| Wayne Unser | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | "Seeds" (episode 1.02) |
| Created by | Kurt Sutter |
| Portrayed by | Dayton Callie |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Occupation | Former Chief of the Charming Police Department, former Marine, Associate of Sons of Anarchy M.C. |
| Title | Chief |
| Spouse(s) | Della Unser (divorced) |
| Children | Two unnamed daughters |
| Nationality | American |
Chief Wayne Unser is a fictional character on the FX television series Sons of Anarchy, played by Dayton Callie.[1][2] He was the Chief of the Charming Police Department, but is also corrupt in that he deals with the Sons of Anarchy whom he sees as a benefit to the town, because the Sons successfully keep drugs and violence out of Charming, and protect the population from many other unwanted things like ruthless developers, such as Jacob Hale Jr.
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Unser is a native of the small Northern Californian town of Charming and is in his 50s. He was a US Marine and served during the Vietnam War. When he returned, he joined the police force and is now Chief of the Charming Police Department. He also owned Unser Shipping, a trucking company, though he later sold it. He is "married to a dark-skinned woman" named Della, and they have two daughters. He is also suffering from colon cancer, and uses marijuana for pain relief. He is corrupt and an ally of the Sons of Anarchy, a local motorcycle gang. However, most of the illegal activity he partakes in is beneficial for the town, as he greatly cares for its residents.
Wayne Unser 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 retiring at the end of the month because of the cancer and 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. Unser hired the SOA to protect one of his company's shipments on its way to Mexico. They hijacked it, however, in order to send Unser a warning. Clay Morrow, their leader, threatened him to stay on for a short time longer and keep Hale off of their case. If not, they would hijack any of his trucks that tried to leave town. He then decided to stay on for another six months.[3]
In response to a number of recent gang killings, Unser arrested Clay Morrow, Ernest Darby and Marcus Álvarez. Unser asks Darby, who leads the White supremacist Nordics gang, if he knows that Unser is married to a dark-skinned woman. When Darby gives him a snotty degrading replay, Unser hits him. He let the gang leaders have a meeting in their cell in order to end the violence.[4] Unser is obviously angry at ATF for their actions of putting the investigation above the safety of the town residents. Unser also talks Hale into revealing that Opie is innocent and that Stahl is setting him up to be killed just because she is angry. However the info comes too late to help Donna, Opie's wife who is killed in his stead. He gave Jax and Opie Winston the keys to the cells and let them break into his police station to free two of the gang's women who had been arrested.
In Season Two we see the more heroic side of Unser. He is the one to find Gemma after her brutal rape. Initially, he and Tara are the only people Gemma had trusted with this information. He covered for her by making Gemma's injuries appear to come from a car wreck with the help of Tara. Unser showed his deep fatherly type of affection for Gemma whom he has known since she was twelve. Unser seemed to be shocked and saddened when he learned that Hale may have been working with the Aryans. He personally delivered a message to Ethan Zobelle: 'Charming is a special place. It chooses its occupants. That the people that are wrong for the town disappear.' When Ethan asks if that is a threat Unser doesn't answer.
He eventually told Deputy Hale about Gemma's secret to convince Hale to not side with the L.O.A.N. and Zobelle. He also confessed to Gemma that his wife left him. He continued to smoke medical marijuana and take medication for his cancer.
As season two progressed, Unser became more involved with SAMCRO, wanting to get rid of the L.O.A.N. just as much as the bikers did. He provided a lot of vital information to Clay, which allowed the Sons to plan ambushes and surveillance on the Aryans. In the episode "The Culling," Unser officially made David Hale the acting police chief and began minimizing his own duties. In the season finale he provided SAMCRO with vital details about Zobelle's release and even allowed the bikers to use one of his trucks to ambush Zobelle's convoy. After Gemma was framed for the murder of Edmond Hayes, she called Wayne for help. The two are last seen fleeing Charming in Unser's police cruiser, their destination unknown.
