Sons of Anarchy - S03E01 - So

Yes, I've been extremely lazy when it's come to episodic reviews this year. I've neglected both Louie and Mad Men, which if you weren't aware, had incredible seasons. With eight billion new and returning shows beginning their seasons over the next couple of months, I feel I should get back into weekly blogging mode. Without further ado, the visceral and emotional season opener of Sons of Anarchy season three.

Spoilers follow.

With a season opening montage reminiscent of the 'It Was A Very Good Year' montage from the start of the second season of The Sopranos, we see what the characters have on their minds. Jax is stewing in depression after the kidnapping of his son, Abel. Tara looks to her bloodstained floor where young Half-Sack was stabbed, protecting her. Gemma is getting antsy while held up in a flat on Clay's orders to keep her safe and out of sight. This directly clashes with her character, which is that of a fiercely loyal mother to the club, and a woman who can take care of herself.

This episode was surprisingly character-driven for the show, with the bulk of the episode being about and meditating on the characters circumstances - as opposed to throwing them into new plots. Gemma, however, starts a journey - after she convinces Tig to let her go, by letting him accompany her - by visiting her father (Hal Holbrook), whose mental health is declining. This new story is still an extension of Gemma's current situation. Now that she's without the club, who is she? What was her old life and how does it relate to her current one? I commend Sutter for taking this route - however it plays out, it was an organic plotting move.

Meanwhile, Jax pushes Tara away, in part due to his current depressive mindset and in part because he still thinks the life is too dangerous for her. There are a couple of very well written and acted scenes here as the couple fight and then have a moment of clarity. In my opinion, Tara's already too far into the club to leave now - despite what Jax wants to believe. No doubt Gemma is to thank for her more brash disposition.

The other side of the manipulator coin is Clay, who tries to push Jax out of his hollow misery by giving words to him several times throughout the episode. The thing is, we know Clay pretty well now, and yes, this is about getting Abel back, but Clay wants Jax to be the kind of leader he himself is, when he's too old to sustain the position. It's a subtle move from Clay, with a result that I doubt even he expected.

Jacob Hale Jr. is going to be another problem for the Sons this season as he runs for mayor against Oswald, who the Sons count on for support. The guy seems very dodgy, and I'm sure he will stop at nothing to get the support of the town.

I wonder how long these stories can sustain themselves - Do you think Gemma going to be away for the bulk of the season - to keep her in the dark about Abel's kidnapping? And what about Jax and the crew, will they spend the whole season looking for Abel? It's such an all-consuming plot, that if it's drawn out until the end of season there won't have been room for anything else - not that I'm necessarily against that - if done well, a whole season revenge story could be amazing. On this route, a nice mid-game plan would be to let Gemma in on it around episode six or seven and have her flip the lid. Because of the kidnapping, and because she wasn't told about it.

The most foretelling sequence in the episode was the last, which pushes the plot forward immensely. It was also one of the best scenes the show has done with skilled direction and editing. When Jacob walked partly off the scene before the van arrived, was that the writer's telegraph that he may have something to do with his brother's death - probably. Although the shock on his face when saw the caved-in head seemed genuine - it still doesn't excuse him yet.

Hunman delivered, in my opinion, his best performance as Jax in this episode. He really steps it up whenever he's called on for 'intense' and the final scene of him smashing a stray van shooter tells us he's finally found a different channel for his grief. I'm sure this makes Clay happy, and now we'll get to see more struggle about what kind of man Jax wants to be as he adapts angry, revenge mode. He'll have to do that while not playing into the hands of Clay. I know I'm being hard on Clay, but the MC will always be his first priority.

Was awesome seeing Kenny Johnson (The Shield) back as Kozik, and it sounds like he wants to stay in Charming. I wonder what Tig's beef with him is...

Paula Malcomson was another good casting choice and I'm intrigued as to what her role will pertain. She's doing an eight episode stint, so perhaps that's how long the 'finding Abel' story lasts, or maybe her role expands beyond that and Abel has many handlers over the season.

Sons of Anarchy - S01E04: Patch Over

'Patch Over' is noticeably better than last weeks episode - if only for the fact that there is a bad-ass firefight. And it seems they have started to get a few of these long-term storylines in motion.

To my understanding, 'patch over' is where a smaller club merges with a larger and more established one. I think club symbols and labels being patched on the clothes of members and in their establishments is the meaning behind the term 'patch over'. Anyway, the club merges with a smaller club in Nevada and they celebrate with a party. But beforehand Jax and Bobby see a guy sitting on Jax's Harley. The guy admits to beating his girlfriend who is trying to take a picture of him and the Harley, so Jax beats his face and takes off with the girl - she happily obliges. The girl is given some sort of initiation by another girl from the club that recently merged with the Sons. When Jax's new girl sees the other girls being passed around like a bong, and the firefight between the rival gangs, she decides to leave with her old boyfriend - going back to her old life, and uncovering a harsh truth about a world she most likely fantasized about.

