and Gemma are smarter than Jax. Clay’s death will finally allow the MC to pry itself from his deadly vice-grip of influence. Let’s just hope it also allows Jax a reprieve from the crushing influence of his mother and his wife. It’s time for him to start dictating the terms.
Some stats and info about Sons of Anarchy, ” To Be, Act One”
TV SHOW – Sons of Anarchy
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 4, Episode 13
AIRED ON – November 29th, 2011
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – FX
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas
CREATED BY – Kurt Sutter
CAST – Charlie Hunnam, Katey Sagal, Mark Boone Junior, Kim Coates, Tommy Flanagan, Theo Rossi, Dayton Callie, Maggie Siff, Ron Perlman, David Labrava, Jimmy Smits, Drea de Matteo
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.