Clay Morrow

Clarence Morrow
First appearance	"Pilot" (episode 1.01)
Created by	Kurt Sutter
Portrayed by	Ron Perlman
Information
Nickname(s)	Clay
Occupation	President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, mechanic [1]
Title	President
Spouse(s)	Gemma Teller Morrow
Children	Jax Teller (step son)
Relatives	Abel Teller (grandson) Thomas Teller (grandson)
Nationality	American

Clarence "Clay" Morrow is a fictional character in the FX television series Sons of Anarchy. He is played by Ron Perlman. He is the President of the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, but is also something of a vigilante as he does everything in his power to ensure that drug dealers and rapists stay out of his town. However, during the fourth season, Clay involves the club with drug dealings, for his own protection and greed, wavering in his allegiance and is revealed to be an antagonist. He is 6' 2" and has a number of tattoos, most notably a Grim Reaper on his upper right arm and a US Army Airborne badge on his upper left, showing Paratrooper wings and the phrase "Death From Above".

Biography

Morrow was born in 1949 but is not a native of Charming, California. In 1967, he was one of nine members who formed the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club, of which he was the youngest and one of only three who were not war veterans. He did later go on to serve in the military, however, joining the US Army as an Airborne qualified Infantryman in 1969 and was deployed to Vietnam until 1972 (commemorated by a tattoo on his left arm and the parachutist badge on his vest). When he returned from service, he remained a member of the club and opened the Teller-Morrow Automotive Repair shop with John Teller, the club President and his best friend. Whilst serving as the Vice President during the early 1990s, he was responsible for a number of murders during the SAMCRO-Mayan War, including that of Lowell Harland, Sr., a mechanic at the auto shop who became an ATF informant.

In 1993, he became the President of the club's Mother Chapter, based in Charming (which also means that he is National President), after the death of John Teller. He later went on to marry Gemma Teller Morrow, who was John Teller's wife, in the mid-1990s and he adopted their son Jax Teller, who he went on to make Vice-President. It is implied that under Morrow, SAMCRO have become more of a criminal enterprise than before, much to the disillusion of Jax.^[2]

On his colors, he wears patches reading "President", "First 9" (as he was one of the original nine members), "Unholy Ones" on the left-side waistline of his cut, and "Men of Mayhem". He has formerly served time in prison, but it is never mentioned how long. His last criminal conviction was in or around 2010. He went to prison with several other SAMCRO members.

Season One

Season One began with the Sons of Anarchy finding their weapon storage warehouse being burned down. The SOA rush to the scene where local police officers are already investigating. Clay talks to Sheriff Vic Trammel about the blaze, who claims that propane tanks inside the building blew up, and suspects arson due to the bootprints inside. Trammel then shows Clay the burned corpses of the people hidden beneath the building, who were illegal immigrants. It is later revealed that they were Mexican prostitutes "owned" by the club's Sergeant-at-Arms, Tig Trager. Clay then goes to meet Laroy, the leader of the One-Niners, in the East Bay. He was due to sell guns to the gang, but as they were destroyed, he must explain what happened at the warehouse. Laroy needs the guns to protect their heroin trade from another motorcycle club, the Mayans, and eventually lets Clay have some more time to get more guns together for him. The Sons of Anarchy then worked out that it was the Mayans who stole the guns and destroyed the storage warehouse, and decide to get some payback. Juice Ortiz, the club's intelligence officer, finds out where the Mayans stored the guns and Clay, Tig, Jax and Chibs Telford all head out to San Leandro to retrieve them. When they arrive at the industrial storage warehouse and find the guns, three Mayans turn up in a car outside. Clay and Tig then shoot and kill the Mayans. Jax is shot by another man who was a number of Nazi and White supremacist tattoos. He was a member of the Nordics, a local skinhead gang who are allied with the Mayans, and it later emerges that his name was Whistler. Jax turns around and shoots Whistler twice, killing him. They escape with the weapons and destroy the building using explosives.^[3]

Wayne Unser, the Chief of the Charming Police Department, has always got on well with the Sons of Anarchy during his time in charge, and even employed them as muscle at times. However, he is dying from cancer and will retire at the end of the month, handing power over to his Deputy, David Hale, who is overtly suspicious of the SOA and will almost definitely begin an investigation into the club. To warn Unser to keep Hale off their case, Clay, Bobby Munson (the club's Treasurer) and Opie Winston hijacked a shipment that they were supposed to protect, and threaten to hijack more. As a good will gesture, they gave the contents of the truck to the local Italian American Mafia as their guns were late to be delivered. Meanwhile, Tig comes forth and tells Clay that he had been having sex with both of the women found at the warehouse and that his DNA is in the police database. Clay ordered Tig and Bobby to get rid of the bodies. The pair then retrieved the corpses from the police site and burned them in a furnace. Hale is enraged when he discovers that the bodies are missing, and he threatens Clay that he will close the SOA down for good.^[4]