With Gemma in hiding, Unser returned to Charming with a plan to retire and turn the police department over to Deputy Chief David Hale. However, Hale's death at Half-Sack's funeral forced Unser to stay on as Chief of Police in Charming. Like many Charming residents, the actions at Half-Sack's funeral planted seeds of doubt in Unser's mind regarding the Sons of Anarchy and their place in Charming. Having seized upon these doubts, Jacob Hale then approached Unser, telling him that SAMCRO could no longer keep violence out of Charming and that he would support Charming Police if Unser would support Hale in Charming's mayoral race. Unser later confronted Clay Morrow about his fears and doubts for Charming, telling Clay that knowing that Charming would be protected allowed him to sleep at night despite knowing that he had been purposely ignoring SAMCRO's illegal activities. However, he was no longer sure that SAMCRO could keep up their end of the deal. Clay assured Unser that the MC could keep peace in Charming, but when Earnst Darby informs Jacob Hale that he'd witnessed SAMCRO selling illegal medication at a clinic near Charming, a raid on SAMCRO's headquarters was quickly organized and Unser did not tip off the club (Darby told Hale that he believed that SAMCRO was probably stashing OxyContin at their headquarters, although what he actually witnessed was HIV medication being sold to the clinic). Following the raid, Clay announced that Unser was "dead" to him. Unser was able to catch Gemma when she broke out of police custody, but she called his bluff, knowing that he could never hurt her which ultimately led to Gemma, Clay, Jax, and Tig escaping from St. Thomas hospital. His relationship with SAMCRO continues to fall apart. In later episodes he showing more anger towards the club. When Jacob Hale hires Salazar to scare Lumpy into selling his gym, Salazar gets carried away and nearly kills Lumpy. Unser believes that it is Mayan retaliation, because of the message that Salazar left. SAMCRO learns of this and tries to tell Unser that it wasn't the Mayans and to investigate Jacob Hale but he ignores it. When Oswald tells Unser that the Sons of Anarchy and the Mayans were good with each other, Unser still has doubts. When Oswald tells Unser to see what investors are buying up land on the block of Lumpy's Gym, Unser finds something he doesn't like, confirming what SAMCRO told him about Hale in the first place. After he learns of a unanimous vote to let the County Sheriff's Office take over he confronts Jacob Hale and Hale shows that he does not care about the local P.D. The next day Unser tells SAMCRO that they were right about Hale and decides to work with them to get Salazar, who has kidnapped Tara, because it is the only way to prove that Hale is dirty. In the finale, Unser (no longer Chief of Police) participates in the Jimmy O/June Stahl murder by leading Stahl's backup away from the scene with a false tip that Jimmy's men are waiting in ambush up the highway while SAMCRO carries out the deed. Kozik then punches him to cover up his involvement.
In the beginning of Season Four he is down on his luck after his wife divorced him and he sold his trucking business. He is seen living in a trailer on the outskirts of town, mulling over his former life and drinking heavily. He is later shown attending Opie's wedding. He is later contacted by both Clay and Gemma separately telling him that Tara has letters from John Teller, and each one ask for his help to get them without involving the other part, while Gemma is successful in peeking at few of them with some of Unser's help, she does not read the whole content. After this Unser himself manages to steal copies Tara made, and read them. This greatly angered Unser as he was shocked about the truth Clay hid even from him, not knowing that in fact John Teller wanted the club to go legal ways instead of gun-business. When Gemma visited him later, he lied to her regarding the letters, implying neither of them did at the time know of what truly happened. Knowing that Clay would be looking for the letters and by extension Tara, he decided to report to Roosevelt an annonymus threat to Tara, which he didn't go into detail. To make things real, he wrote a death threat letter and left it in Tara's car, thus putting her into constant survilleance by the club, possibly as a way to make sure Clay could not kill her, as when Clay got notice of the letter he was displeased and angered with what he had done telling him to not "get on his way". Unser later reported to Margaret and had Tara removed from the Hospital. Eventually Unser is called by Gemma after she finds Piney's dead body, Unser knowing that Clay is out of control, wants to report Clay but is convinced to put the blame on Sonora, which he helps in doing. However after Gemma is badly beaten by Clay he has a change of mind and confronts both Clay about this and tells a devastated Opie the truth, encouraging him to kill Clay.
Unser knew Gemma from a young age. He often refers to Gemma as "leaving Charming when she was sixteen and showing up 5 years later with a baby and a biker gang". There is obviously a relationship between Unser and Gemma than runs deeper than the typical small community familiarity. In the season two finale Unser after picking Gemma up from a crime scene was seen holding Gemma's hand and asks "where are we going?" Gemma replied, "I don't know". The two then drove out of the Charming city limits in his Police Cruiser.
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