Jax searches out an old writing on a rock in Nevada where his father wrote something about his idea of the club, freedom, and the dream. Every episode seems to have a scene or two from this narrative thread, and will continue to challenge Jax - though I don't think we will see any big events happening from this at the moment, just little developments, gradual revelations, and after a while Jax might do something big with what he has learnt. So far it just seems like he is reading it, without adapting it - which he probably couldn't do yet even if he wanted to - maybe he has a little, but for the most part he is just living the life the other guys are.

The best part of this episode was the gunfight between the Sons and Mayans. Jax is being chased by the Mayans and leads them back to the others at the club. The Mayans waste no time and start shooting through the walls of the club, so the Sons quickly prepare and come out firing with pistols and shotguns. There are a lot of guns and a lot of gunfire, but only a few guys take hits.

The episode ends with Tara in the hospital looking upon Jax and Gemma with the baby, as she opens a letter containing a photo of Jax and his short-term Nevada girl having sex. I wonder how that happened? And who the hell did it?

Sons Of Anarchy - S01E01: Seeds

Hooray! "Sons Of Anarchy" turned out to be more than an amateur beat-off to "The Sopranos" - I'm afraid I can't say the same for "Brotherhood".

Creator Kurt Sutter (The Shield) pens the pilot episode which just premiered on FX. Allen Coulter (The Sopranos) directs the episode masterfully, already defining the shows own look. 'Seeds' drew in an impressive 1.5 million viewers - in comparison to The Shields season opener which pulled 1.1 million.

At first glance the biggest strength for the show seems to be the cast. We have Charlie Hunnam (Undeclared), Ron Perlman (Hellboy, The City Of Lost Children), Katey Sagal (Married With Children, Futurama), Maggie Stiff (Mad Men) and Mitch Pileggi (The X-Files) and Drea de Matteo (The Sopranos). I was always critical of Charlie Hunnam, especially in Undeclared, until this pilot where I think he matured as an actor and has become great. What we have seen of Ron Perlman has been good, but we will have to wait a little longer to see how he really plays the character - he was in the pilot a fair amount of the time, but wasn't given any really great scenes.

The motorcycle club basically own the town of Charming in California - they are desperate and will do anything to keep drugs and developers out of their town to keep their way of life in tact. A white supremacy group are trying to push their drug trade into Charming, but the club will not let that happen, and the white supremacy group The Nords, will not give up that easily - I see this power struggle being a prominent theme in the season. The club are also involved in various illegal operations, including selling guns to other gangs. Jax (Charlie Hunnam) is the vice-president of the club and son of the tough family matriarch Gemma (Katey Segal), who is with Clay (Ron Perlman), the club president, and is somewhat of a step-dad to Jax. Jax's father used to be the president of the club, but was killed. Jax finds some of his fathers old documents that describe a very different motorcycle club which was more about freedom and peace than the current club. When Jax speaks to his mother of them, she tells Clay and they decide they must not let him slip away from the club. Out on a job, Clay tries to make Jax finish off a rival who is on the ground, to help secure Jax to the club even more. Jax's junkie ex-wife played by Drea de Matteo is pregnant with his baby, she overdoses while pregnant and the baby needs to be pre-maturely taken out of the womb. When Jax finds out about this he is pissed and goes looking for whoever supplied her with the gear. When Gemma finds out, things get much nastier than expected, as she takes a visit to see ex-daughter in law. The doctor who is looking after Jax's ex-wife is his old high school sweetheart Tara, who left Charming and evidently her old lifestyle behind for something better, "I'm not the same girl I was ten years ago", Gemma replies with "I am", and lifts up Tara's shirt to find a tattoo on her lower back, "I guess there's some things you can't change". Tara is now back as a resident at the hospital. Perhaps it is no coincidence she is back - it will be fun to see how her, Jax, and Gemma interact. Katey Sagal is so great in this role, I'm glad she has found a way to break free once and for all from Peggy and Leela, not that there is anything wrong with those characters, or her performance of them - good shows.

There are so many Shakespeare allusions in this script, mainly Hamlet, if the series continues to go down a few of these we are going to get some hugely gratifying endings. The series is very character-driven, but the story with The Nords and keeping Charming the way it is, should be promising too. One of my only problems with Sons of Anarchy are the first 'Seeds' that have been planted for the storyline with the guy out of jail who wants to go legit, but needs the money, and can't leave his family again. I know it could be dealt with nicely, but I have seen it a lot in "The Sopranos" and other films. Pretty weak criticism, eh?

I look forward to next week's episode - oh, and did anybody notice Tommy Flanagan from Braveheart, his facial scar gave it away for my girlfriend, but I only knew once I heard the Scottish accent. Am I slipping in my old age? Tune in next week to find out.