Local businessman Elliot Oswald goes to Clay after his 13-year-old daughter was raped at a carnival and asks the Sons of Anarchy to hunt the rapist down and kill him, in exchange for money. Clay refuses the money but insists that if they catch him, he must carry out the punishment himself. Juice and Gemma find out that the rapist is one of the carnies and the gang capture him and bring him to Oswald, who tries to castrate him but can not bring himself to do it. Clay then carries the punishment out, but wears gloves whilst doing it. He then frames Oswald for the crime, as only his fingerprints are on the knife, because he was about to sell off much of the land around Charming to big business and housing, which would challenge the SOA's reign over the town. Jax is unhappy that Clay did not tell him of the plan, however, and tells him to always inform him on his future motives.^[5]

When a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent arrived in Charming and began investigating the club, Clay decided that they should move their weapons to Indian Hills, Nevada, where their brother club, the Devil's Tribe, are based. He also sent Bobby and Jax to inform the Devil's Tribe that the Sons of Anarchy would be patching over them, and Tig and Juice to steal a truck to transport the guns in. Clay also traveled to Indian Hills to perform the patch-over ceremony and brought a number of SOA Washington members as protection in case the Mayans retaliated for an earlier conflict involving Jax, Bobby and five Mayans. At the patch-over party, he had sex with Cherry, a woman that Half-Sack likes, as revenge for him calling Gemma a MILF earlier. The Mayans did eventually retaliate as predicted by attacking the Devil's Tribe clubhouse, and a large shoot-out ensued.^[6]

Otto Delaney and a number of other imprisoned SAMCRO members have been protecting Chuck in Stockton prison. He is wanted by the Triads because he stole money from them, then informed on a number of their members when he was arrested. When Clay and Jax went to visit Otto in prison, he told them that if they protected Chuck when he was released, he would inform them where the Triads keep their money. They agreed and picked him up from prison and brought him to the clubhouse. SAMCRO intended on waiting until the restaurant, where the money is stored, was closed before they raided it, but Chuck's frequent unconscious masturbating was unbearable for them and they decided to raid the restaurant straight away. However, just after they stole the money and some counterfeiting plates, the Triads turned up. Instead of starting a war, Clay decided to make a deal; SAMCRO handed over Chuck and the plates, and the Triads let them keep the stolen money. Meanwhile, Kyle Hobart, a disgraced former SAMCRO member, went to Jax and asked him if they Sons wanted in on his deal selling stolen car parts. Jax accepted and invited him to the clubhouse that night. This was a set-up, however, to punish him for not having his SOA tattoo removed after being disowned by the club. At the clubhouse, they tied him up and Tig used a blowtorch to burn off the tattoo.^[7]

Jax and Piney sold five AK-47s to Nate Meineke and his right-wing state militia. They then used these guns to ambush a prison convoy and free one of their members, Frank Cison. Three police officers were killed during the assault. Meineke dropped his cell phone at the scene, and his last calls had been to Clay Morrow. When the ATF found the phone, they arrested Clay and raided the clubhouse. Clay was later released because no evidence was found, meaning he could no longer be kept in custody. Meanwhile Jax, Piney and Opie Winston decided to kill Meineke and his gang to keep them from "snitching" if they were apprehended by the authorities. They pretended to sell them more weapons. The boxes of guns were actually filled with explosives, however, and the militia loaded their trucks with them. All of the militia were killed when the bombs were detonated.^[8]

Workmen working for the Water and Power Board near the highway dug up three skeletons, two of which were Mayans killed in the war of 1992. The other was Lowell Harland, Sr., a mechanic at Teller-Morrow. He was killed for being a "junkie rat". To stop the bodies from being identified, Clay, Jax and Tig broke into the local morgue and were prepared to steal the bones. However, the corpses had already been identified. When Clay told Lowell, Jr. about his father's death, he ran away. Clay tracked him down and eventually brought him back to town.^[9]

Clay was almost killed when the Mayans attempted to shoot him while at a deal with Cameron Hayes of the True IRA at a bar. The two Mayan soldiers were gunned down by Tig and the shotgun-toting barman, however. Clay then called in the Sons of Anarchy State Presidents and Vice-Presidents from Washington, Utah and Nevada, in a bid to wipe out the Mayans. After the shooting, he questioned Jax's commitment to the club and whether Jax was willing to kill.

