Why Sons Of Anarchy Fans Are So Divided On Tara
Not every character on Sons of Anarchy has an easy time acclimatizing to a world of bikers, guns, and murder, which is the primary face of Charming, CA, that we see throughout the show. Tara Knowles, played by Maggie Siff, is essentially "baptized by fire" when it comes to this criminal world.
Charming was once Tara's hometown, and Jax Teller, played by Charlie Hunnam, was once her lover. All of that changes when Tara moves away to attend medical school. By the time she returns to SAMCRO territory, she's a completely different person. She's become a doctor and stacked up more than her fair share of baggage.
As the show goes on, Tara's love for Jax is rekindled. She's swept away on a steel horse to a life in which she serves as part-mob doctor and part-first lady of a criminal motorcycle club. Dr. Knowles has a difficult time adjusting to these new circumstances, and goes back and forth on whether she wants to be "Tara the biker's wife" or "Tara the good mother who runs away from it all." Her nature morphs as the tumultuous situations in her life go through constant change, and it seems one of these situations, in particular, has fans divided on the character.
The reason fans aren't happy with Tara on Sons of Anarchy
There seem to be two types of fans on the Sons of Anarchy sub-Reddit, one that believes Tara Knowles is sans redeeming qualities and another that comes to her defense. The former cites one specific incident on the show as what solidifies their dislike for the character in the thread "On a re-watch, I remembered why I hated Tara so much the entire series."
The scene takes place in season 1, episode 12, "The Sleep of Babies," during Able's coming-home party from the hospital. Tara kisses Jax at an inappropriate time, and he pulls her into another room to discuss the behavior, at which point Tara slaps Jax. "Jax like 4 days prior committed murder due to her manipulation of him, buried the body, got major heat from his club, and Tara pays him back by slapping him when she doesn't get her way," says original poster u/softkermit. "I feel this scene really epitomized why i couldn't like her. She just never had any redeeming qualities after that imo. I was constantly rooting for Jax to hook up with someone else lol."
The Reddit user also accuses Tara of moving back to Charming solely to manipulate Jax into killing her abusive ex-boyfriend, saying, "... she chose to move back to charming so that Jax would kill Kohn. That's pretty messed up. I know she was getting stalked but she had a restraining order and she could've moved literally anywhere else in the country except back to her hometown which was probably the first place Kohn would look for her."
A few other fans agree with u/softkermit's analysis, like u/PeepaHalpert813, who says, "An unpopular opinion, but I feel the exact same way." And, u/SadieBluEyes who says, "Her flip-flopping gives me whiplash."
Sons of Anarchy fans come to Tara's defense
The fans who hop to Tara's defense in the thread, and there are many, seem to explain away the same behavior that made other fans hate her. U/CuriousArcherLove claims that Tara only kisses Jax to prove that Jax is now taken to his ex-girlfriend, Wendy. "... earlier that day Wendy had confronted her and basically said 'he's my husband, back off'. So this was just Tara's way of returning the favour," the user claims.
The same user also says that Tara doesn't slap Jax for calling her out on the inappropriate kiss, but rather because of the wording he used while they were having the talk: "Tara got mad at Jax's wording. 'Whatever this is' (referring to how Jax describes their relationship) is very dismissive."
Several users on the forum defend Tara's move back to her hometown as well, claiming that it was in no way to manipulate Jax into committing murder. U/CuriousArcherLove points out that Tara moved back to Charming because it was, "somewhere she felt safe."
"She went to charming for a job/ to escape kohn," says u/blakieeeee.
U/Purpledoves91 responds to u/blakieeeee's comment, saying, "Yeah. If she had this master plan to have Jax kill Kohn, then I doubt she would have stayed as long as she did, have his baby, and marry him. I agree."
Whatever the case may be, Tara goes through plenty of hardships in Charming, before Charming, and at the hands of the club. It's hard to expect her to be a perfect person devoid of her own issues and demons to face. As u/cressida25 says, "Her husband killed 47 people did you expect her to be mother theresa?"