An accumulated body count has led SAMCRO to a crossroads; fifth in a series (NSFW).
Jax (Charlie Hunnam) became the new SAMCRO president.
Tig (Kim Coates) made a huge mistake.
A scene from ‘Sons of Anarchy’ season 5.Credit: FX
Laroy (Tory Kittles) met a gruesome and SPOILER ALERT mercifully, offscreen end.
Season 5 was a big one forSons of Anarchy.
The events listed above?
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All that drama was just a piece of the first episode.
The series was never short on death, chaos, double-crosses, and, of course, motorcycles.
It can be hard to keep track of who is ascendant and who has popped their clogs.
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Pope had told the Niners not to respond because the police would look right at him.
Marks shot Darnell in the head in front of Jax and said Pope would be in touch.
Tig begged Pope to kill him instead.
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‘‘Know my pain, Mr. Trager,’’ Pope said.
Then, he tossed in the cigar he’d been smoking to burn Dawn alive.
Watching the flames engulf her was horrifying, but hearing her scream, ‘‘Daddy!’’
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for the last time earned this death a spot on our list of the most disturbing TV scenes ever.
Reverberations:See next slide.
Tig strangled the detective with his chains and shot the cleaner in the pit.
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Clay also told him Jax and the guys were turning themselves in and hadn’t secured protection yet.
‘‘He’s stayin’ close,’' Gemma told Tara.
(It’s okay if you’re already crying.)
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Result:Pope arranged a sitdown with Jax in jail.
Once that was done, the witnesses would recant.
Knowing Jax saved his life, Tig would always vote the way Jax told him to.
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Once Jax was done using Tig, he’d let Pope kill him.
Only she fought back, scratching GoGo on the neck before she was shot in the stomach.
She was pronounced dead in episode 6, ‘‘Small World.’’
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Reverberations:Unser told Clay about Rita clawing back, so there could be DNA evidence.
Jax told Eli that Pope assured him he wasn’t behind the home invasions.
Jax wanted to work with Eli to find out who he was.
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Her jealousy built until she broke into Gemma’s house and led Gemma to her bedroom at gunpoint.
Nero refused and told Carla to shoot him.
Result:‘‘I’m sorry.
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I just wanted to go out watching you do your thing,’’ Carla told Nero.
Then she shot herself in the head.
Seeing him with Gemma stirred everything up, and she’d stopped taking her meds.
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Gemma had to call Clay to get rid of the body.
Reverberations:Clay was at Gemma’s home alone when Nero stopped by later to check on her.
Clay asked if this thing between Nero and Gemma was going anywhere.
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Result:Tig and Bobby subdued her and Jax and Chibs chased after the sergeant, who’d bolted.
Tig then shot the wife in the head.
Jax told Tig to find a pipe, but he couldn’t.
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He returned with a glitter globe.
Jax struck him on the back of the head with the globe hard.
And he hit him another eight times until Chibs finally stopped him.
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Reverberations:We began to see Opie’s brutal death bring out a new violence in Jax.
Juice called to tell him the nomads had arrived, and Clay asked Unser if his gun was loaded.
When GoGo and Greg entered, Unser shot one and Clay the other.
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Unser agreed to keep Clay out of the mix when the cops came.
‘‘Watch your back, Wayne, there’s still one of ‘em out there,’’ Clay said.
‘‘Yeah, I’m watchin’,’’ Unser answered.
Jax recovered from being thrown from his bike to return fire and hit one of the shooters multiple times.
When Chibs pulled off the man’s mask, we saw that the gunman was black.
The other shooter got away.
Result:Jax was to meet Tara at the cabin, so they took the body there.
Reverberations:That same night, Tara had asked Gemma to watch the boys.
She wrecked the car.
Unser and Pope both identified the fallen shooter as Charles Turner, a man with no ties to Pope.
Pope gave the address of Turner’s accomplice, Ray (Antonio D. Charity)?
