Over the course of the series, Sons of Anarchy proved time and time again to be one of the most exciting, brutal, and shocking dramas ever.
The show unapologetically left a trail of former castmates in its wake.
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Get ready to ride and see if you can recall these 10+ most iconic Sons of Anarchy moments of all time.
Gemma goes home.
While Gemma is on the run from the police in season 3, she hides out at her estranged father’s home. The poor man is riddled with dementia and barely recognizes her.
It’s a heart-wrenching sequence of events that ultimately results in Gemma putting Nate in a home. It’s one of the only times we ever see Gemma’s vulnerable side.
Gemma exposes Tara’s tattoo.
Sure, it might not be a huge moment that most fans think of, but it set the stage for the entire theme of the show.
Some scars will never fade, and the past always follows us.
Fire or knife?
During an episode entitled “Giving Back,” an ex-communicated club member shows up in Charming. Jax and Opie learn that he still has his Reaper tattoo on his back.
They lure him to Teller-Morrow, where Clay asks one simple question: “Fire or knife?”
Agent June Stahl kills her partner.
This lady is the Voldemort of Sons of Anarchy . It’s safe to say that most fans hated her.
Their love definitely didn’t increase when she kills her romantic and work partner on the job, just so she won’t get in trouble.
Bobby’s triumphant return!
Bobby is the best. That’s why it was so heartbreaking having to go through an entire season under the false pretense that he’s on the “outs” with SAMCRO.
When he returns with a rally of new club members, it gave the show a renewed fire.
When Jax says he’s going nomad.
It happened early on in the show, and it threw us for a huge rollercoaster ride in the episodes that followed.
When he announced he was leaving the club, the club members and the fans were all distraught.
Jax sits down with the Irish Kings.
While this may have not been the most action-packed scene, the implications were staggering for SAMCRO. This was the moment then they stopped being a mere outlaw MC and became full-on domestic terrorists.
All future consequences can be traced back to this sit-down.
Tara’s hand injury.
When Tara is abducted (due to Clay’s planning gone wrong), she gets her hand seriously injured when it gets caught in a closing door.
It set the tone for a long recovery process where even her personality gets a little harder.
The case of Tig’s mistaken identity.
You knew this was coming! The death of Donna Winston was one of the hardest to swallow. Right from the start, she hates the club and what it has done to her family.
It was almost as if she knew deep down that it would be the death of them. Sadly, she was right.
Tig’s daughter dies.
Unfortunately, it’ll be impossible to ever get this image out of our heads.
When Tig’s daughter dies, not only is it awful, but he has to watch it all happen. It really scarred us all.
Cameron Hayes stabs Kip ‘Half-Sack’ Epps.
Half-Sack dies so that Abel could live. Don’t forget that Cameron had originally planned to kill Abel, not kidnap him.
At the last minute, Half-Sack puts himself between Cameron and the child and is killed as a result.
Tara and Jax learn the truth about Gemma’s accident.
After Gemma gets into an accident, she doesn’t tell Jax that she was driving under the influence.
When Tara and Jax find out about it, their reaction is explosive, and they kick Gemma out of their lives forever (or so they thought).
Cameron Hayes kidnaps Abel.
Cameron had just discovered the body of his own son. In a fit of dysphoria and emotion, he kidnaps Abel from Tara.
The season concludes with Jax pursuing Cameron in vain, forced to watch helplessly as he escapes with Abel by boat.
Tig stands by Venus no matter what.
Let’s face it: most of us didn’t really think this storyline would work out, considering the vibe of the show and the kind of history Tig has.
But they proved us wrong when Tig tells Venus he wants to make their relationship work.
Gemma’s confession.
In an effort to ensure Jax doesn’t leave the club, Gemma finally tells the club that she was abducted and assaulted.
With all the men and Tara sitting there and listening, the somber moment brought tears to everyone’s eyes.
A father’s love for his Son.
The main premise of season 3 involves Jax fighting desperately to get Abel back. But when he sees Abel with his new adoptive parents, something inside him changes.
Jax realizes the life of violence Abel would come to know as his son. He makes the decision at that moment to let him go.
The Son becomes the father.
This was a long time coming. Granted, when Clay ultimately meets his demise, he’s a mere shadow of the man he once was.
Still, fans of the series had been building to this moment for the past three years. Clay simply had to go.
The death of Sheriff Eli Roosevelt.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Game of Thrones doesn’t hold a candle to SOA when it comes to killing off main characters. They do it quickly and unapologetically.
Audiences didn’t even have time to process what had happened! Eli was dead and Juice and Gemma were just gone!
Gemma commits the ultimate sin.
The worst part of Tara’s death was that you could see the pieces fitting into place before it happened.
In a horrible case of mistaken happenstance, Gemma takes the life of the mother of her grandchildren and the wife to her only son.
Opie enacts his revenge.
Agent June Stahl was one of the vilest characters ever to disgrace Charming, CA. She was directly responsible for the murder and death of Donna Winston.
Watching as Opie calmly and silently avenges his wife was both vindicating and unsettling.
Jax commits matricide.
There were so many conflicting emotions running rampantly in this scene.
I think we can all agree that no matter how much Gemma may have deserved what she got, no one wants to have to watch something like this!
Jax knocks Wendy off the wagon.
Wendy was a junkie, there’s no way around that. But she was able to clean her act up and was doing so well!
Having to watch as Jax forcefully injects her was both shocking and deeply disturbing.
Opie’s final sacrifice.
The club took everything from Opie: his wife, father, and even his own life.
I’m normally not much of a crier when it comes to movies or television, but I wept like a baby for this one. It was utterly heartbreaking.