Clay was taken to the local police station for questioning about the recent shootings, by Wayne Unser. Ernest Darby was also being held there, and Clay told Unser to bring Álvarez in, in order for the three gang leader to hold a meeting and, hopefully, halt any more bloodshed. He met with Darby first, and told him not to retaliate because it would start a war on the streets of Charming. He then met with Álvarez and the pair made a deal; the Sons of Anarchy will begin selling guns to the Mayans, and all Mayan-SOA disputes (over turf, businesses, etc.) end in the SOA's favor. Álvarez also gave the Sons permission to kill Esai, as revenge for the attempted hit on Clay.^[10]

After the clubhouse was raided and Bobby was arrested for the murder of Brenan Hefner, Clay and Tig suspected Opie of being the witness that identified him. It was another person, however. When Opie turned up at the clubhouse, Tig checked his car for bugs and found a microphone. He also found a recording device in his mobile phone. Both were planted by the ATF without Opie's knowledge. Clay and Tig then decided to kill him.

Clay and Tig again met with One-Niners leader Laroy, and they discussed taking out the Mayans. They agreed that the Sons would meet the Mayans for an arms deal and when they left, the Niners would eliminate the Mayans and take the guns as payment. However, when Clay, Tig, Opie and Jax met Álvarez and his crew at a warehouse in Oakland, the Niners tried to take out the Mayans and SOA. The group escaped, but a number of Mayans and Niners were killed in the shoot-out. Tig attempted to kill Opie during the havoc, but found himself unable to do so. Later on at Jax's son Abel's homecoming party, Tig followed Opie's car home and shot the driver dead. However, it was Opie's wife, Donna, that was driving the car. Just after Tig had left to kill Opie, Clay was approached by Wayne Unser and told that Opie was in fact not an informant, and that the ATF had set him up. Clay tried to phone Tig to tell him, but Tig was not carrying his phone.^[11]

Rosen, the club's lawyer, met with Clay and told him that the ATF had put a warrant out for Opie's arrest and that he will most likely get convicted of Hefner's murder because of the witness. Clay, Tig and Juice then met with Vic Trammel and offered him money to reveal the location of the witness. Trammell did not know, however, so they went to Elliot Oswald. They again blackmailed him with the knife that he used to kill the rapist earlier in the season, this time to get his friends in the US Attorney to tell him the witness' case number and location. He then sent Chibs, Happy and Tig to kill the witness, who was at a safe house in San Joaquin. Jax went to the safe house and stopped the trio from killing the witness, but did threaten her into leaving the state. At Church, Jax confronted Clay and asked him if he killed Donna. He refused. Season One ended at Donna's funeral, which was attended by Sons of Anarchy from all over the country. There, Jax and Clay stared at each other and it was plain to see that the club was coming apart from inside.^[12]

Season Two

In the first episode of Season Two we see that Clay is still struggling with remorse for what he did to Donna, and that he is going head to head with Jax over her death. We see him giving Opie a fake story of how a Mayan MC member killed Donna and he throws a welcome back party for Bobby. When Ethan Zobelle and the L.O.A.N. start threatening members of SAMCRO, Clay is all for immediate retaliation, but he is at odds with Jax who feels the club may be walking into a trap.

He has recently learned of his wife Gemma's rape at the hands of L.O.A.N. and settled his differences with Jax, so the two could work together to get revenge. Clay is now shown to be more in tune with Jax's method of operation, opting to do more recon work before entering potentially lethal situations.

In the season two finale, Clay neglected to inform Marcus Alvarez that Ethan Zobelle was an F.B.I. informant, knowing the Mayan leader would kill Zobelle himself, forfeiting Clay the opportunity to do the deed. Later in the episode, the Sons ambushed the Mayan convoy containing Zobelle and Clay spared Alvarez's life. Clay and the others cornered Zobelle in a deli, but decided to abandon the scene when he learned of his grandson's kidnapping. He was last seen consoling his distraught stepson Jax, whose son Abel (Clay's grandson) was kidnapped by IRA gun dealer Cameron Hayes.

