Sons of Anarchy - Season 5 - Interview with Kurt Sutter

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TVLINE | Talk about the aftermath of that indecent proposal.

After the death of Opie, we see Jax heading down this path that’s perhaps more dark than we’ve ever seen him; he’s doing things that perhaps we’ve never seen before. The irony of using Clay’s tactics to bring down Clay is what we’re going for. [Jax is] beginning to do things behind the club’s back, he’s making deals with different people at different times… That’s been Clay’s history up to this point, and that’s how he’s gotten ahead and managed his regime. We now see Jax being motivated to do that — probably even unaware of the patterns he’s repeating — and this is the beginning of it with Gemma and taking advantage of those situations. It’s sort of what I teased in the beginning of the season, when I talked about the idea of Damon Pope and Nero Padilla becoming these different mentors: one was about having to get out and doing the right thing, and the other was about not getting out, but learning how to turn disadvantage to advantage. And, again, whether he’s aware of it or not, we see Jax begin to follow the advice of Damon Pope and seeing the advantage in people’s disadvantage.

TVLINE | You also said prior to the premiere that we will learn exactly what kind of leader Jax is by season’s end. Is that still the plan?

I think so. We don’t spell it out, but I do think that after the season ends, people will be able to judge Jax’s behavior and make that decision for themselves. And that’s ideally what we want to do.

TVLINE | Back to that proposition: Jax told Gemma that if she obliges, he and Tara will welcome her back into their family. Is there any truth to that? Or was that just more manipulation?

It’s both. It’s a dark maneuver, obviously, to undermine Clay. But he does feel that this is leverage he has on Gemma, and leverage only works if you uphold your end of the deal. So, my sense is that it’s not a ruse or a lie. What I love is the idea that as much as Gemma may have disdain for Clay and as much as she’s drawn to Nero, there is a sense that she has this deep connection with [her ex] — and Jax knows that. Even if she’s forced to engage with Clay, she has the awareness that there is a deep bond and a lot of emotionality. It would be hard for her to separate herself from that. My sense is that the reason Gemma’s going out of her way to push Clay away is because she doesn’t want to get sucked back into those strong feelings she may have for him like she has done in the past… But Jax is very away of the connection he still has with her and as he says to her at the end of the episode that he knows that once they lay down together, the secrets will start flowing.

Source: Full Interview @ TV Line