[WARNING: IF YOU'RE GETTING CAUGHT UP ON OLD SEASONS OF SONS OF ANARCHY, THIS POST CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS.]
Monday night, a debate about a faithfulness versus loyalty exploded onto my timeline. I’m sure this debate was inspired by one of the many Real Lives of Silly Ass Women shows that come on VH1, and while I could have done my due diligence as a writer and researched the plotline that ignited the discussion, I decided against it. For one, I have no desire to know what’s going on, on these shows. For two, I have no desire to give an analysis of said shows in my blog space. Just… No.
The comments regarding faithfulness versus loyalty, however, intrigued me. There seem to be two schools of thought on the issue: One school believes that a man, who is unfaithful, is disloyal. Point blank. The other school believes that a man who occasionally dips in some side sauces, can still be considered loyal.
I won’t get into my personal experiences with said schools of beliefs. I’m not here to debate the motives and facts of my personal life. I will, however, present my shining example of the always loyal but not quite always faithful guy.
His name is Jackson Teller, also known as Jax, the lead character on FX’s Sons of Anarchy. (Yes, as in a fictional character and not a real person, I know. Still. Walk with me for a minute, here.)
Okay. To provide some context on Jax’s life, he’s the 33 year-old Vice President of an outlaw motorcycle club, the Sons of Anarchy. He’s also a pretty boy (and when I say pretty I mean young Brad Pitt in his prime fucking fiiiiiine), with baby blue eyes and a grin that was given to him solely by God (or the show’s writers) to silently will women out of their underthings. Being raised in an outlaw world, he’s naturally morally ambiguous. He’ll sell guns to drug dealers, but frowns upon the idea of dealing drugs himself. If a woman draws a gun on him, he may head-butt her, but is staunchly against the murdering of women. He’ll fire off rounds in someone he deems a “scumbag,” but gets emotional over the killing of “innocents.”
There have been two important women in Jax’s life: Wendy, his crank-addicted first wife, and the mother of his oldest son; and Tara, his first love, “one who got away” who returns to Charming after an eleven-year absence. Long story short, the crank-addicted wife never stood a chance, as he married her out of sheer loneliness. When Tara comes back, it takes a good seven episodes before he’s caught back up in the rapture of his only true love. For four seasons of the show, it’s Jax and Tara. The nature of his life creates many difficulties for them, but he’s clear that his heart belongs to Tara. He even tells her, that despite having slept with “hundreds” of women in the eleven years they spent apart, “when I’m inside someone, there’s only one face I see.” (Whoever wrote this line needs an award. Single greatest line in television history.)
Now Jax has a flaw. While he keeps it in his pants for Tara for the most part, under moments of emotional duress, he occasionally slips between the wrong pair of legs. His best friend’s wife is killed in a traumatic drive-by shooting, he slips up and bangs newly rehabilitated ex-wife, Wendy. Later, his infant son is kidnapped by Irish gun runners and taken overseas, and he loses it; pushing Tara away (for fear his lifestyle will bring some ill twist of fate upon her as well). Hoping to nail home the point that Tara’s better off without him, he allows her to find him post-coitus with a porn actress the morning after telling her they’re “done.” And even though they were technically “on a break” during this time, he goes to Ireland in search of his son and nearly gets busy with a chick he later finds out is his half-sister (GAG!), after seeing more violent deaths than he can stomach. He stops, of course, after finding out it’s his sister, but had he not known? It would’ve gone down.
Despite his flaws, Jax will do anything for his girl. “Anything” like shooting a federal agent in the head, from point-blank range for stalking Tara. Or viciously shanking a Mexican biker for kidnapping Tara and endangering the life of their unborn child. Or threatening to shatter his step-father’s arthritic hands with a gavel for referring to Tara as “Doctor Pussy.” When Tara demands the absolute truth about his life, he sadly looks her in the eyes and admits to having shot a man in the head to avenge the murder of his best friend’s wife. The porn actress (yeah, “that” porn actress”) reappears after their “incident” and pulls a gun on Tara. Jax later serves her up with a bloody nose and a warning to stay away from his club and his family.
Again, this is not a statement about my personal life in anyway. So I’d ask that in comments you keep it based purely on what’s written above. For it’s just my observation that it’s abundantly clear where Jax’s heart lies, even if his parts occasionally lie elsewhere. And when you’ve got a guy willing to risk felonies in your honor on a day-to-day basis, some shit you’ve just gotta let slide.
