Hey, a real live Sons of Anarchy logo! (Courtesy of Northwest Harley Blog)
Faithful readers will remember that after last week's gratuitious and nonsensical foray into vigilante justice, we were ready to give up on Sons of Anarchy, which had started out with some promise, perhaps even a few literary and sociological aspirations, but rapidly devolved into senseless fights and gross mantalk. Well, they still got the gross mantalk -- you don't receive oral pleasure from Latinas in this world; you "throatsquirt a couple of brownies" or something -- but the sex and violence last night (and there was a bit) was so deeply ingrained with the laws and bylaws of motorcycle clubs -- their territories, their customs, their hierarchies -- that we were fascinated. Basically, now that an ATF officer has come to town (Jay Karnes from The Shield), the Sons had to stash their AK's somewhere for a while. The safest place they could find was in Nevada, under the protection of a brother gang, The Devil's Tribe. Problem is, the land between Charming and the Tribe is run by the Mayans, sworn enemies of the Sons, so in order to provide the Tribe and the guns the protection they need, Clay decides to "patch over" the smaller gang, in effect forcing them to be an SOA charter.
Now, if you're catching hints of the Wild West and Mongolian barbarians in all that, you're not alone. It was an episode rife with that sort of detail. Even the C-plot this week was thick with it: when Half-Sack called Gemma a "MILF" in front of Clay, Clay got his revenge by pulling rank on Halfie and banging another prospect -- a female one, trying to be a Tribe old lady -- that he was into. And she was into him, too! Nice!
And yet, we're not taking Sons off probation just yet. We're still a little wary of the subplots involving Maggie Siff as Jax's surgeon/ex, which is a drag because she is so wonderful on Mad Men. But the fact that Jay Karnes is her stalky ex is just too neat for our tastes, and the back and forth she gets with Katie Sagal is a little tiring. (Though maybe that's Sagal, who might have a little too much distance from her character...) And we can't imagine that every episode will be this well researched (or, it should be noted, give grotty and excellent character actor Mark Boone Junior so much to do.)
So, tell you what: we'll probably keep watching, but unless it really starts to wow us, you might not see too many more updates from here on out. Sorry kids, only so many hours in a week.
PREVIOUSLY:
"Sons Of Anarchy", You're On Notice
"Sons of Anarchy": Do As I Say, Unless You Don't Wanna And Someone Gets Hurt