Season Three

In the first episodes we see that Clay is still saddened by the loss of Abel, and is willing to help Jax at all cost. Also his arthritis continues to worsen as shown in the episode "Home" that it got so bad that Jax had to tie Clay's hands to the handlebars. In the episode "Turas", when SAMCRO are nearly killed by a bomb hidden in a gun shipment put there by the SAMBEL Sergeant-at-Arms, Jax has a shell-shocked vision of his biological father speaking to him but it turns out to actually be Clay. In the episode "Firinne", Clay kills McGee, member of the First 9 and President of the Belfast Chapter for his treachery against the club by pushing him off a roof after taking his cut. He later burns the cut after expressing remorse for the killing. In the Season 3 finale when Clay learns of Jax's betrayal he appears enraged and saying "Jax will die." In the end it is revealed that he knew of Jax's deal with Stahl and that it was part of a plan to execute Jimmy O and Stahl. When the plan is done Clay and the others share a laugh, much to the confusion of the ATF agents. Also in the end of the episode, as Tara is reading John Teller's letters to Maureen Ashby, John Teller says he fears that Clay and Gemma will kill him, leading to much speculation that Clay and Gemma killed John Teller

Season Four

Clay is seen as one of the many SAMCRO members released from prison. He later escapes their sheriff tail and accompanies Jax and Opie's meeting with the Russians and settles their differences and form a partnership with them. He attends Opie's wedding and goes to test a new gun given to them by Putlova. As he's firing the gun he turns and shoots Putlova's bodyguards and Jax stabs Putlova to death as revenge for trying to kill him in prison. He also tells Gemma that his arthritis has gotten worse and that he has only 1 or 2 years left before he has to step down as President of SAMCRO. Also, while in prison, he set up a deal to run cocaine for the Gallindo Cartel but this does not sit well with the other members of the club. When the club goes to Arizona and meets the Tucson charter, SAMTAZ, he demands that the charter stop dealing meth. This request is denied. Otto wants Luann's murderer dead, and the issue is raised in the chapel. Clay is then confronted by Piney, who threatens Clay that if Clay does not kill the cocaine deal with the Gallindo Cartel, Piney will distribute letters to the club about John Teller's murder. Clay discusses the threat with Gemma, revealing that Clay did kill Teller. Clay later meets Unser and obtains the letters from him, unaware that Gemma has the same plan. After Unser gets a copy of the letters, he confronts Clay. Clay replies he does not regret doing what he did because it protected the Club and Charming. When he visits a tied Georgie Caruso, he claims that he has connections with millionaire Japanese people. Clay immediately sees an opportunity to make Jacob Hale believe he has investors in time. His idea is that he will have the investors pull out at the last minute, which will put an end to Charming Heights. After retrieving the last brick of cocaine that Juice had stolen framing it into Miles, Clay asks Romeo for help killing Tara, to keep the secret of the letters hidden. Clay's sponsor was Piney, who was the one that let Clay patch SAMCRO. After discussing trust issues and differences in the cabin, Clay leaves only to break down the door knocking Piney off his feet. Piney begs Clay not to get Tara involved in the letters from JT. Clay shoots Piney in the chest with a shotgun killing him. This makes Piney the 3rd member of the First 9, and the 2nd and final co-founding member of the Sons of Anarchy to be killed at the hands of Clay (as Piney and John Teller co-founded the club, which were both ultimately killed by Clay). He leaves the markings of the cartel to make it seem like they were responsible for the murder. Given the difficult circumstances of the club, Clay calls to the Irish Kings for a meeting to set a new deal that lets them survive the war against Lobo Sonora. He later finds out that the One Niners have been dealing with the Sonora and the Sons plan an attack using the Niners to lure them, this fails however as Sonora's men were equipped with grenade launchers. Luis, Romero's right hand man gives Clay a cellphone with his contact to kill Tara. Clay is confronted by Jax when he hears from Bobby that Clay wanted Bobby instead of Opie as president as was the deal, and says it is Tara's fault that Jax changed, but Jax warns him to never insult her again. Gemma tells him that Tara will not reveal the letters to Jax out of fear that he will get deeper into the club out of guilt and promises to Gemma he won't hurt Tara, however he uses the cellphone given by Luis, and the next morning pays the contact 25,000 dollars for the murder. Not knowing that Jax and the babies were with her, he desperatelly tries to stop the hit, but is unsuccessful and Tara has her left hand broken during a fight. Clay meets Romeo and gets a refund, with Romeo taking the matter on his hands personally, and Clay reluctantly agrees that Tara is best dead. Gemma confronts Clay about the hit and a violent fight ensues between the two, with Clay getting injured but severely beating Gemma's face. That night he decides to sleep in the clubhouse.

References

1. ^ http://www.tv.com/Sons+of+Anarchy/Fun+Town/episode/1228109/recap.html
2. ^ Clay Morrow at FX.com
3. ^ Pilot - Recap
4. ^ Seeds - Recap
5. ^ Fun Town - Recap
6. ^ Patch Over - Recap
7. ^ Giving Back - Recap
8. ^ AK-51 - Recap
9. ^ Old Bones - Recap
10. ^ Hell Followed - Recap
11. ^ The Sleep of Babies - Recap
12. ^ The Revelator - Recap