I have just started a 30 day SOA blogging challenge and the subject of favorite female character got me on the wrong side of this argument again.
So before we go any farther let us set two things in stone. Even though Tara did some pretty heinous, outrageous things I do not think she did one thing in six seasons of Sons of Anarchy that warranted her being murdered with a carving fork. Also I do not dislike her because she was goin to take Jax's children away from his crazy ass life. Even though we could argue she had very questionable legal right to do so since one of said children isn't hers. For me escaping Charming was the exactly right motherly extinct for her to have at the moment.
However, for me Tara for the most part is a very weak willed woman. There is nothing I hate more than weak women. It bugs me on a very personal level, and I have spent half a career in sports finding and working with strong woman. Woman who don't need anyone but themselves, who are secure in who they are, and I think it is that personal prejudice that makes me dislike this character so much.
Think about it. What we know about Tara is this...She originally left Charming because she was uncomfortable with where the love of her life's life was headed. She felt the need to escape, so much so that she went out and got a medical degree and becomes a very skilled surgeon. Only to run back to Charming when a guy starts stalking her...
And here is where I think the disconnect with Tara for me comes from. I'm a guy and I don't live in fear of anything. I do not know what it is like to be with and/or around someone that scares me that badly. I am not sure the male brain can comprehend that. I know some of the females in my life say I can be scary, especially when I am mad. I have a deep voice, I am loud and I am a big guy and I understand that in logic but not in a physical sense.
What I am left with, when it comes to Tara, is a chick who is really just picking what she thinks is the lesser of two evils. She knows already what and who Jax is before she decides to return. She knows it is not something she can live with because she already left once. That is before she does the things that she does that make me hate her even more (no spoilers). However, over the course of seasons 2-5 we see her become Gemma little by little, and nobody likes Gemma. But more and more Tara transforms into a eviler version of the Biker Queen because she is smart and sophisticated in ways Gemma certainly is not.
Maybe I am just spoiled by Game of Thrones. In that world anyone who makes a bad or questionable decision they are rewarded with a just fate. It is something I have come to expect, something that I understand...but in the SOA world we have Tara who makes a choice I don't exactly understand (returning to the place she fought to escape from), a questionable decision is getting back with her high school sweetheart, a highly questionable decision of having a child with a pretty bad dude, and a ridiculous decisions to stay in a life she could never ever accept. All of that before she starts acting the Gemma and manipulating people.
I am perfectly willing to admit that I may be on the wrong side of this, but it is my collection of personal preferences and prejudices that lead me to not like her a whole heck of a lot.
I am in the same boat as you....i hated Tara from day one. She's supposed to be this highly skilled surgeon (by the way that timeline don't add up either) top of her class at a top notch med school etc etc but she is the weakest, most sniveling, pathetic character on the show, she even beats Juice, who I also hate. She comes back because she's scared of Cohen...knowing Jax will do ANYTHING for her....she manipulates him and the situation to get what she wants.....free of fear. She shoots Cohen, watches as Jax finishes him off, has sex with Jax while the dead body is staring glassy eyed at them, helps cover up the murder etc. She puts a beat down on her boss then threatens her and her family with death, she aids in the kidnapping and killing of Jimmy O.... She puts a midevil beat down on Carla in the garage, she goes through then hides the letters from Maureen Ashby from Jax ...acting as if it's her right to hold those cards....she keeps the kids away from gamma at her pleasure, using it as leverage and to show SHE has the power...which I'm sorry no real biker would allow their old lady to rule the roost. Jax tries several times to break up with her and get her to leave and what does the skilled, intelligent surgeon do? Takes a tantrum and destroys abels room. Takes off and goes to help gamma who's on the lam. Defying Jax again. She commits insurance fraud for chibbs, she illegally treats several bullet wounds even after her license being suspended She helps dispose of Amelia the caretakers body,She gives Jax the murder weapon, syringe of blood thinner and tells him how to kill clay,She visits Otto to get RICO overturned, even after Jax tells her not to go anymore it's ok....not only does she keep going, she falsified documents to see him. Then this intelligent world class surgeon who is constantly telling gemma that she is smarter than her, brings a cross to a felon, a violent psychopath felon, and we're supposed to believe that she's that naive? That stupid? Then when it blows up in her face it's Jax fault, the club's fault...she doesn't deserve to be in jail. Poor Tara!! BS! She then fakes a pregnancy, fakes a miscarriage, sets gamma up for manslaughter, lies lies lies, gets a poor recovering junkie involved and gets her to lie lie lie. Tricks Jax into taking all gemmas grandparental rights away. She goes behind his back filing for divorce, enlists Wendy as guardian behind Jax back, rats to the district attorney for a deal to save her own stupid behind, aids gamma in escaping so she can go to Ireland. Knows Jax has a dead body in the car with her up at the cabin, knows Jax is looking to kill the person who ran him and chibbs off the road, and we're still supposed to feel bad for little Tara because of the dangerous lifestyle she's raising her kids in and let's not forget that she kidnaps Abel when she finally runs because even though their married she is still just his stepmother, she never adopted Abel. Legally she has no right to gain custody, guardianship etc over Abel....she does not have the power to keep Abel away from gamma or even Wendy for that matter. Yet Wendy runs behind Tara tongue wagging like a puppy doing whatever she says. In the MC world, fictional or real....snitching gets you dead and let's face it....she did snitch. She had no problem getting an abortion of Cohen's baby....she contemplated doing the same with Jax baby but changed her mind....grown ass woman, intelligent surgeon , made all her own decisions....no one forced her to stay, get married, give birth etc....she CHOSE to do all those things then when it got too hard and scary hatched an evil plan to get out of her horrible life that she's such a victim of. Blah blah ..i wanted to stab her in the head. I'm so glad I'm not alone in my disdain for Tara knowles
ReplyDeleteOh and her medical education. When she first comes back it is said she left 11 years ago at age 19. So that makes her around 30 in season 1. 2 years plus of prerequisite classes, 4 years of medical school, 1 year as an intern, 5 - 7 years as a resident depending on specialty could be even longer then a fellowship. This doesn't add up at all. So in 11 years she went from not being in school to finishing all those things and being a board certified surgeon that a practice in oregan is headhunting?? Really?
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