Jax wanted to know why they’d gone after his family Ray said they hadn’t.
Result:Jax told Ray to ‘‘come here’’ and put his arm around him.
Ray thought he’d live, but Jax shot him three times in the gut.
Ray sat down on the ledge, died, and fell backward.
Later, Frankie Diamonds took Lyla and Nero hostage asking Jax for $200,000.
The club was tapped, so Nero offered him cash and watches.
Frankie shot Lyla in the leg and took Chibs hostage for his escape.
He was supposed to kill Chibs, but he couldn’t do it.
Instead, he pistol-whipped him on the side of the road.
Reverberations:Gemma admitted that she’d been driving the boys high after Jax had figured it out.
Tara told her she’d never get near the kids again.
The DNA under Rita’s nails was inconclusive.
Leo was happy to lead Jax to Frankie once Jax said Leo could keep the money.
Hearing SAMCRO was on its way, Frankie shot and killed the man Pirelli had watching him.
Before Clay could kill him, Jax and Pirelli arrived.
Seeing that his man had been murdered, Pirelli shot Frankie.
Reverberations:Jax later met Eli and showed him Frankie’s dead body.
Jax had already deduced it was Juice.
He’d hired SAMCRO’s allies, the Grim Bastards, to protect him.
Cross (Michael Beach), didn’t want to hand him over either because Randall was his cousin.
Bobby begged Jax to reach a compromise so SAMCRO wouldn’t ruin a 20-year relationship with the Bastards.
Chibs told Jax, ‘‘I got this,’’ and he killed Randall.
Reverberations:‘‘Who the hell are you?’’
Bobby looked horrified, too.
Now Jax’s word was worth as much as Clay’s.
He then masturbated and broke down in tears.
He just wanted to wear it for a few moments.
Tara got it from Gemma.
Result:Otto asked for a minute alone to pray with the crucifix.
He buzzed for a nurse (Karina Logue).
When Tara re-entered the room, Otto told her, ‘‘Sons live.
Redwood bleeds,’’ and he brutally stabbed the nurse in the neck.
Lee Toric (Donal Logue), the nurse’s brother and a former U.S.
Marshal with anger issues, beat Otto and paid Tara a visit.
Jax said he had some old KG-9s and Glocks at the warehouse that he could sell them.
Nero reluctantly agreed and a meeting was arranged for later.
SAMCRO was surrounded at the drop and shots were exchanged.
Meanwhile, Clay had figured out that Romeo and Luis were CIA.
Romeo and Luis said they’d kill Jax and reinstate Clay as SAMCRO president if it came to that.
Clay asked for time to get Jax to see the seriousness of the situation.
He ended up shooting two.
It was Romeo and Luis, who reminded Jax how easy it’d be to make him disappear.
The Niners would push Pope’s weight into Reno.
The Chinese would get the cartel comparable weapons from Gaza.
The club voted unanimously to end the deal with the cartel.
The cartel wanted this shipment and one more, Jax said.
Remarkably, Galen agreed to it.
Result:Romeo told his men to put the guns in their truck.
Galen shot a cartel member.
Luis shot one of the Irish.
Jax shot a cartel member to save Bobby.
The Irish took the guns, and Romeo said SAMCRO was footing the bill.
He asked to hitch a ride to Belfast to regroup there.
Jax told Pope he should kill Tig inside because a couple of nearby hikers might hear them.
Tig knocked Pope to his knees and he dropped his gun.
‘‘You know what happens to whoever kills me, right,’’ Pope told Jax.
Jax was counting on it.
Only afterward did Tig realize the gun Jax had handed him was Clay’s.
Clay had given it to Juice when he was packing for Belfast.
Jax planted the gun and led Roosevelt to it.
Marks was the heir to Pope’s throne.
Then Marks put a bounty on Clay in jail.
‘‘Maybe I’m not so different,’’ Jax told him.
Bobby later cut off his vice president’s patch.
