Sons Of Anarchy: The 10 Saddest Things About Gemma - Screen Rant

Gemma's place in the list of TV's most-hated characters is secure. And so is her place among the toughest characters in Sons Of Anarchy. Everyone feared her, and whoever messed with her would end up regretting it. She was the ultimately matriarch after all. She married two SAMCRO presidents and lived to see her son lead the club too.

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Despite not being a SAMCRO member, Gemma found herself at the center of gang wars and every other unfortunate occurrence in Charming. Despite being a perpetrator of chaos, her life was indeed a sad one too. Fate was often unkind to her in a way that made viewers forget her bad deeds and sympathize with her.

She Was Subjected To Domestic Violence

There are no circumstances under which domestic violence should be condoned. Sadly, Gemma was the victim of such an incident. Initially, she and Clay were partners in crime, but their relationship turned sour.

Gemma couldn't see the sense behind Clay's recent decisions so she probed him. However, the SAMCRO president wouldn't have it. He was on a downward spiral brought about by his own past actions. He also felt that Gemma was forgetting her place as his Old Lady by meddling in his affairs. In a tense scene, Clay brutally beat her up, leaving her badly injured.

A Disease Robbed Her Of Her Second Child

Gemma's anger at Wendy when Abel was born with a birth defect was understandable. Several years earlier, Gemma lost a son to a disease when he was just the age of 6.

Jax's brother Thomas died from a congenital heart problem. Even though Jax had the same defect, he survived as his symptoms were mild. The death of Thomas was part of what fueled the deterioration of Gemma's marriage to John Teller. Losing a child is an experience any parent would find difficult to deal with.

The Rape Incident

In Season 2, Gemma was attacked, tied up, and sexually assaulted by three men wearing masks. The men gave her a message to pass to Clay regarding his business dealings with minorities. However, Gemma chose to remain quiet about the incident because she knew whoever did it was looking for war with SAMCRO.

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She and Unser covered it all up by staging a car accident. She later realized that one of her attackers was Ethan Zobelle's white supremacist associate AJ Weston. The attack left Gemma with fears and emotional trauma that put a major dent in her marriage.

She Wasn't Close To Her Own Parents

Gemma only learned about her mother's death by reading about it in a newspaper. The fact that no one from her extended family told her meant she wasn't close to them.

Her father was suffering from Alzheimer's and could barely recognize her. Since his father was now alone, Gemma made the decision to move him into a retirement home. She then left and never bothered to see him for the remainder of the series. It was never revealed whether he survived or died.

She Never Got Along With Her Daughters-In-Law

The case of the mother-in-law feuding with the son's wife isn't a new one. But Gemma's relationship with Jax's lovers often got out of hand since she had a hands-on approach to Jax's relationships. Her approach could have worked if Jax's lovers totally respected her but they didn't. Gemma's attitude was partly to blame for that.

Tara felt that Gemma was in no way qualified to meddle in her affairs. Their relationship was tense to the point of Tara lying that Gemma had assaulted her and caused her to lose a pregnancy. Wendy was more fearful of Gemma, but she always knew what she was up to and conspired against her on a few occasions.

Abel Didn't Like Her

Gemma loved her grandson Abel a lot. The major reason why she hated Wendy was due to the fact that her drug addiction was responsible for Abel's premature birth.

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However, things weren't so easy for Gemma in her quest to be the perfect grandmother. Tara saw her as an unfit grandparent and constantly tried to keep Abel from her. After Tara's death, Abel went as far as to harm himself and blame Gemma for it so as not to be near her.

Unser Got Killed While Trying To Save Her

It's always nice to have sincere friends who are true ride or dies. Unser was that friend to Gemma. When Jax found out what Gemma had done to Tara, he hunted her down and found her.

Unser knew what was about to happen so he showed up to arrest Gemma in order to save her. Both he and Jax asked each other to stand down. Neither of them was willing to do that. After a standoff, Unser ended up dying. It was sad for Gemma to watch her best friend get killed, more so by her own son.

She Was Sexually Harassed During A Prison Visit

While Clay was in prison, Gemma pulled some strings to be able to see him. But the prison guards had other ideas on their minds. They ordered Gemma to have sex with Clay to satisfy their own voyeuristic fetishes.

At the time of the incident, Gemma had totally fallen out of love with Clay. She was with Nero now, a man who was a bigger improvement from the former SAMCRO president. The horrifying ordeal reopened wounds that were healing, especially those caused by her ordeal with AJ Weston.

She Lost Two Husbands

Well, the first loss was technically her own fault, but it must have hurt nevertheless. Gemma had been with John Teller for years and he was the father of her children. The memories of him haunted her.

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Gemma also had to watch Clay get shot by Jax after getting out of prison. There was nothing Gemma could do to prevent the killing. It had to happen because the club had voted for Clay to "Meet Mr, Mayhem." Gemma's reaction when the bullet tore through Clay's throat said it all. Her long term partner in crime was gone forever.

She Got Killed By Her Own Son

There's no denying that Gemma loved Jax. She did everything in her power to make sure his life was perfect (what she thought of as perfect, anyway). He valued her too and often sought her advice

For most of the series, Gemma hated Tara. She felt that Jax deserved a girl who could fit into his life. When she finally got the chance to end Tara's life, she did so in a brutal manner. In as much as she tried to cover it up, Jax found out what had happened and killed her too. It was a sad moment for both mother and son, as this could have been avoided with a little more honesty and understanding.

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