Inspiration from Darkness

     Tonight, my favorite show ever came to a perfect ending. Sons of Anarchy has revolutionized television for me. I have never been so engrossed in a show EVER. Spending my days day dreaming about what will happen next and who will die and how in the world everything is going to come together. Sometimes, I felt like I cared more about these characters than I did real people. Each and every death hit me like a ton of bricks...or like a gunshot to the head or a razor blade to the neck or a fork to the head. I owe it to creator Kurt Sutter and to the cast and crew for creating an all around perfect show. Each character has a beautiful and dark story and each actor portrayed them fantastically. I especially have to give shoutouts to Charlie Hunnam, Maggie Siff, Katey Sagal, and Theo Rossi.
     Of course, the ultimate shoutout goes to Kurt Sutter.
     The sick and twisted things this guy comes up with somehow ended in a poetic, Shakespearean way. Truly beautiful. And though I am sad that this show has ended, I am satisfied with the way it had to end.
     I didn't start watching the show live until season 5. I watched the first 4 seasons on Netflix in a week. Yep....a week. I would wake up with my iPad next to me and just automatically hit play. I carried that thing around with me all week and any free moment, I watched the show.
Then as season 5 premiered, I watched it along with my million twitter friends, each of us trying to figure out what will happen next, trying to get in Sutter's mind. Each week, a new path. A path that lead us all on this incredible journey, this amazing, emotional ride.

Doubt thou the stars are fire;
Doubt that the sun doth move;
Doubt truth to be liar;
But never doubt I love
-William Shakespeare

     Sutter bases his story off Shakespeare's Hamlet. The classic "to be or not to be" for Jax Teller, as he struggles to find balance in his life, trying to figure out what is best for both his club and his two young sons.With pressure from his mother, Gemma (Katey Sagal), and his wife, Tara (Maggie Siff), Jax is torn between the life he has always known and the new life he has created. But the takeaway from the quote above which is what Sutter leaves us with is that we do terrible things because of love. We don't need hate to have a miserable time. Love will ruin us.

The crow flies straight...

    Gemma is probably the most perfect symbol of this. Everything she did, she did out of love, her weird, twisted love and what she thought was right and was the best for her and "her boys." Unser died as a result of his love for Gemma. Everyone died as a result of their love for the club, the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, Redwood Original. His depiction of the crows as a symbol of death, with the homeless lady as the angel of death and the final scene with the bread and the wine  - the body and blood, was a perfect final picture for the fans. The ongoing symbols pulled the story together. It came full circle with the crows eating the bread in the very first scene in the pilot and ending with the crows eating the bread in the last and final scene of the series. Truly brilliant writing, truly brilliant way to tie up all the loose ends, like Jax did before he left his club. The love Jax had for his sons lead him to his ultimate demise, killing himself to save them from the life he led, from the life his father warned him of, dying the way his father had.
       Someday, I would like to be a TV writer and as I am wrapping up my time at Marywood, I'd like to start writing and make that happen. Watching this show and getting an inside into Kurt's work through his YouTube channel and blog and being able to attend the Sons for Sandy event last year, I have learned so much. Simply through watching his writing come alive on television, I have learned what brilliant writing is.
       Sons of Anarchy is so much more than biker clubs and violence. It is a story of a man torn by love; love for his mother, love for his wife, love for his children, and love for his club. It is the story of how these intense loves affect a person, how it can build you up and how it can destroy you. It's a dark story, but what is light without darkness?

     With that, I leave you with something author R.M. Drake posted on Instragram tonight, perfectly aligning with the Final Ride of Sons of Anarchy.

"There must be about a million ways to let yourself be destroyed. But then, there is love, and I think tonight I am in the mood to break apart and let myself be consumed by all the things I know I would never be able to recover from."